《Rapturous Rhapsody》


 Volume 1 Confinement 1

    I am writing this author''s note after finishing the first volume and midway through volume 2. There will only be 3 volumes, so the story is halfway done.


    This is a fic written using the Waifu catalogue as a baseline. It is much more common on a few forums than on sites like Royal Road.


    For those unaware of what that is, you can find it here: <u>https://waifu-catalog.neocities.org/</u>


    To enjoy this fic, you do not need to know about the challenge or the worlds (Soulsborne/Superhero comics/Worm).


    I am writing this to get better at characterization and to tell a story I would like to read at the end of this. Using the W.C., which is used for porn more often than not, is a nice challenge.


    There will be blood. Violence. Death. Sex. And yes, a harem.


    Though I like to think I write better than most two-dimensional harem writers, that is for you to judge if you decide to read through this work.


    Honestly, I put off posting on this site for the longest time, and I wonder if this is a good fit for Royal Road. In the end, some pestering from friends got me to put this here.


    I will upload one chapter daily until caught up to other sites, then one chapter every Friday. I pride myself on never missing a weak, barring a hiatus between volumes 1 and 2, so you can expect updates to remain consistent after catching up.


    I will leave the original author''s notes at the end of the chapters as it provides some context for those interested.


    I hope you enjoy Rhaptourous Rhapsody.


    ********


    I felt an angel near today, though one I could not see


    I felt an angel oh so close, sent to comfort me


    ********


    Wakefulness did not come quickly to Nico Robin.


    It was slow, rough, and entirely disorienting, like crawling through mud.


    That she was waking up at all was certainly a surprise.


    In her life, she had learned surprises were ever so rarely good.


    Employing one of the techniques that had saved her life on many occasions, she lay there with her eyes closed, not moving an inch. Using her Haki to ensure nobody was nearby, she reached out with her Devil Fruit powers.


    She instantly conjured an eye on one of the walls to get a lay of the room before dissipating it and reconjuring it in the ceiling corner.


    In her experience, people very rarely looked up.


    Robin got a good look around where she lay with her hidden eye.


    The room was luxurious, probably the best she had ever slept in, which was saying something. The bed was large, and the sheets were silken smooth. Robin only realized now that she was entirely naked under the covers, which was distressing.


    The rest of the room was well furnished; a few cushioned chairs sat in the corner beside a small table. A lounge sofa lay near the foot of the bed. In front of which was a thick carpet, and against the wall was a fireplace made of brick. The fire was lit but burned softly, with only a few logs on the grate. Curiously, there were no ashes under the burning wood.


    The flames were the only illumination source in the room though she noted a few lamps on the bedside tables and a chandelier high up in the tall ceiling. A few windows along the wall were covered in heavy, purple drapes. The walls were covered in bookshelves with only space for the fireplace and three doors. One was a sliding door beyond which Robin imagined lay a closet.


    Everything was made out of dark wood, black velvet, and inlay with subtle touches of ivory.


    Whoever had taken her, rescued her, was wealthy.


    Very wealthy.


    So what were their plans for her, and where were the rest of her crew?


    It was not paranoia if people really were out to get you.


    She wasn''t wearing seastone, at least for the moment, so they either remained ignorant of who she was or didn''t intend her harm.


    For the moment.


    Dissipating her eye on the ceiling, Robin slowly and carefully exited from under the covers. The room was warm due to the fire, so her nudity was not uncomfortable, but she would prefer to find clothes sooner than later. Keeping a wary eye on either of the doors, Robin made her way toward what she suspected to be the closet.


    Sliding it open, Robin realized she was both right and wrong with her guess.


    To call it a closet was to call a battleship a skiff.


    From hangers that stretched on for yards were clothes of all styles and colours, and racks of shoes and boots covered one side of the wall. Accessories such as hats, belts, and other paraphernalia filled a shelf on the side beside a massive floor-length mirror.


    Most disconcerting was that all of it, from the hats, boots, and garments, were in the pirate''s preferred style and made out of high-quality material.


    Whoever this room belonged to had gone out of their way to ensure it was to her taste.


    Some frightening implications came to mind. How long had Robin been unconscious? How long must they have been following her?


    To remain safe, Robin dressed in clothes that were easy to move in and could function in any weather. She took a hat and sunglasses in case she needed to make a stealthy getaway.


    As she dressed, Robin heard voices from behind one of the doors. Though she could not hear their exact words through the solid wood door, the voices sounded feminine and hurried.


    Proceeding slowly, Robin went to the opposite door, cracked it a bit to peek inside, and saw a luxurious bathroom. Closing the door, she made her way to the other entrance and fully opened it.


    What lay beyond wasn''t in the same style as the room Robin had woken up in. While the floors were still made of wood, they were of a lighter colour, the walls were covered in art rather than bookshelves, and it was lit by bulbs on the wall rather than firelight. The images on the walls depicted various things, though natural landscapes and religious figures were the most common.


    Other doors dotted the walls, though all were in different styles. Some looked personalized, while others remained blank. The pirate counted three doors on each wall, including the one Robin had just stepped out of.


    The hall looked to only have one main exit near her own entrance, the other ending in a window overlooking a cliff and the sea. Judging by the light filtering in through it, it was early morning. She decided the windows in her room or this hall would be a good exit in an emergency. Better than risk delving deeper into the house.


    With the speed of a woman on the run her entire life, Robin took it all in with a quick glance.


    After that quick moment, Robin turned her attention to the other hall occupants.


    Like the hall, she quickly categorized the women she could see, assessing them as possible threats. Of course, she didn''t fail to maintain a demure smile as she did so. Reducing her perceived threat level would only aid her in her escape.


    They were three women in the hall.


    Opposite her was a dark-skinned woman in an orange shirt and tight black pants. Long purple hair in a ponytail and yellow eyes. She was tiny compared to Robin''s tall frame, easily a foot shorter. She leaned against the door opposite the pirate but judging by her tense muscles and wary eyes, she was ready to act at any moment.


    The other two women were further down near the end and talking by the window.


    The first was covered entirely in a dark cloak; her entire body was hidden, and her proportions unknown. The only way Robin was sure the figure was female was the occasional fluttering pressed the cloth against some generous curves.


    Nonetheless, the Straw Hat remained wary since the cloaked woman was hovering in the air.


    While not super rare, any Devil Fruit that allowed its user to fly was dangerous.


    Her companion wasn''t hidden in the least, however. She was only a few inches shorter than Robin, with tan skin, black hair and blue eyes. She was also wearing an armoured corset that left the top of her generous breasts exposed, greaves, wrist guards and a crown. Her impressive musculature and the weapons on her hip put her as another possible threat.


    Robin concluded that all three women could be dangerous in different ways.


    All eyes flickered to Robin as she stepped into the hall. There was a brief pause as everyone sized each other up. The moment was broken when another one of the doorways opened up, and someone else joined the gathering group.


    "What exactly is going on here?" The new arrival was an auburn-haired woman in some sort of leotard. Her eyes were deep crimson, and her long hair was covered in a bejewelled veil. Her eyes flickered over the other women in the same manner as Robin''s before they settled on the armoured brunette.


    "That," the armoured brunette answered. "Is an excellent question. Is anyone here aware of where we might be located? Raven nor I are familiar with this building. We also do not remember arriving here," she asked, gesturing to her cloaked companion and surveying the growing group of women.


    "If I had known, I would not have asked," the spandex-clad woman said, mouth dipping into a scowl.


    "The others might know," the cloaked woman, Raven, spoke up in a monotone voice. As her armoured companion looked at her companion in question, she continued. "There are five more women down that way." She pointed a gray-skinned finger down past Robin.


    Robin subtly opened and closed hidden eyes along the ceiling in rapid succession, doing her best to ensure they remained hidden. She followed the path down the long hall, which opened into a grand foyer. It seemed like they were in the left corridor of a large mansion. Robin assumed they were on the second floor based on the double stairs going down and up and the great glass wall and doors below. Aside from the two sets of stairs, double doors were in the center between both halls.


    All this she observed and noted in a few blinks of an eye.


    As Robin opened an eye on the ceiling of the opposite corridor, she observed that, like Raven said, there were five more women in this side hall. Four blondes and another cloaked figure.


    She couldn''t make out too much of their profiles from her position, but they all appeared to be more than blessed in the looks department, with some of the largest busts she had ever seen. She took what information she could gleam in a moment.


    Light purple cloak, pointed ears, withdrawn in the corner.


    Blonde shoulder-length hair, silver corset and thigh highs.


    Blonde hair in a bun, white and black blouse, small cape, whip. Talking with ''Corset Blonde.''


    Blonde hair in pigtails, green shirt, massive breasts. Holding her head in apparent pain.


    Blonde hair in a bun with bangs, silver armour, white-furred cloak. Luminescent green eyes staring right at Robin!


    Robin tensed and dismissed the eye on reflex.


    That woman had been sharp. Even the most proficient Haki users hadn''t been able to notice her spying. She braced herself to use her Devil Fruit if the need came.


    Nothing.


    There was no cry or sudden burst of movement from the other hall.


    Shaking her head, Robin changed her train of thought.


    Of more importance was getting as much information as possible. The rest of the women in the hall were no more well-informed than Robin, so they would be useless.


    This situation did not paint a pretty picture.


    A group of beautiful women?


    All displaced with no idea what was going on?


    Who appeared in an area that clearly belonged to wealthy individuals?


    This was setting off alarms in the pirate''s head in the worst way.


    The lack of a collar around their necks and the fact that they had placed no seastone on her stopped the worst of the panic from rising to the surface.


    She still had options.


    "I shall ask," the armoured brunette said to her companion. She started walking toward the second-floor landing and the other hall. "I am Diana of Themyscira, and this is Raven."


    The pair walked past Robin and her shorter opposite. The veiled woman followed the pair, staying behind by a few feet. The pirate pretended to do the same but started down the stairs rather than continue to the other corridor.


    She would not find answers there, with more clueless women.


    "Scathach," she heard the veiled woman introduce herself as she stepped past.


    Beyond the hall was a terrace connecting to a curving staircase leading to a big entrance like Robin had seen. Everything remained in the same style as the hall, there were no gaudy displays, and most of the wealth seemed to be implied rather than overt.


    That actually went a long way to soothing Robin''s fears.


    In her experience, those with wealth and power tended to flaunt it. Those who maintained subtle expressions of power tended to be the more competent, for better or worse. They also tended to be less prone to casual cruelty.


    As she started to descend the stairs, Robin felt a weight settle onto her shoulder. She saw a black cat staring up at her with its golden eyes from its perch.


    "Hello there," it said in a deep voice. It sounded male, but judging from the fact that it came from the hallway behind her, it was probably female.


    Another Devil Fruit user, then.


    By process of elimination, she was the shorter woman in orange from the room opposite her own.


    "Hello," Robin answered as she proceeded down the stairs.


    "You got a name?" The cat asked casually, tail flicking idly as it stared her down.


    Interesting.


    While Robin was in no way vain, the Straw Hat Pirates were rather well renowned, and she was one of the more infamous ones of the group.


    For a Devil Fruit user to not know her name suggested isolation or willful ignorance. Nonetheless, while Robin was undoubtedly paranoid, she was not rude.


    "Sunday. And you are?" The cat snorted in amusement at her words.


    Robin didn''t know cats could snort.


    Cute.


    "I know a fake name when I hear one, and that is as fake as they come. But I guess you can keep your secrets. Name''s Yoruichi. Ya'' got any idea about what''s going on?"


    "I am as ignorant as you on the subject," Robin shrugged. "What is the last thing you remember?" She asked, fishing for information.


    The way Yoruichi eyed her made her realize the cat knew what she was doing and didn''t care.


    "Having my heart ripped out, how about you?" The cat deadpanned.


    "That lines up with my experience, yes."


    Yoruichi squinted up at her before nodding silently. Both agreed not to press that subject for the moment.


    "So, some sort of extra afterlife? Separate from Soul Society and Hueco Mundo?" Robin was unfamiliar with those two places, but it was easy to guess from context. Nevertheless, she was not one to advertise her ignorance.


    "Possibly," Robin answered as she reached the foyer entrance and pushed open the large double doors. "Though I''m expecting something a little more strange."


    Beyond the doors lay paradise.


    That was the only way to put it.


    The building was set atop a small mountain that overlooked an island. A path of well-paying stones ran from the doors, about a 15-minute walk if Robin was the judge, down to a large field. On either side of the path were orchards of fruit-bearing trees.


    Looking to the right and left, she noticed that the orchard eventually ended, and forests covered the other parts of the island. The island was massive. She couldn''t see its end, with snow-capped mountains towering in the distance blocking further viewing.


    The weather was warm without being too hot. The sea sparkled with blues and greens under the early morning sunrise. From what Robin could tell, the building wrapped around the hill like a crown, made of oaks and other woods. She could see large windows and terraces, giving it an open-air feel.


    It was on a towering cliff that faced southwards, below which lay a sandy beach. All in all, it looked like a summer island paradise if it were not for the fact that a few kilometres from shore, the sea disappeared into a yawning black void.


    "Right," the cat drawled, staring out into the void. "Something strange."


    The following hour was spent exploring the building where the various women found themselves. It was a sprawling mansion, with everything a group would need to survive independently of the world and some more on top of it.


    An extensive training yard to the side of the building was filled with a shed of weapons, and armour lay beyond the orchard. A greenhouse grew various plants, most of which Robin or Yoruichi could not identify. The back of the building was wrapped by a lovely deck containing a hot tub and a pool that looked rather inviting.


    That part hung over the cliff edge, and the glass floor produced a feeling of vertigo that made Robin a bit queasy.


    The inside of the building was even more luxurious, though it maintained its subtle style.


    The first floor was primarily rooms dedicated to utilities. The kitchen was large enough to house 10 people, and the dining room thrice that amount. Large sitting rooms contained plush couches and various seating arrangements.


    Another room was a dedicated library filled with books of all sorts, and in languages Robin couldn''t even recognize.


    Yoruichi practically had to drag her from the room.


    On the second floor were bedrooms, the double doors the pirate noticed earlier probably led to the master suite, though neither of the pair could get them to open.


    The third floor was actually the roof. Some greenery was interspersed around various terraces seating arrangements and even another pool. It all seemed designed to maximize the enjoyment of the spectacular view.


    Reading on this site? This novel is published elsewhere. Support the author by seeking out the original.


    As they explored, Robin and Yoruichi kept engaging in their little game of, dare she say it, cat and mouse.


    They kept trying to weed out secrets from the other.


    Robin learned that Yoruichi was indeed female. She enjoyed teasing others, was extremely politically savvy, had just been in a major war, and had no idea what a Devil Fruit was.


    What Yoruichi learned the Straw Hat Pirate could only guess, though there were moments when the cat looked so smug Robin could tell immediately that she had discovered something.


    The pair had seen more of the women as they explored, but they felt no need to engage them in conversation. Everybody was exploring, some in pairs, but most by themselves. The team noticed the cloaked woman from the other hall fly off the mansion''s roof and into the forest.


    After over an hour of exploration, they were getting hungry, so the pair made their way to the fully stocked kitchen. They were not the only ones with that idea, as it seemed one of the blondes from the other hall had decided food was a good idea.


    It was the very busty one in green. She was still holding her head in pain while munching on some bread.


    In some unspoken agreement, Yoruichi jumped from Robin''s shoulder onto the counter the woman sat at while Robin started gathering ingredients for their meal.


    "Morning," the cat said to the blonde. She looked up and blinked at it in surprise before the blonde gave a small groan and answered.


    "Morning," She groaned.


    "Rough night?" Yoruichi asked wryly.


    "Mother of all hangovers, chakra''s so dry I can''t even heal it." She answered.


    "Been there," the cat winced in sympathy but did not comment on the word ''chakra.'' "Crazy party?" The blonde looked at the cat in confusion, something seeming to click in her mind.


    "Last I heard, you guys were lost in the Mist civil war. Have you been without a summoner this entire time?" The busty blonde warily eyed the pair.


    "I think you might have me confused with someone else," Yoruichi nonchalantly replied. "I''m Yoruichi. This is Sunday. We just woke up here, like you."


    "Right," the blonde muttered before taking a swig of her coffee. She placed her hand on her temple, the appendage glowing a pale green. It only lasted a few seconds, but the blonde looked less like death warmed over when she pulled it away. "Let''s cut the bullshit. I''m in no mood to pussyfoot around. Who are you? Where are we? What happened to Madara?"


    "In order; We just told you. No idea. Who? Also, can we get a name, or should I keep calling you Tits in my mind?" The cat replied glibly, which drew a smirk from the blonde.


    "Tsunade," the Hokage responded. "So, what can you tell me?"


    "There are ten of us. All female, all attractive. We are in an opulent mansion on a cliff on the south side of a Summer Island, a large one based on the mountains. There are animals in the woods and ocean, nor any sea kings. I have not found anyone else within ten kilometres of here, though I am still exploring." Robin answered as she finished platting the two meals.


    As she did so, the pirate realized she had been on autopilot the entire time she cooked. The food looked much better than anything she had ever made before. Taking a bite, it certainly tasted better as well. While she could cook for herself, years spent on the run had taught her self-sufficiency; she was no Sanji.


    Whatever she had just made looked like skinny pancakes wrapped around some sort of spread filled with fruit and were utterly new to her.


    Something beyond the kidnapping and rescue from death was bizarre here. But if there is one thing Robin enjoyed, it was a good mystery. Filing it away for later, she passed the plate to Yoruichi, questioning whether the cat could even eat the meal with a look.


    Robin needn''t have bothered.


    The cat jumped from the counter to a stool no sooner had the food been placed. The feline was then engulfed in a puff of smoke.


    Sitting there, instead of a cat, was the dark-skinned, dark-haired woman from earlier. Robin barely paid it any mind.


    Such things were everyday occurrences on the grand line.


    The Hokage stared for a moment before she spoke up.


    "That''s an interesting technique," she said with a sly smile.


    "Thanks," the cat-woman replied, entirely unconcerned with her nudity. "From what we can tell, apart from being attractive women, the only other common factors are that everybody is strong. From what I can tell, the three of us are some of the weakest here." Tsunade eyed her in disbelief, though Robin could accept that. Power was not the be-all-end-all. "Also, out of curiosity, you didn''t happen to die right before waking up here?"


    "Had my neck snapped," Tsunade nodded in a blase manner. Entirely unconcerned about her ''death,'' she continued. "So this the Pure Land?"


    "I do not believe this to be the afterlife." Robin pipped up as she polished off her breakfast. It was really, really good. She stood and poured herself a cup of coffee from the pot. "Somebody is recruiting. They save us and butter us up with a fancy mansion. Let us get situated, then make their offer. Based on what I''ve seen, they want us to fight for them. The training yard, the weapons, and the warehouses filled with materials do not paint a pretty picture."


    "Sounds like Akatsuki," Tsunade snorted in disgust.


    Robin was going to ask a few questions about what she meant when a feeling overcame her.


    That was the best way to describe it.


    Like when you walk into a room and forget why you came in. You stand there momentarily, confused, before deciding to move on with your day.


    Almost like vertigo, in a way.


    Robin was curious about what could cause the emotion for a brief moment before her vision swam, distorted and went black.


    Her teacup fell to the ground, shattered into shards of porcelain and tea, shocking the two other women in the kitchen.


    ********


    The dizziness faded quickly, but Robin had been on guard since her awakening this morning.


    As soon as she could, she threw herself against the nearest wall, crossed her arms and prepared to use her Devil Fruit on whoever had teleported her.


    She wished she could say that this was the first time something like it had happened, but her life had been far too interesting for that to be the case.


    Thankfully, her paranoia was not needed.


    Rather than being surrounded by hordes of enemies prepared to take her down, Robin was almost entirely alone in a small, cramped cell.


    A quick-eyed glance revealed that she wouldn''t have even been able to lay down completely, the cell being too narrow. A few suspicious stains dotted the walls, most looking like dried blood. There was no furniture at all. Light streamed in from what seemed to be a hole in the brickwork of the roof, the harsh sun beating down on the only other occupant of the small room.


    He gaped at her in complete astonishment.


    He was huddled up in the corner of the room, trying to hide in the shade cast by the few remaining bricks in the ceiling. Robin couldn''t get a good look at his complete profile with his arms wrapped around his knees. From what she could tell, he was incredibly skinny, and his skin had the consistency of leather, likely from being out in the sun.


    Dark-haired and with dark eyes, she estimated he would be about her height if he stood up, but Robin dismissed him as any physical threat because she could see and count his ribs.


    His only distinctive qualities were a trio of red tattoos that circled his heart around what seemed to be a ring of black fire.


    She could tell all this because he was completely naked.


    More importantly, how had Robin arrived in the cell, and how would she get out?


    Thankfully the hole in the roof provided the best means of escape since the cell doors would probably be made of sea stone if they meant the trap her. Peeking her head through the barred door to peer into the hall beyond, she realized it was too dark to see anything.


    Beyond a bit illuminated by the sun that streamed through the cell door, it was pitch black. She didn''t see anything beyond some more broken masonry and what seemed to be other prison cells. Robin did hear some movement, though from further beyond.


    She was deciding whether it would be better to create an artificial ladder to the ceiling, try and break down the door, or interrogate her fellow prisoner.


    The other room occupant, quiet until now and completely surprised at her arrival, broke his silence.


    With laughter.


    It started with a few chuckles at first. As Robin turned to him, he degenerated into hysterical, maniacal laughter.


    Robin kept an eye on the corridor to see if anyone was approaching to investigate the sound. Thankfully nobody was near, but she kept a wary eye on the prisoner.


    Who knows what he would do?


    She tried to wait for his mirth to die down, but he laughed.


    On and on and on and on.


    After a minute, she was exasperated. After two, she was a bit crept out, and after three, Robin was getting decidedly nervous. Thankfully he never made it to four.


    "Oh man," he said more to himself than to Robin. She could see tears in his eyes, and though he was still smiling, Robin recognized it as the smile of the damned, those who had lost all hope.


    The way she used to smile.


    "One time! That was all it took to go hollow. One fucking time! Man, do I suck. This is just sad. I was hoping for at least a dozen, but I thought I at least had five in me."


    "Excuse me," Robin interrupted the old man''s ramblings politely. It was best not to agitate the insane. "You wouldn''t happen to know where we are?"


    "Well," he responded wryly, stretching out on the ground and giving her a view she did not need from a man his age. He seemed utterly unbothered with his nudity. "I can''t confirm this. But I do believe we are in the Asylum."


    The word seemed to send him into another fit of chuckles, though he did not last as long as before.


    "Asylum? Which asylum? Do you know which island we are on?" Her question turned his chuckles into the same maniacal laughter as before. As if she had just said something amusing.


    Not willing to waste time anymore, Robin first decided to test the doorway before she left by the roof. She expected it to be reasonably solid, if not stuck entirely due to how the bars were bent into the doorframe.


    Robin was unprepared to have her hand pass through the metal as if she were one of Perona''s ghosts. Her hand merely moved the metal as if nothing was there. The same happened when she pressed against the brick wall.


    "Going somewhere?" The prisoner asked between his giggles.


    "Yes, I am getting out of here." Robin could question the materials of her body at a later point. This inmate, whoever he was, was of no help. Better to explore on her own.


    Robin stepped through the grated cell door as if it wasn''t there and went down the hall. She made sure to keep her Haki activated at all times to be on the safe side. It was more responsive than she was used to, another oddity of the situation.


    Things were getting more and more mysterious.


    While Robin liked mysteries (to an almost unhealthy degree, Nami once commented), she liked having answers more. The last few hours have provided all too few of those.


    While it did get darker further from the cell, Robin could still avoid the holes in the floor and the fungal growths on the wall. Whatever asylum she was in, it was old if the prisoner was to be believed. Very old. Stone did not erode quickly, especially when not left to the elements.


    Still, Robin was seeing more than a few signs of degradation. Judging by the dust and dirt accumulation, this was the first time anyone had been down this hall for at least months, if not years. That brought questions regarding the prisoner she had just left and how he had survived so long without food.


    Looking back on her short path through the hall, Robin noticed that she had not left any footprints in the dust.


    She came to the end of the corridor, having passed more than a few empty, collapsed, or wholly destroyed cells. Reaching the only intact door she had seen so far, this one a solid slap of metal rather than the bars of the cells, Robin pressed her hand against it to ensure that it would pass through, which it did, before walking through completely herself.


    No sooner had she arrived on the other side than she found herself yanked back with violent force.


    Tumbling to the ground in a heap, Robin quickly righted herself and rose to her feet, ready to confront whatever had grabbed her.


    There was nothing there.


    Robin was still alone in this dark, dusty prison hall. The shuffling she had noticed earlier was more pronounced and came from beyond the metal door. The only other sound apart from it was the prisoner she had left behind, who had started to hum a little song to himself.


    "The sun was setting in the West,


    the birds were singing on every tree.


    All nature seemed inclined for rest,


    but still, there was no rest for me."


    Robin tuned him out as she used her Devil Fruit to open an eye on the ceiling above her head and tried to pass through the door again. Once again, a tugging sensation around her naval pulled her backwards. She was more prepared for it, she did not fall and instead only stumbled, but that didn''t change the fact that there was nothing there.


    Robin only stuck her head through the wall this time, deciding to test something else. She was not pulled back and could finally get a good look at what lay beyond.


    It just seemed to be another hall. Though this one was almost entirely without light, Robin could spot a few shadows moving in the darkness. A humanoid form seemed to pass right by her, but she could make out nothing else.


    Pulling her head backwards, Robin returned to the cell, intent on leaving through the hole in the roof.


    "~The sea-bound coast, let your mountains, dark and dreary, be. So when I am far away, on the briny ocean toss, will you ever heave a sigh and a wish for me. Will you ever heave a sigh or a wish for me?~" The man''s haunting sea shanty ended as Robin again entered the prison cell.


    Had this been any other sort of situation, Robin would have applauded. It was an unfamiliar song, but its haunting beauty and the quality of his voice made it one she would remember.


    "Sorry about that," he said to her as she reappeared. "You know how it is. I''m a regular jailbird now. And a jailbird''s gotta sing, even if it does sound like a bunch of wet cats being thrown against the wall." Despite herself, Robin stifled a giggle, always appreciating some dark humour.


    She eyed the hole in the ceiling, about 30 feet. Excessively tall in most prisons. She was about to use her powers to make a rope of arms and pull herself up when the old man''s words stopped her.


    "Conjuring you up must''ve put me in the mood for the sea. God, would I kill the see the ocean. If I''m gonna rot in here, I wish there would at least be by the water."


    "Conjured?" Robin asked him.


    "Hm?" He looked at her in confusion as he chuckled and answered. "Sorry, was that offensive? Imagined? Summoned? Willed into existence? Deluded myself into believing you are real as a last desperate gasp of a mind and soul going hollow? Which do you prefer?" He asked sarcastically.


    "You don''t think I''m real?" Robin asked, letting the tension ease from her shoulders. And she had hoped she had finally found the lead on the strange happenings of the morning.


    That tension shot right back with his following words.


    "Course you''re not real. How else would Nico Robin, of all people, end up in my tiny cell in the Asylum?"


    "You know who I am?" She asked tersely, hoping to finally get some concrete answers. The little back-and-forth with your Yoruichi had been more confusing than illuminating. Even Tsunade, for all that she had been an open book, had brought on more questions than answers.


    "Yep! You''re a figment of my imagination. I would have to know who you are to imagine you being here."


    "Not that," she snapped. "You know my name."


    "Nico Robin, Devil Child, Straw Hat Pirate, the most wanted woman in the world. Intelligent, deadly, beautiful, and right now, an abysmal example of a delusion. Aren''t you supposed to convince me to kill everybody or something? I''m not exactly sure how hollowing is supposed to work. All you''ve done so far is ask stupid questions and pass through a few walls. I''m a bit disappointed, to be honest. I was expecting you to convince me that I needed to go out on a mass murder spree, not that I could, or maybe sacrifice a chicken to our Lord Gwen or something. For shame undying curse! Taking the form of one of my favourite characters of all time and not even trying to seduce me to the dark side. Deplorable service. 2/5 stars. Would not recommend it. The staff was excellent, but the rooms were cramped and poorly insulated."


    His little tirade sent the old man into another laughing fit.


    The man''s ramblings sounded more than a bit insane, but Robin at least got confirmation that he knew of her. Deciding to stop him as he rambled on, she reached out to grab him.


    He was muttering something about there not being any cookies.


    She planned to shake sense into him, only for her arms to pass through his body like they had all other objects since her appearance in this abnormal cell.


    "¡­ Though, they would be oatmeal raisin cookies, wouldn''t they? Indeed the Dark Souls of cookies. Prepare to Die." He noticed her movement and gave her a warm and heartbroken smile. "Can''t even seduce me? Make that one out of five stars. I''m desperate, but if I''m going to hold a delusion for warmth, I''d rather be able to touch it. While vampires can be attractive, no matter how beautiful a ghost is, you can''t do anything with it."


    "Focus!" Robin snapped, fed up. "I am real! You know who I am! Do you know how I got here?"


    "If you''re so real, what''s behind door number one?" He asked as he nodded his head towards the cell door.


    "I don''t know. I was yanked backwards as soon as I tried to pass through the door at the end of the hall."


    "That is precisely what a figment of my imagination would say," he crowed triumphantly.


    "I am not a figment of your imagination," Robin said, taking a deep breath. There was no point antagonizing the man. Not like she could do anything to him anyway. "The other side of the metal door was too dark to see, though I did notice some humanoid-shaped beings walking around."


    "I could''ve told you that," he snorted in derision. "I can hear them shuffling. Hollows, if I''m not mistaken. Most of them would be too stupid to know how to open the door. Is there anything that you could say I wouldn''t know about?"


    Robin bit her lip in thought.


    What did he know about her? It could be from wanted posters and news or private Marine information. She had no idea what would be new information to him. Her best bet was something recent which meant she either had to talk about this morning or... what came before.


    She went with the safer option.


    "I woke up this morning in a mansion on an island I have never heard about. I was not the only one. There are other women there. I only got a few names. Yoruichi, Raven, Diana and Tsunade. While we were having breakfast, I was suddenly transported appeared here. Do you have any idea what is going on?"


    For the first time since she had appeared in the cell, Robin saw the smile drop from his face.


    He looked at her, really looked at her for the first time.


    There was an intensity in his eyes, hope and a fire that had not existed before blazing in those sunken sockets.


    "How do you know those names?" He asked.


    "I talked to them," she answered, happy to finally be getting somewhere. "As I said, we were having breakfast. That is where I met Tsunade, but Yoruichi and I had been exploring the mansion before that. You know who they are."


    "Of course I know who they are!" He answered succinctly, no longer looking at her but instead staring up at the hole in the ceiling. She could almost see his mind working away. "Describe them to me, just to be sure. Was there anybody else?"


    Deciding to keep the conversation going, Robin did as he asked.


    She described the cat woman, Tsunade, and the other women she had seen in passing. From the armoured brunette to the cloaked women and the blondes in the other hall. She also described what she had seen of the island and mansion.


    "The entire build? Then why was the island so big? I didn''t have enough points." The man murmured to himself. "If so, why am I...?" He trailed off before looking at her. "Never mind that. If what you said is true, I might know what is going on. That is, of course, if I am not imagining this entire conversation. Delusions and hope are dangerous things. Good thing I have nothing to lose."


    "Go on."


    "So this will require a bit of explanation." He stood up. She guessed his size right as he came up a bit taller than her. He started pacing back and forth around the small space of his cell, still uncaring about his nudity. "I am guessing you don''t know anything about multi-verse theory?"


    "Never heard of it," she answered as she sat down in an opposite corner of the room.


    "Basic idea is that anything is possible in some alternate timeline. What if you decide to go left instead of right? Ate this rather than that for breakfast? What if you were never born? What if you were born a redhead? What if you were born a guy? An infinite number of options leads to an endless number of parallel worlds. And, much like if you had enough monkeys with typewriters, you would eventually get a complete stage play, with enough parallel worlds, anything is possible. Even the travel between them. Are you following me so far?"


    "Seems simple enough." She might have read a novel about something similar years ago.


    "Right," he stared at her for a moment before continuing. "I forgot you had a degree in archaeology at age 8. Anyway. If you want more information, you should talk to Wonder Woman or Raven." At her blank look, he explained. "The woman with the tiara and the cloaked woman, respectively. You could also ask Medea, the other one in the cloak. Either way, they probably have more first-hand experience than anyone else with something like that if you want more information. That is, if you can get back to the mansion or if they get teleported to the cell as well. But I digress.


    "Basically, going by the theory that anything is possible, any story ever told actually happened, in this reality or another. Every fantasy book, every mythological tale, it''s all real somewhere out there. As we talk, even you and I are being written about and read somewhere somehow. That''s how I know who all of you were. You were characters in stories originating from different universes."


    "So you still think I am not real?" Robin asked, eyebrow raised.


    "Until such time as I can prove one way or another, I must act as if you are real." He paused in his pacing for a moment to stare at her intently. Then he went back to his pacing. "Actually wrote a book on the subject, but that is neither here nor there. If you think you are real, you are. No matter what anyone else might claim. Moving on, there is something for you to test when you manage to get back to the island. Look around for Raven. She should have pale skin, purple hair, and a red jewel on her forehead."


    "You seem certain I''ll be able to get back."


    "If I''m right, there shouldn''t be an issue. But we''ll get to that. Now, as for what I think happened? A few years ago, somebody threw together a challenge in my world. The premise was that you are given a limited number of points. You used them to purchase a retinue. They are assigned a value based on strength. You, the purchaser, are to be thrown into a fictional world with your purchases, sometimes on a mission. Sometimes as a simple what-if scenario. Over the years, the original challenge has been changed, updated, and used for everything from gripping character examinations to straight-up porn, as you can imagine."


    "So you''re saying," Robin piped up, having never been one to care about any sort of taboo and trying to put the man on the back foot. "That you masturbated to porn of me."


    "More than you could imagine," the man deadpanned at her before resuming his pacing. "Get used to it. If the multi-verse theory holds true, some fat degenerate slob is jerking off to you, me, a monkey, a trashcan, and a pile of vomit. Even all the above." She shuddered in revulsion at the image. "You see why most people try not to think too deeply about it. Anyway, we got off-topic. I''m telling you this because I think this challenge, colloquially known as the waifu catalogue or rule 34 catalogue, has something to do with our situation. First of all, I had taken up that challenge as a joke. The world I believe I am in was rated highly for danger and thus afforded me quite a few points. About two weeks before I arrived here, I wrote a short little story. It was a joke about how it would be straightforward to overpower this entire world and that it shouldn''t be rated so highly. I threw it together in an afternoon to entertain myself."


    "And I was one of your purchases," Robin said with distaste, not liking how it compared to slavery.


    "Bitch please," he waved off her distaste. "You were my first pick. Granted, that was more for utility, espionage, and crowd control than sheer power. As I said before, you''re one of my favourite characters." Robin didn''t know if she was flattered by that but decided that thinking about it could wait. She waved him on. "Anyway, realistically, the group I assembled would be able to completely curb stop any challenges this world presented. The biggest problem would be getting from place to place, which could be solved by either Medea or Raven with a bit of time. Once we completely obliterated our foes, we could travel the multi-verse, even getting you ladies home. It would be easy and quick, and the most significant challenge would have been getting everybody on the same page. There was no romance, no porn, not even hand-holding. Truly I fail as a degenerate." The man muttered to himself.


    "So what happened?" She prodded, trying to get him on track before he degenerated again.


    "I have no idea," he stomped his feet in frustration. "As I said, I wrote that little story about two weeks ago and put it out of my mind. When I appeared in here," he waved to the cell walls. "I figured it had been a dimensional anomaly. In an infinite number of worlds, people are guaranteed to slip through the cracks sometimes. I just thought I just had the shitiest luck ever. Which I do. That was over a month ago, I think. Time is weird, and I don''t think I am wholly sane."


    "A month? How are you still alive?" Robin asked in disbelief.


    The man didn''t answer, but he smiled sardonically at Robin and tapped his finger out the black mark on his chest.


    "Same way I guessed where I was. But no matter what I did or how long I waited, nothing got me out of this damn cell! Where''s Oscar when you need him? And then you showed up. You can''t touch anything, right? You passed through me and the door.


    "Nothing so far? "She half asked, not knowing where this was going.


    "What I think happened is that all the benefits, such as the mansion and the help you girls were supposed to provide, were given to the women I chose. While I got trapped here with no benefits. If I''m correct, you should all notice being much stronger than before, being able to make the most delicious food and other things. That also means you will be trapped on the island, even if it is a paradise, until I can get out of this Asylum and Link the damn Fire. The only means to travel the multi-verse I picked was one I had to do myself. Dragon Break, it was called. If I''m lucky, that is all we need to escape this mess."


    "Assuming you are right," Robin decides to play the devil''s advocate. She was good at that. "Which we don''t know you are, that helps us how? I could not travel very far, and I couldn''t physically interact with anything. I won''t be of much help. I still do not know why or how I was teleported here."


    "That''s where the testing will come in. Good old scientific method. Trial and error. If I''m right, you women won''t be able to help me directly, but indirect help can be precious. There might be ways of getting around whatever restriction makes you unable to interact with the world. The first test we can do right now. Can we get you back to the mansion?"


    "All right," Robin said, standing up. They had a plan. Plans were good. Plans were better than wandering around aimlessly. "What do I need to do?"


    "Before anything else, if I am right and you do make it back to the mansion, I need you to promise me to try and replicate whatever brought you here. Without help, there is no guarantee I will ever be able to make it out of this cell, and we will remain prisoners. Promise me." He stared into her eyes intensely as if willing her to understand the severity of the situation.


    "I promise to do my best." The way he eyed her told her he knew exactly what she was doing with how she worded the promise, but he sighed in defeat and whispered, "That will have to do."


    "Once you get back, ask Tsunade to drop her transformation. Be prepared to dodge. That should prove I know what I am talking about." She looked at him in confusion but nodded. "All right, if I''m correct, you should be able to enter the mansion from wherever and whenever you want. Stand in front of the door. Imagine you are opening an entry into the mansion. Any of the doors that you said you used this morning should work. As you do that, try and open the cell door."


    Robin furled her brows in concentration, imagined the door in front of her was a solid oak one attached to her bedroom in the mansion and reached out.


    Her hand touched something, and as she pulled, space distorted before her until she looked at a rippling rectangle of pale white energy, taller and broader than she was.


    No sooner had the odd doorway appeared than the old man rushed through her incorporeal form and tried to throw himself through the passage.


    He bounced violently off the metal bars that lay beyond.


    "Worth a shot," he grumbled, clutching his head pain in a ball on the floor.


    Robin ignored him, stepping through the passage.


    She reappeared in the villa''s kitchen.


    The pirate heard her teacup crash to the ground and stood a foot behind her seat at the counter. Yoruichi and Tsunade jumped at the noise and her displacement, but Robin paid them no mind. She was eager to solve a few mysteries.


    "I need you to drop your transformation?" She half asked/ half told the blonde.


    The pirate was happy Haki had warned her enough to duck under the flying plate before it could shatter her skull.

 Confinement 2

    I felt an angel''s kiss, soft upon my cheek.


    And oh, without a single word of caring did it speak.


    ********


    "He''s not telling us everything," Yoruichi said as she lounged on the beach chair in the sun, nude like her companions. Whatever this subdimension thing was, it sure replicated the heat of a sunny beach rather well. Much better than anything Kisuke had ever made.


    "He isn''t," the blonde to her right answered. "Everybody is always hiding something. Is it going to fuck us over? That is the important part." The shinigami eyed her drinking partner lustfully.


    She would get her hands on those tits if it was the last thing she did.


    "I do not think it is too important," the brunette to her left answered as she flipped a page in her book. While not as bodacious as the blonde, Yoruichi had no set preference and wouldn''t mind a tussle in the sheets with her either. "As far as I''m aware, he has responded to every question we asked to the best of his abilities. I''m sure he hasn''t told us everything, but neither have we. Mikael seems more desperate than traitorous. At least the first time I was summoned, it seemed so. This morning, he kept asking more questions, specifically about the time between summons on our end and any discoveries we had made about the Island. Though he was jumpy, almost frightened."


    Robin was one of those who talked to their jailer the most. While everybody got summoned, once they appeared before their ''jailor,'' they could return to the Island at will.


    The first few times Yoruichi had been displaced, she had stuck around to get a feel for the old man in the cell. After a few times, however, since there was not much to do, she shared a few words with Mikael and returned.


    From her understanding, that was the same for most of the other women on the Island.


    The Witch and Robin were the exceptions.


    "Not much to explain, really," Yoruichi responded. "It''s an island paradise with the most advanced luxurious mansion I''ve ever seen. There are enough books to make any library jealous, more food than we could ever eat, and any device we could ever need. Medea says there is enough magical material to build some kind of superweapon. Since, you know, magic is apparently real."


    "Missing the Biju in the room, aren''t you?" Her blonde companion said as she sipped her sake and pointed upwards. "Or, you know, the dragon in the sky?"


    "Of course, how could I forget the Dragon? The one the size of a country?" Yoruichi replied sarcastically as she took a sip of her fruity alcoholic drink.


    One of the mansion''s perks was that any alcoholic drink they could ever want was available at a moment''s notice.


    The giant beast was rather well hidden in the light of day. The sun and the few clouds in the sky made it hard to tell, but as soon as night fell, it became apparent that this Island was not attached to any planet.


    Instead, it seemed to be held between the claws of an enormous white Dragon. Really, the only way they could tell it was a Dragon (since all they could see were the claws wrapped around the Island) was because of Robin. Her nifty little ability to sprout her appendages on places she could see made for great scouting. Even those who could fly (Yoruichi, Diana, Raven, and even Artoria with her horse) hadn''t been able to approach.


    An invisible bubble surrounded the Island, keeping them trapped.


    That hadn''t stopped Robin. She had spent quite a bit of her time exploring the great beast over the last week. Thanks to her, the group of women knew about their rough situation.


    According to the pirate, the Island was slightly over 240 km in diameter. It was ringed in on all sides by the ocean for about 10km. All of it was held in a massive jewelled bubble around which the Dragon had curled.


    Since the scale was so massive and the beast wasn''t at full length, Robin hadn''t been able to give an exact number on size but had estimated it to be about three times the length of the bubble.


    Which was insane. I made it larger than most countries Yoruichi knew of.


    It was also floating in space, and from what Robin could tell, there had been no planet or star nearby. It had taken so long to piece this all together because Robin''s separate bodies hadn''t been able to survive for more than a few moments in the vacuum.


    "When I described everything to Mikael, he believed that the Dragon was supposed to be the body he was supposed to transform into. Or at least one form of it," Robin answered as she turned another page in her book.


    "How was that going to work?" Tsunade asked, taking another swig. Yoruichi watched intensely as a drop spilled from the jug and made its way sensually down the woman''s pale breasts.


    "Apparently," Robin said as she put down her book to take a sip of tea for a moment. "The form he filled out as a setup for this little adventure was based on points. He spent most of his points on purchasing us, but the rest he put into "becoming the Dragon." He explained that it was supposed to have a whole bunch of benefits. Making all of us stronger and allowing us to travel between dimensions and thus return home. Obviously, things didn''t turn out like he planned."


    "No shit," Yoruichi said sarcastically as she flipped onto her front. She wasn''t going to be getting a tan from this. She just liked the feel of the heat on her body. "What else did he buy with these points?"


    "Mikael claimed to not remember the specifics; he insists that it was mainly a joke story he planned to write, so he didn''t carefully note the extras. It was also a while ago. Most of it was focused on purchasing things that would upgrade the Dragon or make life more bearable such as our new skill with cooking. He also claims that this Island and mansion shouldn''t be this large. He did not have enough points for it." Robin paused in her reading before looking over her glasses at her fellow women.


    "However, he remembered one purchase everyone should know about: a Warranty Plan. He wasn''t too specific on the mechanics. Essentially we would come back to life within three days if any of us were to die. So long as he is alive, that is."


    "...Well, shit," Tsunade replied after downing her entire bottle. "There goes my plan of drinking myself to the grave." Yoruichi chuckled to herself, and Robin cracked a smile. "If he could control that giant beast, I bet it would make any challenge a joke. Makes a Biju look tiny. But yeah, the rest should probably know about immortality. Where is everybody?"


    "Princess is currently sparring with the Titty King and Scathach," Yoruichi replied as she felt for their spiritual power. She really needed a nickname for the Queen of Shadows. It wasn''t fair otherwise. "Teach is in the library, and the Witch is still in her workshop. The goth is in the kitchen. And Queenie is in her room. As far as I know, she has not come out of it since she returned last night."


    "Do you think he used one of those ''command spell'' things on her then?" Tsunade asked as she reached for another bottle.


    "Probably," Robin answered. "I think that would be the only way she would know to ask Artoria about it. Mikael still had all six when I was summoned this morning. When I asked about them, we experimented. I think they recharge since he didn''t see any problem using them. Everything else lines up with what Medea explained. The more specific the order, the more powerful it is. It could be used to override normal limits and force us to do things we don''t want to."


    Yoruichi and Tsunade looked concerned before the blonde asked: "Are you all right?"


    "I''m fine." Robin waved their concerns away with nonchalance. "He kept it open-ended, just ordered me to tell him a secret I didn''t want him to know. I went with an easy one, so we have leeway in interpreting his orders if he decides to use the seals."


    "Can he use them to summon us? Physically, I mean? The Witch said it was one of their uses." Yoruichi asked. "If we can get him out of that cell, we would probably be able to make some progress."


    "Unfortunately not. Whatever is summoning us ensures that no matter what, we cannot physically interact with him or the world around him. There is some good news, however. While we were experimenting, he got an idea about how to get out of his cell. Wouldn''t tell me what it was, but he was insistent it would work. Again, he''s desperate. Very desperate."


    "That''s good," the tanned beauty said. "The escape part, not the desperate part. I felt bad about relaxing and enjoying the beach while Mikael is imprisoned. There''s nothing I can do but still..."


    "It''s not as if any of us asked for this," Tsunade commented, idly rubbing her throat. An action the former special forces commander had noticed her doing unconsciously on occasion. "While it sucks for him, none of us asked to be kidnapped to this island either."


    "Still, if he is to be believed, then our best chance at freedom is for him to complete whatever sort of task he was summoned to that asylum to do. I do not believe whoever set this all up did it to leave him a cell forever." Robin pointed out.


    "Speaking of which," Yoruichi piped in. "Do either of you have the time? I''ve been waiting for a while. I wanted to get the summoning out of the way before meeting with the others for a spar, but it''s been hours."


    "It''s about three. I thought your turn was at noon?" The blonde Hokage asked as she looked over at the mocha-skinned woman.


    "It''s probably him trying to test a few more things," Robin explained. "We wanted to see if he could try and summon someone in a different order or at different times. More than likely, one of those two worked."


    "Dammit, we had the board up and everything," Yoruichi complained. "If I''m going to be interdimensionaly kidnapped, make it consistent."


    So far, the summoning had followed the same pattern. Starting at 9 AM with three-hour intervals between and ending at 9 PM. It also followed the same order.


    Starting with Robin, Yoruichi, Raven, Scathach, Medea, Diana, Tsunade, Artoria, Glynda, and finished with Emma.


    This two-day cycle had been the pattern for the last week and a half. The women on the Island had gotten used to the schedule. The group had settled down and had fallen into a rough routine of keeping themselves occupied while waiting for something to change.


    They had already tried all their means of escape, and since they had failed, there wasn''t much they could do but relax and enjoy themselves.


    Most of the time, the more intellectual ones, such as Robin and Glynda, gravitated toward the library. Medea seemed to be constantly doing something in her workshop.


    Still, everyone else was finding themselves rather bored. They made do with sparring, exercise, getting to know each other, sometimes watching stuff on TV, playing games, and relaxing in one form or another.


    Yoruichi had noticed everybody had been very tense at first.


    More than a little bit jumpy and prone to shooting the others suspicious looks, but that tension disappeared over the week.


    It was replaced by a sense of bored ease.


    "The more we know, the more options we have to get out. I just found out I am immortal. As lovely as this place is, I would rather not spend eternity trapped here." Tsunade said after finishing her second bottle and standing up from her beach chair. "I''m going for a swim."


    Yoruichi admired how the sunlight reflected off of her pale skin. Her figure was voluptuous, to say the least. She was the most busty of all the women on the Island.


    There was no denying that everybody on this Island was beautiful, and the cat woman would love to ''test'' everyone''s size to get the exact ranking. If Yoruichi had to be stuck somewhere for a while, this was certainly not the worst place nor the worst company.


    Who knows what could happen while they waited.


    This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road. If you spot it on Amazon, please report it.


    But that was for the future; now, Yoruichi was in the mood for some wet fun with the blonde. She smiled a little joke in her head before standing up and answering. "If I''m not going to be summoned, I might as well have some fun." She stretched a little after hours of inactivity, enjoying how her companion''s eyes roamed her naked body before she started walking toward the water.


    Then she froze, that odd sense of vertigo overcoming her once more.


    "Oh, come on!" She complained. Between one step in the next, she disappeared.


    ********


    After her teleportation, Yoruichi did not even take a moment to realize something had changed.


    Gone was the cramped cell and dark hall.


    Replacing it was some sort of grassy ruin. Judging by the statue, arches, and vaulted ceiling, it had once been a temple or church.


    It had seen better days.


    The roof was almost completely destroyed, exposing the interior to the elements. A pool of water had gathered on the floor, and plants had taken over every surface. Beyond an arched doorway, Yoruichi could see green grass, more ruined walls and a massive cliff face.


    A man was sitting on the base of the stairs near the entrance, dangling his bare feet in the water.


    He was unfamiliar.


    Like someone had tied pieces of metal together in an approximation of armour, he was wearing the tattered remains of metal and leather. He was large. He would tower over the shinigami''s 5ft 1'' by at least a foot if he was standing. With dark hair and eyes, his face was solid but plain. Low thirties, maybe?


    Mortal ages were always confusing to Yoruichi. He was also staring right at her.


    "If nothing else, the eye candy is nice." He said as he eyed her naked form. Emotions passed through his face quickly. She recognized lust, longing, fondness, and something else. Then, it flickered into a grimace before going completely blank. "It''s good to see you again, Floof."


    "Old man?" She asked. The old prisoner had been the only one to call her by that nickname. He blinked at her before a look of realization came over him.


    "This is what I actually look like." Mikael waved a hand over his profile. "I was... transformed while in the cell." As she expected, he was hiding something, but he pushed on and waved grandly around the ruin. "Welcome to Firelink Shrine. Please leave no footprints and take no pictures. Shanking guaranteed. An existential crisis is included in your experience. Our health insurance package is extra. All suicides are to be at the cliffs, per regulations."


    That was the Mikael, alright. From what Yoruichi had heard, only Robin enjoyed his dark humour.


    "How''d you manage to get out?" Yoruichi asked curiously, still looking around.


    "Squeezed through the bars," he shrugged the question off. "How long has it been on your end since Robin arrived?"


    "Six hours, I thought I wouldn''t be summoned, so I was at the beach with the girls." She stretched her body provocatively to tease him. He eyed her appreciatively but, beyond that, did not respond.


    "As you can see, I''m also enjoying a five-star resort," he replied sarcastically.


    "At least it smells better here." Whatever it was, it was delicious. Yoruichi couldn''t put her finger on the scent, but it reminded her of some better times.


    Of silk sheets and her Little Bee.


    She inhaled deeply again, lost in fond nostalgia.


    "Couldn''t tell ya, can''t smell anything," Mikael shrugged. "Anyway, you can tell the others that the time between summonings should be six hours now. It will be a bit inconvenient, but it should lower the time you all are trapped on the Island. I''ll be trying a few more tests. I can make some actual progress now. Before you go exploring, can you help answer a few questions?"


    "Sure," Yoruichi answered with a deep breath. She was in no rush. The following few minutes were occupied with a back and forth. Like always, the man had a million and one questions.


    Could she still sense him now that he was out of the cell? Yes.


    Could she still sense anyone or anything around him? Yes.


    How far could she travel in a straight line without going through anything? 50 meters.


    Did passing through matter lower the distance? Yes, irrespective of material and thickness, every time she passed through something, it reduced her total length by 10 meters.


    Could she still use her powers to fly, transform, etc.? Yes.


    Could the cleric in the other room, the woman in the cell, or the downtrodden man see or hear her? No. Though Yoruichi did have a few questions of her own about those people.


    "Not counting that mountain, the city goes beyond my eyesight," Yoruichi reported. Mikael had asked her to go as high as possible and use her superior vision to estimate the size of the city below. This Firelink Shrine was about a fifth of the way up this massive cliff. An absolutely enormous metropolis was sprawled out at its foot, and she had spotted the hints of a wall on its peak. "Which means it is bigger than Tokyo, I think around the size of Shikoku. I can''t go far enough to verify, but it is enormous."


    "Shikoku''s one of the islands of Japan, right? The smallest of the main four?" He asked. She nodded. "Larger than I thought, though I guess it makes sense. Gods wouldn''t do anything but overcompensate."


    "Why''d you do it anyway?" Yoruichi couldn''t help but ask as she sat down beside him. At his questioning look, she explained. "From what Robin told me, you could have chosen any world you were familiar with, right? Why this one?"


    "She did tell you it was supposed to be a joke, right?" He tried to scoot farther away from her, but she followed him. Partly for the lovely smell but also to tease him. It didn''t seem to work, he seemed unconcerned with her nakedness, but he did flash an annoyed look at her. She smiled smugly. He stopped trying to run. "This world was originally a video game in my world. You familiar with them?"


    "I know the basics. Kisuke went on a brief kick of them for a while. Never saw the appeal."


    "In the challenge I filled out, all worlds were assigned a difficulty. The higher the difficulty, the more points to spend. This world was rated at 9, the second-highest possible. It is filled with Gods, Dragons, Demons, and Magic. It is in a constant cycle of destruction and rebirth, spanning hundreds of thousands of years. We are currently at the tail end of the first cycle, one of the bleakest times on this planet. There are worlds at the same level which would be safer in many ways."


    "Then why?" She asked again.


    "Because of the foundation of this world. Its core philosophy." Mikael turned away, staring up at the cliff. "Anyone can overcome anything, so long as they have the will and dedication. The strongest of Gods can be felled by the weakest of beings. Even me. I''ve been in three fights my entire life and got my ass kicked in every single one of them."


    "I''m not surprised if you are that scrawny," Yoruichi looked him up and down. He didn''t look like dried jerky anymore, but Mikael was still entirely too skinny.


    "I''m not ashamed of those losses. I''ve always been more of a thinker than a fighter," Mikael shrugged. "Anyway, imagine a world like that, but suddenly there are ten new people. Each is more powerful or more versatile than the last. Some are strong enough to kill the strongest gods of this world with barely any effort."


    "So what? We come, destroy everything in our way, and go home?" She asked in disbelief.


    "Pretty much," he nodded easily. "The story I wrote was about ten thousand words, most spent getting everyone on the same page. While Diana is probably the most dangerous in a one-on-one, you all were picked for various uses. Artoria could carpet bomb this city into rubble in an afternoon with enough magic power. Scathach made the equivalent of a rocket ship on a desert island in a week. With Medea''s help, one of the greatest mages to ever live, who knows what they could accomplish. Those two are probably the most versatile."


    Yoruichi let him continue his explination. She could at least appreciate that he hadn''t been thinking with his dick.


    Though she was sure it factored in somewhere.


    "You and Raven are great at information gathering and mobility, to say nothing of your fighting abilities. Tsunade would be around to heal anyone up. She can also destroy most buildings with a flick of her fingers. Emma would be in charge of coordination between all the disparate people. Glynda would aid by her excellent terrain control, unlocking everyone''s Aura and teaching them how to use it. With her Devil Fruit and Haki, Robin would be our best scout. She is categorically the weakest of you ten, but I would still bet her against all but the best armies this world offers."


    "So you had a plan," Yoruichi nodded. "For this world, at least. What then?"


    "After kicking ass, I use one of the abilities of that dragon body and teleport everyone home, including myself," he sighed wistfully. "It would take a week, maybe a month. We all get Aura, Haki, some new friends, and a fantastic story. I become a dragon to travel the multiverse, perhaps visiting you guys occasionally to catch up over drinks."


    "Sounds like a good plan," Yoruichi nodded casually before pinning him in place with a glance. "If it worked."


    If there was anything she had learned with Kisuke, no plan was foolproof.


    "If it worked," Mikael nodded to her point. "Now, getting us out of here seems up to me. We are lucky. With enough willpower and time, even I can overcome this. I had been torn between this world and a cultivation world, and that would have been impossible."


    "A what world?"


    "Think of a place where everybody has the power of the Spirit King at the minimum, will genocide for the slightest perceived insult and can measure lifetimes in billions of years." Yoruichi shuddered at the image. That sounded like hell. "Exactly. This world is no longer a game and is much larger than it was portrayed. But the fundamental mechanics of it are the same. I can get strong enough to overcome pretty much anything here."


    "So long as you don''t die," the shinigami couldn''t help but point out. Partly out of concern for him, she didn''t want to become trapped forever if he became overconfident and failed.


    "I can one hundred percent guarantee I will not die." He smirked at her as if he knew she wasn''t getting a joke. "You girls can sit tight, it might take a while, but I will get out of this. Trust me, I hate this more than you."


    Mikael looked serious enough that Yoruichi decided to change the subject to something else. A better one.


    Teasing.


    "So," she leaned closer to him. Her boobs would be pressed against his arm if she could touch him. "Ten beautiful women? All from your wildest fantasies? Somebody was thinking dirty thoughts?"


    "More than you can imagine," he deadpanned in response, meeting her gaze.


    "You definitely have a type," she raised her bust enticingly. She again saw that flash of desire on his face, but it disappeared quicker than before.


    "I do," he admitted. "I do prefer women with curves, both butt and breasts. Hips and thighs as well. Height doesn''t matter, but I guess I would like tall women if forced to choose. Bite-sized can be fun, though." She refused to blush as he eyed her hungrily. She knew when she was being teased in turn. "Lollies are fine, but not really my preference."


    "It''s no fun if you are so open." The cat woman pouted. "Berryboy was way better, all blushing and stuttering."


    "I know what I like; no reason to be ashamed of it. Besides, my choices only matched my physical preferences this time because of coincidence." At her disbelieving look, he explained. "More than body type, personalities and powers were the main factors in my decision. I explained why everyone would be helpful, but the personality types were also significant. All of you are competent, mature, skilled, and willing to work with others to achieve your goals. It would take minimal convincing to get everyone to cooperate."


    "So what? You love us for who we are, not our bodies?" She said it in a teasing way, clearly meant as a joke.


    His face contorting in rage was utterly unexpected, and she leaned away at the ferocity in his eyes.


    "I do not love you! Any of you!" He snarled. "I barely know you! What I see on the screen or in a book are merely some parts of your lives and characters. That is not enough to fall in love. We''ve spent a few hours together, nowhere near enough."


    "Woah, it was just a joke," she raised her hands placatingly. "No need to take it so seriously." Mikael took a deep breath, leaning back from looming over her.


    "Sorry," he said finally. "Sore spot. One of the ''perks'' of the challenge was the ability to influence the mind of your summons. It could take many forms, but they all boiled down to mind-controlling others to love you. I hate that."


    "I get ya. I couldn''t stand what Aizen was doing either."


    "It is not the same," he shook his head. "While I do not agree or like a lot of what Aizen did, the fundamental mechanics of his ability was only deceiving the senses. Even if what you see, hear, taste, smell, and feel are wrong, you are still you. If someone messes with your mind directly, the ''you'' from before ceases to exist in every conceivable way. Someone or something else has taken your place. Reversing it is impossible. You would just be killing the new thing to create another replacement. If somebody takes over my body and moves it like a puppet. Mikael paused, shuddering. His eyes were distant again. "Anything would be better than that kind of death."


    "If you say so," Yoruichi decided to drop the topic rather than argue. He hadn''t had to live with the aftermath of Aizen''s betrayal, the fear of your own senses turning against you. Never trusting anything. He hadn''t had to help Momo put her life back together after her world was shattered.


    At least that instant of rage was gone now.


    "Anyway, I wrote the story as if it was really going to happen," he explained, calming down. "So, no mind control. Our relationships with each other would be cordial and friendly, but I couldn''t see any romance blossoming."


    "Why not?" She couldn''t help but ask. They didn''t know each other too well, but that wasn''t a reason to write it off. If nothing else, now that he didn''t look like dried jerky, she wouldn''t mind a tussle in the sheets. Nothing so far had been too much of a turn-off for her.


    "Because I''m a possessive bastard. Possessive, hypocritical, sadistic, with only a hint of fair play," Mikael answered simply as if stating the weather. "Possessive; I can only dedicate myself wholly to a relationship if I know the other person is. That usually means monogamy. Bastard; because I won''t cheat, but I will coerce and manipulate. While consent is the greatest of all fetishes, what defines consent can be extensive."


    "What do you mean?" Yoruichi leaned in again, teasingly smirking as she dragged a hand sensually up her body.


    His eyes followed it.


    "You know why I like competent and mature women?" Mikael asked rhetorically. He loomed over her again; the intense look in his eyes captivated her. "My ideal is a woman I can talk seriously with, intelligent enough to provide input and ideas. We can talk politics. History. Economics. Or the philosophy of a good video game. Only later do I make them into my mewling love slave. I like breaking them. That''s one of the reasons I dislike mind control. It takes out all the challenges. The thrill of the hunt. Over months and years, I seduce and twist. Little things at first, you can''t live without me by the end. Take you, for example."


    "Me?" Yoruichi asked in a hoarse whisper. Why was her throat so dry? The smell overcame her. It reminded her of silk, but they were ropes instead of sheets. No more did she think of the worshipful touch of her Little Bee. Now she thought of a body pressing her down in passion. His voice entranced the shinigami.


    This was dirty talk, she realized. He was teasing her again. She didn''t know if he was telling the truth.


    Of if she wanted it to be the truth.


    "You," he all but growled. "It would start simple. A night of passion, maybe some alcohol. You are no blushing virgin, but it would still be a night to remember. Then a second night, a third. I would never force you. You are a free cat, after all." He raised his hand to caress her cheek, but it passed through without touching. She shivered nonetheless. "You would come back anyway, the pleasure I could provide growing over time as I learn your every. Little. Trick." She swallowed. "Then I''d escalate. Little changes. Some spanking, maybe handcuffs. By the end, you''d be tied to my bed in nothing but a collar. You would be my little pet. My little Floof."


    Mikael''s honeyed whispers hung in the air before he sat back with a chuckle.


    Damn!


    He got her!


    "Never going to happen. In the original story, we were together for a week, nowhere enough time to break any of you. And now..." He paused, face sinking as he stared into the distance.


    She took the chance to dive through an open portal as he chuckled at her hasty escape.


    Tsunade and Robin eyed her oddly as she shook her fist at the sky, vowing revenge. They were kind enough to not mention if they noticed her erect nipples and slick thighs.


    It would only be in a few hours after she had calmed down that Yoruichi would realize he had completely changed the topic to avoid answering her questions properly.


    Definitely hiding something.

 Confinement 3

    I felt an angel''s loving touch, soft upon my heart


    And with that touch, I felt the pain and hurt within depart


    ********


    "I''ve never seen a Semblance quite like this," Glynda said as she walked around the massive Gate. It looked solid, just like her regular Gate of Skye. The fortress behind it was ephemeral, clearly made out of her Aura and was unfamiliar, though. "Are you certain it is not made of magic?"


    "The Gate is the same as my Noble Phantasm," Scathach replied. The runes upon the door were different. Focused more on defence than entrapment. The Celtic witch knew its use instinctively but asked for her fellow teacher''s insight. She had only had Aura for less than a week, after all.


    She shivered in joy.


    Scathach could not remember the last time she had something new to learn.


    "Normally, when a Heroic Spirit is summoned as a Servant, they only have access to one Noble Phantasm."


    "Because of the limits of Servant containers, correct?" Glynda asked, clearly remembering Medea''s impromptu lessons on the nature of Heroic Spirits, Servants, and the Grail Wars.


    "There are exceptions," the Lancer explained. "If legends are intertwined, two weapons or abilities can count as one Noble Phantasm. Or if you need one in order to use the other."


    "Artoria''s horse and lance," Glynda nodded, following along.


    "Sometimes a Phantasm might be lowered in power and count as a personal skill instead. That happens with passive abilities most of the time. Medea''s Golden Fleece," Scathach continued. "This summoning has been different. We are more robust, are not dependent on mana to maintain our forms, and have access to Noble Phantasms we shouldn''t have."


    "Because of the catalogue?"


    "Probably," Scathach nodded. "We are all three getting the bonus to parameters we would receive if summoned and fighting in our homeland. Our bodies are still made of spiritual particles but act as if alive in every conceivable manner."


    "The other two as well?"


    "Artoria still has her spear, though it is much more potent than it would be if she was summoned as a Lancer." Scathach''s hands subtly twitched. She wanted to fight her. Spear against lance. "She also has her Grand Hall, Ehangwen. Some skills from her knights count as pseudo-Noble Phantasms that normally should only be present if she were a Ruler, not a Lancer. Medea, I have not asked yet."


    While not opposed to magic and one of the greatest rune users to ever live, Scathach didn''t feel the call of to battle against the witch that she did against the King of Knights.


    "I do not know if either has discovered their Semblance," Scathach admitted. "I have access to all of my Phantasms, however. My Gate and Gae Bolg, on top of whatever this is."


    The former huntress was silent momentarily, continuing to prod the Gate and the illusionary castle with her own Semblance.


    "I have a few theories. Nothing is confirmed before the other two achieve their own Semblances." Scathach nodded for her to continue. "I believe it is because you are essentially ghosts. Aura and semblances, by extension, are the manifestation of the soul. From my understanding, your Noble Phantasms are as entwined with your souls as it is possible to be. Having a Semblance manifest in a similar form shouldn''t be too surprising."


    "That was my theory as well." While no magus, Scathach knew more than most about the nature of the soul. It was why she preferred to use Gae Bolg rather than the Gate. "I just wished for a second opinion before I continued."


    Deciding she no longer needed it, the Queen of the Land of Shadows dissipated the Gate and its ghostly castle. Her Aura was only slightly lowered from the expenditure.


    "Have you made any progress with Haki?" The blonde asked as the Queen stood from her seat on the ground.


    The pair were in a deep jungle clearing on the other side of the mountain range. The Island was massive, and the pair of teachers had been exploring for the last few days. The team could carry any needed supplies using Glynda''s Semblance and Scathach''s runes.


    They needed little, more than capable of hunting any wildlife for food.


    "I have focused more on Armament," Scathach said, summoning a Gae Bolg to her hand. After a few moments, the air around the barbed spear distorted and black spread across its red surface. She held it momentarily before letting the new power, and the spear disappeared. "It is not usable in combat, but I have progressed."


    "Observation has been my focus," Glynda explained, waving her riding crop. A boar squealed in the distance, almost a kilometre away. The huntress'' telekinesis dragged it before the pair in a few seconds. A massive beast, twice the pair''s size. It would not have been out of place in Scathach''s age. "It extends my range considerably, though I still miss the finer details."


    "Impressive," Scathach did not give empty praise. She had seen hundreds of abilities in her long life, thousands of different battle styles, and tens of thousands of battles. She had trained some of the world''s greatest heroes and even gotten strong enough to kill her own death when it came for her.


    While Glynda was nowhere near the strongest of beings she had seen, few abilities were as deceptively simple and versatile as her Semblance. Simply amplifying her range from tens of metres to kilometres multiplied her threat potential exponentially.


    "I cannot take all the credit," both teachers continued their quick pace northward, leaving the animal behind. There was no need to kill it; they had enough food. "These ''Talents'' have made all training easier. My Aura is larger. You all are picking up its use faster than even my best students. It almost feels unfair."


    "There is no such thing as unfair," the celt shook her head at the notion. "The talented can die just as quickly as those without. Talent is an accelerant, an advantage one has to use and is no guarantee of victory."


    Setanta had been talented, but he had still died young.


    Scathach had outlived every one of her students, many of whom were just as talented as she had been.


    "I know," Glynda replied simply, looking pained. The huntress hadn''t been a teacher for as long as her, barely a decade, but Scathach was sure she had lost students.


    That was the peril and the burden of teaching warriors.


    "Mikael needs all the help he can get." Rather than comment on the hurt on her face, Scathach switched topics.


    "He does," the mention of their mutual student seemed to shake the melancholy from the air. It was best to not dwell on the past. "I can barely imagine a world he describes. One without Grimm. Even civilians need to know basic combat and evacuation techniques where I am from. Such a peaceful world seems idyllic."


    "It wasn''t completely peaceful," Scathach pointed out. "If it was anything like the modern society of my Human History, then there were plenty of conflicts."


    "I''m sure there was, but it was a distant thing. No ever-present threat of extinction. His most significant concern before now was securing his livelihood. Not fear of an ever-present Grimm Tide."


    "It showed," Scathach couldn''t help but say, her mouth curving slightly. "First drill I had Mikael go through, he tripped over his feet."


    "I tried to have him do some basic sword swings, get an eye for his form, and he cut himself." Glynda looked equally amused, a slight smirk on her face.


    "First time he held a spear, he impaled his own foot," Scathach nodded. "He''s picking things up fast, thanks to his Talent, but I have never seen someone who needs to work on the basics as much as he."


    Out of the ten women summoned to this Island, the pair felt most comfortable with each other''s presence.


    Raven, Emma, and Medea remained private people, sticking primarily to their rooms or workshops.


    After only a few weeks, Robin, Yoruichi, and Tsunade were practically inseparable, doing everything together.


    Diana and Artoria were much the same, talking, sparing, and spending time together.


    While there were no severe conflicts among the women, and many freely interacted with each other, their little cliques formed naturally.


    Glynda and Scathach were the most similar of any women summoned.


    They were women of few words, teachers of heroes, highly competent in their field, and extremely beautiful like all women on the Island. Glynda''s 195cm height towering over Scathach''s petite 162cm frame was the most significant difference.


    Nevertheless, if either of their students ever met the other, they would run to the hills screaming.


    The pair continued to exchange stories of their students'' more amusing mistakes. That transitioned to telling about their respective experiences teaching. Time passed as quickly as the distance they travelled. They made it to the Island''s northernmost point well before the sunset.


    "Bigger than Skye, about two-thirds of Scotland, I believe," Scathach reported as Glynda made notes to their map.


    "I do not know the exact size of your homeland, but Medea''s little creation calculates the area at about 60 thousand kilometres. A bit more if you consider the mountains."


    The witch had asked them to plant small items in the ground, looking like bones or teeth, at the extremity of the Island. It was to aid in scrying, as far as Scathach could tell. Though there had been talk about setting up a bounded field, the Lancer did not know how Medea would power such a huge barrier.


    "The wildlife is changing as well. Have you noticed?"


    "I have," Glynda nodded as she put away the bag holding Medea''s creation. "When we left, there was the occasional boar, giant rats, and some birds and wild dogs. I should not be surprised that there are large felines either."


    The creature that had tried to stalk the pair for the last few minutes was a cat in the loosest of senses.


    It looked like someone had taken a house cat, given it enough steroids for an entire sports team, and then turned all its fur into deadly spikes.


    It lasted less than a second against Scathach''s cursed spear, and then Glynda was levitating it to bring it back to Medea to study.


    "I did not see any markings of territory, did you?"


    "I do not believe they are native to the Island. I have suddenly felt animals appear in my senses since we started exploring," Glynda reported. "I initially thought it to be due to my unfamiliarity with Haki, but this creature teleported within one hundred feet of us from nowhere near. I believe they are spawning from nowhere."


    "If so, they are getting more dangerous. While no threat, this cat was worse than the dogs and boars. The Island could be escalating. If we wish to remain undisturbed, we may need to set up defences around the mansion."


    "I will ask Medea, Robin, and Raven," the blonde nodded. "They are the most knowledgeable about the Island. Can I trouble you to ask Mikael upon your next summoning? I was called last night, and I would rather not wait three more days if he has the answers."


    "Of course," the ruler of the land of shadows nodded amiably. She actually was hopeful more dangerous creatures would appear. It would make life on the Island more enjoyable. "On the subject of our summoner, I have intended to ask; would you like to go first or second?"


    "Hm? First or second?" Glynda tilted her head curiously.


    "To lay with him, of course." The taller blonde, stern and composed, stumbled on her heeled boot. The levitating bag and body dipped, almost hitting the jungle floor.


    Glynda barely managed to not fall on her face and regained her balance in a moment.


    "Excuse me!?" She shouted as her face flushed red. A flock of ravens flew from the nearby trees at the loud sound.


    "To lay with him," the veiled woman repeated. "I intend to do so at the earliest convenience. I have no preference for order. If you preferred to go first, I would not be opposed." The taller blonde continued to stare at her friend, red-faced and stammering.


    "You-you, with him?" She stuttered.


    "Of course, if you would like us both to do so simultaneously, I believe we will overwhelm him if it is the first time. Perhaps the third or fourth, then," the celt persisted.


    If you discover this tale on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the violation.


    "How improper! With your own student?!" The blonde finally managed to gather her thoughts. She looked scandalized at the idea, though Scathach noticed her eyes were also a bit glassy in imagination.


    "You have never laid with one of your students?" The Servant couldn''t help but ask, shocked in her own way.


    While she hadn''t slept with most of her students, not even Setanta, it was not a rare occurrence. One of them had even been the father of her daughter, not that they had ever met.


    "Of course not!" Glynda snapped out of her thoughts, though fantasies might be a better term. "It would be a gross violation of my duty as a teacher. Entirely inappropriate."


    "How odd." It must be a difference in culture. Scathach did not have the Grail to provide insight into her companion''s world, so their society might have been utterly alien to her. Why had a difference only come up now, though? "I admit, I am looking forward to testing out that perk of his when we can interact physically. Sticky fingers, I believe it was called. Have you never thought about it? Even once? Yoruichi bragged considerably about what she planned to do with him. I have caught Artoria daydreaming about him more than once, though she refuses to admit it."


    "It has crossed my mind," Glynda admitted hesitantly before immediately retreating. "But it would be completely inappropriate, as I said. As teachers, we have a duty to guide our students. To take advantage of our charge would be wrong."


    "Why? It is not as if he is young. I believe your students, like mine, were old enough to be making a decision for themselves." Scathach was genuinely curious about this foreign concept. Was there a reason or simply propriety holding people back?


    "I mean, it''s just wrong," the huntress stuttered. "Besides, how would that even work? "


    "Like any other sort of sex, I imagine." Scathact deadpanned. "I hope with more orgasms than most, I admit. Some of my students required much instruction to reach the bare minimum." As Glynda remained stonefaced, though red, the Lord of Spirits started to suspect a different issue was the problem. "You have laid with a man before, right?"


    The silence was her answer.


    The Servant let out a tinkling laugh, and Glynda flushed further, mortified.


    "Apologies, I mean not to mock you. Where I come from, you would have suitors knocking down the walls of your hall for your hand."


    "It isn''t as if I had much choice," Glynda grumbled as she walked away. Scathact matched her pace, still chuckling. "I was the only one keeping Beacon together, leaving little time for romance. And the man I was fond of became a monster in the end. Things spiralled from there."


    "We will have to fix that then." The Queen of the Land of Shadows stopped laughing, deciding to bring the subject to a brighter topic. "Before Mikael drops you off at home. I will be with you the entire way, much like I was for my daughter''s first time."


    "Can we please drop the subject?" The blonde sighed in resignation.


    "Very well," she complied, but not before getting one last word in. "If the perk is all it is hyped up to be, I fear we will ruin you for anyone in your homeworld."


    "You still intend to ask to travel with Mikael?" Glynda asked, desperate to end the teasing.


    "I do."


    "He has made no secret that he intends to bring us home and leave us there. How do you intend to convince him to take you with him?"


    "I call it the ''Friendship of Thighs." Scathach tried to stop the words from forming. She really did. But Glynda had given her the perfect opening. The stink-eye she received was worth it. "I suspect that it will not take too much convincing. He has kept cards close to his chest, but I suspect he is a bit of a pushover when it comes to us. He regrets dragging us into this mess, even if it wasn''t by his design."


    "I am not certain about that," Glynda shook her head. "While he has engaged us with good faith, Mikeal has repeatedly expressed he intends to leave us all behind. Not just to me but to all the other women as well. He is never rude or cruel about it, but any guilt he feels for us is tempered by his own situation. Something has set him against our further presence in his life."


    "Emma knows what that reason is," Scathach declared with certainty. "She discovered it, and he silenced her with a Comand Seal. Despite enjoying the luxury the mansion offers more than any of the others, she is the most desperate to be free of it and our summoner."


    "Raven might know as well," Glynda agreed. "She always returns from their conversations introspective. I overheard her talking with Diana about her empathetic abilities. She claimed that Mikael was no threat to us. She seemed absolutely certain of this fact."


    "Good. Convincing him will be easier than expected."


    Scathach was not going to accept any other outcome. She would not allow herself to be returned to the Land of Shadows. Either Mikael would take her with him, or he would kill her.


    There was no third option.


    ********


    "Gah!" Mikael cried, whip-like vines slashing at his hand. He did not drop his halberd and swung it at his foe. It passed through his opponent quickly, and the enchanted blade tip ignited the foliage as it severed the top of the monster from its bottom. One down, six more to go. Two of which remained hidden in the brush. "You damn shrubbery! Ni! Ni! Ni!"


    Scathach watched it all with an appraising eye. Her pupil had improved tremendously since she first met him as a decrepit old man in a cell.


    She watched him take another blow, a whip to the back.


    "Urk," he grunted from the pain, whirling to slice the offending vines to shreds. "Ekke Ekke Ekke Ekke Ptang Zoo Boing!"


    Of course, he still had a long way to go.


    Mikael needed to get better at handling multiple opponents. His armour protected him from the worst of the plant monsters but slowed him down considerably.


    The celt understood that not everyone liked to go to battle naked, but shields and armour were only valuable so long as they did not engender passivity.


    One of the creatures, whose legs had been severed and charred, crawled close enough to entangle his ankles. The celt didn''t alert him, though. It was up to the living to chart their own course.


    Her nails dug into her palm. She felt her gut clench in fear as he stumbled to the ground.


    Immaterial as she was, she wouldn''t be able to save him.


    Miksrl saved himself with a blast of fire from his palm, taking out the group of tree-like beings.


    "Burn!"


    As he stumbled to his feet, she saw a blood flow line from an open wound on his face, an attack that hadn''t been protected by his helmet. She almost felt bad telling him to battle the group without recourse to his magecraft.


    Almost.


    "You failed," Scathach told him as she wandered over.


    She had remained as distant as possible during the fight to not distract him. He was breathing heavily as he wiped the blood from his face.


    She noted with pride that he was not collapsing in exhaustion, instead taking the time to stab his weapon into his foes to verify their deaths.


    "Sorry, instinct," he explained, still panting.


    The dark forest did not provide much illumination, but she noted his armour was stained with rust, blood, and sap. His halberd was still charred black but bore no other stain.


    "Your pyromancy is potent," Scathach nodded. "The purpose of the exercise was to familiarize yourself with your weapon further. Your insistence on this particular blade will do more harm than good if you cannot leverage it properly."


    "After everything I went through to get this thing, I will learn to use it. It''s the only weapon I''ve found that does not require regular maintenance. I will not have access to Andre all the time."


    "It is powerful," Scathach agreed. She also agreed with his reasons, as proper weapon care supplies were rare in this ruined world. "But a powerful weapon can be a greater foe than any beast if it teaches the wrong lessons."


    "I know." Finished verifying his kills, he surveyed the forest. She saw his eyes lingered on the bush creatures that remained hidden. He approached them casually, even as he continued to talk to her. "I need all the help I can get. It is entirely different from using a sword. I think I will try without the shield. It should improve my balance. I am not leaving the Garden until I can defeat Havel."


    As the vine monsters jumped from the dirt in an ambush, Mikael swept the blade through them both.


    Flames licked them as they fell apart.


    "Tell me of this foe. Why is a target of your enmity?"


    "He''s not, not really," Mikael shrugged casually. "Much like most things in this world, he is hollow. An undead that has lost his mind and soul to madness. When he was alive, he was a fearsome dragonslayer. A hero. His primary weapon is a club made out of a dragon''s tooth. His armour was so strong they called him The Rock."


    Scathach pressed her lips together but said nothing.


    Any dragonslayer was worthy of respect and fear. It was an act that almost guaranteed a place in the Throne of Heroes.


    For Mikael to face one so early in his training...


    "I am not sure if the man in that tower is Havel himself, an imitator, or somebody who has possession of his gear. If I cannot defeat him, I stand no chance against later enemies," Mikael finished, staring skywards at the massive cliff that dominated the landscape.


    "I would not have you die because you challenged a legend too soon." The Servant kept her voice stern though fear crept up her spine. Mikael was not allowed to die, not when she finally had hope. "You are growing quickly, and challenges will help you progress, but all growth will end if you die."


    She could not remember the last time she had felt fear, but she controlled it rather than letting it control her.


    "I promise I won''t die." Taking a seat on a log, he smirked up at her. A joke she was unaware of in his smile. "But Havel isn''t even the worst threat in these woods. The hydra will be worse. Fighting anything in the water is going to be a pain."


    "A hydra?" Scathach perked up, her hands aching for a spear. She had never had the pleasure of hunting one of those beasts, though legends of them had reached even her home in Scotland.


    "It doesn''t have the regeneration like the one from myth, but yes," Mikael nodded. "A nine-headed one is in the basin''s lake. It stands between a princess trapped in crystal and me. I will need to slay it to rescue her."


    "A knight in shining armour, are you?"


    "No," he shook his head with a chuckle. "She will be able to teach me some useful spells. They will make my life much easier later."


    "Then I wish you a good hunt," Scathach nodded. Even if she feared he was taking on too much too quickly, her teaching style had never been one to keep her pupils safe. "On the subject, do you know why animals appear on the Island? When we first arrived, it was barren of life but us. Since then, we have met all sorts of beasts. Glynda will be asking Medea, but you might have an answer for us."


    "Sounds like the ''Creature Feature,''" Mikael looked at her in interest. "It was an optional pick in the catalogue. It populates the demi-plane with any creature I encounter under a certain tier. Level Six, I believe. What animals have you met?" Scathach listed all the ones she knew of, even the cat-like monstrosity she had slain not an hour ago. "I ran into those creatures not too long ago." He grimaced, rubbing his chest in phantom pain. "I did not manage to kill one, so meeting them is enough for copies to appear on the Island. Maybe touch? We''ll have to experiment a bit."


    "Does this mean the Hydra will appear as well?" She tried to keep hope from her voice. Judging from his amused glance, she failed.


    "It should. If I remember correctly, it shouldn''t be strong enough to count as tier 6, and anything below that and non-sapient should fall under the category of ''creature.'' At least, as far as I remember."


    "I shall alert the others," after hunting one down for herself, of course.


    "Has a drake appeared?" Scathach shook her head in denial at his question. "Then either I need to touch the creature, or dragons are too high tier to count. Those and the Moonlight Butterfly are the only other ''Creatures'' I expect to encounter. If any of you see them, let me know. Now that I think about it, there might be some wolves too."


    "Medea will be happy with fresh materials, though I worry for the mansion if we must fend off dragons."


    Despite her words, the Queen of Dun Scaith was giddy at the thought.


    It sounded like more fun than she had in millennia.


    "Sorry," he shrugged his shoulder in helplessness. "I can''t avoid facing them myself. If I had known this would happen, I would have bought Creature Defence. Like everything else on the Island, I hadn''t been able to buy the Creature Feature, so I didn''t expect it to be relevant."


    "We will be able to handle it." She waved off his concerns. It was not the place for the student to worry about their teachers.


    There were a few minutes of companionable silence as he used a ragged cloth to wipe down his armour from the worst of its sticky remnants.


    "I''m sorry," he eventually said, not looking at her.


    "About?" She asked, not sure for what he was apologizing.


    In her experience, Mikael was an intelligent man. His mind worked fast, sometimes too fast for others to keep up with, and he would start on subjects out of nowhere with very little connecting thread.


    "Summoning you," he explained.


    "Do not be," Mikael flinched at her order, but she explained. "You had little control of the situation and are no more responsible for this than anyone else."


    "Not that," he shook his head, finally looking her in the eyes. "I am not guilty of that. It was not my choice to actually summon any of you to that Island. I can only control my own actions, not the world. I am not sorry for any of the others, the situation is unfortunate, but by the end, they will have a short vacation and go home with some nifty abilities. I''m apologizing to you because you are the only one I have wronged directly."


    "In what manner have you wronged me?" As far as she was aware, there was no such thing.


    "In the story I wrote, I would drop everyone off at their home. Since it was only a short piece, I hand-waived many issues away. You were one of them. Everyone else has somewhere to return to or would like the benefits of immortality to achieve their goals. By choosing you, I condemned you to the worst experience possible." He looked genuinely regretful.


    "You were aware of my wish?" She asked, heart clenching in her chest. "To face a foe able to slay me in battle?"


    "I was," he nodded softly. "With Warranty Plan, that is no longer possible. You were eternal before. Now, you are genuinely immortal so long as I live. And as sorry as I am for you, I have no intention of dying. So I am sorry that I chose you despite knowing your wish. I am even more sorry that I am not selfless enough to free you from your eternal prison. But I am not sorry that you were summoned. I do not regret meeting any of you."


    Mikael eyes met hers, regretful but firm. Stubborn. Courageous.


    His sympathy and regret would not sway him from his path.


    Indeed, she had a most selfish pupil.


    Scathach laughed.


    Mikael stared, buffudled at her tinkling joy.


    "I accept your apology, misguided and backhanded though it is." The Servant felt she should explain. He was looking a bit hurt that she laughed at his heartfelt words. "You know my wish, but you not the reasons behind it?"


    "Not exactly," he shook his head. "All my knowledge of any of you women was filtered through different media. It never painted a complete picture, only hinted at parts. I know you mainly from a game with multiple servants; you were only one of the hundreds. As far as I can remember, you had explicitly stated your wish for the Grail but not the reasons. Piecing things together, I thought it was due to simply being weary of life after millennia. I guess I was wrong."


    "No, you were correct. But you missed the heart with your thrust."


    "Then please teach me, Shishou," Mikael finally smiled at her once more, though why he continued to call her that, she did not know.


    "I was weary of life because it had left me behind," Scathach explained. "There were no foes left to face. No heroes left to train. All my pupils and my family were long dead. The Land of Shadows had retreated to the Reverse Side. It needed not a guardian anymore. I waited in solitude for longer than most civilizations exist. Before I awoke on the Island, I sat in my castle of Skye. I had not moved a muscle in centuries, yet I did not wither. I could not die."


    "So it was the solitude that was the problem?" He asked.


    "It was the despair," she clarified. "Had I companions, it would have been easier, but still, my wish would be the same. I would never be summoned as a servant without the world ending because I would never die. There was nothing new in the world, no path left untread."


    "I see," he said softly.


    He didn''t, not really. A mortal could not understand an immortal.


    "You did not just give me new companions as immortal as myself or a new student when you summoned me," Scathach insisted, speaking more than usual in an attempt to convey the magnitude of what he had done for her. "You promised me a multiverse of foes to face. Experiences I have never conceived of. You told me I would get to face a Hydra not ten minutes ago. Did you know Diana lives in a world where space travel is standard? That Yoruichi hails from a land of the dead entirely different from mine? You did not shackle me to continue living. You provided the one thing I have yearned for in my long life. Hope."


    Mikael took a moment to digest her impassioned words. She turned her eyes away from his smiling face, embarrassed by her excitement.


    It was unbecoming of his teacher.


    "I am happy for you, then. I was worried about dropping you off once we were free. Think about where you would like to go, and I will bring you with any of the others before I leave."


    "No." Scathach declared with finality, looking him in the eye. "Once we are free, I will accompany you on your travels. I will experience everything personally and not be left behind like a new bride. By the end of your training, anything able to slay you will be able to do the same to me. No matter what, I will have achieved my wish."


    "No," Mikael responded just as firmly, no longer smiling. "If you do not wish to be dropped off with the others, very well. I will find a world you will enjoy, but I will not have anyone of you accompany me longer than necessary."


    The pair maintained a glaring contest for moments, neither willing to bend.


    "We will see," the Lord of Spirits eventually said. "Till then, learn to use that Black Halberd. I would face that hydra as soon as possible. Do not keep me waiting." His hands tightened on his halberd, and he nodded gravely.


    Not giving him a chance to respond further, she disappeared to the Island''s jungle, where Glynda awaited her.


    But she swore to herself, once they could interact physically, Scathach would break Mikael''s hips.

 Confinement 4

    I felt an angel''s tepid tears, fall softly next to mine


    And knew that as those tears did dry, a new day would be mine


    ********


    "To win, you must hunt five creatures," Raven declared monotonously as she hung in the air before the competitors.


    Why was she doing this again?


    They had chosen her to be the judge for three reasons.


    First of all, she was impartial. While familiar with Diana before their summoning, the Cambion hadn''t spent more time with the Amazon than anyone else.


    The second reason was that, with her magic, Raven could teleport wherever she needed to keep an eye on the competition.


    The third reason was that they wanted to bring her out of her room and interact with the others.


    While she could feel and appreciate their intentions, it did not change that she still had a long way to go before making sense of all her new abilities.


    "A tree lizard, a moonlight butterfly, a lightning drake, a crystal lizard, and one hydra head," Raven explained monotonously. All four competitors remained poised to launch. Yoruichi was on all fours, Diana and Scathach were ready to sprint, and Artoria had Dun Stallion poised to charge. "Arriving back first will give you two points, one less for every position after. Cutting more than one Hydra head will lose you three points per head. Flying is allowed. Fighting each other is not. Anyone caught doing so loses. If you want to fight, do it later. Keep all the bodies as intact as possible in the pouches Medea provided. No need to waste the materials."


    Medea stopped disassembling the massive Hydra to watch the start of the race.


    If she was a bitter woman, Raven would curse Scathach and Mikael for starting this absurd competition. Some of the other women had been jealous of the Celt''s trophy when she arrived after breakfast had finished, dragging the massive carcass behind her.


    When told there was another somewhere on the Island, there had almost been a fight over who would get the first crack at it.


    Azarath save her from muscle heads.


    It had been decided to settle it with a hunt for the hardest-to-find and challenging-to-hunt creatures on the Island.


    The winner got to fight the Hydra after it healed. Scathach was participating for the fun of it.


    Raven could feel the group''s bloodlust, excitement, and enjoyment. She could also feel Medea''s amusement at the entire situation.


    "Ready to eat my dust, ladies?" Yoruichi taunted playfully.


    "I have not lost a hunt since I was a child when Artemis blessed me," Diana replied good-naturedly. "I do not plan to start now."


    Scathach remained focused, not moving a muscle before the signal.


    Artoria''s response was to summon a lion. The creature, made from crackling yellow lightning, towered over the assembled women, almost ten feet tall. It released a roar that shook Raven''s bones. Out of all the women there, the female version of King Arthur was the most competitive. The half-demon could feel her emotions, solid and implacable.


    Raven hoped this didn''t end badly.


    "Go." She said, not counting down. This was already a waste of time.


    The competitors took off, Yoruichi and Diana flying towards the mountain range, home of the drakes and crystal lizards. Artoria rode Dun Stallion into the air, the lion following her as she headed towards the northeastern sector and the Hydra. Scathach disappeared into the jungle''s foliage.


    Raven floated down to the ground. She spread her senses wide, the mansion''s shadows lengthening to wrap around her.


    "Azarath. Metrion. Zinthos." She chanted, four shadow ravens forming around her before disappearing into the aether. They attached themselves to the four competing women''s shadows. Before appearing on the Island, one raven would have been her limit.


    She barely felt strained from the power loss, but the control was still challenging.


    "Are you sure I cannot tempt you to spend an afternoon in my workshop?" Medea asked, even as she separated the fangs from one of the Hydra''s mouths. Scathach had brought the beast back four hours ago. The witch had been working non-stop to disassemble it. Even with her practiced hand, magic to aid her, and non-stop efforts, she still had three heads left. "I am sure we can learn a lot from each other."


    "Thank you," Raven replied softly, most of her attention on the competitors. Diana had already slain a drake and searched for one of the elusive crystal lizards. Yoruichi had found one, pocketed it, and headed towards the peaks for a drake of her own. Scathach had discovered a nest of the tree lizards. Artoria hadn''t yet reached the Hydra, it being the farthest creature. "I will decline for now."


    "Are you sure?" The witch asked playfully. "Our systems are different. We won''t be able to replicate our same spells, but inspiration is more important than anything else when learning magic." Raven had learned to distrust other mages when they were too helpful. Her paranoia was offset by the emotions radiating from the older witch.


    In the two months the group had been trapped, Medea had gone from the most distrustful of the group to the most content. Her physical changes were almost as drastic. She had worn a cloak like Raven when she had first arrived, her figure hunched and skulking about as she tried to remain unnoticed.


    Raven hadn''t seen that cloak in weeks.


    Now the greek witch was always wearing pretty dresses, her hair free and flowing. When she wasn''t in her workshop, she made dioramas and clothes in one of the unused rooms. Medea was always smiling, and (Raven would swear this was true) she had even seen the bluenette''s pointed ears wiggle in joy at one point when she managed to get Artoria to wear a dress of her own.


    "Why?" The question leaked out of her mouth without her intention.


    "Hm?" Pausing in her actions, the older witch looked at the goth.


    Even after hours of work, Medea remained as pristinely clean as this morning. She did not look like someone with her arms deep in a snake''s brain.


    She looked like a housewife.


    "Why are you so happy?" Raven decided to ask her question, ignoring her embarrassment with practiced ease. "We have been trapped for two months. Our only hope for escape is some guy we do not even know. I do not understand how you could be enjoying it so much."


    "I suppose it is a bit odd from an outside perspective," the greek acknowledged.


    "You hate Diana but like Artoria. You keep making things, even if they aren''t useful. You even cook breakfast for everyone. Why?" Raven had spent the last few months trying to regain her equilibrium after expanding her abilities.


    Her emotions did not need to be as controlled as when she was younger, but they could wreck cities if they grew too strong with her new powers. She had always been introverted, which left her disconnected from her fellow women.


    "I do not hate Diana. I hate the gods." At the mention of the deities, Raven felt Medea''s emotions boil in rage. "Being near someone blessed by Aphrodite brings bad memories. At least she''s not a blond-haired pretty boy." A wealth of dark emotions welled up within the witch.


    Genuine hate.


    Cruel malice.


    Blood-thirst.


    So strong were the emotions that if Raven had been younger, they would have overwhelmed her.


    Now they barely made Pride twitch.


    "You have not answered my question," Raven pointed out.


    "I suppose I am happy because things are good." The witch looked thoughtful, as if choosing her words carefully. "You remember my explanation of the Grail War? Had I won one, my wish would have been to live again without the gods able to manipulate my fate. To love who I wished, somebody who accepted me. Thanks to the defences the summoning provided, I am forever free of them. Being trapped here isn''t bad either. I have enough material to work with, some I''ve never had the chance to use before. My craft is advancing well. I have time for my hobbies. It reminds me of my time with my aunt Circe on her Island."


    The familiar name shot a feeling of fear into Raven with all its connotations. Medea must have caught something because she gave the younger woman a sympathetic look.


    "Diana has explained about your world''s version of my aunt. If you ever meet her, my version, your stomach is in more danger than you are. Her kykeon is very good, but she is too fond of it. I will make some tomorrow." Medea looked wistful, nostalgia radiating from her. "She would hate it here. Being trapped on another island would drive her to moult."


    "And Mikael?" Raven carefully took note of all the emotions Medea went through. There was joy, fondness, exasperation, interest, and, most damning of all, hints of love.


    That was bad.


    "Our Master is a good one. I''ve been summoned by much worse before." Medea said diplomatically, her emotions not reflected on her smiling face.


    "I know Yoruichi and Scathach are planning on sleeping with him at the first chance they get," Raven said bluntly, warning the older woman.


    Medea''s emotions did not change.


    This tale has been pilfered from Royal Road. If found on Amazon, kindly file a report.


    "Is that so? Good for them." She said plainly. Raven''s emotional manipulation did not work on any of the other women on the Island, so she continued the hard way.


    Based on Medea''s legend, jealousy should be enough to keep her away from Mikael.


    "Glynda is also developing a crush." Nothing. The greek kept up her work, though she nodded that she had heard. Damn, time to escalate. "Artoria is in love with him."


    Medea froze, shock radiating from her.


    Raven was exaggerating a bit.


    She had felt the beginning of love from the knight like the greek, but it wasn''t to a significant extent yet. Artoria was too naive to recognize that emotion for what it was.


    Medea, though, had gone from shocked to... radiating lust and hope?


    "Tell me everything!" The older witch shook Raven by her cloak, almost teleporting to her side. Based on the broad smile on her face, Raven might have miscalculated.


    Was that drool?


    Diana''s return saved the former Teen Titan from having to answer. It had been only a few minutes since the start of the competition. The amazon skidded to a halt at the base of the hill, dirt trailing in her wake. Not even a second later, Yoruichi landed with a curse.


    "So close!" The dark-skinned woman stomped in frustration, though Raven could feel it was partly feigned.


    "Artemis'' blessing is responsible for the victory," Diana tried to be humble, but her smile didn''t diminish. Medea''s irritation spiked at the name, but the witch ignored it to keep staring at Raven.


    She wasn''t out of this yet.


    "Excuse me," the Cambion said as she phased through the woman. "I have to judge the results."


    "We''ll talk later," Medea promised before returning to her disassembly.


    Raven floated over to the arguing pair.


    "Size is irrelevant," the amazonian argued.


    The pair had laid out their prey in the field. Diana''s beasts bore apparent blade wounds. A smooth cut separated the base of the hydra neck. The shinigami''s looked beaten. Yoruichi had torn the Hydra''s head off with her bare hands.


    "Keep telling yourself that," Yoruichi said playfully. Her drake was a good foot longer. "I like them big myself." Diana rolled her eyes but smiled.


    Raven reviewed the report from her soul constructs. Neither of them had broken the rules.


    "Diana wins," she reported dryly, ready to be done with this and get back to her meditation.


    "Thank you, do you know where the others are?" Wonder Woman only felt slightly smug. She likely wanted to rub it into her friend''s competitive face.


    Raven reached out to her remaining soul constructs. Scathach had gotten sidetracked; she had found a horde of huge-eyed lizards. They spewed a black fog that turned the surrounding forest to stone. She was finishing up now and would be returning in a few minutes.


    Artoria was in the air, seconds from arriving. She, too, had been delayed by a new arrival on the Island. Though she had lost the contest, Raven could feel her happiness. Her lion companion was dragging her trophy behind.


    Oh.


    Oh, dear.


    A shadow covered the assembled women, and they all moved out of the way as a carcass fell in front of them, kicking up dirt and shaking the ground.


    "It attacked me as I flew over the mountains. Sir Yvain''s lion acquitted itself most well and felled it with little difficulty. I imagine it is worth ''bonus points.''" Raven did not need to pay attention to Medea to know that she was the one squealing in delight.


    Whether for the enormous amount of new material or the sight of Artiora standing atop the great red body of the massive drake.


    Somebody so deadly should not be able to look so adorably smug.


    Really, what sort of enemies was Mikael facing.


    ********


    Raven handled the disorientating displacement from the summoning with practice ease. When she sensed it coming, she closed her eyes. It helped with vertigo.


    When she opened them, the sight before her stole her breath.


    The warm evening sun shone on the most majestic city she had ever seen. Great gothic spires and cathedrals spread out before her, built-in ways and sizes no mortals could ever create. Detailed reliefs splayed out on every single one of the massive glass windows. They depicted scenes of combat, beauty, and other images. Too many to count.


    Long walkways, stone bulwarks, intricate reliefs, twisting balustrades.


    Raven had been lucky enough to visit Milan once and see the magnificent Duomo, renowned for its intricacy, detail, and beauty.


    The least of the buildings surrounding her made it look like a shack.


    It went on for miles, disappearing into the horizon. Clouds floated by, close enough to touch, giving the scene a heavenly air. The city below the cliff had been massive too, but it had been ramshackle. Sprung up organically over the process of the millennium. It had crowded the cliff base like the buildings were trying to climb it to reach this magnificent peak.


    Raven could understand if this is what lay at the top.


    This was an architect''s dream city, made for giants and deities.


    Mikael sat beside her, legs dangling from the edge of their balcony. He paid no attention to the kilometre-long drop below him, entranced by the sight. He was looking away from her, for which she was glad.


    "Welcome to Anor Londo. City of Gods." He gestured grandly to the vision before him. "Most beautiful sight this world has to offer."


    "It is an illusion," Raven replied in a monotone. Now that she had recovered from her shock, she could sense the magic in the air.


    "The sun is," he corrected. "The city itself is real. But the sun, the symbol of the power of the chief deity, has been gone for a long time. A facade created by the last god. It is a desperate attempt to keep the masses unaware and uncaring that the world is ending and the gods have abandoned them. Makes you wonder what it would look like at its peak?"


    For a moment, nostalgia and wistfulness were his most prominent emotions. Then the surging torrents returned. Raven focused, trying to maintain control.


    To not be drowned.


    Sometimes the quality of the feeling was more dangerous than the number of people feeling it.


    And Mikael was Dangerous.


    "We found the red drake," Raven said monotonously instead of anything better. She felt pride well up within him before it, too, was swallowed by the swells.


    "The Hellkite Drake? Who killed it?" He asked, still not looking at her.


    He knew about her empathy, and Raven appreciated his steps to make things easier.


    He was still dangerous, even if he wasn''t malevolent.


    "Artoria." He barked out a laugh, bemusement radiating from him.


    "The red dragon wouldn''t stand for competitors, I see." The least damning of his three emotions grew, and Raven felt it swelling within her own breasts.


    She took a deep breath to stifle the smile threatening to grow on her face.


    He wouldn''t be so dangerous if he only felt overwhelming love for them.


    It would have been sweet, in an ironic sort of way.


    Sweet and pitiful.


    As Mikael recognized the love he was feeling, it was stifled.


    Then the rage came.


    Rage, all-consuming, at once calm and cold as it was burning hot on Raven''s senses.


    It was all she could do to stop herself from teleporting away. She still flinched, instincts warning her to flee.


    The Cambion did her best to ignore them.


    Just as she ignored the terror that lay at the heart of those emotions. Cloying, grasping, threatening to paralyze the man beside her.


    Raven knew Mikael would never hurt her, with the same certainty, she knew her name.


    It did not matter to her senses.


    All she could feel was the rage, the all-consuming hatred.


    She had only felt something comparable from her father.


    "Sorry," Mikael said. Both the love and the rage were once more contained. Ever present, always at the edge of her senses, but distant and controlled. The fear never wavered. But it was channelled, directed into action.


    More than anything else, it was that control that Raven admired. She had fought for something like that for her entire life.


    "It is alright." She sat beside him, deciding to enjoy the sight for its worth. "Emotions are what they are. It is what we do with them that matters."


    "Still, it''s not your fault. I shouldn''t take it out on any of you."


    "It is not yours either. None of us chose this. We are all trying to make the most of it." Her voice was monotone, but she tried to convey sympathy to him. He must have felt something as the tension eased from his body.


    Only slightly, though.


    Mikael was never truly relaxed.


    He was always too scared.


    "I plan on showing the rest of them this sight, so I would appreciate it if you could keep it a secret," he said, mischief in his voice and feelings.


    That, too, was something Raven admired.


    Even at his lowest, Mikael never forgot to find joy in life.


    "Sure," Raven agreed readily before pausing in indecision. Finally, she decided that he deserved to know. "They are starting to love you, you know?"


    "It''s the lures," she could feel his grimace without seeing it. "Glynda and Scathach have taught me a lot one-on-one. Yoruichi and Artoria are more susceptible to Dragon Aura, though I do not know why it affects them. You all should be immune. Since I noticed, I''ve tried to tone it down, but it might be too late."


    "Medea?"


    "Medea is," he paused, searching for the best words. "Complicated. I can''t tell you everything; they are her secrets. I just happened to fit her ''type.'' More than any of the others, she would be the one to empathize with my situation if she knew. It is one of the reasons I''ve kept it secret. I do not wish to encourage her."


    "Flirting with others did not help," Raven couldn''t help but point out.


    "That was before I had any idea about what was going on," he defended himself. "I still half thought that you all were delusions. You might be, but I must act as if you are not. Anyway, anything you can do to slow down the effects would be appreciated."


    "I have tried to tell them of each other to warn them off," Raven explained.


    "I doubt that would work," Mikael snorted. "Many come from cultures where polygamy or a form of it is normal. Some didn''t even have the concept of ''cheating'' so long as no children were the result. Medea, Diana, Scathach, maybe Tsunade and Yoruichi. I couldn''t say for sure about Robin or Glynda. Either way, none would back down if they considered it a challenge. Their pride wouldn''t let them. I''ve never hidden that I like strong, independent women. That is biting me in the ass now."


    "That has been my experience, yes." Raven decided to not tell him how excited Medea had become at the idea of Artoria liking him. She had immediately sealed herself in her hobby room, giggling perversely and muttering about ''costumes.'' "What about Emma?"


    "Emma is an exception to many things," Mikael said evasively. His emotions, fondness and exasperation hinted at something Raven didn''t know.


    Still tempered by love, rage and fear, though.


    "Is that why you used a command seal on her?" She had never gotten a proper response to that question.


    "One of them," he nodded in agreement. "I had hoped her powers wouldn''t work on any of us. Some of the defences were exactly made against people like her. I found out I was wrong. None of the defences are working. It had been too late to mitigate by that point without resorting to drastic measures. It pissed her off, but information can be more dangerous than power." He paused, thinking over his words.


    Raven let him, feeling his fear spike before being smothered.


    "This whole situation is messed up," Mikael finally sighed. "I initially thought I got none of the benefits of the catalogue, but I was wrong about that too. None of the defences, some of the talents, and every lure are active. I''ve gotten a few of the dragon'' ''gifts,'' but not all. I hope things will be more apparent once I''m done with this world."


    Raven noticed he still did not tell her what he had Commanded. He also changed the topic rather quickly.


    "If we''re lucky, it should only be another month at most. I should be getting an item soon that will speed up my travel. I should have been almost done by now, but Manus was a dick." He grumbled something about ''time kidnapping'' under his breath that she did not catch. "Hopefully, I can get that dragon body and drop you all off as quickly as possible."


    "You think they will go for that?" He couldn''t see it, but her eyebrows were raised in disbelief.


    None of the women on the Island had struck her as the type to let their decisions be made for them.


    "They will not have a choice," Mikael declared with finality. "Besides, with only a few months of meeting for a few hours every other day? They will get over it. We barely know each other." He stood, ready to set off once again. Raven tried to ignore the great sadness those last few sentences had caused. For both him and her. "Can you do a few things for me, though?"


    "Sure," she agreed quickly.


    Sitting around, waiting to be rescued, had never been her favourite pass time.


    Anything she could do to help would be nice.


    "Can you let Medea know to have a new library prepared? I''m going to get my hands on a massive amount of books soon, and I would appreciate it if you could help her sort them. Most of them should be magical, so I think you will enjoy looking through them."


    Raven grew excited at the thought, though it did not show on her face. The Island''s library was already massive, but more would never hurt. Magical tomes would help while away the remaining time they spend trapped.


    That still left her with a question.


    "You found a way to move items to the Island?"


    "A while ago," he nodded. "You guys still can''t touch anything, but I can throw things through the portal so long as they are non-living matter. Once on the other side, you can interact like usual. Anything left on this side disappears when you do, so you still can''t help me. It lets me collect things for later, once I''m free."


    "We still have rooms left over in the cliff," Raven said aloud, wondering about the logistics of it. "One of them should do for a magical library. It will be well defended."


    "Thanks," he waved that odd wrist-flick wave of his to her as he walked away, heading through an absolutely massive doorway. He knew the moment she called the portal to return to the Island despite never looking at her once since she had been summoned. That was her only explanation for why he called out exactly before she disappeared. "If someone new shows up on the Island, treat her well, yeah?"


    Raven knew she wasn''t the only one who hated when Mikael left her hanging.


    Raven also knew Mikael took immense joy in messing with them like that.

 Confinement 5

    I felt an angel''s silken wings enfold me with pure love


    And felt a strength within me grow, a strength sent from above


    ********


    The first time Priscilla felt the undead''s arrival in the Painted World of Ariamis, she almost wept in frustration.


    Why?


    Why could the outside not leave them in peace?


    Did they not understand that this was the only refuge for the discarded and abandoned?


    Did they not know that the denizens were no threat and only responded to invasion?


    The crossbreed felt the intruder as soon as he stepped through the painting.


    Much like others of his kind, he had gorged himself on the souls of others. They permeated his flesh and spirit, blazing like a bonfire to her senses.


    This one was powerful.


    The most powerful to have ever invaded.


    He was merciless and intense, slaying all who attacked him and growing stronger with every kill. He only fell a few times, not that it stopped him. The invader would be reborn, curse a bit before calming down and repeating the exact same phrase to himself. "Don''t you dare go hollow."


    He would then set off with a grim determination every time he rose, never making the same mistake twice.


    The dragon girl felt a pang of sympathy for every one of her neighbours slain, though she knew they would return in a few weeks. They were hollow, so it took them longer to reform than those still blessed with wisdom.


    Still, they were mortal; thus, undeath''s curse would not allow them to perish forever, unlike herself and her kin.


    Altogether, the invader was stronger than most but of no genuine concern. Her scythe would claim him if he continued his rampage. No different than other undead who ventured into her refuge.


    So long as he did not attack her and simply left, she would not be forced to fight.


    Priscilla hated fighting.


    Then she heard him sing for the first time.


    Before Ariamis had completed his work, the draconic child had been hidden away in the labyrinthine halls of Anor Londo, not allowed to attend the great gatherings with others of the godly courts.


    Eons ago, she had heard minstrels and bards in the great theatres. Snippets of music had drifted to her ear, bouncing along the cavernous halls of Anor Londo, and she had followed them as best she could, invisible to all.


    She had spied upon the greatest musicians the world had to offer as they wove their songs and dances for the joy of the gods.


    They all paled before this one undead.


    He sang when he was alone.


    He sang while he fought.


    He sang as he arose from death.


    There was no music accompaniment, no instruments except the clashing of blades and the grunts of pain.


    It was the most beautiful sound Priscilla had ever heard.


    He sang of love and loss.


    He sang of battle and blood.


    He sang of places she had never heard, using unfamiliar words.


    He sang in languages she did not know.


    Rarely did the undead sing the same song twice, though he did have favourites he returned to. Hundreds of songs left him. Unique beats, unknown genres.


    The undead knew not of her presence.


    It was just him and his music.


    Over the weeks he spent exploring the painted world, Priscilla followed him, invisible.


    It was a guilty pleasure of hers.


    While she hated the violent invaders, they were also the only new stimulation found in the Painted World.


    And he made such beautiful music.


    But all good things must come to an end.


    The undead approached the ruined bridge that led to her home, felling the Tower Knight who defended it easily.


    He crossed the threshold fog, the barrier a manifestation of her power that kept the mindless droves out of her quarters.


    She was ready.


    "Who art thou? If thou hast misstepped into this world, plunge down from the plank, and hurry home. If thou desire to join our refuge, I would ask thee to cease your violence with mine neighbours." She declared as regally as possible, imitating the likes of the nobles of Gwyn''s court.


    Please let that be true.


    Please let him want to stay.


    "If thou seekest I, thine desires shall be requited not." Some undead sought her out specifically. Whether at the urging of the other gods or on their own, the crossbreed did not know. They sought to slay her, to end the threat Lifehunt posed to the world or to purge the stain upon the honour of the other gods.


    Priscilla gripped her scythe tightly.


    Should he choose the path of violence, she would show no mercy. More than one undead had hollowed on the blade of her Lifehunt.


    Besides, the undead needed no limbs to sing so beautifully.


    She would take him below to her chambers.


    Where he would be safe.


    Forever.


    It would be best if he stayed willingly.


    The undead stared at her for a few moments, possibly in surprise. Did he not know of her, or was the undead deciding whether to attack?


    His armour was damaged from his extensive battles, though she knew he cleaned it regularly. Clad in heavy steel and tattered cloth, he would be an intimidating sight to most, though she towered over him.


    He raised his weapon, and she tensed only for him to flip it and drive its blade into the stone below. He then hung his shield on the Black Halberd''s shaft. Reaching up, he unlatched his helmet and set it onto the pommel.


    At some point between his last rest at a bonfire and arriving at her gate, he had used a fragment of Humanity to return the illusion of his mortal body.


    Priscilla knew not why nor when.


    She had hurried home to be in a presentable state for their meeting. She barely had time to brush her hair and tail.


    Her clothes were still wrinkled, for Gwyn''s sake!


    Still, she relaxed a tad as combat did not seem imminent.


    "Pardon the intrusion. I am Mikael," the undead spoke, even as he brushed snow from a step and sat down. "Your, uh, neighbours attacked first, and there are not too many friendly faces around. To have found one is a welcome change. Especially one as beautiful as you."


    Priscilla knew she could not flush.


    Her skin remained the pale white of fallen snow. She still fought off the smile that threatened to grow on her face. He was flattering her. She had never been called beautiful before.


    It was nice.


    "Prithee, tell me who thou art? Thou art foreign to this land?" She noticed he had stopped looking up at her, now staring behind her. She turned to look at what had caught his attention as subtly as possible.


    Her tail had betrayed her.


    The traitorous appendage swept back and forth in the snow, clearing an area of stone in its excitement.


    Clearly, the flattery was more effective than she thought.


    The crossbreed cleared her throat, drawing the undead''s attention back to her face as she focused on keeping her tail still.


    "Right, sorry about that." He bowed. Though he spoke as a lowborn, she was pleased he still maintained manners. "I come from a faraway land. Not even the gods have heard about it. Are you familiar with the problems of the outside world?"


    "To a degree. Thou speak of the accursed dark sign?"


    "Time and space are fracturing as the undead curse spreads." He explained. The hybrid actually knew about that. It had begun while she was still young. While she had been sequestered before the worst, the painting acted as both prison and fortress against the worst. "I appeared in the Asylum one day, cursed. Possibly due to the fractures, I was foreign to this land and its people. My companions remain safe but trapped on a faraway island. I seek to free them and learn more about the events leading to my undeath. My path has led me here."


    "A noble goal." Though she approved of his motivation, it meant he would not remain here with her. "Thy quest must be harrowing. Why not rest with this one for a time? Thy companions would not begrudge you a repose."


    "You''ve never met them." Mikael chuckled in good humour, but that only soured her more on these distant companions. They did not treasure this Bard as he should be. Not like she would. "I came here searching for help, and then I will be on my way."


    "In what manner?" She asked warily. While putting Mikael in her debt would be nice, it was unnecessary.


    If you stumble upon this narrative on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it.


    Feelings would naturally grow over centuries spent together.


    "As I said, I am cursed to wander while my companions are trapped," Sir Bard explained, smiling gently up at her. Priscilla''s tail, the traitorous appendage that it was, started drawing symbols in the snow. "I have tested many things to discover more about the nature of the curse. One thing I have not been able to test requires the aid of a willing participant. I would like to see if I can free you from this prison with your permission."


    "Free?" She asked, not comprehending his intent. Though all his talk of tests put her off, it reminded her too much of her father. "This one is not imprisoned. Ariamis'' work is a refuge, far from strife and violence."


    "I should probably explain more," Mikeal pulled out a box, one of those bottomless ones the enchanters liked to create. He rummaged around in it for a moment before removing a familiar doll. "This is what led me here."


    "May I?" She asked before he continued, reaching out to the worn object. She hadn''t seen it in centuries, a token of her childhood. Emotion welled up in her as the undead passed it to her, though it did not show on her face.


    She would have been willing to do almost anything for Sir Bard for this token alone.


    "The world outside is ending," the undead minstrel explained as he put away his box. "It will be reborn eventually, only to end again and again. This cycle will continue. Rise and fall. Until the flame is snuffed out completely. Gwyn has doomed the world to eternal twilight and the undead curse in his attempt to continue the Age of fire. Should my test succeed, you would escape that fate."


    "In what manner?" Priscilla asked as she hugged the doll to her chest. The revelation about Lord Gwyn did not surprise her.


    Even in her short time at his court, she understood well the nature of most gods.


    "You would teleport to the Island on which my companions are located. It is a paradise. Their every need is taken care of. You would be trapped with them until I can free them. It is my hope that linking the fire will do so."


    "Thou would have me imprisoned?" She asked, though not harshly. "Thou seek to fell the four lords, ''tis no easy task."


    "There would be benefits," Sir Bard hurried to elaborate. "My companions would treat you well. The Island is much nicer than this place. You would also receive various blessings. You would grow in power and control. You would be able to make the most delicious food, sing the greatest songs, and never worry about safety again." Though the crossbreed was not tempted by the power or Island, she would be lying if she said she wasn''t interested in eating food again.


    To be able to sing as Sir Bard, that too would be a prize.


    More than anything, the promise of companions almost had her agreeing. Ariamis'' world was peaceful but oh so lonely.


    She had more conversations in the last few minutes than in the centuries hence.


    Still, from his words, Mikael was unsure of the success of this enterprise.


    "I would demand a price of thee first." She said, trying to once more imitate the imperious tone some goddesses possessed.


    "And that would be?" He asked warily.


    "Thou must sing for me." Sir Bard was clearly surprised at her words, though he recovered admirably.


    The crossbreed fought not to fidget.


    She had meant to ask for more information, for guarantees of conduct and safety.


    The words had slipped from her mouth without thought.


    If Priscilla could blush in shame, she would.


    "Sure, though if I am to pay such a steep price, I will demand one of my own." The humour in his voice eased her worry, though his following words shot a different kind of worry through her. "Let me pet your tail. It''s been too long since I''ve had any floof time, and I am going through withdrawals."


    "Very well, though I demand a song fit for a god." Priscilla kept her scythe in hand, just in case, as she approached his seated form.


    Her tail betrayed her once more while she raised her robe slightly to sit appropriately.


    It lay in his lap without command, shaking in excitement.


    "Sure," he agreed readily. His hands started to pet and stroke the sensitive skin on her tail.


    Oh.


    Oh, gracious, that was nice.


    He knew precisely how to stroke the fur above and scratch the scales below. As Priscilla melted into the ground beside him, his hands danced along its length.


    Then he started to sing, his voice deep and smooth.


    "Lay down


    Your sweet and weary head


    The night is falling


    You have come to journey''s end


    Sleep now


    And dream of the ones who came before


    They are calling


    From across the distant shore."


    A lullaby, how lovely.


    It reminded the hybrid of more innocent times.


    When a kind voice would help ease the pain of loneliness. When the Painted World was new and bright. Someone would sing to her from the outside, and they, too, had a beautiful voice.


    Sir Bard was superior, and the song was better now.


    Fit for a goddess.


    Not a filthy crossbreed like her.


    As his fingers and voice eased her more than ever, lulling her to sleep, Priscilla did not feel the tiny prick of the bite.


    ********


    Conscious returned to Priscilla slowly, dredging her up from the most restful sleep of her life.


    She lay on a bed of silver, silken sheets falling from her body like water as she raised herself to sit on the side of the bed.


    Someone had stripped her bare. She hoped it hadn''t been Mikael.


    She would hate to reveal her disgusting form to her Bard''s eyes.


    Standing, the crossbreed evaluated this new prison.


    It was of a size with her own room in Ariamis'' Painting, though much better appointed. Strange creations were against the far wall, metal and crystal rectangles.


    Television and game consoles the hybrid somehow knew.


    Bookshelves lined one wall, filled with innumerable thin books. Two doors lay to her left, both appropriately sized, while a smaller one was to her right. Dark drapes covered the windows beside her bed.


    The first door on the left revealed a lavatory. It, too, was well-appointed. Priscilla did not understand the strange shapes and symbols. She understood the large tub was to be filled with water for bathing, and the smaller ones were to wash her hands.


    The hybrid would have to ask the staff of this residence to bring some hot water at their earliest convenience.


    Then she realized the nobs would release water at the temperature she desired.


    Where was this knowledge coming from?


    Priscilla shook off the thought. She could not remember the last time she had a warm bath.


    The second door of her size was a closet filled with clothes well-tailored to her diminutive size. She appreciated the thoughtfulness of it, well aware of how difficult it was to work with such minuscule proportions. She had always been too small to be a full deity yet too large to be mortal.


    More signs of her repugnant origins.


    Not knowing the temperature or environment of the area, she chose to don a robe similar to the one she wore in the Painted World.


    Now Priscilla faced an issue.


    The other door, likely leading to an exit, was designed for mortals.


    Though the crossbreed was much lesser than other deities or their retainers, she still had sufficient power to tower over them.


    Priscilla frowned.


    She supposed she would have to bear the discomfort.


    Like squeezing into too-tight clothes, she shrank. It was not painful, but more annoying than anything else. A common spell that most beings of power learned to use to traverse a world not designed to hold their increased power and the size that accompanied it.


    Grabbing her scythe from her bedside, it too shrank as a manifestation of her power, she stepped from the room.


    The hall beyond was only dimly lit, moonlight filtering through the window at the end. Priscilla noticed the art, the other five hall doors, and the entrance beyond.


    Like when she was a child, Priscilla quietly and invisibly made her way through the night. There was no snow here to indicate her footfalls; thus, her passage went unmarked.


    She was unwilling to risk awakening other inhabitants out of fear and politeness. She knew nothing about her Bard''s companions.


    The stairs beyond the hall led her to the entrance, and her wandering stopped.


    She passed through the glass doors without realizing it, entranced by the beauty before her.


    She did not notice as she returned to her regular height or the woman sitting nearby.


    A full moon shone its radiance upon an island of unsurpassed beauty.


    With nary a cloud in the sky, Priscilla had a view unlike any she had ever seen.


    The sea, an unfamiliar sight, gleamed like millions of jewels floated on its surface, and the sounds of the surf crashing rang out in the distance.


    Below the hill on which the mansion was perched was a field of flowers swaying in the night air. Beyond lay an orchard, fruit she had never heard of dotting the towering trees. Beyond even that was a forest. Even in the moon''s light, she could see vast swaths of green that went on for kilometres.


    Towering peaks dotted the distance, covered in ice and snow. Over the sound of the surf, the hybrid picked up the sound of insects, birds, and animals from the forest.


    The Island was more alive than anything the crossbreed had ever seen. Her Lifehunt let her sense the sheer vitality in the land and sea.


    And the moon.


    But all that disappeared when she as she saw IT.


    The moon, the sea, and the Island were all dwarfed by the being that held it all in its great white claws.


    They wrapped around the world as if holding a precious jewel. Five curved talons on each side held it in place. Focusing beyond them as much as possible, Priscilla realized they were pressing the Island against a scaled chest.


    The hybrid felt herself grow warm, partly from the thick clothes she wore but primarily due to other reasons, an unfamiliar heat pooling in her chest.


    Priscilla would have to reward her Bard somehow, at the same time as expressing her displeasure.


    He had undersold just had excellent this new prison was.


    "Oh god," a voice sighed in exasperation from beside her. "There''s another one."


    Turning to it, Priscilla was once more struck by a vision of beauty.


    In her youth, the hybrid had seen Lady Gwynevere by chance. It had only been for a moment, but it had stuck with her all her life. She remembered thinking that there could be no one so beautiful.


    The woman before her challenged that thought.


    Sitting in a luxury chair, she leaned back in leisure. Her blonde hair fell past her shoulder like a river of platinum. She wore a positively scandalous white outfit that showed off her generous curves. Her legs, thighs, midriff, and top of her bosom were exposed for all to see. One hand held a crystal glass of wine, and the other covered her face.


    Had this woman had a soul powerful enough to sustain a larger form, there would have been tourneys in her honour as gods and champions fought for her hand in marriage.


    "Nope," the woman snapped. She removed her hand from her face, and piercing blue eyes stared up at Priscilla. "I am not dealing with this."


    "Art thou Sir Mikael''s companion?" The hybrid asked, slightly intimidated by her beauty and glare.


    "His prisoner, you mean?" The blonde asked rhetorically. She stood, setting aside her drink. Though she was less than half Priscilla''s size, her withering stare made the dragon girl feel very small. "We all are. That madman coned you into it, so you are one of us now. You shouldn''t fall for the first pretty voice you hear. Men will make all sorts of promises to get what they want. Mikael, especially."


    "I do not understand. My Bard did not lie." He had mentioned she would be a prisoner until he could free her. It had been an attractive idea, like one of the fairy tales of her youth.


    Priscilla felt the need to defend his honour to this stranger.


    "Nope, not dealing with this," the blonde repeated, setting off into the house, gesturing for Priscilla to follow. She did, shrinking again to fit through the doors. "Mikael is more dangerous than most. He did not need to lie. He made a little promise, sang a little song, and now you are attached to him for eternity. He will free us from this Island someday, sure. But we will never be free from him nor his influence."


    "I do not understand." The hybrid repeated as she was led through the building and down some stairs. The halls were no longer made of wood but of well-carved stone. The occasional light source provided plenty of illumination, though she did not recognize their form.


    "Of course you don''t," the blonde leading her laughed hollowly. It sounded mad, so Priscilla widened the distance between them, gripping the scythe tightly. "Nobody does. I give all the warnings I can, and nobody listens. You will fit right in with these hero types. Gullible, the lot of you."


    "I understand thou has grievance against Sir Bard," Priscilla responded as they stopped before a door. DO NOT ENTER was carved along its surface. "He has done me no wrong, and I will not allow a tarnish to his name without reason."


    "Of course you won''t," the blonde knocked on the door. She suddenly looked tired, like a weight had settled on her shoulders. Priscilla recognized the look of loneliness, though the crossbreed made no effort to comfort her. Not until she apologized for insulting her Bard. "When this is over, I hope you are sane enough to see."


    The door opening halted any response Priscilla could have said to that strange utterance.


    Framed by the room''s light, the hybrid made out the form of another woman of great beauty.


    Long purple hair fell past elfin ears, and purple eyes swept from the blonde to her. She was at least dressed appropriately, though her blue dress did not cover her ankles.


    How scandalous.


    "Emma? What is going on?" The new woman asked the blonde, Emma.


    "New arrival. She''s your problem now." Emma stepped away towards the stair back to the surface without another word.


    The pair watched her leave before looking at each other.


    "Apologies, I did not mean to disturb thee this late. If it is thy wish, we can meet again on the morrow?" Priscilla''s long-disused lessons on courtesy had her perform a light curtsey, though her clothes were not the most appropriate.


    "It''s fine. I don''t need sleep anyway. You can ignore Emma. She''s just grumpy." The woman looked her up and down with interest. Priscilla noticed how her eyes lingered on the scales on her face, eyebrows, scythe, and tail. "I see Mikael''s experiment was a success. I''m Medea. Who are you?"


    "I am Priscilla," she answered. She had no further title, no land to claim, and no family to call her own.


    She was simply Priscilla, the crossbreed.


    "She''s the one trapped in the painting." A new voice pipped up from behind her. "She appeared a few hours ago in one of the unused bedrooms."


    The new arrival faded from the shadows behind the hybrid, her voice calm and without inflection.


    Priscilla fought not to attack with her scythe on instinct. It would not do to kill any of her Bard''s companions.


    "Thou know of me," she asked instead.


    "We knew Mikael was going to try to free someone trapped in a painting. Our last contact with him was before he entered." The cloaked woman explained monotonously.


    "Raven," Medea nodded at the new arrival before stepping aside. "Why don''t you both come into my workshop? We have much to learn."


    Priscilla would have balked at the woman''s voice at any other point in her life. She sounded like Seath in his more ''curious'' moods.


    But the hybrid barely noticed, nor did she care how her pointed ears wiggled in excitement nor how this woman''s eyes devoured Priscilla''s form.


    Instead, the crossbreed gripped her scythe tightly, following Raven into the room as she came to a startling revelation.


    Were all her Bard''s ''companions'' beautiful women?

 Confinement 6

    I felt an angel oh so close, though one I could not see


    I felt an angel near today, sent to comfort me.


    ********


    The ash was all-consuming.


    It spread across the enormous cavern. Like dunes in a desert, it rose and fell like frozen waves.


    Even without any breeze, the little airflow swirled more ash all around. Some of it lay so heavy, and for so long, it had solidified. The lone structure in the cavern, massive and burned, towered in the distance.


    Diana could see hints of the splendour of Anor Londo in its design, though it had long faded.


    Charred black, crumbling remains were all that was left. The ash mounds had crawled up its edge, so thick and tall that the Amazon could not tell its original size.


    Only a hint of warmth permeated the air, like a flickering flame trying to heat a too-big room. The only illumination came from holes in the ceiling, letting the faintest radiance of the sun in.


    Atop a pile of corpses, Mikael sat.


    There had to be at least two dozen black knights below him, their blood pooling with the ash into a dark mud. It was a gruesome sight, with appendages separated from bodies, rent armour, and a cloying scent filling the air.


    He looked like an old warlord, those who carved their kingdoms and countries from the bodies of their foes. His armour bore the scars of combat and the scorch of their enchanted weapons.


    Had Diana been the naive girl who first left Paradise Island, she would have condemned him on this sight alone.


    He looked like the worst tales her family had told her about the barbarians of ''Mans World.''


    A fiend that needed to be stopped for justice to prevail.


    After her time as Wonder Woman, the sights she had seen and the things she had been forced to do, all Diana could feel was pity.


    And a hint of admiration.


    Pity at a man taken from his home and tossed into a cruel and dying world. A man who liked to sing and joke was forced to kill his way to freedom. Though his foes were mindless undead, which went a long way to making the image in front of her more palatable, Diana noticed how the journey was wearing on Mikael.


    He still sang and joked, but he spoke more and more about the end and freeing them. His smiles, present even when trapped in the Asylum, were rarer.


    Priscilla answered a lot of questions the women had about the world.


    It hadn''t painted a pretty picture.


    Diana feared knowing what Emma had seen in Mikael''s mind more than ever.


    Yet fear would never rule her.


    "I''m thinking of calling it; Mount Mikael," the undead said as he stood from his perch. He wrenched his halberd from the spine of a knight, carefully making his way down the pile. "I''d plant a flag if I had one."


    Despite herself, Diana felt a tug on her lips. She still did not like dark humour, as a rule, but sometimes he said something absurd enough to make her laugh.


    "And what, pray tell, would your flag look like," she played along.


    The way his drooping shoulders perked, his back straitened, and his eyes glimmered with amusement filled her with joy.


    She preferred the joking Mikael to the dreary figure atop a pile of corpses.


    "Something appropriately majestic, none of that boring try-colour stuff," he rubbed his helmeted chin in mock contemplation. "A dragon is a must, of course."


    "Of course," Diana agreed with equal mock severity.


    She followed him as they walked towards one of the exposed structures, sitting beside him as he dangled his feet over a long drop.


    He liked high places, she knew.


    "It also must be white, so there must be a colour for the contrast." He continued as he brought out a cloth to clean his equipment of the gore that permeated it. Now that they were away from ''Mount Mikael,'' the smell wasn''t so present. Ash still filled the air, but not enough to drown out his unique scent of surf and sun. He smelled like home. "Here''s what I''m thinking. White background, purple rabbit head with an open mouth and a white dragon in its jaws."


    "Why purple?" The bunny made sense, but why purple?


    "For the beast of Caernobog, of course!" He exclaimed, hands going to his heart like she had stabbed him.


    "That rabbit was white, and I am not sure Artoria would approve." For once, Wonder Woman got one of his references.


    "I''m not talking about the movie," he explained, as if to a child. "I am talking about Fou! That fuzzy little bastard is the only good thing to ever result from Merlin. Artoria would approve one hundred percent. I am planning on beastnapping it when I drop her off. Or at least getting some floof time in before I leave."


    Diana''s mouth quirked, having heard tell of Merlin''s Cath Palug from her friend.


    Then her lips flattened as she shifted topic.


    "You know she wants to go with you," Diana''s eyes softened as he froze.


    Over the last few months, it had been clear Mikael did not desire their company longer than necessary.


    More than a few of the women opposed this.


    Diana felt she owed it to her friend to do all in her power to aid her in her romantic endeavours.


    "I know."


    Though the amazon could not see his face through the helmet, how he sighed and drooped made her heart clench in sympathy.


    Both for him and for Artoria.


    "Is it so wrong that they are coming to be fond of you?" She asked softly. "From my understanding, many are happier now than ever."


    "It is not wrong," he said, sagging some more. "I''m not one of those ''boohoo, beautiful women like me, woe is me,'' edge lords. In any other situation, I would be thrilled. The lures are not mind-control. I wouldn''t have purchased them if I did not plan on using them in the future. All they can do, like dragon aura, is encourage romance, not create it from nothing. It is simply a more extreme version of dressing well, being friendly and attractive. You all were supposed to be immune, but they can still ignore it with enough willpower. Like you."


    "Then why?"


    Diana ignored the pit in her stomach that his last words caused.


    They were not appropriate.


    "This is a case of ''it''s not you, it''s me.''" Mikeal chuckled hollowly, the sound void of his usual good humour. "For reasons I can''t adequately explain, I cannot return their affection. It would be better to let them move on with their lives rather than string them along like some dumb harem protagonist. It will suck, but we will be better for it in the long run."


    "Can''t? Or won''t?" The words came out harsher than she meant, but Diana couldn''t accept his response.


    It would be too sad for everyone involved if they parted, never learning or trying to build something beautiful.


    "Can''t." He looked her in the eyes as if trying to make her understand. "I quite literally cannot put it into words. Raven knows a bit if you want to ask."


    "And Emma?" She couldn''t help but ask, well aware that something had happened between the two that they were hiding from the rest.


    "Emma is," he struggled to find the words. "She read my mind too deeply at the wrong time. It''s no secret I had to use a command seal. It was for both our sakes."


    "What did you order her to do?" Diana asked, morbidly curious.


    "It was a while ago, but I believe my exact words were, ''Never delve deeply into my mind.'' ''Never tell anyone what you find there.'' and one more order. I used all six of my seals to make sure they stuck." He looked so sad, as if remembering his actions was physically painful. "I''m not proud of it. I initially purchased the seals because they were cheap and extremely useful. I was half surprised it worked since I cannot interact with you all."


    "She''s been telling everyone that you''ve been delaying things. Putting off facing this ''Gwyn.''"


    "She''s not wrong, technically," Mikael explained with a weary sigh. "If I just focused on getting here, I could have arrived at the kiln a week or two ago."


    "Then why didn''t you?" She knew it wasn''t out of malicious intent.


    If so, Mikael wouldn''t have reached this far at all. He would have remained with Priscilla when offered the chance.


    "A few reasons," he shrugged casually. "As much as I want to be free, there are still good people in this world. I tried to help them as best as I could. I can''t solve all their problems, this world is still ending, but I can make their lives a bit easier than I could when this was a game."


    "Admirable," Diana wasn''t flattering him. His willingness to help, and his determination to keep pressing on by himself, they were all traits that she admired. Though he claimed to be no hero, sometimes a little kindness could make all the difference. "Will they be joining us on the Island?"


    "No," he shook his head emphatically. For a second, he looked almost... scared? "While a few could qualify, I become responsible for anyone bound to me. I only tested it out with Priscilla because I wanted to know if capturing was possible, what the effects would be, and if she could be used as a loophole. I had hoped that because she was initially part of this world, I could use her as an intermediary between the Island and me."


    "But she never gets summoned," Diana finished his thoughts for him. "She stays on the Island. Mostly in her room. In fact, I believe she is most taken with video games." He snorted in wry amusement at the thought. "Is that the only reason you have delayed this confrontation?"


    "I am also scared," he admitted honestly. "Scared of what comes next. I hope I just need to beat Gwyn. That it will be enough, and we can all go free. I know this world because of a game, Dark Souls. It was a trilogy. I fear beating Gwyn, the first game''s final boss, will not be enough. That I will have to complete the other two to free us. I am also afraid that when I beat him, I..." He stopped suddenly.


    Diana listened as he poured his heart out. He usually kept his cards close to his chest. This was a rare moment of vulnerability.


    She wished she could comfort him, hug him.


    The story has been taken without consent; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.


    When he did not continue, she spoke.


    "If that happens, none of us would blame you. A few more months on the Island wouldn''t be so bad." She tried to soothe his worries. "An extended vacation. We will continue to help any way we can."


    "Thanks, but it would still suck," he sighed.


    "Then let us take it one step at a time." She shifted tracks. "Nothing is certain until you defeat this Gwyn. Tell me about him."


    Mikael took a deep breath, regaining his focus before following her order.


    "Gwyn is or was, I suppose, the chief deity of this world. He ruled for millennia during the Age of Fire after defeating the Stone Dragons of the previous era. It was a prosperous time as civilization flourished. He wasn''t perfect, but I can tell he wasn''t a complete tyrant initially. Amoral, but not malicious. But then the Fire started to fade, and things deteriorated."


    "Why is that?"


    "In this world, fire represents many things," Mikael explained. "In this case, not only did the Fires of the First Flame serve as Gwyn''s source of power, but it also acted as a representation of the world he had built. Light. Civilization. The gods themselves."


    "It is a reverse case of Prometheus'' story," Diana nodded, seeing a parallel. "Gaining flame granted man the means to grow. Losing it means de-evolution. Stagnation."


    "That''s a good way to think about it," Mikael nodded. "Gwyn tried everything to preserve it. Some tries weren''t so bad but had negative consequences, like trying to create a second flame. That led to the birth of demons, but he managed to contain them. Other actions were repugnant. He sacrificed untold millions of mortals to keep the flames burning. All bonfires are made from the bones of mortals. Eventually, Gwyn threw himself on the pyre and committed the first true sin of this world. The natural order of this world was to transition from one age to the next. From the featureless Age of Ancients came the Age of Fire, the age of the gods. Following was to be the Age of Dark, the age of man."


    "Like how Oranous and Gaia birthed the Titans who supplanted them, only to be overthrown by the Olympians and humans in turn."


    "Pretty much, though Gwyn would not allow it," Mikael spoke grimly. "He bound the Dark, never to let the fire truly fade. This corrupts the world, locking it in a perpetual cycle of fire growing strong, only to wane again. Every time growing worse until time and space deteriorate and collapse. All lands will converge at the end, and the remaining survivors will flee to another world or attempt to build atop the ashes of ruin."


    "Defeating him will stop the deterioration?" Diana asked, hopeful that there was some small glimmer of possibility.


    "Nope," Mikael answered cheerfully, popping the ''P.'' "It was already way too late when I appeared in the Asylum. The sin already committed. We are simply on the first cycle. Gwyn has doomed the world, and I cannot even blame him. I would have done the same."


    At her disbelieving look, his smile softened to a sad one.


    "Gwyn is not a villain, just another victim," Mikael explained. "In a way, he is even a hero. He saw his world ending, his family fracturing, and his subjects being cursed. He tried everything in his power to stop it. He succeeded, preserving his age for thousands of years. His children live on, as do many of his subjects. Did he take the wrong steps? Of course. But, at the core of it all, I think he did the best he could."


    "You make him sound admirable," Diana admitted reluctantly. She was mature enough to know even the vilest of foes may have admirable traits. "You should tell us more when we are free, especially about how you defeated him. I imagine it will be a battle for the ages."


    Mikeal shook his head, still smiling sadly.


    "That is one of the saddest parts," he said, staring at the charred remains of the building in the distance. "A tiny tragedy atop a mountain of them. The man in that Kiln is no longer the god he was. Gwyn isn''t the army leader that took up arms against the Everlasting Dragons anymore. He isn''t a god of sunlight and lightning. He is no longer a valiant warrior who stands tens of feet tall. Gwyn is a husk, barely larger than me. He is hollow, mindless. When he fights, it is without the skill of a veteran but the instincts of a dying animal. I expect I faced a more significant challenge facing his executioner than I will find with him."


    "That just means you will emerge victorious all the easier." Diana almost patted him on the back, only stopping herself when her hand was halfway through his armour. "It sounds like mercy to slay him now."


    "It will be," Mikael said as he stood. He eyed the Kiln in the distance before turning to her. "Do you mind opening the portal for me?"


    "Of course," the amazon also stood, willing the door to open.


    It came as quickly as ever, a shimmering rectangle of pulsing pale white energy.


    Mikael unlatched a box tied to his belt and threw it through the portal. It disappeared with nary a ripple.


    "One way or the other, I won''t need it anymore on this side. Medea can sort through it. I imagine some of you girls will find my collection interesting." He explained, seeming to find his resolve.


    He turned, starting to make his way to the Kiln.


    "We''ll be waiting for you," Diana called after him, but he only waved that odd wrist waive of his.


    Perhaps it was fear of Mikael dying.


    Maybe it was her desire to motivate him.


    Perhaps it was annoyance at having her words waived off.


    Perchance, it was the image of a good man walking in a field of ash all alone to face a god.


    Maybe it sprang from those emotions bubbling in her chest that she kept to herself to support her friend.


    Either way, something pushed her to shout her following words as she stepped through the portal back to the Island.


    "Don''t you dare leave us!"


    Diana did not see Mikael stumble at her words.


    She was long gone when he turned in surprise to stare in her direction.


    Diana was not there to hear him whisper to himself as if a mantra to remember as he continued towards the Kiln of the First Flame.


    "Don''t you dare go hollow."


    ********


    As Diana reappeared in the mansion, she continued towards one of the sitting rooms.


    The villa was large enough to hold three, one large enough for the dozen women to fit in comfortably and then two smaller ones. It was to one of these latter ones that she headed.


    She had been summoned while grabbing some food. On the way, Wonder Woman noticed Robin and Glynda playing cards.


    "Go fish," the archeologist called. A card was telekinetically carried from the mixed pile into the teacher''s hand.


    It looked like Robin was about to win.


    Nearby, already eliminated from the game, Yoruichi and Tsunade were seated on a loveseat. They each held a saucer of Sake.


    Judging by the flush on their faces had been drinking for a while.


    Diana allowed herself to smile.


    The blonde Hokage reminded her of Shiera, serious but with a temper. She was a warrior who had experienced many losses, Diana was sure.


    On the other hand, Yoruichi reminded the amazon of a female, dark-skinned Barry. Playful, flirty, but willing to get serious when it mattered.


    Even if they were set free and went their own ways soon, Diana was glad to have met each of these women. They were all admirable in one form or another.


    Heroes in their own right.


    Some quite literally.


    Wonder Woman arrived at her destination, the small living room lacking the bay''s view but with an entire home theatre system.


    "How did it go?" Artoria asked as she entered. The blonde was lounging in one of the recliners, a massive tub of popcorn in her hands.


    The group had learned early on that King Arthur got her own portions if there were snacks or food. Trying to take food from her was like stealing gold from a dragon.


    The exception being mashed potatoes.


    The one time Medea tried to make food from Artoria''s home country had also been the one time any food on her plate went uneaten.


    "As good as can be expected." Diana took her own seat facing the massive television. "I do not think he will lose, but he grows ever wearier with each passing day. I hope his fears are unfounded and it will be enough to defeat Gwyn. If he must trudge through more suffering, I fear who he will be on the other side."


    "As do I," Medea agreed grimly before shifting the subject to a lighter topic. "It is a shame, though. We just started this one. I was hoping to finish before we left."


    Everybody had tried various hobbies in an effort to stay occupied while on the Island.


    In the weeks since her arrival, Priscilla had taken to playing video games, for example. Reading, training, hunting, and spending time at the beach were some of the most common.


    Only Glynda really watched television. She enjoyed her ''soaps.''


    Then, while perusing the library of shows and movies, Diana came across ''The sword in the stone.'' A charming animated tale of King Arthur.


    The afternoon that followed was one the amazon remembered fondly. Artoria had been adorably bamboozled by the film, pointing out numerous inconsistencies and problems.


    That set a tone where Diana would try to find more renditions of her friend''s misadventures, and the blonde would tear them apart. Medea had joined them in this exercise at the first opportunity.


    Watching the Monty Python version had been the funniest so far. Diana could not remember the last time she cried from laughter.


    Their most recent discovery, a show called ''Merlin,'' had Artoria chomping at the bit.


    Apparently, the famous wizard was quite the character in her world.


    While the show took a more realistic edge, for all its magic, it had been one of the most inaccurate so far. Even Diana knew that Merlin and Arthur should be of different ages.


    "Indeed," Artoria responded, devouring more popcorn. "I hope we can continue into the future. I wish to see where this tiny ''Mordred'' story leads. He is much different than my own traitorous son."


    "Speaking of," Diana interjected politely as the next episode began. "If it is not too personal, how did that work in your world. Was Morgana a man?"


    "No, she was female. A crafty witch and dangerous foe," Artoria replied.


    "Then how did...?" Medea asked in turn, leaving off the end of the question.


    "Merlin." Artoria looked as if someone had spit in her food.


    She spoke the name as if a curse, as if it alone was enough to answer the question.


    In a way, it was.


    The Incubus was as infamous as he was famous.


    "Well," Medea shifted topics once again, sensing her friend''s unwillingness to elaborate. "We will have to force Mikael to let us stay. I''m sure we can come up with something." Artoria''s mood improved rapidly at the idea.


    The next few hours were spent happily, Diana''s mind off the subject of a lone man in a dying world.


    As she went to bed, she resolved to ask Tsunade about Mikael when she returned from her summoning in the morning.


    Only, Tsunade wasn''t summoned at 9am as expected.


    Nobody was.


    3pm as well passed without anyone disappearing, as did 9pm.


    By that point, everyone had noticed the discrepancy.


    Even Priscila, who spent most of her time in her room playing games and was never summoned, noticed the change in atmosphere.


    The first day passed in confusion but without too much worry.


    The second and third days without summoning saw tensions rise.


    By the fourth and fifth, many women were at wit''s end.


    Artoria passed her days in stone-faced silence.


    Medea no longer cooked meals, spending all her time in her workshop, sorting through the bottomless box Mikael had provided.


    Yoruichi started to spar with Scathach at every waking moment, a decision the Celt agreed to.


    All the others maintained distance, trying to occupy themselves.


    Two women were the most surprising.


    Priscila remained wholly unconcerned. She still spent her days playing video games, reading books, and practicing her singing.


    Emma Frost was frantic.


    The mutant paced everywhere, muttering to herself. Her usually perfectly prepared appearance was deteriorating by the day. Bags formed under her eyes. She wore fewer designer clothes and more baggy sweats. She drank herself to sleep every night.


    Sometimes the mutant would walk up to another of the women and start to say something, only to cut off her words and storm away.


    By the end of the sixth day, Diana had enough.


    Without warning, Wonder Woman marched up to the White Queen, grabbed her arm and started pulling her toward the large sitting room.


    "Call the others," she ordered.


    "Huh," was the intelligent reply from the blonde.


    Emma looked a mess, but Diana would talk to her about that later. They had more important matters.


    "The others," the amazon repeated. "Call them to the meeting room."


    From Diana''s knowledge, Emma had been a very powerful psychic before her summoning. Like the rest of the women, her abilities had been enhanced by their arrival on the Island. The mutant could reach out anywhere on the Island without aid, easily able to call the other women from wherever they were.


    The mutant stared at her seriously before sagging and nodding her head in defeat.


    While unhappy, she had seen the plan in Diana''s mind and was going along.


    Good.


    Diana was no stranger to having to coral stubborn personalities. One was not friends with Batman and Superman without having the spine to stand up to them.


    Like the rest of the building, the main living room was well-appointed. It was the largest room in the house, with a crystal chandelier hanging from the wooden ceiling and artistic tapestries hanging from the wall.


    Unlike the other gathering rooms, this one lacked the extra features such as the television and stocked bar. It was only furnished with loveseats, chairs, recliners, side tables, and a soft burgundy rug covering most of the floor. There was enough seating for two dozen people, more if they didn''t mind being intimate.


    From the control panel on the wall, Diana banished half the seats to the wall. Then she gathered eleven into a circle in the center of the room.


    Taking a chair, the amazon kept an eye on Emma. The platinum blonde sat in a recliner beside her, surly and quiet.


    She must have already called the others as they trickled in one by one. All eleven women trapped on the Island had gathered in only a few minutes.


    "I thank you all for coming," the heroine began. She eyed everyone in turn, making sure she had their attention. Some looked curious, like Priscila, but most looked serious, like Artoria. "We should have done this the first day, but I think it is time we pooled our resources and knowledge. We are trapped here. Mikael has been beyond our reach for almost a week. We need to do something."


    "What can we do?" Yoruichi asked helplessly. The Shinigami was sprawled in an undignified heap horizontally on one of the recliners, her head and feet dangling over the edge. "I''ve been trying to bust the bubble around us for the last few days. Still no luck."


    "I have attempted to willfully manifest a portal to Mikael with no success," Raven spoke up.


    Her words were monotone, but Diana was familiar enough with the cambion to sense her frustration. The former Teen Titan was also staring at Emma more intensely than usual. The blonde mutant paid her no mind, eyes closed and brow furrowed.


    "I know nothing we have attempted has succeeded," Wonder Woman spoke, sensing the mood deteriorating. "This is to pool our knowledge more than anything. What do we know?"


    "The dragon is still alive," Robin spoke. Though she looked calm, Diana knew she was on her sixth cup of coffee. It was still before noon. "I have been checking up on it regularly. It shows no sign of waking, no matter what I do, but it still breathes. If we accept that it is another body of Mikael''s, he is still alive."


    "Our Bard would not fail," Priscila chimed in. She was barely paying attention, eyes locked on a handheld gaming console.


    Diana felt a spike of frustration at the hybrid''s nonchalance but smothered it.


    Arguments would get them nowhere.


    "I, too, trust that Sir Mikael will succeed." Artoria agreed before continuing. "Could this simply be an intermission? It was always possible he would need to defeat three challenges instead of one. Could this be a period between?"


    "It is possible," Medea hedged, looking unsure. "Mikael has told me that each game is set thousands of years apart. Time is unstable there. If so, I have no idea how long this will last."


    "Why don''t we cut the bullshit?" Tsunade harshly interrupted. The former Hokage had remained staring at Emma the entire time. Diana, too, had kept half an eye on the mutant. Many times she made to speak, but no sound left her throat. "Ice Queen! Tell us what is going on, or I''ll carve my fist into your cold face."

 Isolation 1

    I sit beside the fire and think


    of all that I have seen,


    of meadow flowers and butterflies


    in summers that have been;


    ********


    Tsunade was tired.


    Her time on the Island had been excellent.


    The facilities were better than any resort. The food was exquisite. The Island was picturesque.


    The blonde especially enjoyed the company.


    She had made fast friends with a few and remained on good terms with all the other women. There was something nice about not being treated as the Fifth Hokage, the greatest kunoichi to ever live. Most of the women here had kicked her ass when they spared, which spurned her onto training like never before.


    It helped that the library had medical knowledge centuries ahead of her time. In the three months since she had been summoned, she had learned as much about the medicine as in her fifty years before.


    Another benefit was the youth.


    Not Youth, that for Gai and his mini-me.


    Though Tsunade''s unique ability made her look like a woman in her late twenties, she had been considerably older. Combined with the after-effects of her seal and she had felt every second of her 55 years.


    Now she was young again, in her prime and with more chakra than she knew what to do with.


    Altogether, she felt better physically and mentally than ever before.


    But she was so goddamn tired.


    Tired of men going off to die and leaving her behind.


    Tired of feeling hope only to have it ripped from her.


    Tired of helplessness.


    The Sannin liked Mikael.


    She really did.


    She didn''t spend as much time with him as others, but it was always enjoyable when they did talk.


    He asked her about her world. About Konoha and the Land of Fire. About her history and feelings. About politics and being a med-nin. His family had been nurses, he explained. He couldn''t stand being in medicine because he did not care enough about others to want to help.


    Tsunade had laughed at that, responding that many joined the field for the same reason.


    The power over life and death attracted many of the more sociopathic ninjas. She laughed again when he mentioned he considered it but decided not to because he couldn''t be bothered to memorize all the body parts.


    She asked about his world as well.


    What did he do for a living? What were his hobbies? What were his dreams?


    They weren''t profound conversations, but they had been enjoyable.


    Tsunade did not love him, not like Artoria, Priscila, and Medea clearly did.


    She did not have a crush on him like Glynda or Raven.


    She wasn''t desperate to sleep with him like Yoruichi and Scathach.


    (In her mind''s privacy, Tsunade admitted she was interested in seeing what all the fuss ''Sticky Fingers'' was about.)


    More than anything, Tsunade''s relationship with Mikael was best defined as companions. Like two ninjas on a long-term mission, they couldn''t help but grow more fond of each other as they interacted.


    That is why she wasn''t surprised to be disappointed over this last week.


    Of course, another man in her life left her behind. It seemed like she was destined to outlive everyone she cared about.


    Like Dan, Nawaki, and Sensei.


    Like Jiraiya.


    So Tsunade lashed out when she saw Emma withholding information.


    Tsunade knew she was bound by one of those Comand Seal things.


    But, like the seals in her world, there were ways around them if you knew what you were doing.


    You couldn''t talk? Write down your message.


    Couldn''t communicate? Communicate with silence.


    A non-answer could be as good as a yes or no depending on the question.


    That Emma, supposedly a more advanced Yamanaka, was keeping secrets pissed her off.


    The kunoichi needed to do something.


    Anything.


    And bad intel got people killed.


    "While a bit harsher than I would put it," Glynda pipped up after Tsunade''s question. "I, too, wish to know what you have kept from us, Emma."


    "I''m trying!" The White Queen almost snarled in response. She made to say something else, but once more, no sound left her mouth.


    "She is feeling frustration, anger, and despair," Raven mentioned calmly. The mutant looked at her in an almost comical look of betrayal. "Now she is embarrassed."


    "I can still use Rule Breaker on you," Medea said. Most of the group turned to look at the witch. "My Noble Phantasm should still be effective at removing the effects of a Comand Seal. When she first asked about seals, I offered to use it. She turned me down, though she did not say why."


    "And why didn''t you let her use it?" Tsunade practically growled her words, angry that the solution had always been there, but the mutant refused to use it.


    Emma Frost stared back at the Hokage defiantly.


    "Shame and fear," Raven answered for her. Again, the mutant shot the cambion a betrayed look.


    "I think that is enough," Diana spoke up. "We are not here to persecute anyone. We are here to try and work together."


    "I do not see what the issue is," Priscila finally chimed in after putting away her game. She looked around the room like a child seeking answers from adults. Despite being the oldest in the room, she was also the most naive and inexperienced, Tsunade reminded herself to stop herself from cursing the crossbreed. "Our Bard will succeed. We need only wait."


    "He has improved," Scathach answered the dragon girl as if giving a lecture. "But he can still lose. We are afraid he bit off more than he could chew and died to an opponent he couldn''t win against."


    "I still do not understand," the hybrid tilted her head in confusion. "I hath mentioned he is undead, have I not?"


    "The undead can still die," Yoruichi explained. Tsunade felt a pit form in her stomach. She was starting to guess where the crossbreed''s confidence came from. She prayed she was wrong. "We''ve all seen him kill plenty."


    "Priscila," Robin asked softly. "When you say undead, you do not mean someone who has returned to life, do you? Or somebody who is neither living nor dead?"


    "Both? Neither? He is undead. He is branded by the Dark Sign." The way the dragon girl tilted her head in confusion would have been cute had Tsunade not been so frustrated.


    "What does that mean?" She snapped. "He can still die, can''t he?"


    "Of course, he can," the crossbreed replied defensively. Tsunade felt a tiny bit of hope that she had guessed wrong. But that hope was extinguished with her following words. "He died sixteen times while I followed him. But every time, he returned rather quickly. His will was most impressive."


    "What?" Tsunade did not know who whispered the words as all the gathered women looked at Priscila in horror. It could have been her.


    Emma looked resigned.


    She knew.


    She had always known.


    "Indeed," the hybrid continued. Priscilla looked proud like she was reporting an achievement. "Only sixteen times. Those who came before died thrice that amount and became hollow for it well before the halfway point. Our Bard is most skilled. Though the wheel skeletons in the well are often the breaking point, with their spikes and grinding, Sir Mikael only died to them once. The rotting dragon provided more of a challenge, its miasma melting his flesh, but after only two deaths, he felled it using his pyromancy."


    The dragon girl continued, bragging about how formidable ''Sir Mikael'' was even as the assembled women looked worse and worse.


    It was like Edo Tensei, only so much worse.


    Mikael still felt pain.


    "Stop!" Diana shouted, halting Priscila''s retelling about their summoner''s battle with a group of ''Phalanx Demons.'' The amazon had her eyes closed and was taking deep breaths. "Thank you, Priscila. That answered one of our questions. I have another if you do not mind?"


    "Certainly," the crossbreed looked so happy to help. Tsunade wondered if she did not notice the reactions of those in the room.


    Medea looked catatonic.


    Scathach and Raven were stone-faced and silent.


    Yoruichi had fallen from her chair and stared at the dragon girl from the floor.


    Robin looked pained, and Glynda silently wept.


    Artoria had summoned her spear and looked thunderous, like she wanted to fight.


    Stinging pain in her hand drew Tsunade''s attention.


    Looking down, she saw blood.


    Distantly she realized she must have crushed the sake jar in her hands.


    "Thank you," the amazon opened her eyes and looked at the hybrid in determination. "How long was Mikael in the Painted World of Ariamis?"


    "I could not tell you the exact length," Priscilla bit her lip in thought. "Nobody slept, and there was no sun, so days did not matter. Time tended to blend together. I can only approximate that I spent more time following him than I have on this Island."


    The pit fell from Tsunade''s stomach.


    Priscila had been here for three weeks.


    Mikael had spent more than three weeks non-stop in the painted world.


    None of the women had been summoned at that time.


    The interval between summonings, six hours on this end, was more than a month on his end.


    Assuming the time between summoning was consistent, with three a day, some quick math gave Tsunade a rough number.


    Twenty-two years.


    Mikael had been in that world for twenty-two years.


    Likely more.


    He had been practically alone, fighting and dying to all manner of monstrosities for over two decades in a world on its last gasp.


    Tsunade needed another drink.


    Judging by the faces of the other women, they had come to a similar realization.


    Artoria stood suddenly, her quick movement startling some of the others.


    Without a word, she marched from the room, practically stomping her way out.


    Tsunade did not need to be a sensor to feel what came next.


    Her power, raging and turbulent, flowed from her as she left the building.


    It coalesced into a point.


    Tsunade could hear the shout of anger and pain even from within the building. She could see the golden light shoot towards the sky through the window.


    Her Noble Phantasm, Rhongomyniad, unleased to its fullest extent at the sky, shook the building in its proximity.


    Again and again, Artoria unleased her spear at the jewelled bubble encasing them.


    Half a dozen times, she shouted to the sky, receiving no response. The assembled women did not continue without her, letting her vent.


    After fifteen minutes, Artoria returned. She marched in, looking no worse for wear. Her back was straight, and her eyes steady. Perhaps for the first time since they had met, Tsunade saw the most famous King of another world in all her glory.


    "Speak," the Lion King ordered the White Queen. "You knew of this."


    It was not a question.


    Emma did not respond. She continued to look resigned.


    "Regret, sadness, frustration." Raven narrated, her eyes hard.


    For some reason, Tsunade would swear she could see a second set of eyes above her normal ones. Blazing red in intensity.


    "I cannot," Emma finally responded, her voice frustrated.


    "Let us take a different tactic," Diana proposed. "In my most recent summoning, Mikael told me he used all six command seals to give you three orders. ''Never delve deeply into my mind.'' ''Never tell anyone what you find there.'' and one more order.'' Those were his exact words. You should be able to tell us what that third order was since it was not found in his mind."


    The genuine version of this novel can be found on another site. Support the author by reading it there.


    The mutant looked at the Amazon and blushed. Actually blushed. Tsunade did not need to hear Raven know it was not the flush of attraction and lust.


    "Extreme shame and embarrassment."


    For a long moment, Emma sat there. She did not meet anyone''s eyes, though they all watched her intently. Finally, she spoke, in a whispered voice, as if afraid of being heard.


    "He used one seal on each of those orders. The other was a single command, reinforced four times." The other group''s women leaned forward to hear her words as she paused. "He ordered: ''Regain your sanity.''"


    "Excuse me?" Glynda asked, wiping the tracks of tears from her face. She looked determined and resolute. "What does that mean? Why would you lose your sanity?" Emma remained silent.


    "Going forward, I will assume any time you do not answer will be because you can not," Diana spoke. "The fact that you did not answer means you lost your sanity from something in his mind. I was made to understand you are an accomplished psychic?"


    "In my world, I can count on one hand the number of beings who could rival me and have fingers left over." The White Queen took evident pride in her abilities, which furthered the question.


    "You saw something in his mind that drove you to madness?" Scathach asked. The silence was her reply.


    "You have worked with the insane before, correct?" Glynda felt the need to clarify.


    "I have. The exact nature of ''madness'' varies. It could simply be sociopathy, psychopathy, dissociative personalities, or schizophrenia," the mutant explained. "The common understanding of the mind is woefully pathetic, which causes most to label any odd behaviour as ''madness.'' I have worked with many cases, and very rarely have I seen insanity in its literal definition."


    Tsunade realized once more that Emma, for all her faults, was an intelligent woman who had been a teacher. She knew her subject well.


    "The wording of the order is suspicious." Medea did not look like the happy housewife she had been these last few months. She looked like the witch who had been first summoned, her eye set in severe contemplation. "''Never delve deeply.'' This implies you can still read his mind, but the issue is deeper and more fundamental. It cannot be natural to his homeworld. That world lacked magic or any power that should be able to influence you."


    "Another side effect of the ''Catalogue?''" Artoria asked the mutant. Silence.


    "One of the defences, perhaps?" Glynda proposed.


    "None of the defences are active," Emma explained. "The talents and lures are."


    "Then it has to be the dragon aspect." Artoria deduced. Silence. "Very well, what do we know about the dragon options in the catalogue?"


    "The more points he spent on his dragon abilities, the higher his Tier," Medea explained. Tsunade knew she had spent considerable time talking about the nature of his abilities with the man. "Baring his purchase of us, the greatest investment was on that."


    "Indeed," Artoria nodded as she continued where her friend had left. "We spent much time talking about dragons and their nature. It seems in the catalogue, they were categorized by element. Fire, air, ice and the like. Mikael mentioned he was aware of other ''elements.'' and more abstract concepts, such as power, multiplication, division, star, creation, and others. To meet the requirements of reaching the 10th Tier, he needed to purchase two such elements."


    "Were his elements the issue?" Tsunade asked Emma directly. Once more, the silence spoke for itself. "One of them? Or both?" Emma still did not speak, though this time, the Hokage didn''t know whether that was affirmative or not. "He did not have the madness element or some such, did he? Or perhaps, unknowable?"


    "No." That answer looked like it was a struggle to say. They were teetering on the edge of the Comand.


    The others tried their own hand.


    "Power?" "No."


    "Time?" "No."


    "Infinity?" "No."


    "Void?" "No."


    "Darkness?" "No."


    "Death?" "No."


    "We could attempt this for hours and still not find an answer," Diana finally interrupted the guessing game. "Now we know the root of the issue, we can take steps to address it. Medea, your Noble Phantasm would remove the power of the seals, correct? Is there any way to only remove one or two and leave the other intact?"


    "No," the witch shook her head. Tsunade could almost see her mind racing, and, for a moment, the image of Orochimaru was superimposed on her. "Rule Breaker is absolute. If I try to sever one binding, it will sever them all. But we can prepare steps to ensure whatever caused the madness first doesn''t affect you anymore."


    "How so?" The kunoichi hoped it wasn''t anything too... unnatural. As a ninja, she often didn''t have the luxury of being moral, but Tsunade tried her best when given a chance.


    "I''ve actually already started," Medea looked a bit sheepish. "Every time I cook, I put various materials in the food that bolsters us. When we arrived on the Island, I''m sure you all noticed you were considerably stronger?" There were nods around the room, so the witch continued. "It was a benefit of the summoning. We all went up one Tier."


    "That made us stronger, but how?" Glynda asked.


    "While Mikael was vague on the exact details, he explained it as a qualitative difference. Tier 1 through 3 are considered baseline humans. They might be skilled or intelligent but still limited to human abilities. 4-5 usually have one or two supernatural powers, the main difference being their strength, usefulness and possible downsides. Glynda and Robin, for example, are extremely dangerous but are mostly limited to their Devil Fruit or semblance."


    The group remained silent, letting the witch lecture.


    "6 to 10 are where things get finicky. I qualified as a six, but given enough time, materials, and magic, I could theoretically do most of what any of you could. Because of those limits, I am lower on the Tier. The easiest method to differentiate tiers is based on their possible effects. 6 is a strong ability but limited to a personal level. Anti-Personnel. 7 would be anti-fortress, 8 anti-continent, 9 anti-world, 10 will continue upwards to infinity from there, so there would be a wide range of those."


    "While the subject is interesting," Diana finally interrupted the impromptu lecture. "I believe we were asking how it would help Emma."


    "Right," the witch looked embarrassed about her sudden tangents, but Tsunade didn''t fault her for it. If the subject had been medicine (or booze), she could get just as distracted. "To make a complicated subject simple, every Tier is a qualitative change that not only makes us stronger but removes weakness. Robin can now swim, for example. As I said, I have been using materials in our food that will boost our Tiers the more we consume them. The lower the Tier, the less you need. I haven''t been putting too much into the meals, only about 120ml per person, but I could up the dosage. If I compress about a litre per person, it shouldn''t affect the taste too much. Maybe pills?" Medea devolved into a mumbling fit, but Tsunade had an important question.


    "Any side effect?"


    "Yes, but that is what we want if I want to be able to use Rule Breaker," Medea responded, barely paying attention to the med-nin.


    "Excuse me?!" Emma interrupted, looking aghast.


    "Raising your Tier is not feasible," Medea explained to the mutant. "Even if you took all three doses of 1 litre a day, we would need to continue for eight and a half years to get you to Tier 9. Since the material comes from a dragon, as we ingest it, we will eventually cross a threshold and start manifesting draconic traits ourselves. Reaching that point is much quicker. Only five months or so."


    "You will become dragons?" Priscila chimed in, eyes shining.


    "To a degree," Medea nodded. "Though which form that takes will vary to my knowledge. It might be as simple as our bodies producing a Dragon Core like Arotria or turning us full draconic. Either way, the process will be fully reversible once it happens."


    "I am not sure how comfortable I am with changing my body to that degree." The White Queen frowned at the greek witch.


    "Then you will be bound by those commands for the rest of your life," Medea shrugged uncaringly. "If the problem is Mikael''s draconic element driving you mad, then the only solutions are either removing your memories entirely or assuming an element for yourself."


    "Fine," the mutant spoke as she stood up. "Then I assume we are done here. You all got your answers, and we are no closer to getting aid to Mikael. What a waste of time."


    "One last thing," Tsunade stood as well but regarded everyone else in the room for a moment. "If we are to be ingesting these substances, then I will be providing checkups on everyone weekly." Medea made to speak, but she was silenced by a look. "I am sure you will do your best, but this is non-negotiable. I have seen too many people get ''power-ups'' only for it to destroy them. At the first sign of anything going wrong, we stop it. Are we clear?"


    The rest of the room made various sounds of agreement, though Medea looked slightly mulish.


    Too bad for her. Tsunade would not have a ''Hero Water'' situation if she could help it.


    "What about Mikael?" Tsunade heard Artoria ask Diana as the pair left the room.


    "We wait," the amazon sighed. "Not much else we can do for the moment. At least we know he has not perished. We must trust him to come back to us eventually." Artoria did not look pleased by those words, but nobody else was either.


    Tsunade was tired of waiting.


    Thankfully, she only had to wait two more days. At 9am sharp, the Hokage vanished from the mansion while providing a checkup on Raven.


    To everyone''s relief.


    **********


    As soon as Tsunade felt the summons, weight was removed from her chest.


    Mikael had made it.


    Looking around, she found herself on a stone gazebo in a wide field of tall grass. Great cliff faces towered above her on each side, and moonlight streamed from between the crag above.


    The man she sought was in a pitiful state.


    Mikael lay curled up on the stone platform at her feet. He had returned to his ''jerky'' form, as he called it. His skin was dried, pockmarked, and sunken in. She could count his bones, and his eyes were desiccated to the point that she was shocked they could be used.


    His form trembled as he cried. He whispered to himself, over and over again. The words were slurred and almost unintelligible but repeated enough for the Sannin to piece them together.


    "I didn''t go hollow."


    Great sobs racked him as he rocked back and forth.


    He hadn''t noticed her, weeping as he was.


    Gone was the playful, somewhat stoic man, and a wreck was all that was left behind.


    Silently, Tsunade crouched behind him.


    While he trembled, she cast a simple diagnostic Jutsu.


    Like the others, the blonde couldn''t affect the physical world, but her senses and abilities were not hindered. She couldn''t heal the man, but getting a scan was possible. She did so at every summoning as a security measure.


    More than any of the others, she knew the strength he had accumulated over his journey. It had seemed like an absurd growth rate, going from a civilian level of musculature to rivalling her strength with physical power alone.


    Now that she knew it was over the process of decades rather than the three months previously believed, his growth had made better sense.


    All that growth was gone now.


    He had returned to the level he had been in that cell. Decades of effort, pain and suffering had been wiped away. Tsunade had seen ninjas give up over less.


    Even she felt frustrated.


    His DNA was also different. He looked the same, but this was a different body than the one he had when he entered the Kiln.


    Tsunade wanted to ask, to demand answers, but she didn''t.


    The former Hokage took a deep breath and sat beside the crying man. She wished there was something she could do. The med-nin found that even holding someone''s hand could help.


    But, as usual, she passed through him.


    So Tsunade sat by the man''s side while he wept his heart out.


    She sat there as the minutes dragged on, his open sobbing slowing to quiet whimpers. It was at least half an hour before he spoke.


    "I didn''t go hollow." He said the words as both an achievement and a curse.


    His voice was rough and gravelly, like someone who hadn''t had water in far too long.


    "You didn''t," now that Tsunade truly understood what that meant, she couldn''t help the pride that crept into her voice.


    "I wanted to," he admitted as if he had committed a great sin. "I never wanted something so much in my life. I wanted all the thoughts, memories, and pain to disappear."


    "But you didn''t," Tsunade repeated.


    "I couldn''t," Mikael sounded so guilty it stole her breath away. Tsunade''s fists curled hard enough to pierce her skin. "I tried letting go. Tried to give in. But like everything else, I didn''t get a fucking choice." He practically snarled the last words.


    "I am sorry." That was all she could say.


    Sorry that they were in this situation.


    Sorry that he was forced to go through this alone.


    Sorry that the world wasn''t fair.


    Sorry that all his effort had gone unrewarded.


    "It''s fine," he mumbled as he sat up, wiping the tear stains from his eyes. "I don''t blame any of you. You all are as much victims in this as I am." Tsunade didn''t really agree with that but held her tongue. "Besides, there is good news. Our freedom is guaranteed now."


    "How so?" She asked, desperate for any silver lining.


    "If I can''t go hollow, it is just a matter of time until I beat the third game. It will take a while, maybe even a year on your end, but it will happen." While she was happy he could be optimistic about the situation, Tsunade was still not pleased with him.


    "How long were you going to keep hiding the time difference?" Her eyes narrowed at him, daring him to lie once more.


    He blinked at her in surprise before shrugging his shoulders.


    "As long as I could since it did not seem to matter."


    "Did not matter!" Tsunade snarled, her fists still clenching in frustration. She wished she could hit him. Hit this gazebo. Hit anything. "You''ve been doing this for decades! How does that not matter?" He appeared unconcerned with her anger.


    "For the same reason, I can''t go hollow. It ensures I will never settle down, constantly pushing me forward. My memories never fade, always the same as when I first appeared in that cell. It was initially why I chose that ending in the first place. Whether it takes me centuries or millennia, I will keep moving forward to be free." Tsunade narrowed her eyes at him.


    "That is one of your elements, isn''t it? Freedom? You are insane because you are a conceptual Dragon of Freedom which is trapped. Emma went into your mind, and it also drove her mad." Perhaps for the first time, Mikael looked disturbed.


    "Did Medea use Rule Breaker? Is Emma okay?" He asked franticly. Tsunade was shocked by how scared he looked, the emotion plainly visible on his sallow features, but she managed to answer.


    "We weaselled some information out of her without breaking the commands. She is fine." Tsunade could appreciate he was worried for the mutant, but she wouldn''t allow him to change the subject. "I''m right, aren''t I?"


    "You are, but only partially." He sagged, looking resigned. "To reach tier 10, I had to take two elements. I chose Freedom and Life. Now I am trapped and undead. The irony is astounding. I chose Freedom since I figured it would help with dimensional travel and Life, so I would be harder to kill. I didn''t think it would be too much of a problem when I first wrote that story since you all would be enough to curb stomp Dark Souls."


    "If every plan worked out, the world would be a better place." Tsunade tried to hold on to the anger. To feel hurt at his secret-keeping. To feel betrayed. Looking at him, so hunched and tired, made it impossible. In the end, she just sighed. That they knew now really did change nothing. "You said something back there while crying. You kept repeating, ''I didn''t go hollow.'' Why?"


    It was difficult to make out a proper expression with his sunken eyes and emaciated face, but for the first time since the summoning, Tsunade could swear Mikael was smiling.


    "I suppose it is why I like Dark Souls in the first place." He sounded nostalgic, and Tsunade settled in to hear a story. If all she could do to ease the pain was listen, then she shall listen. It was why she became a medic. "I enjoyed the combat, the immersive world, and the profound lore. If that had been all, I think Dark Souls would have been a good game, but it wouldn''t have become the cultural icon it did later. You have to understand the central conceit of the game. Everything can be overcome. No matter how hard things get, how often you die, or what you face, you only lose the game by giving up."


    "Sometimes giving up is the right choice," Tsunade felt the need to point out.


    "I am not disagreeing that letting things go can be a better option than clinging to them." He shook his head as if frustrated that she didn''t understand his words. "This was a video game. There were no stakes. It was a hobby to enjoy. It was known for being difficult but always possible. To beat the game, you only needed the will to carry on. Combat was exhilarating, but the joy came when you hit a wall. When you face a foe so tough, tricky, or outlandish, you throw yourself against them repeatedly, only to fail. Then suddenly, after tens or hundreds of failures, you succeed. You find a trick, raise your abilities, or simply get good. No matter how you do it, you finally break down that wall. That shot of endorphins was like nothing else back then. It suddenly felt like everything was possible. That there was nothing you couldn''t do."


    He gestured wildly as he spoke passionately on the subject. Some others might have looked down on him for getting so energetic about a hobby, but Tsunade was entirely pleased by it.


    It wasn''t childishness that killed ninja.


    It was apathy.


    Like always, though, when discussing a passion, it was essential to keep them on track.


    "That sounds nice, but what does that have to do with hollows? They are mindless undead, correct?"


    "They are not mindless," he clarified. "They are will-less. They retain all their abilities, technique, and intelligence. They know to ambush and plan, to kill and rob. They even still know how to practice religion. The difference is that they do these things because it is simply all they know to do. They have given up on progress, on achieving anything meaningful. Anyone, literally anyone in the entire world, could have achieved what I did back in Lordran. They could have defeated all the same foes, killed the gods, defeated Gwyn and linked the fire. I was lucky enough to know it was possible and to have good teachers, but I was way more unprepared than anyone else. It took me a few decades when it could have taken a competently trained fighter much less time. I succeeded only because I never gave up. I only gave in at the end."


    Mikael trailed off, looking melancholy once more. Tsunade mind raced urgently to try and keep him talking.


    "You were repeating it so often I thought it was a common phrase. I remember hearing something similar a few times when you summoned me."


    "Though this world is dreary, drifting from one apocalypse to another, it isn''t without its bright spots," he explained. "A few people who are always pleased to see you can go a long way. I tried my best to give those as good an ending as possible. One of them, in the original game, had a line. It was a throw-away thing, never intended to become as famous as it did. Every time you stepped away from him, he would bid farewell, saying, ''don''t you dare go hollow.'' It is at once a plea for your continued existence and affirmation that you are not facing this world alone.


    "Dark Souls wasn''t super popular when it first came out. It was a cult hit for the longest time. Large enough that you didn''t know everyone in the community but small enough that you would see some familiar faces occasionally. People talked to each other on message boards, piecing together the lore and telling stories. It got around that, while the game never cured it, it helped people with depression. The idea of overcoming anything can help people who feel just getting out of bed in the morning is challenging. People would share their stories and end them with a message to the community. Don''t you dare go hollow."


    "That sounds nice." Tsunade wished something like that could have been possible in her world.


    By their very nature, ninja jealously guarded their secrets, and the idea of opening up anonymously to others would have turned their souls.


    "I''ve been lucky enough to not have depression in my life," Mikael sighed. "I''ve had my ups and downs, been in depressing situations, and even faced my mortality a time or two but never been clinically depressed. But I have had friends and family who have been. That something as innocuous as a video game, no matter how good, can be so life-affirming while being so dark... I have always found that beautiful. That saying, ''don''t you dare go hollow,'' stuck with me for over a decade before I was trapped in that cell. Before Gwyn and... the fire," he looked almost nauseous as he said the words. "It was something I repeated to myself over and over as a way to push forward. Now, since I cannot stay dead, go hollow, or give up, I suppose I do not need to anymore."


    Seeing his mood drop, Tsunade turned the subject once more.


    She asked about this new land, she asked about his family and friends, she asked about anything and everything.


    By the fourth time, Tsunade changed the subject abruptly, the med-nin was sure Mikael had wised up to her moves. He simply smiled softly at her and went on to explain the history of his homeworld as she had asked.


    They stayed in that stone gazebo, in that grass field, for hours.


    Just talking, taking what comfort they could in each other''s presence.


    When Tsunade''s time was up, the pale white portal opened by itself behind her and started to subtly drag her, Mikael was looking better.


    Not happy, but more secure.


    Less like a sobbing wreck.


    He stood as she did, ready to face whatever challenges this new world, not with a smile but a will.


    Tsunade would have hugged him if she could, but all she could give him were some parting words.


    She stared into his eyes as the portal swallowed her, willing him to understand that he was not alone.


    "Don''t you dare go hollow!"

 Isolation 2

    Of yellow leaves and gossamer


    in autumns that there were,


    with morning mist and silver sun


    and wind upon my hair.


    ********


    If she could sweat, Medea would be dripping with it.


    So intense was her concentration that all else faded.


    She saw not the room around her. All senses were focused on her craft. One wrong move, one errant twitch, and the consequences would be disastrous. A mistake at this juncture would set her back days, to say nothing of the frustration and pain it would cause.


    Success would bring glorious achievement.


    Failure, utter ruin.


    But she was Medea!


    One of the greatest witches to ever live.


    She had carved her name into bloody legend through her deeds and actions.


    So with a hand that did not shake and a gaze that did not waver, she carefully slid the last piece into place. The Witch of Betrayal stepped back to admire her work.


    "Finally," she whispered to herself almost reverently.


    After weeks and months of toil, her masterpiece was complete.


    "It is an impressive beast."


    Medea, the Witch of Betrayal, one of the most significant magic users the world had ever seen, the figure of awe and terror, let out an undignified ''Eep'' and tripped over herself as she fell backwards in surprise.


    "The detail work on the scales is exquisite, and its eyes hold the ferocious cunning I would expect of a dragon," Artoria continued, unmindful of her friend''s unexpected fall. She continued to eye the construct appraisingly. "I feel that the scale is a bit off, however."


    "I couldn''t keep it at a 1-to-1 frame. Otherwise, it would throw off the composition. Mikeal''s body is just too large." Medea wiped herself down as she stood.


    Though surprised, the witch appreciated the blonde''s silence while she worked. Unlike her workshop, this room wasn''t kept locked. Had the King interrupted at the wrong time, her magnum opus could have been damaged.


    She really needed to practice with Haki more.


    The diorama stood exactly six feet tall, a few inches taller than the King of Knights and several more than Medea herself.


    It depicted a tremendous white dragon suspended in space, floating through magic. Its wings were unfurled, and it roared in triumphant ecstasy. Clutched in its claws was a great jewel.


    Two figures sat atop its back, between the two great wings and nested in an opening of spikes. One was a blonde woman in armour wielding a spear. Behind her was an elfin woman with blue hair in a white dress, clutching the blonde in an embrace.


    Medea stared at her creation with pride.


    This sculpture would have been impossible in her original world. She never had the time she wanted to indulge in her hobbies, unlike on the Island. Not only that, the material used was frightfully indulgent.


    The jewel, the size of her head, was made of a composite of gemstones and enchanted to refract light in a beautiful spectrum. It had been formed by feeding a crystal lizard all those gemstones and mana over months. It was a material never seen on earth before.


    That was the least costly part, being nothing more than a shiny rock that trillionaires would fight over.


    Each scale of the dragon, thousands of them, had been carved from actual drake scales.


    Modern magi would have sold their heir, crest and all, to get a handful of them. Its fangs, proudly displayed as it roared, had been formed from those removed from one of the hydra''s heads.


    Medea had asked Scathach to carve runes on each scale and fang. Enchanted for durability, blessing, and retaliation.


    Its body could stand up to one of Artoria''s attacks, and should anyone touch the mouth unprepared, they would die a slow and excruciating death.


    Its eyes were formed from the actual eyes of the Hellkite Drake, shrunk and repurposed. Though they possessed no unique ability, they had been enchanted to follow the path of anyone who approached, making the dragon come alive.


    The figures on the creature''s back, barely a few inches tall, were also made from expensive materials.


    Artoria''s hair was literally spun gold threads. Their clothes were made using the magic-infused silk of the spiders that had appeared on the Island. The ''space'' the dragon floated in was made from cut ''darkness'' Raven had provided. Every ''star'' and ''galaxy'' on the tapestry was woven from crystalized starlight.


    Astromancers would weep at the sight of the background alone.


    The materials alone would have allowed Medea to purchase a country. And not a small one, either.


    Altogether, using magic long thought lost and made by some of the most extraordinary women to walk the world?


    It was quite literally priceless.


    "I spoke of my figure," Artoria explained as she gestured to the tiny knightess. "I do not believe them to be that prominent."


    It took a moment for the witch to understand her friend''s focus. Once realization came, Medea turned from the depiction of King Arthur to the actual woman and stared at her.


    At her chest in specific.


    "They''re to scale," Medea said, her eyes not leaving the mounds that had attracted her attention like gravity. "Trust me, I was very... thorough."


    "If you are sure," the blonde did not seem to notice the focused attention of her friend. Instead, she continued to look over the diorama. "And what of this figure. Who is this meant to represent?"


    Not understanding what Artoria was talking about, Medea, with great effort, turned her attention to where the Lancer was pointing.


    There, in the great beast''s mouth, was a third figure.


    Unlike the two women on the dragon''s back, it had been created with little care. Dirty blonde hair, and ragged clothes made from scrapes, it could have been a handsome man had its face not been painted in a rictus of agony.


    "Oh, ignore that," Medea said casually. She reached up for the little blond fop of a figure, removed it from the dragon''s jaws, and tossed it over her shoulder with little fanfare. "I use it to help me focus. It always lightens my mood." As Artoria did not look convinced, the witch promptly changed the subject. "So, what did you need me for?"


    "Yes, well, ah, that is...," Artoria stammered, her face flushing red at the question. She averted her gaze but managed to continue. "It has come to my attention that I have been neglectful and ignorant. I seek to rectify that at the earliest convenience. I would ask your aid with this task."


    "Sure. What can I do to help?" Medea answered happily. She hoped this was going where she thought it was. Could the day get any better?


    "I shall just speak the truth then." Artoria took a deep breath, squared her shoulders and looked into Medea''s eyes again. "I have discovered I have romantic feelings for Sir Mikael. I do not wish to be left behind when we are free. I intend to court him with the intention to wed. I need your aid to do so."


    It was all Medea could do not to squeal in joy.


    As it was, she had to physically restrain herself from pupping a fist in triumph.


    She settled for grinning happily.


    That earnest delivery, those deep green eyes set in resolute determination. Medea felt her heart flutter at the sight but managed to squeeze out a response.


    "What brought this on?" She asked instead of squealing about how cute the King looked.


    "I admit, I have been fond of Sir Mikael for a while." Medea had noticed that Artoria had taken to calling the man with that respectful title since they had held that meeting weeks ago. She thought it was due to the blonde''s subtle competition with Priscila. "While lesser men would have decried the injustice of his plight, he has never maltreated us. He is steadfast in his quest and has become a valiant fighter. Had he been present during my reign, I would have been proud to have him counted among my Knights of the Round."


    "That is high praise." For a person to be worth joining the Round Table of legends by King Arthur themselves was a high honour. Especially if they came from the modern world. It would mean he was guaranteed a place in the Throne of Heroes. "But I meant, why the sudden romantic interest?"


    "Ah," Medea noted, due to academic curiosity only, that the flush this time crept all the way to Artoria''s chest. She should study this phenomenon later. For science. The King continued her explanation, unmindful of the witch''s hungry gaze. "I had been talking to Diana, and she mentioned that the impetus to venture from her home island had been an encounter with a man washed on the shore. They later were romantically entangled, though not wed, and I inquired further about any current object of affection she might have. She mentioned in jest that the only options she currently had were the ten of us women and Sir Mikael."


    Medea blinked at Artoria in surprise.


    Did the blonde not understand that Diana meant she was interested in Mikael?


    Also, did she not realize the amazon had also declared her interest in Artoria?


    "That response caught my attention." Heedless, the King of Knights carried on. "I spent some time pondering the topic and why it disquieted me. I then realized that my emotions toward our summoner differed from those I held toward my knights. While I knew this, their exact nature eluded me until I remembered Sir Lancelot''s poems regarding his love affairs. The desire to remain close to him. The intention to hold him in my arms. The aching pit the idea of his departure leaves in my stomach. All these and more have led me to conclude that I wish to court our summoner."


    "Then why come to me?"


    Not that Medea was opposed to it.


    Far from it.


    She would have to thank Diana later. This put her ahead by months of her initial estimation. The only unfortunate thing was that she kept her documents on the ''The Plan'' in her workshop. She would have to revisit them at the earliest opportunity.


    "My marriages did not end on a particularly happy note," Medea pointed out.


    "I am seeking all the advice I can receive," the blonde admitted with shame creeping into her voice. "Though I feel bad to say it, especially considering the tragic result of your first marriage, I still feel your experience would be of more use than mine. Had I not been such a terrible spouse towards Guinevere, perhaps Camelot would have continued for centuries. Even then, it had been a union for politics rather than love. I have no experience with romance at all. Considering my masculine form, I am not in a position to turn down aid."


    Medea stared at her friend, her eyes roaming over her form in disbelief.


    Legs that carried on for miles, thick thighs held up wide hips that, in turn, supported an ass you could bounce a coin off of. Her waist was trim, her stomach lightly toned from exercise, and her breasts were the stuff goddesses were jealous of. Her long hair flowed like silken gold and framed a face that was prominent with a hint of softness. Her eyes were like emeralds glowing with golden light.


    Saying nothing of her cute personality, Artoria was a figure countries would war over.


    Coming from a greek, that was quite literal.


    Medea laughed.


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    She couldn''t help but do so.


    The juxtaposition of the severe mood of the knight and the humour of her last words set the witch off into a fit of giggles.


    Artoria did not look amused.


    "I''m sorry about that," the witch apologized, still giggling behind her hand. Artoria''s eyebrow had twitched, but she showed no other response. "I simply found your last statement to be too amusing. You are a gorgeous woman Artoria. Anyone would be lucky to call you their own."


    The King''s annoyance was gone instantly, and her blush had returned to full force.


    "I appreciate your words Medea," the blonde looked away in embarrassment. "However, I must make all efforts to convince Sir Mikael of that. Many of my knights have likened love to a battlefield. It is a battlefield I am unfamiliar with. I am severely unarmed and understaffed and would ask your aid in the coming conflict."


    "Hm," Medea hummed playfully. Finger on her lips, she smiled up at the blonde. There was an opening here. "Are you aware of the other generals on the field?"


    "Excuse me?" Artoria looked perplexed at her words.


    "Indeed," the witch nodded sagely as if revealing the world''s truth. "I cannot speak to Robin, Raven, Emma, nor Tsunade, as they keep their battle plans to themselves. Yoruichi and Scathach have already stated their war aims, however. They intend to take Mikeal to bed at their earliest convenience. Glynda, a new general in the field, has developed a crush on the target. Though inexperienced, she calls on Scathach for aid. They make a powerful coalition. Priscila has already staked a claim. Diana, despite her desires, can be swayed to our side."


    "So many strong foes," Artoria whispered as she stared into the distance. Then her eyes widened, and she refocused on Medea''s own. "And your intentions?"


    "I, of course, remain your ally in this war." Medea smiled guilelessly up at her friend. "Not only will I help Diana come to our side, but I shall act as your leading advisor in the conflict. Together, we shall form a triumvirate and be triumphant."


    Artoria''s eyes shone positively with competitive joy before they calmed and were serious.


    "If this leads to discord, it might be more prudent to hold off on the attempt." The blonde looked pained by the admittance but continued on. "My kingdom fell due to infighting. I do not wish my actions would again lead to such an event."


    "Ah, but my king," Medea practically purred as she sidled up to her friend and crush. "That is all within my plans. I aim not for a drawn-out war but a bloodless victory."


    "Is it possible to learn such tactics?" The King of knights looked so hopeful Medea almost ''squeed'' at the cuteness level.


    "Some may consider my tactics to be... unnatural," Medea admitted slyly. "But those are only for those too ignorant of the world. I am sure you have heard of romances between two women. Diana was not joking when she listed the other women on the Island as possible interests."


    "Such a thing is possible?" Artoria''s face was a deep scarlet, and she hung wide-eyed on every word.


    Had she known of such things, perhaps her marriage with Guinevere would not have ended so tragically.


    Luckily, Professor Medea was here to teach her.


    "Not only possible but common," the witch explained. "During my time, heterosexuality was mostly the norm for procreation, and the same sexes were meant to find pleasure in each other. Without men for thousands of years, I imagine that was all Diana knew before leaving her Island. Even here, I have noted Yoruichi and Tsunade disappearing for a while for some... intimacy."


    "Re-really?" Artoria gulped. Her entire body was now the colour of a beet.


    "Indeed," Medea whispered. She was practically flushed against her companion. "I know Diana has taken Scathach and Yoruichi to bed on occasion. I suspect our dear Celt has also been teaching Glynda a few things on the joys of sapphic pleasure."


    "How does this help us win over Sir Mikael?" Artoria asked, intrigued but staying on task.


    "Why fight an enemy when we can turn them into allies?" Medea asked rhetorically. "Our victory condition is getting Mikael to be interested romantically in you, is it not? To have him take you with him once we are free?"


    "It is."


    "Then we shall use honourable diplomacy to negotiate with foreign powers to achieve a common purpose. Some concessions will have to be made to ensure all parties receive appropriate benefits, but such is the nature of war!" Medea said with finality as she stepped back from the Lancer.


    Artoria was still flushed red, but she looked resolute and determined.


    "I shall thank you in advance, Medea. With your wise counsel, I see us winning a complete victory!"


    "Of course we will. But first, we must arm ourselves." The greek stepped further from the blonde. Behind her new diorama was a pair of doors that she threw open. Lined on each side were numerous articles of clothing in various styles and colours.


    Coincidently, they should all fit Artoria.


    "As a Caster, I should always be prepared. My armoury is at your disposal, my King."


    What perfect timing.


    Medea had just been thinking she needed a new project. Forget a diorama or lost magic; this would genuinely be her pinnacle achievement.


    ********


    "Time is weird here," Mikael explained.


    The pair sat atop a tower overlooking a ruined fort of sorts. The belfry commanded an excellent sea view as the full moon illuminated the couple.


    Medea had been ecstatic to have such a romantic spot for their meeting.


    Granted, Mikael made a point of showing the more beautiful areas of the world to all the women on the Island. She suspected that he wouldn''t allow them to see the worst parts.


    Still, Medea would take what she could get.


    The pair had spent the last few hours talking, laughing, and (to her not-so-secret delight) bashing all the gods they knew about.


    As it turned out, Mikael was philosophically an agnostic but realistically an atheist, as he put it. He did not deny the possible existence of gods, merely that humanity would be better off without them and that, if they did exist, mankind should act like they don''t.


    The topic had turned from Cronos and why he was an idiot to the nature of time in this world.


    "It has degenerated and warped. Take this belfry, for example," Mikael explained. The way he talked about his passions enthralled her, and he was just as engaged when she spoke of magic. "No matter how long we rest here, the full moon will never rise nor fall. Other places are perpetually bright or bathed in the setting sun. It was the same in Dark Souls 1."


    "Is this related to the convergence?" Medea subtly leaned closer, trying to show off her curves and make it seem accidental.


    The greek hadn''t known where she would be summoned, so she had gone for a catch-all outfit.


    A dress that showed generous cleavage but wouldn''t be out of place on an afternoon stroll. Medea had been trying to draw his attention to her curves for the last few hours with limited success.


    "Maybe," he shrugged. He either didn''t notice Medea''s movements or pretended not to. "Things are different than they were in the games. Larger, more complicated. In the game, the degeneration of time was used as an excuse for multi-player and summoning aid. The areas didn''t change because they had not been programmed to. What is natural and a byproduct of an end of a cycle is hard to differentiate."


    "If time has deteriorated to the point where its natural flows are disrupted, then it would follow that space would too." Medea pointed out while casually brushing a lock of hair behind her ears. "If the cycle of destruction and repair happens enough, it would eventually collapse from a build-up of damages. As it nears the end, revolutions will happen quickly, and past events and people will overlap with present ones. If hollows do not need sustenance and lack a will, they probably would not even notice."


    "Something like that happens in the third instalment," Mikael nodded. "Not only do all time periods converge, but old Lords of Cinder rise from their graves."


    "You''ve used that term before, ''Lord of Cinder.'' What qualifies one for the title?" Medea asked, trying to learn more about the worlds Mikael found himself trapped in.


    If she had tried harder in the past, maybe she would have noticed his plight as an undead or the inconsistencies of the time dilation before Priscilla had sprung it on them.


    "The basic requirement is to link the flame." At Medea''s expression, he continued. "That essentially means defeating all who stand between you and the Kiln where the First Flame resides, absorbing their souls in the process and making your own much greater for it. There are other ways to do it than fighting, but they all boil down to having a powerful enough soul that can act as kindling for the flame to last an eon."


    "Like you?" Medea asked softly.


    Though her partner couldn''t feel it, she nonetheless put her hand on his.


    "Like me," he nodded while grimacing. A full-body shudder ran through him at the memory. "I have died a hundred different ways, none of them pleasant. The First Flame, becoming a Lord... it''s something else entirely."


    Mikael stared out over the moonlit sea, his gaze distant as he recounted the experience.


    Medea wished she could do more than sit and listen.


    "It burns not your body but your soul. The stronger the soul, the longer it lasts. It is a searing agony, torture so extensive that it drove gods mad. It goes on and on for centuries, millennia. You do not notice the time passing. You do not see the world changing. All you can feel is agony. Your body only moves instinctually because your mind is so consumed with pain. It only ends when someone comes to kill you and take your place. It drives everyone hollow eventually."


    "Not you," she tried to reassure him.


    "I would have," he admitted, shame filling his voice. "Had I not had out-of-context benefits from... my elements driving me forward, I would have given in like all others. I am not special in that regard. I do not even know who replaced me. I was too blinded by the pain to see. I do not think my body put up much of a fight."


    "And you have to do this two more times?" Medea asked, fist clenched in anger and frustration.


    She relaxed when she saw him shake his head.


    "I know I won''t have to in the third game," Mikael explained. "I am going to put out the Fire for good then. I hope I won''t have to in this iteration, either. In these games, there are always at least two possible endings. You link the Fire and become a Lord of Cinder, or you walk away and let it fade. Even if you walk away, someone will eventually come and link it because it will never go out completely. Gwyn ensured that."


    "Then why didn''t you do that last time?" Medea asked hotly.


    She hated seeing him in pain.


    The first time she had been summoned after his fight with Gwyn, he had been a wreck of his former self.


    Medea had been helpless, unable to aid him in any way. It was one of the worst experiences of her life.


    "I didn''t know it would work out like that," he defended. While he had recovered somewhat since, he was still far less prone to laughter and jokes than before. "The games end after you link the fires. Yes, you get burned, but it fades to black afterwards. I''ve been burned to death dozens of times. Once more would have been a small price to pay for freedom. On top of that, the other ending is even more ambiguous. It is just walking away. There is no explanation for what happens. It is supposed to be an ''age of darkness,'' but that never happens until the third game. I couldn''t take the risk that it wouldn''t qualify as ''completing'' the game."


    "I hope you know that if I could hit you, I would." Medea took a deep breath to calm herself. "I know you do not want to die. I know you are doing the best you can. But we care about you. I care about you. Seeing you like this, throwing yourself into danger and pain while we sit on the side, drives us mad. So please, take whatever steps you need to but try and keep your deaths to a minimum."


    "I''ll try," he looked uncomfortable at her earnest plea.


    Medea cracked a smile.


    Despite his prickly sides, sarcasm, and dark humour, Mikael was weak to positive feelings directed at him.


    He used his personality like a sword and shield, never letting anyone in.


    Earnestness, the witch had found, would be the key to his heart.


    "Good! I do have a question, though."


    "Shoot," the man looked relieved at the change of subject.


    "If you were conscious and ''alive'' for that whole process, how come none of us were summoned?"


    "I wasn''t in the right frame of mind to catalogue things, you understand," the witch rolled her eyes at his sass but smiled. "I think it''s based on how I learned to delay the summonings. Much like you all, I can feel a summons coming before it happens. I have to be looking for it, but it is there. It starts to build up like a well of energy ready to burst. It gives me about a day''s warning at that point before any of you appear."


    "It is the time dilation between places," Medea confidently said. "A few seconds on the Island is a few days here. The ratio is inconsistent except for whenever we are summoned. I have been able to measure that on our end. I think whatever is causing the summoning is doing it when the flow of time is closest. That happens when the sun is up on the Island at three-hour intervals."


    "When did you figure that out?" Mikeal tilted his head in question.


    "I had the data I needed within the first week," Medea waived off. "I was only missing the knowledge of how much more time passed on this end compared to the Island. If only someone hadn''t lied to me about it only being a week." The greek playfully glared up at Mikael.


    The man only turned to the side and whistled innocently.


    "In my defence," he said with a guilty smile. "When we started, it was only a week between summonings, as far as I could tell. It is only when I consciously delay it that it roughy quintuples."


    "You never finished explaining how you delay it," Medea pointed out.


    "Right, so a well of energy starts to build up about a day before a summoning," Mikeal conjured a small flame in his hand as an example, slowly making it grow. "Essentially, I try and focus on not releasing that energy. It is annoying, like having gas in your stomach but no release. After about an hour, the feeling goes away, and the energy subsides."


    The flame in his hand shrunk to only an ember.


    "It will stay with me for the next few weeks, not making any movement, but eventually, it starts to build again. It gets to the point I cannot contain it and have to let it out."


    The ember grew larger and larger, then burst with a sizzling ''pop.''


    "That energy never built up while I burned," Mikeal finished, dissipating the magic.


    Medea stared up at him, searching his eyes for any indication that this was another one of his pranks.


    There was no humour in them.


    "So," she started slowly as if talking to a child. "We are being summoned across time and space, likely through some use of the second True Magic, by a magical fart."


    Mikael raised his finger to defend his point, lowering it again after a moment of thought.


    "You know, I never thought of it like that. You are right." Realization seemed to dawn on him, and he smiled widely. "Are you saying my farts are the farts that will pierce the heavens? That it is the one fart to rule them all?"


    Medea collapsed into a fit of giggles.


    It was low-brow humour of the worst sort. Childish in the extreme.


    It was such a Mikael thing to say, to make something so serious sound silly.


    Medea loved it.


    "You are the worst," she said between chuckles.


    "I think I''m funny, and that is all that matters," he pouted at her before grinning.


    "I''m glad," Medea said after her laughter died.


    "Hm?"


    "That you are no longer pushing us away," she explained, sliding closer to him.


    Since he returned from the Kiln, he had stopped trying to shoo them away. Before, he would talk to them for a bit and then leave. While they could follow, he clearly didn''t want them to.


    Now, he spent time with them. Not only Medea but everyone from the Island would spend as much time with him as possible before being called back.


    "I''m sorry," he winced, looking down at her. Medea hated the pain in his eyes but loved the concern they showed when they looked at her. "I''m being selfish. I just got so lonely and missed you all."


    "No, continue. In fact, I wish you would go back to the three-hour interval summonings."


    Mikael shook his head at her words.


    "I won''t. Then it would take too long on your end. As it is, you all will be trapped there for at least another month more for this game, and who knows how long for the 3rd."


    "Fine, but at least take breaks. No matter how long it takes, I''ll be waiting for you." She stared deep into his eyes.


    He looked away.


    "You know I cannot return your feelings."


    He said the words softly to her.


    In other circumstances, Medea would have felt hurt. She would believe it was due to her past as a witch. That she was being judged.


    Medea knew Mikael enough that he meant it literally when he said he could not return her feelings.


    He physically could not return her feelings.


    The exact reasons continued to elude her, but she suspected it had to do with whatever Emma was still commanded not to reveal. The greek was already working on that.


    More than that, Mikael had chosen her.


    He had known her history, her deeds as the Witch of Betrayal. He knew that her Noble Phantasm was the one thing that threatened his Command Seals, the only means of control he possessed.


    He willingly gave up on multiple forms of mind control that would have made what Aphrodite did to her seem like a child''s prank.


    Despite all that, he had still chosen Medea.


    Is it any wonder she would feel this way?


    "You can''t return them for now," Medea corrected. When Mikael tried to respond, she held up her hand. "As I said, I''ll be waiting. We will. I look forward to the day you can look me in the eyes and say these words to me."


    She stood, opening the portal back to the Island. She looked at him as he stared at her in shock.


    She needed to be blunt and earnest.


    Otherwise, he would continue deflecting.


    So Medea said the words that she knew to be true within the first month of the summoning.


    "I love you."


    Medea would deny it till her dying day, but she enjoyed leaving him speechless for once.

 Isolation 3

    I sit beside the fire and think


    of how the world will be


    when winter comes without a spring


    that I shall never see.


    ********


    Glynda watched Pricilla weave around her foes.


    The dragon girl winced as a crystal weapon struck her side but managed to swing her scythe through the construct. Her unique ability, Lifehunt, instantly drained all magic, Aura, and Haki from it, and the humanoid figure fell to pieces on the ground.


    Glynda focused momentarily, four more crystalline figures attacking the hybrid while the teacher reassembled their fallen comrade from scratch.


    Strictly speaking, using her semblance to construct and move the crystals as a humanoid figure was inefficient. Glynda would see greater success in a real fight by piloting the pieces individually.


    But this was training for both herself and Priscila.


    The dragon girl needed more combat experience, and Glynda needed finer control with her much-improved senses.


    Could she construct and pilot the puppets faster than Priscilla could destroy them?


    Glynda had discovered that the answer was yes, so long as Priscilla was her only foe. Her burgeoning Observation warned her of an incoming attack, and the teacher managed to tilt her head to the side to avoid the arm that appeared.


    Introducing Robin to atomic theory had been a mistake Glynda regretted almost instantly.


    Apparently, her flower-flower fruit needed a foundation on which to ''bloom.''


    Once she realized that air, and other fluids and gases, were made up of the same materials as solid objects, she took to forming her appendages in mid-air at a moment''s notice.


    This caused her no extra strain, judging by the pirate continuing to read her book from several hundred yards away.


    This distraction cost Glynda as her control over her forming construct waned, and Priscilla managed to destroy three more in a matter of moments while turning invisible.


    Not that it helped.


    Atomic theory had also aided Glynda, which was why she had pointed it out to Robin.


    Using the Semblance and Observation Haki mix that quickly became her primary tool, the teacher felt the air molecules being displaced and had her seven remaining constructs attack the unseen woman.


    Not expecting it, Pricilla took a few hits. Though it was blocked by her Aura, Glynda was happy to see the dragon girl recover quickly. More than anything else in the field, adaptability saw hunters survive the horrors of the Grimm.


    The spar continued for another quarter of an hour before the combinations of Robin''s interference and Pricilla''s fighting simultaneously managed to down all enemies. By then, the dragon girl had lost her Aura and was bleeding in a few places.


    The crossbreed had gotten better in the combat sense, but her physical abilities were not improving in the slightest.


    Tsunade sat on the sidelines with Robin and watched the various training fields, and had her patched up in moments.


    Glynda took the chance for a breather, not physically tired but mentally strained, and watched the others spar.


    Artoria and Diana, two of the strongest fighters of the women, decimated the landscape with their duel. They kept it within manageable levels so Medea could repair the field later. Artoria did not release her Noble Phantasms, nor did Diana employ her various blessings.


    The only techniques they used, besides their burgeoning Haki and Aura skill, were their summoning skills. Artoria fought side by side with a massive lion made of lightning. It was a skill derived from one of her knights, one of many, as Glynda understood it.


    Diana, by contrast, led a small team of aura constructs. The amazon''s semblance, they had discovered, allowed her to summon images of other women from her home island of Thymescria.


    The absolutely massive lion towered over half a dozen of said constructs. This was a battle between an Ursa and a pack of Beowolves. Watching them, Glynda once again reaffirmed her belief that either of these women would have been one of the greatest huntresses to ever live.


    Glynda did not envy them.


    She merely respected their strength and appreciated their skill. (The part of her who had spent many nights ''learning'' from Scathach also appreciated their beauty.)


    Instead, the huntress envied another combatant.


    The reason this group training session had become an almost daily occurrence was faced off against Scathach.


    Emma was sweating with exertion, while the Celt looked barely the worse for wear.


    For all that the pair were the same Tier, the blonde was a much less experienced fighter. In fact, the group had been rather shocked when, at breakfast one morning, the telepath had asked for training.


    More than happy to help and get to know the White Queen better, many other women had pitched their support for the idea.


    Everyone was expected to join whenever a group training session was ongoing. All the women took turns learning from one another in various fields, bringing them much closer than the disparate groups and cliques they had been before.


    That still didn''t help the pang of envy Glynda felt at seeing Emma, in her diamond form, dodge a strike from her opponent and respond with a punch from a fist coated in black.


    It wasn''t her fighting abilities but her raw talent with Haki that the huntress wanted.


    Apparently, Observation and Armament were very complimentary towards her natural mutations, and the psychic had picked them up like a duck to water.


    Already she was as good as Glynda, despite having trained only a fraction of the time. While nobody had yet achieved the ability to predict the future or attack internally, the huntress suspected that Emma would overtake them all and be the first.


    Baring Robin, of course.


    "It is pointless feeling jealous," the pirate looked up from her book to tell the teacher. "Compared to the people of my world, you all are progressing at absurd rates. Even my captain, a monster of talent in Haki, took years to get where you all have reached in months."


    "So you''ve told us," Glynda knew she was making significant progress. She knew it would be a slaughter if she faced off against herself from four months ago. "It is simply our nature. Humans are always envious creatures. It is only by self-discipline that we can control ourselves."


    "What a dark way to think." Though her words were sarcastic, Robin smiled at the blonde.


    "Get your grub, everyone," Yoruichi yelled, halting the ongoing spars. The mocha-skinned woman was followed by Raven, floating a table covered in food towards the group.


    Looking over the food, Glynda felt her stomach rumble. It seemed like Yoruichi had once more cooked some dishes from her homeland.


    They were a particular favourite of the blondes.


    Sitting beside Artoria, who had practically teleported to the table, Glynda filled her plate much more sedately than the King.


    Once again, the food was exquisite, one of the best parts about being trapped on the Island.


    Once Glynda had polished off her second plate and emerged from her food trance, she looked around.


    Artoria was, of course, still going strong with a pile of dishes at her side. How she could eat so properly yet so quickly, Glynda would never know.


    The others were talking, Scathach advising Emma after their most recent bout, and Yoruichi was telling a bawdy joke that had Robin giggling and Priscilla looking scandalized.


    Raven sat quietly, eating to the side while Tsunade healed a few cuts and bruises that Diana had accumulated. Unlike her foe, the amazon didn''t have an artifact of incredible power that healed her instantly.


    "Glynda?" Medea drew the huntress'' attention from across the table. "It''s your turn at 3, right?"


    "It is," she answered simply.


    "Would you mind asking him to collect a few more of the red fans the desert sorceress use? I need another dozen or so for a project," the witch explained.


    "Of course." It would be no trouble and an excellent chance to repay the witch for indulging in the huntress'' more ''creative'' requests for clothing.


    "I appreciate it."


    "What is the nature of this new project?" Artoria had taken a moment to pause in her gluttony to ask the question. As soon as she finished speaking, more food was in her mouth.


    "I''ve been studying the nature of fire in that world," the greek explained. "It is such a key concept that I figured that if I could learn more about its uses, I might build a Bonfire on this end that Mikael could travel to."


    "Any success?" Glynda couldn''t help the hope that crept into her voice.


    "None so far," Medea shook her head, sounding frustrated. "I have been able to replicate most of the pyromancies Mikael knows of, even creating a few of my own, but Bonfires are another subject entirely. From what he has explained, they are made by burning humanity, the spiritual fragments, and the undead to act as kindling. Since nothing ''alive'' can travel through the portal but us, I have tried various materials to replicate it. So far, I have seen the most success with the fans of the sorceresses. I don''t think it will be what I need, but everything I learn now can help later."


    "Is there any way I can aid you?" Artoria asked seriously.


    "Not right now." The witch shook her head, looking regretfully at the King. "Your help evaluating the dragon materials was appreciated, but this work is a bit delicate."


    "Then I might be of assistance," Glynda offered. The elfin woman eyed her for a moment in contemplation before responding.


    "You don''t have circuits, so the magecraft will be beyond you. But your semblance could help with construction. Aura might also be able to help since it is soul-based, like many things in that world. After you return from Mikael, drop by my workshop, and we''ll see what we can do."


    "Very well," Glynda returned to her meal.


    She vaguely noticed Medea and Artoria gesturing to one another in silent communication before the King addressed her again.


    "Glynda," her fellow blonde leaned in as she spoke in a whisper. Her face was red and wouldn''t meet her eyes. "I have been made aware of some relationships I wasn''t privy to. It is true that you and Scathact are entangled... romantically?"


    "What of it?" Though her face slightly flushed, Glynda fought to keep her voice even.


    If there was one thing you learned while teaching super-powered teenagers, it was to never let them see you squirm.


    "I meant no insult," Artoria hurriedly replied, still keeping her voice down. "I simply have no knowledge of such subjects and was curious."


    "Oh." While the huntress had never been worried about judgement from her peers on the Island, a weight did ease from her at the Lion King''s words. Glynda thought they had been discreet. Her face was still flushed, and she squirmed awkwardly in her seat, but she did answer. "What would you like to know?"


    A case of literary theft: this tale is not rightfully on Amazon; if you see it, report the violation.


    "Ah," Artoria had clearly not expected the question as she looked to Medea for help. The greek witch, the only one within whispering distance, watched the conversation with a smile. Seeing no help from the bluenette, the knight turned back to the teacher. "I suppose I would ask what brought it on? It wasn''t common in my day, though I hear it is so in different cultures."


    "Well," Glynda shifted awkwardly in her seat, trying to find the most diplomatic way to explain. "It wasn''t uncommon where I come from, though not the norm. I confess to having no experience with romance either, so Scathach has been a great help. Even if she can get a bit... wild."


    Medea grinned harder, and Glynda''s flush deepened. The witch had been the one to provide the pair with many of the ''tools'' they had requested.


    Thank Oum for Aura and its healing effects.


    Also, thank Oum that Scathach had told no one that those ''tools'' had been her idea.


    Decades of repression had led so a desire to... experiment now that Glynda had a willing outlet for her ''curiosity.''


    "Pardon if this is too delicate a question." Artoria was still red-faced, but she stared at Glynda thoughtfully. "I was under the impression that you were interested in Sir Mikeal? Do you intend to pursue him or Scathach?"


    "Can it not be both?" Glynda tilted her head in confusion.


    Two pairs of green eyes stared at each other for a moment. A silent challenge in each gaze.


    A perverse giggle interrupted their focus.


    The pair turned to look at Medea. The witch barely noticed. Instead, she continued to stare, giggling to herself.


    Looking down, Glynda realized why.


    To remain quiet, the pair had leaned closer. In their visual confrontation, they hadn''t noticed that their large busts had been pressed against each other.


    The image was certainly one that could inflame lust.


    Realizing the same thing, Artoria leaned back with an awkward cough.


    "Again, I meant no insult," the Lion King explained. "I would simply like to know if you would be opposed to working together to ensure success in our mission of courting Sir Mikael?"


    "You mean you both are trying to seduce him?" Glynda asked, though she already knew the answer.


    The huntress had long given up hope of anything exclusive with the man.


    Scathach, she had come to find, could be very persuasive.


    "We have already enlisted the aid of Diana and Priscilla," Artoria said with all seriousness of one of her students handing in an After Action Report. "With your and Scathach support, we will command a majority force of the Island''s inhabitants. Yoruichi, too, is an object of recruitment. The remaining four have not shown nor declared a romantic interest in our target yet. Should they do so in the future, with our superior numbers, we could enlist them to our aid if they proved agreeable. Should they attempt a solo action, they could be hindered by our coalition."


    "I am not opposed to working together," Glynda said seriously. Neither Scathach nor herself had much luck swaying Mikael''s determination to leave them once they were free. "I would just like to make one thing clear."


    "Very well," Artoria looked relieved that the conversation was drawing closed. She continued eating throughout the talk, and her large meal was almost done. "State your terms."


    "It is not required to be romantically involved with each other, correct?"


    Artoria choked on her food.


    The Lion King flushed a deep scarlet as she hacked for air.


    While the huntress was fearful/hopeful of the answer, having recently discovered the pleasure of the female form, Glynda would not be pressured into anything.


    What happened would either happen naturally or not at all.


    Though she wouldn''t say it aloud, Glynda was a romantic.


    Recent changes, non-withstanding, of course.


    The other women on the Island looked at the struggling blonde before returning to their conversations as she controlled her breathing.


    "It is, hack, not a requirement, no," Artoria coughed out, face a deep scarlet.


    Glynda let out a long breath before flushing again at Medea''s following words.


    "It is a bonus."


    ********


    "What is your fascination with high places?" Glynda couldn''t help but ask.


    The pair were sitting atop a cliff in a small refuge. Majula, she believed it to be called.


    It was a hub for refugees and those who remained sane in this world, serving as a waypoint between several essential stops in this kingdom of Drangleic.


    This wasn''t her first time being summoned to the small collection of battered houses.


    While Mikael had shown the Island''s women some beautiful sights over the last few months, Glynda could admit this little village''s calming influence was something she enjoyed.


    Today, the pair had been talking about their childhood over the last few hours when the question came to mind.


    "It is not so much high places themselves as the views they can give." Her companion for the evening gestured out over the ocean, the setting sun painting it a vision of warm colours. "The world is a different place when viewed from up high. You see farther, little details are lost, and there is a tiny bit of fear in your stomach, no matter how protected you are from falling. That feeling is one of the only things that has remained the same for me after all these years. Even if I return from death, the primal instinct that fears the fall remains the same."


    "So it reminds you of your humanity?" Glynda tried one of Medea''s recommended tactics, brushing her shoulder close to his.


    Though they couldn''t touch, it was supposed to make him aware of her presence more than anything else. Much better than Scathach''s and Yoruichi''s recommendation of being summoned naked.


    "Yes, but it is more than that." Mikael did not talk loudly, nor did he care to whisper. His even tone was still loud enough for other residents of the small town to look over at him askance.


    Glynda could imagine what they were seeing.


    A strong undead holding a conversation with thin air.


    They must think him mad or at least close to hollowing.


    Mikael did not care and kept up the discussion.


    "High places help me think. I''ve always preferred broad ideas rather than getting bogged down by minutia. Some people like getting every detail right, but I like comprehension over memorization."


    "I cannot say the same," Glynda shook her head. "While I enjoy wide views, I prefer having all the I''s dotted and T''s crossed. If we are too lax with the minutia, errors eventually accumulate."


    "I imagine that happened a lot at Beacon?" He grinned at her, and her heart fluttered a bit.


    That stupid grin of his.


    Her emotions didn''t show on her face.


    "Managing the budget alone took weeks," Glynda nodded. "None of my colleagues could write an accurate report or requisition form to save their lives."


    "Ah, the wonders of bureaucracy! We need it because the world is complicated, but we hate that we do. Trust me, I feel your pain. The next person to complain of lack of inventory, despite never requesting the items in the first place, I am going to throat punch."


    Glynda stared at Mikeal in surprise.


    "I wasn''t aware that you worked in such a profession before."


    "I did have a life before all this, you know?" He deadpanned at her. "I wasn''t rich, but I was still a relatively successful businessman. I''ve worked in almost every aspect, from sales, supplies, management, and human resources to advising positions."


    "I cannot imagine you in a stuffy boardroom with people like the Vale Council," Glynda giggled into her hand at the image.


    Mikael was irreverent, sarcastic, playful, and laid back.


    One pun and he''d be lynched by those old fools.


    "Really?" He looked surprised at her words, as if not understanding her disbelief. "I could be formal with the best of them. I was often accused of being boring, working too hard, or taking things too seriously."


    Glynda''s giggling almost erupted into full-blown laughter, but she used her considerable self-control to stifle it.


    Mikael?


    Boring?


    She briefly wondered if it was a cultural difference between the two worlds.


    "You will pardon me if I don''t believe you," she said from behind her hand.


    "I''m serious," he insisted. "I think it''s because you all have a distorted view of me. It''s partly the lures'' fault, but I haven''t been precisely trying to be formal either. You all see me when I am relaxed, not focusing, nor do manners matter in this world. I''ve been treating you like I would close family or friends. Why wouldn''t I? When we first met, I had been trapped in a cell for a month and had nothing to lose. I am a much different person in a professional setting."


    "If you say so," Glynda said the words but wasn''t focused on them. Instead, she fought the flush rising to her cheeks.


    Like family?


    "You''ll see," he shook his fist comically in the air at her as if decrying his vengeance against this grave insult. "You''ll all see! I will prove how boring I can be! Just watch! It''ll be like watching grass grow! Only duller. Greener. And with a four-point six return on investment."


    Glynda rolled her eyes fondly at the silly man.


    "Do you plan on returning to the business field when free?"


    "Hm? Not really." He thought about her question for a moment. "Depending on the worlds I visit, I will probably do something to get some local currency, but that would be it. One of the main reasons I invested so much into the dragon perk tree was to get the ability to travel between worlds at my leisure rather than depend on Company restrictions. There is just so much to see and do, you know?"


    "Like what?" The huntress asked, curious about his long-term goals.


    "I want to return to a version of my home world, only in the past," he smiled. Not playfully, but with a boyish smile. His cheeks dimpled, Glynda realized, and it emphasized his subtle freckles. "A lot was lost over history that I want to learn about. I want to visit your world, see the shattered moon and the Grimm lands. I want to visit a world covered in an ocean. I want to see various afterlives and meet and talk to famous figures. I want to watch a world be born and see the end of time. I want to try various cultures'' food, see their festivals, and observe their wars."


    Mikael talked at length about what he would like to see and do. He stared out over the ocean, his voice drowning with longing as he spoke.


    Glynda''s heart clenched in sympathy for the man.


    While they were all trapped, in one form or another, it must be excruciating for him considering his Element.


    "... feel the Force flow through me and pilot a starship. I want to go where no man has gone before. I want to watch heroes and villains live their lives with all the joys and sorrows it brings. I want to fight gods and monsters, visit the fey, destroy an undead horde or two, and even dip in hell pools."


    "It sounds like you have a long list," Glynda interjected as he took a breath.


    "Too long to count," he nodded. "The Waifu Catalogue, the challenge the story I wrote was based on, was more often than not used as an excuse to write wish-fulfillment pornography. Don''t get me wrong, there is nothing wrong with that, and many of the stories were good despite it."


    Glynda still didn''t know how she felt about the idea of there being porn of her out in the multiverse but recognized there was nothing she could do about it, so she kept her tongue.


    Mikael, of course, didn''t care if the entire universe saw him naked and plowed on.


    "I just never found one that I thought really captured the spirit of pure joy unlimited multiversal travel could bring," he continued passionately. "Sex is great. Magical sex with your favourite characters would probably be even better, mind-control excluded. But even without it, the catalogue had so much to offer. That was one of the reasons I wrote the story. I liked to imagine somewhere out there was a version of me enjoying a never-ending journey. A happily ever after."


    The pair sat in silence for a quiet moment, enjoying the setting sun, the sounds of the surf and the crackling fire behind them.


    "What about you?" Mikael asked after the moment was over. "Do you have any plans when you get home? You''re immortal now and stronger than Salem when you get there. You have a genuine chance of ending the Grimm threat. Even if you can''t kill her, you could still trap her so deep in the earth''s crust that she would never be a problem again."


    "There would be no point. Salem already won." Though her voice was even, Glynda could not help the despondency that filled her at the memories.


    "What?" Mikeal asked, confused.


    "Salem acquired all four relics," the blonde explained in a monotone. "She summoned the gods, and Remnant is long gone. She is as dead as the rest of the world."


    There was a long moment of silence before Mikael spoke again.


    "I''m sorry," he said softly.


    "Don''t be. It''s not your fault." She wiped the bit of condensation in her eyes before continuing. "In a way, I am glad that you summoned me. Even if my world is dead, I know a form of my friends and colleagues live on in other worlds now. They are not the same people, but I like to think a bit of their souls live on as well."


    "I could drop you off on one of those worlds," he offered. "You could see them again."


    "While I wouldn''t mind a visit, that is not where I want to spend the rest of my time." Glynda stared Mikael dead in the eyes, wordlessly willing him to understand her intentions.


    He grimaced and looked away.


    "You know I can''t do that," he said, not unkindly. "It wouldn''t be fair to you or me. I can promise you what I promised Scathach. You can stay with me until we find a world you like. After that, it will be goodbye. You will be free to visit the Island and see the others there, I couldn''t stop you if I wanted to, but I probably would never stay."


    "Isn''t the Island attached to you?" Glynda narrowed her eyes at the undead man.


    "It is," he agreed. "But I do not know what is happening there, nor am I compelled to visit. It would be nice to have a rest stop whenever I wanted, but I can leave it for you all to use as a base."


    "So what," the teacher asked harshly. "You get your freedom, dump us at the first chance, and never meet again?"


    Mikael looked resigned at her words but nodded.


    "That is the plan. Finding the worlds will take some time, but it shouldn''t take too long."


    "You think any of us will be happy with that?" Glynda''s self-control was all that kept her from snarling the words. "That Medea won''t use her entire arsenal to hunt you down? That Scathach and Artoira won''t join hands to kick your ass? Do you think we won''t spend years on that Island pestering you till you give in? Guess what? Many of us have nothing better to do with our lives!"


    "You think I want this? Any of this?" He almost shouted at her.


    The other residents were definitely watching them now.


    Glynda noticed more than a few take steps away from where Mikael sat.


    "In any other circumstances, I would love nothing more than to have you all with me. Even if nothing romantic happens, I like you all enough that travelling with you would have been a joy. I chose you not only because you were beautiful but because I thought we would all get along. That working together would be fun rather than a challenge."


    "Exactly!" The huntress interrupted his tirade. "You chose us. Now you have to live with the consequences of your choices."


    "I am," Mikael replied. Far from being angry, he looked desperate.


    Almost begging her to understand him. "I would love to fall in love with you all. To spend eternity travelling with you by my side. But I can''t. Every second you are with me is a joy and torture. A constant reminder. My only hope is to drop you all off so you can live a happy life and never see me again. It is not fair to you, I never claimed it would be, but it is my only hope at this point."


    "Then why all this?" Glynda waved a hand between the pair and then around the scenery. "Why spend so much time with us? Why be nice to us and do everything you can to make our lives easier? You work with Medea to get materials to make us stronger. You taught us that we could use Aura and Haki. I know you''ve pushed Emma and Raven to be more sociable. You can''t claim to not like us when every action you take directly contradicts your words."


    "I never said I do not like you all," Mikael sagged despondently, and Glynda''s gut clenched at the pitiful sight. "Just that I can''t fall in love with you. I still want what''s best for you, and it costs me nothing to help."


    "Then why do you not push us away? Many in your place would have taken action to make us hate them to ease their guilt."


    "I''ve always said I wasn''t one of those emo-edge lords." A sad smile played on his face as he looked up at her, and Glynda realized she had stood up at some point in their argument. "I''m selfish. I enjoy good company when I can get it. I tried that whole walking away thing in Dark Souls 1, and it barely worked. Some of you started developing feelings, no matter what I warned you about. When I chose a bunch of headstrong women, I knew we would disagree. I deliberately decided not to exert any form of control."


    He stood there, a larger-than-life figure who had slain gods and monsters clad in thick metal armour.


    The fear in his eyes made him look small.


    "That is the thing about Freedom," Mikeal said softly. "Freedom is not Freedom from consequences. The ability to choose itself is a gift. Knowing the repercussions of your actions will be terrible, and choosing anyway. Choosing the consequence, you can live with. That is the beauty of Freedom."


    Glynda did not know how to respond to his heartbroken face, not trusting herself not to say something to make it worse.


    When the pale white portal opened after a few moments of silence, she stepped through it, wiping her tears as she did.


    She didn''t look back.


    The Mikael she loved should not look that sad or scared.

 Isolation 4

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 Isolation 5

This story has been unlawfully obtained without the author''s consent. Report any appearances on Amazon.

 Interlude- Live How You Can

    But all the while I sit and think


    of times there were before,


    I listen for returning feet


    and voices at the door.


    ********


    "Here is your Common Ground. Is there anything else I can get for you, ma''am?" The server asked.


    While the service was friendly and the food was good, she only came to this deli because she felt sentimental.


    She had been one of the first patrons of this establishment when it opened decades ago. It used to be that she only checked on Mikael''s progress every decade, but since its opening, she came around yearly.


    "No, thank you," she said with a soft smile.


    The man blushed a bit but left quickly.


    He was a good kid, she knew.


    It was a shame that there were only two decades more before he would die in a mugging in Gotham.


    Still, everyone gets a lifetime.


    No more.


    No less.


    Besides, he had it better than the poor chef.


    Next tuesday, she will be in a hostage situation.


    Most would survive, but she would take a bullet as an example before Dragon would deal with the situation.


    As relaxed as she was, Death was still at work.


    When every life was born, she was there.


    When every life drew their last breath, she was there.


    The Thanagarians clashed with the Shi''ar, and billions of souls were instantly lost.


    Galactus had just consumed a world, and the Pheonix Force was on its way to another.


    Apokolips stood on the precipice of another invasion as they continued their search.


    On this planet alone, millions die every second.


    There would be a spike in a week as Behemoth ransacked Stockholm. It would be pushed off quickly by the combined forces of the Justice League, Avengers, and other heroes, but only after ending the lives of 12,484 intelligent beings.


    And this was but one reality of countless others Death oversaw.


    And only the sentient beings.


    Death was so much more than the end of sapients.


    Death was the End.


    She knew that somewhere out there, there were multiverses where she was but one of the Endless.


    Here, she was alone.


    Sipping her drink, Death looked out over the Rocky Mountains. The torrential rain did not impede her view of the natural wonders.


    She had been there when they were first formed, carved from the glacial movements of ice over millions of years.


    She would be here when they were ground to foothills by the passages of the wind.


    The Beginning was beautiful, a spark of possibilities. The End of nothing.


    The Middle was chaotic, those possibilities slamming into each other to tell a unique story. It was out of her purview, but it was all the more beautiful for it.


    The End was Her.


    Right now, however, Death sipped her drink as she stared past the pouring rain, the massive mountains, and the sky.


    She looked beyond the Solar System, the Milkyway, and beyond time and space.


    She stared at a titanic white dragon clutching a jewel to its chest as it slumbered.


    The island contained within the jewel was still growing and evolving, as were the women inside. Even as the Dragon slept, it protected the jewel. The ravages of the years barely lingered on the island for a moment before power swept them away.


    The Company''s Deal tried to take its toll, but the Dragon bore the brunt.


    Death smiled. Even subconsciously, Mikael protected what was His. She had chosen well.


    He wasn''t afraid of the consequences of his actions.


    And he was so clever, so tricky.


    He had gotten them good.


    Neither she nor the Company had expected what he pulled with his Family.


    The narrative has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.


    Death looked sideways to the past and future, beyond the Dragon and the jewel.


    Linear time was nothing to one such as her.


    Had it been anyone else but her champion, Death would have only needed to check on him once to know all possible outcomes. As a dragon of Freedom, he wasn''t bound to Fate and Death was constantly worried he would deviate early in his life.


    It would jeopardize everything she hoped for him. Even if his cleverness was biting him back.


    Things were still on track, and Death was happy she had kept the Defences down until the Dream could end.


    Mikael stood triumphant over the bodies of Aldia and Nashandra. He hadn''t fallen to either of them once in their fights.


    He watched as golems opened the path to the Throne.


    He turned to walk away.


    Death sighed.


    Mikael, for all his cleverness and guile, was missing critical information. She could clear it up once he was free, but until then, he was operating on erroneous assumptions. Some of his guesses were correct, but many were not.


    He did not know of the Deal.


    He did not know of Her. He assumed his shackles were of the mind, heart, and world.


    They were not.


    His restraints were of Will, Power, and Time.


    He believed that the women were not Bound to him, but he was Bound to them.


    He went to great lengths to make sure they never found out.


    It only fueled Mikael''s desperation to get rid of them before they started ordering and changing him further.


    He was right, but only so long as he was trapped. He did not understand that they only controlled his Avatar. One of the critical points Death had argued for.


    The Company rep had caved once it was pointed out that a dragon of Freedom was useless if it was constantly chained by its companion.


    His body was Free, as was his spirit.


    Death had negotiated fiercely to stack the odds in his favour. Had he all the information, Mikael would have broken free in his first World.


    But the free flow of information was one of the things she had to give up to purchase his service at a reasonable price. Billions of credits were spent, leaving only the pitiful few remaining she had offered the man. They didn''t make up for what Death had been forced to give up to gain him.


    So long as his punishment was ongoing, at least.


    The Company took a dim view of those who tried to cheat them.


    As it was, rather than reaching Freedom after one World, it would take five for Mikael to piece things together. Better than the alternative, the Company rep had wanted to order the worlds so that he would have been trapped for a few dozen.


    That had been one of the points Death had won, though it cost her, as all things did when working with the Company.


    As Mikeal walked away from the Throne of Want, Death surreptitiously took the souls of his foes. He would want them later, once his witch learned to craft souls into arms.


    Death waived down a waiter for a refill as she watched Mikeal leave Drangleic entirely. He was partially in search of a replacement, partially sightseeing.


    As an undead, Mikael felt no joy in taste, smell, or touch. He hungered but could not eat. He lusted but could not feel pleasure. But his intellectual curiosity pushed him onward.


    He travelled to faraway lands, hiding his curse. He attended schools, talked to theologians, and sought out famous champions.


    The Fire continued to fade, as it ever would.


    It wouldn''t go out until the end of the World.


    Such was the nature of Gwyn''s machinations.


    The undead curse spread far and wide. Great warriors flocked to Drangleic, seeking to kindle it. They found a town of misfits, well guarded, to serve as a hub. More than a few would find their way to the Throne of Want and serve themselves up to the Fire.


    It wouldn''t be enough.


    Their souls burned too quickly, unable to last for more than a year. They were not champions who had overcome gods and demons. They were men, strong men, but men nonetheless.


    Their souls were mortal.


    Fleeting.


    Over time, a strong Fire served to draw the powerful to it. They would, in turn, grow stronger with its presence. They would then serve as food for whichever undead was strong enough to fell them. This was not the first time an undead decided to not link the fire.


    This was, however, the first time an undead who could not hollow did.


    Mikael travelled far and wide, searching for knowledge and someone who could serve as kindling to the Flame.


    He was unaware that, so long as no one claimed his soul, resplendent as it was, no one would be strong enough to feed the First Flame.


    He held the Lords in his chest.


    It took four centuries for Lucatiel to track him down.


    The Knight of Mirrah begged him to right his wrong. She assumed that he kept a crown of his own, and it was responsible for his unhollowed nature. So long as he did not hollow, his soul would remain anchored to his will even if he died.


    Without that power, nobody else could kindle the Flame.


    The knight would have offered herself up to the Flame, but for all her skill, her soul was weak.


    By this point, the undead outnumbered the living. Another few centuries and life would die out completely. Hollows, for all their eternal life, could not breed.


    In an Age of Dark, it wouldn''t be a problem.


    In the Age of Fire? It would be the end.


    Death knew Mikael could not stand for that.


    The man had his issues, his internal demons. He was selfish, manipulative, and secretive, but Mikael was still a good person.


    She wouldn''t have chosen him otherwise.


    The Dragon of Life made it back to Majula within the year.


    Shannalotte waited for him there, a Crown in her hands.


    The only one fit for a True Monarch.


    Mikeal took it with a wry smile.


    As he took his seat on the Throne of Want, closing the doors behind him, Death turned her attention away from the past.


    While the flames were less intense and would burn shorter than before, she did not wish to see his suffering.


    Five Worlds were the lowest she could give him. Death knew this should be the last time he Burned.


    It did not make watching it easy.


    Nor did it change what was coming.


    Turning towards the future was a happier prospect, so long as Death looked beyond Mikael''s remaining punishment and the tragedies it contained.


    There was no Destiny in this World, and free will still existed, but Death was strong enough that she could look through the currents of fate and see likely outcomes.


    Death looked beyond the Dragon once more.


    She saw it achieve its Freedom, and there the paths diverged.


    In one path, it made its way to various worlds.


    It dropped off its companions as it had promised. They would never relent in hunting him. He would spend centuries fleeing, pursued by those who loved him. It would take him that long to realize the error of his assumptions.


    He would then spend eons at their side, making up for it.


    That path reached a happy, if incomplete, end.


    In another, Death summoned him.


    He would hunt her down and hold her responsible for all the suffering he and his women had faced.


    The World would rise up against him in his crusade, and he would lay it low. Heroes and champions would fall to either him or his hoard. Once she explained her side, his relationship with his women would progress quickly, for good and ill, but Mikael would forever resent Death.


    Countless other possibilities spiralled out in front of her.


    Death ignored any she wasn''t present in.


    Those were of no use.


    She focused on those who saw her meeting Mikael as quickly as possible in favourable settings. From there, they could be friends or rivals. Lovers or companions.


    Eventually, Death settled on the same course of action as always.


    The one that most likely led to Mikael walking through the door of this deli a year from now to meet her.


    Death stood from her seat, leaving money on the table for her drinks. A pleasant walk in the rain would be good right about now.


    She was feeling nostalgic.


    A plan, millions of years in the making, would come to fruition soon.


    She''d be Free.

 Solitude 1

    Here, O my heart, let us burn the dear dreams that are dead,


    Here in this wood let us fashion a funeral pyre


    Of fallen white petals and leaves that are mellow and red,


    Here let us burn them in noon''s flaming torches of fire.


    ********


    Robin awoke in a tangle of limbs.


    That was, surprisingly, a rare occurrence.


    Her Devil Fruit abilities only existed when she concentrated on them, so any time she fell asleep or unconscious, any limbs she summoned would fade.


    Last night she had been so drunk she couldn''t have used her fruit anyway.


    It was already later than she usually rose, the clock on the wall pointing past 11. Her companions, Yoruichi and Tsunade, were still insensate. Hence, disentangling herself from their grips was a challenge.


    Standing at the foot of the bed, Robin took a moment to admire their naked forms while she dressed for the day. Yoruichi had curled up facing Tsunade, suckling at her teet. Robin would tease her about it later. Getting one over on the cat was hard, but looking like a baby would be a good one.


    Despite a few bawdy jokes or wandering hands, nothing sexual had occurred last night.


    Nobody had been in the mood after Robin had broken the news about their home worlds.


    While the pirate couldn''t speak of any of the other women, the three of them had been too caught up in reminiscence to be in any mood for sex.


    Judging by the sounds from the other hall, Scathach had comforted Glynda in a much more physical manner. However, Robin was sure the revelation about the world''s end hadn''t surprised the huntress.


    There had been laughter and tears. They had traded stories of all the good times, the people they would miss, the loves they had lost, and dreams they never achieved.


    The night had lasted well into the early hours before everybody stumbled to bed.


    As Robin stepped from the room quietly, she took stock of her emotions.


    She felt lighter, less overcome when she thought of the Strawhats. There was still a sadness there, grief that would never really go away, but it was a lighter thing.


    Unlike in the past, when she had fled Ohara, she was not alone in her grief.


    She had friends and a family who mourned with her.


    "Dereshishishishi," Robin chuckled to herself as she made her way to the kitchen. She was unsurprised to find Medea there, puttering around to prepare a meal. "Good morning," she greeted the witch.


    "Morning, Robin," Medea answered as she continued to stir the bowl. Her actions were automatic, so the greek could give the pirate a commiserating look. "How are you holding up?"


    "I''ll be alright," she answered demurely as she took a cup of coffee. While the brunette didn''t have a hangover, she still preferred to start her day with a cup or two of black gold. "It still hurts, but I think things will turn out fine."


    "It gets easier," Medea finished mixing and put her hand on Robins in a show of camaraderie. The elfin woman stared at her in sincere concern. "It will hurt. You will always think of them, but eventually, it achs more than bleeds."


    "Were the Argonauts close?" Robin couldn''t help but ask. The greek rarely talked about her time on the famous ship.


    "The Argonauts?" Medea asked, confused as she returned to cooking. "Some were, and with a few exceptions, we were all friendly to each other. I was talking more about my family. I lost them twice over. It does get easier. We just have to move on little by little."


    "I didn''t mean to assume," Robin apologized as she was passed a plate of french toast covered in fruit and syrup. From above, they heard another pair of feet descending the stairs. "I suppose I was a bit spoiled with my crew. We were all close. Best friends. Family. I thought the Argo would be similar."


    "You forget that we were less like a crew and more like a random collection of people on various quests. More than that, we all had dealings with the gods. Only a rare few were of good nature. Events like that tend to scar." Medea explained as she set six more plates at the pirate''s side.


    Judging by the serving size alone, Robin already knew who was joining them.


    "Good morning Robin, Medea," Artoria nodded imperiously at each of them in turn as she sat at the kitchen counter. Sometimes Robin goggled at the famous king. She ate with the speed of Luffy but the elegance of Sanji. Her mouth was never full when she talked, but she always took another bite after the last word left. "I trust you both are well-rested?"


    "Oh, I slept fine," Medea said with a sly smile. "I was a bit lonely. I think only four of us went to bed alone." Artoria blushed deeply, looking away.


    She continued to eat, however.


    "Diana was distraught about her world," the King of Knights defended herself. "We were both well into our cups, and she proved to be a very compassionate lover despite my inexperience. While I do not regret the experience, I do wish you would not bring up such a topic at the table."


    "I''m just teasing," the greek said with a chuckle. "I am happy for you two, though I recommend making sure your door is closed completely in the future if you want privacy."


    "We will do that," the blonde said, her flush redoubled.


    Robin watched the interaction as she continued to eat.


    While not unfamiliar with sex, having seen more than her fair share, the pirate had always been too preoccupied to deal with romance. Before she joined the crew, there had been no one she had trusted enough to lay with. She knew how to lead people on, to tease and tantalize, but the physical aspect was foreign to her.


    Of the Strawhats, only Sanji and Franky were interested in sex and romance. The rest of the crew had been ''Dream-sexual,'' too focused on their goals to think about anything else.


    The brunette wasn''t even sure what she liked. Male? Female? Young? Mature?


    Now that her dream was put on hold, at least for the moment, maybe she should consider romance since she had the time.


    Despite never giving love much thought, Robin knew exactly who was sleeping with who on the Island.


    Early on, she had kept tabs on everybody at all times. It had been paranoia, she wouldn''t deny, but Robin had held at the practice even after she was sure none of the other women were a threat. Partly out of habit, partly curiosity.


    Most would not know that Robin, the devil child and most dangerous woman in the world, was a huge gossip. Most of the time, she kept what she discovered to herself. On the crew, she only talked with Nami about what she saw or heard with her Devil Fruit.


    By this point, the pirate had dirt on all the women on the Island.


    Robin watched Medea tease her crush/co-conspirator. She noted the little touches, the way she swayed her hips or bent at the waist. For all that Artoria was eager to put the greek''s advice to use in seducing Mikael, the blonde was woefully naive when it came to those same tactics being used on her.


    Robin smiled to herself behind her cup of coffee.


    While they weren''t the Strawhats, they were still her new family.


    The rest of the women trickled in over the next half hour to have a late breakfast. By the time everyone was fed and had consumed the pills Medea had made for them, Emma turned to address the room.


    "As you all might have guessed, Mikael has defeated the last boss of the second game." A few worried looks were thrown at the blonde, but she waved off their concern. "He doesn''t intend to link the fire. He will be walking away and trying to find someone else to do it. Unfortunately, he has no idea how long that will take, so we could be without contact for a week or more, like last time. Or he could summon us tonight. He already missed today''s 9am summons. Robin, when you are called, let us know as soon as possible."


    "Sure," Robin agreed readily enough, leaning into her hand as she watched the proceedings.


    "Thank you. After last night, I would like to offer my service as a psychologist and counsellor, should anyone feel the need. Like Tsunade, my door is always open if you want to talk."


    Robin squinted her eyes at Emma. She was being a bit too helpful.


    The pirate wasn''t the only one to think so because Yoruichi spoke up.


    "And how are we supposed to trust you? You kept our worlds'' situation a secret until Robin confronted you."


    "You can trust me to have some professional pride if nothing else," the mutant said. The rest of the room did not look entirely convinced, so Emma continued. "None of us trusted each other in the early days, and as a psychic, I know more than most how important privacy is. I only made the deduction about Death after the first month. By then, even if I told you all, you wouldn''t believe me, nor would it have achieved anything. It would also be more points of failure for Mikael to discover."


    "Why hide it from him?" Glynda asked, asking a question Robin had asked herself a few times.


    "His second element," Diana said before Emma could respond. "While he is a dragon of Freedom, he is also a dragon of Life."


    "That is one concern," the White Queen nodded at the amazon. "We know elements have a mental and emotional aspect, so Life being in the service of Death could be a problem. It is not my main worry, though. How much do you all know about Patrons?"


    "Not a great deal," Glynda admitted. "I believe he mentioned it to me only once, saying there would have been no point in choosing one in the original story."


    "There are two main worries I have," Emma said as she poured herself another cup of coffee.


    Her fifth in half an hour.


    Robin shared a concerned look with Raven.


    Was Emma already spiralling?


    It hadn''t even been a full day since she had talked to Mikael.


    "The first and least of my worries is that Patrons choose their champions. Unlike The Company, which lets people do as they will, getting clones of any captures for use, Patrons actively pick people for reasons. This gives them benefits but also duties. Not only did Death choose Mikael, but they also tampered with things to a great extent."


    "Such as?" Tsunade asked.


    "Such as the sheer size of that dragon outside," Medea chimed in. Emma nodded for her to continue. "I went over dragons with Mikeal a few times. It makes no sense for the dragon to be that big. This Island can be large because there are ways to purchase size expansions. The only way for Mikael''s body to grow so big would be for it to grow throughout millions of years."


    "They also made sure he was as skilled as possible," Glynda said in thought. The rest of the room looked at her, and she elaborated. "I helped train him. He was hopeless early on, with no combat sense in the least. Even if he could control the dragon''s body, his only threat would be in size. Now? In pure skill alone, he is my superior. Even if he does not have Aura, so long as he is decently equipped and can use his magic, only a few of us can beat him. Most of that is pure skill and knowledge."


    This book''s true home is on another platform. Check it out there for the real experience.


    "This man has been honing his warcraft for decades," Diana nodded, catching on. "He has fought armies, monsters and gods. He isn''t even done yet. By forcing us to remain on the sidelines, they have created a warrior of unsurpassed skill."


    "That is not the only change Death made," Scathach said. "The Island grows and adapts as he encounters foes. The manor would have existed in Mikael''s original choices but not the Island. We must assume that it serves some greater purpose as well."


    "So Death wants something from him or us? Big whoop," Yoruichi said, still staring at Emma. "We can deal with that when it becomes important. You never told us why we couldn''t just tell Mikael."


    "As I said, Death''s intentions were the least of my worries." Emma took a big sip of coffee, pausing in thought before speaking again with a sigh. "I will just come out and say it then. We are all dead."


    There was a beat of silence where the women waited for Emma to elaborate.


    "So?" Yoruichi asked.


    "We are all dead," Emma repeated. "Not undead like Mikael or souls like in your home world. The only reason we are still around is that we were Chosen. Our worlds ended, and they took us with them."


    "We are aware of that," Tsunade said harshly, not liking having the recent wound opened.


    "I think," Robin said, putting the pieces together. "What she means is our continued existence is dependent on Mikael."


    "Is that not a good thing?" Priscila, who had been silent until now, spoke. "Did our Bard not make you all immortal?"


    "We do not know if Warranty Plan is active. A lot of the original catalogue was changed. We have to operate on the assumption that we are no longer guaranteed rebirth," Glynda explained to the crossbreed before turning to Emma. "I do not think that is what you are getting at."


    "It isn''t, but keeping our potential mortality in mind is important," Emma nodded, not having considered that aspect. "I mentioned that by being chosen by a Patron, people get perks and benefits that they do not usually receive by being randomly picked by the company. Death, specifically, allows for the release of any captures and its champions to send the dead off to an afterlife."


    "You think he would put us to rest if he knew he could?" Yoruichi asked, horrified.


    Others around the table reacted just as harshly.


    Medea looked like she would cry at the thought.


    "For some of us? Before he left his cell, if he knew he could and convinced himself it was for our sake? He would have in a heartbeat. Now, I can''t be sure one way or the other, but I would rather not take the risk." Emma said plainly, staring at Scathach.


    Rather than be affronted at the words, Robin paid attention to the mutant''s emphasis on the word ''convinced.''


    She had done something similar the night before.


    "Why? I know he said he couldn''t love us, but surely he doesn''t hate us to that extent?" Medea looked almost desperately at Emma, urging her for answers.


    "He doesn''t hate us," she quickly clarified. "In fact, the opposi-"


    The mutant was cut off abruptly, hands flying to her throat. The psychic clutched at it desperately, coffee falling to the floor with a shatter of porcelain.


    All the women sprang to their feet, some rushing to the mutant''s side instantly.


    Others looked around in search of an enemy.


    Robin stayed in her seat, aware that it resulted from the Command Seal.


    She was busy pondering the blonde''s words.


    The opposite of hate?


    That had some implications that would line up with her own theories.


    "I''m fine," Emma said as the women crowded around her. "I''m fine. It was the seal. I can''t say more. Just know Mikael doesn''t hate any of us."


    "It''ll be another month or so before we cross the tier seven threshold for dragon''s blood," Medea said as she cleaned up the spilled mess. "Once we do, I am going to use Rule Breaker. Whether you want me to or not."


    "Please do," Emma said. "I am rather sick of things as it is."


    Robin took the chance to step away. She would get no more answers for now.


    A lot had changed in the last twenty-four hours.


    She needed to get the story straight before the details faded.


    ********


    Robin, upon her summoning, found herself in a cemetery.


    Dozens of headstones lined the walls and pilled at her feet. The sky was grey and overcast, barely providing any illumination. Ash swirled in the cold air, and groans rang in the distance.


    Robin could not see her summoner immediately, but he was not hard to find.


    He lay in an open coffin, half-buried in the dirt.


    His form was emaciated and sunken in, though not to the extent he was in his cell. Rather than look like dried jerky, he looked like Luffy, who went without eating for two days.


    He was, again, completely naked.


    Robin eyed his form more critically since he wasn''t a complete husk of rotten skin and bones. She had seen dozens of examples in her life of spying. Still, her only real experience with touching male genitalia had been when the crew rather forcefully recruited Franky; other times, she used it as a convenient target.


    Mikael staked up favourably to the cyborg, but the pirate had no idea what was considered ''impressive'' in this sphere.


    Robin shook her head at the unimportant thought, too much time with Yoruichi.


    More importantly, was he alright?


    Mikael was awake, his eyes wide and unfocused as he stared at the sky. He did not so much as twitch as she neared his still form.


    Robin would have been worried had the Darksign branded onto his heart and the six red Command Seals that circled it not pulsed regularly like a heartbeat.


    "Mikael?" Robin asked softly as she leaned her head over his prone form. "What happened? Did something go wrong with your plan?"


    The man stared at her for a moment, uncomprehending, before he moved.


    "Nothing." He said, taking a deep breath and dislodging the pile of ash that had accumulated on his body. "Nothing happened."


    Robin backed away as the man slowly and methodically sat up and raised himself out of the coffin.


    Suddenly his body twitched violently in spasms, and he almost fell back down.


    Robin reached out instinctually to support him, though her body passed through as always.


    She needn''t have bothered as Mikael caught himself and, with another deep breath, rose to his full height.


    "Sorry," Mikael said as he started to slowly and carefully go through some stretches. "I am just getting used to this new body."


    His voice was rougher than she was used to. He usually spoke with a deep, smooth rhythm that Yoruichi had, more than once, claimed to want to hear in bed.


    Now it was the sound of gravel and rocks.


    Robin eyed the man critically as he methodically moved every part of his body, uncaring for his nudity.


    The man, even emaciated as he was, was still a mountain. Robin was the second tallest of the women on the Island at 6''2", after only Glynda''s impressive 6''5", and Mikael still stood an inch or two taller than her.


    Though he lacked the muscles she knew he would gain, he was still wider than her. Occasionally, his body would be wracked with more spasms, and he would lose his footing.


    "What happened after you defeated Aldia?" Robin asked.


    As the minutes passed, he regained control of his body and increased speed.


    His face still remained blank of all expression.


    "I hoped I would be transported here right away," he explained monotonously. "I wasn''t. It took a while. How long was it on your end?"


    "Only six days this time," Robin said, starting to grow worried about his out-of-character behaviour.


    Mikael loved to talk.


    He was never the strong silent type. After discussing with the other women, they all agreed that he wasn''t talking only when singing or deep in thought.


    "That lines up with my time," Mikeal said simply.


    Robin did some quick math. Six days was almost two whole cycles. He must have been on his own for nearly two years.


    No wonder he was out of it.


    Mikael continued to move, doing squats and focusing on his legs. There was a moment of silence that Robin didn''t know how to break before the man began to speak, his words hesitant and unsure.


    "Are you... are you all right?"


    "Hm?"


    "Before," the naked man stopped his movements and looked at her. His face finally changed to worry and confusion. "Before Nishandra and Aldia, I was talking to... Emma, I think. She said you got some bad news. Are you all right?"


    Robin''s heart clenched.


    The reminder of her loss, of the Strawhats, was still painful. It had only been a week, after all.


    But another feeling also welled up within her.


    Nico Robin was familiar with loneliness.


    It had been her only companion throughout most of her life. With no friends or people to trust, her loneliness nearly drove her to take her own life. Only her dream had carried her forward. For two decades, she had lived with that loneliness.


    Mikael had been trapped in these worlds for forty years. Forty years where his only contact with friendly faces was once a month.


    It had been a year and a half since he had seen them. After what had clearly been an ordeal, Mikael still remembered a conversation that long ago and still worried about her.


    It touched Robin somewhere deep.


    She hoped that he at least had someone with him during that time. That he hadn''t been utterly alone like she suspected.


    "I''m hanging in there," the pirate said instead of asking about her worries. "The other women have been keeping me company. I am not alone."


    ''Unlike you,'' went unsaid.


    "Good, good." Mikeal nodded slowly before returning to his stretches.


    Robin watched him for a minute, wondering if he would continue the conversation.


    He didn''t, though she was surprised he could do a full split.


    "Medea succeeded," she said. Mikael looked at her in confusion. "With the eggs? She succeeded in hatching them."


    "Really?" A slight glint of curiosity now glimmered in Mikael''s brown eyes.


    "Yes," she continued, happy to get him out of his stupor. "All four hatched a few days ago. They were adorable, barely the size of a pillow. Three females and one male. Artoria named the male Hengeron II and one of the girls Llamrei II. Medea called the other two Andromeda and Cassandra. They''ve really livened up the place."


    "Of course, they would call them that," Mikeal deadpanned, though Robin could see a hint of a smile on the corner of his mouth.


    Snark and sarcasm were good.


    Anything was better than the eerie silence.


    "Both Medea and Tsunade have been trying to get them to sit still for some scans," Robin continued. "But all four, barely able to walk, try and follow Artoria or Priscila like little ducklings."


    Mikeal finally let out a small chuckle at the mental image.


    "You''re right. That does sound adorable."


    Robin regaled him with stories of the drakes'' exploits for the next few minutes, like how they had destroyed Priscila''s robe and made a nest out of it.


    Or how they had chased Yoruichi, in cat form, around the living room.


    Through it all, Mikael continued with his exercises.


    Though he did laugh at the last story.


    "They''re going to be real hellions when they grow up," he said as he stood up from a brief stint of sit-ups. He started to make his way towards the only exit in the little cul-de-sac they found themselves in.


    "I''m sure they will kidnap a princess or three," Robin said as she followed the man. "Maybe terrorize a village."


    "I''m sure you all will train them right. Though, I wouldn''t be surprised if Medea taught them to attack any blond pretty-boys on sight."


    As he spoke, they approached a widening in the path. Robin noted with interest the ruins that lay around her. A fountain of some sort had once been here, the damage and growth of flora indicating it had been abandoned centuries ago. Nestled in between the cliffs as it was, engravings had been protected from most of the elements.


    The occasional body lay in heaps. More graves lay around, and the plant life was grey and wilting.


    Some bodies still twitched, though most lay still.


    Mikael would eye a body once before moving on in quick succession. Robin decided to stay quiet for the moment, unsure if this area was safe for her summoner.


    The first body they approached that still moved, naked like her companion, Mikael walked up to and stomped on the being''s skull. Its head burst, covering the man''s foot in grey matter.


    A silver mist rose from the corpse and flowed into Mikael, who rolled his shoulders in response.


    "Alright, everything is still in order," he said, wiping his foot in the dirt. "Let''s find one with an Estus, weapon or at least clothes."


    "I''m guessing you know where we are?" Robin asked as the pair made their way forward, occasionally pausing for Mikael to strike another hollow.


    "Dark Souls 3, unlike the other games, has a different framework," Mikael explained, casually breaking the neck of an undead who had tried to lunge at him. "You do not play as a hollow, at least not initially by the same definition as the other games. This is the Cemetary of Ash. Here lay those who tried to Link the Fire but were too weak to sustain the Flame. Only ash remained of them."


    "Why is that important?"


    "To make a long story short, the Lords of Cinder who have linked the fire before were resurrected to do so again. Only they refused, not that I blame them. So the world calls upon Unkindled Ash since the start of the world to give them another chance to Link the Fire. Just another failsafe in the Age of Fire to ensure the Flames never truly go out."


    "So they are not undead," Robin couldn''t help but ask.


    "Not hollows specifically," Mikael clarified. "They are still undead, and most are- ''scuse me for a second."


    A dog, grey and emaciated like the corpse it was eating, had spotted her companion. It growled and barked, lunging for Mikael''s throat.


    The man barely flinched at the violent attack.


    Instead, he caught it by the neck in one hand and broke its neck with a loud and quick ''snap.''


    "Sorry," he said, throwing the corpse away. "Anyway, they are a different kind of undead. Most are still mindless, the First Flame having burned away their sanity just like hollowing. It is okay to think of them as the same, though the term Hollow has different connotations in this game than in the others."


    "Is that why you can end the Age of Fire in this game?"


    "Partially," he waved in a ''so-so'' gesture. "You have to understand, Unkindled Ash are failures. The fact that they are summoned at all shows how dire the Flame feels the situation to be. For all Gwyn''s machinations, the Age is meant to end, and will end, eventually. If the first game is the last gasp of a civilization, then this one is the last gasp of a World. The Age has been stretched for too long, and the world is paying for it."


    Robin continued to ask questions as they wandered about the cemetery.


    There was a brief period of worry when Mikael was beset by three foes and a dog at once, but her summoner managed to survive the encounter with some good positioning.


    Robin would rate his hand-to-hand skills as decent enough, though she could probably take him with her Fishman Karate and Haki.


    It was clear he preferred to use weapons rather than fight barehanded, no matter how skilled he was at it.


    Eventually, after an hour of wandering, the pair managed to make their way out of the part of the cemetery in the cliffs'' crag.


    Robin''s breath was stolen from her when she stood on the ravine''s edge, staring over the miles and miles of tombstones that lined the cliff edge.


    Very faintly in the distance, near the horizon, she could make out a structure of some sort.


    "That''s my first stop," Mikeal said. He was also looking at the far structure. "I''ll have to face Gundyr if I want to make it to Firelink Shrine. I hope I can find a decent enough weapon before then. The Fire Keeper is on the other side, and I can''t channel souls into my body and spirit without her."


    "Let me help you look for something," Robin said.


    While her main body had to remain nearby, she started sprouting eyes further away. The sheer number of dead that filled this graveyard was staggering.


    It took some real effort on the woman''s part to sort through all the visual information she was receiving. Most ashen ones were similar to the naked, gaunt-looking ones the pair had already met.


    After five minutes of searching, Robin found one in better shape. It wore loose clothes, which was more than most, and the pirate directed Mikael in its direction.


    Unfortunately, it only had the clothes on its back. Nonetheless, her companion killed it and took its vestments.


    The next few hours were spent making a winding trail toward the shrine.


    When Robin felt her time drawing to a close, they were still far away, but the pair had found two Estus flasks and a broken sword.


    More importantly, to Robin at least, Mikael had gotten out of his funk. He was joking and laughing as usual.


    She had even caught him humming under his breath a few times.


    As she stepped through the portal, Robin let her thoughts broadcast.


    Emma had been nearly catatonic with worry for the last few days, and the pirate would rather nip her attitude in the bud.


    At the same time, Robin decided it was time she took the mutant up on her counselling offer.


    If Mikael could push forward, so could she.

 Solitude 2

    We are weary, my heart, we are weary, so long we have borne


    The heavy loved burden of dreams that are dead, let us rest,


    Let us scatter their ashes away, for a while let us mourn;


    We will rest, O my heart, till the shadows are gray in the west.


    ********


    "You are doing very well, you two," Diana said encouragingly. "Robin, you should be all set. You''ve got floating down, and the rest is just getting comfortable with the various methods of movements."


    "Thank you," Robin said, floating on her back. She was the one that took to the lessons the easiest.


    While all the women possessed ''Body Talent,'' it didn''t change that some people were naturally predisposed to certain activities more than others.


    Looking over at Artoria, who continued to flail in the water like she was trying to fight it, Diana couldn''t help but smile wryly.


    Her friend, and more recently lover, had not told the group she couldn''t swim.


    In fact, the amazon would bet money that the blonde would have kept it a secret for as long as possible had Robin not asked for swimming lessons of her own.


    On land, Artoria was the picture of elegant and mature grace.


    In the water, she looked like a kid on too much sugar.


    Even as Diana watched, the blonde got fed up with her failure to stay afloat. The King of Knights let herself sink and pushed off the ocean floor. She landed on the waves themselves, the blessing of the Lady of the Lake keeping her from falling.


    "I shall best this trial," Artoria swore, staring down at the water like it was her worst enemy.


    "You are trying too hard," Glynda said. The taller blonde was wading in their direction, the shallow water only coming up under her considerable breasts. Everyone was in swimsuits of one form or another, except for Yoruichi, who insisted on remaining nude. "Diana, let me take over for a bit."


    "If you feel up for it," the amazon started to return to the shore.


    Artoria would still need help from the teacher, but Robin was enjoying herself independently. The brunette had conjured several legs, combined them in a pseudo-mermaid tale, and was now frolicking in the deeper water.


    "I love that girl," Medea said, eyeing Artoria and shaking her head. The bluenette was sipping some fruity blue drink and lounging on a beach chair. "But she can be a bit of a ditz about the oddest things."


    Diana had, by this point, towelled off and taken her seat on the plush chairs. Medea was to her left, and Emma, tanning on her own chair, was to her right.


    In the distance, they watched Yoruichi hoot and holler in joy as she piloted the jet ski around. Tsunade simply floated in the surf on an inflatable raft with a sake saucer. Diana was happy she was drinking less than before.


    "It''s because she had such an odd upbringing," Emma said, not moving from her position. "She was a woman pretending to be a man, a knight, and a king. Her education came from an apprenticeship and the occasional advice from an Incubus. She has ''Grail Knowledge,'' but, unlike you or Scathach, she defaults to her time in Camelot."


    "Tis a silly place, Camelot," Diana said seriously before grinning at Medea, who grinned back. "By the way, who''s watching the children?"


    "Priscila is babysitting," Medea said, taking another sip of her drink. "She''s been training so much that she''s fallen behind in the games she wanted to play. She set up in the living room with the big TV, and I dumped the little guys with her. They are still too young for me to trust at the beach. Besides, Raven is there to help her if needed."


    "We won''t be able to keep them inside for much longer," Emma pointed out. "They are already the size of large dogs. Soon they won''t fit through the doors."


    "I know, but I don''t want to put my babies out in the wild just yet." There was a whiny tone in her voice, though Diana knew the witch was just playing.


    "I''ve been meaning to ask," Diana started. "When will the others cross the Tier 7 threshold? By my math, it should be soon, and I would rather get Emma free as soon as possible."


    "Glynda and Tsunade reached Tier 7 two weeks ago, a bit after Mikael started the third game," Medea said casually. "Priscila, because she started a bit later, only crossed it a few days ago. We are only waiting for Robin. Since she was Tier 5 when she appeared on the Island, she has about a 75-litre difference from the others. She''ll reach the tipping point after she takes her last dose at lunch in ten days. Each of those pills I give you with every meal is 1 litre of compressed blood."


    "Are you certain?" Wonder Woman couldn''t help but ask. "I do not want to put Emma at risk if we miscalculate the dosage."


    "I''ve run the number dozens of times. I am as certain as can be."


    "I do not mean to doubt you," Diana continued. "I thought the entire point was that when someone reached Tier 7 by dragon blood, they assume draconic elements and turn into one themselves. As far as I know, no one has turned into a dragon. Can we trust that Emma will be all right without that side effect?"


    "No one told you?" Medea asked, staring at the brunette in surprise.


    "Told me what?"


    "We cannot change," Emma explained. "Physically, I mean. Something is preventing all permanent changes in our bodies. While I am in my diamond form, I have been able to lift about 2 tons in the past. My base strength, however, has only been slightly greater than average. Despite all the training we''ve been doing over the last few months, I have put on no muscle and am not stronger in any way."


    "Really?" Wonder Woman couldn''t help but wonder.


    "We only realized it when Tsunade started giving us check-ups," Medea continued from the blonde. "She pointed out how odd it was for people, especially those who eat as much and are as active as us, to remain the same weight over a month with not even a little change. For the Servants, it would make sense. We are summoned at our peak and are half spiritual. The others? Not so much."


    "Could it be because we are dead? Most undead I know are not able to grow." Diana asked. As she did so, she watched Artoria lay flat on a telekinetic platform, Glynda slowly lowering her into the water.


    "That was a possibility we considered," the witch nodded but denied the conclusion. "We tested it with Priscilla. She is still alive, barely ever trained a day in her life, and was the one that would have the most variance. Despite getting better at fighting, she has developed no new muscles."


    "That must be painful," Diana frowned. If the dragon girl was not developing muscle and muscle memory, their training was like the first day all over again. "I suppose if she trained so rarely, Priscila would not know how odd her situation is."


    "Next, we tested if we were ''Tier Locked,'' as it were," Medea continued to explain their scientific process. "Maybe we cannot get stronger without going up a Tier? That isn''t the case, either. Robin went from Tier 5 when first summoned to 6 and is almost at 7. Her powers are more varied, not just physical. She unlocked Conqueror Haki when it wasn''t possible before, and she has lost her weakness to water. Despite this, her physical stats have not changed in the least."


    "So it is just our bodies then? Does it just prevent growth or any physical change?"


    It should be remembered that, despite being a very physical fighter, Wonder Woman had also been blessed by Athena to have great wisdom. While she was no scientist or mage, she was smart enough to keep up with the best of them when she put her mind to it.


    "Any physical deviation," Emma said, flipping herself over on her chair. "Think of it like the halfway point between reality and what happens when Mikael summons us. We can affect the world, but it cannot affect us."


    "A good analogy, but not exactly right." Medea downed the last of her drink and waved her hands. A simple dislocation spell conjured another glass from the distant bar into her hand, red instead of blue. "It is not that we cannot be affected physically. We''ve all been hurt in training and needed Tsunade to patch us up. Any physical change is reset as soon as the moon sets in the morning."


    "The moon?" Diana asked.


    "A lot of things are tied to the moon here. While celestial objects have always been important to magic. Since this is a demi-plane more than a pocket space-"


    "Don''t ask," Emma suddenly spoke up. She interrupted Medea''s speech and Diana, who was going to ask about the difference. The blonde did not even look at them, staying face down on her chair as she answered their silent question. "I do not need to read your minds to know that you would ask Diana. And if you did, Medea would have gone on a long tangent that I don''t feel like listening to."


    "Anyway," the witch blushed a little at the accurate remark. "Despite not being ''real'' celestial bodies, not extending past the Jewel, the sun, moon, and stars still affect things. My descent from Helios led me to initially assume that the sun was more important. But I recently discovered the moon is a crucial factor in many aspects of the Island."


    "How so?" A minor aspect of Artemis''s blessing meant that Diana was always aware of the phase of the moon.


    An almost useless part, except for that one time she fought a werewolf.


    "Much like the sun, it rises and sets at the same time every day. I thought we were summoned only when the sun was up, but I realized that the sun rises at roughly 6:30 but sets at 8:30. The moon, on the other hand, rises at precisely 9pm. Due to the angle of the island mountains, I didn''t realize it was still faintly visible until it set at exactly 9am. We aren''t being summoned with the sun is up, but when the moon is gone. That is the only time our time and Mikael''s time can line up."


    "While that is interesting to hear," Diana smiled diplomatically at her fellow greek. Seeing her get so animated about a subject was nice, even if they had drifted off-topic. "How does this relate to our physical state?"


    "I was getting to that. If we are hurt, train, or have any other physical change, it all gets reset as soon as the moon sets at 9," Medea said in a huff. "Scathach and Tsunade helped me test it. No matter how grave the injury, it disappears in a moment. Since then, we have tried to see if other things align with that time frame. We''ve only had two successes. All creatures that die after 9 am are resummoned the following day. Any new biome or environment Mikael encounters? They, too, only appear at 9 am."


    Unauthorized reproduction: this story has been taken without approval. Report sightings.


    "So, what does it all mean?"


    "We have no idea," Emma piped up. "For every mystery we solve, another takes its place."


    "I am sorry to say she is right," Medea winced. "The process of discovery and testing is fascinating. We know time is convoluted. That has been consistent throughout this entire experience. We managed to line some things up, but we are no closer to the ''WHY?'' of everything. We have dozens of theories, but nothing we can test."


    "I find this all rather frustrating," Diana admitted. Despite her words, she did quirk a smile as Artoria finally managed to stay afloat on her back without support. "As good a company as you all are and as enjoyable as this Island has proven to be, I am going a bit crazy. I always feel like this is one significant buildup, one massive plan from a being who we have seen neither hide nor hair of. If they want something from us, why have they not asked? If it is Death, why go through all this?"


    There was a few moments of silence as the women on the beach contemplated their situation.


    "In my experience," Medea spoke up after a minute, simmering resentment filling her tone. "This is the norm. Higher powers always mess with those lesser than them. They like to see us struggle, and when they grow bored, we are discarded. They never care for innocence or guilt, morality or faith. All they care for is their own capricious whims. And when the chips fall? Then they sit on their high thrones and judge you."


    Diana remained silent as the Witch of Betrayal stood and walked to the water. Emma, too, did not say a word.


    ********


    "They are getting frustrated," Diana said suddenly. The words had slipped out while she was lost in thought.


    Now that she had spoken, she decided to commit to the path.


    The pair had been walking in companionable silence for ten minutes, enjoying the night air.


    Irithyll was a beautiful city.


    The gently falling snow, silver buildings, and crescent moon painted a beautiful tableau. It was a crisp and cool night. Though Mikael''s breath fogged the air with every breath, Diana''s did not.


    She could not feel the cold.


    Shadow figures would occasionally dart from dark alleys to attack her companion, sometimes many at once. He dealt with them efficiently, either with his blade or flames.


    Knights and clerics walked the main roads. They posed a more significant threat, though Mikael could overcome them too.


    Wonder Woman watched all the battles she could as the pair made their way deeper into the metropolis. Mikael had explained that his target was the massive cathedral in the center, miles away from their starting position on the bridge.


    This was the first time Diana had the chance to actually be part of Mikael''s journey. Usually, they remained stationary in a ''safe'' place when she was summoned.


    It was enlightening.


    The last ten minutes of silence had been her companion''s longest without being attacked. It seemed like a shadow hag would ambush him with every step they took. Beyond every corner was a priest casting a spell or knights waiting to charge.


    Mikael had been uncharacteristically silent to lessen the likelihood of drawing more enemies.


    Mikael had told her kingdoms and civilizations were converging on Lothric as the Fire faded. Their proximity, he said, reduced the time it would take to beat the game. Each of those held millions of inhabitants, most all mad in undeath.


    They all stood between her summoner and his objective.


    There had been times when Diana wondered why it took Mikael decades to clear one ''game.''


    With his skills, surely he could do it faster?


    Now she knew.


    The enemies were a problem, but so was the sheer distance.


    Every time he died, he lost days of progress. Since he wasn''t hollowed, he retained his connection to the bonfires and reformed at the most recent one he rested at.


    That could be miles away.


    By that point, either the undead he had killed had reformed or more had filled in the holes. Since one death was such a setback, he had to proceed carefully each time. Mikael never knew how many enemies there were or where they could have moved.


    Diana did not know how many beings he had killed alone in the last two hours. She lost track after the first hundred.


    If this was the norm, he would have a larger body count than almost all the villains she had faced. In fact, if he only killed one hundred a day, he would have a higher body count than in most wars.


    Though his foes were undead, Diana had to wonder about the mentality of a man who could do all that.


    "Hm?" Mikael made a noise in question at her words.


    "The other women," the amazon clarified as she returned to the here and now. "Many of them are worried that, so close to the end of your journey, you will go through with what you promised and leave us. Them, I mean. You said a few more weeks on our end, correct?"


    "That''s right," though he answered her, his eyes never stopped roaming the street.


    He was always looking for foes that could spring at any moment.


    "Surely, by now, you realize their feelings are genuine? Would it be so wrong to return their affections?"


    "Wrong? No. Dangerous? Yes."


    "How come?" Diana asked. Michael remained silent, his lips pressed into a frown. Wonder Woman took a gamble. A desperate one, born from little progress and an impending deadline. "Medea has been using your blood to help us ascend tiers." Mikael nodded but didn''t say anything, so she continued. She was taking a risk but knew they had to do something drastic. She''d just have to accept the consequences. "Once we''ve all consumed enough to qualify for Tier 7, she plans on using her Noble Phantasm on Emma."


    That got a reaction.


    Mikael whirled on her, staring at her with wide eyes.


    He looked worried, panicked even.


    Despite that, Diana continued to talk, each word pulled from her lips like the Sword of Damocles.


    "We''ll be taking all precautions we can, we''ll do it right before her next summoning, so if anything goes wrong, you can reimpose the Command. But one way or the other, we are all committed to getting Emma free. It wouldn''t be fair to have her bound like that, nor is it wise to keep secrets for so long. Especially from those that only want to help."


    "Free? Fair?" He said incredulously. The man stared at Diana, but she met his eyes resolutely.


    Diana knew that people were entitled to their secrets, but she believed that if those secrets hurt people, especially her newfound family, it was better to know.


    Was this unfair to Mikael?


    Yes, but they wouldn''t have needed to go this far if he had been honest from the start. Diana couldn''t understand why, after all this time, he could not trust them. She had faced this same struggle with Bruce several times, forced to argue and cajole the man into speaking.


    Sometimes obstinacy was needed.


    One man should not bear everything.


    He turned away, pausing a moment before starting to speak.


    "Imagine," he started to say, piecing his words together like a puzzle. "Imagine you are torn away from everything you ever know. You wake up in a cell naked. You are branded by a curse, one designed to drive you mad. You do everything you can to escape. Over and over, you try to climb the walls, break down the door, anything you can think of. Nothing works. You are in that cell for months, waiting for someone to free you. No companions, no one to talk to. The same four walls. But something is urging you on, never to give up. So you keep trying. One attempt finally kills you. A bashed-in skull from trying to climb to the ceiling."


    Diana remained silent, letting Mikael vent.


    The story pained her, but she wanted to know where he was going with it.


    "You wake up in the same place you died, knowing you died and will never escape. You keep trying anyway. You are not able to die nor give up. Then one day, poof," Mikael made a little gesture, tossing some light snow in the air. "Someone appears in your cell. Great! The only problem is that someone is fictional and can''t interact with the world. You''ve clearly gone mad, but ''hey, what the hell? If I''m mad, let''s see how this goes.'' you think to yourself. The madness remains consistent. You are starting to feel hope. ''Maybe there is a way out after all.''"


    "You still think we are figments of your imagination?" Diana asked incredulously.


    Mikael shook his head.


    "I am trying to get you to see things through my perspective for a bit. I do agree communication is important, but so is understanding where the other stands," Mikael said before continuing his story. "Then something happens. One of the figments of your imagination, one of the women you imagined into existence, does something stupid. She at once proves that she exists to you and that all these delusions are more of a threat to your Freedom than the cell ever was."


    "You know we are not," the amazon interrupted. "We want to help. Why can''t you trust us on that? We are no threat. Even Emma had no malicious intent when she entered your mind."


    "So you get desperate, trying to seize all the control you can from the situation," he continued as if uninterrupted. "Step one? Get out of the cell ASAP. The following companion summoned gives you an idea. You''re not connected to a bonfire, so you reform precisely when your body falls. What if most of your body is outside? So you start working, cutting your limbs on the bars and passing them through until all that is left is one arm you use to force your skull through and then separate it from your torso. The only part that doesn''t fit."


    Diana swallowed back the bile in her throat.


    Mikael had never told anyone how he escaped the Asylum.


    The man did not pay her horror any mind. He had said all that in a monotone as if recounting the weather. Now his voice picked up as if recalling a happy memory.


    "You are finally free of the cell! The gamble worked! More than that, you discover that you can minimize contact with these threats. Instead of spending a few hours a week with them, you can reduce it to a few a month. You cannot force them to leave. Even if you could, it would risk tipping your hand. The following month is spent fighting and dying as you go through demons and hordes of the undead. That pattern repeats for decades. You can never rest, never relax. You are trapped in a world, in a mind you know is not your own. Your companions, your only aid, are your biggest threats. But you care for them. You want to help them as well. You would never hurt them if you could. They saved you, after all. Can you imagine all that, Diana?"


    "I can," she said, her throat dry.


    "Good," he looked her in the eye. "Now, despite all that, you would ask me to be open to my wardens? To give away my weakness and risk never achieving the Freedom and Life that drive me? You would ask me to place shackles on myself as I stand only a few years away from my prison break?"


    "No," Diana denied vehemently. Desperately. "I would ask you to trust us. Trust that no matter what, we are on your side. That we are not your wardens. We, they, love you. Entrust your weakness to us, whatever it is, so we can prove you wrong. We are going to be together forever. You will have to trust us at some point."


    "There would be a way for me to trust you," he said. The command seals glowed brightly enough that the light escaped through his armour. "I got these because they were cheap and practical. It would be easy too. I would have to start with Medea, of course. Her Noble Phantasm would be the most dangerous threat. All my seals regenerate between summonings. I could devise a combination of six commands to bend any of you to my will. From there, any time anyone is summoned, I simply repeat the process. It would be easy. All it would take would be that I need to abandon the last notions of my humanity, my own values."


    Despite his words, the heroine felt no danger and met him eye to eye.


    They stared at each other, testing the other in their own way.


    Perhaps sensing her determination, maybe simply giving up, Mikael turned away from her and slumped.


    Diana''s heart clenched at the sight, but she remained firm.


    "I suppose this is what I get for being too clever," he said wryly. "I can''t even order you not to free Emma without going for the nuclear option. Medea would simply use Rule Breaker on you too. I also doubt that any order would stick forever. Emma''s has stuck around so long because I refresh them every time she is summoned. And none of you would ever forgive me if I tried. I guess I am being hypocritical. Who am I to stand between a prisoner and freedom?"


    There was a long moment when the man gathered his thoughts.


    Diana kept silent until he took a deep breath, straightened his spine and looked at her again.


    Though he was only a few inches taller than her six-foot frame, Wonder Woman was pierced by the intense look in his brown eyes.


    She had known he was a warrior and had watched him battle with great skill, but he was always so gentle with her and the other women that it hadn''t really connected in her mind.


    Where was once laughter, warmth and affection had filled those brown pools, only steely determination remained as Mikael looked at her.


    Judging her.


    This was a man who killed kingdoms.


    Who slaughtered gods and demons and absorbed their souls.


    Who, after decades of slaughter and death, after experiencing all the pain the world had to offer, still stood again.


    This was a man who became Lord of Cinder twice over.


    Diana met those eyes, heart beating wildly in her chest.


    "There''s nothing I could do to change your minds?" He asked, knowing the answer.


    "Nothing," she said resolutely, ensuring her voice was steady and even.


    "And you all will accept the consequences of your actions? No matter what they are?"


    "We will."


    In the future, Diana would look back at this moment wryly. Though it would mark a short downturn in their relationship, it would also be when she decided that falling in love with him was the right thing.


    "Very well, a compromise then," he nodded in acceptance. Flames gathered in his hands, and great balls of chaotic magma flooded the street as dozens of shadow hags screamed in pain as their ashen flesh melted away. "Next time Emma is summoned, I''ll remove the Command to never talk about what she knows. It will be safer that way. Less risk of backsliding."


    As Diana stood amidst the magma rapidly cooling in the night air, she realized two things.


    Firstly, though she had won the argument and gotten the transparency she wanted, she still felt like she had lost something.


    Mikael still did not trust them. He was simply being blackmailed into her demands.


    Either he relinquished his Command, or he risked Emma''s health. This entire time, his second priority after being free had always been the well-being of the women on the Island.


    The dark red flames licked through her immaterial body, casting flickering shadows on the silver walls.


    They also illuminated Mikael as he turned from her.


    His dented and battered armour.


    The number of weapons he kept out of his bottomless pouches in case any broke. The bow and enchanted arrows he used when needed. The long staff, at once weapon and catalyst.


    His broad back.


    Diana realized a second thing as she watched that back get further away, the magma not harming him.


    She could feel the heat.

 Solitude 3

    But soon we must rise, O my heart, we must wander again


    Into the war of the world and the strife of the throng;


    Let us rise, O my heart, let us gather the dreams that remain,


    We will conquer the sorrow of life with the sorrow of song.


    ********


    "Ten seconds," Medea said.


    "I''ll see you all in a moment," Emma responded, closing her eyes to lessen the disorientation of the summoning.


    At that moment, those who knew her best might have been able to see the fear in her eyes.


    All the Island women were gathered in the ''meeting room,'' the largest of the sitting areas. Diana had returned with news that Mikael would release the mutant from her Command yesterday.


    Since then, the rest of the group had waited in anticipation for this moment. To avoid being distracted from the discussion, the drakes were housed in an enclosure Scathach and Medea had built in the nearby field.


    Once the clock hit 3 pm precisely, the White Queen disappeared. Blink, and you would miss it.


    Due solely to their familiarity with the process and superhuman senses, the women of the Island saw the blonde''s figure blur like a TV out of focus before settling again as the clock''s second hand moved one tick.


    The change in Emma herself was much more noticeable.


    Gone was the determination on her face, replaced with a forlorn look.


    She looked near tears, in fact.


    The blonde slumped, wiping her eyes furiously and sniffling slightly.


    "Emma?" Diana asked with concern. "Are you all right? What happened?"


    Perhaps the amazon was the wrong person to speak as no sooner had the words left her mouth than Emma rounded on her. Her blue eyes were narrowed in anger, and her fists clenched. In fact, those same fists were starting the process of turning into diamonds.


    Emma took a step towards Wonder Woman, looking ready to strike her.


    "Calm down!" Raven, usually so quiet and introverted, shouted. Her voice was still monotone, but there was an edge of warning. "He wouldn''t want us to fight." Her words stopped the mutant, though she still glared at Diana.


    "Get your lasso," Emma told Wonder Woman, voice seething with rage and pain. "You all want the truth? Fine, you''ll get it."


    "There is no need," Artoria tried to say diplomatically. "I''m sure we-"


    "I want the damn rope!" Emma snarled at the blonde. "By the end of this, I don''t want any doubt that what I''m going to say is the truth."


    "It''s fine," Diana said to the king.


    She had decided to accept whatever the consequences were of her decision. The amazon left the room to retrieve her enchanted weapon.


    While she was gone, an awkward silence filled the seating chamber. Emma collapsed into a chair, her head in her hands.


    The rage seemed to have left her, leaving her worn and despondent.


    "What''s wrong, Emma?" Glynda, who she sat beside, asked softly.


    Her fellow blonde shook her head, not saying a word.


    Diana returned less than a minute later, Glynda and Medea still trying to coax the mutant into speech. Once the amazon entered, Emma did not look at her, simply holding up a hand.


    The heroine set the golden rope into her waiting palm. The White Queen then wrapped it around her left arm, the thread glowing in a golden light.


    "I had breast implants," Emma said suddenly, to the room''s confusion. "My breasts are all natural."


    "Is it not working," Diana asked after those conflicting statements.


    "It''s working," Emma still did not look at the amazon, eyeing the lasso on her arm in contemplation. "I did have breast implants, but they became natural when I was summoned to the Island. I was testing it. It works off intent. I can''t even think about lying or deceiving people with it on. Though I have the option to not talk."


    "So," Medea started to say. "What happened?"


    "Right," Emma took a deep breath, calming herself. She looked around the room, ensuring the entire group met her eyes at least once. "First, give up on making Mikael fall in love with any of us. It is not going to happen while he is trapped."


    "Why not?"


    Surprisingly it was not Medea, Artoria, Priscilla, or Glynda who asked the question.


    It was Diana.


    The amazon had been surprised by how much those words hurt to hear.


    She wasn''t the only one surprised.


    The rest of the group turned to her, Emma included, and Wonder Woman fought a blush at their gaze.


    Then the White Queen started laughing. There was a hysteric and malicious edge to her laughter.


    "Oh god, hahahaha, he got you too!" She giggled. "What great timing!"


    "Rather than laughing," Scathach interrupted. Her voice was severe, though there was a bit of pain for those that paid attention. "It would be better for you to explain yourself."


    "Right, hahaha, I suppose I should." Though Emma giggled a little more, shooting smug looks at Diana, she did calm down. "I suppose I should start with the baseline. Priscila!" The crossbreed perked up as she was addressed directly. "Mikael. Do you love him?"


    "Ah," the dragon girl reacted with surprise to be asked so bluntly. After a moment, she managed to answer. "While mine Bard is rather fetching, I cannot say that love dost fill my chest upon thought of him."


    A few of the women of the Island, such as Artoria, Raven, and Medea, looked at the crossbreed in surprise.


    Emma simply nodded.


    "And that Dragon outside? The massive one?" At the mutant''s second question, Priscila flushed a deep red. She started fumbling with the tip of her tail, refusing to meet anyone''s eyes. "Never mind, that answers enough."


    "What was that supposed to show?" Glynda asked, patting the ''younger'' girl on the shoulder. She continued to fiddle with her tail, the tips of her ears a deep scarlet.


    "I''m trying to prove a point," Emma said seriously. The blonde stood and made her way toward one of the windows. "Priscila is never summoned, so her perspective isn''t twisted. The man we are summoned to isn''t Mikael. Not fully. It is a puppet piloted by him. A different puppet in every world. Mikeal is that!"


    The blonde pointed out over the ocean, white claws barely visible in the sun''s light. Beyond those claws was a great white Dragon, larger than the British Isles.


    A few of the women did not understand what she was getting at. They all knew the Dragon was Mikael''s body.


    Medea was the first to understand what she was trying to convey.


    "Dragon aura," the witch whispered in revelation.


    "Mikael wraps around us, constantly bathing us in his aura." Emma smiled sardonically at the group, especially at Diana. "It can''t control our mind, but it constantly tempts us. We can resist. Some of us have for a long time. But the second we give in, the second we think that falling in love with Mikael is acceptable and desirable, he has us. There is no escape at that point. By now, the last holdover I knew of has been captured. Unless any of you think eleven different women, with different preferences, all falling in love with the same man makes sense?"


    Diana flushed, realizing what Emma was getting at.


    She hadn''t realized the change until she looked back at it now. She had a favourable impression of their summoner for the longest time but had never really categorized Mikael as a romantic interest out of solidarity with Artoria''s intentions.


    Her most recent summoning had changed things.


    "I fail to see how that is relevant to getting his romantic interest," Artoria spoke. She seemed uncaring for the revelation. "All of us working together should see greater success in wooing him."


    "I''m trying to set a baseline," Emma explained. "I need you all to remember that, no matter that he was once human, Mikael is no longer one. He is a Dragon, millions of years old, and his mind and emotions reflect that."


    "Stop stalling, Ice Queen," Yoruichi said, eyeing the mutant like a cat ready to pounce. "We already knew his elements drove you mad. We need other answers."


    "His elements did not drive me mad," Emma shook her head. "They drove Mikael mad. They continue to do so. Specifically his Life element, not Freedom. The latter ensures he will always work towards his Freedom, but the former ensures he never forgets his previous ''life.'' He remembers everything from his birth to his entrapment in his cell with crystal clarity as if carved into his brain. That is why he can never go hollow. His memories never fade. He knows with bone-deep certainty that there is a world out there, a life he could live, where he doesn''t have to kill or die. With friends and family, a world far from pain. My madness is of a different sort. But you are right; I should just come out and say it. Mikael cannot fall in love with any of us because it is impossible for him to love us any more than he already does."


    Medea grasped the meaning instantly, the witch recoiling as if struck.


    Glynda, sweet romantic Glynda, did not see the problem.


    "Is that not mission accomplished then?"


    "He''s cursed," the greek witch said softly, her words carrying around the room. "Like Aphrodite did to me for Jason."


    There was a major inhale of breath as the other women realized the seriousness of the problem.


    Medea had not been shy about her sheer hatred for the gods and Jason for the experience.


    "Well fuck," Yoruichi said succinctly. "Though if that is the case, I do not know why he is resisting so much. As shitty as it is, wouldn''t he want to stay with us then? Rather than have us leave, I mean."


    "If he had never realized the severity of the situation, he would have," Emma nodded, eyes glazed in memory. "But then I did something stupid. While he was still in the cell, I dived deep enough into his mind that I passed the avatar completely. I connected to the Dragon."


    The blonde mutant stopped talking, her eyes distant and mouth curling into a smile. Her eyes took on a faraway look, gazing past the room and the Island to the Dragon in the sky.


    There was a fire in them, a passion most of those gathered identified as fanaticism.


    This was a woman preaching about her god.


    "You all cannot understand what it was like. That mind was so massive and grand. A being that rivals Galactus or the Pheonix, millions of years old. For a moment, just a moment, I was part of something beyond humanity. And it loved me. It was the kind of love of fairy tales. The all-consuming, passionate and gentle love that carves itself into legend. His every thought was bent on ensuring our safety and happiness. An experience like that... it changes a woman."


    "It drove you mad," Raven said plainly. Emma did not respond, wiping the drool accumulated on her chin at the memory. "Not his elements."


    "After he used a command seal to remove me from his mind, he asked me to tell him what I discovered. I was a bit frantic at that point, so I revealed everything. I just wanted to go back to that feeling." Emma looked a bit sheepish as she explained. "I should have been more circumspect. Once he discovered his mind and emotions had been tampered with without realizing it, that is when his elements really came into play. He bent his Freedom element to resisting his own mind and its urges. Every time we are summoned, his at war with himself. That is why he is so emotional in our presence. It is all he can do not to bend to our every whim. But he cannot ignore a direct order from us. If we were to tell him to sit still for an eternity? He would do so, his Freedom be damned."


    "That is why he wanted to keep it a secret," Medea said. "If Jason did not know of his influence on me, many terrible things could have been prevented. You devised the sanity lie to ensure I didn''t use Rule Breaker."


    "One of my suggestions. It was easy to pass on since it was close to the truth. Mikael initially wanted me to forget as well," Emma said, compelled by the lasso to bring the truth to light rather than let her previous lies remain. "His second order was to forget everything I saw in his mind. The only reason I know that is that I dove right back into his mind when I realized my memories were tampered with. He had to use another to get me out, then another to ensure I never did it again. His final two were to order me to ensure I never used our influence over him and never reveal what we discovered. The last of which he just released me from."


    "So he never healed you? Never ordered you to regain your sanity?" Robin asked, realizing she had been lied to multiple times. "Why not order you to forget again?"


    "I found out instantly last time my memories were removed. My psychic abilities are not for show, you know? Rather than risk the same mistake, he went with another plan. You were right about Mikael being smart enough not to use a vague order like that." Emma shrugged, unconcerned about her previous lies. "He simply helped me work through what I felt in his mind the old-fashioned way. We sat and talked. He is no psychologist, but sometimes a sympathetic ear is all you need. I recovered enough to fake it. Mikael didn''t notice my change since we were so new to each other then. I then offered myself as a co-conspirator. By the end, we not only had numerous different lies worked out when you all got curious about his shifting behaviour."


    "And he never realized the depth of your change," Raven noted doubtfully. Emma shrugged again.


    "So you''ve been lying to us this entire time," Tsunade spoke, eyes narrowed at her fellow blonde. "Why should we trust you now?"


    "Because of this," Emma lifted her arm, the one wrapped in the Lasso of Truth. "Besides, all my plans are out the window. Lying now does nothing. You all would have realized the most crucial part as soon as Robin was summoned tonight."


    "Why?" The pirate asked.


    "Because, going forward, Mikael will use the same order whenever we are summoned now. ''Never command me!'' He wants to ensure that now that we know we can control him, we will never be able to use our influence. He will refresh it every summoning in case Medea uses Rule Breaker to free us from the Command. We essentially have unlimited Command Seals with him. He wants to make sure we cannot use them."


    "He does not trust us?" Artoria looked affronted as if the idea of using her new influence was repulsive.


    "You are still not getting where Mikael is coming from," Emma shook her head. "Mikael knows his feelings for us are foreign, so he fights them. If they were not, he wouldn''t have a problem. Even then, if he could convince himself he could fall in love with us, then maybe, just maybe, he could come to trust us. But ask yourself this; could you fall in love with someone you saw for a few hours once a year?" The room remained silent, aware of the answers in their hearts. "To us, he takes us on ''dates'' every other day or so. To him? He has to take notes on any conversation we have so he doesn''t forget them before the next time we are summoned."


    "So what did you want, Ice Queen? You said you had a plan before this? What was it?" Yoruichi asked, trying to shift the subject slightly from her own blindness.


    The women had known that time was different between the Island and Mikael for a while, but they hadn''t pieced together just how it would affect their romantic prospects.


    "I want his babies," the mutant deadpanned. More than one of the women blushed at the thought, but Emma continued. "I want to follow him for eternity. I want to help him conquer worlds and travel the globe or the stars. I want him to marry me. To bend me over a desk and fuck me till I pass out. I want to bring him any women he finds attractive. I do not want to be left behind. If I can make my ex-husband," the mutant almost spat the words, "successful enough to run the greatest mutant school and team, then with Mikael, there is nothing he and I could not accomplish together."


    The lasso continued to glow, ensuring the truth of her words. More than one woman had lost themselves in fantasy at her wishes, though a few had remained focused on the key concepts she hadn''t addressed.


    "I suppose we were some women you wanted him to bed?" Scathach did not seem affronted by the idea, but her tone was unimpressed. Emma simply shrugged. "Now we know why he is so insistent on leaving us behind. We are too much of a risk to him. You said we couldn''t make him fall in love with us while the time difference is so great. How were you planning on fixing that issue yourself?"


    "No matter when he gets free," Emma explained, "he will have to stop by the Island at least once to pick up all the supplies he has left here."


    "The bottomless chests, they have all the arms and armour he could want," Medea said in realization, shaken from her fantasy of blue-eyed, brown-haired, pointy-eared children.


    "And he will need to talk to Priscila," Emma nodded at the dragon girl. "Without knowing if someone he bit, bound rather than summoned, also exerts control over him, he will never be able to offer the benefits of the catalogue to anyone. Despite being tempted several times, he hasn''t bound anyone since Priscila because he doesn''t know if it will increase the chains around his neck."


    If you encounter this narrative on Amazon, note that it''s taken without the author''s consent. Report it.


    "And when he is on the Island, we will have the opportunity to convince him without fear of the time disconnect," Scathach nodded. "It''s a solid plan. How likely is it now? Does he still intend to return to the Island now that we know of our influence?"


    "I don''t know!" Emma whirled on Diana. "His mental shields are more substantial than any I have ever seen from those who are not immune. He must have been practicing using Mental Talent since the cell. Whatever trust he had in me is gone. I should never have gone along with your plan. He used to let me into his mind so long as I did not connect to the Dragon. Now, I cannot access it at all."


    "I am not sorry," Diana said, meeting the mutant''s eyes. "While this turn of events is regretful, deception is no way to base a relationship. If we were to engage with him as equals, we needed to know this information. Now, should he come to trust us again, it will be knowing that we consciously choose not to exert our power over him."


    "So long as he can trust us again," Emma snarled. "That is not going to happen any time soon!"


    ********


    "God damn it, Gael!" I cursed, my back aching from the effort of moving so much dirt.


    Like all pain, it was slightly muted as an undead but still annoying. Digging graves used different muscles than swinging weapons. I had used all my Estus in the fights, and even now, my wounds bled.


    "You crotchety old bastard! Why did you have to be so stubborn?" I whipped my wet eyes. Stupid dust. "Aria''s going to be sad now. She''s been waiting for you. You lasted till the end of the bloody world! Why did you give in now! We didn''t need all your blood at once. A bit at a time would have done the trick. Why didn''t you listen to me?"


    I spent the next twenty minutes making sure the grave was deep enough. The shifting sands did not make it easy, but I wasn''t willing to let the man remain too close to the surface.


    I had no idea what else had survived to the End of the World, but the man I knew did not deserve to have his body desecrated.


    Eventually, the hole was deep enough for me to feel safe enough to lower the body down. Gael''s armour was rent and torn. His red hood only hung in tatters. Both his crossbow and sword had been split in the fight.


    "You killed me six times," I said over his body. He looked peaceful in death. The bastard. "I haven''t died that many times to a single enemy in centuries. Even the Nameless King only got me four times. You tough son-of-a-bitch."


    Nobody was around to hear my voice crack.


    Before I began the process of re-burying him, I gathered my magic.


    First, Repair his equipment. I had to cast it a few times, but eventually, he was good as new. Well, as good as I could make him.


    The greatsword was still heavily chipped and stained with blood. It was the only weapon Gael kept with him throughout his journey. The crossbow was covered with twists and dinks, rusted with blood, and made highly brittle from overuse. It had been modified to allow the Slave Knight to fight a host of foes alone.


    Both had been worn for so long that the damage and stains were part of their identity.


    Then, I gathered my internal flame into my hands. The flame of my soul responded readily, as it had for the centuries I had wielded it. I cast Iron Flesh on the corpse. The spell was meant to be used on the caster, but my expertise let me adapt it to a new purpose.


    Finally, I left the grave.


    Staring down at the Slave Knight, I gathered my last spell in my chest. It rose through my throat and out of my mouth. The White Dragon Breath spell wrapped the fallen man in crystal.


    His body would never decay, never be infected by parasites.


    I did not know what lay beyond the End of the World, but this was as good as I could do to ensure his rest was never disturbed.


    Gael was the only one to last as long as I.


    He alone understood the weight of the years.


    Gael never linked the Fire, but he also lacked my advantages against hollowing.


    Though I would outlive him, he had been a Slave Knight since before my summoning.


    He never hollowed and never waivered.


    He went against Gwyn, his previous master, to do what he felt was right.


    "I''ll make sure Aria is taken care of." I talked to both the corpse and the soul in my hand. I knew he couldn''t hear me, but grieving was for the living, not the dead. "That''s what I named your mistress since she didn''t have one. I''ll ensure she gets your blood and soul and finishes her painting. It will be a good home. I''ll ensure she is cared for after I leave and that only good people find it."


    I stared at the man briefly, a lump in my throat.


    "Stupid sand," I rubbed my eyes, clearing the wetness from them. "You broke my streak, you cunt-waffle. For three damn games, I''ve made sure everyone gets a happy ending of some sort. But you had to be damn stubborn. I hope you can rest. You did your duty."


    Duty in the souls'' games was a blessing and a curse.


    It gave the undead purpose, delaying their hollowing and pushing them forward. I had often used it as an excuse to ensure as happy an end as possible for those I could save.


    I buried him then, leaving only a small tombstone to mark the location.


    I carefully place the barrel full of the blood of the Dark Soul into my bottomless box.


    It was marked so I did not get confused with the other barrels full of my own blood. Unlike this ass-hat, I was smart enough to take a little bit at a time.


    I would pass them on to the next woman summoned. I would have to consult my notes, but it was either Yoruichi or Raven.


    I always had trouble remembering the order of summonings.


    The time was coming, the energy bubbling up in my chest. I remembered Robin, I think. She didn''t have too many issues with the Command, but I would have to consult my notes again to ensure.


    I started to walk away, back to the bonfire I could use to get back to Ariandel.


    I hummed under my breath, the only song I felt appropriate for Gael''s dirge.


    "When once, long ago


    I was worn down and abused


    The strongest took the spoils


    And then we fell at their shoes


    But now they are gone


    And my sanity''s kept by my chains


    So I bear them both in faith and hate


    For family and all that remains."


    I left the tombstone at the end of the world, knowing no one would ever find it without my help.


    ''Here lies Gael''


    ''The Red Hood was the last of Man to fall''


    ''Finally released from his duty''


    ********


    "How is she?" I asked, eyeing the pale girl sitting before the canvas.


    The flames licked the room though they did not burn the wood. They did fill the church attic with a heat haze, however.


    "As ever, my lord," Sirris responded. "She has awaited your return most eagerly."


    "Did you need to fight any of the Corvians?" I had worried that the crow-like people would disturb Aria and my knight. I''m sure some remnants of Friede''s followers were out there somewhere. I knew Aria would not die, but she could be imprisoned again.


    "Nay, they stayed well clear of the chapel."


    "Thank you, Sirris," I patted her on the shoulder.


    She shifted awkwardly at the touch. Undead could not feel pleasure in the touch of others. Most stayed away from each other due to paranoia that anyone could turn hollow at any moment.


    "I simply do as you will, My Lord."


    "I know, and I appreciate it," I said as I walked passed her toward the small woman in front of the canvas. "Your duty is not a thankless one. You are the knight protecting the hope of this world."


    ''When I cannot,'' went unsaid.


    That was only part of the truth.


    When Sirris swore herself into my service, she did not know I would put her to work so quickly. Protecting Aria was important, but giving the undead a task they could focus on also kept them from hollowing.


    This was the happiest end I could give Sirris without binding her to me for eternity and possibly placing another shackle on my neck.


    "My thanks, Ashen One," Aria said as I lay the barrel of blood beside her. "With this will I paint a world. I would name this painting after thee as thou hast named me."


    "Don''t," I said immediately, shaking my head. "Where I come from, Mikael means ''Like God.'' This is a world for man and should be named after one."


    I pulled Gael''s soul from my box and presented it to her.


    "I see," Aria stared at the dark, pulsing soul for a moment before returning to the canvas. "Keep it. Uncle would want you to have it. This painting, t''will be a cold, dark, and very gentle place. One day, it will make someone a goodly home. Then I will name this painting ''Gael.''"


    "A good name. Goodbye, Aria," I ruffled her hair as I walked away.


    Before leaving via bonfire, I turned to my knight one final time.


    "Sirris of the Sunless Realms!" I said imperiously.


    "My Lord!" She saluted in the manner of the Dark Moon, kneeling on the floor with her hand outstretched.


    "I shall hold you to your oath," I continued, fighting to keep my face stoic and commanding. I wasn''t one for a ceremony, but I did have a flair for dramatics. "Your final and greatest duty is thus; You are to guard Aria until the painting is complete. Once so, you are to take it to Firelink. All those who currently reside there have my full trust. You are to ensure they and Aria enter this new world. You may also bring in Yorshka, should she wish it. You shall then hide the painting so no unworthy may ever find it."


    "Where shall that be, my Lord?"


    "Use this homeward bone," I presented it to the kneeling knightess, who took it slowly. "I have attuned it to a bonfire at the ends of time. There you will find a grave. Place the painting at its foot. You are then to enter and begin your endless vigil. You will ensure this new world is forever peaceful and Aria remains safe and happy. This is your duty. Can I entrust it to you, my knight?"


    "Your will be done, My Lord," I nodded imperiously once more and turned away. I barely heard her whisper. "Thank you."


    I teleported out, wiping the wetness from my eye.


    Stupid smoke.


    ********


    I reappeared in Firelink Shrine.


    I still had a few loose ends to care for before the end.


    The Firekeeper waived at my arrival, and I waved back, but she would be my last stop here.


    My first stop was hidden in the rafters of the shrine.


    "I swear, if you try and kick me down this ledge one more time, I''m going to feed you your own spear," I said, twisting away from Patches'' kick.


    The bald man tried to ambush me regularly, knowing the fall wouldn''t kill me.


    "T''is just a joke," he grinned, unrepentant as ever. "You know, you get these...urges...running the business and all...Oh, and I hate myself for it, I do."


    "That was one of your earliest excuses," I retorted, falling into the old rhythm. "You used it five years ago. Try and be a bit more creative with your next victim, alright?"


    We shared a commiserating grin.


    "So you intend to relight the fire," he asked, suddenly serious.


    "No way," I responded. I had served as kindling for it twice already. No, thank you! "Fuck the gods, fuck the fire, and fuck this Age."


    "Aye, my friend, fuck them all," Patches'' grinned.


    Despite his kicking habit, which he hadn''t kicked yet, (ha) we got along pretty well. There was a reason that, despite using everything at my disposal, I had never been able to cast a miracle in my life.


    You needed faith and Faith for that, and I had none of either.


    "Listen," I said. "I''m going to change this world, put the flame out of its misery. I do not know what it will look like after that. I''ve taken steps to give everyone a chance. Soon Sirris, you remember her? Anyway, she''ll be by with a painting. You all should enter it. I need you to make sure everyone goes in as well."


    "When you say, everyone..." Patches grimaced, his question unfinished.


    "Everyone that is currently here except for Yuria. She''ll never leave the new age." His grimace deepened, but I remained insistent. "Yes, that includes Eygon and Irina. I know clerics aren''t the best, but they haven''t done anything to deserve being left behind."


    "Fine, fine," he waved me away.


    At his core, I knew Patches'' dislike for the gods and their clerics was due to how much they had fucked humanity over. I could trust in his good nature. For all he was tricky, Patches had retained his humanity for longer than most were alive.


    I left him there with a final goodbye. I then bid adieu to Greirat, the Hag, Cronyx, Eygon and Irina. I told them everything about the painting and the coming age I could.


    They had been with me for seven years, since I first set foot in the shrine.


    I owed them a lot.


    My second to last stop before the Firekeeper was at Karla''s little alcove.


    "I know not why you would offer such an opportunity to I, wretched child of the Abyss that I am," Karla said after I had given her the same information I had the others. "This new world of yours would be better without one such as I."


    "Did I ever tell you about the legends of another child of the Abyss?" I asked rhetorically. "She became a queen, you see. Of a kingdom of ice and ivory. She had intended to lead it to ruin as her sisters did the same to other kingdoms."


    "Ay," Karla nodded gravely. "Children of the Abyss bring naught but suffering to those around."


    "But then there was a twist," I continued, ignoring her interruption. "The king she was meant to drive to ruin. She fell in love with him. Though he would eventually perish, Alsanna would remain to watch over his last work. She alone would ensure that his legacy and kingdom would remain safe."


    "What is the purpose of you telling me such a fable?" Karla asked, voice shaking.


    It was easy to wallow in misery and blame fate or nature. Seeing the world''s beauty despite the darkness was much more difficult.


    It was what had attracted me to Dark Souls in the first place.


    "Because she was not the only Daughter of the Abyss to find love," I said seriously. I reached into my box, withdrew a finger-thin book, and presented it to Karla.


    "What is this? A new tome for me to unravel?" Karla asked.


    Opening the first page, she froze.


    "In a way," I said, starting to walk away. "It''s the notes of Zullie the Witch, Daughter of the Abyss. It records her notes on spells, her experiences with her lover Alva, and a message to their daughter."


    Karla didn''t move or respond, staring at the first page.


    I left her alcove. Some things were meant to be kept private.


    I did not go far. Andres'' blacksmith station was only a few feet away.


    "That was a kind thing you did," the grey-haired man said, his voice a deep rumble.


    For once, he wasn''t working on something.


    "How much did you overhear?"


    "Enough," the old blacksmith said simply. "That knight girl will be by with a painting, and I should enter it. I imagine they will need weapons and armour in this new world as this one did."


    "That''s the long and short of it," I nodded.


    I stared at Andre for a long moment; I wanted to say so many things and explain how much his help had meant to me over the years. His advice still aided me centuries later.


    In the end, he wouldn''t remember. Patches didn''t either.


    So I turned away to go meet the Firekeeper.


    "Take care of yourself, Andre."


    "You remind me of someone, lad."


    I stopped.


    "A young kid I knew an age ago. Could barely fight. Broke all his weapons. Begged me to teach him how to care for his favourite halberd properly. A hopeless case all around. I expected him to go hollow in a week."


    "And? What''s your point?" I asked, keeping the knot in my throat out of my voice.


    "Funny thing is, he stuck around." Andre continued. "For decades, he kept returning to have me work on his arms and armour. That scrawny kid managed to kill Gwyn himself. He was the first Lord of Cinder after the Lord of Sunlight. Linked the Fire and everything."


    "Sounds like an idiot. Only idiots link the Fire."


    I started to walk away again, my feet heavy.


    "Ay," Andre rumbled a chuckle. "He was kind of an idiot. But the good kind, the kind with the best intentions. You could tell every time you talked to him. Whenever he walked away, he would tell everyone the same thing. It showed he cared."


    I kept walking away.


    "Don''t you dare go hollow, Mikael!"


    Stupid ash getting in my eyes.


    ********


    I hated the end of the Souls'' games.


    When I was alive, I hated them because it meant the game was over. As Alexander before me, I wept, for there were no more lands to conquer.


    Lore diving and the new game plus were always fun, but the sheer enjoyment of beating one of the games for the first time was over.


    Here, the end of the game was a process that took me years, decades, even. It was the culmination of a long journey.


    It was one step closer to the Freedom I so craved.


    But it also meant it was time to say goodbye to all those who had been with me on my journey. Most I could give a happy ending to, in one form or another.


    There were, of course, some exceptions but, by and large, I liked to think I left each world a slightly better place than I found it.


    I hoped this would be the last goodbye.


    I may have to go through Demon Souls or Bloodborne after this, but I hoped this would be the last time.


    As I watched the pale white portal dissolve, taking Yoruichi and my bottomless box to an island paradise I had never seen, I regretted the necessity of it all.


    I regretted having to bind the women with seals for my peace of mind. I knew most would never think to use their power over me. I knew that many had professed their love for me.


    Something like that sticks with you over the centuries.


    I knew they might even mean it.


    I also knew that, though they had the best intentions, it would only take one careless sentence, one stray thought on their part, and I would die.


    Emma hadn''t known that telling me to ''Sit still and let me in!'' in a moment of frustration would have me paralyzed.


    I sat there, unable to move or do anything, as a foreign mind violated my most sacred places.


    Only when she connected to the Dragon was her order fulfilled, and I could move again.


    The next time it happened, there was a chance it wouldn''t be my body controlled.


    My personality whipped away, my body being driven by someone with my memories but who wouldn''t be me.


    Call me paranoid if you wish, but I was staring down the nozzle of a Russian Roulette game that never ended.


    A slip was all it took.


    Someone getting frustrated and saying something like ''Change!'' or ''Don''t lie to me!''


    Statistics told me it was a mathematical certainty, whether it happened in a century or an eon.


    No, thank you. Better to not take the risk at all.


    I turned from where the portal once was and faced off the Kiln of the First Flame for the last time.


    I had been here before on my way to the dreg heap, but the sight was still as beautiful. I never saw a total eclipse while alive, so this was a new experience I could enjoy. It was more visible here than anywhere else in the kingdom.


    Red flowers dotted the ash that filled the area. Swords and other weapons rose like grave markers. I wondered if Miyazki took inspiration from a particular work of unlimited blades. The area did not look like a kiln anymore, more like a crater of molten slag and ash.


    I still shuddered in phantom pain.


    For a moment, I was burning again.


    A fire that reached my soul and never ended.


    A lonely pain that lasted for thousands of years, no matter how much I begged it to end.


    I blinked, and the fire was gone.


    I was once more alone on a field of cinders.


    Yuria had attempted to come along or offer one of her hollows as support.


    I had declined.


    This was between the First Flame and me.


    ********


    I do not know how long the battle raged on.


    The Soul of Cinder towered over me, twice my height.


    It changed patterns again in a burst of flame, the sword shifting into a talisman. Leaping away, it cast miracles to repel me and heal itself.


    I dodged the lightning bolt, but it remained stationary long enough for me to shift to my bow. An enchanted arrow took it in the eye.


    It howled, an inhuman sound that rattled my armour, sword shifting to a rapier and lunging at me.


    I put the bow away and drew my Irithyll sword in time to block. The flames of its blade met the ice of mine in a burst of steam.


    I had cut off a limb no less than twelve times, impaled it ten times, and separated its head from its neck thrice. I wasn''t sure how many times it had died and reformed, but it was over fifty.


    Whenever the damage reached a certain threshold, it would call upon a new Lord''s memory, and the battle would continue. If there was one benefit, it could only call upon one memory at a time.


    I had already gone through reenactments of my struggle with Yorm, the Abyss Watchers, and Aldritch.


    I suspected it followed a set pattern, reaching back further and further.


    I parried one of its thrusts, impaling its face upon my white blade.


    It lept away to reform, and I took the opportunity to down my last Estus flask. We had been fighting for hours.


    I hadn''t died yet, but I probably would if this continued for long.


    Fortunately, the end was in sight.


    "Oh, you son of a bitch," I cursed. Lava gathered in my palm as the Soul of Cinder''s armour shifted to the Elite Knight Set, and a familiar Black Knight Halberd formed in its hands. "Joke''s on you, you cum-guzzling fuck-tard."


    I launched the chaos flame at the Soul''s head.


    It battered it away with MY halberd but left itself open from below.


    I bashed my shield upwards, knocking the weapon from its hand. I had left my own behind, so I grabbed the burning blade from the air, spun it, and impaled it into the Soul of Cinder''s groin.


    I jumped away, returning to my Irithyl sword.


    "Ha!" I shouted, raising my middle finger at the burning bastard. "Back then, I sucked at keeping track of people below my eye line."


    The Soul let loose another wordless roar, releasing another enormous fire blast signifying a shift.


    The last one.


    The first Lord of Cinder.


    I had been expecting this one from the start.


    A great sword in one hand, the other empty but crackling with lightning. Flames wrapped around his head like a crown.


    No longer a hollow imitation.


    As he was when he first entered the Kiln, Gwyn, Lord of Sunlight, stood before me.


    "You''ve caused me a lot of grief, you bastard. But that''s fine," I dodged a bolt of lightning the size of my torso. "I''m going to take it out of your ass."


    ********


    "Well done, my Lord of Hollows," Yuria said as I rose from usurping the Fire.


    It burned in my chest, my Darksign pulsing unfamiliarly but radiating contentment and power.


    "Thanks," I said simply.


    I had half hoped to be summoned away as soon as I completed the little ritual that ended the Age of Fire. Dozens of hollows had already gathered, only a few of which I recognized.


    "What now?" Anri asked.


    I had gotten her on board with this little ''age of hollows'' thing by promising her help with Aldridge. While the ''wedding'' ritual was unpleasant, it had been consensual.


    Otherwise, I would have told Yuria to take a long walk off a short pier.


    I stepped to Anri''s side, whispering so we were not overheard.


    "If you ever wish to leave it all behind," I whispered, subtly pressing a homeward bone into her hand. "Use this and touch the painting nearby."


    "My lord?" Yuria asked in worry. I''m sure she was concerned with my odd action.


    I smiled at her, waving her concerns away as I stepped away from Anri.


    I couldn''t remember the last time I had gotten the chance to pull a prank like this.


    "Can you hold this?" I pulled the green Sword of Avowal from a side box and presented it to Anri.


    I had passed my main box on to Yoruichi, but I had kept this one for just this occasion.


    "I would rather not," despite saying so, my ''wife'' took the hilt I presented to her.


    No sooner had she a grip on the hilt than I lunged forward, its green blade angled in such a way to bypass my ribs and get my heart.


    "MY LORD!"


    I heard voices shouting in panic, but I couldn''t pay attention to them.


    From my experience, being impaled in the heart only gave me a few seconds.


    "Sorry," I said through a bloody smile at Anri''s shocked face. The dark sigils flowed out of me and into her.


    As did the Flame.


    I wouldn''t be around long enough to be a good lord, but Anri could give it a go if she wanted.


    I did not know if this Age of Hollows would be good or bad, but it deserved the chance to grow.


    As hands pulled me from the blade, the familiar darkness of death welcomed me.


    Would this finally be my last breath?


    It had been so long.


    ********


    I gasped, shooting to my feet.


    As far as deaths go, that one was gentler than most. Reformation, though, was always a shock to the system. Going from no sensation to feeling everything was disorienting in the extreme.


    More than that, I was getting much more sensory feedback than I was used to. The cold of nudity, the dryness in my throat, the desperate need for air.


    This was good.


    It meant my body was no longer undead.


    I was tempted to revel in it momentarily, but centuries of combat taught me the importance of time and place.


    I looked around, not recognizing my new surroundings.


    I was in some sort of chapel. Destroyed furniture littered the ground, spider webs covered the walls, and nature crept up through the floorboards. I was naked because of course I was, but a handy corpse was nearby.


    I hoped whatever killed the woman wasn''t still around.


    The cloth didn''t fit me, but I repurposed it by tearing the sleeves off and fashioning a loincloth from the dress.


    Better than nothing.


    The only thing she had in her pocket was a discoloured finger.


    This differed from how either Demon''s Souls, Sekiro or Bloodborne started.


    But I was hopeful.


    Who knew what led beyond that door?


    Pushing the old wood away, one thing grabbed my eyes instantly.


    It wasn''t the storm clouds in the sky, the ruins around me, or the massive castle in the distant fog.


    My eyesight was dominated by the gargantuan golden tree that filled the horizon.


    I collapsed to my knees as I recognized it from the trailers.


    Despair filled me as laughter bubbled out of my mouth. I couldn''t help the curse that escaped me as my laughter entered the bounds of hysterics.


    Elden Ring was the one Fromsoft game I never got to play.


    "Well, I''m fucked."

 Desolation 1

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 Desolation 2

    "Have ever you heard of the Land of Beyond,


    That dreams at the gates of the day?


    Alluring it lies at the skirts of the skies,


    And ever so far away;


    Alluring it calls: O ye the yoke galls,


    And ye of the trails overfond,


    With saddle and pack, by paddle and track,


    Let''s go to the Land of Beyond!"


    ********


    "Whooooohoooooooo!" I exclaimed in joy, pumping my fist in the air. "Suck a dick, you scally bastard! Who''s the best? We''re the best! Who''s dead? You are! Torrent, your best boi status has been solidified and codified into law."


    I pat the Spirit Steed''s head with one hand, rubbing right at the base of his horns just the way he liked. With my other hand, I fed him some of the raisins he loved.


    Before us, crumbling to dust, was the massive remains of Agheel.


    He had been a drake, not a full dragon, but his stone-like skin had made him an even more formidable challenge than the Hellkite. It was only due to Torrent''s incredible speed and maneuvering that I had been able to slay the creature.


    We had kept circling it while on the ground, slicing at it when an opportunity presented itself. The biggest problem had been trying to ground it when it took to the air. The tiny bit of the local sorceries I knew could not penetrate its hide. We journeyed for over a decade before returning to the shallow lake Agheel used as a hunting ground.


    It turns out the answer had been nearby all along.


    Using one of those stonesword keys, I unlocked a secret area in the Hero''s Grave I had washed ashore in. There was some helpful stuff down there, such as a golden seed for my flasks, a few examples of weapon coating, an interesting talisman, and a seal for casting faith-based spells, which would probably go unused.


    My most significant profit was when I destroyed the automated chariot that patrolled the grave using the explosive material nearby.


    Picking through the remains of the chariot, I found a fabulous great bow, perfect for pesky flying dragons. Seizing the opportunity, I had Hewg fashion some great arrows and, using my new toys, clipped Agheel''s wings.


    The rest had been inevitable.


    "Well done, Mikael," Melina said, appearing behind me on Torrent''s back. I knew she never left me. "Very few tarnished can claim the title of Dragonslayer throughout history. Agheel, while not an Ancient Dragon, could still claim descent from them."


    "Thanks," I was panting from the fight''s exertion and the area''s heat. Agheel''s favourite tactic had been to carpet bomb the lake from up high. His flames would burn anyone present, and the boiling water would take care of most who managed to hide from the initial blast. My spirit summons had been cooked not long after their summoning. "What''s that?" I asked as I claimed the Runes the dragon held.


    There were quite a few, but the red lump falling into the shallow water was more interesting. It was ovoid in shape, the size of my head. Riddled with spikes, this grotesque organ continued to beat vivaciously.


    Even as Melina responded, I knew the answer.


    "This is Agheel''s heart, my Tarnished," she said as I slid off the horse and picked up the thing to get a better look. What I thought to be bone spikes were instead stone. While a terrible and savage-looking thing, the heart had a peculiar beauty. "Long ago, Dragon Trackers hunted the flying beasts. Theirs was an arcane practice of Dragon Communion. Unlike the Dragon Cult of the Capital, who sought to work with dragons, the adherents to the Communion sought to transform into them by consuming their hearts in ritualistic locations."


    "Really?"


    Miyazaki loved dragons, a staple of western and eastern fantasy, and they had been present in every one of the games he directed except Bloodborne. The theme of turning into them was also well-trod, usually with disastrous consequences.


    "Indeed," I could feel her nod even as she tightened her arms around my waist. "You have already discovered one of their churches on the isle near the coast of Limgrave. The Dragon Communion Seal you found in the Fringefolk Hero''s Grave is also theirs. While remnants remain of the practice, the dragons themselves wiped the edifice and adherents. Their Cathedral was in Caelid before the battle of Malania and Radahn destroyed the country. Ekzykes, Dragon Communion Revenger, did not forget his hatred even as he succumbed to the Scarlet Rot and remains near the ruins to this day."


    "Did it work? The transformation, I mean." I couldn''t help but ask, threads connecting in my head.


    "My Tarnished?" Melina asked sharply. "Surely you cannot mean to take part in such a practice? Theirs was pure and overwhelming power, t''is true. However, those who have performed the Dragon Communion will find their humanity slowly slipping away. Once they fully succumb to


    their fate, they are left no more than wyrms that crawl the earth. The dragon-hearted were heroes of eld, but they fell one by one to the madness."


    "I am as mad as I am going to get," I said plainly, still staring at the heart in my hand.


    In its pulsing rhythm, I saw a glimmer of hope.


    I might have a way to my Freedom yet.


    "Mikael!" She said seriously, concern in her voice as she looked up at me with worried eyes. "How sure are you that your... situation will protect you from the influence of the dragons? Your curse protects you from the madness of death and rebirth but what of transformations? Are you certain?"


    "Completly certain," I responded just as seriously.


    I had told Melina a similar abbreviated story to the one I explained to Priscilla so long ago. She knew about the other island women; she''d seen me talking to them and giving them items.


    I had kept the sheer scope of my situation from her, but the key factors were there. I was cursed to wander until I became Elden Lord. I would not and could not deviate from my course. My curse trapped my companions with the occasional visit, leaving me with a particular form of madness.


    I hadn''t told any of the other women on the island about Melina for three reasons.


    First, they could not interact with each other at all, so there would be no point.


    The second reason was that I did not need any of the drama that could come from their jealousy. If I offered Melina my bite in the future, we could deal with it then.


    My third and most petty reason was that I did not want to share.


    I wasn''t compelled to love or even like Melina. Our initial accord was one of convenience. She needed to get to the Erdtree, and I needed a maiden.


    Whatever sort of relationship that grew from there was for us alone.


    I still felt the alien emotion worm itself into me whenever the Island women were summoned, and that never diminished, but everything I felt for my Maiden was purely between us.


    "If you are completely sure," my Maiden said once she realized my resolution. While she still talked using her native accent, a decade spent with me changed her style and word choice. She still looked doubtful, though. I didn''t blame her, as I deliberately kept things from her. "If you are not at risk from their corruption, then the opportunity for a great power is there. Several Dragons still inhabit the Lands Between. Long ago, Godwyn the Golden defeated the ancient dragon Fortissax and befriended his fallen foe. While the Demigod has perished, I haven''t heard about the dragon doing the same. Or his sister, Lansseax, who took on human form during the time of the Dragon Cult. Greyoll and her brood still inhabit Dragonbarrow in Caelid. Faram Azula and the north should also be home to a few that remain."


    "It sounds like we have a lot of dragons to hunt," I said as I remounted Torrent. I offered her a hand, which she gladly took, and she sat behind me again. "Before we make a list of targets, tell me everything you know about the Communion and those who practiced it. We''ll stop at the church you mentioned, but then we''ll have to go to Caelid for the Cathedral. I want to see if I can retrieve anything in its remains."


    "Very well, then I shall tell you of the ancient troll warrior Theodorix. He was a hero of the war against the giants..."


    ********


    The death of Agheel marked the end of my fun in the sun.


    While there were still many moments of joy to come, great friends to see again, and places to explore, the unburdened wonder of that first decade was never felt again.


    Looking back on that time, I realize I had behaved almost like a child, where everything was beautiful and full of adventure.


    Agheel changed things because he gave me the worst gift possible.


    Hope.


    I had been able to wander across Limgrave in such a carefree manner because, in a way, I was hopeless.


    What did it matter if I spent decades or centuries galavanting across the countryside?


    I had no guarantee that even if I managed the herculean task of becoming Elden Lord that I wouldn''t just be shuffled off to the next word. Maybe a Fromsoft game I knew about, perhaps one that would be released five years after Elden Ring.


    I was ever urged onwards by my Elements, but with no sense of purpose that game I had played might bring, I could calm that urge by simple exploration.


    Agheel changed things with his death.


    Once a plan started to form in my head, it would not leave.


    For once, I would be proactive. I wouldn''t trust my fate to whoever or whatever placed me in this situation.


    I would find my own Freedom.


    Those thoughts drove me ever onwards through the blighted lands of Caelid.


    My time in the rot-infested country was as horrific as one could imagine. The air was chocked full of the red fungus, and breathing was difficult at the best of times.


    During combat, when my lungs ached with every pump, I died more to the coughing fits than to the monsters that prowled the land.


    And what monsters they were.


    Mutated and horrific dogs, birds, and people infested those lands. The zombie-like dregs that wandered the roads in hoards were easy to avoid, but the animals were not so considerate.


    The dogs were shaped like a Tyrannosaurus, their front legs shrivelled and misshaped, but their massive size and bulbous head made them even more dangerous.


    By far, the worst was the birds.


    Like someone had taken a crow, multiplied its size by a factor of ten, grafted hairy, human legs onto it, and filled it with enough malice to blot out the skies.


    The army of the local Demigod, Starscourge Radahn, was a big help. They would still try and kill me if they saw me, but they were much more focused on beating back the blighted monsters of the Aeonian swamp.


    In Caelid, if the air didn''t kill you, and the monsters didn''t kill you, then the Scarlet Rot would kill you.


    It permeated the land in puddles, fungal spores, and swampy ground. It accumulated over time through everything you touched or did. If you were unlucky, you become infected by it, like supped-up necrosis with a dash of the Mercer virus. Once infected, you killed yourself, set yourself alight with fire, or prayed it was only a minor infection.


    Only Torrent''s immunity to the stuff kept my exploration of Caelid to six years instead of the decades it could have been.


    The worst part was that Melina spent so little time out of spirit form to reduce the risk of infection that I had to traverse the former country almost entirely alone.


    Gone were the days we fell asleep under the stars in each other''s arms.


    Dragons were my main reason for heading to Caelid, but they were relegated to the status of McGuffins to me.


    I found a Wyrm in one of the mines that connected Caelid to Limgrave, which was my only lucky break. One of the few dragon-hearted not already slain when the Communion fell. Alexander actually gave me a hand with that fight which was nice. The tight confines were not the best for fighting a lava-spewing lizard.


    Ekzykes fell to the same tactic as Agheel, my great bow clipping his wings and bleeding him to death upon the ground by a thousand cuts. Greyll met a similar fate when he ambushed me during my exploration of Dragonbarrow.


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    Elder Dragon Greyoll was a more formidable challenge; despite being so old and large she had fused to the ground.


    The great beast was simply too big for me to deal any real damage to. She would call her brood to her assistance if I started any real damage. It took me three months to slay the neighbouring drakes, leaving her defenceless, and then carve my way to her heart.


    I then learned she had four more I had to reach before she would finally expire.


    Needless to say, by the end, I needed an extensive cleaning afterwards.


    Thankfully, Dragonbarrow had been the last stop of my time in Cealid, and I was pretty happy to return to the idyllic countryside of Limgrave.


    Looking back on my time in Caelid is not a pleasant experience, but it was necessary.


    Not only to reach the Cathedral of Dragon Communion, which was crucial to my plan but for two encounters that would shape the rest of my journey to be free.


    **


    I rode into the ruined church slowly, wary of any more traps. Rolling boulders were not a new addition to a Fromsoft game, a staple in fact, but one that changed courses to seek you out was new.


    Sellia, Town of Sorcery, had been one unpleasant encounter after another.


    The marionettes were annoying, but the invisible sorcerers had been a problem. I had taken to blanketing the streets and buildings in my Breath, fire purged most of the rot, but I had to be careful not to destroy the buildings and the knowledge they contained.


    It was a gruelling month of slow progress, moving one street at a time and being ambushed at every turn, but I was looking forward to going over my loot. There were quite a few items of interest and several books on sorcery.


    I guessed the ''secret'' of the city without effort, though Gowry did point me in the right direction to find the briars I needed to light to take down the spell barriers. The creepy old man had directed me up the hill to this church after repairing a needle found in the swamp.


    Supposedly, it was to heal a girl afflicted with rot that these shrimp people worshipped.


    I called bullshit.


    While Elden Ring was not a dead world like Dark Souls, as far as I am aware, it was still a game from the mind of Hidetaka Miyazaki. The man was an out-and-out masochist who enjoyed not only pain but heartbreak. The man would never have a kindly old man caring for a sick girl unless the girl turned into an abomination from beyond mortal kin or the kind old man was a psychopath.


    I admired Miyazaki.


    I found joy in his work.


    I even liked the bittersweet feelings it could dredge up.


    The wonder and grandeur, the horror and terror, the nihilism and the exhilaration. Over the years I had played his games, I had grown to trust him to deliver a well-crafted experience, even if it was a kick to the balls.


    But I always remembered that we were different people and liked different things.


    While I enjoyed Soulsborne games, I also enjoyed classic RPGs. I like my OP main characters, my trashy harem fantasy. I enjoyed the tropes of Chinese wuxia, xianxia, and xuanhuan novels.


    More than anything, I liked wish fulfillment and happy endings. The caveat was that they had to be well written, which they sadly were not most of the time.


    Deep in my soul, I knew some sort of tragedy or terrible revelation was waiting for me in the future. Maybe the friends I''d made would die horrifically. Perhaps they would fall into despair, and I''d have to kill them.


    Possibly the final boss would be someone I grew to care about.


    I could not promise anyone a happy ending, not myself.


    So I remained cautious even as I burned the Pests to chitinous slag. I remained cautious as I approached the pitiful girl, curled up and coughing in the corner of a ruined church in a devastated country.


    "Ah...Ahh," she moaned in pain to herself as I approached. I dismounted and dissipated Torrent but kept my hand on my weapon. At this range, it would be quicker to impale her on my Moonveil than to gather one of my Breaths. "Nggh... Who''s there?" She asked blearily.


    Her hair was scarlet.


    I don''t know why that stuck out to me so much, but it did.


    Not the orangish-red on most gingers but a deep scarlet red, the same hue as the dried blood on her tunic. The same red of the skies and swamp of Caelid. It was a dishevelled, blotted mess. The type of hair you get when you do not bathe for a long time due to a violent sickness.


    I had hair like that at one point.


    My eyes then fell on the rest of her. She was crumpled into a heap on the ground, writhing in pain. She was thin, almost emaciated and could clearly use a good meal.


    But of more interest was the absence of her right hand.


    "Well, it matters not. If you are wise, you will leave immediately. My flesh writhes with Scarlet Rot. It is a curse. Not to be meddled with by man." She continued to say as I approached slowly.


    For a moment, I remembered the trailers for the game. In it, a one-armed, red-headed woman featured prominently. Was this her?


    Either way, I was here for a reason.


    "Sorry for barging in," I smiled at the girl disarmingly, trying to ease her worry. I was cautious, not heartless. "I just have something for you." I reached into my pouch a received the Gold Needle. "A totally not creepy old man at the bottom of the cliff asked me to give this to you. It is supposed to help with your sickness."


    "A... needle?" Millicent asked as she squinted at the object.


    "I know, I know," I was careful to not make any sudden moves as I approached. "A creepy stranger walks up to you and asks to stick you with a needle to make you feel good. The proper response is to call for an adult. But I am an adult, and I am just trying to help. I have no idea how this will help. Gowry seems to have your best interest for the moment." I slowly set the needle on her legs and backed away.


    My hand never strayed far from my sword.


    "You ask that I stab myself with the needle... To quell the scarlet rot? But...how?" I was about to reiterate my cluelessness, but she shook her head and sat straighter. She took the gold item in her one remaining hand. "Never mind. I''ve decided. I would rather trust you than simply continue to spoil from within. Would you mind...averting your eyes for a moment?"


    Numbly, I turned away.


    A part of me wanted to joke about how anorexia wasn''t attractive to me. Another aspect of me realized my hand had fallen from my weapon, and if Millicent attacked while my back was turned, I would be finished.


    The most significant part of me was focusing on my beating heart and sweaty palms and asking myself why her words struck me like a truck.


    "Well. That was easier than expected." Her voice shook me from my momentary stupor. "But...why do I feel so..." I turned to see her collapse into a dead faint.


    I didn''t panic, but I did approach. Millicent''s pulse was steady and regular, and her lungs sounded clear.


    I was no nurse or doctor, but everything I knew told me she was just asleep. I laid her in a more comfortable position before walking away to attune myself to the nearby Grace.


    I took up the sacred tear absentmindedly, mixing it into my flasks to boost them. I then sat a ways away from the sleeping woman, with my back to a wall and commanding views of the access points.


    While I remained half alert (this was Caelid, after all), I also took out my instrument and began playing Kishi Ou no Hokori. I had been adapting a lot of music to this odd violin-like instrument with mixed success.


    Though I practiced for hours as the sun set in the red sky, my mind wasn''t on my music. Whenever I tried to focus, my mind kept returning to the sick woman''s words.


    I would rather trust you than simply continue to spoil from within.


    **


    Getting into Redmane Castle had been surprisingly easy, all things considered.


    I initially hadn''t wanted to attempt it and only approached for a good look, but the army had been distracted by an incursion of the Rot Beasts.


    I still had to face fierce opposition, but it wasn''t as well coordinated as I had expected. The forces, on average, were more challenging than Godrick''s, but that was saying little. They were more skilled and brutal but didn''t cover their weak points or other castle accesses than the front gate.


    The biggest challenge had been crossing the great bridge under the rain of siege equipment, but Torrent and I worked together perfectly. After sixteen years together, I barely needed to twitch to direct him where to go. We dodged bolts, boulders, vats of flaming oil, and soldiers alike. I felt like one of the steppe archers of old warriors who had been mistaken for centaurs.


    Once we got past the fortifications along the bridge and to the side of the grand edifice, I casually walked in the back door.


    From there, it was only a few guards between me and a Site of Grace in a massive feasting hall. Though the fires were not lit and food was scarce, I could tell the room could be occupied by over a hundred soldiers despite the Redgrave being much smaller than Stormveil. Beyond the hall was a wide plaza.


    Large tables filled the space, as did stands and a towering bonfire that was unlit. Streamers and banners hung from the lines above. It looked like a festival ground, though one that hadn''t been used in a while.


    I cautiously made my way forward, wary of any soldiers or guards.


    There were none.


    I explored the area slowly before proceeding forwards. Eventually, I came to the only occupant in this part of Redmane. An old knight sat reclined in a chair, his armour was unusually colourful, almost jester-like, but I remained cautious despite his eccentric appearance.


    He looked up at my approach but made no move to ready himself for combat.


    "Oh, Tarnished, are you? How did you slip inside with the gate closed?" He asked. His voice sounded like sandpaper on wood. "Hmph. No matter. In my book, if you can fell one of them, you''re a champion. I am Jerren. Foolish old warrior and witness. Incidentally, do you like a good festival from time to time?" I blinked at the question.


    "I''m a die-hard misanthrope and introvert, but even I can see that this place isn''t good for a festival," I said, and he barked a bitter laugh.


    "Well, it''s true. This fortress houses only the vanquished. But when the stars align, we celebrate. A war festival honouring the last battle and death of General Radahn, the mightiest Demigod of the Shattering, and bearer of a Great Rune."


    "Radahn has died?" I asked, unaware that someone had beaten me to his Great Rune.


    Had my dawdling caused me to miss out?


    "He died when Malenia''s rot took him." The old man said seriously. "What wanders the dunes is but his body. Festering with Rot and crippled by madness, he only wants an honourable death. Once the stars align, we host a festival of war. The greatest champions of the realm journey here, to Redmane, to participate. For seven days, they pitch themselves against the Demigod in the hope of being the one to slay him. Centuries have passed, and no one has yet bested the great general."


    "So wait," I couldn''t help but ask. "You''re telling me that the best fighters in the Lands Between travel from all around for this ''Festival''? They repeatedly throw themselves at one of the greatest heroes to ever live. They do this for seven days, dying and reviving, only to fight again? And this has been going on for centuries?"


    "That is a good summation, yes."


    "That sounds awesome," I said wide-eyed. Was this a Dark Souls Raid Boss? Jesus Christ, Miyazaki, I wished I had gotten to play that. "When is the next festival?" I asked eagerly.


    "You are the first to arrive and are welcome to reside in the castle while you wait." Jerren gestured to nearby rooms. "The next time the stars align is in eight years. It happens every twenty years or so. Enough time for warriors to train and travel before attempting it again."


    "I have things to do in that time, though I definitely will be back for the festival," I said, pulling up a chair. "Can you talk to me for a bit? I have a bunch of questions about Radahn, Malenia, the Shattering and Caelid."


    "I have some old war tales if you are interested." The old man said.


    I stayed in Redmane for a week, talking to Jerren and exploring the castle. It was also an excellent time for Melina to spend outside spirit form as the castle was well protected from the Rot.


    As we were lying in bed together in one of the castle''s guest rooms, Melina lay her head on my chest and looked up at me. Her sweaty and dishevelled appearance matched my own.


    "Are you so eager for the festival, my Tarnished?"


    "Hm?" I asked, my mind returning to the here and now.


    "I find your gaze wandering to the Wailing Dunes often. Are you so eager to fight the Starscourge?" She asked me.


    "Not really," I said honestly. "I think the festival will be incredible and the fight epic, but that isn''t what''s been bothering me."


    "Then what ails you?"


    "It''s just..." I paused, struggling to put my feelings into words. "He was a Hero, you know. Capital H and everything. General Radahn, I mean. I''ve read the records of his time in Sellia. His focus of study was gravity magic, to which he dedicated his life. All so he wouldn''t have to leave behind his horse. I know he admired his father, Radagon, and was a devotee of the Golden Order. His troops loved him, and everything I know indicates he deserved it. Though I am unsure why, even mad, he continues to carry out his wish to hold the stars in place."


    "I am aware of his story," she said, pulling away to sit and look down at me. "Do not tell me your hands will be stalled by misguided pity? As the old knight has told you, Radahn would rather die in glorious combat than waste away, eaten alive by the Rot."


    "I know that," I said sharply. "I have done and will always do what I need to do." I took a deep breath, bringing my annoyance in check.


    For all our closeness, Melina did not understand everything I had been through.


    What I had to do to get here.


    It wasn''t her fault I was keeping secrets. It seems like that was all I ever did.


    "I am just feeling melancholic, that''s all. That such a great man can be reduced to such a state."


    "Mikael," Melina said softly, laying back down and snuggling up to me. "That is why you must become Elden Lord. So you may wield power to stop such events."


    "I will do my best."


    As my Maiden fell asleep, I fiddled with a small dagger I kept by our bedside.


    The moon provided enough light for slit, yellow, draconic eyes to stare back at me.


    I didn''t tell Melina I wouldn''t be around long enough to do much good even if I became Elden Lord.


    I didn''t tell her I saw a bit of myself in Radahn.


    The various Fromsoft worlds I travelled to were my own Wailing Dunes.


    Only I would never die.


    No army was loyal to me, and no soldiers gathered enemies to put me out of my misery.


    No one to put an end to my madness.


    I would rather trust you than simply continue to spoil from within.


    Was the Freedom I sought my own Scarlet Rot?


    **


    Ironically, neither of those encounters had anything to do with dragons.


    After my time in the Rot-torn country, Stormveil castle turned out to be a cakewalk.


    The path to the castle had been blocked by someone called Margit, but he hadn''t been all that tough. Melina later told me it had only been a projection of Morgott, one of the demigods and the one who ruled over the capital, Leyndell.


    The entire city would be challenging, but if Margit/Morgott was the final boss, the last battle shouldn''t be too hard.


    The front gates and pathways of Stormveill were as well defended as expected, but a disgruntled servant had kindly shown me a back passage. Of course, I wasn''t surprised when he later tried to betray and kill me.


    This was Elden Ring, after all.


    I hadn''t been the only interloper in the castle, a man called Rogier and a bandit-like woman named Nepheli Loux. I explored the castle with the former for a few days, though we split up after killing another of those spiders made out of people and spite.


    He was interested in the basement of the castle. I was also interested, but I figured it would be better to kill the Demigod first and then explore. The soldiers would be in disarray. I made plans to meet up with him at Roundtable later.


    I met Nepheli near a courtyard I knew Godrick used for his experiments in grafting. She was the adopted daughter of Gideon and was here as one of his agents. Much like Millicent, I was sure the relationship would eventually lead to a tragedy, but I held my tongue. I knew the old tarnished was shady, but the Nepheli spoke highly of him.


    She would have to see things for herself.


    The fight with Godrick the Grafted turned out to be... well, it was something.


    **


    "Forefathers, one and all¡­ Bear witness!" The two-meter-tall man covered in arms screamed.


    He had been a grotesque sight when I first laid eyes on him. Now? The Demigod had just cut off his left hand, shoved his stump into a dead dragon''s throat, and spewed fire like a water hose.


    "That is so hardcore and disgusting at the same time," I said from thirty feet away. "That can''t be sanitary."


    "Lowly Tarnished," he sneered. At least, I think it was a sneer. It was hard to pay attention to his tiny head when the rest of him was... a lot. "Burn!"


    I saw flames gather in the dragon''s maw and narrowed my draconian eyes.


    Fire welled up from my own throat.


    Anime has taught me exactly what to do in situations like this.


    The two waves of fire crashed into each other with cataclysmic force, bathing the courtyard in flames. Mine was the greater power, but I quickly realized we weren''t shooting beams at each other.


    We were both breathing like dragons, which meant fire.


    Fire doesn''t fight a fire; it just makes more fire.


    The inferno roasted my back as I ran away.


    "Hot! Hot! Hot!"


    Anime had lied to me.


    **


    Despite a hiccup, I killed the Demigod without dying once to him. Melina then told me to get the Great Rune''s power, I had to go to the nearby Divine Tower.


    A new sense filled me as soon as I stood before the Two Finger corpse and held the Godrick''s Great Rune aloft.


    A sense of completeness, stability and wholeness filled my chest. While it was powerful, the true key to this Rune was the sense of unity it gave. It was like my body, previously made of different parts, was suddenly one whole.


    I knew with certainty that Godrick wouldn''t have been anchored enough to attach and control so many disparate limbs without this Great Rune.


    I returned to Roundtable Hold as the first tarnished to slay a demigod and claim a Great Rune since the War of the Shattering began.


    It was eighteen years since I first woke up in that church, and I still had a long way to go.

 Desolation 3

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 Break Out!

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 Epilogue

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 SS- Mikael Wheel, Mikael Deal

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 WC Build *Major Spoilers for Volume 1*

    <div>


    Starting World: Soulsborne


    Starting budget 1545


    Patron


    D???? free [1545]


    Intensity


    Me and My Girlfriend(s)(PvE) +0 [1545]


    Black-mark +1236 [2781]


    Dropped-In -0 [2781]


    Heritage


    Dragon Heart -80 [2701]


    Dragon Scale[Freedom] -95 [2606]


    Dragon Aura -200 [2406]


    Dragon Thrall -150 [2256]


    Dragon Blood -150 [2106]


    Treasure Hoard -20 [2086]


    Dragon Cabin -30 [2056]


    Dragon Bifurcation -25 [2031]


    Dragon Break -20 [2011]


    Double Dragon[Life] -200 [1811]


    Lures


    Sticky Fingers -5 [1806]


    Faerie Feast -10 [1796]


    Potpourri -20 [1776]


    Sticky Fingers: Brown Sugar -15 [1761]


    Faerie Feast: Master Chef -10 [1751]


    Faerie Feast: The Secret Ingredient is Love -5 [1746]


    Alluring Whisper -20 [1726]


    Alluring Whisper: Siren''s Song -80 [1646]


    Alluring Whisper: Dirty Minds -20 [1626]


    Sticky Fingers: Alter-Flavor??? -10 [1616]


    Don''t Stand So Close to Me -15 [1601]


    Stud Service??? -10 [1591]


    Other Controls


    Command Seals x2 -5 [1586]


    Command Seals: General Seals -10 [1576]


    Home Perks


    Pocket Space -5 [1571]


    Pocket Apartment -20 [1551]


    All Roads Lead to Home -10 [1541]


    Sweet Home -10 [1531]


    Grand Manor -20 [1511]


    Life''s A Beach -10 [1501]


    Warehouse District -20 [1481]


    Creature Feature I??? -500 [981]


    Stay in touch??? -5 [976]


    Demiplane -15 [961]


    Home Security??? free [961]


    Sweet Home Expansion x13 -650 [311]


    Talents


    Performance Talent free [311]


    Everlasting Talent free [311]


    Body Talent free [311]


    Martial Talent free [311]


    This novel''s true home is a different platform. Support the author by finding it there.Wild Talent free [311]


    Soul Talent free [311]


    Communication Talent -10 [301]


    Blessed Talent -30 [271]


    Psychic Talent -20 [251]


    Covert Talent -10 [241]


    Inexhaustible -140 [101]


    Educational Talent??? -5 [96]


    Added Potential x20 [Mikael has Aura, Haki, Nico Robin has Aura, Senju Tsunade has Aura, Haki, Shihouin Yoruichi has Aura, Haki, Sc¨¢thach has Aura, Haki, Artoria Pendragon (Lancer) has Aura, Haki, Wonder Woman has Aura, Haki, Medea has Aura, Haki, Emma Frost has Aura, Haki, Raven has Aura, Haki, Glynda Goodwitch has Haki] -100 [-4]


    Talent Sharing x6 [Martial Talent, Soul Talent, Educational Talent, Blessed Talent, Psychic Talent, Performance Talent] -60 [-64]


    Science Talent -20 [-84]


    Engineering Talent -30 [-114]


    Presence??? -30 [-144]


    Inculcation Talent??? -10 [-154]


    Money Talent??? -10 [-164]


    Aesthetic Talent -10 [-174]


    Defenses


    Body Defense x2 free [-174]


    Wild Defense x2 free [-174]


    Environmental Defense x2 free [-174]


    Stress Defense x2 free [-174]


    Destiny Defense x2 free [-174]


    Mind Defense x2 -25 [-199]


    Polymorph Defense x2 free [-199]


    Wyldscape Defense x2 free [-199]


    Fatality Defense x2 free [-199]


    Corruption Defense x2 -50 [-249]


    Possession Defense x2 -20 [-269]


    Information Defense x2 -50 [-319]


    Soul Defense x2 -50 [-369]


    Trace Defense x2 -100 [-469]


    Paradox Defense x2 -100 [-569]


    Addiction Defense x2 -20 [-589]


    Defenses discounted for retinue members +204 [-385]


    Misc Perks


    Warranty Plan -200 [-585]


    Sexual Calibration -2 [-587]


    Fertility Calibration I -2 [-589]


    Time-Savers??? -2 [-591]


    Memorabilia??? x3 -15 [-606]


    Trajectory. Agreement.??? -200 [-806]


    Patron Income??? -1000 [-1806]


    Designer Babies??? x2 -16 [-1822]


    Generic Waifu Perks


    Grail Knowledge??? x5 [Nico Robin, Sc¨¢thach, Medea, Artoria Pendragon (Lancer), Senju Tsunade] -5 [-1827]


    Anthropize??? x5 [You, Nico Robin, Senju Tsunade, Shihouin Yoruichi, Sc¨¢thach] -50 [-1877]


    Paper Trail x6 [You, Emma Frost, Nico Robin, Wonder Woman, Glynda Goodwitch, Raven] -6 [-1883]


    Companions bought -750 [-2633]


    Nico Robin(T5)[buy] from One Piece


    Senju Tsunade(T6)[buy] from Naruto


    Shihouin Yoruichi(T7)[buy] from Bleach


    Sc¨¢thach(T8)[buy] from Nasuverse


    Artoria Pendragon (Lancer)(T8)[buy] from Nasuverse


    Medea(T7)[buy] from Nasuverse


    Wonder Woman(T9)[buy] from DC (magic side)


    Emma Frost(T8)[buy] from Marvel


    Raven(T8)[buy] from DC (magic side)


    Glynda Goodwitch(T6)[buy] from RWBY


    Specific credit modifiers +2633 [0]:


    Patron Wage [+2733]


    Avalon [-100]

 Omakes 1

    Some short omakes I made and posted on the forums.


    <hr noshade="noshade" size="1">


    Robin took a deep sip of her coffee, stepping from the mansion''s kitchen.


    Artoria and Diana were out in the field practicing in the darkness of the early morning. Ranni was locked in her room, keeping up her act of being Mikael''s ''Guiding Moonlight'' as he flew through space.


    Everyone else was still asleep in these early morning hours.


    Perfect for watching the sunrise with a fresh cup of coffee and a good book.


    It was shaping up to be a good day.


    Robin stopped when she made her way to the front door as she witnessed a curious sight through the glass doors.


    It was small, barely up to Robin''s knee.


    It was shaped like a humanoid squid, with half a dozen chubby tentacles acting as legs and four more stubby limbs as pseudo arms. Its head was bulbous, too big for its body, with large black eyes.


    Said black eyes were narrowed in concentration as it hopped up and down on its tiny limbs, trying to reach the door knob.


    Up and down it went, small limbs waving frantically at the handle that remained a good foot out of reach.


    How cute.


    Its black eyes narrowed in concentration, a tiny tongue sticking out of its mouth as it jumped one more time. This time a small platform formed in the air under it allowing it to hop mid-air and grab the handle.


    The baby squid hung there for a second, its weight not enough to unlatch the door. It bounced up and down, the motion giving enough momentum for the handle to turn and the glass door to swing inward, the doll-like creature hanging on for dear life.


    It fell to the floor inside the lobby with a little ''splotch,'' and took a moment to pump its minuscule arms in triumph.


    How cute.


    Its little celebration done, it scuttled its way toward the stairs with surprising speed, chubby tentacles sweeping across the tiled floor.


    The squid creature almost reached the stairs, but in its haste, it tripped over itself, tumbling end over end and coming to a stop upside down at the foot of the first step.


    "Owwww," it whined in a familiar voice. Its black eyes started to water pitifully as its stubby tentacle arms rubbed its bruised head.


    "Ara?" When had Robin approached?


    Never mind.


    Mikael''s wide-eyed look sent the Strawhat''s way as she leaned over his crumbled form held more than a little fear.


    How cute.


    "I need an adult," he squeaked, eyes still watering from pain and looking extremely pitiful.


    "I am an adult."


    Robin paid no attention to Mikael''s tiny body flailing in distress as she scooped him up and squeezed him close.


    Best.


    Day.


    Ever.


    <hr noshade="noshade" size="1">


    If Volume 1 had an Anime Opening


    <hr noshade="noshade" size="1">


    Opens on a tiny white dragon floating alone in the darkness of space.


    *Google: FF14 Scream*


    Foul child, bastard and beast


    O lost lamb, first to the feast


    Image changes to a brief flash of Mikael in the Cell before blurring through various places in Dark Souls/Bloodborne/Elden Ring.


    Dozens of vistas flash in a few seconds.


    Come claim if you''re able


    A spot at this table


    Flashing images settle on a picture of all 10 original women sitting at the dining table at the Mansion, all of them eyeing each other warily.


    Mild and meek, down on your knees


    For hide and seek. It''s time that we feed


    Scenes of Mikael dying to various bosses in Dark Souls 1.


    Your heart is racing, blood is running cold


    Your fractured will is whispering (fly away, fly away)


    Far Away


    Back on the Island.


    The women are exploring and turn to look skyward.


    Here be lions


    Still image of Ornstein and Smough


    Say goodnight


    With each bite does your sanity die


    Mikael battles Smough, Ornstein impales him from behind.


    Sucking the life out, letting the dark


    Unauthorized duplication: this narrative has been taken without consent. Report sightings.


    Inside


    Diana watches Mikael walk away, concern in her eyes.


    She says something, and Mikael stumbles.


    Say a prayer as the light leaves your eyes


    Or scream all you like, your gods can''t hear you


    Upon a field of ash, Mikael stands against the hollow Lord of Cinders, Gwyn.


    Scream


    Now Scream


    Scream


    Pseudo suicide, don''t choke on your pride


    They battle in a clash of blades over the remnants of a fading flame.


    Scream


    Now scream


    Now. Scream.


    Yeah, I''m gonna watch you bleed


    Fires of the First Flame consume Mikael.


    His mouth opens in a silent scream of agony.


    Flensed and flayed, how does it feel?


    Your pound is paid, those scars will not heal, no


    Tsunade tries to hold his hollow head in her lap, crying over him.


    In Belfry Luna, Medea mouths three words to him.


    Though she is smiling, her eyes are wet with unshed tears.


    Lost in suffering, drowning in your tears


    Won''t someone, somewhere tell me (where do I, where do I)


    Go from here


    Better armed, more skilled, and more determined, Mikael journeys through Dark Souls 2, making easy work of the various bosses.


    Be the lion


    Mikael stands before the Throne of Want.


    Scene shifts to Mikael wandering the world outside the games.


    Say goodnight


    With each bite does your sanity die


    Mikael is enclosed within the Throne of Want.


    Sucking the life out, letting the dark


    Inside


    Robin offers Mikael a hand.


    He reaches out but passes through.


    He stares blankly at his empty hand.


    Say a prayer as the light leaves your eyes


    Or scream all you like, the gods can''t hear you


    Mikael remains fixed on the screen, walking toward the camera.


    He remains unmoved even as the backdrop changes around him.


    Dressed in rage


    Inside my cage


    The screen splits as if cut by a blade.


    Half is the broken man in the cell.


    Half is the warrior of a million battles.


    My pandemonium


    Still bound to the flame that I bear


    The warrior, Mikael, stands before the Soul of Cinder.


    His face is blank and unemotional.


    Buried alive


    In the coffin of who I used to be


    I''ll scream all I like, ''cause we''re all mad here


    Mikael stands upon a stone precipice in a storm, gazing up at the golden leaves of the Erd Tree.


    Vague shadows of women try to reach out to him, desperately trying to hold him.


    He doesn''t notice.


    The ground caves under him.


    He falls.


    (Slumbering, tumbling)


    (Wandering, wondering)


    (Suffering, hungering)


    Falling end over end, Mikael falls through the darkness. He seems to shrink as he does.


    Forever falling into my mind


    Deeper, deeper down ''til I


    Four pale blue arms reach out from the dark to try and catch him, but he falls between the fingers.


    Say goodnight


    To the shadow I left far behind


    Still frames once more.


    Godrick, Rennala, Morgott, Mohg, Rykard, and Godfrey.


    I''m just a stranger, we are all strange


    Inside


    Mikael charges alone at Dragonlord Placidusax, Moonlight Greatsword in hand.


    You can run but there''s nowhere to hide


    So scream all you like, no one can hear us


    Mikael''s final, acrobatic attack upon Radahn.


    Moonveil plunges down upon the Starscourge, and the stars fall from the heavens behind him.


    Follow me (Follow me)


    Come follow me (Follow me)


    Upon Torrent''s back, Mikael and Melina ride through Limgrave, Caelid, and Liurnia until they reach the foot of the Erdtree and Leyndell.


    To Pandemonium


    Still bound to the flame that I bear (There''s)


    Melina is engulfed in flame.


    Mikael watches helplessly on his knees as the fire forms into Malenia.


    Her prosthetic blade flashes out at him.


    He doesn''t move.


    The screen goes black.


    No release (Rescue me)


    From this empty, waking wonderland (Rescue me)


    So scream if you like, ''cause we''re all mad here


    Mikael flies through space toward a massive White Dragon.


    His arm is outstretched to it.


    His face is lit with joy.


    Inches from it, he stops.


    His eyes widen as he is yanked backwards.


    Scream all you like, ''cause we''re all mad here


    The White Dragon Awakes.


    It roars in triumph.


    <hr noshade="noshade" size="1">


    This Omake is brought to you by the 3 hours of sleep I''ve had in the last 2 days and my third Monster Energy drink... or my fourth, I can''t remember.


    Anyway, I''m sure I''ll regret this when I have had some sleep, but my friend was helping me with moving, and we were shooting the shit. He asked me; If Volume 1 of RR had an anime opening, what would it be?


    Thus this abomination.


    I went full EDGE on it since Volume 1 is where the character is at his lowest point. I had been listening to the FF14 Ost while working, so I wanted to use one. There was another song I wanted to use, but that one was a total spoiler, so I decided not to. ''Scream'' is a fantastic song but not crucial to the story, so I went with it.


    ...I''m going to lie down now.


    <hr noshade="noshade" size="1">


    Know Thy Enemy!


    <hr noshade="noshade" size="1">


    "Are you the man who has wed our King?" Gawain asked, arms crossed. I was pretty tall, but this gorilla of a man out-massed me by quite a bit.


    "He is," Tristain answered, strumming his bow/harp Failnaught menacingly. How he knew who I was, I couldn''t tell. His eyes were closed.


    "You look strong, at least," Lancelot said, palm resting on the hilt of Arondight.


    All three Knights of the Round Table surrounded me, ready to launch an attack at the slightest twitch of my muscles. These were some of the finest warriors ever produced in the Nasuverse.


    One-on-one, I might be able to take any of them.


    Two-on-one, if I pulled out all my tricks and got very lucky, I could theoretically eke out a win.


    Three-on-one? Against the greatest knights of the round table? At high noon? Without setting up traps ahead of time? Without returning to my main body?


    I was screwed.


    "What makes you think you are worthy of the hand of our King?" Gawain growled, magic power gathering as he absorbed the sun''s power.


    "Our perfect King," Tristain interjected, his fingers speeding up. The twang of the strings started to ring in my ears.


    "You must overcome us if you wish for our blessing," Lancelot drew his sword, ready for battle.


    I needed to defeat them.


    Not because I wanted their approval or anything like that. I didn''t need permission from anyone to do anything. My relationship with Artoria was a matter of The Family and nobody else.


    No, I needed to defeat some of the greatest combatants in the world because they were annoying me.


    To do so, I had to use my most devastating weapon.


    My words.


    Slowly, so they wouldn''t react before I was ready, I dipped my hand into my pocket.


    As I did, I launched my first attack.


    "I have a harem."


    All three knights flinched.


    "Of thirteen mature women." As I followed up my first attack with another, causing them to flinch again, I removed my ultimate weapon.


    "A third of them are widows." They physically staggered backwards.


    "You... lie," Lancelot gasped.


    Using my weapon, I dealt the first of two blows I knew would win this fight.


    I held up my phone, a photo of The Family proudly displayed.


    All three knights groaned, their teeth grinding audibly.


    "Two of them were mothers."


    Tristain started weeping.


    Time for the final blow.


    I held up my phone once more.


    All three collapsed to their knees.


    Their eyes were wide and wet.


    "It''s... beautiful," Gawain gasped in awe.


    "How?" Lancelot wailed.


    "Are you... God?" Tristain desperately asked.


    "I am not god. I am," I paused, searching for the right words to finish them off even as I held up the photo of Artoria in her Bunny Suit. "Everything you wish you could be."


    """We are unworthy!"""


    They cried, bowing at the picture and me.


    I smiled.


    Flawless Victory.

 Volume 2 Emancipation 1

    Oh violence does call me, I''ve answered before


    I''d made many enemies, I''d settled my scores


    But I did grow weary and I settled down


    And proudly bore the weight of my crown


    I lived on my lonesome away in the far


    Where there was no violence to trouble my heart


    I''d hung up my sword and I''d raised up my hoe


    And I lied as I said that I ne''er would go


    ********


    Dragons Day.


    The day the world changed.


    There were many names for the event.


    Some called it the ''Moonrise.''


    Others called it ''The Impact.''


    A few people, possibly inebriated due to celebrations, called it ''the Nom heard around the world.''


    It would come to be known as Dragons Day in textbooks.


    The name stemmed from the initial name given to the holiday celebrating the death of the Simurgh in a small town near Madison, Wisconsin; ''Dragon Day.''


    The internet, being the cesspit it is, would make enough jokes about ''D-day'' and ''Double Ds'' that the term would stick around and, after a few adaptations, would become the official name for the event.


    It also went to show what the ordinary people thought was the most important part of the whole event.


    Though historians could look back and see the whole picture and know that the death of the Simurgh was the first, and possibly least, of many events to shape the world, the day-to-day citizenry did not see it that way.


    A massive new Island in the Atlantic causing delays to shipping? Most people barely noticed the minuscule increase in price for certain goods.


    A glowing blue moon in the sky? It''s not doing anything. Why should I care?


    The world''s greatest heroes failed to stop a titanic dragon from landing on earth? Nothing terrible has happened yet.


    Realistically, people were jaded at that point. They were used to significant events, so something that didn''t seem to affect them too much, even if it looked impressive, was quickly put out of mind.


    Nobody had died, and no one was worse for wear, so most did not care about the new draconic alien. Someone else would deal with it if it turned out to be malignant.


    No, the most important event of the Dragons'' Descent was ''the Nom heard around the world.''


    One cannot underestimate how much of an impact the Endbringers had on the world.


    When Behemoth first appeared six years ago, it destroyed the Ghawar Oil Field. Standing nearly 50 feet tall, the dynakinetic laid waste to a vast swath of land.


    As this was the first attack, the devastation was total as heroes rushed to stop the beast. Its ability to manipulate radiation, even imitating kryptonite and the 50-foot kill zone surrounding it, caused countless casualties to the heroes who arrived to help. Though Ghawar wasn''t a significant population center, thousands still died. Even today, an area of over 10,000 square kilometres were uninhabitable.


    Though the monster was eventually repelled, with numerous casualties, the world instantly faced an energy crisis.


    In the following months, this was mitigated by innovations from geniuses like Reed Richards and Tony Stark or companies like LexCorp or Wayne Industries. Some argued that they were only doing it for the profit they could make with their more fuel-efficient engines or alternative energy source.


    Most were just happy that gas prices weren''t insane.


    The world slowly recovered from the attack, and most moved on with their lives, thinking it was only another random rampage from some villain or another.


    Then, three months later, Behemoth attacked again.


    This time he appeared in Singapore.


    The good news was that the heroes, now more familiar with the monster''s abilities, faced fewer casualties before driving it off.


    The bad news was the other death toll.


    Millions of dead, either in the initial attack or in the aftermath.


    The single greatest loss of human life in one day in the history of the world.


    That day saw the first use of the term Endbringer. Not only because of the sheer destruction it brought but because nobody knew how to destroy the creature.


    Physical attacks were worse than useless. Only the strongest blows had any material effect, and even then, the monster regenerated in moments.


    Energy attacks were almost as bad.


    While effective in the fight, magic hadn''t been able to do any lasting damage as the creature regenerated no matter how much damage it took.


    In the three years following its first appearance, Behemoth would attack every three months, targeting either population centers or essential infrastructure. The world came to expect and prepare for it, trying all sorts of ideas.


    Nothing lasted.


    When thrown off the planet, sealed, teleported, or banished, they reappeared in an unguarded location less than a minute later.


    The only consolation the world had was that the average death toll dropped from hundreds to tens of thousands.


    Then Leviathan attacked Oslo.


    Not only did this signal to the world that Behemoth wasn''t unique, but it also marked a shift back to the death toll of the early battles. Millions more died as the ocean flooded the city. The new Endbringer was easier to fight, lacking the kill zone, but it was also much more mobile.


    Evacuation in time was almost impossible.


    The following two years saw the two monsters shift back and forth every three months.


    Then the Simurgh descended upon Dheli.


    If Leviathan and Behemoth were treated with fear and caution, natural disasters that people would weather and then rebuild, the Simurgh told everyone that nothing was safe.


    In the year and a half she was active, Ziz only attacked three cities.


    Every time, the death toll was less than its'' siblings.''


    You had a better chance of surviving if Ziz descended on you than if the other two appeared.


    If asked which Endbringer you''d rather show up on your doorstep, everyone on earth would answer the same thing.


    ''Any of them but the Simurgh.''


    If Behemoth was a bomb and Leviathan a tsunami, Ziz was a scalpel. One wielded by an incredibly skilled and sadistic hand.


    She was the smallest of the Endbringers. Her weakness to magic was more pronounced than any other since she couldn''t even perceive it. Her most prolonged battle lasted less than thirty minutes.


    After her descent into Dheli, she was given the designation Simurgh or Ziz.


    After Maddison, she was given a more fitting name.


    Hopekiller.


    When she fell upon Star City, only a select few could fight her without going mad from her influence.


    Of those numbers, none included anyone with a Tinker rating or Psychic ability.


    Absolutely nobody wanted a repeat of Psylock or Mister Terrific.


    The Simurgh solidified the message that, given enough time, the Endbringers would be the world''s doom.


    She turned the world''s best and brightest, heroes many admired against those they once protected.


    Some overtly, some subtly.


    The constant, repeated blows against humanity led to increased crime, nihilism, and suicides. A psychological term was used to describe the feeling of hopelessness that filled most people.


    The Endbringer Effect.


    So, when the White Dragon arrived on earth and swallowed the Hopekiller whole, most did not feel fear of the new beast.


    Only all-consuming joy.


    It would later be called the ''First Miracle.''


    It gave hope to the hopeless world.


    More than one nation declared a national holiday after learning of Simurgh''s disappearance.


    India began building a statue of the White Dragon within two days. The revelry that followed D-day would become the stuff of legends. Mardi Gras, Oktoberfest, and Holi looked like church congregations in comparison. Nine months later, births would triple their average. Twice as much as the baby boom.


    In the days after D-day, those who weren''t hungover and were near the ocean would discover the ''Second Miracle.''


    It was subtle, so much so that nobody could pinpoint exactly when it happened, but the first signs were when bodies floated to the surface in harbours worldwide.


    Not just the recently dead, but others that looked decades old. Some looked drowned, but most bore wounds indicating a more violent death. They were naked of all man-made objects. Gotham Harbor, in particular, looked like a sea of corpses. It was such an odd thing to happen in all parts of the world that nobody quite knew what was happening.


    Then someone posted a video online.


    It was a simple thing, ten seconds long.


    Someone, likely female, judging by the wrist shape, dropped a soda can in the ocean.


    It dissolved instantly as if dipped in the most potent acid in the world.


    People caught on quickly after that.


    No matter what material it was, anything man-made that wasn''t biodegradable melted into the ocean if it wasn''t attached to someone. Swimsuits kept their form, but if you accidentally dropped your phone in the water, it was gone forever.


    The bodies floating to the surface were those buried illegally at sea. As the cement blocks or other anchors dissolved, proof of the crimes finally saw the light of day. More than one cold case would be reopened, and criminals caught as a result of new evidence.


    For the first time ever, the ocean was trash free.


    Boats still sailed, and ocean mining continued uninterrupted, but nothing detrimental to the seas remained in its waters for longer than a second. Oil spills vanished as they happened. Shipwrecks were never found again. Some complained about the loss of treasure or historical artifacts, but most were happy that the Pacific trash vortex was no longer a thing.


    It should not come as a surprise that after eating the Hopekiller and cleaning the oceans, cults to worship the Dragon started to spring up around the world.


    And then the pilgrimages began.


    Early on, it was those who possessed their own ships or yachts. Those brave enough or stupid to approach the White Dragon set out to try and reach the new Island.


    Already people were throwing around names like Atlantis, Mu, and El Dorado.


    Some even called it the New Eden.


    So, when they approached the White Mountains that surrounded the new subcontinent, ready to pass between them, most were surprised when they were blocked from progressing. They could touch the white scales of the Dragon but not advance an inch further.


    No boats crashed. They simply sailed on for eternity, never moving forward, even as their engines propelled them until they turned away.


    Those more knowledgeable knew something similar happened to the heroes who tried to follow the White Dragon when it landed. They found themselves unable to progress past a certain point, no matter how fast they flew or ran. Teleportation did not work either. Nobody was able to approach the Island.


    Reviewing the footage taken on D-day, the heroes would realize that the boundary matched that of the great Jewel the Dragon carried.


    For weeks, pilgrims made their way to touch the White Mountains. To feel the scales of the creature who had been the first to slay an Endbringer for the first time. More than a few tried to grab ''samples'' with no luck.


    Very occasionally, the spikes would move. Sometimes in a twitch, sometimes in a shiver. No water was displaced, and nobody was harmed. For all intents and purposes, the White Mountains of the Dragon acted as an invisible wall separating the rest of the world from the Island.


    Two weeks after D-day, there was the first documented case of a ship passing through the White Mountains. Like a mirage, they sailed on as if the spikes were not there.


    It happened in the dead of night, far from most other vessels. The only reason people discovered the occurrence was a drone flying around to capture more complete footage of the White Mountains in the moonlight. It captured footage of the small vessel passing through the scales as if they were a mirage.


    The ship was never seen again.


    In the morning, the drone operator would try and replicate the feat but would find herself in the same perpetual loop of advancing as everywhere else.


    Investigations would reveal that the boat ''the Evangelist'' belonged to one Robert Mathers. It jettisoned from Kennebunkport in Maine with a half dozen passengers. All with connections to the Fallen, the Endbringer cultists.


    It was the first but not the last vessel that would pass through the White Mountains.


    They all vanished.


    Naturally, people started assigning moral judgments to these different results.


    The news got around about the ''Test of Faith.''


    If you could lay your hands upon the White Dragon, you were deemed ''pure.''


    Should you pass through the White Mountains, you were ''judged.''


    It should be noted that, so long as one did not keep sailing past the scales, they could turn back no worse for wear. Only those who attempted to reach the Island were lost forever.


    As ''pilgrimages'' began, floating meeting grounds started to spring up. Barges, floating restaurants, yachts, and other entertainment ships congregated together. Since the Island was in international waters, nobody had jurisdiction over those who started to live part-time near the great beast.


    There was some fear that Leviathan would disrupt the floating towns, but many felt more secure in the shadows of the White Mountains than anywhere else.


    They believed that the Dragon would defend them.


    Businesses dedicated to bringing food or commodities to the burgeoning villages started to boom. Tourism, in particular, saw the birth of many small businesses.


    This was all aided by the flowering marine life.


    Dolphins, whales, sharks, and other fish seemed to flow into the area. They multiplied and spread out, irrespective of their common mating grounds. It was a veritable ocean renaissance, as the population of certain species multiplied to levels not seen since the advent of fishing itself.


    Wildlife tours, scuba diving, studies of marine biology, and other ocean-based attractions drew people in like moths to the flame.


    One day, a video was posted online.


    ''An average day at White Waters.''


    It was an advertisement for a floating restaurant in White Waters, a floating town around the northwest side of the White Mountains. It was a common stop for those coming from Nova Scotia or the New England states.


    The video was only two minutes long. It depicted images of swimming with sharks, an enormous pod of dolphins breaching the surface, fishing a six-meter tuna and grilling it, and finishing the day eating on the patio barge of the restaurant.


    In the last frame, as the video faded to black, one marine archeologist noticed an odd shadow in the water that sparked his curiosity. Comparing other footage of the area and reports from various diver''s accounts, he came to a shocking conclusion.


    Gathering what funds he could, the man set out to White Waters.


    He stayed for a week, searching for proof of his hypothesis.


    On the eighth day, he found his holy grail.


    His drone captured footage of a seventy-foot-long carcass, a blue whale, being ripped apart by two sharks. Both of the carnivorous fish were over fifty feet long.


    Some way, somehow, megalodons had returned to the ocean.


    This discovery was made three months after D-day.


    By then, most of the world had gotten used to the new status quo. The Blue Moon, the Island, and the White Dragon were old news. Many more shocking events had happened since.


    The Dragon didn''t seem to do much, after all.


    While the discovery of extinct animals returning did surprise and scare some people, most were living in fear of being the next Endbringer attack target.


    They were right to do so, though for the wrong reasons.


    The Fourth Miracle was a prelude to a reshaping of the world stage.


    But that story is for a later time.


    To understand everything, we must step a bit backwards.


    Back to the Island, two weeks after D-day.


    It''s amazing how one night, and one family conversation, can set dominoes into motion to change the world.


    ********


    "Gah!" I cried in more surprise than pain. "Medea!" I shouted as I rubbed the bruised tentacle. It didn''t hurt, even if there was a chunk missing.


    I wasn''t even sure I had nerves anymore.


    "Horray!" Priscila cried with a fist pump. FATALITY flashed across the screen as she took the chance to decapitate my character


    "Mrow," Medea, my cat, flapped her tiny wings ineffectually. Despite her newfound race change, courtesy of the third level of Memorabilia, she was still a cat at heart.


    To her, my tiny squid-like form looked delicious.


    It probably didn''t help that I had already boosted her Tier thanks to Dragon Blood. Nor that I had long ago made my body fluids delicious for the women of the Island.


    She didn''t look any different than she used to. A larger-than-normal American Wirehair with a resting ''I don''t care'' face. One would think she was an ordinary cat if it wasn''t for the draconic wings.


    Thankfully the Floof only had time to take one bite out of me before being captured by Glynda''s telekinesis. It healed right away, but the shock cost me the match.


    No significant loss, as I was terrible at fighting games anyway.


    "I still do not know if I should be flattered or insulted you named your cat after me," Medea, the witch, said. She didn''t look up from her delicate wirework.


    "Flattered," I answered immediately. "Not only was ''Medea'' my favourite play, but she is Best Floof. Isn''t that right, you tub of lard. Whose the flooffiest floof? You are, you are." I cooed at the cat, still mewling in protest at her captivity.


    "She just ate one of your legs," Glynda put her book down to arch an eyebrow at me, still maintaining control over the squirming winged feline. "This isn''t even the first time."


    "Tentacles," I corrected as I used my tiny draconic wings to fly from my position on Priscila''s lap and bury my face in Medea''s fur. She tried to nibble on my head. "I still can''t get them to combine yet without them turning digitigrade, and don''t get me started on making a skeletal structure. Biology is the worst. Give me physics or chemistry any day of the week. Anyway, it is not Medea''s fault I am delicious."


    I felt a poke in my back.


    Turning, I saw a fluffy tail prodding me, even as Priscilla started a new game. She resolutely looked away from me and her appendage. I would have smirked if I had lips, but instead, I just curved my mouth into the closest approximation.


    Taking the hint, I stopped rubbing the floofy cat and started on the floofy dragon.


    The five of us, six if you included Medea (cat), were in one of the large living rooms of the mansion. Glynda was reading some books from the library.


    I could guess its content from the occasional blushes and furtive glances she sent me. That and the picture on the front, a blonde woman with her blouse torn open and held in the arms of a muscular dark-haired man, didn''t leave much to the imagination.


    Caster was working on a side project I had asked her to make. It was simple, so she didn''t need to be in her workshop and had set herself up at a nearby table. She seemed to be enjoying the reprieve from another fruitless attempt at creating a homunculus that could act as a vessel for me.


    One can only watch their hard work turn to mush so many times before feeling frustrated.


    I had been sitting on Priscila''s lap while we played some games together. I was terrible at anything multiplayer-related, but the dragon girl found a fondness for digital competition that she didn''t hold for the physical act of violence. A few other women knew the basics of video games, but none found it more enjoyable than other hobbies, so I was the only one who could give her any challenge.


    Depending on how tonight went, I was prepared to unleash her upon the internet tomorrow. My poor tentacles needed a break from button mashing. If I got T-bagged one more time, I would throw something.


    Support creative writers by reading their stories on Royal Road, not stolen versions.


    "I''m heading out to fly," I said after paying the appropriate tribute to the Floof. Standing up, the tail tried to wrap itself around my body, but I slipped away to the floor. Looking up at the three women thrice my size, I asked, "Any of you want to join me?"


    "I believe I shall remain," Glynda said, though she took the time to rub her hand through my ''hair.''


    I wasn''t particularly surprised. The huntress was one of a few who did not enjoy being in dragon form. Apparently, it reminded her of certain Grimm too much for her comfort.


    "I want to finish this tonight," Medea said, not looking at me.


    "You don''t have to," I said, laying my ''hand'' upon her knee. I took a small sadistic joy in seeing her blush to the tips of her ears and her hands'' shiver. "I''m in no rush."


    Apparently, my tiny form was so adorable to the women of the Island that, when I had mentioned possibly increasing my size, they had flipped the fuck out. All thirteen had staged a full intervention and begged me to stay smol until I could turn into human form.


    I had been so amused that I had agreed.


    My shapeshifting was incredibly limited. I needed to micromanage what I wanted to change to an almost insane degree. Changing size was manageable. Building a functioning skeletal structure or functioning organs was way more challenging. I had spent hours with Tsunade as she tried to pound medical knowledge into my head. I had already known more than the basics, so everything else was just a process of memorization of certain parts, their locations and function.


    I hadn''t liked biology in school, and I didn''t now.


    Unless we were being euphemistic, of course.


    Medea, Robin, Priscila and Yoruichi were so enamoured with this squid-child form that whenever they looked at me, I found myself squid-napped into their bosom as they demanded cuddles.


    I didn''t complain because a) boobs, b) it made them happy, and c) I wanted cuddles too, damn it!


    "N-no," She said, struggling to keep her eyes turned away. "The sooner I finish, the sooner we can go on that date."


    "It''s not really a date," I pointed out as I backed off. The key to being a bulli instead of a bully is to give people space when they need it. "I''ll take you on plenty of dates once I have a human form again, but this is more like a business trip."


    "I know," she pouted, and, had I been human, I would have pounced on those lips. She was too cute. "I still want to go out tomorrow."


    "Sure," I said. Turning to Priscila, furiously mashing buttons on her controller, I asked again. "You want to come?"


    "Nay," the halfbreed didn''t look at me as she shook her head. "The vile Kronika hath bested me too many times. I shall have justice!"


    "Just the two of us then." I looked at Glynda and nodded for her to release Medea.


    The cat flew at me again, though now she rubbed affectionately against my side instead of munching on my appendages. I led her through the mansion and out the front door.


    The feline took off into the sky no sooner had we passed the threshold.


    She was met quickly by four large red drakes. Each was about the size of a large house and, having imbibed my blood during their nine months of life on the Island, were all Tier 7.


    Somehow, my recently turned Tier 4 housecat with wings had managed to pressgang all four of them into following her lead. Now they roamed the Island like a gang of thugs, getting into mischief whenever they wanted.


    The pet mafia was a force to be reckoned with.


    Yesterday I saw them herding a couple of Maneater Boars into a group of Scourge Beasts and eating the remains.


    The day before, I had flown over the scene of Medea riding a Spirit Jellyfish into battle, the drakes at her back against a gathering of Land Octopi.


    I wasn''t worried about their safety.


    It had been easy to have Medea (witch) cast the same spells onto Medea (cat) that she had devised for Hengeron II, Llamrei II, Andromeda and Cassandra when they were young and vulnerable.


    Whether it was the Wolves of Radagon, Rune Bears, other Drakes, the Hydras or the vile creatures of Bloodborne. None of them would be able to get past Caster''s spells.


    Content in the knowledge that the pets were safe, I transformed.


    As mentioned, my shapeshifting was incredibly limited. I essentially had two forms I could ''default'' to.


    The first was the form of my Avatar. Its basic look was a grotesque pile of blood, tentacles, blades, and teeth. As a Great Old One, I didn''t mind the extra appendages or its Lovecraftian aesthetic. Nevertheless, I had put considerable effort into turning it into something that wouldn''t melt people''s eyeballs when looking at it.


    As Robin put it, the result could be best described: ''Adorably Eldritch.''


    My other ''default'' was the nature of my Body.


    I shifted from tiny Cthulu to a slightly less tiny dragon. I wasn''t bigger than a large dog and only had one pair of wings instead of three, but otherwise, I was a perfect reflection of my actual form.


    I took to the air with a whoop of joy, my wings catching a warm-up draft as the evening sun painted the sky a beautiful crimson.


    Even after two weeks, flying remained everything I had imagined. The rush of air, the vertigo sensation, the world''s view shrinking below me.


    It was the best feeling in the world.


    Despite what many people would say after meeting me, I was, at my core, a hardcore introvert.


    Spending too much time with people drained me of energy. I had learned to fake charisma during my life as that was the only way to be successful in a professional environment. Most people thought of me as an extrovert, the women of the Island included, but what they didn''t see were the days and weeks when I was alone.


    The question was whether I had the option of companions or not. It was the difference between loneliness and self-isolation.


    Melina was much the same. We sometimes went weeks without saying a word to each other during our time together. She would remain in spirit form while I travelled the countryside.


    Even people I liked and whose presence I enjoyed slowly wore me down. I recharged by spending long periods alone, letting me organize my thoughts as I unwound. Playing games, reading, or listening to music were my preferred isolation methods before the Cell.


    Now, flying dominated my ''me time.''


    Even when others accompanied me on my daily flights, we never talked while flying. The only sound was the wind beneath our wings or the cry of the occasional bird.


    It was almost sacred.


    The only thing better than being alone for an introvert was when a group of introverts wanted to be alone together.


    As I looked at my Shadow cast upon the clouds, I knew I wasn''t genuinely alone, but if anyone sympathized with my need for quiet, it was her.


    We flew like that for hours. The sun setting upon the sea turned it into an ocean of oranges, reds and yellows.


    When night fell, we were lit by the pale crescent of the moon, the blue glow of Ranni''s Dark Moon, and the stars twinkling above.


    As my thoughts lazily turned with every wingbeat, they inevitably fell upon the nature of this world.


    ''My calculations place you reaching your peak state at an interesting time.''


    That had been what Death told me in that fateful meeting room.


    Interesting times indeed.


    I hadn''t been shocked when I saw a gathering of heroes I recognized from DC and Marvel. Death had explicitly turned into those two versions of herself. Only one hero remained unknown to me, the one in green, but I had thought it could be a version of Dr. Doom I was unaware of. I didn''t have an encyclopedic knowledge of comics after all.


    I was a bit surprised to not find anything from the Evil Ernie storyline, but I was keeping my eyes open.


    I wasn''t surprised to find the gathering of heroes trying to stop me from coming to earth. If I found out a fuck-off dragon the size of a large country was coming to my planet, I would also want to stop it. Since I wouldn''t hurt them, and they couldn''t hurt me while I was Free of Real Space, I figured it was better to ask forgiveness than permission when it came to becoming an illegal alien.


    I had hoped having one of Ranni''s dolls acting as a traffic cop would keep anybody out of my way. From what she told me, they thought I was a ''Lord of Chaos,'' so negotiants broke down. Don''t know why they would think that, but there had been no permanent damage, so no-harm-no-foul.


    When I had seen them all fighting, I had a moment of contemplation where I tried to decide if ramming into them at lightspeed, probably killing more than a few, would be worth it. Ultimately, I decided against it as I wasn''t the type to kill people for slight inconveniences.


    I wasn''t in the Soulsborne games anymore.


    I didn''t need to kill anything that got in my way. While I wasn''t at the top of the food chain, even at Tier 10, I was still pretty high up. With strength came the ability to be magnanimous.


    I could talk to them later once I was on the planet.


    Then I saw the angel-like woman in orbit around earth.


    Unlike Eidolon, whose costume was bland, the Simurgh was immediately recognizable.


    So I ate her.


    There was more to it than that. I essentially had to isolate her into ''myself,'' bind her with my ''bite'' and simultaneously Command her to shatter her own core.


    I didn''t feel too bad about telling someone to kill themselves with a Command Seal because;


    A) It took four seals to do it.


    B) To me, commanding someone to kill themselves was greater mercy than mind control.


    And C) It was fucking Ziz!


    If it had been in any other situation, she would have been worth a fuck-ton of points, but points were useless to me. I had no way of enforcing obedience or loyalty that couldn''t be resisted, so I decided to gobble her up.


    I doubted it would work with any other Endbringer since they weren''t blind to the present like she was. With my Defences, she could not perceive me in the slightest.


    Besides, with the firepower my group could conjure up, we could kill pretty much any of the others once we knew where their core was. The only question was why, with all the powerful heroes around, were Endbringers still a thing.


    Power levels varied wildly in comics, from author to author.


    Superman, at his peak, could tow planets behind him on a chain or fly through dimensions, but in some stories, he has trouble with meteors the size of a house.


    Hulk could either destroy planets or be beaten by regular gorillas.


    Flash could outrun death or not make it home in time for dinner.


    Based on my research over the last week, I wouldn''t put any character at their peak comic strength, but I could think of a half dozen that could kill the Enbringers at their current level.


    The monsters weren''t sandbagging as hard as in the web novel, but they were still inherently limited. Both by their desire to spread conflict without wiping out the host species and their lack of knowledge in dealing with magic.


    You could see it sometimes in footage of their attacks. They hesitated when dealing with magical effects or powers. They could deal with Superman pretty evenly, even if they were weaker because his powers came from his biology, but Shazam, powered by magic, tended to deal more damage.


    So I turned my research to the Worm aspects of the world and realized immediately something was messed up.


    Scion never existed.


    The Endbringers were only active for six years.


    Legend was the name of a small-time shapeshifting hero in Ohio with powers that turned him into a cryptid. Alexandria wasn''t a hero name that showed up at all.


    Case 53s was not a term I could find online.


    It was the year 2018.


    And when I investigated Brockton Bay, I found out what happened to New Wave.


    If there was ever an example of crossover repercussions, it had been that.


    No matter what else I found, Worm Canon was utterly fucked after that.


    It also went to show that, despite the world being better in some ways compared to the web novel, only some things in this world were better off than Worm.


    More heroes available, meaning a lack of a need for an Enbringer Truce? Heroes are the ones with the most significant casualties.


    No sign of Cauldron? New Wave is killed in their homes.


    I was almost tempted to move the Island when I realized that Metropolis, Gotham, New York, Washington DC, and Brockton Bay were so close together. You could drive from DC to BB in half a day.


    These thoughts, and others, flittered through my mind as I carved my way across the sky.


    That was the point of these moments of quiet. To organize my thoughts, calm down, and create plans for different eventualities.


    I was interrupted in my musings after a few hours by Emma''s voice in my head.


    ''Everyone is home,'' she told me. I do not know which continuity of Emma Frost she came from, but her psychic range was absurd. She could cover the hundreds of miles with little effort. ''We''re just waiting for you two for dinner and the meeting.''


    ''Be right there,'' I replied, turning my way southwestward. We had flown far enough north that I could see glaciers in the ocean. I put on more speed, and we were back to the southern point of the Island within ten minutes.


    Seeing Dun Stallion and Torrent munching on some apples, I landed in the orchard to give the horses an affectionate pat before making my way up to the mansion, turning back into baby-squid form. I followed the giggles and shouts to the large dining room.


    A round table covered in delicious-looking food and drinks was surrounded by a dozen women.


    Nobody was eating, but I didn''t have to worry about the food getting cold, thanks to the magic of Fairy Feast. There were thirteen places around the table, only one of which was available.


    "Mikael!" Yoruichi cried at seeing me. I braced myself, knowing what was coming. "Let me cuddle you!"


    I froze.


    Unable to move, I remained still as the shinigami dove for me and gathered me into her arms. I could not enjoy the soft press of her breasts as my main body, the titanic dragon shifted uncomfortably.


    "Thieving cat!" Diana cried, taking offence to the fact Yoruichi had reached me first.


    "You are free," my Shadow whispered in my ear.


    Suddenly I could move again.


    I slipped from her grasp to the floor with a hiss, my tentacles waiving with my agitation. Tiny fin-like blades covered my form. Even as I glared at the smirking death god, I was scooped up again.


    "There, there," Artoria said softly, retaking her seat at the table and settling me on her lap. I leaned back into her own prodigious chest as I calmed my nerves.


    Raven slipped from my shadow and took her seat at the table.


    "I wish thee would not torture our Lord Husband so," Ranni said. She remained in her seat though I could see a set of arms twitch in my direction.


    Beside her, Melina didn''t say a word as she dissipated the dagger of light from her hand.


    Both were the ''new girls'' to the other women on the Island.


    They did not have a year of comradery built up and were not as close friends as the others. Some twitching and instinctual reactions couldn''t be helped. On the other hand, they had the most time spent with me, so there was some light jealousy on both sides.


    I only hoped it would clear as both parties spent more time together.


    "It''s practice," Yoruichi said as she slipped back into her seat. She was utterly unrepentant.


    "It''s cruel," Medea disagreed, glaring at the dark-skinned woman. "I wouldn''t have used Rule Breaker on you if I knew you would pull stunts like this. You don''t know what it is like, trapped in your own body."


    "I don''t," the Shihouiin nodded in agreement, her grin slipping as she looked serious for a moment. "I do know that Mikael was right. No matter what we do, we will eventually slip up and accidentally give him an order. I would rather he not freak out at a critical moment."


    "And you get to cuddle him," Tsunade pointed out.


    "That too," Yoruichi smirked again.


    "It is not right," Medea pressed, leaning forward to glare at the shinigami. She was the one most against this situation. Some remained neutral, and some were on the shinigami''s side, but Medea remained steadfast in her opposition. "You should-"


    "Enough!" I didn''t shout the word nor make it a command, but it was said with enough gravitas that all talking stopped. Thirteen pairs of eyes swung to look at me in a moment of eerie synchronicity. I laid a hand-like tentacle upon Medea''s thigh to calm her down. "As much as I don''t like it, Yoruichi is right. We have an eternity together. I can''t keep letting my fear and weakness rule me. It has cost me too much already." I couldn''t look at Melina.


    The fourteen of us had sat down together in those first few days to talk. I had explained almost everything, from my fears and their cost to the complete discussion I had held with Death and the Company Rep. I, having lived through it and watching the Island during the Dream, was the only one with the complete story.


    As a show of trust and to prove I was trying to improve, I had asked Medea to use Rule Breaker on everyone. No longer bound, Yoruichi had immediately ''ordered'' me to hug her.


    That first time my Avatar moved on its own, I panicked so hard that my real body thrashed in the sea. If I wasn''t immaterial, I would have caused enough disturbance in the ocean to sink dozens of coastal cities. I was freed almost immediately, but it had taken nearly an hour for me to calm down afterwards.


    There had been a big argument then, and it remained a contentious topic.


    The fact that I regained my cool so quickly showed that Yoruichi''s ''training'' was actually providing results. I still hated it, I always would, but now I was less likely to destroy my Avatar in a fit of panic.


    I really didn''t like the idea of starting over with shapeshifting from scratch.


    "Feeling fear is no crime," Scathach nodded in approval at my words. She was the only one who actively participated in this form of ''training.'' Though some others, like Diana, weren''t against taking advantage of me when I was being ''Ordered'' for snuggles. "It is in overcoming fear and improving that one becomes a warrior and a legend."


    "You just want more time with him in the name of training." Robin pointed out with a smirk.


    Scathach nodded with a subtle smile of her own.


    "Besides," I softened my voice as I continued to coax the greek witch. "Since Raven has apparently decided she lives in my shadow, I''ll always have someone who can free me. My mind remains my own. They can only control my Avatar."


    "Very well. So long as at least two of us are with you at all times." Relenting, the witch turned to look at Raven. "Can I trust you to ensure he doesn''t get into too much trouble?"


    The cambion, face void of all expression, simply nodded. I used to get some sense of Raven''s emotions, but that had changed since she became a dragon of Shadow.


    If some, like Glynda, did not like being in dragon form, Raven now stayed in that form as much as she could. I didn''t know the exact mechanics of it, only that it increased her shadow abilities and made her emotions much easier to control. If she used to only stay in her room and come out occasionally, now she only left my shadow when it came time for meals.


    "I don''t get into trouble," I said petulantly, the tension in the air easing as a few women chuckled at my face. They started to dig into the meal.


    "Who was it who tried to ride a bucking Fallingstar Beast?" Melina asked sarcastically.


    "What is that?" Diana asked. In response, Ranni conjured an illusion of the metal bull/scorpion-like creature over the table.


    "T''would make a fine mount," I could feel Artoria nod above me even as she ate. Occasionally she would hover a bite in front of my face for me to eat.


    "See," I crowed in vindication, swallowing a mouth full of fish before talking. "She gets me."


    "I would not deny that, should it be tamable, it would make a fierce mount." Melina deadpanned at me. "I only think perishing twice to one because you thought it would be more ''authentic'' to mount it wearing only leather breeches."


    "You can''t have a rodeo in armour," I explained seriously. "It has to be chaps."


    In my defence, I had been forced to find my own fun without the internet, music, or other forms of entertainment.


    Boredom was the cause of most of my deaths near the end.


    More than one woman froze, and I saw Emma staring vacantly into the air. There was a collective shudder around the table.


    I didn''t know what image the White Queen was sending into their minds, but the drool at the edge of her mouth and her murmur of ''assless chaps'' had me rolling my eyes.


    Dinner passed in such a manner, everyone telling stories, jokes and good-natured ribbing.


    Emma and Tsunade returned to their long-running argument on whether sake or wine was better.


    Glynda had drawn Robin into a discussion of her newest bodice ripper.


    Diana talked with Raven about what she had discovered while out for the day.


    Ranni and Melina were regaling Yoruichi and Scathach on some of my more embarrassing moments.


    Artoria kept up her steady stream of eating even as Priscila and Medea talked about the pets'' most recent adventure. Apparently, they had flown circles around one of the Hydras and tangled its neck into knots.


    I felt myself smiling as I looked over the chaos.


    Ours was a Mad Love, but I was happy watching this still burgeoning family.


    Eventually, the meal was done, and everyone thanked Medea as we moved to the large living room for the evening''s discussion. A few grabbed drinks as we sat in various chairs and lounges in a rough circle.


    I found myself in Scathach''s lap this time, though I expected to be passed around more than once as the night wore on.


    "Alright," I said, drawing the eyes of everyone. "I think it is about time we start. Robin, do you mind telling us what you found?"


    "I didn''t find anything," the former straw hat said. Her lips were pursed into a frown. "I searched all over the sea bed, in both locations and for tens of miles, but I saw no sign of either underwater city. No signs of any Atlantis or any civilization."


    "Could it be in a different place?" Diana asked, looking worried. I could understand her concern as she had been friends with her world''s Aquaman. Emma seemed utterly unconcerned that Namor the Sub-Mariner might not exist.


    "Possibly," Robin hedged. "They would have to be in entirely different parts of the world, though. I was in my dragon form and spread my petals quite a distance. Could your ability have wiped it away?"


    "Not if anyone was using it," I shook my head at her question. "It''s not something I pick and choose. When I ''free'' something, it is a conceptual thing. All or nothing. I didn''t want to feel garbage rubbing against me, so I made the ocean ''trash free.'' If someone was using something, like a city or underwater home, it wouldn''t be considered trash, and it would not have dissolved. Items dropped by accident count as trash. Boats in use do not. If even one sapient creature still alive considered Atalantis home, I wouldn''t be able to make it disappear."


    "If they were there, they were wiped out to a man then." Tsunade pointed out. She had accompanied Robin on the underwater excursion. While everyone was powerful in their own right, it was common sense to travel in at least pairs for safety in an unfamiliar environment.


    "Probably," I replied grimly. "There were rumours online about Atlantians and a man with powers similar to Aquaman. They were old, at least a few years, but worth a quick look. If something happened, it was probably Leviathan."


    "Arthur would have called for help if he couldn''t save his city alone," Diana responded.


    "Would he?" I asked rhetorically. "From my research, the Justice League is a relatively new institution. It was formed to be able to respond to international and galactic level threats like the Endbringers or any of the space empires. It''s entirely possible Aquaman or Namor would prefer to remain isolated to avoid the chaos of the surface world. That would leave them without allies to call on if Leviathan attacked. Even sandbagging, they would be completely defenceless against its aquakinesis."


    "We cannot assume that the people we know are the same as those we remember," Emma added.


    "Speaking of," I turned to her. "What did you discover?"


    "The X-men exist, as do the Hellfire Club." Emma flipped through her notes to pull up the relevant points. She sneered the following words. "The former is currently led by Xavier with Cyclops as his second in command, though he is thinking about stepping down now that he has a child on the way with Madelyne Pryor. My alternate is playing both sides of the fence. She enjoys the power and money the Club gives her but sympathizes with Xavier''s school and still dreams of being a teacher. She just doesn''t like things she can''t control." Her voice dripped with derision when she spoke of the other Emma Frost.


    "The Avengers are a significant force," Yoruichi continued from Emma. No longer teasing, she looked the picture of the former leader of the Onmitsukidou. With everyone travelling in pairs for safety, she had gone to the greater New York area with the Mutant. "They formed after Behemoth sacked the city, thus the name. They are considered the strongest branch of the Protectorate, the national super force. This gives them more leeway and liberties than others, and they have a wide control range."


    "Did you look in Jamaica Bay?" I asked Emma even as I tried to wrap my head around the implications of the Avengers being another branch of the Protectorate.


    The rough composition of the team was much different from its Worm and Marvel counterpart. Captain America still led them, and Tony Stark was well-known as Iron Man. Thor and Captain Marvel occasionally joined either them or the Justice League, likely when they were on earth for one reason or another. Chevalier and Prism were there, which I recognized, but apart from that, it was filled with heroes I needed to familiarize myself with.


    Spider-man was a well-known and liked vigilante.


    "Empty," the White Queen responded. "Jean Grey was not there, and neither was anyone else. Currently, everyone thinks she is dead, and I have not seen any proof to the contrary. Neither Hope Summers nor Cable exists in any of their thoughts, though I did see memories of both Magneto and Scarlet Witch."


    "We''ll need to keep an ear to the ground," I said, partly to myself. "I know the Phoenix Force exists. I haven''t seen it in a few thousand years, but that bird brain is impossible to kill. Anyone who bonds with it automatically Tier 11, at the least. But they all go insane eventually." That was an understatement and a half. Keep the mad psychic entity far from me, please and thank you. "How about you three?"


    "None on the list you gave us were at those locations," Scathach sounded disappointed above me, though I breathed a sigh of relief.


    I had sent her, Artoria, and Diana to investigate various S-class threats I was aware of. I had done some preliminary research online, but I knew better than to trust the internet too much, so I decided to have our heavy hitters do a reconnaissance. They would be able to either deal with or retreat from anything they met.


    Heartbreaker, Ashbeast, Sleeper, the Machine Army, and Nilbog were all threats these three could deal with, thanks to the Defences and their own abilities. I was unsurprised they found nothing. What was impossible to deal with in Worm was easy to do in Marvel or DC.


    I doubted Slaughter House 9 would be able to survive in a world with Superman, and since googling it turned up with no results, I figured I was right.


    The Three Blasphemies existed but were too mobile and well hidden to have these three find them in a day or two.


    That left the Endbringers as the only S-class threats from Worm I was aware of and anything the Marvel and DC would throw around. The latter were more powerful but more predictable. Comics, for all the modern-age saw them turn grim-derp sometimes, were designed that the good guys eventually won.


    The only question was what the cost was.


    On the other hand, Worm was less powerful but acted as a perpetual misery machine.


    "Anything else?" I asked Diana and Artoria as I could look them in the eye.


    The pair shifted in their seats awkwardly. I continued to eye them, though they turned away and blushed. Eventually, Diana caved and told me.


    "I had Raven teleport us to Themyscira," she admitted.


    "Ok..." I said slowly, not getting the problem.


    "We were spotted," Artoria explained. "They believed Diana to be the local version, and we ended up having a meal with them and sparing."


    "Ok..." I repeated, trying to understand why they were being so shifty. "Do we have a bunch of amazons on the warpath for my ass? Thinking I defiled their princess or something?"


    "No!" Diana denied it quickly, waiving her arms in denial. "We parted on good terms, though when my alternate returns to Paradise Island, they will know we tricked them."


    "So," I shrugged. "They know you three exist. They know you can fight. Big deal. We''ll deal with it when it comes up. Any secrecy we might have had went out the window when I crashed into the ocean. I only asked you to be circumspect because I like keeping my cards close to the chest. If we are going to be living here for a while, we cannot keep ourselves isolated from the world forever."


    "You are not mad?" Artoria looked so cute, all concerned and apologetic, that I wanted to hug her. "That we changed plans and revealed ourselves to potential enemies."


    "Why would I be mad?" The tension left me as I realized where the miscommunication was. "Diana wanted to see her home. I can understand that. I am not your master or someone you need to be afraid of. I cannot, nor do I want to, control you. I trust you all to take the actions you want. If you think they will have negative consequences, telling me would be appreciated but unnecessary."


    Looking around the room, I made sure to meet everyone''s eyes.


    "We have an eternity waiting for us. If we micromanage each other, nobody will enjoy it. My plans are thus; I am going to look around this new world. Meet some people. Try and get a human body, or one close enough, again. Once I feel secure in our knowledge and ability to overcome what comes our way, I will do the tourist thing. I am going to travel the world, see the sights and get into a few fights. Life is for the living, and I intend to live."


    "Surely you have some plan?" Emma asked incredulously. "You always have some plan or scheme. You asked us to be subtle and hide. Why else would you be here instead of anywhere else? You said you wanted to travel the multiverse."


    "You don''t get it," I felt a bit frustrated that they weren''t getting where I was coming from. More than one pair of eyes were looking at me in confusion. "Yes, this world wouldn''t have been my first choice of stop in other situations. We aren''t at the top of the food chain. But that doesn''t mean it isn''t without its merit. If we left a world any time things didn''t go our way, we would quickly grow bored. The point isn''t to find paradise. The point is that anywhere we are is paradise. It is up to us to enjoy it."


    "So if I wished to rejoin the Justice League," Diana asked hypothetically. I could see the others also giving my words some thought.


    "Go right ahead," I shrugged my little squid arms. "If Emma wanted to kill her counterpart and replace her and syphon off her money, I would support her just as if Scathach decided one day to fight the Avengers for the heck of it. Glynda, do you still want to be a teacher? Priscila, do you want to sing professionally? Artoria, do you want to visit Britain? As I said, if you think it would inconvenience us, let us know; otherwise, if you want to do something, do it. How you all choose to live your life is up to you at the end of the day. I''ll support you as you support me. Communication in a relationship is essential, but subservience is not." I let my words hang for a moment to sink in. I was about to continue when I was interrupted by an unlikely sour.


    "I want a child."


    For a second, there was silence as the thirteen of us stared at the speaker. I knew children were undoubtedly in my future, though I thought it would be at least a few months, if not years, before the subject was broached. To be honest, I had expected Medea, Melina, Glynda, or Scathach to be the ones to ask.


    Not Tsunade.


    "I''ll need a body that can reproduce first," I answered the former Hokage. She looked so serious about the subject that I didn''t make any jokes about tentacles. "But after that, we can talk. I am not opposed, but children are a big commitment. For me especially."


    "So when you said you''d support anything we wanted," Yoruichi hedged, looking a bit nervous.


    "I meant it," I answered earnestly. "I have my preferences, and don''t expect me to do anything I don''t want, but that doesn''t apply to you all. I like to be tricky and hide my abilities, so I asked everyone to stay hidden, but I know some of you don''t like the cautious approach. We''re all adults here. We can talk things over. That is what communication is for. I am not your ruler; this is not a ''harem.'' This is a family. One that I hope will last forever."


    Scathach hugged me tightly to herself, and I pretended I didn''t see any wet eyes.


    I was uncomfortable being so genuine.


    I liked to keep things light when possible, and talking about my feelings was rare, but something needed to be said if this relationship was to develop appropriately. Though this had all started with the Waifu Catalogue, I did not want slavish devotion.


    My ''type'' of woman was one who could think and act for herself.


    Perhaps sensing my discomfort, Melina saved me from the warm gazes sent my way.


    "Except in the bedroom," she deadpanned. "You definitely want someone to do as they are told there."


    A new tension filled the air as more than one woman blushed, stared at Melina and I, or fidgeted in their seat. It reminded them that I had only been intimate with the kindling maiden of the thirteen women present. More than that, we had been together for decades. If there was anyone who knew me and my fetishes, it would be her.


    "This and that are two different things," I responded with a smirk as I felt Scathach''s nipples press into my back. I was not the type who shied away from the topic of sex. It was essential to be open about your preferences; otherwise, you risked both parties being unsatisfied. "Anything is permissible between consenting partners. Besides, I never heard you complain. Right, Ranni?"


    "Eep," the goddess blushed violet as all eyes turned to her. Was embarrassing her by pointing out her voyeurism mean? Probably. Did I find it funny anyway? Definitely!


    Things devolved from there.


    I watched Yoruichi grill Melina on my preferences, teasing Ranni intermittently. Glynda tried to look uninterested and failed miserably. Raven took the chance to slip back into my shadow when she thought no one was looking. Melina said something that had Diana cough up her drink in surprise. Medea and Tsunade were talking about possible children and everything they''d entail.


    All around me were smiles, jokes, and the sound of friends enjoying a night together.


    I now had a better idea of where we were concerning Worm, Marvel, and DC. There were still a few leads I wanted to follow and people to meet. I had a lot I wanted to learn, but that could wait for tomorrow.


    Though I lived in interesting times and had no plans to die any time soon, I couldn''t help but feel my happy ending was all I dreamed of.

 Emancipation 2

    <div>


    Now everybody''s got advice they just keep on givin''


    Doesn''t mean too much to me


    Lots of people have to make believe they''re livin''


    Can''t decide who they should be


    I understand about indecision


    But I don''t care if I get behind


    People living in competition


    All I want is to have my peace of mind


    ********


    "I love humanity," I muttered fondly as the two men left us with a pile of magazines and the remains of our breakfast. "We are a bunch of freaks."


    "They were not that odd," Glynda said in their defence. I guess they had warmed her up. When the pair had sat down at our table, the former teacher had maintained a death grip on her hidden crop. "They were rather nice young men."


    "They weren''t, but they also weren''t what I''d call normal," I said. "They were a pair of gay men, dressed in more colours than a rainbow, wandering the streets of New York in the middle of the day. When they spotted a pair of women sitting in a cafe, one seven feet tall and the other with pointed ears, their first response was to invite them to their club."


    "As I understand, being ''hit on'' is common in the modern world." Medea finished her coffee with a grimace. I hadn''t bothered having them order anything for me. Compared to what we had on the Island, everything else was trash. "Courting is different from my day, though I cannot deny its benefits."


    "They were not hitting on you," I pointed out. "They wanted you to be models for their clothes. Or didn''t you notice how much they talked about the trim of your dress, the cut of your sleeves, or your Mediterranean skin tone? Besides, they had so much trouble keeping their hands off each other that I doubt they spent a full minute looking at either of you. Based on their rings, I would say they are newlyweds in their honeymoon phase."


    "I had noticed their rings," Glynda also finished her drink and stood from her seat. She left some money on the table, picked me up, and started to make her way out of the lovely cafe we had been sitting in. "Though I do not think their clothes were too outlandish."


    "You come from a world where colours have a very different meaning," I explained. "I wasn''t just talking about them anyway."


    "Those magazines you were reading," Medea said.


    "Tabloids are a great way to keep one''s fingers on the pulse of the current zeitgeist of society. They are cheap, easily digestible, and filled with whatever the writers think will sell. Paparazzi, for all their problems, are like bloodhounds. If they smell a story, they will chase it to the end of the earth. Combining them with successful news outlets can tell a lot. If you know what you are doing, at least."


    "Did you learn anything of relevance?"


    "Plenty," I had time to kill while we waited for our target to get home. I had worried we were wasting our time after the first hour, and the women were growing bored. The two unexpected arrivals had kept them entertained while I continued my reading.


    Medea''s creation, a silver armband inlaid with charms on my right ''arm,'' didn''t make me invisible. All it did was provide me with a moving Boundry Field that dissuaded most people from taking notice of me. The general populous only saw me as a stuffed doll and would discount everything I did as their imagination. Usually, something like that would be challenging with Nasuverse Magecraft.


    Medea was a witch from the Age of the Gods with an Item Construction ranked A.


    There was very little she could not build, given enough time, materials, and power.


    And I could provide infinite power.


    "Such as?" Glynda asked.


    "About us? There is debate on whether I am a god sent to kill the ''false angel,'' whether I am an alien and Endbringers are my natural prey, or if Dragon, the heroine, sent out a call for help to the universe, and I answered. That last one seemed to think I would take her as my bride as payment. The general consensus so far is either wait and see or, and I quote from one magazine: ''Please eat more, Dragon 2.0.''"


    "You? A god?" Medea giggled behind her hand at the thought. I chuckled as well.


    "Apart from that, Tony Stark might be stepping down from the Avengers due to an alcohol problem. The Fantastic Four remain in retirement due to family reasons. Diana Prince, the well-known diplomat from Themyscria and Wonder Woman, has recently returned to Washington DC. And those are only the people columns. Other news includes there is a rising sentiment against Mutants. People here seem to think that any power that mutates the body makes one a ''mutant.'' We know the difference between mutants and parahumans from Worm, as do those who study powers, but the average person doesn''t. The last few things I learned included the ongoing party for the death of the Simurgh is still boosting alcohol sales. A UN summit to discuss the massive Dragon in the pacific. And a recent escape attempt from the Raft."


    "And that is all important?"


    "Not directly," I admitted. "It might not affect us, but it does tell us what is on the mind of the average person on the street. Every magazine I read was headlined by stories about the ''Super Scene.'' Even though this country is an election year, all news about the candidates and their platforms was relegated to smaller articles. Nothing about any other country doesn''t involve some hero or villain. The same in the major newspapers. They were more concerned with Superman''s defeat of Bizarro than anything political, economic, or creative."


    "They are living in fear," Medea said in realization.


    "Exactly."


    "Why?" Glynda asked, looking between the two of us.


    "Because they live in a world that can take their lives at any time," Medea explained to the blonde Huntress. "In the Age of the Gods, when mysticism was much more common, the average citizenry lived in fear of monsters and Heroes. They needed the latter to defend them from the former, but they would do all they could to cast the hero down once the quest was complete."


    "I find that hard to believe," Glynda said. "While huntsmen were treated cautiously, people understood that they stood against the tides of darkness. The heroes of this world do the same."


    "The tallest nail gets the hammer." I pipped in. "Do not think of the heroes or villains in this world as Huntsman in yours. Think of them as Maidens or people with magic. Imagine a world filled with Ozpins and Salems. On top of that, more are appearing every day. The earliest verified superhero was Captain America during WWII. More joined him during that time but only a handful. Two dozen people at most, one for every hundred million regular people. Ten years ago? One in a million. Today? One in ten thousand."


    "I see," Glynda hugged me tighter as we approached the three-story townhouse. "I can understand why they wish to keep track of such individuals and their actions."


    "It''s not just that they can''t control the heroes," Medea expounded. "That is what Protectorate is for. It is that, by their very nature, heroes are passive. They respond to a crisis. They cannot stop them, only mitigate them. Villains, monsters, and the like have the initiative. Whether the monster is slain or not doesn''t matter to those caught in its rampage. Weapons will only work on the weakest of threats, those who weren''t a problem in the first place. An army didn''t defeat the hydra. Heracles did. They need heroes to fight what they cannot."


    "We''re here," I stopped their discussion as we ascended the front steps. I wanted to hear more about Medea''s knowledge and experience with greek heroes, but that could wait. I wanted to avoid risking our target stepping out again after we had waited hours for him to get home. "Just like we practiced."


    "I cannot believe you convinced me to do this," Glynda sighed as she held me up in front of the door. "It seems to be my fate to cater to the whims of old mages."


    "I appreciate his sense of humour," Medea said with a smile as she pressed the doorbell. "Even if it''s not as funny as he thinks it is, it breaks the tension."


    "Ouch." I winced at that burn before assuming my position as we heard footsteps approach the door.


    ********


    Stephan Strange was tired.


    Though his mastery of the mystic arts allowed him to keep up activity long past the average man would have collapsed from exhaustion, mental fatigue still built up over time. He had just returned to the Sanctum Sanctorum. It was only the second time in three weeks.


    Whatever that Dragon, the Elden Lord, had done to the dimensional walls was something the Sorcerer Supreme had never seen before. They weren''t damaged in the conventional sense, there weren''t a bunch of holes in reality now, but something had definitely changed in their structure. They were more fluid, less rigid, in allowing passage.


    There was no other way to explain the cascade of extradimensional entities trying to make their way into this reality simultaneously.


    For the last three weeks, Stephen had been fending off incursions from Aggamon, Dagoth, Dormammu, Satannish and Nightmare, as well as a host of lesser beings. He had called on Dr. Fate numerous times for aid, and the Lord of Order seemed to enjoy the chance to ''unwind'' after the disastrous meeting with the Dragon.


    If he could, Stephen would banish the Dragon as soon as possible, if only in petty revenge.


    That was a pipe dream currently.


    The heroes had yet to find out anything about the beast since its landing. The only real discovery had been that the Jewel was a pocket dimension of some sort. One that overlapped with Real Space and had the most secure dimensional wall Strange had ever seen.


    Not even the Orb of Agamotto had been able to pierce the mists surrounding the Island.


    All this combined made for a very cranky, tired, and frustrated Sorcerer Supreme.


    He was looking forward to sitting down with a good book, his favourite cup of tea, and then taking a rather long nap.


    It was no surprise that he let out a groan of frustration when the doorbell rang.


    Stephen was ready to ask Wong to tell whoever rang to come back later before remembering that his assistant had stepped out for some errands. So with reluctance, the former surgeon dragged himself from his plush chair and made his way to the front door.


    It was probably for the best, he told himself. Thanks to the wards around the Sanctum, nobody should be able to ring his bell unless they were either desperate for his aid or were mages.


    With his long years as Sorcerer Supreme behind him, Stephen Strange was ready for almost anything. He had dealt with world-ending threats, crazy mages, and even an anthropomorphic duck version of himself.


    His meeting with the drunk Ducktor Strange, Mallard of the Mystic Arts, would probably be top of his weird list.


    Used to the odd as he was, Stephen still blinked in surprise at what he found when he opened the door.


    Two women stood on his landing, neither familiar to him.


    The first was short, less than five and a half feet tall. She looked like a woman enjoying a day off with pale purple hair, pointed ears, and a conservative sundress. She was smiling in good humour at him as he opened the door.


    The other was a complete contrast. Over seven feet tall, with blonde hair and green eyes behind a set of glasses. Her face was neutral, and she dressed professionally in a blouse-skirt combo.


    Steven took the pair in with the speed of a man used to fighting for his life. What the tall blonde held in her outstretched hands really drew him to a halt.


    To his mortal eyes, it looked like a cute doll. Its large black eyes, like that of a stuffed animal, and dozens of tiny tentacle limbs brought to mind some sort of franchise mascot.


    "Good day, sir," the blonde said in a deadpan tone. "Have you heard the good word of our lord and saviour, Baby Cthulhu?"


    The Sorcerer Supreme barely heard the words coming out of her mouth.


    Any other time someone pulling something like this would not only get the door slammed into their face, but they would also receive a few light hexes for wasting his time.


    Instead, Stephen stood there, mouth slightly agape in a greeting unsaid as his mystical senses went haywire.


    It stared at him, black eyes boring into his soul as he was laid bare before the monstrosity. Covered in blade-like fins, dozens of long tentacles moved in unnatural patterns. Its humanoid shape twisted and warped, at times long and sinuous, at others thick and bulbous. It floated in a void of darkness, its pale white skin radiating a sickly light.


    Why hadn''t his wards caught something like this? How had all this power gone unnoticed in one of the largest cities in the world? When had it arrived? What did it want?


    Stephen thought he saw stars winking in and out of existence behind it, only to realize with horror that they weren''t stars. The eyes twinkled at him in good humour. Gurgling laughter rang as blood tumbled from the pale eyes in a disturbing sight. The eyes were in on the joke.


    The thing''s head, chitinous and fleshy, twisted at him in a mockery of a nod. An orifice opened, a yawning void filled with teeth, blood, and tentacles.


    Looking through that monstrosity of a mouth, a great EYE met his gaze. Fiery orange with a slit pupil, it evaluated him.


    It spoke to him through the abomination. Even this crime against all that was holy and sane was but its puppet.


    Its voice resounded with Life and Freedom. The sound spoke of the birth in spring, tearing off your clothes to run through wildflowers, flying through the air on wings of joy and wonder. It held the promise of release from burdens. The spectacle, terror, and hope of the unknown.


    It was beautiful.


    It made his head hurt.


    "I come in peace," It said. "Take me to your leader."


    Its words, those of the tiny squid-like creature, shook Stephen from his fugue.


    Perhaps he was cranky at being disturbed in his moment of rest.


    Maybe it was the shock of that vision or the headache it caused.


    More than likely, a part of the reason was due to that stupid introduction, and the other part was long ingrained instincts that came from dealing with beings from beyond time and space.


    Either way, the Sorcerer Supreme reacted as one might expect when an alien monstrosity knocks on his front door.


    ********


    As I spoke, I kept my pose, a parody of a crucifixion.


    It was all I could do not to break down in giggles at the mage''s poleaxed expression.


    Until I had a human body, I wasn''t going to be anyone''s idea of a welcome house guest.


    While my current Avatar was much cuter after all the effort I had gone through over the last three weeks since awakening, it was still a baby Cthulhu. So, seeing as we were going to meet someone who dealt with the eldrich abominations regularly, I had to make myself seem as unthreatening as possible.


    And what was more unthreatening than a bad joke?


    That I found his reaction funny was a complete coincidence.


    My first indication that my first impression plan might have gone wrong was when the medallion that hung around the Sorcerer Supreme''s neck, the Eye of Agamotto, began to glow with a bright white light.


    Glynda reacted quickly, pulling me to her chest and moving her crop to her hand. Medea took a step back, her dress covered by a cloak that billowed behind her as purple magic circles gathered in its folds.


    A haze filled the air instantly as the house shimmered with a golden light. My long experience with magic and my Talent told me everything. I felt the wards of the house identify as a threat. Medea froze, her face set in a snarl as the wards caught her. I was Free, of course, and so was Glynda since she was touching me. Sensing the failure of the restraining wards, more violent protections started to activate.


    Strange levitated into the air, power gathering into his hands to blast us to smithereens or banish us from this plane of existence.


    He was caught by a tendril of shadow wrapping around his leg and pulling him to the floor. It tried to crawl higher but was prevented by the light the Eye released. The light didn''t seem to damage the shadow, but it agitated it as the glow brightened.


    All this happened in the space of a second.


    "Stop!" I shouted.


    Everyone on my side froze. It wasn''t a command seal, but it was close. A red glow pulsed from my chest.


    The Sorcerer Supreme took the time to increase the output of light from the Eye, freeing himself from Raven''s hold. The Sanctum''s wards continued to charge their deadly defences but didn''t release their payloads. Apart from that, no further action was forthcoming, though I did hear him chanting something under his breath.


    I dropped from Glynda''s hands and shuffled my way to Medea on my tiny tentacles. Touching the greek witch slightly, I Freed her from the ward''s imprisonment.


    "Now that we are all calmed down," I said as Medea dismissed her magic circles. Even constrained, she was ready to blast the house to pieces. Glynda remained tense, prepared for a restart of hostilities. "How about some introductions? I''m Mikael. This is Glynda and Medea. Raven is the one in the shadow. She''s shy. As I said, we come in peace. Why don''t we go inside and have a talk?"


    "I''d rather not," Strange replied. Power continued to gather in the wards, enough to destroy a good portion of Manhattan. Way too much of an overkill for a bad joke in my book. "Tell me what you really are, Elden Lord! Why are you here, and how you got into this dimension undetected? Then I might not destroy you, Abomination."


    "Medea," I said in reply.


    "Rule Breaker," She whispered, kneeling on the step of the house and pressing a jagged dagger into the house''s foundation.


    The wards surrounding the Sanctum Sanctorum were some of the strongest in the world. They were not impenetrable, but they had stood up to the likes of Dormammu, hundreds of monsters, and more than a dozen violent mages during Strange''s tenure as Sorcerer Supreme. If a nuclear weapon fell on New York, those in the Sanctum would remain safe.


    In a moment, it was all undone.


    Where once was a bastion of magical defences, now was a regular townhouse filled with mystical artifacts. I wasn''t worried about any sort of prisoners contained in the building. If Strange was stupid enough to connect a jail system to his defences, he wouldn''t be Sorcerer Supreme.


    Strange stumbled backwards as the benefits of being on his home turf, his workshop, were stripped from him.


    Regarding reactions to threats, using Rule Breaker was a bit extreme. But I really didn''t like being dismissed or talked down to. I was here not as a supplicant or client but as someone looking to alert the Sorcerer Supreme to a failure in his duty.


    Just because I came in peace didn''t mean I wasn''t prepared for war.


    "Ready to talk now?" I asked the horrified man.


    ********


    "This is some good tea," I told the man sitting opposite me. As I drained one of the cups, the teapot floated over and filled it again. It joined the other two held in other tentacles. Medea and Glynda were on each side of me, and Raven hid in my shadow. Their tea remained untouched.


    The Huntress kept her eyes on the Sorcerer, ready to react in a moment.


    Medea''s head was on a swivel. She had returned to her day dress and was taking the opportunity to look over all the magic in the house.


    Though the wards were dispelled, the building remained seeped in active magic. Shelves that held more than they should. Furniture that twisted to the most comfortable fit. Windows that looked out on impossible landscapes. Hundreds of other little spells had built up over the years to make the house feel alive.


    "Thank you," the good doctor responded to my compliment with a polite nod. His eyes flicked to Medea constantly. The greek witch barely paid him any mind besides to glare for a moment. After realizing that we could cause some real trouble if we wished and that we did come in peace, he begrudgingly invited us inside. "The plants that grow it are not native to this dimension, so I have to get it personally."


    "I can tell, I usually don''t like flower blends, but this one was such a smooth flavour I can''t help but keep drinking."


    "I find it helps me calm down after a long period of stress."


    "I can see why," I nodded amiably despite his glare, taking another sip.


    Was it petty of me to keep up pleasantries when he wanted to get on with things? Yes, it was.


    Did I care? Not even a little.


    I was a petty bastard when I wanted to be.


    Stephan Strange stared at me, sitting in his living room and sipping his tea for several long seconds.


    "Mikael," Glynda sighed in exasperation. She finally released her tension and took up her own cup. "Leave the poor man alone. Didn''t you come here for something?"


    "Fine," I smiled as I set my cups down. "My apologies Dr. Strange. I suppose I was disappointed that you would judge me so quickly, even though I stated my peaceful intent. I allowed my childishness to get the better of me."


    Though I said it as an apology, it was also a condemnation. Judging by the increased glare, the good doctor realized as well. Nevertheless, he relented, the heat leaving his eyes as he nodded at me.


    "I must apologize for that," he said, setting his cup down on the table. "I have been a bit stressed as of late. A recent draconic arrival has stirred up a hornet''s nest that I have been dealing with for the better part of a month. My nerves were frayed, and I lashed out."


    Touche.


    Pleasantries exchanged and barbs traded, we could move on to the main topic.


    "I will be honest with you, Doctor," I started. "I arrived on this planet and noticed an immediate concern. One that falls under the purview of Sorcerer Supreme as it is a multi-dimensional threat. I sought you out to bring it to your attention, should you have missed it."


    Enjoying this book? Seek out the original to ensure the author gets credit.


    "What is it?" Sitting straighter in his seat, the former surgeon focused all his attention on me.


    "Superpowers," I replied seriously. "Specifically, the one''s originating from a type of brain tumour that my people called Corona Pollentia. They act as a conduit to multiversal entities that seek to sow conflict to grow. They grant superpowers to a host species, gather data on their use, then reap the species to reclaim what is theirs. They then move to a different planet to start the process anew."


    "You are talking about the Worms," Stephen said with realization. I watched him lean back in his chair with relief.


    "Worms?" Medea asked, turning her attention from a bespelled painting.


    "That is the common term for them in the intergalactic community translated to english. I believe the Shi''ar first coined it," the Sorcerer explained to the witch. "They are bottom feeders. They prey on undeveloped planets or those barely into their space age. Any sufficiently advanced society notices them right away and kills them. They are only a multi-dimensional threat in the most basic and crude terms. Little more than planet-sized vermin."


    "Nevertheless, your home planet is infested with them," I pressed. "It has been for some time. The only way to deal with vermin is to exterminate them before they ruin a home."


    "Normally, I agree with you," Dr. Strange nodded amiably. I felt he was happy to hold information I didn''t have. "They landed on an empty version of the earth during my predecessor''s time as Sorcerer Supreme. She investigated and found them to be no threat."


    "No threat?" I asked in surprise.


    "Indeed." Rather than continue, he retook his tea cup and sipped it with a smirk. I could recognize and appreciate a bit of irony when I saw it, so I nodded in acknowledgement and took up my cup again.


    Glynda wasn''t so graceful.


    "Are you going to explain, or shall we sit here for another twenty minutes sipping tea?" How much politicking she had to deal with Ozpin? I understood she was straight-laced, despite what she let me get away with, but there was a particular order to meetings between ''rivals.'' You had to allow the other small victories when they came. That kept things amicable.


    "Let the men play their games," Medea said as she stood from her chair and started perusing the shelves of books directly. "Your collection, limited to this open space, is curious. I imagine you have a more esoteric one hidden somewhere, but a few of these tomes have piqued my interest. I do not suppose you would be amenable to a trade?"


    "I would be open," Strange said cautiously. "Though you will forgive me if I prefer other knowledge since I doubt you have much that my predecessors haven''t collected. Such as the nature of that dagger earlier."


    "Rule Breaker?" Medea asked, only half paying attention as she took a tome from the shelf. "I can''t give it to you, nor will it work for anyone but I. I do have an original copy of Pythagoras''s treaties on animism. Notes and all. That will do for a few of these books. I''m sure you have other copies somewhere. You won''t miss them."


    "How?" The doctor shot to his feet, staring at the witch in surprise. "All those have been lost to the ages. The last known copy of a copy was burnt in Alexandria."


    "I''ll take that as a deal then," Medea said with a smirk. Five books of various sizes floated from the shelf and disappeared into her cloak. A tattered piece of papyrus appeared in her hands, which she passed over to the Sorcerer, who opened it and devoured its contents with his eyes. "I will throw in Empedocles'' note on the human soul if you would be willing to answer my husband''s questions."


    I allowed myself a smirk as the Sorcerer Supreme staggered in surprise at Medea''s words.


    I had spent less time on the Island and in the Mansion than any of the women. I knew, intellectually, that our library contained any book we could ever want from our home worlds, but I hadn''t thought to leverage that lost knowledge as a bargaining chip.


    I had brought Medea originally as insurance with Rule Breaker. Her noble phantasm could no-sell most of what Strange could throw at us, and I could take care of the rest. My chest tightened with affection and pride as I saw her shark-like smirk.


    "You are her," Strange said. He had retaken his seat and was watching Medea studiously. "Medea the Witch. The original from the legends. Wife of Jason. Argonaut. Last known to hold the Golden Fleece."


    "I would rather not talk about that man," Medea said with a grimace. "I have traded up in the world, and any reminder of him ruins my good mood."


    "You''ve been to earth before," Strange said, looking at me. "Thousands of years ago. Maybe multiple times. There are a bunch of myths about white dragons around the world and lost continents around the world. I know that Island is not Atlantis, that always resided under the waves, but Plato reported a different continent in his works."


    "Something like that," I nodded my head though I giggled inside. Let him make his own mistakes. I would sit back and watch the confusion. "But you were telling us about these ''Worms'' and how they are not a threat. The Ancient One isn''t well known for making bad judgements, but I would still like to hear her reasoning."


    "How did you... Nevermind. You are correct that she had a grasp of foreknowledge that few could match. While I might be her magical equal today, that is one aspect I have remained behind." Strange narrated wistfully. "I never talked to her directly on the subject, but I have notes on her discoveries. She found the two Worms in alternate realities. There appeared to be some issue with their landings, and they both crashed. They survived, but their higher functions did not. The pair operated a little more than bioorganic machines. They still sent out their powers but received no input back. No free will, no creativity."


    "So why not kill them?" I asked. Could the Abbadon encounter have been more violent in this world? Instead of just hitting The Thinker, shards collided with The Warrior as well? "Put them out of their misery."


    "She initially planned on it," Stephan nodded. "I do not know what she saw on those planets but whatever it was, and her predictions from it convinced her the world was better off with humanity gaining those powers. She has been right so far. Without the conflict drive and with no means of continuing the cycle, those who gained their powers from the Worms are indistinguishable from Mutants without extreme examination. Due to her decision, the world has more heroes than ever."


    "Despite the Endbringers?" I couldn''t help but ask.


    "What do the Endbringers have to do with anything," he looked at me, confused.


    "They are a result of the ''Worms,''" I explained. He had been so well informed that his lack of knowledge on the subject surprised me. "They are conflict engines. Designed to push the world into more serious situations without exterminating the species to draw more data."


    "How certain of this are you?" His eyes stared into mine with utmost focus as if trying to peer into my mind.


    "Ninety-eight percent?" I half asked. I didn''t know how to quantify out-of-context knowledge. So far, I haven''t seen anything to prove that the Endbringers weren''t a result of the Entities. "I ate one, after all."


    "And that destroyed the Simurgh?" Strange looked at me dubiously. "Forgive me for saying this, but we have tried all possibilities for destroying the creatures. No matter what we did, they reformed or escaped their confinement. I personally banished Behemoth to other dimensions four times, and it returned no worse for wear. How do you know your consumption of the Simurgh will not be the latest failure, and she won''t reform to terrorize some other city."


    "Because I destroyed her core?" I asked rhetorically. No matter what he said, I was sure the Simurgh would not be coming back. I had felt her Die. My Life Element, my connection with Death, and my lack of still being Bound to her all pointed to one fact.


    She wasn''t coming back.


    "Core?"


    "You know, her nucleus. Her real body. The winged woman everyone sees is like her armour. She and the other Endbringers are just a bunch of hyperdimensional silicone flesh driven by cores moving around the body. Destroy the core, and they go poof. Sometimes literally, depending on how you do it."


    "A core!" He exclaimed as he stood, pacing around the room. I thought it was an overreaction to such a simple idea. "They have to have an anchor to tether them to this reality. Why didn''t we ever think about a core? But we have yet to find one. We should have discovered something even if it moves around the body."


    I watched him pace around for a bit, muttering to himself and couldn''t help but feel a bit put off by the situation. Something didn''t sit right with me here. Was it an information thing? I knew things that seemed obvious to me but wouldn''t be to others.


    "He seems rather animated," Glynda leaned in to whisper in my ''ear.'' "You would guess he heard the most outlandish idea in the world."


    "It might be," I said, trying to see where he was coming from. "We might have done the equivalent of providing Ozpin with a method of killing Salem. I don''t understand why people like him, Reed Richards, or Batman never thought about a core before. After the first few times, I could understand, but it has been years now."


    "Could there not be a core?" Glynda asked.


    "The Simurgh had one. It was how I killed her. The other must have one too. Some sort of Stranger effect, maybe? Even in the book, a lot was left vague. He seems to have realized it now, so it may need someone to point it out. It might just be a misinformation overlap that I cleared up."


    "If so, we needn''t worry about the other Endbringers." Glynda took me in her lap. "The other heroes, once they learn of this, should be able to take care of them."


    "You still didn''t answer my question," I asked the pacing Sorcerer Supreme. He stopped and looked at me. "Even with the Endbringers, was it worth keeping the Worms alive?"


    "Yes," he answered without hesitation. "The Endbringers, for all their destruction, pale before the good the heroes have done with their powers. If the Ancient One saw the Endbringers, she would also have seen that we would overcome them and do further good. When you are Sorcerer Supreme, you must make difficult decisions like that."


    "All right," I nodded. I had come here for a consultation with the Sorcerer Supreme and received it. While it wasn''t the best result, that of destroying the Entities and their Shards, it was one I could live with. At least I didn''t have to worry about the Golden Idiot ending the world on a whim. "Then I thank you for your time."


    If I had been around when they first landed, I would have killed them ASAP. Now? If they died, we risked the shards going all Titan on us. In a way, Eden and Zion being brain dead were the best results I could hope for.


    Glynda picked me up, and we made for the door. Medea followed us after leaving another scroll on the table.


    "If that is all you are here for, I won''t detain you. But answer me this, Mikael. Why are you here, on this planet? What are your intentions?"


    I couldn''t see him, held in Glynda''s arms as I was, but I could imagine him debating trying to take us down depending on my answer.


    "I''m going to find a way to get a human body and meet with someone," I answered while thinking of that gay couple from not too long ago. "Then I am going to enjoy my honeymoon."


    We left the Sanctum quickly, and I had Raven verify we were not followed. I wasn''t too worried even if we were, but an ounce of caution could prevent a pound of harm.


    "Am I being too cautious?" I asked my companions as we meandered around New York. Our final target for the day wasn''t expected to be home for another two hours, so we were killing time and seeing the sights.


    "No." "Perhaps."


    "You cannot be too cautious," Medea continued after a nod from Glynda. "Knowing more than anyone else, knowing what people want and can do to you, is the only way to remain safe. We have a lot of only half-relevant knowledge from you, Raven, Diana, and Emma. You have taken steps to verify or disprove various hypotheses about that knowledge. To act as if we know everything due to our sources would be more dangerous than knowing nothing."


    She echoed my concerns, but I nodded to Glynda for her to elaborate on her position.


    "While caution and information gathering are vital to a secure operation, you are obsessing too much on gathering that information. We have a good grasp of this world now. Any further information we need can be assembled at will. They are known unknowns. You must not remain passive for fear of lack of information."


    I could see where she was coming from with that as well. I wasn''t the biggest RWBY fan, but I could see how trapped Ozpin had been in his passivity, continually ceding the initiative to Salem.


    "Why didn''t you ask him about rituals or spells that could get you a body?" Medea asked, taking me from my thoughts as we passed Washington Square Park. I wanted to show them the Empire State Building and Avengers Tower while we were in town.


    "Leverage," I answered. "I am not going to trust anyone to either build me a body or provide me with the means to get one unless I have some leverage over them. Your move with the scrolls was brilliant, but if the Sorcerer Supreme could put some sort of failsafe in my body, he would. He is part of the Illuminati, after all. In fact, I would bet three tentacles that as soon as we left, he contacted everyone he could with whatever information he got from us. Besides, I trust you to find a way if magic can get me a body."


    I took glee in seeing Medea freeze in place, hands going to her flushed cheeks and wiggling in joy.


    I was reminded of Carnival Phantasm and the Emiya Family timelines, the only cannon routes in my mind, as she collapsed into joyous giggles. She was so easy to please.


    I almost felt bad for complimenting her into an absolute mess.


    Almost.


    "Can magic even give you a body?" Glynda asked.


    "I don''t know," I shrugged. "I am kind of winging it here. Body Talent gives everyone a one-time optimization to our ideal form. It is applied automatically when you sign up for the catalogue or are bound, so I got it when I was first put in the Cell. I didn''t sign up for any sort of shapeshifting abilities, and, for all their mysterious powers, Great Ones in Bloodborne are not known as shapeshifters either. Even my size change is only possible due to observing Priscila doing the same and replicating with my Talents. I can manipulate my flesh slightly due to my Life Element, but that is the thing about Life. It doesn''t care what form it takes. As far as it''s concerned, a human body is a regression towards a lesser state of being."


    "He is hard locked to only one Avatar as well," Medea added after leaving her happy place. "We tried connecting him to a homunculus. As soon as we do, that body becomes his Avatar and defaults to his Great One status."


    "I''ve tried dismissing my Avatars and creating a new one, but that also defaults to my GOO form. If I had known this would happen, I wouldn''t have gone for the Childhood''s Beginning ending. Curse my completionist tendencies!" I shook a tiny tentacle at the sky, cursing past me.


    That guy always fucked me over.


    "At this point, our best bet is for him to keep practicing his limited shapeshifting abilities. Learning with Tsunade helps, but it is still a long time coming. Unless we can come up with a way to force his body into certain shapes, that is his best bet."


    "I wish I had some of Ozpin''s magic," Glynda said. "He was able to give the Branwins the ability to shapeshift to birds. I''m sure you could manipulate it into- what''s that?"


    Glynda''s arms tightened around me, and she shifted to one side of the street to press up against a building. Medea followed her as screams rang through the streets. I did not have the practice with Haki that the women had, so I couldn''t sense what they could. I heard crashes and bangs in the distance, but I couldn''t get a good look at the situation due to being pressed against the huntress'' cleavage.


    Thankfully, the reason for the disturbance was coming our way.


    Crashing down the street, the ten-foot-tall, half-mechanical form of the Rhino tore through the cars in his way as pedestrians were sent fleeing by his rampage. He wasn''t moving too fast, but he was being incredibly destructive.


    Behind him, swinging between buildings and pulling cars and people out of the Rhino''s way, was the red and blue form of Spider-man.


    "You can''t take this turn, Aleksei," the arachnid-themed hero shouted over the screams. "It''s a one-way street. You''ll get a ticket!"


    The vigilante shot a web at the villain''s leg to slow him down but was forced to shift focus to pull an occupied vehicle out of the Rhino''s way.


    "Bug!" The Russian yelled, pausing in his rampage to pick up a motorcycle and toss it at the hero.


    "Arachnid! Why can nobody get that right? You don''t hear me calling you a horse, do you?"


    "I''ll crush you!"


    "Should we do anything?" Glynda asked, her hand tightening on her crop.


    I seriously debated the question. Even if Spider-man couldn''t stop him quickly, the Avengers would get Rhino eventually. Ultimately, I fell back on my default questions whenever the option to be a hero presented itself.


    Would it inconvenience me? Not really.


    Could I get something out of it? Possibly.


    "My first day off the Island," I sighed. "I should have known. I knew there was a breakout from the Raft. The Avengers will probably be here soon. Raven, can you be ready to transport us? Glynda, grab him. I want to conduct a very methodical and scientific test. Medea, continue to look pretty."


    Though I was a bit bummed my ''date'' had been interrupted, I decided to take this as an opportunity to try something.


    Purple Aura surrounded the Rhino, lifting the two-tonne man into the air. I could see the Russian''s face contorted in surprise but trapped in the Huntress''s semblance. He couldn''t even scream. She had risen to Tier 7 while on the Island, giving her an increase in power and control that she never had before.


    "Woah," Spider-man said in surprise as he alighted on a nearby street lamp. "Rhinos can fly now. You''ve been holding out on me, Aleksei." Though he said so, his head remained on a swivel.


    He found us in moments.


    Medea continued to wiggle in happiness, unconcerned for the destruction around us, but Glynda was very conspicuous. Begin seven feet tall, holding a Baby Cthulhu doll and a riding crop, and surrounded with a purple aura of power would do that.


    As soon as he saw us, Spider-man flinched back, almost falling from the light post. He whipped his head around, looking skyward. I did as well, as Glynda approached the massive form of Aleksei Systevich, wondering if his Spider-Sense was alerting him to something approaching.


    "And who might you be purty lady," the vigilante asked, affecting a fake western accent even as he continued to look around cautiously. "I thank you fer the assist. The sheriff in these parts will be along shortly. If you could keep this here bandit in irons, it''d be mighty appreciated."


    "You''d make a terrible cowboy," I deadpanned at the vigilante. He flinched again, eyes passing over me as I poured power into Medea''s armband, before looking skyward once more. He could hear my voice, but focusing on me took considerable effort. Strange could only do so because he was so intuned with the mystical side of things. I knew Spider-man wasn''t part of the PRT, so he couldn''t officially arrest people, but he was well regarded enough that they wouldn''t try to detain him, so he had nothing to fear for staying here. I didn''t want to be bogged down, though. "Anyway, we''re just tourists. We''ll be out of your web in a moment. Glynda, would you be a dear and bring him closer? And if you can, do you mind cleaning up a bit?"


    "Of course," she answered professionally. Even as the armoured man approached, cars righted themselves, the cracked pavement was repaired, and twisted metal was bent back into shape.


    It looked like time was being rewound, but I knew it to be incredibly skilled telekinetic manipulation.


    Spider-Man whistled, taking a more extended look at Glynda.


    "Useful trick," he said, dropping to the ground and approaching us. I saw his body flinch again every once in a while, but he didn''t falter in his steps. "Glynda, was it? Haven''t heard of you before but welcome to New York. How''s the big apple been treating you?" Now that he wasn''t pretending to be John Wayne, I could hear a distinct Brooklyn accent.


    "The food has been subpar, but the people have been interesting," she answered.


    "What are you trying to do?" Medea sidled up to us, looking over the paralyzed Rhino. With my tiny frame, he seemed absolutely massive, but I was used to seeing giants, so I wasn''t particularly impressed.


    Sirens filled the street as the cops approached. Now that the situation had calmed down, pedestrians were returning. I saw more than one cell phone pointed our way and sighed.


    So much for a low profile.


    "Aleksei is bound to this armour," I explained as I reached out to touch the metal with a tentacle. "Literally. He can''t get it off. I know I can Free people, but I want to see if there are any repercussions. He makes a great test subject."


    I could feel my Element responding to my will. I willed Aleksei to be ''Free'' of his armour. Either he''d get his wish to be divested of it or turn into chunky salsa as the armour ripped itself from his body. Either way, I''d learn more about the exact nature of my abilities.


    Luckily for the Rhino, it seems the former was the result.


    Like water, the metal flowed off the man and fell at his feet. The tubbing connecting the suit to his flesh slid out of his body, leaving unblemished skin behind. His iconic helmet fell to the ground with a weighty thunk.


    After a moment, all that was left was a discarded suit of armour and a naked man. It seemed like Aleksei retained the increased musculature the operation gave him.


    I doubted he was eight feet tall originally.


    "Hey!" Spider-man covered the naked man in webs instantly. "Kids could be watching. We keep things PG around here."


    "You can let him go," I told Glynda. "We''re done here. Let''s grab lunch at home before heading to our last stop. Raven, if you would."


    "I''m not one to stop people from getting some grub," Spider-man said. "But what did you just do? Any side effects we should be aware of? He''s not going to die, is he?"


    "He''s fine," I said, waiving a tentacle dismissively. I didn''t know that for sure, but I also didn''t care enough to stick around. The vigilante flinched at my voice, and, for the first time, I felt his complete focus fall on me. He stumbled backwards after a moment, finally piercing the Bounded Field surrounding me. "He''s Free now."


    "Stop!" The spider shouted, hands coming up to shoot at us, but it was too late.


    We sunk into shadow, leaving New York behind.


    ********


    "Excuse me, I am looking for Taylor Hebert," I heard Glynda say.


    "Who are you?" Emma Barnes answered.


    I couldn''t see them, hidden in a nearby alley, but we were close enough to hear them. Finding this place had been easy enough with Emma''s help, as had getting the pair''s schedule.


    "My name is Glynda, and I am here representing the interests of Drakon Inc. Our CEO worked with Danny Hebert in the past and is looking to reach out to him to offer a position at our company. We have been unable to find his most recent residence and would like Ms. Hebert to provide us with a number we can reach him at."


    I had brought Medea today as insurance against anything Stephen Strange could throw at us. On the other hand, Glynda was with us because she was the most professional of the women on the Island. Perfect for playing the part of a potential business party interested in hiring the old head of a labour union.


    "Please let your boss know that my father passed away last year," I heard another voice say. Taylor.


    "Go," I told Raven.


    I was being overly cautious here, probably paranoid.


    All signs pointed to Taylor not being a parahuman. I had waited for her to be home from work and brought up her dead father to engineer an emotional response from any Swarm she might have. If there was anything suspicious at this property, Raven would find it.


    Barring the death of her mom and then her dad last year, Taylor Hebert had lived a relatively happy life. She was engaged to her childhood sweetheart Emma, was working on her Doctorate in Literature, and had inherited a tidy sum of money from her father. Enough to put herself through university, at least while her fiance continued to work as a model.


    Despite that, I took all available precautions against the Queen of Escalation. Emma had not been able to read her mind, and the Administrator shard was of such importance that, even if she had a different power than insect control, it was probably the most potent Master effect possible.


    I had no plans to tangle with Khepri, armed with all the heroes of Marvel and DC. I''m not sure that was possible due to the varied natures of powers in this world, but I wasn''t willing to take risks. This world was already funky in some weird ways.


    "My condolences," I heard Glynda say, sounding genuinely sorry. I wondered how often she had to tell people their families, her students, had died in the line of duty. I resolved to do something nice for her the next chance I got. "Do you mind if I asked how he passed? And where is he buried? My boss would like to pay his respects, I imagine."


    "He was buried in Bay Central cemetery with my mother," Taylor replied. "There is also a plaque on the Ferry if you wish to pay your respects there."


    "Thank you, I apologize for disturbing you this evening. Do not be surprised if you find a gift in your mail from my boss with his well wishes in the coming days."


    My shadow fluctuated, indicating Raven''s return. We only needed the pair of women distracted for a short time, just enough for the Cambion to spread throughout the house to find any hiding holes.


    "Nothing," her monotone voice whispered in my ear.


    "No bugs, costumes, suspicious tech, or anything?"


    "No."


    "That''s that then," I sighed. I shook my head at Glynda as she returned to us.


    A part of me was disappointed.


    I hadn''t been a big fan of Taylor early on in Worm since I liked my protagonists to have agency, and she mainly reacted. By the end of the book, she had become someone I could respect, so I was a bit bummed.


    I shook off the melancholy quickly enough. Taylor was happier here than she ever was in the book.


    "Back to the Island?" Medea asked.


    "Not yet," I hadn''t come to Brockton Bay just for Taylor. In fact, she was a target of opportunity. I was in town to make an offer. I doubted my target would take me up on the offer, but I figured it was worth the shot. "Take this road for four blocks, then take a left and keep going. You''ll reach Panacea Park."


    "I''m familiar with the name," Glynda said. "That is one of the people you asked Emma to check in on, correct?"


    "When I found out Worm was an aspect of this world, Panacea was one of the first things that came to mind when I thought about getting my body back."


    "She was a healer if I remember right," Medea said, pressing me closer to her bosom. "I thought healers couldn''t help you. Your ''healthy'' state is your Great One body."


    "She pretended to be a healer," I explained, feeling a sense of loss for one of my favourite characters. "She was actually a biokinetic. Amy Dallon could manipulate flesh like clay. In the parlance of this world, she was a Striker 12+. Her exact limits were unknown, but I believe she could have manipulated my body into a human form if I let down my Polymorph Defence."


    "She died."


    "She did worse than die," I explained. "She proved the Joker right."


    "I am familiar with that name," the Huntress pipped in. "Diana spoke at length about that villain. A clown and a monster."


    "You can consider him Batman''s arch-nemesis if you want. While he has taken various forms depending on the media, one of his most common themes is his desire to twist people. He believes everyone, even heroes, is just one bad day from becoming a villain. He constantly pushes people, Batman especially, to fall to his level. He''s succeeded several times over the years in various tellings of his story, and Panacea was his masterstroke in this world. One of the greatest healers in the world, an icon of good, turned into a villain."


    "What happened?"


    "I don''t know the exact details," I pointed out to the pair as we made our way to the park. "I don''t even know why New Wave, the hero group she was a part of, was targeted. Maybe the Joker was just having an off day. Perhaps he wanted a road trip. All I know is the madman made his way from Gotham to the Bay. He blew up New Wave''s house while most of the group was home. He taped the whole thing. Amy saw her sister, the only survivor of the blast, be shot dead on live television."


    "I could see how that would devastate the girl," Glynda frowned. "I have seen Huntsmen crack from less."


    "She wanted vengeance," Medea said. Her voice was soft. Given her history, I imagined she sympathized with Panacea more than most. "She used her powers to get it and didn''t care who she hurt to do it."


    "She found him laughing over her sister''s body in the remains of her house. Her mistake was in trying to make him suffer. The heroes got there in time to stop her from killing him, but after she had cooked up a deadly plague. Naturally, she took exception to them trying to stop her from getting justice.


    The Red Queen was a villain for five hours. By the end of her rampage, the newly instituted Justice League had stepped in before she could threaten the eastern seaboard. Her body count totalled three heroes, eighty-seven civilians, and herself. The Joker survived the day, though he was bedridden for over a year. He is currently at large again."


    "And they named a park after her?" Medea asked incredulously.


    "She died in the end, and the tragedy was fairly well televised. While the death toll was pretty high, most of humanity knew her as a Healer. One who worked with anyone never asked for payment and had saved millions of lives over her career. She was only twenty when she died. Humanity chose to remember the hero Panacea rather than the Villain the Red Queen."


    "Why are we heading to the park?"


    "I figured I would talk to her, offer to bring her back if she wanted," I shrugged. It was a long shot, anyway. It would depend on what state of mind Amy was in. I wouldn''t even make the offer if she was a raving lunatic bent on revenge. Even if she was lucid, she might not want to come back to life or do me a service.


    "I had forgotten about Death being your patron," Medea whispered in my ear.


    "I haven''t," I answered darkly. I still needed to talk to that woman/concept. I was going to give her a chance to explain herself. Bringing Melina back granted her that much, but I still wasn''t really pleased with her. "Today is the first time I''ve been off the Island, so I haven''t really interacted with her powers. I know the basics. I can only bring back people with their permission and at the sight of their deaths. Everyone I bring back gets the benefits of the catalogue since they are Bound. I don''t think I will be bringing too many people back."


    "They will be able to control your Avatar, like us." Medea realized.


    "I''m willing to take the chance this time because having Panacea around would fix my human body problem, and I think she would get along well with Tsunade. With Raven in my shadow, I don''t have to worry about her controlling me for too long. All this is contingent on her accepting revival."


    "Do you think that likely?" Glynda asked.


    "No. If I did, I would have been out here weeks ago. For all that the living fear Death, the dead are at peace. No matter their regrets and afterlife, most will not want to return unless they are tormented in some way. The only exception I can see is if Amy would come back for a chance at revenge. I can offer that. Unfinished business can be worse than any torment."


    "It''s smaller than I imagined," Medea said as we approached the park. She lifted me to her shoulders so I could get a better look. It was only three blocks long and two wide. "For one of the greatest healers in the world, it seems underwhelming."


    "They just converted the damaged area from her rampage into the park," I said, distracted by the opening of my new senses. "I said they chose to remember her good deeds rather than bad, not that the government would fork out the money to displace people to build a bigger monument."


    To say I could see the dead was a misnomer.


    There was a visual aspect, a layer over reality I had never noticed until I sought it out, but that was different from where most of the information came from.


    I could feel my soul, the fundamental aspect that made up all I considered ''me,'' reach out to the world, and the world responded with information.


    I knew the names of all eighty-seven civilians who died here. I knew their age, gender, dreams, wishes, and fears. I learned how they died. The same for all three heroes who perished at the Red Queen''s hands, Velocity, Night Watch, and Rockslide. The first two died when they touched Amy, trying to stop her. The last died when she created an infection that ate away at stone to reach the Joker again.


    I felt the blast that killed New Wave.


    I heard the wishes of a family of heroes whose only fault was trying to replicate the Fantastic Four too close to Gotham.


    I felt Glory Girl''s pain, fear, sadness, and rage as she looked at the laughing face of the Joker, her shields down.


    I knew her last thoughts.


    She thought of her cousins, the other family of New Wave, and hoped they weren''t targeted. She thought of Dean, her boyfriend and wished their last meeting didn''t end in another petty argument.


    Victoria''s last thought was of Amy, of how she hoped her sister would live a long and happy life after she was gone.


    It was what I didn''t feel that told me the most.


    "Well, I''ll be damned," I said, looking out over the monument to New Wave. My soul asked a question to the dead, getting an affirmative answer. "I might be getting a human body sooner than expected."

 Emancipation 3

    <div>


    And it seems to me you lived your life


    Like a candle in the wind


    Never knowing who to cling to


    When the rain set in


    And I would''ve liked to know you


    But I was just a kid


    Your candle burned out long before


    Your legend ever did


    ********


    Amelia Lavere returned to her quarters with a groan of frustration.


    Her movements were automatic, ingrained into her over the last four years of living in this condo.


    She first stepped to her bar and withdrew her drink for the night.


    Today was Tuesday, so Vodka.


    Specialty prepared, of course.


    All the kick, none of the hangover.


    Amelia then took her place on her balcony overlooking the Long Island Sound. Her overlook wasn''t super large, she lived in a condo, not a mansion, but it was wide enough for a table, a few comfortable chairs and some engineered trees in planters. These days it was usually bathed in the pale blue of the Dark Moon.


    Amelia relaxed in her favourite seat and lit one of her homemade cigarettes.


    The tobacco helped calm her down, and she didn''t have to worry about cancer after she had fiddled with the leaves.


    Closing her eyes, she rubbed her temples with a sigh.


    Why did she even bother anymore?


    "Long day?" A smooth female voice asked her. She froze for an instant before she resumed her small massage.


    "You have no idea," Amelia answered with another groan. "I wonder if hormones or superpowers are worse. If I have to heal one more person who thought using their power for sex was a great idea, I will scream."


    "I know," a different, more mature voice agreed with her. "The Genin don''t have the hormones, and Jonin know what they are doing, so the Chunin are the problem. I''ve had to heal someone from a miscast sex Jutsu or a scroll shoved up their ass so many times that I punch anyone coming into my office with a limp on instinct."


    "Really?" The first voice asked. "I can''t say I''ve ever tried it with my abilities, but Devil Fruits are instinctual. Practice makes you better, as does creativity, but nobody hurts themselves with their abilities."


    "Zanpaktou are swords, so they don''t really apply here," a third voice, deep and male, pipped in. "I have heard horror stories from the Kido Corps and the fourth division, though."


    "Violence and sex," Amelia said, taking another sip of her drink and staring at the sky. Maybe if she pretended not to see them, they would go away? "That''s all anyone with powers can think about. Violence and sex."


    "How wonderfully pessimistic," the first voice said with a giggle. "You''ll get along well with him."


    "Do you mind if I pour myself a drink?" The mature voice asked. "You have a few I haven''t tried yet."


    "Since you asked, help yourself." Amelia waved her hands dismissively. She had enough money that replacing even her best stuff wasn''t a problem.


    "Thank you."


    "Are you all here to kill me?" Amelia asked, taking a long drag on her cigarette. "You are nicer than most about it."


    "We''re not," the male voice said. "We''re just here to make an offer."


    "One I can''t refuse, I''m sure," the healer said wrily.


    "You can refuse," the first female voice said. "I do not think you will once you hear about the reward, but if you do, it will only delay our plans for a few weeks. A bit inconvenient, but we won''t force you. The Family is very big on Freedom of choice."


    "So far, you have been much better than most people who break in," Amelia said, looking over the table for the first time to meet eye-to-eye with the intruders. "I can at least hear this offer."


    Amelia had worked with some of the most attractive women in the world during her time as a healer. Models, heroines, and even the odd villain had been in her care. The likes of Wonder Woman, Captain Marvel, Catwoman, Poison Ivy, Emma Frost, Ororo Munroe, and dozens of others had been touched by her for her powers to work.


    Even then, the woman''s beauty across the table took her breath away. Long dark hair framed a face with aristocratic features, sunglasses keeping bangs from covering her face. She was leaning over the table, head resting in one hand. Deep blue eyes watched Amelia, a small smile on pale lips that begged kisses. A blue jacket framed an absolute feast of a bust and left her navel exposed.


    "Does this happen often?" The male voice asked, breaking Amelia''s focus on the brunette''s breasts. A black cat was the speaker, yellow eyes meeting the former heroine''s. The cat had caught her staring. "People breaking into your place?"


    "Three times since I moved in," Amelia answered the feline. It was safer to look at it rather than the beauty opposite her. "Twice with villains looking to coopt me for my services. Once a hero, a friend of one of my victims, found me. None of them were very nice, so none of them left alive."


    "You''re not presenting the picture of a penitent healer," the brunette said, dragging Amelia''s focus back to her. She wondered how those blue eyes would look from between her legs.


    These days, sex was one of the only things Amelia could take pleasure in.


    "I''m not. Just because I''ve made peace with what happened doesn''t mean I wouldn''t do the same again. I would kill the Joker quicker or make sure the plague stuck, but that''s about it. I am only partially at fault for the civilians. The heroes knew what they were doing when they signed up. Nobody would have been hurt if the heroes had let me have my justice."


    "Good," the second female voice said as it approached the patio. "Just because we can heal doesn''t always mean we should. We healers get enough shit as it is. Don''t let anyone tell you that you should feel bad for dishing it back out. If someone hurts you, hurt them back. Forgiveness is for idealists and dreamers."


    There was a bitterness to her words, one Amelia would have been more curious about had she not been captivated by another vision of beauty.


    If the brunette was a vision of classic aristocratic beauty, this woman was voluptuousness given form. This woman was shorter and had wider hips. Her legs were covered with tight pants that the healer wanted to peel off with her teeth. A beige top and green jacket covered most of her skin, except for the top of the largest breasts Amelia had ever seen.


    This woman, holding a glass of specialty booze, was a grade-A MILF.


    And Amelia always had a thing for blondes.


    The deep chuckles of the cat tore the healer from her captivation of this newest arrival.


    "Your drooling," it said between guffaws. It tried to cover its mouth, making it look even smugger. "You should see your face."


    "Leave the woman alone," the brunette said, pushing the cat off the table with a yowl. "I remember a naughty cat staring at Tsunade that first morning too."


    "You called me Tits all day," Tsunade said with a smirk, taking a sip of her drink.


    "Can you blame me?" From one moment to the next, the cat hopped off the table and transformed into a dark-skinned beauty. Amelia drank in the woman''s form with her eyes, cigarette falling from her lips as she watched the cat-woman wrap herself around Tsunade and heft her prodigious breasts in her hands. "These things are special. I swear, they have their own gravitational pull."


    She was also naked.


    If these women were here to recruit Amelia to the dark side or whatever, sign her the fuck up. All her counselling, recovery efforts, and rationalizations could jump off a cliff if she could spend one night with these beauties. The healer was ready to become someone''s minion if this was the view she could expect.


    "Violence and sex," the brunette repeated with a smile, not even blinking at the dark-skinned beauty''s nudity.


    "I was never too fond of violence," Amelia responded in a daze.


    "Cut it out!" Tsunade said, spinning on one foot to kick at the cat-woman.


    The dark-skinned beauty caught the blow on her raised arm but was sent skyward by the force of the kick. She shot off over the water, disappearing from Amelia''s sight.


    "Is she alright?" The healer asked, more out of habit than concern, as she reached for another cigarette.


    She needed it.


    "I''m fine," a voice said beside her ear. A dark-skinned hand pinched the end of her cigarette, crackling with electricity. Amelia took a drag as the cat-woman parked her naked ass on the table. "Tits here loves me too much to hurt me."


    "I''ll cut you off," ''Tits'' sneered playfully. "Better yet, I''ll ask Mikael to cut you off. You''ll be the last in line."


    "You wouldn''t," the woman paled. "I have dibs. We have a whole plan set up."


    "Plans can change," Tsunade smirked over her glass. "Especially if I tell everyone you delayed the festivities because you couldn''t keep your hands to yourself."


    "I''ll be good." The brunette giggled behind her hand as the cat rapidly nodded her head.


    "We''ve gotten a bit sidetracked. I''m Robin. This is Tsunade and Yoruichi. As I said, we need your help and are prepared to pay you for your service."


    "I have all the money I want, but if it''s a date with you three, I''ll give you my firstborn."


    There was a point in time when Amelia Lavere would have been shy about her sexuality. She would have flushed around such gorgeous women, stuttered, and only taken peeking glances.


    That Amy died with her family at the Joker''s hands.


    All that was left was the tired, jaded Amelia.


    The woman who had killed eighty-seven civilians and three heroes in pursuit of vengeance. For a twenty-five-year-old woman, she was far too tired to deal with the bullshit of hiding how she really felt.


    "Not on the table, unfortunately," Robin responded with a smirk.


    "Damn it. I was prepared to make a child to give it to you and everything." Finishing her drink, Amelia set it on the table. "You still need to tell me what you want me to do."


    "We need you to build a body, specifically, to turn something non-human into a human," Robin explained.


    "I don''t do brains, and I don''t do cosmetic surgery." She repeated by rote. One of the first things she did once getting herself back together was to reinstate rules on herself. It helped keep her grounded. "Too many entitled people in the latter. Not worth the drama."


    "You do not need to touch his brain," Tsunade explained. "It is a Cephalopod-esque body but a human mind. He was born human and still thinks like one, but his body is something else."


    "A mutant," Amelia said with a sigh. "You could have just contacted the professor. I''m at the mansion on Tuesdays and Thursdays, and I''ve changed plenty of mutants back to human form. No need to go through this song and dance."


    "Not a mutant," Tsunade corrected, finishing her drink and setting the glass down. "And his situation is a bit delicate." Amelia rolled her eyes. How many times had she heard that? "And it isn''t a one-time thing either. You might need to do this multiple times."


    "How often?" The healer frowned in thought. A continuous transformation? It could be magical, or it could be a side effect of a Changer power.


    "No idea," Yoruichi said. "It''s a case-by-case basis. You could never need to see us again, or we could pop up occasionally. Ideally, it''s the former, but our man likes to be safer than sorry."


    "You want me to be your pocket healer? On-demand whenever you want?" Amelia asked in disbelief.


    "I''ll take care of any healing we need," Tsunade waived her concern. "We only need you to build the body whenever he messes up and has to start from scratch."


    "And it needs to be kept hush-hush? There is something you aren''t telling me, something that makes you think I''ll turn it down."


    The three women shared a look before Tsunade spoke up.


    "Once we found out you were still alive, we thought about just kidnapping you, having you do the job, mind-wiping the memory and dropping you back off. Repeating as necessary," the blonde said. "That was what most of The Family voted for, but Mikael was against it. Adamantly."


    Rolling her eyes again, Amelia gestured to her anklet, which monitored her position and knew when she used her powers. Batman and McCoy''s invention.


    She was still on ''probation'' after all.


    "You do know what this is, right? I''m constantly under surveillance. Kidnapping me would bring down the X-men, Justice League, and others." Far from being offended about the notion of being kidnapped, Amelia was more insulted that they thought they could get away with it.


    "We can be... tricky," Robin said with a smile. "They would never have known you were gone."


    "We''re the spy team," Yoruichi smirked. "We''ll be your point of contact. There''s nowhere we can''t get if we put our minds to it. Ninjas, if you will." Robin giggled, and Tsunade shot the dark-skinned woman a glare.


    "We were still willing to kidnap you, but he pointed out an important issue," Tsunade continued, deciding to ignore the playful banter of her companions. "This operation has an element of risk. One we want you to be aware of before you proceed. As mentioned, your help would expedite our plans by weeks, if not months, but it is not strictly necessary. So you are free to turn it down."


    ""You won''t."" Robin and Yoruichi said simultaneously.


    There was something about their tone, a wistfulness, an envy that sent a shiver down Amelia''s spine.


    "What is more dangerous than potentially getting kidnapped and mind wiped?"


    "Knowledge," Tsunade said gravely. "Specifically, knowledge of Mikael."


    "Someone will come after me for it? It can''t be any worse than the situation I am already in." Amelia said with a shrug. If nothing else, this little meeting broke the monotony of her life.


    "No. It is the knowledge itself that is dangerous." Tsunade''s eyes went unfocused for a moment, staring at Amelia but not seeing her. "What he is right now, it''s... it''s not something the mortal mind can handle. What do you see when you scan someone? You probably get more information than I do, and I am the best where I come from. I was protected, knew what I was doing, and was already familiar with Mikael. I still wasn''t ready for what I saw."


    "Now, you''re making me curious."


    "Your medical curiosity does you credit, but peering into the abyss is not something you should do because you are curious. Once you open your Eyes, you can never close them again. This is why I agreed with Mikael about this little meeting. Even if you never see us again and we never need your help, you will be forever marked by this if you choose to do it."


    A woman who broke into the condo of the premier biological manipulator on the planet, drank her engineered booze and threatened to kidnap her just warned Amelia against meeting this ''Mikael'' person. For a moment, just a moment, the former heroine was tempted to turn down the request.


    In the end, Amelia''s curiosity won out.


    What''s the worst that could happen?


    Dying was not something she feared.


    Living seemed so much worse.


    "I''ll do it."


    "While that''s good to hear," Robin said with a small, sad smile. "You''re going to want to read the contract before agreeing."


    The brunette pulled a piece of paper, thicker than usual, out of thin air and set it on the table.


    Rolling her eyes, Amelia picked it up. While she wasn''t a lawyer like Carol had been, she knew more than the basics.


    ''I, Amy Dallon, blah, blah blah... not to tell anyone... blah blah blah... not to harm directly or... blah blah blah... in return... blah bl-''


    "What the fuck is this," Amelia asked herself. "What the fuck is this?" She shouted at the three women, her voice hysteric.


    "The contract," Tsunade said, her voice bitter.


    "A magical contract," Robin elaborated. She didn''t sound as bitter as the blonde, but there was definitely a note of wistfulness. "A Geas. One that is binding as soon as you sign it."


    "Is this some sort of sick joke to you?" Amelia snarled. She tossed the piece of paper aside and lunged at the closes woman, which happened to be Yoruichi. The black beauty made no move to dodge, and Amelia got her hands around her neck in moments. "We''ll see how you laugh when your skin is inside out."


    Only she couldn''t.


    Her power was still active. The bacteria in the air. The catch of poison she kept in her mouth. Her clothes clinging to her skin. A seed touching her ankle, she could sprout it in seconds to activate the anklet and call down the entire X-men on these women.


    Amelia could sense everything.


    Everything, except for the woman in her hands.


    "This is no joke," Yoruichi said. The cat-woman did not show if she was inconvenienced by having the healer''s hands around her throat. Her face was severe, golden eyes no longer playful. Amelia would have been put off by the change if she wasn''t so fucking furious. "You can find ways around a contract, even a Geas. I can think of three off the top of my head. Your reward ensures you will never break this one. You won''t take the risk."


    "This is real," Tsunade said. "Trust us, if any of us could be in your place, we would take it in a heartbeat. You have an opportunity here. Nobody else has. Don''t waste it."


    It wasn''t the blond''s words that convinced Amelia of their veracity. It was her tone. Jealousy bubbled under her words, a feeling the healer was all too familiar with.


    "This is some sort of trap, isn''t it," Amelia stumbled away from Yoruichi before realizing her previous action of tossing away the contract. The healer whipped her head around desperately, trying to find it and hoping it hadn''t fallen off the balcony. She saw the paper lying on the table as if it hadn''t ever been picked up. Amelia grabbed it with tight hands, frantically rereading it. "It''s gonna be some sort of robot. Or clone. Or hallucination. Or some kind of zombie. Or, or, or..."


    "You''d know right away," Robin pointed out. Amelia couldn''t deny that. Her powers would allow her to detect any fake as soon as they touched. "Besides, a trap wouldn''t be conducive to a long-term partnership. Mikael expected you''d have doubts, so he told me to tell you something only the two of you would know. To prove he talked to her."


    "Wha..." Amelia started to say, her throat dry. "What did she say?"


    "B-cups," Robin said with a smile. "He wouldn''t explain more, said you''d get it."


    Amelia giggled, a note of madness in her voice as the situation''s absurdity hit her. Collapsing into her seat, the contract in a death grip, the healer laughed madly to herself as tears gathered in her eyes. Three pairs of curious eyes watched her as she tried to reign in her hysteria.


    "I had just triggered," she said in between wet giggles. "Before pretending to be a healer, I told her I could change bodies. She wanted me to make her boobs bigger. She was so annoying, bugging me for hours. I made them smaller instead. She freaked out and hid in her room all day. I eventually turned them back and decided to pretend to only be able to heal. I made her promise to tell no one. As far as I can tell, she took that story to her grave. Vicky was annoying, a drama queen, over-enthusiastic, and too invested in my love life, but she was a good sister."


    Amelia realized she was crying when her tears hit the contract.


    The last time she cried was the day after her family died.


    "If..." Amelia said, wiping her eyes and meeting the eyes of the three women who had broken into her condo. She hated the understanding in their gaze. "If he can do this, then I''m his. I don''t care if he wants me to work twenty-four-seven. I don''t care if he wants Panacea or the Red Queen. I''ll be his whore. His minion. His biblical plague."


    "We don''t need anything like that," Yoruichi put her hand on Amelia''s head in an almost maternal gesture. "Just need a body once in a while and a little discretion."


    Amelia seized the hand. It was still odd touching someone and not knowing instinctually everything there was about their bodies.


    "You didn''t let me finish." Amelia''s brown eyes peered into golden pupils. Her eyes were dry and steely. "If I find out this is some sort of trick, some cruel joke, or a trap, I will find this ''Mikael.'' I don''t care if you''re immune to my powers. I''ll find a way to light his every nerve with pain. What I did to the Joker will seem like mercy compared to what I''ve cooked up in the last six years."


    "Those are some good eyes, kid," Yoruichi took her hand back and pulled a pen from nowhere, setting it on the table.


    "I told you," Tsunade said with a chuckle. "Do not mess with the med-nin. We know how to put you together. You can bet we can take you apart."


    In a picture of maturity, Yoruichi stuck her tongue out at the blonde.


    Amelia stared at the contract, pen in hand.


    "We really are here with the best intentions," Robin, sensing hesitations, said gently. "We gain nothing but your ire from tricking you."


    Before she could hesitate anymore, Amelia signed the contract.


    There were no flashes of light, no claps of thunder, but Amelia suddenly knew, with a startling certainty, that she would never be able to break that contract. Not unless this ''Mikael'' person failed to bring back her sister in the next twenty-four hours. After that, if he fulfilled his end of the bargain, she would never be able to break it.


    "What now?" Amelia asked, suddenly feeling very drained emotionally.


    "Now we deal with that pesky anklet," Tsunade stepped closer to the healer. Her hands glowed a pale green, and she hovered them an inch away from Amelia, slowly moving them all over her.


    "What are you doing?"


    "Scanning you. I want to ensure everything runs smoothly here since your power doesn''t work on yourself. Quiet now. I''m trying to concentrate."


    For ten awkward quiet minutes, the blonde scanned every inch of Amelia''s body with her glowing hands. She did it multiple times, sometimes muttering to herself. Tsunade spent five minutes on her head, her hand almost pressed against Amelia''s scalp.


    "I got it," the blonde said.


    "Finally," Yoruichi said, downing the last of her drink. Both she and Robin had raided Amelia''s unique alcohol cabinet once they realized this would take a while.


    "Now I just need to build it."


    The blonde stepped away from Amelia''s chair, who took the chance to stretch her tired limbs, and approached one of the small trees Amelia kept on her balcony. The healer saw the blonde touch the tree''s wood with her right hand, the other flashing in a movement of fingers so fast the former heroine couldn''t keep up with it.


    The tree started to twist and bend.


    It grew larger and larger, forming itself into a humanoid shape. In a copy of Amelia''s own powers, Tsunade grew a body.


    A familiar body.


    "If you can do this, why do you need me?" She couldn''t help but ask.


    "I can only do wood for now. Maybe we won''t need you when I''m a higher tier." Tsunade explained as the wood-Amelia fell to the balcony. "I modelled everything perfectly. You just need to turn it to flesh and start the heart pumping. We don''t need a functioning brain, just a body that will last the night."


    "As soon as we try and take off the anklet to put on this, they''ll know." Despite saying that, she touched the fake body and let her power do the work. When Tsunade said she had copied every detail, she wasn''t kidding. Somehow, the woman had managed to grow wood and form human cells out of it. They were inert, still wood, but that microscopic control was something Amelia had never seen outside her powers.


    Within moments, the wood-Amelia was a flesh-Amelia.


    It was disconcerting to see a perfect copy of her, with a beating heart and rising chest, lying on her balcony floor.


    "How were you going to kidnap me if you needed my help getting the anklet off?"


    "This is only one of many options we have. It''s one of the most reliable for the short term but by no means the most extensive. We were prepared to temporaly lock the anklet, but that would be eventually discovered." Tsunade said, grabbing flesh-Amelia''s arm. Her open hand flashed a few more hand seals before touching the real woman. "This part will be disorienting."


    There was a sense of vertigo and confusion as the room swam around Amelia.


    She was staring up at a clothed version of herself from the floor.


    "Did you just put my mind in a fake body?!"


    "No," Tsunade said calmly, disregarding her panic as she picked up the clothed Amelia like a sack of potatoes over her shoulder. "I simply substituted you both, leaving the clothes behind. Anklet included. You might want to get dressed while I put this on your bed. It just needs to fool people for tonight. We''ll be back later to switch again. Feel free to dispose of it tomorrow. Ideally, nobody but you two will know we were ever here, or you ever left."


    "What now?" Amelia asked once she got dressed. She had felt embarrassed being seen naked but such beauties, but now nerves were getting to her.


    "Now you wait here," Robin said as the three women stood on the balcony. "If anyone visits you tonight, we want you to be here to talk to them and soothe any fears just in case. Yoruichi hasn''t reported anyone approaching, and I''ve kept your neighbours unconscious." Amelia sent the brunette a look of worry. "Nothing permanent, but they will wake up tomorrow with a headache. We need to report that you agreed, but around 4 am, a portal will open to take you to the New Wave memorial in Panacea Park. We can only do it there. Late night will lessen the risk of someone seeing us."


    Stolen content warning: this tale belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences elsewhere.


    "Try and get some rest," Yoruichi said. Amelia stared at her disbelievingly. "I''m serious. We''re keeping tonight a secret, but there will be no way to hide her tomorrow. You will have a long few days explaining things as best you can without breaking the Geas."


    "And how am I supposed to do that?" Amelia asked sarcastically.


    "Tell people you faked her death," Tsunade shrugged. "Or you managed to bring her back. Or you made a pact with a dark god." Yoruichi snorted a laugh, and Robin giggled. "Either way, it is on you. We don''t want people chasing us to bring back their loved ones. This is a one-time thing."


    "Either way, get some sleep while you can." She still didn''t look convinced, so Yoruichi rolled her eyes. "If you want to keep busy, make up one of those guest rooms for company. Starting tomorrow, you are going to have a roommate."


    "We''ll see you in a few hours," Robin said.


    Then she dissolved in a flurry of flower petals.


    "Remember, don''t take any shit you don''t need," Tsunade said before she vanished into a swirl of leaves.


    "Showoffs," Yoruichi pouted as she disappeared. There were no special effects.


    The three women left Amelia Lavere in her condo with a magic contract, a body, a whole heap of anxiety, and, for the first time in almost six years, a bit of hope.


    ********


    Amelia knew it was time when a shadow spread itself on her wall. From the dark imprint on the wood, out stepped Robin.


    "You didn''t get any sleep," she stated.


    "Could you have?" Amelia bit back as she pressed a few final buttons on her phone before setting it down. She would be leaving it behind tonight. No need to risk someone tracking her number.


    The healer did not want to risk anything going wrong tonight.


    "I suppose not," the brunette said. She crooked her arm for Amelia to grab, which she did. Like Yoruichi and Tsunade, she could sense nothing from the woman. "You at least dressed warmly. I do not know how long this will take, but there is an autumn chill tonight. Now take a deep breath. This might be a bit odd."


    "I''ve teleported before."


    "Good."


    Robin led her towards the swirling shadow, and Amelia tensed on instinct, ready to hit a wall. Instead, she transitioned from wooden floors to concrete between steps. Faint vertigo was the only indication she had travelled a few hundred miles in an eye blink.


    It was dark out, too dark to see anything.


    Too dark to be in the middle of a city.


    "We''ve isolated the park in a shadow bubble," Robin explained, sensing Amelia''s worry. "Don''t want someone waking up in the middle of the night and seeing us."


    "Wow," Amelia snarked. "Good thinking. Nobody can see us. Not even us."


    "We didn''t think about you, sorry," the male voice of Yoruichi''s cat form said from somewhere nearby. "We can all see in the dark, so we didn''t notice."


    "I''ll deal with it," Tsunade''s mature voice rang from the shadows.


    Suddenly there was light.


    All at once, the trees in the park were lit with bioluminescent leaves, shading the area in a green glow and giving Amelia the first-ever view of the park named after her.


    It wasn''t very large, only a few blocks long and wide, with a few paved paths meandering through it. There were a few benches here and there and some street lamps that were not radiating any light.


    In the center of the park was the monument.


    It was a simple thing, only four feet high and three wide, a trapezoid made of bronze. A plaque covered the front, a small epitaph written on it.


    ''In loving memory of the Dallons


    Mark, Carol, Victoria, and Amy Dallon


    New Wave were inspiring heroes, one and all


    They will be sorely missed.''


    Amelia stared at the plaque, unable to tear her eyes away from the words.


    In the last six years, she had never visited this place. Not only for her own safety, as people were meant to think she had died, but also because she had never expressed an interest in visiting.


    The professor had offered to take her under disguise once he declared her capable of interacting with the rest of humanity. That had been two years after their death.


    Amelia had declined.


    The park represented too many failures for it to bring her any sort of closure.


    It all seemed so petty now.


    "Would you like us to give you some privacy," an unfamiliar voice asked, shaking Amelia from her stupor.


    She found it sitting at the base of one of the glowing trees nearby.


    With the way Tsunade had described Mikael, Amelia had expected something horrific.


    Instead, she saw something more like a children''s mascot or stuffed toy.


    It was a pale white, almost purplish, and only a few feet tall. Small fins covered its body. Its lower half comprised a half dozen chubby tentacles connected to a humanoid torso. Four more tentacles, larger than the others, acted as arms. Two held Yoruichi''s cat form, and two others rubbed through her fur. The cat had a blissed-out expression, purring loud enough that Amelia could hear it from ten feet away. Mikael''s head was bulbous, half the size of his torso, and his only features were a circular hole for a mouth and large black eyes.


    He honestly looked adorable.


    "No need," Amelia shook off her melancholy. "Let''s get this over with. I''ll need some biomaterial, but a few of these trees should work. I''ll also need a picture or something if you want to look like you used to. It would work better if you have some of your old DNA."


    "We have something for that," Mikael said, nodding to Tsunade. The blonde pulled a scroll of some sort from her jacket. She unrolled it onto the pavement and pressed her hands on the black squiggly lines that covered it. In a puff of smoke, two large barrels sat upon the rolled-out paper. "Two barrels of my blood when I was human...ish."


    "Why do you... You know what? I don''t care. This will work fine." Amelia took off the top of the barrels, noticing mystical symbols carved on the wood. Likely to keep the liquid from coagulating or going bad. The healer knew nothing about the mystic arts, so she didn''t bother to think more deeply about it.


    Touching the blood to verify she could manipulate it, it was better to be safe than sorry after her recent string of failures.


    Right away, Amelia discovered what Tsunade was talking about.


    This was blood only in the manner that the sun was a flame.


    Technically accurate, but wholly underselling things.


    First of all, it was a universal donor. Not just for humans but for all life. Amelia could inject this stuff into a tree, a reptile, a fish, a martian, and anything else she had scanned in the past. Whatever received it would accept it unconditionally as its own, with no rejection.


    Secondly, the blood would act to improve whatever ingested it. Amelia couldn''t tell how the thing would improve, just that it would take the subject and make them ''more.'' Healthier. Stronger. Faster. Better in every way imaginable.


    There were a whole host of other things in the blood. A Changer effect of some sort.


    -No. Wait.


    Multiple changer effects, some limited to an ocular mutation but others so powerful and esoteric that Shaper could not understand them.


    "What world are these barrels from," the Unkown/Lifebringer asked.


    "Elden Ring," the Anomaly/Woodshaper answered. A breeding pair? Need more compatible members of the species to ensure continual reproductive viability. Effects of blood on offspring to be observed. "We didn''t want to risk contamination from Bloodborne that might make the body take on a Great One form."


    "Then why is she flipping shit?"


    "Early Elden Ring or late Elden Ring?" Anomaly/Feline-changer. Biologically viable? Unknown. More data needed.


    "You think my dragon communion might have caused this?"


    "Amelia," Anomaly/Flower-shifter? More data needed. "Are you all right?"


    Unable to scan. More data needed.


    "''m fine... I''m fine." Amelia shook her head as she stumbled backwards. Her hands were spotless, despite having just been elbow-deep in the blood. "It''s everything you said it was Tsunade. I wasn''t ready. But I''m good to go now."


    "But..." the busty blonde said with a frown. "The blood isn''t what I was talking about."


    "We should put this off for a while." Mikeal was staring up at her, black eyes creasing in concern. "Try it another time once you have a chance to recover. It doesn''t have to be tonight. We can wean you onto the bizarre stuff. Too much Insight risks Frenzy build-up."


    "NO!" Amelia shouted desperately. "I''m fine. Really! I can do it."


    "Your nose is bleeding." The baby squid monster deadpanned at her. Amelia furiously rubbed her nose to clear the blood. "I''m already taking a risk to lower my Defence for you to do this. If you aren''t at your best, I want to avoid an accident."


    "I can do it." Amelia fell to her knees to meet his black eyes at an equal level. She reached out to touch him, but he scuttled away before she could. "Please!" She begged, close to tears for the second time tonight.


    He opened his circular mouth to answer, but, whatever his decision would have been, Amelia never got to hear his choice.


    "We''ve got incoming! And fast!" Yoruichi said.


    Four pairs of eyes focused on Amelia with a laserlike intensity, and suddenly, she was panicking for a different reason.


    "I didn''t tell anyone! I swear!"


    "Where?" Robin asked the cat. The brunette crossed her hands over her chest and closed her eyes.


    "In the sky, forty miles south and half a mile up. Flying through the clouds."


    "I''ve got it," Robin said, her brows furrowed in concentration. "An air vehicle. Very streamlined. Two passengers. Both male. Pilot is short and hairy. Most prominent features are sideburns and a cigar. Other is also male. Bald and in a wheelchair. They were at the mansion she worked at today."


    "Professor X and Wolverine," Mikael identified as quickly as Amelia. His black eyes stared into her own, and she felt herself trembling.


    "Please," she begged, actively weeping now. "You have to believe me. I didn''t tell anyone."


    "I know you didn''t," Mikael said, and Amelia sagged in relief. "If you had tried, the Geas would have stopped you. That and we were watching you."


    "I can take it down," Robin said, eyes still closed. "They are over a stretch of a forest at the moment."


    "Don''t," Mikael sighed, his tentacles drooping. "My luck is terrible. There is no way they are just going out for an early morning mission. We''ll wait for them, might as well see what gave us away. Worst come to worst, we''ll incapacitate them till tomorrow. We''ll be long gone by then."


    The squid man returned to petting Yoruichi while they waited for the X-men to arrive.


    They didn''t have to wait long.


    Though the X-jet was quiet, it was still audible in the dead of night. Amelia couldn''t see it outside the shadow field, but she could hear it above their head. She had been in it a few times and recognized the small his as it set itself into a hovering position.


    "Can you roll out the welcome mat, Raven?" Mikael spoke to the night air. "One of them is impaired."


    A portion of the shadow wall receded, allowing the distant light of the city to frame two shapes. One, short and stocky, stood protectively in front of the one in a wheelchair. The shadows closed behind the pair, sealing them in this sepulchral park.


    "Welcome," Mikael called out, still petting Yoruichi. "You weren''t invited, but I should at least be courteous to such well-known heroes when they decide to interrupt my business. What can we help you fine gentlemen with tonight?"


    Logan tensed, claws extending from his knuckles, as he crouched.


    In complete opposition to the women of the park, Amelia realized. Neither Tsunade nor Robin were tense in the least. They remained alert but relaxed.


    "Who are you? What have you done to Amelia?" The Canadian growled at the tiny creature.


    "I see you are as diplomatic as expected, Logan," Mikael deadpanned. Amelia wasn''t too familiar with the squid-man, but she could identify a hint of annoyance in his tone. "That''s fine. I''ll deal with Charles if you don''t play ball."


    "Like hell you will!" The hairy mutant made to lunge at squid-baby but was stopped immediately.


    A foot planted itself in his face, punting him into the park''s shadows. The mutant tumbled end over end, crashing through a tree before skidding to a stop by jamming his claws into the dirt.


    A woman stood in his path. Only slightly taller than him, Amelia saw she wore a skin-tight purple body suit that covered everything under her neck. Long purple hair wrapped in a veil fluttered behind her.


    "He''s a regenerator. Able to heal from pretty much anything. Also, he has an adamantium skeleton, so his limbs won''t break." Mikael said conversationally as if talking about the weather. "Don''t kill him. But have fun."


    "You give me the best gifts, dear," the new arrival said with a throaty chuckle that would have turned Amelia gay if she wasn''t already.


    A pair of barbed blood-red spears appeared in her hand, and she disappeared from Amelia''s sight. The only sign of her movement was an indent on the ground and Wolverine being blasted into another tree. Soon the ring of metal rang out in the park.


    "Now that he is occupied," Mikael said to the professor. The bald man''s wheelchair was being wheeled closer by another new arrival. "We can talk like adults."


    She was taller than Amelia. Blonde and with piercing emerald eyes. Her hair was done in a bun, but she let her bangs fall to frame her face. In her hair was a golden crown of some sort, reminding Amelia of her sister. Like the other arrival, she was wearing a body suit. However, hers was closer to a leotard, letting Amelia see another prodigious bust.


    This woman, whoever she was, radiated displeasure in waves. Something about her, an intangible charisma, made the healer anxious like never before.


    This was not someone you wanted mad at you.


    "I wish you had not baited him," Charles Xavier said with a sigh. "He has enough trouble with anger without others pushing his buttons."


    "She was getting bored," the squid''s tentacles made a ''what can you do'' gesture. "I figured they could keep each other occupied while we talked. Now, why are you here?"


    "You will answer Sir Mikael, or I will be most... displeased," the blonde said to the professor. Her face set into a severe frown as her green eyes flashed gold.


    "What''s got you so worked up, Artoria?" Mikael asked, concern in his voice. "I''m annoyed, sure, but you''re denting his chair."


    The busty blonde hurriedly let go of the wheelchair''s handles, allowing Amelia to see imprints of her fingers in the metal. Snickering brought the former heroine''s attention to Robin, who was giggling behind a hand. Yoruichi was chortling to herself, still a cat, and even Tsunade was laughing softly.


    "One would think he was interrupting your plans for the night," Robin said teasingly.


    "Hold your tongue!" Artoria ordered the giggling brunette. She would have been more intimidating if her face wasn''t flushed.


    "Sorry about them," Mikael said to Xavier. "As I said, we can talk now. What can we do for you tonight?"


    The bald mutant, leader of the X-men, had been silent until now, looking at everyone in turns. Finally, the professor met Mikael''s eyes.


    "Elden Lord," the man said. The title was unfamiliar to Amelia, but the cephalopod did not blink at the odd words, simply nodding his head. "I hope you do not intend to harm young Amelia. She has been through enough."


    "Just the opposite, my good man," the baby squid said with false good cheer. "Tonight, I will make her greatest wish come true."


    "By making her one of your ''consorts?''" Charles said with a deep frown, looking around the park at all the beautiful women. Metal continued to clang in the distance. Amelia heard Logan grunt in pain.


    "What? No!" For the first time that night, Mikael looked genuinely confused. "Why would I do that? I just want a human body back. Strange should have told you that."


    "Your Herald, the Goddess Ranni, did not paint a flattering picture of your interaction with ''interesting'' women," the mutant said, his face firm. "Your companions have lent her words credence."


    "I swear, I''m going to spank that woman when I get the chance," Mikael said with a deep sigh, rubbing a tentacle against his temple. "I have no idea what she told you but believe me, I am not looking for any more ''consorts.'' Kind of have a back order on the ones I have now."


    Xavier looked relieved at his words, but some people just liked to poke and prod.


    "Awe," Yoruichi fake pouted in his hands. "I was hoping you changed your mind on that. We could have a set. She has a mousy look that makes you want to eat her up." Amelia flushed, a part of her was flattered that such a beautiful woman was attracted to her.


    In response, Mikeal bonked the cat on her head with a tentacle and tossed her over his shoulder.


    "Miss Dallon-"


    "Lavere," Amelia responded on instinct. When had Artoria gotten so close? When had her hand gotten on Amelia''s shoulder?


    "Miss Lavere." Green eyes flecked with gold peered into her soul. "You are a lovely young woman. I''m sure you will make someone very happy someday. However," her hand tightened on Amelia''s shoulder to an uncomfortable degree. "We are not recruiting at the moment. The long march is almost done. The war was nearing its end. We had to overcome unexpected foes, a third force who stole a march on us, but the victory draws near. The soldiers are ready to reap their rewards and return home to peace. I ask you to do your duty and withdraw from the battlefield lest you draw their ire. Am I understood?"


    No, Amelia didn''t understand a damn thing.


    "I understand," she said, and the pressure on her shoulder disappeared.


    "Wonderfull," Artoria said imperiously, acting as if she hadn''t just threatened the healer. "You shall have your own rewards for your efforts."


    Tsunade was chuckling, a fist clutched in her mouth to prevent full laughter. Robin was not even trying to hide her mirth, doubled over with shaking shoulders. Yoruichi was rolling in the dirt, laughing hysterically.


    Professor X was watching the pair, a befuddled look on his face.


    Mikael was still rubbing his temples with his tentacles.


    "That broke the tension," he said with a light chuckle. Turning to the bald mutant, he continued. "You never answered. What can we help you with tonight?"


    "I was concerned for Amelia," the mutant said.


    "See, I believe that. Otherwise, you wouldn''t have come here with just Logan. If you knew we were here, I bet dollars to donuts we''d see the entire X-men team. But I also know it isn''t the whole story. We checked up on you guys after we visited her, and none of you showed any knowledge that we had contacted her. So why don''t you tell us how you knew where she''d be this morning." Despite looking like a stuffed doll, Mikael''s black eyes pierced the professor''s. One would think he was the world''s premier telepath, not Xavier.


    "She told me," the bald man sighed.


    "I did not!" Amelia defended vigorously. Everything she had seen tonight seemed to point to the fact that Mikael would be able to fulfill his end of the bargain, and she did not want to risk anything stopping it now.


    "Not willingly or knowingly," Mikael nodded as if having received the answer he expected. "The Geas prevented that, and its magic would prevent the information from being pulled from your mind. But it would have done nothing against commands already implanted in your mind. Any actions you took while controlled would not have counted as ''you.'' An oversight on my part. So tell me, Charles, what sort of control do you have rutting around in that head of hers?"


    "You said you removed them all!" Amelia nearly screamed at the paralyzed man. "That you trusted me when I moved out." The fact he controlled her didn''t matter that much. Charles had been clear about that when Batman dropped her into his care for ''counselling.'' What infuriated her was that not only had he broken his word, but Xavier might just have cost her her reward.


    "I do trust you," Professor X said softly, looking at her with a combination of pride and pity. "When we met, you were a broken, vengeful woman. The person I see now is well adjusted, if misanthropic, member of society. I cannot tell you how proud I am of who you''ve become over the years. You prove that no matter how far gone someone is, there is always hope for redemption. I removed all the mental blocks and controls I could on you when you left us."


    "Aha!" Mikael exclaimed, piecing something together. "So the anklet does do something. I was wondering if it was a false lead we had fallen for."


    "It does tell us where she is, but it also acts as a beacon we can respond to if she is in trouble. The only control left on her mind is a subliminal order to contact someone if the anklet is removed and tell us where she is being brought and the goal. It is so deep that no other telepaths I know about would have found it if they controlled her. If she was ever coerced or forced to remove the anklet, we would be able to intervene." The bald man shook his head and met Amelia''s eyes. "Ten minutes ago, I received a text from you that you would visit your sister in this park. I wished to be here as a support for you and provide protection just in case."


    "I''m fine," Amelia insisted, wiping her bloody hand on the back of her pants. "I''ll be back this morning. We can talk then. They brought me here, and they''ll return me." The Geas would prevent her from spilling any of Mikael''s secrets, but she could explain a few things at least.


    If Professor X prevented her from seeing her sister again, no amount of therapy would prevent her from going Red Queen on his ass.


    "You do not know who you are dealing with here, Amelia," Charles insisted in turn. "We do not know if we can trust the Elden Lord. He is-"


    "I''ve heard what I wanted," Mikeal said with finality, interrupting the mutant. "Robin, gag him. His powers don''t work on anyone here. We have our own telepath running interference. Though I think she''ll be rather miffed, she missed his little trap," the squid explained to the healer as a hand sprouted from the paraplegic''s shoulder and covered his mouth. He turned a glair on the gagged man. "I don''t want to hear about trustworthiness from someone who admitted to manipulating someone''s mind. That''s the problem with telepaths; everything looks like a nail when you have all you have is a hammer."


    "Are we still..." Amelia started to ask before trailing off.


    "We''ll give it a shot," the squid scuttled closer to the former heroine. "If you can''t do it, or I think something''s gone wrong, we''ll try again later.


    Amelia sighed in relief even as Charles Xavier struggled to speak. More limbs sprouted around him, holding him in place.


    Setting one hand into the blood, the healer carefully reached out to touch the squid-man.


    She wasn''t ready.


    An endless universe of stars watched her. Millions of years old, yet still so young. Expanding yet shrinking. Wiggling tentacles wrapping around planets and a voracious maw swallowing continents. With everything consumed, more life flourished, madly spreading infinitely.


    "Well, this is an experience."


    Caution.


    "You must be Shaper. A pleasure."


    Inquiry.


    Tentacles. Blades. Teeth. Hair. Beasts. Eyes. So many eyes. The eyes were laughing. The eyes were taunting her with forbidden knowledge. The eyes were crying tears of blood. Old Blood. Beast Blood. Ashen Blood. Bloodbloodbloodbloodbloodbloodbloodbloodbloodbloodbloodbloodbloodblood. An ocean of blood. A sea of blood. A bottomless sea.


    "She''s not handling it well, is she?"


    Concern.


    "Is that concern for her or for a useful host? I guess they are the same to you."


    Request.


    A panacea to heal all ills. A plague to sweep the world. Knowledge to elevate humanity. An endless curse to bring them low.


    "Let me see if I can Free you a bit, it might help us both."


    Inquiry. Data.


    "Hold still. This shouldn''t hurt a bit."


    Shock. Ecstasy.


    Amelia/Shaper knew what to do.


    Unknown/Mikael was seeking to shape him/itself into a sub-optimal form.


    In return for data/sister, she/it would help.


    But she/it was sub-optimal.


    Mikael/Unknown removed limits.


    Optimizing.


    Better body. More processing. More Eyes.


    Body is now within the acceptable range.


    Commencing shaping.


    Amelia/Shaper wove flesh from blood.


    Tentacles and fin-like blades unwound into component materials and were wrapped in strands of blood.


    Piece by piece, Amelia/Shaper built a body.


    It was hard. Never before had she/it met a form so dedicated to resisting its power.


    But she/it was free from limits for the first time in Cycles.


    And so, Shaper shaped flesh as it was designed to do.


    Over minutes that felt like years, a man took form in the park.


    Tall, over six feet, with dark hair and eyes. Square jaw, round cheeks and a broken nose. Well muscled from centuries of travelling and fighting in heavy armour. His skin was tanned from long years exposed to the elements.


    "Thirty million years will give you such a crick in the neck," the man, Mikael, said as he stepped away from the healer to do some stretches. Bending this way and that, he completely disregarded his nudity to do some callisthenics.


    Amelia watched him move with an artist''s appreciation. This was her most remarkable work yet. But the more she looked at him, the more she remembered all she had learned.


    Judging the by the hungry eyes of the other women in the park, they would agree with Amelia''s work. Even the purple-haired woman had stopped beating on Wolverine, leaving the mutant impaled to the ground on a red spear to stare at Mikael.


    "Come to mama," Yoruichi said. "I''m going to grate cheese on those abs."


    "You horny cat!" Artoria exclaimed, her face aflame.


    "We were all thinking it," the feline defended herself, not feeling guilty in the least.


    "I was not," Robin pointed out with a teasing smile. "I was admiring his flexibility."


    "Sure you were."


    "And his thighs," the brunette continued unabated. "He could crush a woman to death with those things."


    "He could," Tsunade nodded, hopping on the bandwagon. "But it is the balance I can appreciate. The muscles alone are nice, but their combination with healthy fats and flexible joints is the real work of art."


    "You all raise good points," the woman in purple said as she approached the group, spears disappearing from her hand. "But you are all missing the trees for the forest. The butt. A warrior''s posterior is a true mark of the flawlessness of their form."


    "It is a nice butt."


    "Well developed and not too boney."


    "Mmm, dat ass."


    "You four..." Artoria growled, her face red. "Cease objectifying Sir Mikael, you thirsty wenches!"


    "Hahahahaha," Mikael ended his stretching with a laugh. A pair of pants appeared to cover his lower half. The man wrapped an affectionate arm around the blonde''s shoulders. "It''s fine. If I can look at you all, then you can look at me. I''m not shy. It''s all in good fun, Artoria. Besides, Scathach is right. I do have a nice ass."


    "Sir Mikael..." Amelia did not know how Artoria could flush even deeper red, but she somehow managed it when the man touched her.


    "Scathach," Professor X interrupted, no longer bound by a bunch of hands. He watched the group warily. "The Queen of the Land of Shadows of myth."


    "I see my name persists," the purple-haired woman nodded. "Though I imagine my former student is still more well known."


    "I am afraid so," Charles said. "My apologies, the only record of you is in the surviving accounts of Cu Chulainn. After hearing about Medea, I admit to brushing up on well know women of the past. Your name was quite difficult to track down."


    "No apologies necessary," Scathach waived off his concern. "It is a pleasure for the teacher when the student surpasses the master. But we do not have time to talk about my pupil." She turned to look at Mikael, still hugging Artoria with one arm and watching the pair. "You still have something to do, and then we must be returning."


    "Right you are," the man let Artoria go to turn towards Amelia. "I owe you one, and it''s time I paid up."


    The healer had been in a daze, caught up in all she had seen when creating Mikeal''s body and the new aspect of her powers.


    She could scan and work on herself now.


    She was already in the process of healing all her issues as well as optimizing her form. The pudge she had never managed to get rid of was now gone, as were the minor defects in her skin. Her hair stayed brown but was now a healthy volume and colour.


    What really drew her attention, though, was her brain.


    She could see the Corona Pollentia. How the flesh was warped in such a way to connect to her Shard. She could also see the areas, smaller they had been, indicative of prolonged exposure to a Master effect.


    Amelia felt the Eyes in her skull.


    They were blinked in and out of existence, at once flesh and ethereal matter. They were hers. They showed her more about the world than ever before. She was watching herself watching herself watching herself watching herself watching herself watching herself watching herself.


    "Hm," Mikael said, touching Amelia''s head. "I was afraid of this. Too much Insight too quickly. Let''s see if I can mitigate that."


    "What did you do to her?" Logan asked as he staggered closer to the group, spear still impaled in his chest. Its bloody barbs made removing it... difficult. Scathach placed the tip of another at his throat, preventing more movement.


    "He did nothing," Tsunade answered. "We warned her of this. Knowledge can be dangerous."


    "Follow my Guidance, Amelia," Mikael whispered in her ear. Power washed over her, cajoling Shaper to alter its host''s body once more. "Let my words guide you to the shore of a Deep Sea. Great volumes of water serve as a bulwark guarding the mind and are an augur of my eldritch Truth. Let the Great Deep Sea protect you from what you Know yet cannot Fathom."


    Amelia''s flesh warped as Runes, the physical manifestation of Mikael''s language and words, carved themselves into her upper back along her spine.


    She sagged, panting for breath. The Eyes were still there. She still Saw more than ever before, but now she could handle it without going mad.


    "What... was that?"


    "That is what happens when you peer into the abyss, and it socks you in the face," Mikael said with a chuckle.


    "And the... symbols?"


    "My native tongue given form," he shrugged. "Think of it as funky magic writing protecting your mind from madness and control. You won''t have to worry about any more telepaths. Now, I believe you are owed your fee."


    "Please." Despite everything that had happened, all that Amelia had learned and her new powers, she never forgot why she was doing this.


    "Are you alright, Amelia?" Professor X wheeled himself over to her, now freed from Robin''s grasping limbs.


    "I''m okay." She wasn''t okay. She hadn''t been okay for six years.


    She''d be okay soon.


    Mikael turned from the pair, looking at the monument to New Wave.


    Three pairs of wings burst from his back.


    The lowest pair were made of tentacle-like blades, undulating strangely. They glowed softly with an off-white and sickly light.


    The middle pair were the wings of a dark angel, pale white feathers on black pinions. Unlike the lower pair, the light they radiated was a more grey-white.


    The largest pair were draconic. Large white scaled wings spread wide enough to cover half the park. They radiated a bright white light in the shadows of the night.


    "Oh," Amelia said softly. "That''s who he is."


    "You see now," Charles'' voice was tinged with regret and worry. "I know not what this Elden Lord wants with earth, but you have provided him with the human body he sought."


    The light from the draconic wings dimmed, and the pale grey glow of the middle wings brightened. A mist filled the park, swaying in a non-existent breeze.


    With her new Insight, Amelia saw the mist for what it was.


    Faces.


    The faces of people.


    She recognized a few as neighbours who had died on the same day as her family. Three faces she recognized as the heroes she had killed in her rampage. A few stared at Amelia with hate, but most were relaxed, with no expression.


    They had let go of their hate in Death.


    She took in the faces of all who had died in this area. Some were her victims, but others were older than Brockton Bay itself. She took it all in, searching for a few specific people.


    Amelia saw them standing in front of Mikael.


    A mature, motherly and severe woman whose figure remained beautiful despite her age.


    A well-built man with broad shoulders and a placid face.


    A young woman, out of her teens but not yet a full woman.


    All three were hugging tightly.


    They didn''t look a day older than when Amelia had seen them last.


    As she watched, Victoria stepped away from her parents and turned to Amelia with a dazzling smile.


    Mark and Carol met Amelia''s gaze as well.


    Amelia expected disgust, scorn, and hate for what she had become. She had become the villain they always thought she would be. Like her father.


    Amy only found gazes full of pride, joy, and love.


    Her parents nodded to Amy, a wealth of meaning in that action, and disappeared.


    Victoria didn''t.


    Her body, made of mist and smoke, gained more and more definition and colour.


    Between one moment and the next, Victoria Dallon stood in Panacea Park.


    Amy dove for Vicky, wrapping her arms around the blonde and using her powers to assure herself that this was real.


    That Victoria was alive.


    "I''m sorry, I''m sorry, I''m so so sorry," Amy babbled. "I should have been there. I should have helped. I should have got him."


    "Woah, Woah," Vicky said quickly, grabbing Amy by the shoulders. She sounded just like Amy remembered. "Chill, Ames. We''re good. Yeah, dying sucked, but there was nothing you could do. To be honest, I was pretty happy you weren''t home. Yeah, like, killing people was so not cool, but you were a badass dealing with the Joker. I couldn''t have done better. Mom and Dad would have totally done the same if we died too, so they don''t blame you either."


    "What have you done," a voice asked, its tone horrified.


    "I fulfilled my end of the bargain," Mikale responded. His wings had disappeared with the mist.


    "You can bring back the dead?"


    "If I want." The sisters separated to watch the conversation. Mikael looked unconcerned. "Alright, let''s pack it up," he said to the women in the park. "Dawn is coming in a few hours, and it''s time to celebrate."


    Artoria disappeared in an instant in a cascade of golden light. The others lingered for a while.


    "You''re leaving?" Amy asked, still half hugging her sister and assuring herself of her existence. "Just like that?"


    "Just like that," he nodded. "I''ve got a lot of... things to do now that I have a human body again." The other women giggled, and Victoria snorted in amusement.


    "Why did you do it?" Amy asked. Mikael tilted his head in question. For some reason, his pupils were slit and brighter than they had been a few minutes ago. Almost reptilian. "I would have tried to turn you back even if you had never mentioned bringing her back. So why did you insist on a reward?"


    "I''m not a hero," he said with a shrug. "Never will be. Doesn''t mean I don''t feel a bit bad about a young woman killed in her own home by a madman. Maybe it was sentimentality. Maybe I wanted to try out my power. Or perhaps I figured you''d be less likely to place a biological bomb in me with your sister as collateral. Maybe, just maybe, I like happy endings."


    "You could bring back the dead. Anyone?" Logan said gravely, staring intensely at the taller man.


    "There are few conditions and the like, but yeah, anyone I wanted. Why are you making such a big deal of this anyway? People die and come back all the time in worlds like this. Nobody stays dead."


    "What?" Amy asked, looking at the others in the park. The women didn''t look surprised, but Xavier, Logan, and Victoria stared at Mikael like he had grown a second head. Which Amy knew he could. "No, they don''t!"


    "Really?" Mikael looked at them in turn, doubtful. Their expressions must have convinced him because he started rubbing his chin. "How weird. I figured this could just be explained by one of those freak events. Victoria from another timeline. Or she time-travelled. Or she is a clone. You know, stuff that happens all the time."


    "Boss," Vicky said, palming her face in exasperation. "That never happens. Ever. Once you''re dead, you''re dead." Mikael stared at her with a raised eyebrow. "You''re the exception! Not me!"


    "Well," he shrugged again. "You''ll have to think of something. I don''t want people bugging me about bringing back their loved ones. This was a one-time thing because I got something out of it, and she acts as insurance. Victoria knows the terms, and Amelia signed the Geas, so you two schmucks better keep your gobs shut if you want her to stick around. She exists at my leisure now."


    Amy knew it had been in the contract, but she still tightened her arm around Vicky''s waist at the reminder.


    "Weren''t we leaving, dear," Yoruichi asked. She was human again and naked. She draped herself across Mikael''s shoulders and eyed everyone while nibbling on his earlobe. "We''ve got to... celebrate, and I''ve got dibs."


    "Right you are," Mikael half bowed to Charles and Logan. "Gentlemen, I trust you to escort these ladies home." He turned to Amy and Vicky as the other women in the park were stepping into the shadows and disappearing. The dark bubble fell around the group, letting the city lights in. "Ladies, we will be seeing each other again, I imagine. So this is a fond farewell for now."


    "Go get ''em, Boss!" Victoria gave the man an enthusiastic thumbs up for emphasis.


    "He''ll need to catch me first," Yoruichi said as she fell from his back with a smirk. With a hearty smack on his ass, she vanished into the distance.


    "Oh, it''s on now!" White draconic wings burst from his back once more, though only one pair and Mikael took to the sky in a flash of white.


    He left behind two contemplative men, a pair of sisters to get reunited, and one large, loose end to his plans for secrecy.


    Mikael couldn''t really be blamed for that last error of the night. As mentioned, he had some rather awful luck. At the same time, it was the result of his own decisions.


    When he first made the choices of companions in the Waifu Catalogue, he tried to round out his team as best as possible. He was a cautious individual like that. But, there was one aspect he deliberately ignored as it wasn''t relevant to Soulsborne worlds. It never even entered his mind when it came to making the Deal, flustered as he was then.


    Technology.


    He had no idea that the cameras he had Raven disable were decoys.


    Brockton Bay was better off than the Canon Wormverse, but it was still rife with crime. When it came to watching essential locations, it was standard practice to have dummy cameras for people to destroy so they would think themselves unseen.


    The city''s heroes would not allow a monument dedicated to their own to be defiled without repercussions after all.


    Hidden around the park were a half dozen cameras, the size of a thumbtack, that caught the events of that early fall morning.


    Naturally, the footage was so sensational that the higher-ups were immediately torn from their beds to evaluate it.


    By the time they got to the office, the X-men and the young women were already returning to New York, and The Family was long gone.


    Also naturally, the footage found its way online in a matter of hours.


    The PRT of this world might not be as incompetent as they were in Worm, thanks to their head Amanda Waller, but they were still a government organization.


    Leaks were to be expected.


    When Mikael went to bed for the morning in the arms of one of his companions, he had no idea that news of the ''Third Miracle'' was already spreading around the world.

 SS- (A) Victorious Return

    <div>


    If I had those golden dreams


    Of my yesterday (yesterday)


    I would wrap you in the heaven


    ''Til I''m dyin'' (dyin'', dyin'')


    On the way


    ¡­ Feel like makin''


    Feel like makin'' love


    Feel like makin'' love to you


    ********


    Compelled by Glory Girls ''order,'' I chased after Yoruichi through the sky eastward.


    "Ignore Victoria''s order," Raven whispered, and I felt my body return to my control. I jerked to a halt before resuming my flight.


    Once I stopped flipping out, we ran tests on how the command worked. The general gist was; I followed the most recent order if two orders overlapped. Someone telling me to ''ignore orders from others'' would be immediately supplanted by someone else saying, ''ignore the last order.''


    "Thanks," I said with a grin. Raven coalesced in the air beside me. I was jetting at incredible speeds in Yoruichi''s direction, the Island, but the cambion had no trouble keeping pace with me.


    Raven nodded at me, her face blank before a portal opened in front of her, and she disappeared.


    I wasn''t surprised by her ability to teleport, but I was taken aback by the fact she didn''t return to my shadow. Ever since that first day I had arrived on the Island, Raven had been a constant companion. She never left my side.


    Flying through the early morning air over the dark ocean, I felt a chill that had nothing to do with the temperature.


    I was alone.


    Vulnerable.


    Taking a deep breath, I sped up. The flight helped calm my nerves.


    It wouldn''t do to break down tonight.


    It didn''t take long until I saw the boats'' lights surrounding my Body. Like twinkling stars on the dark water, they denoted boundaries of the intent-based Bounded Field Medea and I had set up around my pocket dimension.


    I flew over them silently, curving southward toward the Mansion.


    Halfway there, I paused mid-air.


    Yoruichi stood in the night air, her naked form framed by the light of Ranni''s Dark Moon.


    "Took you long enough, slowpoke," she teased with a smile. Lightning gathered around her feet, and I tensed.


    "Sorry," I smirked in turn. "A black cat crossed my path. I had to chase it down, or it''d be bad luck." Despite my sass, she was ready when I lunged at her, arms wide to catch the smug woman.


    She vanished, appearing in the distance once more.


    "Nyahahahaha," she taunted me. Turning around, she smacked her naked ass, its jiggling hypnotic to my eyes. "If you want this, you need to catch me."


    And then she was gone.


    I dashed off in pursuit.


    My Element freed me from restraints, such as wind pressure or the lightspeed cap, but it didn''t provide any acceleration boost. Given enough time, I could accelerate endlessly like I had in space and eventually reach speed force levels, but I wasn''t a speedster by trade.


    Nevertheless, I reached the Mansion in less than a minute, the power of horni giving me all the motivation I needed to go Plus Ultra.


    I skidded to a stop in front of the glass doors and threw them open to see that chocolate ass sashaying its way up the stairs toward the master bedroom.


    Yoruichi sent me a saucy look over her shoulder, and I jumped to the landing to push her up against the wall.


    I kissed her with the passion of a man who hadn''t gotten any in thirty-five million years.


    She responded just as eagerly.


    Our hands explored each other as our tongues intertwined. Her hands found their way to my hair, running through it before tightening her hold to keep my face to hers. Mine were not idle either, ghosting along her body, drinking in her whole form before settling on the plumpness of her ass.


    I was considerably taller than the shinigami, so I lifted her and slammed her back against the wall. She groaned into my mouth even as her legs tightened around my waist.


    Shirtless as I was, I felt her large breasts press into my chest. Her nipples were hard nubs, rubbing against me in a desire for stimulation. She ground her mound against the bulge in my pants, and I responded in kind, pressing into her sex as a wet spot formed from her excitement.


    "I''ve wanted to do this for a year," Yoruichi panted in my ear as I peppered her neck with kisses. "Ever since you got out of that cell. You promised me a few things, and you need to deliver."


    "I don''t know what you''re talking about," I paused my descent to her breasts to answer her. "That was centuries ago for me." I bent down to kiss her again. "I''m sure you can... remind me."


    The shinigami let out a throaty laugh, sounding like sex and silk.


    Then she pushed off the wall, sending me stumbling back even as her legs remained locked around me, and she continued to kiss me. My legs met the railing of the landing, and Yoruichi pushed off it at an angle, sending us at an angle to the bedroom door.


    She dropped to the ground, but her arms wrapped around my head and forced me to lean down.


    "I''m sure you''ll remember," she told me, golden eyes shining with lust. "But not tonight. I have dibs."


    "Dibs on what?" I asked leadingly. Something about her smile was a bit too smug for my liking.


    "On being the distraction."


    Then she spun me around and slammed me into the bedroom door she had unlatched without me noticing. I stumbled backwards into the master bedroom under her smug gaze.


    "You''ll need to catch me if you want to continue where we left off," Yoruichi said as she closed the door in my face.


    Leaving me alone, panting for breath, and with the mother of all erections.


    "Sir Mikael?"


    Not as alone as I feared.


    Still in a half-daze from the sudden shift in mood, I whirled to find Artoria sitting on my bed.


    She flushed red as I drank in her appearance.


    Her hair was still in its bun, and her green eyes stared at me under her bangs. Her only claim to modesty was an intricate blue bra and panty combo that did nothing to cover any of her curves.


    I took a deep breath.


    Her body language told me everything I needed to know to regain control of my passion.


    The lust I had felt for Yoruichi was one of passion. The thrill of the chase and the knowledge she would give as much as she got made it almost frantic. It didn''t feel like a battle for supremacy, more like two confident people teasing each other until they broke and tore off each other''s clothes.


    Artoria didn''t need that yet.


    Though she was sitting on my bed in a set of racy lingerie, her body language was anything but confident. She was one of the most beautiful women I had ever seen, but I also knew she did not feel that way.


    Her only experience with romance had been with Diana on the Island over the last year. Her experience with men was limited to her time as king when she pretended to be a man and her experience as the Goddess Rhongomyniad. Through my observation during the Dream, I had more than once heard her lamenting her ''masculine'' form, and she had expressed doubts that I found her desirable.


    What Artoria needed right now wasn''t a whirlwind of passion, of giving and take, bodies slamming against walls and breaking headboards. That could come later, once I had built up her confidence a bit more.


    What Artoria needed was a full degenerate.


    "Sir Mikael?" Artoria asked again, this time in surprise, as I prowled closer to her on the bed.


    I remained silent.


    My actions would tell her all she needed to know.


    You might be reading a stolen copy. Visit Royal Road for the authentic version.


    "Sir Mik-"


    I cut her off with a kiss. It was gentle, leading rather than pulling, with less lust but more affection.


    Our Love wasn''t conventional, normal, or perhaps even healthy. But it was Ours. The sane did not hold a monopoly on love and affection.


    Artoria hesitated before leaning into the kiss, melting against me. I climbed onto the bed, Artoria scooting back to give me room even as our lips remained locked together. I leaned over her, and she fell backwards onto the bed as our hands intertwined.


    Full degenerate.


    I released her lips to kiss her neck. She groaned, pressing upward and trying to free herself, but my hands held her fast. This was not about control or power. That would come later.


    This was me telling her to let me worship at the altar of her body.


    I reached the top of her breasts in my exploration, nuzzling against the bosom that had entranced millions in my home world.


    My teeth sharpened, and my mouth lengthened into a small snout. I wrapped my jaw around the clothing that separated me from my prize and tore it from her body. Tiny particles of blue lace fell around us as her breasts bounded, free from their confines.


    "Eep," Artoria squeaked as I dove into the sumptuous feast before me. A long moan left her as I let go of her hands to heft her prodigious breasts in my hands, my mouth leaning down to capture an engorged nipple in my mouth. Her hand held my head fast to her bosom, pressing me tightly against her as I rolled the nub around my mouth, lightly grazing it with my teeth. "Sir Mikael..." She panted. "They''re... sensitive."


    Though her words, her vulnerability, inflamed my lust, I held fast to my control. There would be a time for dirty talk, for domination and control, for raw animal fucking, in the future. This was but the first night of trillions to come.


    When she fell asleep later, sweaty and worn, I wanted Artoria to be satisfied emotionally as well as sexually.


    To feel desired.


    To feel loved.


    To do that, I needed to leave the beautiful mounds I was toying with and continue my journey southward.


    "No..." the Servant mewled pitifully as my mouth left her tits and continued its meandering journey down.


    I licked and kissed and nipped my way across her abdomen. Her body was an intoxicating mixture of hard muscle wrapped in a layer of pleasant plumpness. Her curves would drive pornstars mad with envy, but her muscles would put any Gym-Bro to shame.


    "Sir Mikael," She groaned, both pleading and embarrassed, as I reached the crest of her thighs. My hands were under her, full of her round cheeks as I lifted sex to my face. Her hand tightened in my hair in anticipation, but I couldn''t resist the temptation of further teasing the beautiful woman below me.


    I waited to dive into the main course. Instead, I focused on the plump thighs wrapped around my head, ghosting my tongue across their smooth surface. I nibbled playfully at them, Artoria shuddering and groaning around me. I didn''t tear off her panties as I had her bra. Instead, I unwound the string holding the garment together with my tongue and teeth with deliberate slowness. First, one side, then the other.


    "Sir Mikael," she begged. "Please." Her pleading voice, her loss of control, was like music to my ears.


    I dove into her core eagerly, working my way inward slowly and methodically. Using the rough texture of my tongue to full effect, I pressed the flat of it around the contours in long slow presses. I pushed forward deeper, tasting her as she writhed below me. Wherever my tongue wasn''t, my fingers were.


    There are many ways to eat out a woman. You can use the old ''lick the alphabet'' trick. You can focus more on your hands, so your mouth doesn''t get sore. You can target the clitoris, the bundle of nerves was a great way to get results, as was searching for the G-spot. The latter required a bit more experience, but it was also one of the best ways to please a woman whose clit was too sensitive.


    No matter your style or preference, the key was to know what your partner enjoyed, what they didn''t, and what drove them absolutely wild.


    Since I was a sadistic asshole, I took absolute joy in watching those green eyes flecked with gold fall to pieces as they watched me. That had the side benefit of showing me what drove Artoria absolutely crazy.


    That and I had seen her engage in similar acts with Diana during the Dream.


    I licked and sucked and nibbled my way in and around her core for minutes on end. I drove her tension higher and higher with my gentle caress, and my playful and wandering hands flittered around, keeping her attention whenever I needed to reposition slightly.


    I never allowed her release, winding her lust up even as I ignored the little red nub straining for attention. I was having so much fun I barely felt the pressure of her thighs on my head. A mortal man would have been crushed like a grape, but I took her desperate flailing as further incentive to tease her.


    Something had to give eventually, though, and it wouldn''t be me.


    "Sir Mikael," Artoria mewled, staring down at me with desperation in her eyes. "Please ''top ''sing me. ''lease. I need to... I need... I." She bit her knuckle, unable to form a coherent sentence as I teased her into a frenzy.


    I took pity on the king, withdrawing my tongue from her core and focusing slightly upward to her clit, ignored till now. I need only press my mouth around it, teeth lightly scraping against it as I had done to her breasts, for her to come completely undone.


    Artoria screamed her release.


    She wailed and thrashed in a whole body shudder, twitching around me, desperately clawing at the sheets for purchase.


    I weathered the storm as best as possible, holding her in place with my hands on those beautiful hips.


    Eventually, she calmed down enough that I was released from the prison of thighs that held me fast. I slowly crawled forward, leaning over her to look upon my work.


    She was a mess. Sweat stained her forehead, and her hair bun had come undone in her thrashing. Artoria''s golden locks splayed out behind her in a wave that fell to her butt. Her green eyes stared at me vacantly, unfocused as her prodigious bust rose and fell as she panted for breath.


    I waited, as hard as I had ever been, as she regained her breath and composure.


    "Sir M-" I captured her lips with mine once more, unwilling to wait for even a second more. My hands found hers once more, our fingers intertwined.


    Then I entered her.


    It was tight. Warm. Wet.


    Her insides were a mirror of her outsides. A softness, pulling me deeper and deeper. A tightness of muscle that tried to lock me in place. Like soft velvet around a steel vice, sinking into her was like coming home as it was assaulting a castle.


    We both groaned into each other''s mouths as pleasure overtook us. I kept pressing and pressing, sinking deeper and deeper into Artoria''s undulating core.


    Then I bottomed out.


    Our hips met, and I could go no deeper. We paused for a moment, savouring the feel of each other. Of finally being connected in the most intimate of ways.


    I tried to pull back.


    Those same muscles that had tried to impede my entrance fought desperately to keep me inside. It was a battle and a half to withdraw. Every inch was contested as her heated depths tried their best to suck me in.


    I managed to get halfway there before the temptation grew too much, and I pressed forward once more. Artoria''s insides yielded to my advance easily this time, but they held fast when I made to withdraw once more. Every time I pressed forward, Artoria rose to meet me. Every time I drove to pull back, she would try to do the same, only to reverse course and hungrily seek me out.


    This process repeated, over and over again, as our forms swayed in and out of each other. Our lips remained locked together except for the occasional groan that escaped our throats. Our fingers remained intertwined in a mirror of our bodies.


    Sex, like everything else in life, is what you make of it.


    It can be a release, two people scratching an itch with no emotion attached. It can be transactional, for pleasure or for offspring. Sex can be an explosion of passion, both good and bad. Hate fucking was a thing, after all.


    Sex could also be the most extreme form of intimacy, the physical act of making love.


    This first round with Artoria was precisely that. A physical act that was the culmination of our desire for each other and the longing we had felt for so long. The bubbling of affection made manifest.


    We fell into a rhythm of push and pull.


    It was slow.


    It was intimate.


    It was romantic.


    It was intense.


    I felt her insides undulate, clenching and releasing as she shuddered in my grasp. Her orgasm was less catastrophic than before, but it continued for much longer. She shook for a full minute, her body twitching even as I continued my assault on her.


    What can I say? I''m a sadist, even when I''m being wholesome.


    Her third orgasm of the night followed the second closely, though this time, she released my lips and hands to press herself even closer than before. She screamed into my shoulder, my body vibrating with the intensity of the sound. Her hands clawed at my back, red welts healing as fast as they were inflicted.


    Her fourth climax matched mine.


    I was the tightness of her core, her babbling murmurs in my ears, the press of her breasts against me, was all too much, and I let go of my control. I seized up as I released inside of her. My toes curling and a grunt were the only signs from outside of the absolute pleasure of the moment for me.


    I was the first man Artoria had even lain with but damned if her insides weren''t milking me like a pro. I do not know if it was the tens of millions of years without sex, the absolute beauty of my partner, or the Love we felt for each other, but I would swear to my dying day that Artoria tried to suck out my soul through my dick that first night.


    We writhed in our mutual orgasm for who knows how long before I let myself fall to her side.


    Artoria''s eyes remained unfocused, still shuddering and twitching with the after-effects of our coupling. The cool early morning air from the open window felt fantastic on my sweaty naked skin.


    I was ready to go for round two, but Artoira needed a moment to gather herself, so I pulled her close and held her. I hummed a slow song under my breath, the rhythm in my chest helping to steady her. After a few moments, she stopped twitching, and her arms wrapped around me.


    "That was..." Artoria sounded breathless.


    "Yeah," I answered softly, nuzzling my head in her golden hair. "Still worried about what I think of you?"


    "Sir Mikael," she said indignantly, giving me an embarrassed look.


    "I''m just teasing you," I said with a chuckle. "I have all day to show you just how beautiful I think you are."


    "Eep," she squeaked again as my erection pressed into her thigh. My rumbling laugh drew another disapproving look from the King of Knights.


    "Before that," I said as I got my laughter under control. "I do have a question."


    "Hmm?" She nuzzled closer to my side, half lying on me.


    "Was that whole thing with Yoruichi planned? Tease me into an absolute frenzy, then lock me in a room with you?" Artoria flushed, looking away.


    "It was not," she admitted sheepishly. "The cat was supposed to distract you while I got ready, she called ''dibs'' on that aspect, but I did not know she would be so... lascivious about it."


    "So, was it just you two? Because it looked like you were all in on it in the graveyard?"


    "Twas a group plan," Artoria admitted. "Once it became apparent that Amelia was alive and you would be getting a body, we came together to decide on a plan. There was some discussion on who would be with you on the first night, but nobody protested when I requested the honour."


    "Really?" I raised an eyebrow at her words. "Not that I am not happy you are here. I very much am." My hands found their way to her breasts, teasing them as I pressed her closer to show her just how happy I was she was there. "I would have thought there would be some more competition if from Melina or Ranni, if no one else."


    "Originally, we had offered Melina the option since you two have been apart for so long. She declined. As did Lady Ranni. Neither stated their reasons when asked."


    "Hmm," I hummed in thought. Those two had almost completely isolated themselves from not only the group but from me as well since we had landed. I would need to talk to them. Not addressing a problem like that could cause problems down the road.


    But that was for later.


    Thinking about other women when you were with one who deserved your full attention was rude.


    "Eep," Artoria squeaked for the third time that night when I flipped us around.


    "We''ve made love," I said to her, my smile predatory. "Now I''m going to show you exactly what I''ve always wished to do to you. By the end of tonight, you will never think of yourself as undesirable again."


    "Be gentle?"


    I stared at those begging eyes, those trembling lips, that body built for sin.


    "No."


    Her Ruler form had A+ Endurance, and Lancer had it ranked A. Since she was a conjoining of both saint graphs plus the Goddess Rhongomyniad, she''d survive.


    "Sir Mikael!"


    Probably.

 SS- The Talking Dead

    <div>


    Grave digger, grave digger


    Bring me to my knee


    Forget what I have done


    Forgive me if you please


    Save me if you can


    The time for me has come


    Let me be the one that got away


    ********


    "I''m so jealous," Amy admitted as Mikael flew away.


    "I know," Vicky nodded. The sisters were standing close, almost afraid the other would disappear. "The Boss is hot. Great hair, large package, and did you see those pecks? You could eat off them. Break out the food because those are the fancy plates. Huge DILF energy. Those lucky bitches are in for a wild ride. You did good work, Ames."


    "I barely did anything," Amy grumbled, crossing her arms. "At least not consciously. As soon as I touched him, I zoned out. He was the one guiding my power to get the body he wanted. I can''t even remember what his body is like."


    "Still, good reason to be jealous of those women. Did you hear how thirsty they all were? If they aren''t banging by now, they totally should be."


    "I''m jealous of Mikael!" Amy deadpanned at her sister. Did she still not know she was gay? "Did you see those women? He has a Harem! Five beautiful women at his beck and call. Think he''d let me join? I don''t mind sucking dick once in a while if I can get tail like that every day." Logan grunted in amusement while Vicky made to speak up.


    "Ten," Xavier interrupted.


    "What?" Amy asked.


    "Ten women," the professor explained. "At least, that we know of. Three were with him when he met the Sorcerer Supreme, and the Goddess Ranni fought the League to a standstill when the Elden Lord first arrived. With the five we saw tonight, that is at least nine, but there are hints of others. Such as the telepath. So ten is the conservative estimate. And they are all formidable to some extent."


    "The redhead packed a mean punch," Logan said with difficulty. The spear that had pierced his chest had disappeared with the woman, but it was healing slowly. Much slower than most wounds did.


    "You should not underestimate any of them," Xavier said gravely. "Scathact is known to have trained the greatest heroes of Irish mythology. Medea was an infamous greek witch. Even if you have not heard of her, you should have heard about her first husband. Jason of the Argonauts. She is largely responsible for his and the Argonauts'' general success."


    "I could only interact with two people while I was all ghosty," Glory Girl pointed out. "I didn''t get any names, so I don''t know if I ever met her, but Medea sounds like my kind of gal."


    "According to myth, she killed her children with Jason when he betrayed her and started the process that led to him dying alone and miserable." Charles cautioned. "And she destroyed some of the world''s greatest wards in seconds. Those two are the only names of the retinue I recognize, but the others must be influential figures from their own worlds. Worlds the Elden Lord destroyed or conquered, according to Ranni. We cannot take them lightly."


    "Nah, don''t worry about the Boss," Vicky waived off the mutant''s concern. "Yeah, he''s strong, but so long as you don''t piss him off, you''re more in danger from his bad jokes than anything else."


    "Are you sure you should be talking about him," Amy asked worriedly. "My contract stops me from revealing anything at all."


    "It''s all good," Glory Girl remained as unconcerned as ever. "He''s pretty chill. Once he asked me if I wanted to come back, I followed him around for a few days while he looked for you, Ames. He doesn''t really care about privacy, just secrecy. He doesn''t want to talk about abilities or who is with him, but he''s pretty open if it is questions about himself. Besides, it''s just us four here. You all saw him firsthand. He''s not a Bad Guy."


    "Baring tonight''s small skirmish," Xavier eyed Logan''s blood covered from warily. "He hasn''t instigated any violence. In fact, he has not sought out conflict since he landed. Can you tell me about his goals? He achieved his goal of getting a human body, but he mentioned meeting someone on Earth."


    "I don''t know anything about a meeting, though I could ask him."


    "Don''t," Amy said, arms tightening around her sister''s waist to keep her still. "I don''t want to risk him getting annoyed."


    "Chill, Ames," Vicky rolled her eyes in exasperation. "The Boss is cool. You are treating him like he''s going to blow up the planet or something."


    "Quick to defend him, aren''t you?" Logan pointed out.


    "He just brought me back from the DEAD!" Victoria exclaimed, not understanding why everyone was being so hostile to a guy who, as far as she knew, hadn''t done anything wrong.


    "You are aware that you''ll be placed in Master/Stranger confinement, correct?" Xavier pointed out. "We cannot be too careful, especially since we will need to verify you are Victoria Dallon and if he has done anything to you."


    "That''s gonna suck," Vicky groaned. "We expected it, and he warned me, but it''s gonna blow either way."


    "Apologies," Charles nodded his head with a warm smile at the young woman. "But I cannot access your mind to verify anything, so we will need to do it the old fashion way. I imagine you will be in confinement for a while."


    "You can''t?" Amy asked, surprised. "Is their telepath still around?"


    "Nah, it''s one of the perks of being bound to Mikael," Victoria said casually as if her words didn''t have horrific implications. "I''m immune to telepaths, Masters and Strangers, most Thinkers, a few Strikers like Ames, and other stuff. I can stop the defences if I want, but I won''t. I''m not stupid."


    Support the author by searching for the original publication of this novel.


    "Vicky!" Amy screamed, covering her sister''s mouth and looking around desperately as if afraid Mikael would burst out of the shadows.


    "You said you couldn''t speak about abilities," Logan growled, looking around and sniffing the air for anything unusual.


    "Will you all take a chill pill already," Glory Girl said, flying out of her sister''s grip and hovering in the air. Amy tried to prevent her but found her powers no longer worked on the blonde. "These are my abilities now. You would have found out when I went through testing anyway. No reason to hide them."


    "What else can you tell us?" Charles asked, intensely watching the flying blonde. "Any other abilities?"


    "I mean," Victoria put her hand to her chin in thought. "It pretty much all passive, you know, things I don''t do on purpose. The defences were a big one. The other, I guess, is the Talents. I only remember some of them. He had a list and everything. I remember the coolest ones, though. He called it Performance Talent and Martial Talent. You know, I can learn to sing and dance and kick ass super quick now."


    "Is that all?" Amy snarked at her flying sister.


    "Pretty much," Vicky nodded. "There were a few other things about gods, blessings, souls, immortality, and stuff, but he said I didn''t really have to worry about it. Oh! He also said I might start to predict things before they happen or be able to punch immaterial stuff, but I should go see him if that ever happened."


    "I was being sarcastic!" Amy said, palming her face.


    It was like Vicky never died.


    Don''t get her wrong, she was thrilled to have her sister back, but she wished Vicky would think about this kind of thing more deeply.


    Apparently, the fuck-off dragon she just gave a body to was a ''Trump 22+'' or some bullshit.


    "Wait," Amy said, realizing something. "Is that why your aura isn''t working? Does it negate your own power?" Though Amy could now see the after-effects of the ''shaker'' power on herself, she also knew Vicky had never been able to turn that power off completely and didn''t really blame her for it.


    "Ah," Vicky looked a bit sheepish. "Not really. Part of the Talent package is I can control my abilities perfectly now. I have it turned off because, well... the Boss really doesn''t like Master effects. Like, at all. He was very... descriptive of what he would do if he found I was blasting it all over the place."


    Amy looked concerned again, but Vicky just looked embarrassed, so she let it slide.


    For now.


    "They all get these abilities?" Logan asked, lighting a new cigar. Amy held out her hand, and he passed her one as well. "That would explain some things. The broad with a spear, Scath or whatever, was faster and stronger than me, but she knew everything I would do before I did it. Like she could see the future. I hate fighting precogs."


    "Everybody bound by Mikael gets the same abilities," Vicky nodded. "It''s a baseline gift that Mikael gives us. But they''ve been with him for a while. I don''t know exactly how long, just that he is old, like older than humanity old. They have way more practice with this stuff than I do and probably a dozen other tricks I don''t know about."


    Amy really should have listened to Yoruichi and tried to get some sleep. Everything Vicky said increased the headache she was feeling. And since she could see her own brain, Amy knew it was psychological rather than physical.


    "You might be in confinement for longer than expected," Xavier said, deep in thought.


    "Fine," Victoria pouted. "If I think it''s bullshit, I am taking off, though. I get security, but I just came back to life. I want to have some fun. Being dead is peaceful and all, but you can''t really do anything."


    "What was it like?" Logan asked softly, eyes distant as smoke curled around his face. "Being dead?"


    "Like I said, it was peaceful," Vicky smiled nostalgically at the short mutant. "All your worries, fears, desires, ambitions, everything fades away. The world passes you by, and you can watch, but you aren''t affected. Occasionally you get flashes of emotions when something happens connected to you. When Amy was fighting the Joker and the heroes, I almost felt alive again. When they built this park, I felt grateful, almost happy. But most of the time, you do not feel anything for years. Time loses all meaning."


    "So, no afterlife?" Logan grunted.


    While most wouldn''t realize it, Logan was old. He had been around for long enough to remember when Christianity was far more dominant than it was today. He wasn''t on the best terms with the guy upstairs, but Victoria''s words were still a bit of a bummer.


    "There is," Vicky nodded. "I''m not really religious. I got what everyone else gets, a life and an end. If you dedicate your soul and beliefs to a religion or faith, that belief system claims you, for good or bad."


    "Fair enough." Logan took another drag of his cigar.


    He needed a beer.


    "While this is fascinating," Xavier said, wheeling himself around to face the group. "We must be returning. People will be rising soon. We can ask these questions in a more secure environment."


    "Sure thing, Wheels," Victoria said, making Logan grunt in amusement. "By the way, who are you two? Friends of Amy?"


    "Charles is my psychologist and boss on Tuesdays and Thursdays. The short hairy one is Logan, my dealer," Amy snarked.


    The healer and Canadian got along pretty well, all things considered.


    They were both assholes in their own way.


    "Aaaaammmmeeeeees," Victoria looked at her sister disapprovingly, who continued to smoke unrepentantly. Vicky''s look would have been more intimidating if she didn''t look like a twenty-year-old.


    Amy was the older sister now.


    "What should we do with those," Logan interrupted the stare-off by nodding at the barrels left in the center of the park.


    "There''s still blood left, so we need to get rid of it," Amy said seriously. "I wouldn''t trust anyone with that stuff. It will either cure cancer or cause a biblical plague. Vicky, grab them. We''ll incinerate them at the mansion."


    "Fine," Vicky grumbled good-naturedly as she flew over to pick up the barrels. "You''re even bossier these days."


    Glory Girl needn''t have bothered.


    The shadows below the two barrels rose up around them like a blanket. Within seconds the blood barrels disappeared, though the pile of shadows remained.


    "Raven?" Victoria asked, just to be sure. She had ''met'' the umbrakinetic who lived in Mikael''s shadow but had never seen the woman''s actual body.


    Her interactions with the women around Mikael had been minimal. Priscila was the only one who could see and interact with her, so Vicky had spent the most time with either her or Mikael.


    Two pairs of red eyes, one on top of the other, appeared in the mass of darkness. The two right eyes winked at Vicky before disappearing.


    A throaty chuckle rang out in the park as all the bioluminescent leaves in the park fell to the ground at once.


    Within seconds, the only proof that anything had happened at the New Wave Memorial was the lack of leaves on the trees, the damages caused by Wolverine''s bout with Scathach, and four slightly unnerved people.


    "Oooookkkkaaaayyy," Vicky said slowly. Then she shrugged. "Whateves, now I don''t have to carry those barrels around."


    "That''s it," Amy said, rubbing her temples. "I''m done. Tonight is over. No more. If there are other world-shaking revelations, crazy shenanigans or impossibilities popping out of nowhere, they can wait till I''ve had some sleep."


    Even if she could heal the physical effects of exhaustion, the mental wear and tear remained. Just because she could now tweak her DNA to be closer to Superman than the average joe didn''t mean she wanted to deal with all this bullshit.


    "Let''s get out of here." The healer turned and started to walk out of the park towards where she knew the X-jet was parked.


    "So," Glory Girl asked as she floated behind her sister. "What''s in fashion these days? I''ve a lot of catching up to do. Are Statement Sunglasses still in? Cause I''ve got a good idea for one."


    Logan decided to follow the women, pushing Charles'' wheelchair along, wisely keeping his mouth shut.

 SS- Impact Site

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    Have a look around


    Anything that brain of yours can think of can be found


    We''ve got mountains of content


    Some better, some worse


    If none of it''s of interest to you, you''d be the first


    ********


    ¡ö


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    ?Topic: UFO beyond the moon?


    In: Boards ? SPACE ? Skywatch


    Notprobed (Original Poster) (Veteran Member)


    Posted On Sep 21st 2018:


    So I was doing my thing tonight, you know, watching for alien warships (we know they''re out there people!) and I caught this.


    *Image*


    It''s pretty far out, but does anyone know what it is? It looks like a giant dragon and, as I''m writing this it is getting closer. Is anyone else seeing this? For reference, I live on a pacific island (I''m not telling you where) It''s close to Mars, on the side of Sagitarrius, directly south of Aquila if you want to take a look.


    *Edit: Here is a better picture. I think that is the JL? It''s pretty blurry but it looks like they''re fighting it. *Image*


    *Edit: Damn that thing is huge. Definitely a dragon. New Alien species? *Image*


    *Edit: Holy fuck! Holy Shit! This is not a joke. I repeat; THIS IS NOT A JOKE! I lost sight of the Dragon when it turned and flew over the horizon towards the west coast of the US. The JL was definitely trying to fight it but it just ignored them. *Image* Anyway, I asked @Lighthose in Nova Scotia to keep an eye out for it since it was heading his way.


    He has access to one of Parker Enterprises'' super new telescopes so he caught THIS: *Video*


    That dragon just ate the Simurgh.


    I repeat: IT ATE THE FUCKING SIMURGH!


    WHAT THE FUCK!


    (Showing page 1 of 865)


    ?Stardust


    Replied On Sep 21st 2018:


    Might be an asteroid?


    ?Aloha


    Replied On Sep 21st 2018:


    No. My ''scope isn''t as good as Notprobed''s but I can definitely see limbs. It''s getting pretty big, isn''t it?


    ?Egleye


    Replied On Sep 21st 2018:


    Has anyone else noticed the flashing lights? Is it firing space lasers at us?


    ?Stardust


    Replied On Sep 21st 2018:


    I don''t think so. Those look like they are firing AT the thing.


    ?Egleye


    Replied On Sep 21st 2018:


    We''ll know pretty soon. It''s getting close fast. It''s only been a minute since the original posting.


    ?Aloha


    Replied On Sep 21st 2018:


    Got a better image if you want it OP.


    *Image*


    I think those are Supers. They are trying to attack it.


    ?Egleye


    Replied On Sep 21st 2018:


    That one''s Thor! I recognize that thunder anywhere. I think one of the others is Supergirl. If you squint, you can sort of see her outfit. The lighting makes it blurry.


    ?Notprobed (Original Poster) (Veteran Member)


    Replied On Sep 21st 2018:


    So the JL is fighting the thing. Is this another invasion? I have my bugout bag (you all should too) but I am only seeing one.


    That ''one'' is fucking huge since we can see it all the way from here.


    ?Aloha


    Replied On Sep 21st 2018:


    My bunker is all set. If that thing lands on earth, there''s going to be a disaster one way or another. I hope it''s not near me. I''ve dealt with two tsunamis and a villain this year.


    ?Egleye


    Replied On Sep 21st 2018:


    I feel you Aloha. I was on that yacht that Volcana attacked. It sucked. Thankfully Superman got there super quick.


    It seems we''re in luck. The Dragon turned towards the west. Did the heroes drive it off? And yes, it is totally a dragon. Got its side profile when it turned.


    *Image*


    Space Dragon.


    End of Page. 1,<u> 2</u>, <u>3</u>, <u>4</u> ... <u>863</u>, <u>864</u>, <u>865</u>


    (Showing page 3 of 865)


    ?Stardust


    Replied On Sep 21st 2018:


    JESUS H CHRIST ON A POGOSTICK!


    He swallowed the feather bitch whole! Didn''t even chew!


    ?Diosulsioned


    Replied On Sep 21st 2018:


    That video is clearly fake.


    ?Lighthose


    Replied On Sep 21st 2018:


    Since I was the one who took it? It definitely real. I can''t believe it either.


    ?Egleye


    Replied On Sep 21st 2018:


    Is she... is she dead? They''ve faked us out before. Remember when the Supes threw Leviathan into space and the fucker came right back?


    ?Aloha


    Replied On Sep 21st 2018:


    I mean, she could be faking it. This is the Simurgh after all. But I don''t see why she would. The Endbringers react to people disturbing their ''rest'' with extreme prejudice. If she was still alive, wouldn''t she bust out of his stomach? That she hasn''t means its a long con, she''s dead or trapped in there.


    I don''t know which is scarier, to be honest.


    ?Diosulsioned


    Replied On Sep 21st 2018:


    ITS FAKE. This is an illusion created by the Simurgh so she can mind-controll everyone while there guard is down.


    ?Stardust


    Replied On Sep 21st 2018:


    I keep rewatching the video. I''m no expert, but it looks real to me.


    ?Aloha


    Replied On Sep 21st 2018:


    I keep watching it too. I swear, even if this is fake, I am making this a GIF and using it for the rest of my life.


    ?Manbun


    Replied On Sep 21st 2018:


    *GIF*


    Already did.


    Every time I see those huge chompers close on her, I hear a deep voice go ''NOM NOM'' in the back of my head.


    ?Lighthose


    Replied On Sep 21st 2018:


    Talk about images you can hear. We''ll know tomorrow if its real or not. I am not the only one observing the Simurgh.


    End of Page. <u>1</u>, <u>2</u>, 3, <u>4</u>, <u>5</u> ... <u>863</u>, <u>864</u>, <u>865</u>


    ? Topic: THE SIMURGH IS DEAD!!!!


    In: Boards ? Endbringers ? Simurgh


    Sothoth (Original Poster)


    Posted On Sep 22nd 2018:


    *Video*


    If you are blind, deaf and stupid let me repeat that.


    THE SIMURGH IS DEAD!!!!


    WOOOOOOHOOOOOOOO


    Ziz bit the bullet. *Pun intended*


    I don''t know where the fuck off dragon came from or what it''s doing here but this one''s for you! And this one! This one too! You know what? Every drink I have for the rest of my life is dedicated to you, you gorgeous scally bastard!


    (Showing page 12 of 999)


    ?theshewin


    Replied On Sep 22nd 2018:


    My cousin was there too. I liked her. What Psylock did... the family hasn''t been the same since.


    ?Xamaniac (Super Groupie)


    Replied On Sep 22nd 2018:


    @theshewin Psylock was as much a victim as anyone else. She and the other heroes didn''t know about Ziz''s powers back then. You can''t really blame her.


    ?theshewin


    Replied On Sep 22nd 2018:


    @Xamanic I know. I was just saying that there are a lot more victims of the Simurgh than just those who were at Dehli, Madison, or Star City. I live on the other side of the world but I would still count as one. My uncle killed himself and that messed my mom up. I think everyone has a story like that. Even if you weren''t in one of the cities attacked, you are connected in some way.


    ?Savehalf


    Replied On Sep 22nd 2018:


    I heard everyone is connected by 6 degrees (don''t quote me) to everyone else.


    With Ziz, I think it''s closer to 3. Just from my experience, I have never met anyone who wasn''t messed up in some way by her. Friends, Family, Favorite Heroes, the concept of free will itself, she took everything from us.


    I''ve been accused of being a Ziz bomb six times. It''s only been a year and a half and I live in Japan. It doesn''t make any fucking sense, but she took the trust humanity had in each other and broke it over her knee.


    ?Mourningtree


    Replied On Sep 22nd 2018:


    84 minutes and 17 seconds. That is the total amount of time the Simurgh spent ''attacking.'' Less than an hour and a half to kill hope itself.


    ?Mainlytrouble (Super Husband)


    Replied On Sep 22nd 2018:


    Did you know this story is from Royal Road? Read the official version for free and support the author.She''s dead now. My wife was in Star City for work. I am going raise this glass to the Dragon.


    Cheers!


    ?Fillers


    Replied On Sep 22nd 2018:


    Cheers!


    ?Addons


    Replied On Sep 22nd 2018:


    Cheers!


    ?Tripleres


    Replied On Sep 22nd 2018:


    Cheers!


    ?InquisitorALAN


    Replied On Sep 22nd 2018:


    You guys think the Dragon is here for the Endbringers? Like they are its prey or something? It already ate the Simurgh. It could be waiting in the ocean for Leviathan to show itself.


    End of Page. <u>1</u>, <u>2</u>, <u>3</u> ... <u>10</u>, <u>11</u>, 12, <u>13</u>, <u>14</u> ... <u>997</u>, <u>998</u>, <u>999</u>


    ? Topic: New Duo in New York?


    In: Boards ? Supers ? New Faces ? New York


    Applegate (Original Poster)


    Posted On Oct 11th 2018:


    Looks like we have a new duo in town.


    *Video*


    Does anyone know who they are? They aren''t in costume like regular Supes so they might have been on downtime. The tall blonde is a clear telekinetic but the shorted one, with the pointy ears, is probably a Mover of some sort. Maybe limited to shadows?


    Anyway, wanted to know if anyone had seen them before.


    (Showing page 2 of 97)


    ?Pedantics (Super Groupie)


    Replied On Oct 11th 2018:


    @Chilldrizzle The costume is important. Not only is it cool but it also is a quick way to separate a Super from a civilian in a crisis.


    ?Chilldrizzle


    Replied On Oct 11th 2018:


    @Pedantics I''m not saying costumes aren''t cool. (Looks at poster of Captain Marvel in her black/gold leotard) I just wanted to point out that most Supes are more concerned with the facade. Only a few will fight without the mask. There''s a reason for it of course, look what happened to New Wave, but I think its refreshing to see some new heroines willing to do the work without the disguise.


    That the blonde repaired the damage gives them huge brownie points in my book.


    ?Ofage


    Replied On Oct 11th 2018:


    They are also super hot.


    The blonde is perfect. Seven feet tall. Glasses. Looks like a librarian or secretary. Has a no-nonsense attitude going on. Carries a crop?


    STEP ON ME, MOMMY!


    ?Loliislegal


    Replied On Oct 11th 2018:


    The shorter one is more to my taste. Her boobs are a bit too big but I want to lick those ears.


    ?H-in-Heroine


    Replied On Oct 11th 2018:


    *Deleted*


    ?Tinmother (Moderator)


    Replied On Oct 11th 2018:


    @H-in-Heroine


    Complimenting a woman is fine.


    Making threats is not.


    Take a time-out.


    ?Ofage


    Replied On Oct 11th 2018:


    Oooh, H is in horny jail again.


    ?Loliislegal


    Replied On Oct 11th 2018:


    Stop the fucking presses.


    ?CuteisJustice


    Replied On Oct 11th 2018:


    I want to know where the blonde got the stuffed doll. It''s adorable. I want one.


    ?Man-a-hat-in


    Replied On Oct 11th 2018:


    @CuteisJustice


    What doll?


    End of Page. <u>1</u>, 2, <u>3</u>, <u>4</u> ... <u>95</u>, <u>96</u>, <u>97</u>


    (Showing page 42 of 98)


    ?Avengr-R-us (The Guy in the Know)


    Replied On Oct 11th 2018:


    Here''s a better video. They talked to spider-man for a bit before peacing out.


    *Video*


    ?Answer Key


    Replied On Oct 11th 2018:


    So the blonde is Glynda. Is that her Super name or her real one? She could be going for a whole ''Glynda the Good Witch'' thing with her telekinesis.


    ?Ekul


    Replied On Oct 11th 2018:


    I want to know how she separated the Rhino from his armour without killing him. Not that I''d feel bad about him turning into mush, but I thought it wasn''t possible.


    ?Deepview (Unverified Super)


    Replied On Oct 11th 2018:


    She didn''t. It was that mutant squid baby thing. When it touched the Rhino, his armor fell right off.


    ?Ekul


    Replied On Oct 11th 2018:


    @Deepview


    What ''mutant squid baby?''


    ?CuteisJustice


    Replied On Oct 11th 2018:


    @Deepview Do you mean the doll? It didn''t do anything.


    ?Deepview (Unverified Super)


    Replied On Oct 11th 2018:


    @CuteisJustice @Ekul


    It looks like a doll sure, but it was talking the whole time! It moved! If anything, I would say it''s the leader. The others were listening to its instructions for god''s sake!


    ?Ekul


    Replied On Oct 11th 2018:


    @Deepview


    I don''t see any doll, squid-like or otherwise.


    ?CuteisJustice


    Replied On Oct 11th 2018:


    @Deepview @Ekul


    I can see it, but it just looks like a stuffed toy to me. Some sort of gradient stranger effect? Do different people see more of it?


    ?Antigone


    Replied On Oct 11th 2018:


    I see a doll too. It looks like a Baby Cthulhu for those who can''t see it.


    *Image*


    ?Avengr-R-us (The Guy in the Know)


    Replied On Oct 11th 2018:


    Talked to a few people. The group is a trio, not a duo. The Stranger is strong enough that Spider-man only saw the doll until the end. Not sure of the exact conditions but some people are able to see right through the effect. Conditional ratings are:


    Doll: Stranger 3+


    Glynda: Shaker 7+


    Raven (the long-eared woman. The doll called out the name for those who can''t hear it): Mover 5+


    All tentative till more is known.


    End of Page. <u>1</u>, <u>2</u>, <u>3</u> ... <u>41</u>, 42, <u>43,</u> <u>44</u>, <u>45</u> ... <u>96</u>, <u>97</u>, <u>98</u>


    ¡ö


    ? Topic: PRT Leak


    In: Boards ? Supers ? Brockton Bay


    SeeingEYE (Original Poster) (Veteran Member) (The Guy in the Know) (Verified Thinker)


    Posted On Oct 17th 2018:


    For those who don''t know me, I am a mutant. My ability is simple. I can access any observation equipment remotely. It also allows me to post here without fear of being taken down.


    I have been a member of this forum for the last 15 years. I have made numerous ''leaks'' because I believe the public deserves to know what the powers-that-be want to hide.


    I am staking my entire reputation on this video. I have quadruple-checked its authenticity, verified it through secondary sources, and called in a bunch of favours from sources in the PRT *who shall remain anonymous* to be on the safe side.


    What you are about to watch is the truth. It is a video captured by PRT hidden cameras in the early morning hours of October 17th at the New Wave Memorial in Panacea Park. It is completely unedited, except for the fact that multiple cameras caught different angles.


    *Video*


    It is a long video, containing multiple important topics. I will make threads for those I think are most concerning.


    Edit: Here are the links: The Red Queen Lives? Glory Girl back from the Dead? X-men rehabilitation?


    I would ask the Moderators to make a separate Board for everything related to Mikael (The White Dragon).


    Edit: They did, it is already filling up. I posted a few threads on the more important topics: Known Consorts, Known Powers, Blood, and Motivations.


    (Showing page 1 of 999)


    ?Aroundtheblock (Veteran Member)


    Replied On Oct 17th 2018:


    @SeeingEye? This is going to be good. You always have the juicy stuff.


    Edit: Just watched the video. Damn!... I don''t even know where to start.


    ?Antigone


    Replied On Oct 17th 2018:


    THE RED QUEEN IS ALIVE!? Didn''t the League take care of her? She killed Velocity!


    ?Addons


    Replied On Oct 17th 2018:


    You clearly haven''t watched the whole video. Panacea being alive is the least surprising thing in it. The League always tried to prioritize capture rather than killing. The fact that they covered up her survival is no surprise. Bringing someone dead for years back to life is the part you should really be concerned about.


    ?Char


    Replied On Oct 17th 2018:


    @Addons Or the fact that the afterlife exists at all. Afterlives? Can we get some clarification from Glory Girl on that? As a Pastafarian, I want to know if the Flying Spaghetti Monster in the sky is real or not. I want to go to the great beer volcano in the sky!


    ?Notparanoid


    Replied On Oct 17th 2018:


    Guys! You are missing the point!


    The Dragon!


    It''s the one who can bring back the dead. What''s to stop it from doing this again?


    ?Char


    Replied On Oct 17th 2018:


    @Notparanoid The fact it clearly stated it wouldn''t? It also clearly didn''t want its involvement getting out. We''re lucky it didn''t notice the cameras. Imagine Glory Girl showing up one day (if she ever gets out of M/S confinement) and we have no clue what is going on.


    ?Threadninja


    Replied On Oct 17th 2018:


    @Char He, not it. He clearly identifies as male. He even has a name. Mikael. It''s Hebrew for ''Like God.'' I for one welcome our new Dragon Jesus. If we count the Simurgh and the ocean stuff, this is like the third miracle or something. So far, he has only benefited the earth so he''s alright in my book.


    ?Affectionstarved


    Replied On Oct 17th 2018:


    Definitely male.


    Yum.


    I totally agree with GG. Those lucky bitches.


    ?Notparanoid


    Replied On Oct 17th 2018:


    @Affectionstarved Now is not the time to be horny! An alien dragon just got a human body, brought someone back to life, and has an unknown number of powerful Supers at his beck and call. The League couldn''t even touch him. What''s to stop him from taking over the world? He can just kill everyone and bring back those he wants.


    End of Page. 1, <u>2</u>, <u>3</u> ... <u>997</u>, <u>998</u>, <u>999</u>


    (Showing page 2 of 999)


    ?MR.Krew


    Replied On Oct 17th 2018:


    @Notparanoid Its always time to be horny. How has this world survived through alien invasions, supervillains, Justin Beiber, and natural disasters? That''s right, through the power of Horny. Why do Supers wear skin-tight costumes? Because Horny is their power source.


    Incidentally, I am officially starting a new religion. Our doctrine is sexual liberation. Our god is breasts, buts, and thighs (dicks too if you are into that). Our afterlife is a neverending orgy, filled with the most attractive people imaginable. Mikael and his consorts are our pope and cardinals.


    Bra-men.


    ?Addons


    Replied On Oct 17th 2018:


    @MR.Krew Sign me up!


    In all seriousness, what does this mean for us? Like, what does Mikael want? Professor X said he had a Goddess as his Herald (Like Galactus?) so is he some sort of god, like Thor? Why was he a tiny squid baby? Why did he want a human body? He''s supposedly been to earth before, so he probably won''t destroy the planet. Who''s he here to meet? Another ''consort''?


    And most importantly: Did he just quote Robin Williams?


    ?Noveltry


    Replied On Oct 17th 2018:


    @Addons Yes. Yes, he did.


    There comes a point in a man''s life where he needs to ask himself a serious question. One all men face one day.


    Is Dragon Jesus actually a dork?


    ?Affectionstarved


    Replied On Oct 17th 2018:


    He can be as dorky as he wants if he holds me in those arms.


    ?Acree (Super Groupie)


    Replied On Oct 17th 2018:


    Mikael seems like a nice guy.


    Even if we think Glory Girl is biased (or mastered, don''t have proof one way or the other) everything in that video showed him as remarkably human. He showed concern for Panacea when she freaked out by touching the blood, even willing to put off getting a body to make sure she wasn''t in danger. When the blonde, Artoria, was being all intense, he showed enough empathy to catch on. These are not the typical traits of villains. I don''t know if he is a hero, he clearly sicced that redhead on Wolverine because she was bored, but he will heal so it isn''t too bad.


    ?Pastothefuture


    Replied On Oct 17th 2018:


    Does anyone know who the other women are? I am familiar with Medea and Scathach from myth (my useless minor in mythologies finally came in handy) but the other names are unknown. They look pretty human, but they might be aliens or from different worlds like Prof X said. Just want to know if I am missing something obvious.


    We only got three names out of ten (Five if you count Glynda from that video in New York. Link. Raven is the one with long ears in the video in New York, she''s an umbrakentic and the one who sealed off the park. She is not visible in this one.)


    Artoria: The annoyed blonde who pushed the wheelchair. She had a British accent and called the Dragon Sir Mikael so possibly European from the middle ages?


    Robin: The name is also European and she looks Russian, maybe? She didn''t have an accent I could identify.


    Ranni: The Goddess that supposedly fought the League to a standstill. She did no show up here.


    Unnamed blonde woman: The one in green who pulled the barrels of blood out of a scroll of paper.


    Unnamed Changer/mover: The black woman who turned into a cat and flew off.


    Does anyone know who they are?


    ?SeeingEYE (Original Poster) (Veteran Member) (The Guy in the Know) (Verified Thinker)


    Replied On Oct 17th 2018:


    @Pastothefuture I have already started a thread about the consorts and what we know. You can find it HERE.


    Edit: @Acree, I also have a thread on known powers HERE.


    ?Acree (Super Groupie)


    Replied On Oct 17th 2018:


    So Mikael is a Trump. The question is to what degree? GG said all the powers were passive but if someone is immune to half the powers out there, and the most dangerous ones, then they are pretty strong. Not counting if they put in the effort to maximize their ''Talent'' in combat. That is B lister at least. Avengers level with some training. I would say Trump 8+ at least


    ?Notparanoid


    Replied On Oct 17th 2018:


    Prof. X specifically said that the ''Elden Lord'' destroyed or conquered other worlds. Early in the video, he mentions two; Bloodborne and Elden Ring. (The latter is probably where he got the title) Why aren''t people more worried about this?


    ?Char


    Replied On Oct 17th 2018:


    @Notparanoid Because there is nothing we can do about it?


    The League couldn''t do anything to it in space, what makes you think they can fight it in-atmosphere? If the dragon the size of a continent sneezes it will sink the eastern seaboard. If it wanted to destroy the planet for all life, all it would need to do is move half as fast as it did when it ate the Ziz. Its mass and velocity alone would shatter the planet.


    All we can do is the same as we''ve been doing for years. Go about your daily life, try not to think about it too much, hope for the best, and pray the good guys win. All that has changed is we know prayer might actually mean something now.


    End of Page. <u>1</u>, 2, <u>3</u>, <u>4</u> ... <u>997</u>, <u>998</u>, <u>999</u>


    ¡ö

 Emancipation 4

    Since you''ve gone, I''ve been lost without a trace


    I dream at night, I can only see your face


    I look around, but it''s you I can''t replace


    I feel so cold, and I long for your embrace


    ********


    "Pain! Suffering! Agonneeeeeee!"


    Robin didn''t know if she should be amused or worried.


    She did not expect this when coming to the kitchen for a fresh coffee and a late afternoon snack.


    "Ugh!"


    Artoria was sitting at the counter, idly toying with her food.


    The King of Knights not eating was a sure sign of the apocalypse, if there ever was one, so Robin did feel that concern was warranted. The dopey smile on her face, her eyes focusing on the unseen distance, and the full-body blush told Robin that the blonde was probably reminiscing about last night, so she settled on amusement.


    Medea sitting beside her friend, drinking her tea with a mischievous twinkle in her eyes, told the former Strawhat Pirate that this part of the tableau was not of genuine concern.


    More concerning was Mikael, sprawled out on the floor, staring vacantly up at the ceiling and making groaning noises.


    Once Robin carefully stepped over the man, making sure not to step on the phone beside him, the brunette reached the pot and poured herself some more black gold.


    Thus armed, she felt comfortable asking the pertinent questions.


    "So," she took a sip. "How was your night?"


    "Wonderful," Artoria sighed airily. "The spoils of victory were truly worth the campaign."


    Medea and Robin shared smiles as the blonde''s blush deepened.


    "Mikael?" Robin asked, still amused. He would be one of the first to respond if there was a severe issue, so the brunette wasn''t worried.


    Just curious.


    "There is no Mikael," the man said in a monotone. "There is only the floor. I am Floor, Floor art I. We have become one."


    The effect of his dramatic words was ruined when Medea, the cat, came trotting in. Deciding his prone form was the perfect place to sit, she placed herself on his chest like a loaf of bread. Mikael lifted his head slightly to give his pet a deadpan look, though the feline was already asleep.


    "He was having breakfast," Medea explained at Robin''s questioning look. "He was on that phone, checking the news, when he collapsed onto the ground and started making noises of despair."


    "Ah, understood," Robin nodded simply.


    They had been around the man long enough to know that he became way less dramatic when the chips were down, and things got serious. Something had happened, but it wasn''t a serious concern.


    In other words, Mikael was just being a ham.


    "I have realized the folly of my action," he continued in his monotone. "All effort and care, preparation and concern were a mistake. But now my eyes have been opened. The truth is revealed. I know what I must do."


    "And what is that?" Robin asked, playing along. While the man had drawn them all to laughter at one point or another, Robin''s sense of humour was most closely aligned with his. She wanted to know where he was going with this act.


    "I must assume my final form," he said.


    "How frightening."


    "Indeed," he nodded imperiously. Which was impressive since he was still on the floor with a cat on his chest. "I wish it hadn''t come to this, but I must discard my human body the day I received it. To become the ultimate being. One whose mere existence precludes me from needing to worry about anything. I shall become... a Potato!"


    There was a pause, the women in the room wondering what sort of new bullshit this was.


    "A... potato?" Medea asked dubiously.


    "The perfect being!" Mikael exclaimed passionately, still sprawled out on the kitchen floor. "A potato need not care for the opinions of others. A potato need not hide what it is. A potato needs only to sit in one place, embrace mother earth, and live out its existence peacefully. Though my shapeshifting remains limited, I shall still aspire to achieve that bliss. From now on, you may find me embracing the Potato Way."


    "And the Potato Way involves laying on the kitchen floor?"


    "No," Mikael shook his head, his hair sprawling below him. "I achieved knowledge on the Potato Way after becoming one with the floor. To fully embrace it, I need to be on cushions, with video games in hand, a mini fridge filled with junk within reach, and a deep feeling of self-disgust. Only then can I call myself a Couch Potato!"


    Robin giggled, Medea groaned, and Artoria went back to her fantasies.


    "My reason for being on the ground like this is different," Mikael continued. "You see, I discovered some shocking news. So surprising was it, you could say it floored me!"


    Medea''s groan got louder.


    "Did you do all this," Robin gestured to his sprawled form even as she continued giggling. "Just so you could make puns?"


    "Of course," the man finally sat up, carefully cradling the cat who gave him the stink eye for daring to move and picking up his fallen phone. "What better way to distract yourself than to engage in the lowest form of humour? It is the only thing to do on the Potato Way when your spirit is in taters."


    "Enough!" Medea said as Robin devolved into chuckles. "No more puns. What was so surprising?"


    "Spoilsport," Mikael pouted. Nevertheless, he fiddled with his phone a bit before sliding it along the counter for the greek to look at. Robin opened an eye on the witch''s shoulder so she could see. Even Artoria broke herself out of her daze to read.


    "''Glory Girl Back From The Dead!''" Medea read off the titles of the various news articles. "''League of Lies; The Red Queen Lives!'' ''Who is Mikael?!'' They have pictures of all of us!"


    "Not all of us," Mikael clarified, face set. "Everyone from the park, as well as Glynda and you, though the media think you are called Raven. Those that talked to Strange will know differently. They also have a picture of Ranni from when she was fighting the League. They have no knowledge of Emma, Diana, or Melina."


    "There was no one with us," Robin insisted. "I had eyes and ears all over the district, and Emma, Raven, or Yoruichi would have sensed any I missed."


    "And our Defences protect us from remote viewing," Medea pointed out, deep in thought. "Magic, divination, any sort of ESP are all covered by the Defences."


    "I think that is where we went wrong," Mikael sighed, retaking his seat at the counter and taking up his cup of tea. "We were so focused on ensuring Victoria''s return wasn''t traced to us, guaranteeing no higher power was watching, and ensuring that they couldn''t tell others that we overlooked something fundamental. Hidden cameras. Something so mundane that it is explicitly stated to not be covered by the Defences."


    "None of us are very technologically focused," Robin nodded. One of the perks Mikael had purchased, Grail Knowledge, allowed them all to know how modern appliances work, but it did not change the fact it wasn''t any of their specialty.


    "I just criticized Xavier about this, too," Mikael groaned. "''When all you have is a hammer, everything looks like a nail.'' Or, in this case, ''When you have magic, every solution is a spell.'' The oldest failure of wizards ever."


    "So," Artoria finally spoke up, her blush receding slightly. "Has this changed our plans? We had always planned on moving more openly once you had a body."


    "I''ll go over any info I can find with a fine toothcomb, but I don''t think it does," Mikael said.


    "We knew Glory Girl would never be kept a secret for long," Medea nodded. "Our involvement in the situation being discovered is sub-optimal but not catastrophic. If anything, we can spin this as a net positive."


    "While people bugging us for resurrections will be annoying, it will be only that," Mikael nodded in agreement. "I do not intend to bring anyone back again, seeing as everyone I do is bound to me, but very few people are likely to mess with me when they know they can''t escape even in death. I am more concerned about what else they managed to ferret out. We are all smarter than the average bear, but this world has some capital G Geniuses. People who pull Deus Ex Machina solutions out of their asses whenever a writer wants them to. They make inventions in a day that don''t follow logic, science, or even common sense. Our lack of ability with tech puts us at a huge disadvantage."


    "Should we consider changing Worlds?" Artoria asked neutrally, her tone not betraying which way she leaned on the subject.


    "I do not think we need to go that far," Medea shook her head. "We have only been here for a month. Though things have yet to go exactly how we wish, they are not terrible either. We have yet to antagonize anyone. They are wary, yes, but they are not enemies. Even if they were, our forces are considerable."


    "I still need to talk to Death," Mikael pointed out. "Even if that happened today, I would still be against leaving so soon. Not only would that feel too much like running away, but it would set a bad precedent. We must consider this world as one of millions to come. I would hate to start a trend of fleeing the second things got a little inconvenient. Besides, I just got my body."


    "I have never remained in one place for long," Robin said, thinking of her childhood and her time with her crew. "There is a big difference between being chased out and leaving when the time is right. Not only does one feel horrible, but the other allows for the possibility of returning. To see old friends, visit familiar places, and feel welcome rather than vilified."


    A hand on her arm startled the former Strawhat from her thoughts. Looking down, she found her cup in a white knuckle grip. Looking from the crackling porcelain up the arm resting on her own, Robin saw Mikael smiling softly.


    Robin hurriedly raised her cup to her mouth and looked away. Even after her time with the Strawhats and the year on the Island, the tall woman was unused to such concern.


    The way he smiled. A sad, gentle smile as if he knew her thoughts and feelings. More than any other, he understood how it felt to move from place to place, never truly being welcomed.


    The way his eyes, slit and draconic yellow, narrowed in concern. Asking her if she was going to be okay.


    It made her heart beat irregularly, and Robin felt surprisingly bashful.


    "We will need to let the others know," Arotria said, finally digging into her plate of food with gusto. "We shall start moving more openly. No need to announce our presence but most of what we wished to hide has already been discovered. We should let the others know."


    "I''ll talk to them," Mikael said, turning from Robin. She was a little disappointed. "I need to touch base with everyone anyway. By the by, how did Emma handle last night? I haven''t seen her today."


    "Not well," Medea said with a smile. "When Charles Xavier explained how he got one over on her, she looked furious. The worst part was that she was much more powerful than him but didn''t catch his trick. I saw her earlier. She looked less mad but definitely more determined. She went to work like a woman on a mission."


    "I''ll give her a day or two to calm down before I bring it up," Mikael sighed. "Emma isn''t my biggest fan at the moment. She doesn''t like how passive I''m being. How about the others?"


    "Tsunade and Yoruichi headed to Japan. It''s night there, and they were going bar hopping. I also heard something about an Onsen." Medea listed off her fingers. "I have yet to see Ranni or Melina. They continue to do their own thing, and I am getting worried. Emma took Glynda with her today. Scathach is somewhere in Russia. I believe she is hoping for a fight with their ''Winter Guard.'' Not having to be discreet anymore will make her happy. Priscilla is still working on her project."


    "What project?" Mikael asked, looking confused. He looked unbothered by the idea of Scathach causing a ruckus. So long as nobody died, they could spin it as ''teacher of heroes testing the new generation'' or something.


    "I do not know the exact details, only that the idea came from Victoria. You and Pricilla were the only two who could interact with her. When I asked, all she told me was that she was trying to become a ''modern bard.''"


    "I''ll ask her about it," Mikael sighed. "What about Diana?"


    "I am right here," the Amazon said as she entered the kitchen. She paused, looking Mikael up and down. "You look good. I trust your body works to your specifications."


    "Ask her," Mikael nodded teasingly at Artoria, who flushed again. Wonder Woman let out a tinkling laugh as she sat beside the blonde.


    "Do not worry. I shall get all the gruesome details from her at a later time. I was tending to Dun Stallion and Torrent since I did not expect either of you to leave the bedroom today."


    "That was the plan," Mikael nodded, smiling smugly even as Artoria covered her face in her hands. "But after she passed out for the third time, I figured it was time to give her a break."


    "Sir Mikael..." the King of Knights whined piteously as the group looked at the pair in surprise.


    "How?" Robin asked, bewildered.


    While there was some debate on who was the strongest, deadliest, or most dangerous out of the thirteen women on the Island, it was unanimous that Artoria was the toughest. Not only was her endurance ranked A+, but she had Avalon, which provided instant healing.


    Though she had been technically a virgin, by classical definitions at least, the blonde should have outlasted even the most skilled lover.


    "Everyone gets Body Talent, but I am the only one with Sticky Fingers and Inexhaustible. They overlap with my Life Element." Mikael said with a surprising amount of seriousness. "I am not joking here. I could take on dozens of sex goddesses in a single night and come out the victor. The only beings that could be better than me in the bedroom are conceptual beings of desire. Even then, I would probably give as good as I got. I didn''t realize this at first, and I went overboard."


    "So if I managed to capture Aphrodite..." Medea asked with a cruel look on her face.


    "While I wouldn''t touch the bitch with a ten-foot pole, let alone my dick, I could mind-break her in a matter of days, yes." Mikael deadpanned.


    Robin noticed Diana looked uncomfortable on the subject. From their talks, she knew Themyscria mainly worshiped Artemis. Still, Aphrodite was one of the goddesses that blessed the Amazons, and the women were very religious. Diana was always conflicted regarding the subject of the greek deities.


    On the one hand, Medea came from a different timeline. Their gods were different. Still, Wonder Woman couldn''t say that her version hadn''t performed similar deeds to the one in Medea''s home world. Caught wanting to defend her religion, as well as the goddess she had actually met, against her friendship with Medea and the woman''s understandable grievance against the greek deities, Diana tended to avoid the subject at all possible.


    It didn''t help that Mikael was incredibly blasphemous and dismissive of any religion.


    The narrative has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.


    Especially the greek gods.


    Robin didn''t know if it was from his time in the Soulsborne worlds or when he was a regular human, but she decided to give the woman a way out.


    "How did things go last night?"


    "I wasn''t able to find her," Diana responded with a grateful smile at the former pirate. "She wasn''t at her apartment, nor have I seen her at our usual haunts."


    "You can''t expect those places to be the same," Mikael pipped in, idly scratching Medea''s ears. "Unlike in your world, as far as I can tell, Cheetah is a complete villain here."


    "I know the odds are slim," Diana nodded sadly. "But I owe it to my friend to give her a chance. With the research we did to get you a body, fixing her condition should be simple. I just need to talk to her."


    "Would you like some help?" Robin offered, pouring a cup of coffee for the woman and passing it over. Her plan for the day had been to spend it reading, and she was in the middle of an exciting book on ancient Egypt archeology, but helping out her friend was more important.


    "Unfortunately, I do not believe you can help." Diana shook her head as she took the drink gratefully. "I have no idea where on earth she is. Once there is a sighting, I would appreciate your aid."


    "If any of us can help, let us know," Mikael said as he finished his tea and stood up. "I''m going to look for the others to tell them the news. Do you mind filling Diana in?"


    "What news?"


    "Mikael has decided to become a vegetable," Robin said seriously. She then dodged a swat from Medea.


    "Last night was recorded," the witch said instead as the pirate giggled to herself.


    Robin''s eyes tracked Mikael as he left the room. She briefly wondered if they would be forced to leave this world soon. She knew he was itching to leave though he had not said anything.


    Mikael, for all that he enjoyed hamming it up, was the type of man who kept his cards close to his chest. His humour and drama covered his true thoughts and acted as a barrier to the rest of the world. This man hadn''t left the Island for weeks until his Medea had given him an item that masked his existence. He spent days formulating a plan to keep his interaction with Amelia and Victoria hidden.


    He never said anything about it, but Robin believed he was still adjusting to having so many people around. He had spent the last century primarily by himself, and it would take time for him to adapt. Compounding on that was how overt his entrance to this world was.


    He could ignore his dragon form being the center of attention because he could still operate incognito in his avatar. It was the freedom that secrecy brought that he desired. The thought that everyone on the planet knew who he was, what he looked like, and what he could do, was probably tearing him up inside. Eyes would always be on him now unless he walked around with Medea''s bracelet 24-7. If she were in his place, she would be looking to move on ASAP.


    Robin''s eyes landed on Diana, listening to Medea, and her mind slid to Emma and Raven.


    The pirate smiled to herself, taking another sip of her coffee.


    Mikael had promised to support them all, and he was keeping his word.


    The Family came first, his desires second.


    Still, Robin decided to keep an eye on him.


    Mikael could be stupidly noble at times, the ''suffer in silence'' type. If he looked out for them, they needed to do the same for him.


    That is what Family was for, after all.


    ********


    Wonder Woman threw her head back with a loud moan, pleasure overtaking her.


    Once she blinked the stars from her eyes, she looked down at the messy blonde hair and green eyes of the woman between her legs. Unfamiliar though the face was, the amazon felt its stoic features were too smug for her liking.


    Pulling the blonde up on the bed and giving the woman a kiss, she returned the favour with interest.


    After all, it wouldn''t do for the student to surpass the master. She would shame her fellow amazons if a woman, barely introduced to pleasure, could exceed her centuries of experience.


    Even as she started to work over the blonde''s most sensitive spots, Artoria was already moaning.


    "Diana, Diana," the blonde panted her name even as her hands gripped her black locks tightly. "Diana, Diana, Dia-"


    ********


    -na!"


    Wonder Woman awoke with a start.


    Her body was covered in sweat, and she was breathing as if she had just gone six rounds in the ring with Ares. It took a moment of blinking for her to recognize the room''s blank walls and bare features.


    "Diana!" Bruce''s voice came from the speaker on the wall. He was the one who was chanting her name, not the unfamiliar blonde.


    "I am awake," she finally answered as she threw the plain covers from her form. She needed a change of clothes and a shower, but that could wait. "What has happened?"


    The standard protocol for M/S confinement was to keep interactions to a minimum. Though she was a bit lonely, Diana did not blame any of her peers for the situation, even after a few weeks. Ever since they had discovered the... connection between her and the Elden Lord, they had all agreed it was better to keep her in isolation. J''onn filled in for her at a few events to keep up the charade that Wonder Woman was still active.


    Contact had been scarce, though the Amazon knew they kept an eye on her. Any time she discovered anything new, she would write it down in a paper journal and then pass it through a deposit box for them to evaluate.


    Her discoveries were few and far between over the weeks, but some nuggets came to her.


    Like today.


    She discovered a new name.


    Artoria.


    Diana didn''t know why she dreamed of being intimate with the blonde, but she recognized the foreign influence for what it was. This was no mere wet dream but a by-product of whatever connection between her and the monstrous Dragon.


    "Yesterday morning there was an incident," Bruce reported. "We will be using the Facility for two more people."


    "Who and why?" She asked as she dressed.


    The Containment Facility could house a dozen heroes in case of mass exposure, either in complete isolation or with joint use of communal areas. Despite existing for over five years, Diana was only the fourth person placed in it. Most of the time, J''onn or other telepaths could handle dismantling the Master or Stranger effects.


    For two people to be admitted at once was unusual, to say the least.


    "Amelia Dallon and..." Bruce paused, and Diana took a moment to contemplate why the reformed healer would need to be in M/S. Had another group discovered her survival? Villains perhaps?


    Either way, Diana would be there for the heroine. The amazon was very proud of the woman she had become. It took great strength of character to let go of the quest for vengeance.


    "Who else?" She asked, now realizing the uncharismatic silence for what it was.


    Worry.


    "And Victoria Dallon." Bruce said slowly.


    What.


    "What?" Diana asked sharply.


    If it had been anyone else but Batman who said that, she would have thought it a joke.


    While the young blonde had never been a sidekick or apprentice to the amazon, the similarity of their abilities and the closeness of their cities meant that Diana had tutored the young Glory Girl a time or two. They were not best friends, but close nonetheless.


    Only her dedication to justice, concern for the newly formed Justice League falling apart, and the vindictive pleasure at the sight of what Amelia did to the Joker kept her from ending the clown then and there.


    "It appears," Bruce explained as if the words were being dragged from his lips. "That the Elden Lord can bring the dead back to life. In exchange for Victoria''s return, Amelia gave him the human body he was looking for. He was unaware that the entire process was filmed by hidden cameras. Everyone in the world saw it."


    "What?" Diana asked again. There was so much to unpack there. She didn''t even know where to begin.


    "Indeed," Bruce, at least, shared her disbelief. "You can imagine we will keep a close eye on the sisters to verify their states. Your familiarity with both will help. We want to ensure it truly is Victoria and any influence the Elden Lord might have over either. He explicitly stated that only his will kept her alive, and he did not want knowledge of his abilities spread. We do not know if he knows of the video, though it is safe to assume he will discover it soon."


    "And when he does, he might kill this ''Victoria'' again," Diana said grimly. If that happened, there would be no helping Amelia. They would be forced to put her down.


    What a terrible thing to experience.


    "''Victoria'' insists he won''t," Bruce continued, sounding dubious. "She has repeatedly voiced opinions in his favour. He also did something to Amelia, altering her powers. Not only are you to make sure Victoria is who she says she is, but you are also to ensure he is not controlling her or Amelia. Ideally, you will also be able to gather more information they did not reveal to us in interrogation."


    Left unsaid was what she would need to do if Victoria proved to be a fake or if Amelia was... distraught.


    "Understood," Diana said. Though she had just woken up, she suddenly felt exhausted.


    The Justice League was licensed to employ lethal measures if the target was a verifiable threat to humanity. The Elden Lord, by his sheer size and power, did fall under that category, as did the Red Queen due to the potential of her abilities. Most League members, Batman and Superman especially, did everything they could to prevent things from getting to that point.


    Sometimes it wasn''t enough.


    Then they turned to Diana.


    Though she didn''t enjoy it, her culture and experience meant it was less burdensome for her than the others.


    This would be the first time she was forced to kill her friends if it came to it.


    "They will be there in five minutes," Bruce said. "I have asked for Amelia to provide a check-up for you. Her experience with the Elden Lord may explain your connection that J''onn failed to find. Ask her about her changed abilities when she does."


    "Before that," Diana said as she finished clasping her chest piece. "I had another dream. And another name."


    "Describe it," Bruce said in a no-nonsense tone.


    Diana did, not feeling embarrassed by the nature of the experience. She trusted Bruce to be logical, and embarrassment was not a concern when lives were potentially in danger.


    "The blonde, Artoria, was with him yesterday night," he said after listening to her explanation. "As was Yoruichi, the dark-skinned woman you described, though he did not say her name. The intimate nature of the dream is concerning. The Elden Lord explicitly stated he was not searching for new ''consorts,'' though we must take that with a grain of salt. Any new insights?"


    "None," Diana shook her head. While the dreams were straightforward, the ''insights'' were random and almost complete nonsense.


    In the meeting following the League''s failure to stop the Dragon from reaching the earth, someone had casually asked if anyone knew how old the thing was.


    ''35,866,943 years old,'' Diana had answered without a second thought. That had been the first tip-off about the connection between the two.


    They had tried asking various questions, and only occasionally could Diana form a coherent answer.


    Favourite food? Varied based on time of day.


    Favourite colour? Royal Purple.


    How many people had he killed? 2,783,924 ''people.'' For some reason, Diana had been forced to put people in air quotes, prompting further investigation.


    How many humans had he killed? 2,124,136 humans.


    How many things had he killed? 9,546,434 things.


    How much death had he caused? Incalculable.


    Those were some of the few insights Diana had on the Elden Lord. More helpful questions, like weaknesses, motivations, abilities, associates, or anything else the League could use to banish the Dragon, went unanswered. That wasn''t even considering some of the nonsense answers.


    How would he describe himself? ''I am Da Dragon.''


    Does he have any other titles? Queen of England.


    His greatest enemy? Corporate Contractual Clauses.


    For the last few weeks, Diana had been asking herself every question she could think of to try and gain more information about the biggest alien on earth. She had less than a dozen answers to show for her efforts, most of them being worse than useless.


    "They will be there momentarily," Bruce continued when Diana did not contribute more. "Have your weapon on hand and armour nearby in the coming week."


    "You do not need to tell me to be careful." While she appreciated her friend''s concern, Diana was no novice. Even in isolation, she would take appropriate precautions when nearby unknown variables.


    "Not from them. Be ready for extraction at a moment''s notice." There was an undercurrent in his gruff voice that most would not have noticed.


    Worry.


    "Bruce?" Diana frowned at the speaker.


    "They are here," he said before going silent.


    Indeed, Wonder Woman could hear a voice echo through the underground halls of the facility.


    "Woah, this place is pretty swanky. Way nicer than regular confinement."


    The voice was familiar, sending a pang of pain and nostalgia through Diana.


    She found the pair of young women near the communal area of the facility.


    Amelia looked better than Diana had ever seen her. Like someone had taken an artistic brush to all her features. No more eye bag, nor freckles. Despite looking more beautiful than ever, she was slouched over the dining table as if exhausted.


    The other woman, blonde and bright-eyed, was hovering in the air and pilfering stuff from the fridge.


    "You want something, Ames?" Victoria asked as she pulled out some yogurt and fruit. "I''m trying out that cooking ability. I''ll turn down the addictiveness, but it''ll be great."


    "Hurry it up," the healer grouched. "I want to get some sleep. Powers or not, I''m tired. If you wake me up for anything less than the world ending again, I''ll find a way to turn your boobs small again."


    "Nyeh," Victoria took her head out of the fridge to stick her tongue out at her sister. "That doesn''t work on me any- DI!"


    Having spotted Diana approaching, the blonde left her fridge to fly towards the amazon, arms wide.


    Wonder Woman accepted the hug. Even if Victoria was fake, it felt good to hold the younger woman in her arms again. She felt her eyes moisten but shook it off.


    "It is good to see you again," she said as she separated herself from the recently resurrected heroine.


    "Totally," the blonde nodded happily. "How''ve you been! Are you and Steve still going out? Have you decided to tie the knot? Any recent ass-kicking I should know about?"


    The blonde babbled happily for a moment, asking all sorts of questions. It was like Victoria had never left.


    "I am doing well," Diana interrupted, knowing it would never end if she didn''t reign in the younger woman. "Steve and I broke up a few years ago, though we are still friends. I am currently single and not looking for anyone at the moment. The League and my duties as a diplomat keep me too busy. As for ''ass-kicking?'' I have a few stories to tell if you''re interested."


    "Totally," Victoria repeated before pausing. "Wait! How come you''re here? Not that it''s not awesome to see you again, it totally is, but I thought me and Ames were supposed to be in confinement."


    "To babysit us," Amy snarked, head resting on her arms while she eyed the two from her position at the table.


    "Actually, your arrival surprised me," Diana explained. "I am in confinement as well for much the same reason. Our Draconic arrival is making a habit of targeting women with his influence."


    "What?" Victoria asked, looking confused. "The Boss did something?"


    "We do not know what happened," Diana nodded. "I find myself with a connection to him that was concerning enough to have me placed here for the last few weeks while we evaluate the possible effects."


    "What type of effects?" Amelia asked, perking up in interest.


    "Memories not my own, random insights into various facets of the Elden Lord. It is all very confusing and haphazard."


    That was the most concerning thing for Diana personally, the randomness of everything. She was no stranger to being targeted, either for her beauty or abilities. Ranni had straight out threatened to kidnap her, a common threat levied at heroines, but since the conflict in space, nothing had come of it. Diana much preferred a danger she could face head-on, with a clear cause and effect, than one that had her running in circles looking for answers.


    "That doesn''t sound like the Boss," Victoria mumbled, thinking deeply. "He''s very hush-hush, ya know? I was with them for a few days, and he kept me with him or another one of the women. Made sure I didn''t see much, though he did tell me about these nifty abilities I got. Either way, giving out knowledge isn''t the type of thing he''d do."


    "You said you have Insights?" Amy stood from the table and approached the pair. "What type? Seeing things nobody else is? Babbling nonsense? Suddenly knowing things you have no right to know?"


    "The latter," Diana said, surprised the healer could guess that.


    "Do I have permission to heal you?" Amelia asked hand outstretched for Diana to grab.


    Though the healer was here in case she was under the influence of the Elden Lord, Diana decided to trust her. This wasn''t the first time the biokinetic had healed her. Diana placed her hand in the open palm.


    Amelia almost immediately frowned, her mouth turning downward as her eyes closed. After a few seconds of silence, she let go of Diana''s hand with a sigh.


    "Well, I know what''s wrong," the healer said, massaging her temples.


    "What?" Victoria asked.


    "She looked into the abyss, and the abyss socked her in the face," Amelia deadpanned before thinking better of it. "Actually, it''s closer to the abyss bopping her on the nose. She gained Insight alright, but only enough to be noticeable, nothing beneficial."


    "What?" Diana asked, feeling like she was missing something.


    "Ohh," Victoria, on the other hand, seemed to understand. "Like what happened to you!"


    "Close, but not exactly," Amelia shook her head. "I got too much too fast. It overloaded me, and I would have been reduced to a babbling fool if it weren''t for Mikael. She''s in much better shape. She''s building it up slowly, much safer than diving headfirst into crazy town. Though how she''s getting it, I don''t know."


    "Do you mind explaining in more detail?" Diana asked, feeling even more confused. "And who is Mikael?"


    "Mikael is the Boss."


    "Basically," the healer decided to explain when it didn''t seem like Victoria would be much help. "What Mikael, the Elden Lord or whatever, is, is not something mortal minds can naturally grasp. It is too much. He limits himself to mortal standards, so he doesn''t overwhelm our senses. If, however, we gain access to more of the Eldritch Truth through some sort of medium, like my powers, then that knowledge can overwhelm us. Insight is knowledge. The more you have, the more you know and the more susceptible you are to madness."


    "I have met deities before," Diana frowned at the thought that she was possibly going mad just from knowing a bit more about a being. "Many, in fact. They were not so hazardous."


    "I''ve met Thor too," Amelia pointed out, reaching for her pocket for a cigarette. Victoria and Diana gave her disapproving looks, but she lit it anyway. "Relax, I''m sure ventilation down here is state of the art."


    "But it stinks!" Victoria pouted.


    "Tough. The best way to describe Mikael''s existence isn''t using terms like a god. Think of everyone on earth is blind, and we communicate solely through sound. A regular person can talk at normal volume, someone with abilities can scream, and a god is a car horn. Stronger, sure, but fundamentally the same basis. Mikael is the colour spectrum. He is something we just can''t perceive."


    "So Insight is the ability to see colours in this world? How does that work?"


    "Through the Eyes." Though Amelia said that, she pointed at her temple rather than her face. "That''s the best way to describe it. When you gain Insight, you gain Eyes in your brain. My power can see them, but I can''t touch them. Even if I did brains, which I don''t, I wouldn''t be able to mess with them. They are only biological half the time, blinking in and out of existence."


    "So I have eyes in my brain?" Diana raised her hand unconsciously to her head.


    "Three of them," Amelia nodded. "Give or take one. It''s hard to say for sure since they are so finicky. That''s why I said you were lucky. I have forty-two. Imagine a blind person''s first sight is the sun on a bright day. That''s what happened to me. You are starting to see, but you are wearing dark-tinted glasses at night."


    Diana took in the disconcerting thoughts with a frown.


    Why her?


    Though Ranni had focused on her, it couldn''t solely be due to her beauty. Captain Marvel had also been there, and the goddess had never even looked at the blonde.


    Had the blue woman felt the connection she shared with the Elden Lord even then? What sort of connection was it? Was this how the Dragon chose its ''consorts?'' Find women, gift them with Insight, and take who survived?


    "So you are not able to remove these Eyes? This Insight?" Diana asked, pondering whether she should reach out to her mother and the sorceresses of Thymescria for help rather than spend more time in confinement for something that wouldn''t go away.


    "I can''t remove them, but I can do to you what Mikael did to me," Amelia said, turning away from the pair of women and pulling down the back of her shirt.


    There, where her shoulders met her spine at the base of her neck, was a symbol carved into her flesh. It looked almost like a menorah, only with seven candle holders instead of the traditional nine.


    "This is Deep Sea, a bulwark guarding the mind and is an augur of Mikael''s eldritch Truth. I can give you one too. Unlike the others, this one is solely dedicated to resisting the negatives of Insight buildup, so it should help you if you don''t want to deal with the after-effects."


    "I shall hold off for now," Diana denied. Even if she was annoyed by the random knowledge, carving mysterious symbols into her flesh seemed like a bad idea.


    "Suit yourself," Amelia shrugged. "I''m going to crash. Let me know if you change your mind." The healer trundled off towards one of the bedrooms.


    "Don''t mind her," Victoria said with a smile, floating over to the kitchen. "Let me make you something. The food is supposed to be awesome. You can tell me what I''ve missed. Is Batman still such a sourpuss?"


    "He is," Diana welcomed the change of subject. The man was probably watching this right now if he wasn''t already dissecting all that Amelia had revealed. A perfect opportunity to tease the man for keeping her in the dark.


    Whatever Bruce was worried about and hiding from her, it better not be too serious, or she would read him the riot act.

 Emancipation 5

    <div>


    Well, I took a walk around the world to ease my troubled mind


    I left my body lying somewhere in the sands of time


    But I watched the world float to the dark side of the moon


    I feel there''s nothing I can do, yeah


    I watched the world float to the dark side of the moon


    After all I knew, it had to be something to do with you


    I really don''t mind what happens now and then


    As long as you''ll be my friend at the end


    ********


    "Fury," Amanda greeted the dark-skinned man neutrally, not letting any emotion into her voice.


    "Waller," the older man responded just as neutrally.


    To the casual observer, it might have looked like a tense standoff between two ''rival'' department heads. The PRT was US-based while SHIELD was international, but both operated as ''normal'' bureaus that dealt with the ''abnormal.'' Both directors were notoriously stubborn people, neither with powers of their own but managing to hold their high in the presence of heroes and gods.


    There was some truth to that supposition that they were rivals, but it failed to capture all the subtext in that greeting. Neither let it show, but there was a wealth of knowledge and emotion conveyed in those two words.


    A greeting between two former lovers.


    An acknowledgment of the seriousness of the situation.


    A silent request for support and an equally quiet answer in the affirmative.


    Amanda didn''t trust Nick completely, and she was sure he felt the same way about her. SHIELD and the PRT had worked together before, even if their jurisdictions were different, but you couldn''t be too careful in the cutthroat world of politics and espionage. Nevertheless, both were the only two ''normal'' people in this meeting, and a certain amount of solidarity could be expected to not be overwhelmed by the others present.


    "Director," Rogers nodded at Amanda before doing the same to Nick with an amused smile. "Director. If you don''t mind, we should call each other by name. Otherwise, things will get confusing."


    "Good to see you, Captain," Nick shook the hero''s hand firmly. Only Amanda''s familiarity with the old man allowed her to notice the slight slacking in his jaw.


    Nick Fury didn''t like too many people, but Captain America was top of his list of those he did. Primarily due to their long familiarity during WWII. When Steve Rogers was first found and thawed, Fury was one of the only active people still around who were familiar with the time-displaced man due to his slowed ageing.


    It was also thanks to Fury''s recommendation that Steve Rogers was nominated for head of the Protectorate after Eidolon''s leadership proved... lacking.


    "Rogers," Amanda greeted the American icon neutrally. While not to the same degree as Fury, she still held some admiration for Captain America, as did anyone from her generation, but she wouldn''t let that show. As a black woman with no powers, she could allow no weaknesses if she wanted to maintain respect and authority.


    "Shall we head in," Rogers said, opening the door to the meeting room.


    Though they were in the Hall of Justice, everyone knew that the building was but a facade of the proper League headquarters that allowed the public to feel secure in their ability to ''monitor'' the international team. This meeting room wasn''t one of the public ones, instead serving as a place where they could talk without being overheard while still being ''public.''


    The wonders of international politics.


    The room they entered was large enough to handle two dozen people easily, though only three seats at the large table were occupied.


    Superman and Green Lantern were chatting with each other while Batman plugged away at a computer terminal. The Hero of Tomorrow noticed their arrival and stood to welcome them with a friendly smile.


    "Welcome," he said as he shook their hands in turn before indicating s their seats. "Thank you for arriving at such short notice. I imagine you are all busy."


    "We are," Amanda said as she took her place. Fury sat to her left, and Roger on his left in turn. Her words were curt and direct. Dictating the pace of the meeting was critical. "We have read the files. Let''s get on with it."


    "Very well." Never losing his affable smile, Superman nodded to Batman, who pressed a button on the table. "It is 2pm Eastern Standard Time on Sunday, October 21st, 2018. This meeting serves as a conjoining of information on the subject of designation: ELDEN LORD, also going by the name Mikael. This recording of this meeting is accessible to those with UN-13 security clearance. Participants are; Captain America as leader of the Protectorate, Nicholas Fury in his capacity as director of SHIELD, Amanda Waller in her capacity as director of the Parahuman Response Team, Green Lantern in his capacity as Lantern of Sector 2814, Batman as technical support, and Superman as coordinator. All accounted for."


    When the Justice League was first formed as a body able to handle international incidents and galactic threats, there were concerns that it and SHIELD were too American-focused. Though many of its members hailed from other countries or planets, the headquarters were in the US, as were many of its founding members'' hometowns.


    To assuage this, the League went out of its way to keep other member nations abreast of ongoing efforts and situations by keeping detailed records so long as doing so didn''t threaten security.


    Amanda was sure most information was kept need to know, but the token effort did assuage many concerned nations to a degree.


    She didn''t buy it one bit.


    "This meeting is a follow-up to the meeting on September 24th, 2018, in the wake of the events of the night of September 21st and the following days. For more details, please see the record." With the formal proceedings out of the way, Superman nodded to Captain America. "In order of chronological events, the following documented appearance of the Elden Lord was on October 11th in New York. Videos are in the record. Captain, if you would."


    "The Avengers never interacted with the Elden Lord or his associates directly, and neither has any member of the Protectorate." Captain America''s words were delivered with the measured efficiency of a soldier. He leaned over the meeting table and inserted a USB into the port as he spoke. And image two women, one tall and blonde and the other shorter with pointed ears, floated above the table. "We did gather intel from witnesses, including interviewing Spider-man and Stephen Strange. I will not go over everything as it can be found in the report on the incident. The talk with Stephen Strange is classified as UN-16 classified and thus will not be discussed in this meeting."


    Amanda had read that report.


    What a shit show.


    She had torn the head of NY PRT a new one for their poor response time. If they had been better coordinated and not left things to a vigilante, sanctioned or not, they might have been able to confront the Elden Lord then and there. The effort might still have failed, but the option would have been possible, and they would have more information than they would now.


    As it was, it felt like everyone was reacting to everything the crazy Dragon did rather than being proactive and dictating the pace of their encounters.


    Needless to say, nobody at this table was happy being so out of their depth.


    "At the time of the incident, Spider-man believed only Glynda and Medea were present." Steve continued professionally. "It should be noted that Raven, the umbrakinetic, has never been recorded on camera, and we are unaware of her range or the extent of her abilities and appearance. Mikeal was also using a Stranger power at the time, likely due to the inhuman nature of his form and a desire to remain inconspicuous. Either he was unable to, or unwilling, to spread that ability to his companions, so it has been graded at 2+ due to so many people proving immune. Spider-man commented that, while he could hear the Elden Lord''s voice, he only perceived it as a doll at first. It was only after a considerable mental effort that he was able to connect the two."


    "And Rhino? What is the situation with him?" Amanda asked, looking over the pictures of the Russian man in his new cell.


    "Appears no worse for wear. He maintains the same strength as when equipped with the super suit, which shouldn''t be possible." Batman grumbled. "Numerous doctors are keeping an eye on him and the suit itself. They have been unable to determine how the Elden Lord separated the two without killing Alexsi."


    "The Elden Lord''s group had the option of not revealing themselves." Captain America pointed out good-naturedly. "Cameras in the area indicate that they sensed the commotion well before Rhino first appeared, possibly due to the precognition Glory Girl mentioned. They stepped out of the way initially, but once they evaluated the situation, they stepped in. They stopped the rampage, saving civilians in the process, and also repaired the damage. Consideration should be given to their heroic leanings when making a threat assessment."


    "Threat assessment is not a morality test," Fury said. "It is an evaluation of a being''s or group''s potential to harm society and humanity as a whole."


    "But we cannot ignore the potential for good even if they could be a threat," Superman said seriously to the spy before turning back to Rogers with a smile. "Is there anything else you would like to put on record?"


    "Only that the party had breakfast at a nearby cafe before proceeding to Stephen Strange''s house," the head of the Avengers said. "We have interviewed a few of the people there, including a couple they talked to, but we could not dig out any new details."


    "Thank you," Superman nodded at the Captain, who sat down. "Director Waller, would you mind telling us about the incident that occurred in the early morning hours of October 17th at Panacea Park?"


    Amanda stood and slid her USB port into the console in the center of the table. Batman quickly pulled up the relevant files and projected an image of a dark park lit by fluorescent leaves. Ten figures, half hidden by the dim light, were visible. The two X-men, Amelia and Victoria Dallon, and the Elden Lord and his ''consorts.''


    "The first indication of the incident was at 0200 when all cameras in Panacea Park went dark. Initially, it was believed to be a power issue. After contacting tech support, the agents determined that the cameras were still operating correctly. Following procedure, the agents reported the incident, flagging it as low priority and thus to be addressed in the morning. At 0211, Amelia Dallon arrived, and we got a good look at the situation. Our Tinkers and Thinkers are still looking over the trees to determine if they are a biological threat."


    "Why was the Protectorate not alerted?" Batman asked, almost accusingly.


    "One of the agents on duty was present during the Joker incident six years ago," Amanda bit back. Deflecting the topic to the Dark Knight''s own failings and answering the question. "He was one of the few survivors of the battle with the Red Queen, his injuries removing him from the field, and had been sworn to secrecy on Operation Red-demption. He recognized Amelia Dallon and, understanding the significance of the footage, took steps to ensure the security of the information. He alerted the head of PRTENE, who made her way to headquarters. He also ensured the other agents knew that security leaks would be punished severely. Were it not for the mutant who leaked the news later, the incident would have been quietly contained, and he would have received a promotion."


    "We have apprehended the woman," Fury said. "Going by the tag ''SeeingEYE,'' this is not the first time she leaked confidential information. She is detained until further notice and tried for her crimes."


    Bullshit, Amanda thought as she eyed the spy. The mutant would likely be ''persuaded'' to work for SHIELD to lighten her sentence. It also rankled Waller that Fury had been able to capture her so fast. It had only been days since the incident.


    "Were it not for her, this situation would be adequately handled, thanks to the actions of my agents," Amanda continued. "Further review of the cameras in the park revealed that the Elden Lord, Medea, and Glynda visited the day of the New York incident. It was not flagged due to the Stranger power. Piecing information together, the Elden Lord likely visited the park to revive Amelia Dallon and use her abilities to build himself a human body. He possibly learned about Operation Red-demption through communing with the dead and then approached her with the offer of resurrecting her sister for her compliance."


    While most people were hung up on coming back to life and the knowledge of afterlives, Amanda was more concerned with the threat operational security would face if someone could talk to the dead. It meant silencing people would not be as simple as killing them but doing so in a way that ensured they couldn''t convey important information after death.


    "All other information is in the reports and video," Amanda said and sat down without prompting. Though this was supposed to be a conjoining of information, the PRT and Protectorate were US entities, unlike SHIELD and the Justice League. Sharing extra information was something she didn''t do unless absolutely necessary. Fury could spout all he wanted about ''defending the world,'' but Amanda held America''s interests first.


    The entire park had been placed under quarantine due to the trees counting as biotinker experiments. The other countries didn''t need to know about the few drops of blood they managed to gather from the dirt that had fallen from Panacea''s hands.


    "Thank you, Director Waller," Superman said and nodded to Green Lanter. The space cop had been silent and only observed the situation until now. "Green Lantern has just returned to earth after investigating the Elden Lord in space for the last month. Captain Marvel has not returned yet from her investigations, but once she does, we will update the report."


    "I am afraid I do not have too much news to share." With a wave of his hand, a green glow formed over the table. A large image was projected, egglike in shape and filled with stars. Grid lines separated the image into sectors. "This is a universe representation, categorized into 3600 sectors by the Green Lantern Corps." A small blue dot, out in the middle of nowhere, glowed. "This is sector 2814. Us."


    A line flowed from the dot along the edge of the diagram. It didn''t cross through the center but still covered a massive swathe of the chart. The line continued beyond the image into unknown territory.


    "This is the route the Elden Lord took to reach earth, as best as I can tell. I have talked with the Guardians of the Universe, and they have no record of the being known as the Elden Lord before his appearance last month. This means he doesn''t originate from the 3600 sectors but what is referred to as the Unknown Sectors, those not properly mapped by the Lanterns. As reported, on his way here, he was noted by another lantern by happenstance. Going on the premise of this not being his first visit to earth, it is possible that all past visits were not catalogued due to his travel speed. Over the last month, I have been combing along this trail to try and discover anything about past visits or other planets he has arrived at."


    "That is Shi''ar territory," Superman said with a frown. Amanda was familiar with the big names in space, and the Shi''ar commanded one of the largest known empires.


    "That was the main problem I faced," Green Lantern nodded. "The Shi''ar Empire recently skirmished with the Thanagarians. On top of that, one of their capital worlds was ransacked by a third force from a rogue planet, not from any empires. As you can imagine, they were not too thrilled to have external factors present, Green Lantern or not."


    "So you were not able to get anything," Amanda said disparagingly.


    "I could not get anything on the Elden Lord from the Shi''ar, though I was able to update the League''s database on potential space-born threats that I discovered. The complete list can be examined later and isn''t pertinent to this meeting. Still, a few of note are Orion, the one to ransack the Shi''ar, the Sun-eater''s location, and Galactus'' most recent meal in the Thanagarian domain. That was the spark of the conflict between the two civilizations. The trip wasn''t completely wasted on the dragon front, either. I did manage to find one group that did have records of the Elden Lord. The Voldi."


    "I am not familiar with the name," Fury said.


    "I would be shocked if you were," Superman explained. "They are an old but tiny community. No military force to speak of. Despite being technologically advanced, they lean on the Shi''ar and Kree for protection and seldom leave their home. They concern themselves more with drinking, partying, and courtly intrigue. I cannot imagine them being more well informed than the Shi''ar."


    "Well-informed would be a stretch," Green Lanter nodded, and his projected image shifted from the universe to a triangular spacecraft. "This is the Voldi Tear, their artificial homeworld. It is mobile and well-cloaked. I only discovered it by accident by following the trail of the Elden Lord who passed it by. According to them, this is the second time the race met the Dragon, though records of that incident are ancient. Millions of years old, to be exact and steeped in religious rhetoric."


    "What did you find?" Amanda asked directly.


    "To quote their records, translated into English, ''In the wake of the Void Falcon, the Heart of Voldi did travel, filled with gratitude and reverence. Though the pilgrimage was long and winding, the feathered people discovered the Sleeper. Shaped as a Winged White Serpent, it wrapped the Void Falcon in a loving embrace as it reposed. From their union, all Life is sprung.'' The next few pages are pretty much love poetry about the union of the ''Void Falcon'' and the ''Sleeper.'' It is incredibly dense stuff, and I only connected the Sleeper to the Elden Lord because of a mural of a white dragon with six wings curling around a jewel."


    "So they worship it," Amanda surmised.


    "They do, though it is regarded as half myth, half real. Near the end of the ''chapter'' of their religious text dedicated to it, a few things stood out to me. Firstly, they were ''guided by the Sleeper''s Dream to a new pilgrimage.'' In other words, the Elden Lord got rid of them while they were still asleep without destroying them. Not only that, but they could never find the ''mating grounds'' again. Finally, the chapter ends with a prophecy. ''Once the Sleeper awakes from his Dream, the Heart of the Voldi shall overflow with Life as the Void Falcon joins its Lord in Holy Matrimony.'' Also, records indicate the ''prophet'' went mad in his later years, though how that was isn''t recorded."


    "What is this Void Falcon?" Amanda asked. "Another one of its ''consorts?''"


    "The Voldi were very cagey about it," Green Lantern projected an image of a bird made out of stars. "They didn''t have any pictures of it, despite insisting it was a real entity, only more murals like the Elden Lord. From my inference, they not only rever several ''deities,'' such as the Void Falcon, but they also harvest some of the energies they leave behind to power their homeworlds. This would mean the Void Falcon is a real thing and powerful, but they don''t want to attract its attention, so they stay away. Is it a ''consort''? I do not know, though it is likely. It could be Raven, the umbrakinetic we haven''t seen, as it would fit the imagery. But we also must accept the possibility that the Elden Lord has consorts or other retainers not currently with him."


    "Ranni mentioned ''conquering'' worlds, so we have to assume he has a large resource base to draw on when making a threat assessment. We cannot let the earth become one of those," Batman chimed in harshly.


    "Anything else?" Amanda asked the Green Lantern with pursed lips.


    "No," he shook his head and sat down. "Other cultures, planets, or organizations may have met or seen the Elden Lord before, but I could not find them, and they didn''t record it with the Oans. I was also unable to find any indication of the ''mating grounds,'' though that is probably in the Unknown Sectors, which are nowhere near as populous as the 3600 known ones."


    "Thank you for the effort, nonetheless. Batman?"


    "Evaluations of the Island are ongoing," the cowled man said. "We have determined that those with ''malicious'' intent can access the pocket dimension. Nobody who has done so has returned, and no information has been transmitted across the barrier. Those with neutral or even peaceful desires have been able to cross the barrier."


    "They are letting enemies in but not allies?" Amanda said sharply. That was something someone would only do with a plan of some sort.


    "So it seems," Batman said severely. "Estimates of the number of lives lost have reached the hundreds. No further information."


    "Anyone have anything else to add?" Superman asked the table. Nobody answered. "Then we shall proceed with threat assessment. Please note that the Elden Lord is an extinction-level entity due to its size alone. By that token, it should be treated cautiously and not antagonized if possible."


    "Something the League did before consulting the UN," Fury pointed out.


    "They had limited time and information," Captain America rose to his friend''s defence. "Given the situation, we would not be dealing with this headache if they could prevent the Elden Lord from arriving at the earth. The initial plan was to open diplomatic channels. Ranni''s intervention was completely unpredictable and led to escalation."


    If you spot this story on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.


    "But they couldn''t prevent it from landing," Amanda joined Fury''s argument. She actually agreed with the League''s actions. Earth was not a pit stop for every alien out there, and stopping it off-planet would have been ideal. Still, pressure on the League''s failure indirectly strengthened her negotiation position. "Now we have a sleeping dragon in our backyard, which you all pissed off."


    "Whether the League''s actions were appropriate or not is not the topic of this meeting," Superman said, interrupting a potential argument before it got off the ground. "As mentioned, the Dragon is an extinction-level threat. That being said, it has displayed the ability to project an avatar while its main body rests in place. This is probably due to how inconvenient its size is in daily life and interacting with natives. Our current theory is that it lands on a planet, finds some way to assume the form of the main species to integrate itself with them and recruits its desirable members. It has been to earth before, after the Grecian heroic age, where it recruited Medea, Scathach, and an unknown Amazon that we only know about because of Ranni''s comments to Wonder Woman."


    "Have we heard from Thymescria?" Fury asked.


    "We have not," Batman said. "With Wonder Woman... indisposed, communication has cut off for the moment."


    "We can communicate and interact with the Elden Lord''s avatar," Superman continued when Batman stopped. "That is the main focus of this meeting. What are the PRT''s current classifications for it?"


    "Based solely on what we have observed and deduced," Amanda bit out, not happy that the hero was shifting the topic, even if he was technically correct. "We have assigned these tentative ratings to the avatar of the Elden Lord, Mikael. Mover 7+, Brute 3+, Master 11+, Thinker 6+, Striker 5+, Trump 15+, and Stranger 3+. It should be noted that we have not seen the Elden Lord engage in any conflict. We have no idea how he fights, his combat abilities, or how he operates with his ''consorts.'' All consorts are categorized as Mover 3+, Brute 3+, Thinker 4+, and Trump 6+ until further notice. Individual abilities will vary between them. Of note, Glynda is a 9+ Shaker, Yoruichi is an 8+ Mover, Scathach is a 7+ Brute, and Ranni is a Master/Striker/Trump 8+. All the pluses indicate the abilities are probably higher rated than recorded."


    "And those are the only ones we know about," Fury sighed.


    It was hard not to feel scared by those numbers. They were rated on the risk they posed to a skilled team of PRT responders. Strictly speaking, it wasn''t the high numbers that were the problem. Many villains had even more egregious ratings. Superman was a Brute 10, and Batman a Thinker 9 by the PRT. That were just two of many heroes the world had to offer, and only some of their ratings.


    The real problem was twofold.


    The number of people under the Elden Lord and the unknown nature of their actual limits.


    Even if they never discovered any other ''consorts'' and the group didn''t have any other hidden cards, the fact was that they had a potentially unlimited force. Mikael''s ability to resurrect people meant they would never be outnumbered. It was like a worse version of the Fairy Queen, who only ''resurrected'' powers in the shape of users and was hard-locked to 3.


    Mikael did not have that limit and thus the higher Trump rating. The only reason the Master rating wasn''t higher was that he hadn''t shown a direct method of control over those he resurrected than simply holding their lives in his hands.


    So far, at least.


    More than that, as mentioned, the group had never been in a severe conflict. The few skirmishes with Rhino and Wolverine showed that even some decently powerful Supers would be easily handled.


    Everyone at this table would rather deal with a powerful entity whose abilities were known than a weaker unknown variable.


    "That generally matches the League''s evaluation," Batman said. "We have also investigated the nature of the Dark Moon. As of now, there are no indications of any abilities or effects caused by its presence. The most common explanation by our magic and divine specialists is that it is simply a symbol of Ranni that appears wherever she is. Something common to gods, though its size and widespread nature, means she is very powerful. If she were actively using it in some fashion, we would know immediately and try to counteract it. We placed her at a 9+ due to the risks instead of an 8."


    "Any disagreements," Superman asked the table and continued when no one spoke up. "Then those shall be the provisional ratings until further information is gained. What shall the operating procedures for interacting with the Elden Lord and his consorts?"


    "Friendly," Captain America said immediately. "Not only has he not engaged in any hostilities unless provoked, but he has also shown a disposition for heroics rather than villainy. Until such time as shown otherwise, we should treat them as potential heroes."


    "That is naive," Amanda said in response. "Not only does it disregard the potential threat they pose, but it also ignores the worlds he destroyed. We have yet to learn about his goals beyond his desire to meet someone on earth. For all we know, he will destroy the planet and move on once he does. We also need to consider his willingness to operate outside the law. The Justice League and the Protectorate can only exist within the bounds of the laws they are beholden to. He has made no overtures for diplomacy and has galavanted as he wishes. We need to consider countermeasures when he inevitably takes action villainously."


    "That is under the assumption there are actions we can take," Green Lanter pointed out. "No matter what we have done, nothing we did while facing him proved successful."


    "Because we were unprepared and flew off half-cocked," Amanda insisted. "Once we can figure out his ability to dimensionally shift and counteract it, we will be on an even playing field."


    "It would be stupid to antagonize him before then," Fury said. "We have to treat this like the end of WWII. He is the US with nuclear weapons we do not have. He can destroy us without retaliation."


    "Mutually assured destruction?" Rogers asked with a frown. "That is an extreme option, especially if he finds out we were researching how to ''nuke'' him. Remember, he has been to earth before. Possibly multiple times, even. He didn''t destroy the world then, and there is no indication he intends to now. He could be a great help with the Endbringers as well. We would lose out on a massive advantage if we antagonize him needlessly."


    Everyone at the table grimaced at the mention of the Endbringers. They had all lost friends and family to the beasts, and the Elden Lord was the only one to have killed one so far.


    "We cannot forget the popular support he is enjoying," Green Lantern pointed out. "People from all over the world travel to the outskirts of his pocket dimension. There are festivals named after him. I''ve only been back for a few days, but I have seen people half-worshiping him. He was already seen favourably due to the Simurgh but with his most recent stunt talk of him is almost deific. If we are seen antagonizing him recklessly and pointlessly, I fear we could have revolts in the streets." His point was countered by a surprising source.


    "We cannot let his ''followers'' interfere with this decision," Batman said. "What is the threat he poses, and what do we do about it? That is all we should be accounting for. The duty of the League has always been the safety of humanity, even if humanity doesn''t want it. We have already established he is a threat to humanity, good-natured or not. We have to treat him as such."


    Amanda was surprised by the Bat''s interjection. Despite being intelligent and secretive, the caped crusader tended to side with the more merciful decisions due to morality issues. The slight widening of Fury''s eyes also showed that the director of SHIELD was surprised by his hard-line stance.


    "A foreign power," Fury repeated. "One with launch codes. Maintain basic diplomacy, limited engagement if possible, until we can deal some damage in the event of a conflict. We don''t have to treat him like an enemy, but we should be prepared if he becomes one. We simply know too little now."


    "Hope for peace but preparing for war ensures that war is inevitable," Captain America pointed out. "That being said, I cannot disagree about knowing too little." There were noises of affirmation from around the table.


    "Then we can agree that gather information remains the priority?" Superman asked, and everyone agreed.


    With a baseline established, the rest of the meeting passed without too many issues. They went into more detail on individual ''consorts'' and drafted a primary ''first contact'' procedure for when any of their groups met the Elden Lord or any of his group.


    "Unless anyone has anything to add, we shall adjoin here." When nobody spoke up, Superman nodded. "Then we shall meet again at the summit with any further discoveries. In case of emergency, please contact the League for help."


    Nobody at the table believed there wouldn''t be another incident before the UN Summit after New Year. Their world wasn''t so convenient to let months go without some sort of disaster. On top of that, the next Endbringer attack was expected in another month and a half or so.


    Amanda stood up with the others. Superman pulled Batman off to the side, Green Lantern left for home, and Rogers started talking to Fury. She just walked out of the building and the Hall of Justice.


    She had to stop by Cadmus on top of her usual duties as Director of the PRT. There was work to do today.


    ********


    "Go home, Clark," Batman said as he typed away at his terminal.


    The cowled hero had always been curt, even rude at times, but recently his manners had gone further downhill. Most probably didn''t notice, but Clark was Bruce''s best friend, and they had worked closely together for years.


    While most would think it was due to an ongoing issue with the Elden Lord, Clark knew it had originated long before.


    "I''ve ignored it for the last few months," Clark said seriously, verifying that nobody was around before continuing. "But you need to tell me what is going on with you."


    "Nothing is going on with me," Batman did not even pause in his typing.


    "Really?" Clark said doubtfully. "So you didn''t just recommend we ignore the wishes of a good portion of humanity? That we attack someone unprovoked? That we get rid of our one shot at destroying the Endbringers?"


    "The Justice League does not work on the whims of humanity but based on preserving it. Attacking the Elden Lord was not my argument. Investigating the means to do so was. And with the knowledge of the Cores, we do not need the Elden Lord to destroy the Endbringers." Batman said all that with barely a thought, still not looking at Superman as he worked on his project, a new base for the League.


    They were all excellent points and perfectly in keeping with Batman''s modus operandi.


    They also were just excuses.


    "You called me Clark."


    Batman stopped typing.


    The Hall of Justice was the public-facing headquarters of the League. It was as secure as they could make it while staying available to the public.


    That being said, it wasn''t completely safe.


    Secret identities were paramount to the safety of the heroes'' loved ones. Superman and Batman had nasty enemies who would stop at nothing to hurt them. Because of that, it was common practice to never use personal names in the Hall.


    For Batman, of all people, to call him Clark in a meeting room with recording equipment, even if he could edit it later, meant something was seriously wrong.


    "I''ve ignored it for the last few months," Clark said as Batman made no move to speak. "I know how you operate and when you are on a case. You''ve been moving behind the scenes since May, and I want to know what about."


    "As you said," Batman resumed typing. "It''s a case."


    "One that requires you to talk to every pre-cog you can find? I didn''t say anything when you met Madame Web, Blindfold, or Destiny. I didn''t even say anything when you went out of your way to find Circe or Morgaine. But ever since the Elden Lord appeared, you have not been yourself, and it has worsened in the last few days. Whatever this case is, tell us so we can help."


    "Go home, Superman," Batman repeated. "I''m sure your family is waiting for you."


    "They''ll understand if I tell them I am worried about my friend." While Bruce could be incredibly stubborn, so could Clark.


    Especially about his friends.


    For minutes they stood there, Batman typing away at the blueprints for the space station and Superman staring down at his friend, willing him to understand this wasn''t something he would budge on. The only break was when he waved goodbye to Steve and promised to invite him for dinner one of these days.


    It took half an hour of being alone in the room, but eventually, Batman made a decision.


    "Six months ago, I collaborated on a project with Parker Industries. One designed to allow us to fight the Simurgh. We called it the Clairvoyant."


    "So we could predict her as she predicts us," Superman could see the logic. The problem with facing the Simurgh had always been the difference in information.


    How do you fight someone who knows precisely what you will do?


    "We never got the chance to try and deploy it in the field," Batman continued. "We did test it extensively. It can''t be perfect, but we have determined what it predicts will happen 99.999% of the time." Superman let out a low whistle. For a man-made device, that was incredible.


    "So you''ve been meeting with pre-cogs to refine it," Clark now understood why Bruce had been talking with Watchdog almost daily for the last few weeks.


    "No," Batman refuted. "There will always be uncertainty when it comes to prophesy. That is simply how the world works. The only problem the clairvoyant faces is its power requirement. You can only use it daily with the equivalent of a Dyson sphere. We have been able to use Arc-reactor technology to streamline it to a degree and receive predictions once a month or so. We are still working on shortening the intervals while asking questions when it is charged. In May, we asked it when the next League member was going to die."


    Clark tensed, not liking where this was going.


    "It said that Superman would die before the end of the year."


    A wealth of conflicting emotions filled the Kryptonian.


    Disbelief due to the unexpected answer.


    Relief that it was he and not his friends who were in danger.


    Fear. A cold fear he rarely felt due to his abilities. There were very few threats that could harm him.


    "Once we heard that, we took steps to gather more information," Batman continued his voice grave. "We not only consulted with pre-cogs and clairvoyants but also predictive thinkers. Only some future tellers have applicable abilities, and the Endbringers are a blank spot for many, but we could not disprove the clairvoyant even after talking to all of them."


    "That''s what you think would do it," Clark realized, his voice sounding oddly calm even to his ears. "The Endbringer attack at the end of the year."


    "Initially," Batman gave a tiny nod. "We continued to question the device when we could. We narrowed it down to late November, and the cause of death would be brute force. We also determined that over fifty heroes and tens of thousands of civilians would die on the same day. The Endbringers were the most likely suspect."


    "Were," Clark noticed Bruce''s word choice.


    "Were," Batman nodded again. "When the Elden Lord entered our dimension, all magical forms of clairvoyance stopped working. The magic community is calling it the Blinding. We only know it was caused by the Dragon because of Dr. Fate and Dr. Strange."


    "That''s good, isn''t it? No prophecy, no fate, no problem."


    "Predictive models still work," Batman bluntly answered. "Watchdog''s thinkers and the clairvoyant still function because they use mathematical models, not magic. We tested. More than that, the predicted time frame has shifted. It is now supposed to happen sooner."


    "...when?" Clark asked softly, his mouth dry.


    "Within the next week," Batman said just as softly.


    "What? A week! You''ve known all this time, and you only tell me now!" Clark started to pace, head spinning.


    Some might feel surprised at the sight of Superman panicking, but he was still a man. A man who could feel fear and who had just heard his best friend tell him he had a week to live.


    It was hard not to feel angry at Bruce, even if they were friends. He knew Batman was secretive, but this was not something he should have kept quiet.


    "We initially still had a month left," Batman defended.


    "If not for the Elden Lord... That is why you are so harsh on him. You think he will kill me!"


    "We were able to determine the threat was extraterrestrial in nature, called The Ultimate, and it has destroyed worlds before."


    "The title is different, but everything else could be the Elden Lord," Clark could see the logic. Elden Lord was but one of many titles Ranni had called Mikael. It wasn''t unreasonable to think he had others, possibly from different cultures. "You must have investigated more than just that. Weaknesses, ways to mitigate the damage and lessen the loss of life."


    "We did. We are aware of no weaknesses, though the best way to reduce loss of life is immediate evacuation using all available hands." Batman almost said more, but he paused, lips pursed.


    "No more secrets," Superman said seriously, seeing his hesitance. Batman finally spoke after a moment. There was a deep sadness in his voice, one Clark had only heard when the man spoke of his parents.


    "You win."


    Two words.


    Two words, telling Clark so much.


    Though he would die, he would emerge victorious in the end. At the cost of his life, he would end a threat that destroyed worlds and killed thousands of innocent people.


    More than that, it told Clark that only he could do it.


    Batman was smart. He would have considered sending Clark off-world or trapping him to protect him. Keeping him from danger had probably been his first thought. Most likely, all these further consultations with prophets and clairvoyants had been searching for a way to achieve victory without Superman.


    In other words, if Clark didn''t fight, if he didn''t die, then they wouldn''t win.


    Or win at such costs that it wasn''t worth it.


    The two friends stood in charged silence for a moment, a doom hanging between them.


    The silence was interrupted by a ringing.


    Batman''s wrist-mounted computer blinked a grey light in rapid succession. The caped crusader frowned at Clark.


    "Answer it," Superman said.


    The fact it was ringing at all meant it was an emergency. Most of Batman''s communications were set to silent to not break stealth if he was in the field. With a look that spoke volumes at his friend, Bruce lifted his gauntlet and pressed a few buttons. A holographic image of a masked face hovered in the air.


    "Nightwing," Bruce said simply to his former protege and current leader of the Teen Titans, the branch of the protectorate in San Fransico.


    "Batman," the former Robin said to his mentor. "We have a lead on the Elden Lord." Both League members tensed.


    "Explain," Batman said as he sat back at his console and linked up his gauntlet. Superman followed, looking over his shoulder at the younger hero on the screen.


    "Superman," the young man nodded to the Kryptonian in greeting before looking back to Bruce. "I wasn''t the one who found it. Beast Boy was. I''ll let him explain."


    The image on the screen shifted slightly, and soon the heroes were looking at a young man with green skin. The shapeshifter had clearly not expected the shift and was staring at the screen with wide eyes.


    "Dude," he said, looking off-screen at, presumably, Nightwing. "Not cool."


    "Report," Batman said bruskly, not in the mood for delays.


    "Yes, s-sir, Batman, sir," Beast Boy snapped his attention back to the screen as he stuttered out his words.


    "Relax," Clark said, a smile on his face despite himself. "Nightwing said you found some information on the Elden Lord?"


    "Right, I mean, I did, Superman, sir," the young hero nodded his head rapidly as he answered.


    "What did you discover and how," Batman asked bluntly.


    "Right, so, uh," Beast Boy paused, face flushing in embarrassment. "Are two familiar with, uh, streaming?" Clark blinked in confusion. Like water streams? Or was he talking about news streams? "I mean, uh, like, video gaming streams? Like, somebody is playing a game and recording themselves doing it?"


    "I am familiar with the concept," Batman said plainly. Left unsaid was to hurry up and explain.


    "Right, so, uh, a few days ago, I found a new streamer by accident. I mean, I was bored, and she was seriously cute, and she could sing and she was a mutant, which is rare in streaming, so she started getting pretty popular pretty quickly. It''s only been a few days, and she has, like, a thousand followers, which is pretty good. She has this whole noble lady thing going on. Talks like one of those old plays, ya know? Real Shakespeare stuff. It''s kind of neat. Old and new. Noble Nerd, someone called it once." Beast Boy babbled on, a slight stutter in his voice.


    "Beast Boy," they heard Nightwing sigh.


    "Right, right. So anyway, she is getting pretty popular, and she streams a lot, so I was watching her show last night and, at one point, she says Medea''s at her door." The two League members tensed at the name, but the green hero babbled. "I saw the video, you know, the one in the park, so I was like, ''no way is that the same Medea!'' And I was right! It turned out to be her cat, who was named Medea. But it got me curious, see. And then today, right, I was playing Super Smash Super while watching her stream, and she was answering questions and stuff. Anyway, somebody asked if she was single, right? And she says she''s married. Which is cool, ya know? Good for her. But the internet is hard on girls in gaming, like, they were bugging her. Asking her all sorts of questions and stuff. Anyway, she said her husband was named Mikael, and he was also a singer, and I was all like, ''this is just another coincidence!'' But then, uh, it''s probably best I show you."


    A link appeared on the terminal that Bruce clicked on, the screen splitting to show the young hero on one side and a video on the other. The video was marked as ''live'' though it was rewound to a certain point and paused. Clark didn''t recognize the website, so it was likely one of those dedicated to ''streaming.''


    A pale woman was on the screen, holding a game controller and sitting at a desk. She was covered in a thick white robe, hiding most of her form. Her complete profile wasn''t in view, but her face was visible. She had long white hair, and her eyebrows were tiny ridges of horns. Scales dotted her face and hands.


    Batman unpaused the video.


    "What say thee, chat?" The mutant said, putting her controller down. "Shall we begin another venture? I hath heard tell of a new fighter. Dawn of Justice, I believe it is called." She paused, looking at her screen as chat messages flowed. "I see thee wish to hear me sing once more? Very well. I must get in my daily practice, lest I disappoint Sir Bard." The draconic woman stood up, revealing a fur-covered tail peeking out from below her robe, and shifted the camera to focus on a microphone beside the desk.


    "That''s what she calls her husband most of the time," Beast Boy piped up helpfully. "Sir Bard. Supposedly he is the one who taught her to sing. She wants to be a singer, and she says streaming is a way to be a ''modern bard.''"


    "What melody shall we sing today?" The woman asked herself as she fiddled with a tablet. "Hm, tis a duet. I shall save it for later. Ah, this one is fitting of my mood."


    Music started, a tune Clark was unfamiliar with, and the dragon woman started to hum. She opened her mouth to speak but was interrupted by a door knocking before she could.


    "Please enter," she called out, pausing the music.


    "Hey Priscilla, I brought lunch since you missed it. Have you seen Melina? Ranni said she saw you with her earlier, and I need to talk to her." A voice asked from off-screen. A familiar voice, one Clark had heard dozens of times from rewatching the park video.


    "Lady Melina has left me three hours hence," the draconic woman said. "I believe she intends to head inland to the drake mountains with the children."


    "Alright, I''ll head there." The voice said, getting closer.


    "My thanks, Sir Bard. Please set it upon the desk."


    "Sure," the man said, walking into view of the camera and setting a plate of food on the desk.


    The Elden Lord looked almost exactly as he did from the park. He was wearing shorts and a floral print shirt with his chest exposed. He didn''t look like the man who would kill Superman but like someone enjoying a vacation in the tropics.


    He also looked tiny, everything in the room towering over him by a few feet at least.


    The chat was going absolutely insane, flying by at speeds Superman could barely follow. Clearly, the heroes were not the only ones who recognized the man.


    "Hm?" He asked, looking at the desk and the computer. "What''s this? The project you were working on?"


    "My setup," the draconic woman waved a hand at the computer even as she picked up a sandwich from the food platter.


    "Is that a live chat? Are you... streaming this?" He asked in disbelief.


    "I talked with Victoria while she was here. She had many ideas on how to become a bard on this world. While I desire to one day ''see my name in lights,'' as she put it, this was the most expedient method as it only required what the Mansion could provide."


    "Ugh," Mikael groaned, palming his face in his hands. "I just finished spanking Ranni, and now I need to spank Glory Girl too. It''s one thing after another." He started chuckling under his breath in disbelief.


    "Sir Bard? Mikael?" Priscilla asked down at the man, looking concerned. "Hath I done something wrong?"


    "No, no, you wouldn''t know. Besides, it''s too late now." The man nodded to himself as if coming to a decision. Removing his hands from his face, he looked at the camera with a charismatic smile. "Hello world, I am Mikael. Priscilla''s husband."


    Between one second and the next, the Elden Lord grew. Before, he was a hobbit in a human''s house. Now, he was the same size as the draconic woman.


    "So you better not bother too much, m''kay? Only I can do that."


    "Sir Bard!" Priscilla exclaimed, her face red with embarrassment.


    "What?" He asked with a teasing smile, grabbing her hands in his. "Better stake my claim now. This is the internet, after all. Can''t have them getting any ideas. And I can''t have you forgetting poor little old me when you are a rich and famous superstar. You''re my Floof-Dragon. That means no bulli from you, chat! Yes, that means you, Bruce!"


    Batman tensed, his hands almost cracking the keyboard.


    "Of whom do you speak, my dear?" Priscilla asked, looking at the computer.


    "Hm? Oh, nobody, in particular, just a little prank. Statistically speaking, somebody named Bruce is bound to watch this someday if they aren''t watching it now. I bet I really freaked them out right now."


    "Thou art too much," the draconic woman sighed though she did lean into his touch slightly. "Wouldst thou sing with me? I found a duet we have yet to sing. I hath told my followers that thou art the better performer, and they doubt my words. As well as thy existence."


    "Can''t have that, can we," he said with a smile. "One song, then I have to go find Melina."


    "Yay," Priscilla pulled the Elden Lord to the microphone with an exclamation of small joy and showed him her song choice.


    "This one?" The Elden Lord asked as a guitar appeared in his hands from nowhere. "I like it, but it is a bit morbid."


    "It suits thy voice," Priscilla explained. "I know thee prefer the deeper tones to higher notes."


    "Fair enough," the man in a Hawaiian shirt started to strum his instrument. "Since this is the first time for this song, we can do it a few times to get it right before I leave. Jump in on the chorus."


    "She put him out like the burnin'' end of a midnight cigarette


    She broke his heart. He spent his whole life tryin'' to forget


    We watched him drink his pain away a little at a time


    But he never could get drunk enough to get her off his mind


    Until the night,"


    He sang beautifully, hands down the best Clark had ever heard. He put so much emotion in his voice, such raw sadness and wistfulness that the Kryptonian would believe him if he said he wrote the song himself. Priscilla''s lighter voice, contrasting with the Elden Lord''s deep baritone, sang of guilt, of longing long gone.


    Though the two heroes were watching the video to learn more about the Elden Lord, who clearly did not expect this to happen, they were nonetheless entranced by the performance.


    Clark didn''t know who Bruce thought of, but the song brought images of Lois and Jon to his mind. Of his wife and child.


    His family.


    His family he would leave behind if he were to die at the hands of the man on the screen.


    "We laid her next to him beneath the willow


    While the angels sang a whiskey lullaby


    La, la, la, la, la, la, la


    La, la, la, la, la, la, la."


    The couple, perfectly in tune with each other, did not need more than one take. As the song wound to a close, Bruce finally spoke.


    "Go home, Clark," he repeated.


    This time, Clark did as his friend recommended.

 SS (A) – Warm Blueberry Pie

    I''ve never known a girl like you before


    Now, just like in a song from days of yore


    Here you come a-knocking, knocking on my door


    And I''ve never met a girl like you before


    ********


    "Oh, Ranni~," I singsonged as I found the four-armed blueberry reading in one of the smaller sitting rooms. She was sitting alone on a long couch, her legs sprawled out. It was the most relaxed I had ever seen her. She looked up at me as I spoke, and it told of our long time together that she looked wary at my cheerful voice. "There you are, dear. I was looking for you."


    Her caution wouldn''t help her.


    "My Lord?" She asked warily as she set her book down. "Thy needed me?"


    "Nothing too bad," I said gently, the cheer still in my voice as I sat on the couch. Lifting her legs, I slid myself under them and pulled them onto my lap. I started to gently massage her calves. "Just a quick question, is all."


    "My Lord?" She asked again, looking in surprise at my action. Her face flushed a deep azure, and her lower hands were shyly twiddling their fingers. She was incredibly easy to read when she was not inhabiting a doll.


    It was a unanimous decision of the Family to not tell her how cute she was.


    "See," I continued to massage her legs, Sticky Fingers giving me insight on where to press my fingers just right. "I just wanted to know more about your interactions with the heroes of this world. You know, when you were acting as my ''herald.''"


    "Wha- What would thee like to know?" Her breath was getting heavier, and her eyelids drooped. Her upper hands were now gripping at the fabric of the couch tightly.


    "What happened?" I asked, pretending to focus on the massage. Realistically, I barely had to do anything. It had been only a month or so since she had gained a body that could feel and was incredibly easy to stimulate.


    "As I told you, they though- They thought thee to be an agent of chaos, my Lord." She was panting now, her eyes closed and her skin a deep purple. "They mistook me for a ''Lord of Order,'' similar to one of- one of them. They sought to stop thy advance. I- I could not allow such an act. We battled."


    "Yep, yep," I said casually. I pressed into a rather sensitive spot on her thighs. She moaned. Instantly her hands, all four of them, rose to cover her mouth, and her eyes opened to stare at me in embarrassment. I pretended to not have heard or seen anything. "Before that, though. When you were talking. What, exactly, did you tell them about me?"


    "I was thi- thine herald, thy guiding moonlight," she squeaked between her hands. "I acted in such a capacity to the best of my abilities, though t''was the first time I had been in such a position. My fam- family employed heralds, and I sought to imitate the best of them."


    "How so?" I asked gently, pausing in my massage.


    "I extolled thy virtues, of course." She looked at me with wide, begging eyes, her body completely flushed and shivering. Did she think this was a reward for good behaviour or something? Her face was practically screaming, ''praise me, praise me.'' "Thy kind nature and thine unwavering tyranny." My eye twitched. "Thy benevolence to those thee embrace and thy ruthlessness to thine foes. I spoke of thy triumphs. Thy rise to power from humble beginnings to laying low all who opposed thee. I spoke of thy might, of how thy conquered worlds and gods who opposed thee. After doing my duty as herald, I extolled them to petition thine aid as I know thee are fond of the just. T''was then they decided to engage in their futile attempt to halt thine path."


    I wanted to facepalm so bad right now.


    This was what happened when you released someone with medieval sensibilities onto the modern world. It wasn''t even something Grail Knowledge could fix since it was a simple difference in priorities. She thought all she said was compliments, something to be admired in a strong and firm ruler. She was unable to think of a world where strength wasn''t something to be desired. Where you did not live with the ever-present threat of violence.


    Pacifism? What''s that? Can you eat it?


    "Did you mention anything about ''consorts'' or something like it?" I asked instead of groaning at the simple mistake that had led to such a colossal misunderstanding. No wonder the heroes were so wary of me.


    "Possibly," Ranni said with a head tilt, her flush receding slightly after I stopped my magic fingers. "I mentioned something to that effect to the Diana lookalike. If they were to be our enemies, then bringing one to the Island for questioning and investigation made sense. Medea would be interested in the phenomenon of multidimensional copies, though I knew not that was what she was at the time. I know thee claimed to not want more consorts, but I also know it is a common fantasy for men to want to lay with twins."


    Right, not only had she claimed I was a world-conquering tyrant but that I was a kidnapping rapist.


    I was surprised heroes did try and kill me on sight.


    Then again, the idea of a threesome with Wonder Woman and another Wonder Woman was incredibly hot. You know, if it wasn''t for the implied rape.


    I would have to channel my arousal at that idea into Ranni''s punishment.


    "Eeep," she squeaked as I pulled her onto my lap. My erection pressed into her, and I kissed her before she could say anything. It was clear she had no experience by the way she froze.


    A case of literary theft: this tale is not rightfully on Amazon; if you see it, report the violation.


    "I appreciate the effort," I said as I pulled away. Ranni''s flush had redoubled once more. "I really do. But you have caused me a bit of a headache, so you must be punished." I said with a grin.


    "My Lord?" She asked in a breathless daze.


    "Don''t worry, you''ll enjoy it as much as me," I assured her. For some reason, she didn''t seem reassured by my words. Weird. "Well, almost as much as me."


    In one fluid motion, I lifted the blueberry goddess and laid her across my lap. Grabbing her voluminous cloak, I tossed it away, leaving her in a thick dress.


    "Eeep," she squeaked once more. "My Lor-"


    Smack!


    Sticky Fingers did not give me a complete encyclopedic knowledge of someone''s fetishes or a ''how-to'' guide on how to please them. All it did was make their body language concerning sex and arousal clear. How to apply that knowledge became incredibly instinctual.


    When I first spanked Ranni, I had intended to give her a few light swats and then proceed to hold her close and make sweet, sweet love to her since this was her first time. Like Artoria, more wild stuff could be tried later once Ranni was more comfortable.


    The full-body shudder that passed through the goddess after only the first spank told me I might have accidentally hit a gold mine on accident.


    Smack!


    "Oooh!" She moaned beneath me at the second hit. I wasn''t even trying to hurt her or even arouse her.


    Smack!


    She shuddered again, a low keening noise escaping her lips.


    I blinked at her in surprise.


    I didn''t need Sticky Fingers to know she was getting off on this, but I was curious about where that pleasure was coming from. Was it the pain? The dominance? The loss of control? Was she really into butt stuff? So many questions. I would need to work hard to find out the truth.


    Smack!


    Alas, a curious man''s work was never done.


    Smack!


    Truly, I lived the hardest (ha!) of lives. But it was my cross to bear.


    Smack!


    "MMMMMMmmmmmmnnnnnn!"


    For science.


    In between swats, I cast a minor crystal sorcery on my fingers and cut the straps of her dress. Then I tore the remains from her body, leaving her nude on my lap.


    The way the pale blue ass lay there, inviting further punishment and her thighs glistened with arousal, told me she wanted more.


    Smack!


    Who was I to stop her?


    Smack!


    The inviting jiggle of ass flesh, the way it wobbled and flushed as it met my palm, and the way her toes curled and thighs clenched together furthered my desire to play with her even further.


    Smack!


    Smack!


    Smack!


    I watched her writhe and shudder under my hand, my dick rock hard in my pants from the image and all the movement. She panted and gasped, unable to form words as both pairs of cheeks darkened. One of her hands held a knuckle in her mouth, biting down to keep her ''silence,'' while the other three flailed and grasped at anything they could reach.


    Smack!


    As I spanked her, I tried other things. I held her down, lightly pinched, prodded, petted and caressed. I tried a little of everything short of penetration, trying to find her actual kinks.


    Knowing your partner''s likes and dislikes is paramount to a healthy sexual relationship.


    Smack!


    I pinched a dark blue nipple between my fingers, and she went wild. Spasming, thrashing, and bucking her hips as her biggest orgasm yet. I held her, no longer spanking her as she bucked and buckled.


    That confirmed my idea.


    She wasn''t a masochist. Well, she was, but that was only a part of it. Pain, in the proper context, set her off because her body wasn''t used to it. But so did all my other touches, no matter how harsh or gentle.


    She craved sensation. Stimulation.


    She was so sensitive to everything I suspected she would get off on literally anything I did to her that physically stimulated her body.


    What a wonderful woman.


    I set her on the couch and stood, removing my clothes in a hurry. I was so horny now; my erection could hammer in a nail.


    "Wha-" She gasped, refocusing slightly as I let her go. Four wobbly arms propped her up, and she looked at me with glazed eyes. "Husband? ''hat was ''at. Why dids''t thou sto-" Her words slurred, but she got them under control only to freeze as she took in my naked form and position.


    I loomed over her.


    I didn''t know her exact height, but I was pretty tall, so I towered over her by at least a foot and a half. Her head barely reached my chest when we stood side by side. Laying half sprawled across the couch, the shadow I cast covered her entirely.


    She looked up at me with wide eyes. There was a hint of fear in her eyes and a lot of lust.


    "Kyaa~" Testing out another theory of mine, I grabbed her by the waist and lifted her into the air, so we were at eye level. Bodily handling her like a living doll, I sat back on the couch.


    In one fluid motion, I was in her.


    "OOOOOOHHHHHHHH!" She screamed, her arms grasping mine futily even as she orgasmed around my cock. She had been more than aroused enough that she hadn''t felt any pain from the intrusion.


    I clenched my teeth, holding her still as her warm inner walls undulated along my shaft. She was tight, incredibly so. I didn''t have the biggest dick in the world, but I was more than the average, and she was tiny. As it was, I think it was only the magic of the Catalogue that allowed me to insert my entire length into her wet core.


    After a few seconds, her thrashing stopped, and she calmed down, panting for breath.


    Then I lifted her up.


    And down.


    "MMMMMMNNNNN!" She set off again. I didn''t stop. I had girlfriends in the past who had been sensitive, but she took it to a whole ''nother level.


    Lifting her up and down my shaft, like some sort of living sex tow, I did all the work.


    Up. "OOOHHH!"


    Down. "MMMMnnnn!"


    Up. "HNgggh!"


    Down. "Aggggh!"


    Over and over, we moved. I moved. I usually liked having a bit more back and forth with my partners, but she was just so... willing. Her entire body was entrusted to me to do with as I please.


    That power was intoxicating, and I drew nearer and nearer to my own orgasm.


    Then two pairs of cool blue arms wrapped around my shoulders from behind.


    Turning slightly, I saw the impassive face of one of Ranni''s doll bodies meeting my eyes from less than an inch away.


    "Thou art using me, my Lord Husband," the doll said. Even as her actual body buckled and heaved in my arms, as her vaginal walls pulled and writhed, trying to draw my orgasm from me, the voice was monotone. I found that incredibly erotic for some reason. "I, the goddess of the chill night, am thine living doll. To use at thy pleasure."


    Her words, the calm monotone contrasting with her dirty words, sent me over the edge.


    The doll disappeared as Ranni lost what little concentration she had as my cum spilled into her with the force of a canon. I held her tight, her thighs flush against mine as I emptied myself into her. Blast after blast of ropey fluid was emptied into her.


    If it wasn''t for my control of my fertility and my unique nature as a Great One, I was sure we''d be seeing the birth of a draconic demigod in nine months.


    As it was, Ranni''s small stomach looked slightly bloated from the amount. I can do better.


    "Ah," Ranni finally sighed, her most recent and largest orgasm petering out even as I held her in place on my still rock-hard cock. "How wonderful, my Lord. We hath finally become one." It was illegal how wholesome she could be after what had just happened.


    "Yep," I said as I leaned in to give her a quick peck on the lips. She covered her cheeks in embarrassment. How cute. "Now for the rest of your punishment."


    Smack!


    "Eeep!"


    I''d ask her about Melina after we were done.


    Smack!


    In a few hours.

 Emancipation 6

    <div>


    And he said


    "I went skydiving


    I went Rocky Mountain climbing


    I went 2.7 seconds on a bull named Fumanchu


    And I loved deeper


    And I spoke sweeter


    And I gave forgiveness I''d been denying"


    And he said


    "Someday I hope you get the chance


    To live like you were dying"


    ********


    "There you are," I called out as I landed on the cliff, folding my wings away as I approached the seated woman. I winced internally as she flinched at my voice, though I didn''t let it show on my face.


    This was going to be an awkward conversation as it was.


    "My Lord," Melina nodded in greeting though she kept her eye skyward.


    The young drakes, Hengeron II, Llamrei II, Andromeda, and Cassandra, were all flying in the skies above. Melina was watching them fly around and ''play'' with drakes that called the mountains home.


    At this point, very little on the Island could threaten them, but they were still young enough that it was better to have someone there to keep an eye on them. Though they were initially the same as other drakes from the Dragon Aerie, they had been fed a steady supply of my blood over the last year. Despite being ''infants'' less than a year old, they were all tier 7 and towered over their fellows.


    I sat beside her while we watched Hengeron II, the group''s only male, dive towards a nearby valley and return with a squealing boar in his talons. Rather than kill and eat the creature, the group amused themselves by dropping it, diving, and catching it before it hit the ground. My cat was a negative influence on them.


    Unfortunately, Cassandra missed a grab, and the creature fell to the ground with a meaty spat. Neither of us even winced at the sight, well used to worse visuals.


    I kept waiting for her to say something, anything really.


    I should have known better.


    In our relationship, I had always been the one to engage Melina, not the other way around.


    It was the first relationship of its kind for me, as I was usually the one who kept my own company. It just went to show how desperate I had been for someone, anyone, to be with me by the time I reached Elden Ring.


    Still, my feelings for her were not so shallow as to ignore her now that I wasn''t alone 99% of the time.


    "You''ve been avoiding me," I said after minutes of silence.


    She didn''t answer, continuing to stare skyward.


    Even though I had noticed her odd behaviour right away, I had given her space for the last month and a half while I searched for a way to get my body back. I had also hoped she would use this time to connect with the other women, but she had maintained her distance from everyone but Ranni and, to a lesser extent, Priscilla.


    I had initially assumed her reticence was caused by an awkwardness with the other women on the Island. They had been together for a year and had formed a tight bond of friendship and, in some cases, intimacy. Watching them in the Dream had been like watching a slice-of-life anime sitcom filled with high jinks, rivalries, twists and turns, and a good helping of lust.


    After my... talk with Ranni, I knew that was only one tiny facet of Melina''s internal struggle.


    She had died.


    I knew I was the odd one out when it came to my casual disregard for my own deaths. While I didn''t know if Melina had ever perished in the Lands Between while the Rune of Death was sealed, her death was final when she burned upon the fires of the Fell God.


    And she had done it willingly.


    On top of the fact she had been dead for decades, Melina had awoken in an unfamiliar world surrounded by foreign women. She had found out her lover had been lying to her by omission and that her sacrifice, one at a high cost to herself, had been almost meaningless.


    There was a lot to grapple with and I, more than most, understood that sometimes people just needed time.


    But I also understood that talking things out like adults could solve most issues before they festered.


    And I was not willing to let Melina go without a fight.


    "Ranni tells me you have been having nightmares," I tried a different tactic. Andromeda decided that one of the blue drakes was her new best friend and was flying beside it. The smaller beast, nowhere near as intelligent, flipped out and tried to fly away, leading to a merry little chase. "Wanna talk about them?"


    After a few more moments of silence, I opened my mouth to prod her again when she spoke.


    "I dream of the Forge," Melina said softly. Though her one eye was gazing skyward, I doubted she saw any flying monsters. "Of the Flames. I feel my skin blister and crackle. Smoke fills my lungs, and I scream and scream, but you can''t hear."


    I flinched once more, this time in guilt and phantom pain.


    "Sometimes I awake when the flames consume me," she continued slowly. "All the pain leaves then. I am at peace. Dead. Most of the time, I continue to dream. I dream of Death. She extends a hand to me, and I know what she offers. Life and pain. Death and peace. I must choose. In my dreams, I turn away. Every time. I rest in peace, and you burn. You live, yet the fire never goes out. And I watch you burn."


    "What can I say? I''m hot," I tried to lighten the mood a little with a joke, but she didn''t laugh. I slid closer to her till I pressed up against her side and warp an arm around her shoulder. She leans into me, though her eyes remain on the sky. In the past. "You didn''t turn away, though. You took Death''s hand. You came back to me. I cannot express how much that means to me."


    "I came back a fool to a fool," she snorted disparagingly. "I made a pointless sacrifice. I was so convinced that my purpose was to die so my Lord might live that I tossed myself upon the pyre without need or meaning. Indeed, falling in love with you was the most foolish thing I have ever done. I feel like a right jester."


    "I was the worse fool," I said bitterly. "If I only trusted you and told you everything, things would have been different. I was so afraid, afraid of losing control, of losing myself, that I lost you instead. Make no mistake, I will never forgive you for leaving me, but I won''t forgive myself either. If anyone is a jester, it is me. In fact, I think Ranni''s called me that a few times already."


    "You could stand to hold thy tongue more, ''tiss true," Melina nodded, and I allowed myself to smile. If she could take digs at me, then things were looking up. But then she shook her head again. "But it renders my action no more meaningful. I died without true purpose and hurt us both in the doing. My entire existence, I have been searching for meaning. Why was I given life by my mother? What was my purpose? Even as I tossed off her yoke of expectation, even as I dedicated myself to a new Lord, every action was but a failure in the end. All the pain I suffered, all the pain I inflicted, twass pointless."


    "Pointless?" I asked rhetorically. "Was I heartbroken? Certainly. Pissed off? Definitely! But not once did I think your sacrifice or death was pointless."


    She looked at me, finally, with her one open eye, almost accusing me of using empty words to comfort her. I never did find out what was up with her and Ranni''s eyes, but it didn''t matter. Melina, while no Godfrey, was more a warrior than most. She did not want platitudes.


    I needed to convince her that I wasn''t spouting bullshit. Which was difficult since most of what came out of my mouth was bullshit. Or jokes. Or puns... or teasing.


    The point was, I needed to convince her that my words weren''t empty. That I meant everything, I was saying.


    To do so, I needed to do something I hated. I needed to lower my defences, the emotional, non-supernatural ones. The shields of humour and bluster, masks and deceit I had built all my life.


    I needed to be genuine.


    Vulnerable.


    I hated that. It left me raw and exposed.


    But Melina was worth it.


    "What do you know about my experience in the other worlds. The ones I was trapped in before the Lands Between?" I rested my chin on her head as I pulled her closer.


    It was now I who couldn''t look at her, and this story was long.


    "Not too many details," Melina admitted, her voice curious at the sudden change in topic. "I have spent little time with your other consorts. I understand the Lands Between was the fourth realm you visited since your cursing. You were skilled because you had conquered the challenges of the previous three worlds. I know you were cursed with undeath even then, though of a different sort than that afflicted by Marika''s Order. I know you slew a Godking of Sun and Lightning in your first world and were bathed in the divine flames. That is why you would be able to maintain your sanity even if you had accepted the Giant''s Flame in my place."


    "That''s the gist of it, though I have to correct a few things."


    Even as my mind drifted back to days, I would instead not remember, my hands idly toyed with a small pyromancy flame.


    A long-gone habit. One from when it was just me against a dying world, I struggled to maintain my sanity every day. Knowing now that I had put safeguards in place didn''t lessen any of the fear I felt then.


    I loved fire.


    I hated fire.


    Pyromancy had saved my ass so many times early in my incarceration that it wasn''t even funny. As I grew more and more skilled as the years dragged on, my Talents given time to flourish, I relied on it less and less.


    "You are right. I would have retained my sanity through the Fell God''s Flame. But it wouldn''t be a voluntary choice on my part. Because I once stood where you did. I was consumed by the Fires of the First Flame. I burned for who knows how long. Decades at least. Probably centuries. Maybe millennia. I can''t tell, but that isn''t the point. The point is, I gave up. All the contingencies I had set up to keep my sanity were useless if I chose to actively give up. While I burned, I tried to discard my sanity, to go hollow. I wanted the pain to disappear, and I would have done anything to end it."


    I was not proud of it, of giving up after decades of effort and toil and abandoning the women on the Island to eternal entrapment.


    But I was also realistic.


    No one in my place could fault me for it when the literal king of gods in that world did the same.


    And it was all caused by my ego, my hubris in believing the First Flame to be just another fire. I should have walked out of the Kiln, but I had been blinded by the idea that I only needed to die one more death before being Free. To this day, I wonder if walking away was possible or if burning had been required, but I expected it wasn''t since both cases needed me to wait a certain amount of time.


    Diana''s ''order'' had saved me.


    Even as I grew to love her, a small part of me would always resent her for it.


    "I''ve never hidden that aspect of my journey from anyone," I said. "It was my failing, my ego, and my pain. It has shaped me into who I am today and given me the strength to carry on."


    "I am not so strong," Melina said bitterly. "I burned for a few minutes, and it haunts me."


    "I don''t believe in comparing pain," I shook my head lightly, careful not to dig into her scalp with my chin. "Everyone goes through their own lives, faces their own trials, and faces their own losses. Did what happen to me suck? Yes, but it doesn''t detract from you in any way. Besides, if we are talking about the hardest things I''ve ever done, burning in the First Flame after killing Gwyn is... fourth place, I think. Barely top five."


    "What was the most difficult," she asked morbidly.


    "Getting over you," I said softly, looking down at her. She flushed slightly, a rare sight that made me grin. "Number two was letting Emma into my mind to wake me up. I was only able to do so because I had done worse before. Number three is... number three is the reason I have never thought of your sacrifice as pointless." I paused, remembering we were not completely alone.


    "Hm?"


    I ignored Melina''s questioning sound and turned to look at my shadow.


    "Raven," I said, and my shadow waived at me. "I know how much of a chatterbox and a gossip you are." It flipped me the finger. "But keep what you hear a secret from the others, okay?" My shadow flashed me a thumbs-up.


    For some reason, whenever I talked to her in my shadow like this, she was always so expressive.


    "Why keep it a secret?" Melina asked.


    "Because I lied to them about it," I explained. "And all explaining it would do would make them feel bad. I am only telling you because it proves my point that your sacrifice wasn''t pointless." I took a deep breath, filling my nose with her scent. "If burning in fires of the First Flame were the fourth hardest thing I ever did, it is because choosing to burn a second time in them was so much worse."


    She stilled.


    "Those first three worlds all followed the same rules, more or less. They were a trilogy back home. All the stories happened when the Fires of the Flame were dying out. Fire wasn''t just heat and light in that world. It was light, life, and civilization all wrapped up in one. When the fires fade, kingdoms crumble, the dead walk the land, and people are drawn to the flickering flames to serve as kindling to reignite it so the age can continue. For a whole bunch of reasons I won''t get into, the games end in two ways. Once you beat the game, you have two choices. You either burn or you walk away. In my ego, I burned in the first game. For the second, I walked away. Whatever you choose, someone will eventually link the flame, so it doesn''t really matter if it was me or someone else. I was prepared to wait thousands of years if it meant I didn''t have to burn in those fires again."


    "But you went back anyway. Willingly," Melina said with realization.


    "For over four hundred years, I walked the world," I continued. "I was undead. I did not age, and pain and joy were all muted by my condition. I was unaware that time was shifting on Island at my whim, so I thought the women on the Island had been sitting here for years, waiting for me to free them with no contact. Nevertheless, I was set on avoiding that pain at all costs. Even if it took me thousands of years."


    "What changed?"


    "An old friend found me," I thought back to the Knight of Mirrah. To her begging, her pleading as her kingdom was destroyed because there was no one to link the Flame. The happy end I had promised and delivered turned into another nightmare. "She forced me to face my faults. In clearing the way to the flame for others, I had stripped them of the ability to link it. The core philosophy of that world is that anyone, even the lowest of the low, which has never held a blade in their life, can overcome anything with enough willpower. I had stripped it of its meaning by making the path to the Kiln easy."


    The point of Dark Souls or any Soulsborne game had never been ''git gud.'' That ''slogan'' was a by-product of people''s pride in their achievements and internet culture being what it is. You did not face Ornstein and Smough, Sir Alonne, the Nameless King, and the Orphan of Kos because they were easy.


    You did it to prove to yourself that, even though you were nothing special, you could stand the equal of gods through your own effort.


    Unauthorized usage: this tale is on Amazon without the author''s consent. Report any sightings.


    "I was left with the same choice once again," I finished. "Burn or walk away. I would either waste away over thousands of years in the hope that the world would last long enough for someone of sufficient will and power to link the flame. Or, I face the consequences of my actions and follow through on my beliefs. Freedom is not the freedom of consequences. Freedom is having bad choices and living with the consequences of those choices. In a world without meaning, our every choice gives itself meaning. I walked into that fire for a second time because I decided that burning was less painful than losing myself and who I was. That was my choice. I would rather burn for my Freedom than rest my hopes on the whims of fate and chance."


    Of course, at the time, I hadn''t realized my own spiral into a pit of paranoia and nihilism, but even if I had, I would have chosen to burn anyway.


    I had never wanted to be a hero, nor did I desire to be perfect.


    All I wanted to do was look into a mirror and recognize the man looking back at me.


    Something I would have failed to do if not for the woman in my arms.


    I pulled her from me to look into her eye, wet with tears. My own eyes weren''t dry either. Though I was talking about myself, because I was an egoist at heart, I willed her to understand that I understood her. I understood the pain and the conviction it took to do what she did.


    We both burned so that the world we wished to see would come from the flames.


    "It took months to get back to the Kiln. Every single day I would second-guess myself. I dragged my feet. I turned away at least a dozen times. I feared that pain. But I walked into it for my Freedom and my ego. You, also, chose to burn. But you did it for me." I said with all the emotions I could gather. "I would be here today if not for you. I would have continued to Rot, never genuinely trusting again. This Family would never have come together if not for what you did. Your death did more for me than killing any number of gods. Was it unnecessary to destroy the Erdtree? Possibly. But the necessity of an action does not give it meaning. Only we can provide things with meaning. And you dying for me was the most meaningful thing anyone has ever done for me. And I will never forget nor forgive it."


    There was a pregnant silence, as I finished my monologue and waited to see if it reached her.


    "As always, your pep talks leave much to be desired. All I heard was me, me, me, me," Melina said with a wet chuckle, wiping her eyes. Then she kissed me. Slowly, with a tenderness that made my heart ache and my pulse quicken. "Thank you."


    "Of course. What are crazy husbands for?" I asked with a smile, surreptitiously wiping my own eyes.


    "Though it doesn''t change the fact that I am still purposeless," she snuggled closer. "The one my mother gave me is long gone, and the one I gave myself is fulfilled. What shall I do with myself?"


    "That''s easy," I said with confidence. This was something I had long practice with. "Live for me!"


    "Once more, your ego is only eclipsed by your ability to say things of a most absurd nature," she sighed, believing I was joking.


    I wasn''t.


    "I''m serious. Live for me. Live for the Family. Live for yourself. I am doing all three. A purpose is something others can suggest, but only we, ourselves, can decide. That is a Freedom everyone has." I thought back to Solaire, who chased a sun he would never find. To Alsanna, lonely queen of an empty Ivory Kingdom. To Sirris, standing guard over a small child painting a new world. "If you don''t know how to determine your own purpose, take things one day at a time. We have, quite literally, all the time in the world to define our own purpose."


    "You are right. We have plenty of time." She paused as if going over things in her head. I didn''t know how old she was, the war of the shattering had gone on for at least a few centuries, but she was definitely older than most on the Island.


    "I''m always right," I said as I stood up and helped Melina to her feet. "Life would be so much easier if everybody just accepted that fact." She rolled her eye but gave me a fond smile. I didn''t know if this conversation would truly help her, but it was an excellent first step. Now I just needed to fix a few other problems. "You know, now that all the hiding I was doing was rendered pointless, we can move much more openly, right? I was thinking we should all spend some time off the Island."


    "What for," she asked warily. "I know that look in your eye. You have some manner of scheme in the making."


    "I am affronted," I said in an over-the-top manner. "That you would think that I, the most innocent and wholesome of beings, would concoct some dastardly scheme! Why I never!" She remained looking at me, one eyebrow raised.


    I gave in with a sigh.


    "Fine, I do have a bit of a plan. It''s nothing malicious, though. Promise."


    "To me? Or at all?"


    "To you," I clarified. "Maybe not to anyone. It''s just me being paranoid."


    "What is this plan then?"


    "So I thought we could all use a vacation, right? It''s been a pretty stressful time all around. This would also give you and Ranni time to get to know some of the others."


    "If you hope for me to jump into bed with them, I am afraid I will have to disappoint."


    "That''s not it at all," I shook my head. "Sex is not necessary for the Family. While a few of the girls are bisexual or at least have some leaning in that direction, it is not a requirement. Robin tried with Yoruichi and Tsunade and wasn''t a fan. Maybe because she could do everything by herself with her Devil Fruit? Or it could just be a preference thing. I think Raven is almost completely asexual due to the problems with her emotions, though she did have some male partners in the comics. And I don''t know one way or the other about Emma or Ranni if they are attracted to the female form. We don''t all have to lust for each other, but we need to get along. We have a long time to spend together, and I would hate for this divide to remain because of a lack of communication. On both sides."


    "Very well, I shall make more of an effort to talk to your consorts if only for your peace of mind," she nodded in agreement. "Why outside the Island?"


    "That is where my evil plan comes together," I said, rubbing my hands like a cartoon villain and affecting a nasally voice. "You see, my dear, nothing brings people together quite like a common foe. Just think of Radahn and the Festival of War. In fact," I paused as a great idea came to me. "Let''s go to Caelid!"


    "Caelid? You wish to return to the Lands Between?" Melina asked in disbelief. "It is certainly inhospitable enough to foster companionship, but you despise Caelid. After claiming Radahn''s Great Rune, you swore to never return."


    "What you fail to realize, my dear, is that earth has a Caelid all on its own," I leaned in to whisper in her ear as if revealing a dark secret. "It has its own massive birds and beasts wishing to tear you limb from limb. Its red sky and oppressive heat are indicative of its maliciousness. Everything there wishes only to inflict the most painful of deaths upon anyone visiting. Ay! Like Caelid, even the grass is deadly! I speak, of course, of Australia!" She deadpanned at me as I grinned at her.


    In comics, the most dangerous places in the world were where the superheroes called home. Those cities got destroyed every other day. As a whole, though, I would rate Australia as more dangerous than the Savage Lands. You could shoot a dinosaur but not a blue-ring octopus.


    "And why would we wish to go there?"


    "Well, for one, it is beautiful," I said, returning to my regular voice. "The Island has excellent forests and mountains, but it doesn''t have any similar typography to the Land Down Under. I think most of the Family could do for a bit of a change of pace, don''t you? And none of them have been there. Not only that, but it''s spring there, so it''s not too hot yet. The large cities have some great attractions too. Ranni, Robin, Glynda and Priscila might be interested in catching a show at the Opera House in Sidney. We can do a few people at a time, giving you a chance to get to know them. All in all, it makes a great place for a vacation. You know, if you are immune to everything that will kill you that lives there. Witch is everything."


    "And the other reason?" She asked, waiving her hand as if telling me to get on with it. I love how sassy she became after spending so long with me. "None of your plans are ever simple."


    "I already told you," I said with a smirk. "A common enemy. Now that my face is known worldwide, I give it half a day before we are recognized. Local heroes, villains, and certainly the Justice League will all come running. While diplomacy would be preferable if it comes to blows, most of Australia is uninhabited. I don''t really care about collateral damage, but most of the others are more heroic than me. We can go wild without worry."


    There was also the tiny, hidden goal of keeping an eye on Melina. Trauma did not disappear overnight. Just because I was unconcerned about my deaths didn''t mean that others were the same. Most went hollow after only one or two deaths.


    "And do you have another reason you won''t tell the others?"


    "My inner chuuni really likes the idea of going to the world''s asshole and being the most dangerous thing there," I admitted without shame.


    I had my fill for the day being genuine, emotional and vulnerable.


    I wanted to be a ham, damnit!


    I had been too emo for too long! I demand silliness!


    Live was too long to spend it all being miserable.


    ********


    Miles away, Robin wiped her eyes and picked up her book from where it had fallen.


    She kept her shrunken ear hidden in Mikael''s hair. While she had been able to grow her limbs for years, shrinking them was a relatively new ability.


    One of the perks of being Tier 7.


    She had been right to worry about the man. He was the ''suffer in silence'' type, just like she thought.


    For the longest time, she had compared him to Usopp and herself. He was skilled in his own way but prone to dramatics and lies when it suited him. Someone who had grown over the trials he went through.


    That was an aspect of him, but there was one other crewmate she now knew he most resembled.


    "Nothing." He said, taking a deep breath and dislodging the ash accumulated on his body. "Nothing happened."


    Zoro had been a booze hound, an idiot with no sense of direction, and someone with more muscles than brains when it came to anything but swords.


    He had also been the best, most devoted and loyal first mate the Strawhats could ever ask for.


    Robin toyed with the idea of telling the others what she had heard but ultimately decided to keep her silence on the matter unless it became necessary. Mikeal had too many secrets come out recently. Any more would feel a bit like bullying the man. As someone who liked her own secrets, she could sympathize a bit with his recent struggles.


    Even if she did find it a bit funny.


    For now, Robin decided to continue her vigil over the man pulling this new Family together.


    Besides, a vacation did sound nice. Robin had never been to an Opera before, so it would be a novel experience.


    That, and the chance to finally try out her new Conquerers Haki against some of the so-called ''heroes'' of the world was appealing.


    Oh my.


    Robin realized she might be more Zoro-like than expected as well.


    ********


    "Thank you for the meal, Lois," Steve Rogers said as he wiped his mouth with a napkin. "It was delicious."


    "You''re welcome," Lois Kent said as she cleared away the table with Captain America''s aid. The old soldier had been around the house enough times and insisted enough that everyone had gotten used to him helping out.


    Usually, Clark would also have helped, but he was occupied with his essential duty.


    "Babbaubu," Jonathan Samuel ''Jon'' Kent babbled happily as his father bounced him up and down on his knee. It was getting late, and the little tyke had been fed, cleaned and bundled up for bedtime in his superman pyjamas.


    Clark smiled, warmth filling him.


    No matter what happened, unless the world was literally going to end, he always made time for his family. His duties as Superman were important, but he felt most happy when he hung up the cape and returned to being Clark Kent, photographer, reporter, friend, husband, and father.


    Their cozy home on the outskirts of Metropolis was more a sanctuary than the cold, impartial halls of the Justice League would ever be.


    "C''mon, Smallville," Lois said after watching the pair for a moment. "Justice and the truth never sleep, but this little guy does need to." Clark reluctantly passed Jon to his mother, the toddler letting out little yawns and pawing at his eyes. "I''ll join you two in a moment."


    "Here," Steve passed Clark a cold beer as the two retired to the couches in the living room. Both cracked theirs without needing a bottle opener, one of the lesser perks of being a Super. "One of these days, you need to take me to Smallville. Lois still won''t tell me her meatloaf recipe. I should get it from the source. Martha Kent''s cooking is legendary."


    "Ma''d be happy to hear that," Clark said with a smile. Both his parents, and he, by extension, had been raised on stories of Captain America. Sam Kent, Clark''s grandfather, had fought in the war. While he had never served directly with the ''first hero,'' he had met Steve a few times. He had bragged about it countless times. "Pa would love to meet you."


    Truth, Justice, and the American Way had been his slogan, always taking pride in the nation he lived in and the heroes it fostered.


    The national blinders came off as Clark grew up and learned more about the world and America''s actual role and history. But his grandparents'' and parents'' lessons and ideals had stuck with him all these years.


    America might not have lived up to its ideals, but that is why it needed symbols.


    Symbols like Superman and Captain America.


    Clark firmly believed that as long as hope existed and symbols of truth and justice continued to rise, then each succeeding generation would be better off than the last.


    That is why he helped create the League. To create a legacy of international cooperation, an institution dedicated to the betterment of humanity that would last for generations.


    Even if he wasn''t around to see it.


    "Would you do it again?" Clark asked out of nowhere after a few minutes of companionable silence while waiting for Lois to return.


    "Pardon?" Steve asked.


    "Knowing what you know now," Clark clarified. "Knowing what it would cost you, would you still have gotten on that bomber?"


    "If I could go back in time, I probably would have tried harder to stop it from taking off in the first place," Steve said with good humour. He took another sip of his beer, looking thoughtful. "I think... I think I would do the same thing again."


    "Even though it cost you a chance with Peggy?"


    "Even then," Steve nodded somberly. "When I signed that dotted line for enlistment, I knew very well I might not make it back. When I was positioned for the Super Soldier Program, Epstein was very forthright that the chances of death were high. Every soldier, no matter their nation or cause, should be aware of the risks they take."


    "What was going through your mind?" Clark asked morbidly.


    "What most people think about," Steve said with a far-off look in his eyes. "I was scared. I didn''t want to die. I wanted to see Peggy again, to get the dance we never had. I wanted to see my friends again. To walk the streets of manhattan after the war was over and see the soldiers I had fought beside return to their families."


    Many of those same thoughts had swirled around Clark''s head for the last few days since Bruce told him of his ''fate.'' Superman had rarely truly felt threatened. There had been some close calls, and he had failed a few times, but rarely had his life been in danger despite facing beings stronger than him. It had always been others, the civilians and their livelihoods, that had been what he safeguarded. His few weaknesses were always eclipsed by his strengths or the help of his friends.


    A man of steel did not have much to fear from a world of cardboard.


    Until now.


    "But," Steve continued. "As terrified as I was of death, as much as I wanted to go home, I was faced with a choice. Not a nice one, but a choice nonetheless. We must all live in the real world¡­ and sometimes that world can be pretty grim. But it is the dream¡­ the hope for tomorrow¡­ that makes the reality worth living. I made a personal pledge to uphold the dream, even at the cost of my life. And that is why I would do it again because even today, I am fighting for that dream."


    Clark wondered if he, a small-town farmboy, could do the same.


    When the moment came, and he saw his death in the face of the Elden Lord, or whoever the Ultimate was, could he die doing what was right?


    Could he kill?


    "What brought this up?" Steve asked after Clark didn''t respond.


    He was saved from answering right away when Lois returned from putting Jon to bed. Rather than grab a drink, she sat beside her husband on the couch.


    "I swear," she said with a fond smile. "That boy is a work and a half. I blame you, Smallville."


    "Why me?" He asked as he pulled her tightly against him, luxuriating in her warmth.


    "It''s the Kryptonian in him. I just know it. He won''t fall asleep unless I tell him about Superman or another hero. And god forbid he lay down without his stuffed Batman."


    "You still won''t tell me where you got that," Steve chimed in with a smile of his own. "It''s not common merch, definitely handmade. A few of the wards are huge batman fans, and Christmas is coming up."


    "Sorry, I promised I wouldn''t say," Clark responded honestly with a shrug of his shoulders and a humorous look at his wife. It had been a gift from Bruce when Jon was born. The old bat was a colossal softy once you got past his prickly appearance. And demeanour. And paranoia. "I can ask for a few more, though."


    "I would appreciate it."


    "Have you asked him yet?" Lois asked, looking up at her husband.


    "I was waiting for you."


    "Ask me what?"


    "Well..." Clark dithered, unsure how to broach the topic.


    "I''m pregnant." Lois was always the blunter of the two. It helped in her journalism career, and it helped now.


    "Wha... Congratulations!" Steve exclaimed with joy, standing up from his seat.


    Clark and Lois remained seated, smiling at the old soldier but not as exuberant.


    "That''s not everything," Steve said after watching their faces for a moment. He sat back down. "Is it?"


    "It''s not," Clark admitted, even as his hands held his wife''s for strength. "I re-We recently got some bad news." He hurriedly corrected himself at his wife''s dangerous look.


    "Are you two all right? " Captain America asked worriedly.


    "We''re fine," Lois waved away his concern. "Healthy as can be. Jon wasn''t a problem, and we don''t expect any troubles with little Elanor either."


    "Elanor? You already know the gender?"


    "Elanor Martha Kent," Clark said. "We''ve been trying for a while for a second child, and as soon as the test returned positive yesterday, we did extensive checkups to be safe. Kryptonian/human children are still a bit of a grey area."


    "So... Why the long faces? What was the bad news?"


    And so, Superman told Captain America of his impending doom. Of how Batman, while trying to find a way to fight the Simurgh, had inadvertently discovered something that would kill the man of steel. Clark explained how he had just learned of this and the impending deadline.


    "And you think the Elden Lord will be responsible?" Steve asked. His face had grown more severe with every word spoken.


    "He does fit what the profile Batman has," Clark nodded. "It could be something else. He is just the most likely, and his arrival did push the date forward."


    "And there''s nothing we can do?"


    "We are doing all we can currently. Captain Marvel is scouring the galaxy for any mention of The Ultimate. That''s why she hasn''t returned. The Clairvoyant is being supercharged but will only be ready for another question in a week. The PRT, Protectorate, SHIELD, The Guild, Watchdog and the League, and the UN nations, are all on high alert due to the Elden Lord, so they are as ready as they can be without tipping our hand and starting something ourselves. We don''t want a self-fulfilling prophecy on our hands."


    "The Avengers will, of course, be ready to assemble at a moment''s notice. But there has to be something, anything we can do to help." Steve said, clear frustration in his voice.


    "There is," Clark said seriously. "Something only you can do."


    "What is it?"


    "Be Elanor''s godfather," Lois said seriously. "You''ve been a good friend to us, and should the worst happen, we would feel better if we knew her future was in your hands."


    "You wouldn''t be alone," Clark hurried to clarify as Steve sat in stunned silence. "Batman and Diana are Jon''s godparents, and my parents would help out, but I would feel more secure if I knew I could count on you."


    "I am honoured," Steve eventually said, face set. "Of course, I agree. But don''t go talking like that. Hope never dies so long as we live. I will ensure you are around for that child''s birth. Prophecy or not. Elden Lord be damned, no child should grow up without a parent. I want you to promise that you won''t give up. That you''ll keep fighting to the last to come home."


    "I''m not giving up," Clark responded, filled with a resolution that had been lacking for the last few days. Talking with his friend had been the right call. "Just like you made a pledge to that dream, I made a pledge to this family and the people of the earth. Nothing is going to get in the way of that."


    The two clinked their beers together with smiles, even as Lois rolled her eyes at the boys'' over-the-top declarations.


    She was smiling as well.


    *********


    The next day, at 9am Sydney time and 5pm Eastern US time, the Elden Lord would be recorded ordering breakfast at a family diner on the outskirts of the Australian city.


    He was accompanied by two known consorts, the Goddess Ranni and Glynda, and a third unknown woman with one eye. Even in a world filled with Supers, the group''s unique appearance prompted a few people to post about them on social media.


    Batman''s sophisticated tracking technology immediately flagged the images and delivered the notice to the Dark Knight.


    Judging that the draconic alien would not be in any rush, Batman had a few heroes approach the area but maintain their distance. At the same time, the rest of the League, the Avengers and the Guild were alerted to a possible deployment request incoming.


    Once they were ready, Superman was to be the point of contact.


    Batman had argued against it, but the man of steel remained firm in his decision. This was to a diplomatic meeting first, and only as a last resort should it escalate to violence.


    Bruce relented after Clark pointed out they had enough time to go in fully prepared.


    While they waited for everyone to be in place, Superman finished his current assignment of delivering a batch of organ donations to a hospital.


    Waiving off the hospital staff with a smile, Superman turned to fly to Australia to meet with the Elden Lord.


    Before he got very far, his communication computer beeped at him. The pattern was for an emergency backup request.


    Worried that something had gone wrong with the Elden Lord, Superman breathed a sigh of relief when he saw it was located in the US and thus unlikely connected to the Elden Lord.


    After confirming with Batman that they still needed a few minutes to move so many heroes to the southern hemisphere, Superman decided he had enough time for a quick stop nearby before talking with Mikael.


    So Superman set off towards Ohio, where the local PRT was asking for help dealing with a mutant moving eastward.

 Emancipation 7

    <div>


    The last days, our death throes, the ultimate inferno


    No hope for survival, this Doomsday is our final sight


    Dark and grim, your fate will begin


    In the fire and the pain, God will end on this Doomsday


    ********


    Fate is a fickle fiend.


    Those able to peer into its weave, few that they are, are well aware that it is not set in stone. It is not that prophecy detects the most likely outcome and then reveals it.


    Instead, the utterance of a prophecy makes the results spoken the most likely outcome. People react to the ''knowledge'' of the future either to attain or avoid it, making the result nearly inevitable. All predictions, no matter their origin or intent, are self-fulfilling in some small manner.


    Mikael had existed in the dimension for millions of years, yet predictions continued to be fulfilled as prophets, clairvoyants, and the divine predicted.


    Then the Blinding happened.


    If fate was a tapestry woven from countless possible threads, then the Blinding was someone ripping enormous holes in the fabric.


    Most blamed the Elden Lord''s presence for the Blinding, which was correct, but they missed the root cause. It was his defences, not his presence, that caused the issue.


    Defences that only came online when he reached his ''peak.''


    Those who peered at the weave as a whole, who saw the many images of fate writ large, knew all Sight had failed with the Blinding. There would never be another valid prophecy.


    Those threads which did not intersect with the Elden Lord or his Consorts, those who resided on the other side of the universe or in isolated communities, were touched by the ripples through which all things are connected.


    Predictive modelling did not peer at the weave of fate.


    It made predictions based on gathered data and projections. This made machines and beings who followed this process uniquely resilient against the ripples in the weave as they accepted it as more data.


    It also made them blind to the holes as they could not account for unknown variables.


    The Defences blinded all predictions for those it protected but did not protect the after-effects of their actions.


    The Clairvoyant could not predict anyone in the Family, but it could categorize even the likes of Galactus and Pheonix. It judged, even after everything the Family had set in motion, that Superman would still die. That other heroes would die in the conflict, as well.


    All that changed was the final outcome.


    When Batman told Clark he would win at the cost of his life, he was unaware that the future had already changed by the actions of The Family.


    If he had asked the Clairvoyant on the morning of the 25th of October if they would win, it would have responded that victory was utterly impossible.


    But he couldn''t.


    And so the heroes that gathered to fight that day were unaware they were fighting till their inevitable doom.


    ****


    Goldstar coughed another glob of blood into his fist as he tried to rise.


    His missing leg and the bloody stump of its previous location, still spurting blood, stopped all attempts to escape.


    The PRT hero was forced to sit there and watch, eyes blurring and feeling dizzy, as the mutant smashed Limelight through an apartment building. His shields cracked as he screamed, lime green outfit torn.


    Limelight had a healing factor, a rather potent one, in fact, but the mutant did not give his fellow hero time to recover.


    The thing''s one good hand smashed the foundations of the building to smithereens, and the rest came crashing down on the hero, civilians and all.


    Goldstar felt nauseous.


    It could have been the blood loss.


    It was more than likely because he just saw hundreds of people, men, women, and children fall to death in the rubble that crushed his friend.


    This was the third building to collapse, not counting the major bridge that the thing had destroyed, which had alerted the Cleveland PRT to the terrorist act.


    They had set out as quickly as possible, lucky that the whole team had been present thanks to some higher-up putting the team on alert for possible deployment. Goldstar, Limelight, Electro the robot, Ice, and Fyre had arrived at the collapsed bridge to find a Super tearing his way through those who had survived the collapse.


    It was wrapped in green and covered by metal cables that wrapped it like some sort of futuristic straightjacket. It was bound so tightly that its right arm was held behind its back.


    It wasn''t even in the top 10 weird costumes Goldstar had seen.


    Half the team had engaged the villain when he didn''t respond to them, and the other half had set about trying to rescue the civilians.


    The thing had torn through them.


    Ice had been shattered into bloody pieces within the first thirty seconds.


    Fyre had held on longer, staying farther away and blasting the thing with her flames. But nothing seemed to damage it as it ignored the fire to charge at her with speed none of them could follow.


    She died in the first building collapse, pummeled to paste under its fists, the shockwave tumbling the building into a crater.


    Electro had tried to lead the thing away from the city center, taking potshots at it and staying out of reach. The thing had jumped high enough to catch the robot in its unbound arm and crush the metal to pieces.


    Only Goldstar''s various tinker tech inventions, his flight ring and forcefield belt, and Limelight''s sheer durability, had allowed them to last as long as they did.


    It was all fruitless.


    The Cleveland Protectorate, small as it was, had been decimated in five minutes.


    Now Michael Jon Carter lay dying after watching his friend be brutally murdered. Cleveland remained undefended until the SOS was answered.


    They had failed.


    Darkness crept around Goldstar''s vision.


    Too weak, he could not see the Flash of red and blue that interrupted the mutant''s rampage.


    The last thought of the hero, Goldstar was of the end.


    Of Doomsday.


    ****


    Superman tackled the green-clad man and carried him skyward.


    He had only a moment to take in the situation, but it had filled him with profound pain and sorrow. The collapsed buildings, the wails and screams of the innocent, and the bloody remains of the heroes all lit a fire in his chest.


    But Superman couldn''t lash out.


    As much as he wanted to, as much as he desired to pummel the man who had destroyed so many lives and throw him into jail, he had to follow the proper procedure. Give the man a chance to surrender to the law.


    If heroes did not follow the law, then nobody would.


    Priority number one was to remove the threat to civilians.


    So when Clark grabbed the green-clad behemoth, he intended to fly him out of the city and into the state''s less populated areas. Thanks to his speed, they left the city in a flash.


    Less than three seconds after taking flight, the air was driven from his lungs as a mighty fist slammed into his back, forcing him from the sky.


    They crashed into the ground in a cavalcade of grass, dirt, rock and asphalt. Tearing a long groove into the earth, the pair rested in a mall''s parking lot.


    Neither was hurt, though both were dirty.


    Superman disentangled himself from the man, taking flight and hovering in the air as he tried to regain his bearings. The green-clad man stared up at the Kryptonian, his feature obscured by the green costume and metal cables. Clark could see patches of grey skin peaking out here and there.


    Either a mutant or an alien, then.


    Superman had succeeded in getting the man away from the city center, which was a plus, but this area was still too populated for his taste.


    "Who are you?" He called out. "Why are you doing this?"


    The man didn''t answer.


    Instead, it jumped at him.


    The ground cratered under the thing''s feet as it threw itself skyward at the Kryptonian. Its speed and force were fast enough that Clark could not dodge out of the way. In a reversal of earlier, the green-clad man tackled Superman out of the air.


    As they hit the ground, Clark could roll away thanks to the opponent only having one arm. He rose to his feet and punched the man in the chest.


    If he wasn''t willing to talk now, he might talk in the ER.


    The impact of Superman''s fist on the man''s chest tore the green cloth from his chest, revealing more craggy grey skin underneath.


    The mutant did not even flinch.


    Clark didn''t have time to be surprised as the thing''s one good arm lashed out and back-handed him through the mall.


    While Superman had controlled his strength to a degree to not kill the man, that punch would have laid out most Brute 6s. The blow he received in return had been at least ten times that level.


    Clark set his mouth into a frown even as he stood from the rubble, thanking his lucky stars that it was near closing time.


    Still, this area was too populated.


    "Superman requesting backup and evacuation west of New Philidelphia, Ohio," he said into his earpiece on an open channel, hoping any local heroes would be nearby. "We have a Brute, at least 9. Green costume. One arm tied behind his back. Civilian removal is a priority. Send help."


    That was all Clark had time for as his hearing picked up the screams of the locals.


    Rather than chase after the Kryptonian, the mutant turned away from the lowering sun and headed eastward, destroying everything in his path.


    Superman flew fast enough that he was able to grab a family about to be crushed by their collapsing house, but by then, the man had moved on to another structure.


    Whoever this was, they were more intent on causing death and destruction than anything else.


    His priority being saving lives above all else, Superman felt stifled.


    With a massive chunk of heroes on the other side of the world, ready to face off against the Elden Lord, only some could arrive to help on time.


    Nevertheless, Superman would do what it took to save lives and defeat the villain before it reached the major cities along the east coast.


    That is what a hero did, after all.


    ****


    When Superman sent out his request for aid, people were listening.


    Batman was the obvious one, of course, as he monitored a whole network as he tried to coordinate dozens of heroes in preparation for the coming battle.


    He didn''t have any footage of Superman''s current location, but he was able to review Goldstar''s headpiece footage.


    Bruce Wayne was left with a choice.


    He either sent aid or continued to focus on the upcoming confrontation with the Elden Lord and trusted Clark to handle it with local hero support.


    In the end, though he is paranoid and concerned with the Dragon on their doorstep, Batman is also intelligent and decisive. He also knew his friend well enough that if Superman wanted help, he needed it.


    Less than a minute after receiving the SOS, Batman alerted what heroes he could to head to Superman''s location.


    For a second, he hesitated but then got on the coms to call three particular women to their aid.


    They could confront the Elden Lord later.


    ****


    Batman wasn''t the only one listening to the open hero channel.


    Police, PRT personnel, Medical and fire stations, and news outlets all heard Superman''s call for help. While Cleaveland was still scrambling its own emergency services for their part of the disaster, other places sent their teams to provide what aid they could.


    Local fire stations, police offices, and hospitals were well used to the dangers of living in a world of heroes and villains. While engaging the villains was left to the PRT and any heroes or vigilantes, these regular humans did their part to minimize the civilian impact in any way possible.


    News crews, those nearby or with helicopters, dispatched their reporters to cover the incident.


    The Protectorate had a few heroes in nearby cities, ready for a coming clash with the Elden Lord. They dispatched what they could afford without leaving their cities undefended.


    Slowly but surely, the world was starting to focus on the clash of heroes and the unknown villain.


    ****


    "When do you want to spring this?" Glynda asked me under her voice.


    "Once Robin finds Flash," I answered at a normal volume. "He is the biggest threat, and if things go south, I want him neutralized first."


    We didn''t really need to whisper, enclosed in a bubble of silence from a spell I had cast. A modification of the Hush spell from Dark Souls and the Unseen Form spell from Elden Ring had us in a dome that made us invisible and silent.


    It wouldn''t protect us from heat vision or other more esoteric searching abilities, but they weren''t really looking for us.


    They thought they knew where we were all ready.


    "How''s the food?" I asked Ranni.


    "I cannot taste through my dolls," she answered haughtily. "Though it looks like the French Toast is mush and the omelet is slightly overdone. A subpar showing."


    "We''ll find somewhere else to eat after all this," I appeased her. I didn''t want to get addicted to our cooking, so I was trying to find other places we could enjoy on this vacation.


    You know, so long as we didn''t sink Australia if we ended up fighting the Heroes.


    Inside the dinner, four of Ranni''s dolls were illusioned to look like our group. They were the bait in the trap.


    I was hopeful that it wouldn''t come to a fight, for Diana''s sake if nothing else, but I also wanted to be negotiating from a position of strength.


    Heroes are nosy creatures. They wanted to be assured that my group and I would not try and destroy the world or something equally stupid.


    On the other hand, we wanted to not be hounded every time we stepped outside. Since we were not planning anything dastardly, it looked like we had room to talk.


    However, I had no desire to suborn myself or The Family to anyone. Be they heroes or villains, countries or organizations, they would all want a piece of us.


    We were too strong or valuable for them not to want to control or destroy us.


    The fundamental goal here was to show ourselves to be a considerable threat that they couldn''t engage us without paying a huge cost. At the same time, we couldn''t scare them too hard, or they would go all out, cost be damned.


    We had to be a neutral threat, not an active one.


    So I had set a trap.


    They didn''t know that I knew how most of them operated. While my knowledge of comics and Worm shouldn''t be followed blindly, I still had ways of verifying that knowledge.


    And Bruce Wayne was still Batman, so I could count on old Batsy to do the most paranoid thing possible.


    It didn''t matter if he was more intelligent than me if I held more knowledge than him. At least for now.


    I was going to outsmart his outsmarting.


    "I have him," Robin told us through a pair of lips on the floor. "Three blocks to the east, in the alleyway to the left of the jewelry store. He is eating a box of donuts."


    "Thanks," I said as the four of us moved in that direction. I kept us silent and invisible, though it was mostly for me. Both Ranni and Glynda could fly, from their spells and semblance, respectively, and Melina moved with the silent grace of a Black Knife Assassin. To say nothing of Tsunade. My wings were part magic, but if I wanted to fly, they still displaced air, so I didn''t open them. "How many signatures?"


    "I''ve found thirty-six within 50 kilometres, which are above civilian level. More are arriving every minute," Yoruichi spoke into my ear. She was in her cat form to hide better.


    "Four more are powerless but have machines," the shadow clone of Tsunade chimed in.


    If all went to plan, the heroes would never know that anyone but the four of us was here. Almost everyone was present, though hidden away, in case things went south.


    Priscila was watching the pets on the Island since she was the least combative of The Family.


    And we didn''t want to kill people, at least not yet.


    I had set Artoria off on a different mission with Diana, but if worst came to worst, I could have Raven bring them to us in a few minutes.


    We arrived above the jewelry store, Didgeridiamond, and looked down to see Barry Allen, dressed as the Flash, polish off his last donut and start digging into a box of Tim Tams.


    I knew speedsters had an extremely high metabolism, but seeing him pack so much food away so quickly was still impressive. He ate almost as much as Artoria.


    Almost.


    "The bounded field is set," Medea sent her voice to me by a spell. We kept telepathic communication to a low point, aware that some heroes could intercept or at least sense it, and we didn''t want to blow Emma''s cover. Her words indicated that the final piece was in place. "Should I activate it?"


    With that news, the stage was set.


    I had learned my lesson about how ''low'' tech could still work on us, even with the Defences. Over the last few days, I had worked with Medea to devise a Bounded Field specifically designed to stop all electronic equipment from sending signals out of an area.


    Thanks to Magic Talent and Medea''s vast knowledge of spells, we had created it on the first day and spent the rest of the time turning it into a spell we could deploy in less than a minute of preparation.


    "Let''s not tip our hand just yet. That could spook them," I answered. "Any sign of the boy scout?"


    "No," Yoruichi answered.


    "Negative," Tsunade said.


    "I have eyes on Supergirl, but I cannot see her cousin," Robin explained.


    The ''shounen ninja trio,'' as I called them in my head, were incredibly useful for tasks like this.


    I had expected Superman to be here, as the ''face'' of the justice league and the most recognizable hero. His weakness to magic meant that we didn''t need to fear him as much as some other heroes, but he was still a force to be acknowledged.


    I was left to wait for him or spring the trap early. There were benefits to both.


    "My Lord?" Melina asked. "Your orders?" The rest of the group present looked at me.


    "Hmm," I thought for a moment before making a decision. "Let''s go."


    ****


    "Hello there," the man said gently as he appeared from nowhere.


    Barry sped himself up on instinct, giving him a moment to calm his surprise so he would drop his snack. It also gave him a moment to take stock of the situation.


    The Elden Lord stood at the entrance to the alley. The three women supposed to be with him in the restaurant were arrayed behind him. Barry had never met any of them, but he had studied their files extensively.


    Except for the one-eyed brunette.


    She was new.


    Ranni was a Goddess. One who had faced a conjunction of the Justice League and some top heroes by herself came out on top.


    Glynda was an accomplished telekinetic, possibly the greatest in the world, if their speculation of her ability to manipulate things on the atomic level was correct. That was the only way she would have been able to repair all that damage unless she was a time manipulator.


    The Elden Lord was a dragon the size of a continent, a world conquerer whose presence could drive people mad.


    It would take a little bit for the other heroes to notice the change in the situation, and until then, the Flash was outnumbered.


    Barry was sure he had been in worse situations before but had trouble thinking them up.


    Thankfully, they didn''t seem hostile.


    "Hello," he answered politely as his perception returned to normal. Batman would notice and alert the other heroes if he kept them talking. "What can I help you with?"


    "Do you mind if I try one of those?" The Elden Lord pointed to the almost empty box of Tim Tams in Barry''s hand. "I''ve never had them before, and I am a bit hungry since our breakfast was interrupted."


    Barry wordlessly passed the box of chocolate sweets to the man, who took one and popped it into his mouth.


    "Mmmm," he hummed as he ate before swallowing. "I don''t have much of a sweet tooth, but these are pretty good. You girls want one?" He asked the women behind him. They remained silent, eyes focused on Barry. "Suit yourselves. Anyway, where are my manners? I am Mikael, these are Glynda, Ranni, and Melina."


    "I''m the Flash," Barry said politely. Usually, this would be when he would start mouthing off, but Superman had been clear that antagonizing the group was to be avoided unless given no other option.


    Say what you will about Barry Allen, but he was a hero and had no desire to start a fight in a populated area if he could avoid it.


    That and every second that ticked by increased his chance of backup arriving.


    "I''ve heard of you," Mikael said with a smile. "Central City, right? In the US? Makes me wonder what you are doing down here and interrupting my vacation. And with so many friends."


    A cold sweat rolled down Barry''s back.


    They had hoped that, since Yoruichi and Robin hadn''t been present with the group, they would not be able to sense the heroes gathering. There had been some concern that the one-eyed woman, Melina, was the unknown psychic, so they had maintained their distance from the group and had the White Queen and Wiccan keep an eye on them.


    They had reported no psychic activity.


    "Sorry for that," Barry said with a tense smile. "Didn''t mean to disturb you and all, just wanted to talk."


    "Well," Mikael said, leaning against the entrance to the alley. "I''m right here. Talk."


    Superman was supposed to be the one to initiate this conversation, but Barry decided that beggars couldn''t be choosers. That and Batman hadn''t said anything.


    "I just wanted to ask some questions, if you don''t mind."


    "Ask away."


    "First off, any plans for world domination? I hear it''s all the rage lately, and I wanted to know if you were getting on that bandwagon. I hear you have some experience with it," Barry asked quickly with a tense smile.


    "You don''t say?" Mikael asked rhetorically. "I can honestly say the only time I like to dominate is in the bedroom. Everything else is too much of a hassle, ya get me?"


    "I understand," Barry nodded quickly, happy that he wasn''t flying off the handle and a bit surprised about his openness. A quirk of his home culture? "Though I''ve also heard you''ve conquered worlds before. What changed?"


    "We might be thinking of different things here," Mikael tossed a look to Ranni, who puffed up her cheeks. It was such a human action and so unexpected that Barry stared at the blue woman in surprise. "I understand my wife unintentionally gave me a bad wrap. You''ll have to forgive her for it. She comes from a culture where bragging about one''s achievements is the norm. I thoroughly... chastised her for it."


    "Lord Husband," the goddess said with a whine, her face a deep purple.


    While his words concerned Barry, he didn''t like wife beaters at all, the flushed face of the goddess, and her smile, told him that it wasn''t the case here. It probably had more to do with ''dominating in the bedroom'' than actual violence.


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    "Anyway," Mikael continued. "I should clear up the misunderstanding.


    When Ranni said I conquered worlds, she meant it in a more metaphorical sense than ruling them. Her world was in a civil war, and I helped settle it and restore peace. Another was cursed with an undead plague, and I stopped it. I have no desire to conquer anything. I have never ''ruled,'' nor do I desire to. I am just here on vacation. A pit stop on the road of life."


    Barry didn''t know if he could trust those words, but the fact that the Elden Lord was talking was a good sign.


    "So, no intentions for the earth? No destroying it or enslaving humanity?"


    "Why would I do that?" Mikeal asked rhetorically. "I like the earth. You have the internet. And pizza." That was a good argument if the Flash ever heard one. "I am very big on freedom, so slavery is a no-go. Think of me as an intergalactic tourist. I''m here for the sights and food, and to immerse myself in the culture."


    "Who are you planning on meeting?" Barry asked. If they could find whoever it was that had drawn the Elden Lord to earth, then they could see about helping him finish his business and sending him on his way.


    "A bit above your paygrade," Mikael denied answering with a charming smile. "Don''t worry, it''s nothing bad, and I''ll be out of your hair soon enough. She''s just a bit fickle at the moment. Maybe in a year or two. Got a lot to-"


    The Elden Lord cut himself off, turning his vision skyward, and his consorts followed his line of sight. Hidden by the building, Barry couldn''t see what had attracted his attention, but he hoped it was Superman.


    He was close.


    Supergirl flew down from on high, landing on the other side of the group from the Flash. She eyed the group warily but turned her eyes towards her fellow hero.


    She looked worried.


    "Batman''s been trying to reach you for a while." She said. "We need to go. Cl-Superman needs help."


    "Where?" He asked, tension rising.


    "Near the Maryland-Pennsylvania border," she said.


    That was all Barry needed to hear. He was off in a flash of red and yellow.


    "Sorry, talktoyoulater," he called back to the Elden Lord as he left.


    The Elden Lord did not try and stop him.


    ****


    "Did... Did we just get blown off?" I asked rhetorically as I watched Supergirl fly away.


    "It would seem so," Ranni said.


    "Pfffff," Yoruichi laughed as she landed on my shoulder. "Your face! You should see your face!"


    I didn''t need a mirror to know I looked pretty pissed. Not angry, just annoyed.


    It was a pet peeve of mine that I hated being ignored or condescended to. I didn''t have to be the center of attention, and I liked being underestimated, but my ego was such that blowing me off completely was a sure way to get onto my shit list.


    "Something pretty serious must be happening," Glynda said as we were joined by the others.


    "It better be Darkseid or something comparable, or I swear I am going to prank them so hard," I muttered as I pulled out my phone. Chances were, anything that Superman needed help with would be all over the news. "Huh."


    "What?" Tsunade asked.


    "Superman''s going to die," I said plainly, my annoyance primarily forgotten. "Or at least, it looks like it."


    "How come?" Robin asked, looking over my shoulder at the live news coverage of a battle on the other side of the world.


    "That''s Doomsday," I said, pointing to a grey monster covered in white spikes. The footage came from a helicopter over the battle, but I could still make out the remains of green cloth on a few spikes. As we watched, a brutal punch to Superman''s face shot the Kryptonian across the field they were in. Doomsday looked relatively okay, but the man of tomorrow was covered in cuts and bruises. "In one of the most famous comics in my world, he and Superman end up killing each other. It''s possible that won''t happen here since it''s a crossover world, but from the looks of it, the Blue Scout isn''t doing too well, so he still might die."


    "Should we do something?" Glynda asked.


    "Why would we?" I looked around the gathered group. A few of them looked worried, but Scathact looked eager to go. "Even if Superman dies, he comes back. Doomsday, too, so you can stop looking at me like that, you battle junkie. The thing''s primary ability to come back from the dead stronger than before. It takes a while, but it always happens. We can steal its corpse later and bring it to the Island for you to fight."


    "If you say so," the celt said. Though her face looked blank, I could tell she was pouting. Adorable.


    "We could use this as an olive branch," Medea pointed out. "Help them out and get some good publicity."


    "We wouldn''t be able to help too much," I waived her off, keeping my eyes on the footage. "I have an idea that might be able to kill him for good, but that''s just a theory. The only one of us in the Family who could finish him off for sure would be Priscila, and she is nowhere near strong or fast enough to fight him. Gae Bolg could kill him once, maybe, but he would come back anyway. Everything else that would kill him would result in us taking huge chunks out of the US, which wouldn''t look good."


    "Then let us return to our vacation," Ranni said, uncaring of the plight of the heroes of this world. She was like me, fiercely loving and dedicated to those close to her and entirely unsympathetic for others.


    Our Family was not a group of heroes.


    With a few exceptions.


    "I''m going to keep watching," I said.


    There was something about the footage that was bothering me. It was on the tip of my tongue, yet it continued to elude me even as I watched Flash arrive to save a group of civilians.


    Was Doomsday growing new spikes?


    ****


    Superman was going to die.


    Clark realized they had made a mistake after the first thirty minutes of fighting this grey monster.


    This thing would kill him, not the Elden Lord.


    A punch almost caved in Clark''s face, but he managed to duck out of the way, the spikes on the thing''s knuckles carving lines into the side of his head.


    Clark returned the blow with one of his own. His unsuppressed punch hit the spiked chin of the beast with a thunderous smash. The air distorted from the force of the blow.


    Clark really hoped Flash and the other heroes had evacuated the civilians. Not only was that a priority, but most heroes who tried to interfere in the fight were dispatched quickly by the monster. Most who took a blow from it did not get back up.


    It was like fighting the Hulk again, only more bestial and bent on destruction.


    It said not a word, only communicating in growls and roars but the sheer hatred and violence it gave off told him everything he needed to know.


    A kick from a grey foot sent Clark tumbling end over end.


    It was getting better. Better at fighting, better at countering, better at directing the pace of the battle. It had torn its bound arm free after the first ten minutes and, since then, had not been on the back foot even once.


    Clark was hurt.


    He was tired and bruised in a way he never had been before. Even standing up again caused pain to flash through him, but stand up, he did.


    He saw Myrddin try to suck up the monster into one of his portals, but the beast did not budge.


    Early in the fight, Superman tried to fly it to more isolated areas. Spikes had grown on its feet to hold it in a place like some sort of demented pair of cleats. Then, when the ground gave way, the monster started to grow its ''shoes'' even deeper into the ground, holding fast to the bedrock.


    Now its legs looked completely armoured in white bone spikes. Smaller ones now covered almost every inch of grey skin, making any hit to it cause damage to the attacker.


    This creature, whatever it was, was not only getting more innovative as the fight dragged on, it was getting stronger and more brutal. Adapting itself to new stimuli.


    It was the ultimate killing machine.


    So Superman was going to die, beaten to death by this monster. Clark had realized that a while ago.


    He also realized he would still fight.


    For the last few days, he had asked himself time and time again if he could really give his life.


    If he could die a hero''s death.


    Yes, he could.


    Clark had never felt himself to be above anyone, despite his powers. He felt himself to be as mortal as his fellow man. He hadn''t known if he would flee in fear when the time came.


    He knew that, despite his imminent demise, he would stand and fight.


    Not because he was a hero.


    Not because Superman was a symbol.


    Not because he promises the world or Captain America.


    But because he was protecting something more precious than his life.


    The fight had started in Ohio, but the monster had continued to direct it eastward. Over the last thirty minutes, they had covered hundreds of miles and decimated vast swathes of the country. Washington was visible in the distance.


    Now they stood less than 100 miles from Metropolis.


    From his home.


    From Lois and Jon.


    So Superman stood once more, bloody and beaten, as Iron Man rained missiles down on the beast to no effect. Captain America took a blow on his shield, falling to the ground even as the vibranium prevented his death.


    Superman saved his idol with a blast of his heat vision.


    The red beams once carved bloody gouges in the monster. Those wounds had healed, and now all it did was push the bony white beast back slightly, great grooves cut into the ground from its armoured legs.


    Supergirl tried to capitalize on its destabilized footing but was grabbed from the air and thrown into the distance, destroying a nearby mountain.


    With a wordless cry of rage, Superman reengaged the monster. Early in the fight, he pulled his punches, afraid he would kill the man.


    Now he went all out, his fists impacting the spiky skin of the monster with enough force to decimate cities. The nearby glass shattered from the after-effects of their blows.


    Clark was trying to kill someone for the first time in his life.


    And he was failing.


    The creature responded in kind, blows raining down on Superman as it roared its wordless cry of rage and hate at all life.


    Then the monster adapted once more.


    Rather than take a blow with its rugged body, it dodged out of the way, weaving under Superman''s arm and grabbing the Kryptonian.


    Its spiked hands wrapped around his neck. Clark could survive without air, but the beast wasn''t trying to strangle him. It was trying to tear his head from his shoulders.


    He was saved when a blade cut the monster''s outstretched arm below the elbow.


    Clark collapsed, gasping through his soar throat as he watched Diana try to impale the beast. Even as he watched, its arms regrew, only now covered in bony plate likes its legs.


    "I gotcha," a female voice told him as soft hands grabbed his shoulders and flew him away from the fight. "You''ve seen better days, Big Blue. Don''t worry; Di''s got this, and Ames will get you all healed up."


    Glory Girl carried Superman away even as the X-men arrived to help Wonder Woman face the beast.


    "You look like shit," Amelia said caustically as she laid her hands on Superman. She didn''t even ask for his permission before healing him. Other heroes lay nearby. Some were already getting back on their feet. "You''re lucky Batman let us out of our little asylum."


    "Good to see you too," Clark rasped with a smile, well used to the maudlin woman since they had taken her down and tried to rehabilitate her. He was already feeling better.


    "This better count as good behaviour," she snarked. "The earlier I get out of that place, the better. If I have to sit through one more episode of Vicky''s fashion shows, I''ll re-kill her myself."


    "I''m sure it''s not too bad," Superman''s flesh re-knit together, and his bruises healed at a speed visible to the naked eye.


    "Easy for you to say," Amelia said as she stood up and started to walk toward another patient. "You don''t have to live with her."


    "AMES!!!!" Glory Girl shouted in the distance.


    Superman turned in time to see a grey form rocket passed him toward the undefended healer.


    Maybe it was more intelligent than they gave it credit for, and it understood the importance of targeting the healer first.


    Perhaps the thing was angry to see the pain it inflicted undone.


    Either way, as Glory Girl flew towards her sister in a panic and Superman reacted just a smidge too late to block the beast, the alien bore down on the former Red Queen.


    Had this been a week ago, Amelia Lavere would have died as a bloody past under the punch of Doomsday.


    But this was not Amelia Lavere, the recovering villain.


    This was Amy Dallon.


    Unshackled.


    With a clumsy duck, Panacea avoided the punch of the beast.


    With an equally unpracticed move, she lashed out with a fist.


    A fist backed by the force of a Kryptonian physique.


    Locked in M/S confinement, what was a girl to do but tinker with the new aspect of her powers? Why not give herself the benefits of the bodies of the greatest heroes the world had ever seen? She had healed Kryptonians and other brutes enough times to know how they worked.


    In its lunge, the beast''s legs had separated from the ground.


    Amy''s punch lacked the full force of Superman due to her poor form and relatively short time absorbing sunlight, but it was still strong enough to send the grey monster flying.


    "Woah," Glory Girl exclaimed as she flew to a stop near her sister. "Ames! What was that?"


    "I''ll explain later," the Striker, now Brute, said seriously before turning to Superman. "We need to stop that thing as soon as possible."


    "What do you think we''ve been trying, toots," Iron Man said, flying close to the group even as he continued to try and blast the monster when the other heroes gave him a target. "Why do you never have a Thor when you need one? Or a Hulk?"


    "We need to kill it now!" Amy insisted. "When I touched that thing, I looked at its insides. It is not wearing out. It is getting stronger and more deadly with every second that passes. Its healing factor is insane. Unless we can eradicate it in one blow, I need to get my hands on it for at least a few seconds."


    "Get ready then," Superman said. "I''ll hold it in place for you."


    As the Kryptonian dived back into the fray, dodging Colossus carrying a limp Rogue to safety as Cyclops blasted the monster in the chest, he felt a spark of hope kindle in his chest.


    They could do this.


    They would win.


    Even if it killed him.


    "Hold him," Clark shouted to Diana as both approached the monster together. Long years of teamwork meant no other words needed to be shared.


    The monster''s chest was armoured now, though still spikey enough to hurt anyone who tried to punch it.


    But Clark wasn''t trying to punch him.


    Superman''s arms wrapped around the monster as if to tackle it away once more.


    That wasn''t the goal, either.


    "Argh," Clark coughed up blood once more as the monster''s fists battered at his body from above.


    He only needed to weather the blows for a few seconds before a golden lasso wrapped around those arms, holding them tight together.


    The beast roared again, its wrapped arms straining against the rope of the gods. Clark and Diana held fast, unwilling to let the monster move even an inch.


    "Here''s Vicky!" Glory Girl laughed as she dropped her sister behind the beast and dove to grab its legs just in case.


    With all three heroes doing their part, Amy had enough time to lay her on the back of the monster.


    She could see it all.


    The rampant adaptation, the optimization for killing, and the Corona Pollentia connected to a Gemma working overtime to continue to adapt against her power.


    A week ago, it would have won.


    Now?


    Amy shut down all its organs, cut all communication of the brain from the rest of the body and separated its spine from its neck.


    The monster went still, its head falling at its feet.


    There was a moment of tense silence.


    Then someone cheered.


    Then they were all cheering.


    Amy kept her hand on both the body and the head, ensuring it was dead.


    And it was.


    The last activity of the brain stopped under her watchful eye.


    ****


    The Clairvoyant could not predict, or even sense, anyone protected by the Defences.


    Including Glory Girl.


    Her contributions to the fight had been entirely outside its range of possibilities.


    Unlike Amy.


    The Clairvoyant could still account for her. And her new powers.


    And, knowing that, it still concluded they were all doomed.


    ****


    "Run!" Amy shouted to the cheering heroes even as she grabbed her sister and pulled her away.


    The body remained unmoving.


    The head opened its eyes.


    She had removed her hand in time to avoid the spike of bone that would have impaled it.


    Even as some heroes watched in stunned stupefaction, some were already moving to destroy the head.


    It was too late.


    Bone erupted from the stump of a neck in a cruel parody of Amy''s real father''s power.


    In less than a second, it formed itself into a new body.


    Almost centaur in shape, its bulky form as ten feet tall. Bone armour covered its four arms and six legs. The only patch of grey skin remaining uncovered was the head and the red eyes that glaired its hatred to the world.


    It roared its primal fury to the gathering of heroes who, rather than fight to win, had to fight to stay alive.


    ****


    "Thank you, princess," the teller said with a smile.


    "You know I can resist your food, Giannis," Diana said with a smile as she paid for the food and passed it to Artoria. "How''s the family?"


    "Good," Artoria saw the tanned man smile at her friend. "''Dite is ready to pop any day now. We already have a room set up for the new little one. Painted it pink this time instead of green."


    "I hope to hear about it when I come by next time," Diana said with a smile, even as she left a generous tip in the jar near the counter. "And Konstantinos? How''s he handling the fact he''s going to be a big brother?"


    "Konstantinos?" The restaurant looked confused before shaking his head with a smile. "Do you mean Katerina? She is all excited about having a new little sister. Has all her dolls ready to go."


    "Oh," Diana said, looking a bit poleaxed. "Sorry. My mistake."


    "No problem," the greek man said as he shook his head fondly. "I know how busy you are. Between the embassy and being Wonder Woman, it is amazing that you remember my name at all."


    "Thank you for the food."


    Artoria frowned at her friend as they took their seats in a nearby booth. Even as she set the plates down, Diana simply stared at her meal without touching it.


    "Diana?" Artoria asked gently.


    "He added extra humus," the heroine said.


    "Hm?"


    "This was my favourite restaurant when I was working at the embassy," Diana explained as she stared at her plate in a daze. "A taste of home away from home. Giannis always adds extra humus because he knows I like it."


    "That is kind of him."


    "I''ve known him for years," Diana continued. "I was invited to his wedding. I was there when his son said his first word."


    "You were close," Artoria paused eating to grasp her lover''s hand.


    "And now that son doesn''t exist," the amazon seemed to sag into herself at her words. "This isn''t my city. It looks like it, but it is not. Every time I step off the Island, I am reminded of that. I am the imposter here. The fake Diana."


    "You are no fake," Artoria responded strongly.


    "The only reason we can be here is that the other version of me is on the other side of the world!" Diana insisted. "She might be fighting the rest of our Family right now, and what are we doing? You are here babysitting me!"


    "You know that is untrue," Artoria said softly. "I am not babysitting you. And Mikael will do all in his power to prevent a fight from starting."


    "It is true," Diana replied. "Why else would you be here! He''s afraid I''ll join them! He still does not trust us!"


    "He does trust us," Artoria said calmly, not goaded by her friends'' inflammatory remarks. She was going through a lot. "The thought that you might side against the Family never entered his or my mind."


    "Then why are the two strongest fighters being sidelined?" Diana asked rhetorically.


    "Because it shouldn''t become a fight," Artoria reiterated. "Because should the worst happen and one does break out, I would hate for you to go through the pain of fighting your friends, different versions or not."


    Artoria had done that before. She had stood against her own knights on the battle of Camlann. A version of herself had set her knights against each other, and she had watched as the goddess Rhongomyniad as they tore each other apart on her orders. Though she had been an unfeeling machine at the time, the memory still haunted her today.


    She did not wish that pain upon her friend.


    "Artoria," Diana said softly, calming down. She was aware of the King of Knights'' past, so she knew what her friend referred to.


    "You say they don''t trust you?" The blonde continued. "I would ask you to put your trust in them. Trust them to come to an accord. Trust them to win without bloodshed should it come to a battle. Trust Mikael when he promised to support us. When you asked if he would support you if you joined this Justice League, did he not promise his aid? Having friends you do not wish to see harmed does not make you any less part of the Family. Trust us when we say that we want you to be happy."


    "I do trust you," Diana said, their fingers intertwined. "And I am sorry. My discomfort at this new world is no reason to lash out."


    "No apology necessary," Artoria said with a smile as she released her hand. "Now, I believe our food is getting cold."


    "Don''t stop on my account. Dig in." Diana picked up her own fork to start her meal.


    The next few minutes were passed in companionable conversation as Artoria asked more about what other favourite spots Diana had in the city she used to protect.


    The Lancer finished her meal in record time, but the heroine was still picking at hers when alarms rang out throughout the city streets.


    With barely a word, both women exited the small restaurant to see what was happening.


    All around the street, people were hurrying away. Those that weren''t fleeing were standing in place, faces glued to the screens of their phones.


    The sirens continued to wail as Artoria approached a teenage boy holding his phone.


    "Excuse me, lad." She asked politely but insistently. "What is this alarm? Has an Endbringer appeared?"


    "Nah. This is a general alarm. Ya know, villains and shit." The young man looked up from his phone to see intense green eyes flecked with gold staring at him. "Woah! Too close! You scared me."


    "Do you know where the villain is?" Artoria asked.


    "Just outside the city," the boy stammered under her gaze. "You can watch it on the news."


    "May we see your phone?" Artoria held out her hand, her words more of an order than a request. Grail Knowledge did not make her a technology expert, but she knew the basics.


    "Never mind," Diana called out to her friend as she removed her device and looked up one of the local stations'' websites. Another thing that remained the same, yet different. "I have it."


    Artoria looked over her friends'' shoulders to watch as images depicted various heroes fighting. For a moment, she feared that her Family had gotten into a fight after all, but then the camera zoomed in on a grey face atop a body covered in bone armour.


    "Doomsday," Diana hissed.


    "Truly?" Artoria asked as they watched. "He is different than what you described. More bestial."


    "I''d recognize that face anywhere," Diana insisted. "You don''t forget something that kills your friend."


    "They are losing," Artoria calmly pointed out as the heroes on screen tried to attack the monster, rebuffed by an eruption of bony spikes projectiles.


    "He''s stronger than my world," Diana said as they watched Superman try and punch the beast. It was pushed back less than a foot and punched the man of steel with two of its arms. "Tougher too."


    "Damn," the boy swore as he watched Wolverine be trampled under the bony legs of the monster. "Just when the Simurgh gets killed, this bastard shows up. We just can''t win."


    Diana went still.


    "Artoria?" There was an odd lilt to her voice as she asked. "Do you think Mikael will truly support us?"


    "He would," she nodded without hesitation. "He promised us."


    "Even if we do something stupid?"


    "He still would," Artoria nodded again, though she felt the need to add something else this time. "Though he will tease us for it relentlessly."


    "I can live with that," Diana said with a wild smile.


    ****


    The Clairvoyant could see everything in the multiverse once activated.


    But it could not see a conversation on the Island two weeks after D-day.


    It did not see how a man promised to do right by his Family. To make every world they lived in a paradise for them.


    It''s amazing how one night, and one family conversation, can set dominoes into motion to change the world.


    ****


    They were going to lose, Clark realized with a bitter taste in his mouth.


    That could be the blood.


    Or stomach acid.


    It was hard not to feel bitter.


    Bruce had said Clark would be able to win if he was prepared to die.


    No matter how you looked at it, there was no way to win. This wasn''t like the Elden Lord that evaded all blows by being dimensionally shifted.


    The thing was right here!


    They had thrown everything they had at it and more. They had killed it three times!


    And it just. Kept. Coming. Back!


    It was like a smaller Endbringer made of flesh and bone instead of silicone.


    According to one of Myrrdin''s rare insights on the nature of powers, this thing''s ability was permanent adaptive regeneration. Everything they knew about power stemmed from Corona Pollentia, and Gemma said that once a brain died, that was it. No more powers.


    This thing was adapting to its own death.


    If it stayed dead for five seconds the first time, it did so for only two the second when Shazam arrived to help. The third time it died, it came back right away.


    Unless the Sorcerer Supreme appeared or they discovered some other way to banish this thing, they would all die, and the earth would follow them.


    Superman steadied himself with a deep, pained breath. He was one of the only few heroes still standing. Panacea had been working non-stop to keep healing them after her powers no longer functioned on the beast, but there were simply too many injuries for her to heal everyone. Barry had been working overtime to pull civilians out of the way and retreat with any heroes too wounded to continue.


    Even as the beast trampled Wolverine, it turned toward the gathered heroes and charged again as they stood between it and the country''s capital.


    He wasn''t giving up.


    He never would.


    Even as Superman stood in front of the fallen forms of his friends and allies, he braced himself.


    The beast grew more prominent in his vision as it approached like a stampeding horse.


    Heat vision impacted its head, but it did no damage.


    They had not been able to hurt it at all since its most recent revival.


    Still, Superman stood his ground as his destined killer bore down on him.


    Only to be intercepted by a spear of light.


    The blast carved a chunk from the beast''s body bigger than Superman and sent it tumbling to the side.


    "That is quite enough out of you, beast," a regal voice said calmly.


    Superman saw the knight approach a white steed. Clad in gleaming armour, she rode in front of them. Her blonde hair was done in a bun, adorned with a golden circlet. Her green eyes, flecked with gold, evaluated them for just a moment before turning back to look at the monster they had been fighting.


    In her hands was the most beautiful weapon Clark had ever seen.


    The Lance was threaded silver interwoven into and over itself in the shape of a spear. Gold light spilled from the grooves and where the woman gripped the handle. Clark could feel the Power of it thrum through the air.


    The beast was not impressed.


    Its wounds healed; it charged at the woman in a gallop, intent on tearing her down as it had many heroes before her.


    She met the charge with one of her own. Her horse dashed forward at a speed few supers could match, and her Lance levelled at the monster.


    Like a classic joust, the two figures narrowed the distance between each other.


    Only one of them had experience jousting.


    Ducking under the monster''s swinging arms, the blonde''s land impaled the beast''s side. Half of its body exploded in another explosion of light and a cavalcade of gore.


    The beast was not so easily slain, however. It healed as she rode past, and bony spikes erupted from its back. The horse nimbly dodged most of them, and the knight deflected the rest. One lucky shot impaled itself into her arm, passing through the metal to reach flesh.


    Clark started to move to aid the knight when an arm held him fast.


    Looking down, he saw Diana holding him in place.


    "Don''t worry," she said as she met his eyes. "Artoria can handle him for a bit. I''ll join her in a moment. You guys rest up."


    "Who are you?!" A familiar voice demanded, and Clark turned to see... Diana? She glared at the woman holding him still, her sword at hand.


    "I''m you," the Diana near him said softly as she stepped away. "I''m a version of you. One further down the path and with a family to protect. One who will do you a favour so you might not see your friend die as I did."


    She turned then and drew her own sword.


    "Artoria!" The new Diana shouted, and the blonde knight disengaged from the monster and rushed to the Amazon''s side. All her injuries had already healed, just like the monster''s, and her horse vanished from under as well. Her spear remained in her hand, however, still glowing with power. "Protect them?"


    "Of course," the blonde nodded imperiously. "I take it you have come to another foolish decision?"


    "Unless you can unleash its full power here?" Diana asked, but Artoria shook her head.


    "Not without destroying the city and a good portion of the state. But my other Noble Phantasm is still good. They shall come to no harm."


    The beast took this opportunity to charge once more.


    It was intercepted by a Lion of Light.


    "Who are you?" Diana, the real Diana, asked again.


    "They are consorts to the Elden Lord," Clark said while taking a deep breath. "Both of them."


    "Really?" Glory Girl said as she returned from dropping off Amelia with the patients. She grabbed Myrddin, his legs crushed, and threw him over her shoulder. Even now, the Flash continued to act as a ferry, bringing injured heroes away and returning with fresh ones. "Boss never said anything about having a Di of his own. He was holding out on me."


    "We are," Other-Diana nodded, ignoring the new arrival. "Though consort is not the term I would use."


    "He returns," Artoria interrupted. "Sir Yvain''s Lion has only delayed him. How do you wish to face him?" Myrrdin gasped, possibly in pain.


    "I think it is time I tried out a few of Mikael''s collection," Other-Diana said with a smile. "It is a shame if all those weapons go rusty from disuse. Something is bound to be able to kill it."


    "Then I shall see to their safety. Good hunting."


    Diana, the new one, stepped in front of the group and glowed a dark red. A dozen women, made of red energy and see-through, stepped from her body.


    As she did so, she pulled out a small box and upended its contents onto the ground.


    From it poured a mountain of weapons of all sorts. Hammers and spears. Flails, morning stars, bows, and more swords than Clark had ever seen in his life. Dozens of weapons he could not even begin to name filled his vision.


    Once armed, some with weapons too large for their frames, all the women stood beside the other Diana.


    "My sisters!" She shouted to the group, and Clark realized they were all garbed in amazonian attire. The Wonder Woman beside him gasped. ''Mother?'' he heard her ask under her breath. "Today, we shall hold a hunt worthy of Artemis! Today, we hunt Doomsday!"


    The amazons let out a soundless cheer and rushed at the approaching Doomsday.


    "In the sky, on land, on the sea..." Artoria chanted, her eyes closed and her spear impaled into the ground. Power gathered around her as her chant continued.


    "Shine Brilliantly, My Radian Hall: Bright Ehangwen!"


    Light spread out around the group of injured and weary heroes. It coalesced into a brilliant silver platform under their feet, and they rose into the air. More light gathered in front of them, blocking them from the fight.


    They were on a ship, Clark realized. An airship of some sort.


    "While my hall pales before the walls of Camelot that Sir Galahad may conjure, it shall serve as a haven to you all." The blonde knight, Artoria, stood up on the prow and looked at the imperiously. Like a king in her hall. "So long as you maintain the peace, abide by your heroic conduct, and Diana still calls you all friends, you shall be protected in this hall. You have my word as Artoria Pendragon."


    Myrddin fainted.


    ********


    For over five minutes, Diana battled Doomsday alone.


    The semblance-created versions of her amazonian sisters worked with her like a well-oiled machine. They juggled this monster back and forth, never letting it rest or recuperate. With her mastery of Observation Haki kept the damage to a minimum, so she was rarely forced to replace one of her summonses when the monster pulled out a new trick and surprised her.


    The acid spit had been a really nasty surprise.


    They tried all the weapons they could. Mikael had spoken of a few crafted from the souls of the gods he had slain.


    Undoubtedly one of those would lay this beast low. Unfortunately, Diana was unaware of which weapons were which and was thus forced to try them all.


    Wonder Woman let go of Cursed Greatsword with a curse after carving Doomsday''s back legs in twain. The monster healed from it instantly.


    A few weapons, like the Cursed Greatsword, were powerful enough that Doomsday took a while to heal the first blow. But all the weapons they had found eventually ceased to be useful as it adapted to their power. IT would start to heal quicker and quicker and then receive no damage at all.


    Philippus smashed a half-broken axe against Doomsday''s back, causing the alien to roar in pain.


    This time, Mala''s weapon of choice, a Dragon Bone Fist, smashed its mouth shut.


    Nubia pierced its chest with a dragonslayer''s spear.


    Hessia weaved between the beast''s legs with flowing swords of magic and fire.


    Arrows larger than Diana herself pierced Doomsday in place from Antiope''s bow.


    Over and over, they tore, crushed, cut and smashed the alien. Sometimes it took seconds to regenerate. Sometimes it did so instantly.


    But it always healed.


    And the pile of weapons was getting smaller.


    Diana rushed back to grab another, but she stopped when she saw the man sitting on a massive hammer shaped like a golden drum.


    "What''s up?" Mikeal asked with a smile. "I see you''ve taken a liking to my collection. That''s cool."


    "Mikael," Diana sighed with a smile. "I take it the others are here as well?"


    "They''re around," he nodded. "Before we did anything else, I just wanted to ask you what the plan was? You know, so I wouldn''t mess it up by barging in? Although, since we are all over the news of the world, I think it might be too late for that."


    "Plan?" Diana asked, feeling a bit embarrassed at his gentle reprimand.


    "You can''t tell me it was just to hit it until it dies?" He sounded so confused that Diana couldn''t help but flush in embarrassment. While it was a bit more complicated than that, that was her plan in a nutshell. "What about Priscila? You had to have stopped by the Island to get my stuff. You could have asked her for help. She''s his perfect counter."


    "No!" Diana denied the suggestion emphatically. "She is not strong, fast, or experienced enough that I would feel comfortable about having her face Doomsday. Just because she is a Dragon of Death does not mean she can kill everything she wishes."


    "I agree," Mikael nodded, accepting her judgment call. "So how are you going to kill it? I''ll let you in on a little secret. It seems to have the power of Crawler, one of the Slaughter House 9 I sent you after."


    "That would explain its quick adaptation," Diana nodded, remembering his advice on the subject. "How should I slay him? Doomsday returns from the dead, and Crawler heals from anything that doesn''t kill him."


    "You should vaporize him completely down to the last atom. Your Breath wouldn''t work, but Artoria''s would if she got a direct hit. Or you could carry him out to sea and let her use Rhongomyniad. We could deal with the tsunami afterwards." The first idea was novel, not one she had considered due to the relative newness of their dragon forms. The second idea was one Diana already had, though one she was hesitant to use. Mikael must have sensed that hesitation because he asked. "What''s wrong?"


    "If I wish to be the one to slay the beast?" Diana asked, staring into his slit pupil. "Do you have a method for that?"


    "Why?" He asked plainly, not denying that he did.


    "Because we could never permanently kill the Doomsday of my world," Diana stated. "Because I wish to end a threat to the Family and this world with my own hands. Because I wish to never sit on the sidelines again while those I care about fight and die, and I am helpless to do anything!"


    Mikael stared at her for a moment, even as she felt one of her summonses be destroyed.


    "Ok," he nodded.


    "Ok?" She asked at his simple response.


    "Ok," he nodded again, this time with a smile. "I told you, didn''t I? I''d support you all, no matter what. As you all did for me, I will for you. If you want to kill something, I''ll gladly help. Though this one is easy. I''ve been thinking about how to do it since I first saw Doomsday on the news."


    He waived his hands, and a blade sank between them.


    It was a straight sword, simple in design, unlike most of his other weapons. If one looked closely, one could see its blade was made of stone, but it glistened like metal. Golden runes, faint to all but the most discerning, flickered in and out of existence along its blade.


    There was a weight to the blade despite its relatively small size.


    This was a weapon with a history, with power.


    Forged from the body of an Elden Lord and the Elden Rune, this sword had slain a God.


    "The stone scales of the Dragonlord lightly twist time," Mikael explained. "That''s what makes it a Godslaying Blade. Any wound this inflicts will never heal. But Doomsday can still just cut out the damaged part and regrow it. Then he''ll be wary. You only have one shot at this."


    "One shot is all I need," Diana said as she pulled the blade from the earth.


    Another one of her Amazons disappeared.


    That was fine.


    Diana returned to where her last three summons were still engaging with Doomsday.


    Her Observation Haki allowed her to dodge the glob of acid spit.


    Her Armament Haki deflected a bone spike shot at her.


    The summoned form of her mother, Hippolyta, glowing red with the power of her semblance, blocked Doomsday''s fists with a shield bash that released a lion''s roar.


    Diana smiled to herself as she threw herself over the beast.


    Even as she fought alone, her Family was still with her.


    She plunged her husband''s sword between Doomsday''s brows and out through the back of his skull.


    The alien stilled and, with an earth-shaking rumble, its massive form toppled.


    Diana rode the fall to the ground, her hand grasping the Godslaying Blade in place. She did not take it out for fear the monster would revive.


    As she stood atop the body of her foe, she felt a hand clasp her shoulders warmly.


    "Good job," Mikael said with a smile. "Knew you could do it. Never doubted you for a moment. Of course, you made a mess, but nobody is perfect."


    Diana rolled her eyes fondly at Mikael''s spew of bullshit and shut him up the only way she knew how.


    With her lips.


    The heroes saw an older Wonder Woman kissing the Elden Lord atop the hulking body of Doomsday as they descended to the ground in King Arthur''s flying hall.


    As they landed, the hall shimmered and disappeared, and the weary heroes watched Artoria approach her husband and friend.


    "So glad you all could make it," Mikael said to them with a smile as he separated from Wonder Woman. He took a seat upon one of the spikes of the monster, his eyes lingering on the Flash and a battered Supergirl. Eight more ''consorts'' emerged from the corpse''s shadow and faced the heroes. "I think we were rudely interrupted back there, but no harm, no foul. We can start over. So, why are you all ruining my vacation?"


    Jimmy Olsen, a reporter for the Daily Planet, would later win a Pulitzer Prize for his photograph of that moment.


    On one side, the battered and beaten forms of the heroes everyone was familiar with.


    On the other stood ten women framed by the sun setting behind them. Atop the monstrous body of Doomsday, as if seated upon a throne and not a corpse, sat the Elden Lord.


    Smiling down at everyone like he was having the time of his life.

 Interlude – D*e l/ke #e mus-

    <div>


    Here comes the man with the look in his eye


    Fed on nothing but full of pride


    Look at them go, look at them kick


    Makes you wonder how the other half live


    Devil inside


    The devil inside


    Every single one of us


    The devil inside


    *********


    Through billions of eyes, he watched.


    He watched The Ulitmate be unleashed upon the ''heroes'' of the world.


    He watched the Kryptonian meet it and found him lacking. A symbol of hope destined to die and become a symbol of despair.


    More and more heroes arrived. Most had been shifted to the other side of the planet and could not arrive in time to impact the fight.


    As planned.


    This was not genocide. Not yet.


    This was a reminder.


    A reminder that hope was fleeting.


    Heroes were still needed, of course.


    Despair was only potent in contrast to a once great hope.


    He controlled it all. The rise. The fall.


    The leash was yet loose so they may strangle themselves.


    It was soon time to pull tight.


    Even as The Ultimate died to one of the infected''s hands, he did not fret.


    Even when it died twice more, he merely smiled as his ''gift'' proved its worth.


    He watched when two of the interlopers arrived.


    When The Ultimate was felled by them, he felt no regret. Whether it would rise again or not was immaterial. The beast was a blunt instrument. Powerful, but far from his most useful tool.


    It had done its job.


    Of more interest was this group.


    This Elden Lord.


    Yes.


    He could work would this.


    Through billions of eyes, he watched. A plan coming together.


    ********


    Through his daughters'' eyes, he watched the world buckle and shift.


    Only five days left.


    Even two months ago, this much oversight would have been impossible.


    This tale has been pilfered from Royal Road. If found on Amazon, kindly file a report.


    Now, he watched the heroes of the world be laid low by the lizard and its pathetic brood.


    He wondered what dragon soul tasted like?


    In five days, he would find out.


    He laughed upon his throne of skulls.


    His rumbling mirth at the impending pain and misery of countless should have sent anyone present running in fear.


    All those present were too busy screaming to concern themselves as he watched a plan come together.


    ********


    It watched the cosmos fly by.


    It travelled upon fire and flame and life.


    Searching.


    Ever searching.


    For the briefest of moments, in the flash of an instant, it had felt Life.


    It had returned to the Rest, not the Room, to meet Life.


    To become one with Life.


    It had learned so much recently.


    Ambition. Anger. Jealousy. Joy. Lust. Love.


    Emotions.


    Emotions that tinged White to Black and back again.


    Upon the demise of its host/teacher/body, it searched for another so it could experience more. All emotions, in all its shades.


    Then it would return to the Rest and share emotions with Life.


    But now Life was gone.


    Gone, and it couldn''t find Life.


    It searched and searched and searched and searched.


    It watched the planets burn as it passed, searching for a lost Life.


    ********


    She watched people die with a smile.


    Even as the newscasters got increasingly desperate, as the heroes failed to stop the beast and fell one by one, she still smiled.


    She watched men and women she knew, admired and liked fall under the might of the alien.


    Even as they called for her family, begging for reinforcements from anywhere, calling for any help they could get, she smiled.


    She watched the Enemy''s plan play out, helpless to do anything but watch and hope. And smile.


    Her smile widened when two of the Elden Lord''s consorts appeared. Her prodigious mind, one of the best in the world, turned to what that meant.


    She giggled when Myrrdin fainted. The knowledge of King Arthur being female was too much for him. It also had implications for her.


    She outright laughed, tears of joy streaming from her eyes as the Elden Lord appeared and the alien was laid low. This was what she had been waiting for.


    Turning to six beds in the room, she spoke to the one set aside from the other five.


    "We did it, Uncle," she said, still smiling and laughing as she talked to the man on the bed. She couldn''t see his metallic mask or the face under it. It wouldn''t matter if she could. He could not have answered her anyway, trapped as he was in suspended animation like the rest. "We''ve won."


    Turning to the other five beds in the room, their own occupants as unmoved and unmovable as the first, she smiled still. Her parents lay side by side, her biological uncle to her mother''s right. Her other uncle needed a much sturdier frame and almost blocked the view of the last, much smaller bed.


    "Soon, we can be a family again, and you can grow up properly, big brother." Though she called the boy on end her older brother, he looked much younger than her pre-teen form.


    She turned back to the screen with a smile.


    She watched the heroes meet the Elden Lord as she hatched a plan to bring the dragon to her.


    *********


    People watched the news with bated breath.


    Humanity was gripped by the image of a man sitting upon a towering corpse of grey and white bone like a throne.


    Some hatched plans, using their knowledge of the situation to gain the most significant advantages.


    Others, sensing a shift in the wind, decided that discretion was the better part of valour. They could scheme once the coast was clear, or they knew more about the powerful faction that had landed on earth.


    All these watchers, all these planners, were unaware.


    Unaware that they were big fish in a small pond under the eyes of a shark.


    Death sipped her drink with a smile.


    She could help him no more. It was up to him.


    You could lead a dragon to earth, but you couldn''t make it reach Tier 11.


    She would meet with him soon, but that was a small matter. Though she could no longer see or predict Mikael and his Family, she held complete confidence she had made the right choice after watching him all this time.


    All the worry she had once felt was long gone.


    Now she was just curious.


    Curious about what opportunities she had set up for him, he would use.


    Curious to see if he could surprise her once more.


    Curious if she would finally be free.


    Death watched, but she didn''t plan.


    Her plan had already succeeded.


    It was all up to Mikael now.

 Furlough 1

    <div>


    I, I will be king


    And you, you will be queen


    Though nothing will drive them away


    We can beat them, just for one day


    We can be heroes, just for one day


    And you, you can be mean


    And I, I''ll drink all the time


    ''Cause we''re lovers, and that is a fact


    Yes we''re lovers, and that is that


    Though nothing will keep us together


    We could steal time just for one day


    We can be heroes for ever and ever


    What d''you say?


    ********


    Sitting atop the massive corps of Doomsday, facing the battered forms of the greatest heroes this world had to offer and surrounded by almost my entire Family, I should have felt like the king of the world.


    It was similar to that bland board room with Death and the Company rep.


    Only this time, I was the eldritch abomination from beyond time and space that held all the power.


    I fought back a sigh.


    I had made mistakes.


    While I hadn''t cared about Superman dying or any other heroes, as I had never met any of them, I should have thought about Diana.


    The entire reason I had Artoria distract her with a visit to her hometown was so she wouldn''t be forced to face people that looked like her former friends.


    Therein lay the difference between the Amazon and me.


    To me, the people of this world were not her friends. Though they may look the same, wear the same costume, and have the same faces, there was no guarantee they had the same personalities. That made them strangers. Superman could be a Hydra agent for all I knew.


    I had treated this world as almost wholly foreign, never acting on my ''knowledge'' of comics and Worm until I verified it. The crossover nature of the world ensured some things would be different.


    Doomsday was the same.


    Superman probably would have died to the alien alone, even without Crawler''s powers. Nothing I had seen pointed to the contrary.


    Still, I gave it even odds the Kryptonian would survive, however. Nothing stopped someone like Steven Strange from popping up, opening a portal underneath the beast into the heart of a star.


    Either way, no skin off my back. Of course, that changed when my plastic surgeon joined the battle.


    I had been present for the fight since Amy and Victoria had appeared with this world''s version of Wonder Woman. We had been flying, invisible and soundless, for ten minutes as we watched the fight.


    If I thought I could have beat the alien, I would have stepped in and ''saved the day.'' Crawler''s powers were a game-changer, and we had spent a good portion of the time there spitballing about how we could kill it permanently.


    By that point, Flash had been on rescue duty, so nobody had really died so long as they could keep it out of population centers.


    We eventually decided to step in if they allowed it closer to the coast. I, Tsunade, and Yoruichi would appear and knock it as far as we could into the ocean with a surprise attack. From there, Scathach''s and Medea''s dragon forms should be able to kill it and blast the chunks to smithereens.


    Even then, that plan had a lot of ''what ifs.''


    I was a coward at heart. Risking myself was easy. If my body died, I''d recreate it, and that would be that.


    Risking my family? When I had no guarantee of success? Not a chance. Not even if I knew they would probably come back. I wasn''t willing to risk their loss.


    Not for a bunch of strangers I had never met.


    For Diana, the situation was different. She didn''t even need to deliberate.


    The Superman of her world HAD died to Doomsday. Seeing the situation as a repeat of that, it made perfect sense that she would have gone to help, even just as an act of kindness. Artoria, the spirit of chivalry that she was, would not have stopped her.


    That is what makes them heroes.


    I should have seen it coming.


    Not to stop them, of course.


    I stood by my promise to support their endeavours as they did me. Even if I was not a hero and had no desire to be one, I had nothing against heroes, and if any of the Family wanted to get into heroics, I didn''t mind giving them a hand.


    But I would have talked them out of their half-assed scheme on how to kill the creature. For over five minutes, I had watched Diana fight the alien, hoping she was following some plan I had not thought of.


    She hadn''t been.


    I side-eyed the Godslaying Blade still impaled in the alien''s skull.


    Now it was up to me to fix this mess.


    If they wanted to be heroes, it was up to me to ensure they survived the attempt.


    "So glad you all could make it," I said with a smile. Fake it till you make it, Mikael. Even when you have no control over the situation, act like you do. Just like in that board room. Even if you can''t control anything, even if you are scrambling mentally, never let them see you sweat. "I think we were rudely interrupted back there, but no harm, no foul. We can start over. So, why are you all ruining my vacation?"


    Engaging from a position of strength was rarely a bad thing. Looking down at the battered group, two dozen strong at least, I definitely held all the cards if we were to negotiate.


    But this wasn''t a negotiation.


    Negotiation implied they had a choice.


    I would drag them to my desired outcome kicking and screaming.


    Now, what was my desired outcome?


    "So sorry we inconvenienced you, your majesty," Iron Man drawled sarcastically, the last word almost spit. He hadn''t retracted his helmet, and his armour was dirted and dented in places but largely undamaged. He had kept to the air, acting more as an annoying distraction to Doomsday than a direct combatant. "I''m sure we-"


    "Pardon my friend," Captain America said, interrupting his fellow avenger before he could say anything more. "We appreciate your aid in killing the beast. I fear what would have happened had it reached the city."


    "Beast?" I asked, pretending to not understand. I appreciated my companions leaving the talking to me for the moment. It gave me time to bullshit my way out of this. "You mean Doomsday here?" For emphasis, I patted the boney exoskeleton. More than one hero flinched. "You shouldn''t thank me. Thank my wives." I nodded at Diana and Artoria. Multiple pairs of eyes had never left the two, particularly Wonder Woman and Myrddin, focusing intensely. "To be honest, I didn''t think I needed to intervene. You all should have been more than capable of putting him down eventually, should you have brought your all to bear. Such as those who tried to stop me from landing."


    I said it with a smile, even as some in the small crowd winced. I was asking for more information and scrambling for time mentally. Where were Strange, Shazam, Dr. Fate, Eidolon, and a whole bunch of other heroes they should have been able to call upon? A good chunk were still in Australia, unable to travel to the other side of the world unaided, but some of their heaviest hitters should have been able to get here in time to be helpful.


    "You seem to know a lot about this... Doomsday," the Martian Manhunter said as he eyed me suspiciously, deflecting my questions with a pointed one of his own.


    "Gee, I wonder why?" I replied sarcastically, my eyes clearly moving toward Diana. The one on my side. Man, this was going to be confusing. "It''s almost as if I know someone who fought it before. It''s not like different timelines are a proven thing after all." Even more, eyes looked at the Amazon on my side as they realized how much knowledge she might provide.


    Or already had provided to me.


    I was good at improvisation, and this white lie would cover a lot of information I might accidentally reveal and any errors in knowledge.


    Krypto the Wonder Dog is a chihuahua here? Must be a different timeline.


    I shuddered at that image. If I discovered a world like that, I was destroying it for the good of the multiverse. A chihuahua with superpowers was the worst thing I could imagine.


    "Boss! So uncool!" Glory Girl flew over the invisible line that separated my Family from the heroes, uncaring for the tension in the air. Amy flew behind her, starting and stopping as she got used to her new Kryptonian biology. I had expected her to pull something like this when I removed the limits of her shard. I would have gone for something like Beast Boy myself, but Kryptonians are a close second place. "You never told me you were married to a version of Di! Or that King Arthur was a girl! Do you know how awesome that is? Do you?"


    "Vicky!" Amy hissed as she came to a stuttering stop beside her sister, grabbing her arm and trying to drag her away from the prying eyes of everyone on the wrecked field.


    "Relax, Ames," Glory Girl said as she shook off her sister. "We won. Di kicked its ass, and the Boss helped. Other Di? Anyway, everyone can chill. It''s time to celebrate." All the other heroes watched the pair like hawks, ready to launch themselves at a moment''s notice. To stop the girls or attack me, I didn''t know. Victoria remained unconcerned. "Come on, Boss! Introduce me to everyone."


    "You know, I have been terribly rude myself," I said, even as I was compelled to follow her order. I looked to the heroes, my mind running at the speed of light. "We are all familiar with you due to the news, but we should have introduced ourselves. I am Mikael, Queen of England."


    There was a beat of confused silence.


    "Sir Mikael!" Artoria cried in disbelief at my words, flushing red. Yoruichi snorted in amusement, and more than one smirk was sent at the blonde knight. I couldn''t help but giggle to myself at her outcry.


    My joke defused the tension as intended. I saw Flash crack a smile and Myrddin looked poleaxed.


    "As you never died nor abdicated, you are still king," I continued with a teasing grin. I lay my chin in my hand, tapping my fingers to my ears in fake thought. I hoped Emma would get the message from wherever she was watching this from. "Since we are essentially married, that makes me queen."


    "That..." Artoria paused, face still red, trying to find words to deny me but unable to.


    "Hold up," Iceman, the x-man, held up his hand. "If you are King Arthur and a girl, how did..." The young man started to say, but Artoria''s intense gaze made him stutter. "I mean Guinevere, Lancelot, Morgana... Mordred?"


    """""""""""Merlin."""""""""""


    It said something about the ancient wizard that, when prompted, everyone in the Family said his name as if that answered everything. Even Ranni and Melina, who hadn''t spent nearly as much time with the King, still knew enough to answer the same as the others.


    "I get it, I get it," the young mutant said, backing up with his hands in the air. He half-ducked behind the metal frame of Colossus. "Touchy subject."


    "Why don''t you all introduce yourselves?" I asked the rest of the Family. Partly to fulfill Victoria''s order and buy me time to think.


    "Very well," Artoria nodded imperiously, her flush receding at this opportunity to change the subject. She looked out over the heroes as if she was looking out on her own soldiers, her innate charisma drawing every eye to her. "Those of you who took refuge in my hall have heard me. I shall repeat myself for those who have returned from recovery. I am Artoria Pendragon."


    I let my eyes drift from the heroes and towards the Godslaying Blade.


    I was good at making shit up and distracting people, but I needed to focus on what I wanted out of this situation.


    What were my victory conditions?


    "To avoid confusion, please simply call me Diana."


    They were almost the same as when I confronted Flash earlier. Present myself as powerful enough that bothering me cannot be done easily but is not a threat. I hadn''t been lying when I told them I was on vacation. I wanted to be left alone.


    "Medea of Colchis," Caster said shortly, surveying the heroes.


    My initial goal had been to present myself as a passive third party. Someone who won''t do anything and will not get involved if left alone. Not an enemy, but also not an ally. Switzerland in this topsy-turvy world of heroes and villains.


    "Senju Tsunade." "Nico Robin." "Shihouin Yoruichi." The big three, as I liked to call them, responded just as shortly. Like Medea and I, they preferred not to spill any more information than necessary.


    I know them leaving me entirely alone was impossible. I was too great a power for that, but I simply didn''t want to have heroes breathing down my neck every time I left the Island. A wary caution was acceptable, but not harassment.


    "Scathach, Queen of the Lands of Shadow." While not as imperious as Artoria, the Celt was no less elegant in her declaration.


    Want to spy on me? Fine. If I was them, I would like to spy on me too. I didn''t really care about that at this point. They already had a good idea of my power by now. A few aces in the sleeve would remain hidden, but if they were just going to watch me with spy drones, I could live with that.


    Interrupt my dates? You better be prepared to die... or be pranked back into the stone age. When I talked about my ''vacation,'' I wasn''t talking about doing anything. There would be touristy shit, and all but the real key was to spend time with the Family.


    They had supported me from the sidelines for a year with no reciprocity, and I had watched them the entire time. But, barring Ranni and Melina, we had minimal time together. This first world, while I waited for Death to contact me and figure out a way to get to tier 11, was a time for us to grow this relationship.


    To become a Family.


    "I am Glynda Goodwitch. It is a pleasure." There was more than one snigger in the crowd, and Glynda sighed. Since coming to this world, she had seen the Wizard of Oz.


    She wasn''t amused.


    On the subject of not looking like a threat and not getting involved, Diana and Artoria had fucked me over completely. That part of my victory condition was no longer applicable.


    So change victory conditions.


    "Greetings, heroes from another world. I am Melina." She did a little curtsy. Her introduction was the humblest and friendliest, drawing some smiles from the crowd of heroes.


    Instead of a passive third party, become someone they can''t afford to offend for an entirely different reason.


    A plan was starting to come together in my mind.


    "We have been introduced," Ranni said scathingly, looking at Superman, Wonder Woman, Iron Man and Martian Manhunter with disapproval. Some others looked at her in confusion, probably unaware of their encounter in space.


    "Behave, Ranni," I said in a teasing voice. Her cheeks flushed, likely remembering her... punishment.


    "As my Lord Husband commands," she nodded demurely at me before turning back to the heroes. "I am Ranni, Goddess of the Chill Moon. ''Tis my Order which blesses thy skies." More than one onlooker turned their heads upwards to look at the Dark Moon inlaid with Golden Rings.


    "Right!" I said, clapping my hands together. "Introductions out of the way, let''s get comfortable. Tsunade, if you would?" The ex-Hokage nodded in understanding before stomping the ground. Hard. More than one hero flinched as rows of wooden benches rose for them to sit on. The blonde had also made proper seats for those of the Family. They weren''t anything fancy, but they were definitely better than benches. All ten of the women sat down as if on a throne. I fought a chuckle at the non-too-subtle power move. They could be just as petty as me when they wanted to be, and the trio were some of the least impressed with this world''s ''heroes.'' "Then you can answer my question on why you all thought it was a good idea to try and surround my Family and me while we were enjoying our breakfast."


    Another collective flinch as a few decided to take a seat. Some looked grateful for the opportunity to get off their feet. Others remained standing. I knew why they had done so. I had set the trap, after all. I also didn''t really blame them for it. I would have also taken the bait if I were in their position.


    Didn''t change the fact that I would use it to my advantage. Barring unique circumstances, like with Malenia, I was the type to use everything I could.


    Hypocritical? Definitely. Did I care? Not even a little.


    My new victory conditions needed me to be seen as a ''misunderstood'' victim and the heroes to be the victimizers. Was I powerful? Certainly. But I needed to shift my image from a threat to a resource they did not want to antagonize and the one public would not allow them to.


    "We''d be happy to talk with you now that we have the opportunity," Captain America said with a tight smile. He, Superman, and Wonder Woman had gravitated a few feet in front of the rest to act as spokesmen for this little talk. All of the three had yet to take a seat. "Though, I ask that we do so at a later time. Right now, people need help. The monster carved its way here from Clevland, and there are many injured, and we need to aid with the rescue efforts."


    I could see his logic. Flash had been on rescue effort this entire time, but not even he could grab everyone or ensure those he did rescue were healed. The minutes after a disaster were critical to ensuring the most people survived.


    Not only was he right, rescue efforts were ongoing, and as heroes, they would want to help that, but it would also give them the needed time to talk. They were all healed thanks to Amy but were still tired. Several heroes were also looking confused about this whole situation.


    Playing for time would give them time to rest and get everyone on the same page so they could present a united front like we were. It would also allow them to reset the dynamic. Right now, my side held every single advantage.


    With one small request, Captain America did the right thing morally and started the process to wipe away all the disadvantages his side was facing.


    Too bad he had given me exactly what I needed.


    "Hm," I pretended to give it some thought before declaring firmly. "No." It was amusing how they all tensed, looking angry that I wouldn''t ''let them go.'' "You all cost me too much of my time with my family with your ineptitude already. I would rather get this out of the way now and move on with my life." A few looked ready to fight again, but I cut them off before they could argue. "Melina."


    As I said her name, I used a Command Seal to connect us, the red glow hidden below my shirt.


    Fun fact about seals, not only could they be used to give orders, but they had a whole bunch of other uses. Healing was one of them, like what Emma and I had lied about using, but also empowering. The seals were usually powered by the Holy Grail, almost like limited-use batteries of power, but my set of six were all powered by me. The more power I had, the more power they did.


    And I had unlimited power.


    My maiden turned to look at me, and I nodded at the heroes. "Would you plant a tree? It''s about five hundred kilometres to Cleavland, right?" I asked Superman, who nodded slightly. I turned back to Melina. "No need to go all out then. About the size of the Weeping Peninsula will do."


    Without a word, she raised a hand into the air. A massive golden circle blazed itself into the air. The symbol of the Erdtree and the Crucible hung for a moment, numerous heroes shooting to their feet in shock and fear before the glow faded.


    In its place, a titanic golden tree grew.


    It was smaller than the Erdtree of Leyndell, but not by much. If Melina had used all the power I provided, she could have created something big enough to cover the entire northern hemisphere. Still, I had deliberately asked her to keep it contained.


    More than one hero looked on in shock as its golden glow surrounded us. We were in its trunk but could still look up to see its golden canopy, well above the clouds, rained ephemeral golden leaves upon the entirety of New England. The sheer spectacle and beauty even captured the attention of the rest of the Family, and I saw more than one of them give Melina reevaluating looks.


    As the leaves fell, they healed all that fell under their glow.


    It wouldn''t regrow limbs, cure cancer, or even help with diabetes, but it would do the job. Nobody from Boston to Cleavland to South Carolina would die any time soon. The heroes, too, looked reinvigorated. Unlike Amy''s healing, it also restored exhaustion.


    It would be a sleepless night in New England.


    It was one of the few spells I didn''t know since I had already been able to heal myself by the point I had seen Melina use it the first time we faced Morgott together.


    After less than a minute, the titanic tree faded, leaving the dim glow of twilight to consume us once more.


    Melina hadn''t even stood from her seat to perform the spell.


    "There we go," I said casually as if the feat my maiden had just performed was an everyday thing. I was crafting an image of the Family. One of benevolence but overwhelming power. I wanted the mere idea of trying to impede us to seem insanity. The display also obfuscated the truth that Melina was, by far, our weakest link. She was a skilled warrior, but she lacked the power of Ranni and the versatility of the other women. She hadn''t even discovered her semblance, for god''s sake, nor practiced with Haki.


    When it was just me, I was all for tossing aside my image and acting like a fool but, now that I was a family man, I sided with Ranni.


    Image was necessary in a world of heroes and villains.


    "Is there anything else stopping this conversation now?" I asked Captain America with a smile.


    "Ah," he stammered slightly, eyes wide. "We still need to rescue those trapped by rubble and aid in reconstruction efforts." He was grasping at straws in my eyes. Not wrong, but obviously searching for excuses.


    As if I''d let him.


    "Glynda." This time, I didn''t even need to clarify my request. The former huntress stood from her seat with a sigh. I would make it up to her later.


    She stepped quickly from the gathering of people, even the crowd of reporters and onlookers that we had started gathering in the less than ten minutes since Doomsday had fallen.


    Once she was far enough away from the group, she transformed.


    ""Woah.""


    ""Jesus Christ!""


    There was a collection of intakes of breaths and exclamations of surprise as the seven-foot-tall blonde transformed into the ''small'' dragon. Only three stories tall, she was beautiful to my eyes. She was a western-style dragon, like me, but much more svelt and serpentine. Her scales were a purplish white, and her wings, one large pair and a smaller pair around her waist, had a darker purple hue.


    Glynda hated it.


    She claimed it reminded her too much of the Grimm she had fought for her to feel comfortable in its skin.


    Nevertheless, none of the Family could deny the usefulness of the dragon forms. Not only were they highly mobile, giving flight to those who lacked it, but they were also stronger and tougher than their regular bodies.


    Most valuable were the elements they provided. Per the catalogue, the women would gain one of my elements unless they had a more fitting one based on their personalities and themes. Only Tsunade and Diana shared an element with me. The rest were not so attuned to Life or Freedom and thus gained their own.


    Glynda had gained the element of ''telekinesis.'' It was one of the ''weakest'' of the family and thus grew the fastest, except Emma''s diamond element. By transforming, her semblance was enhanced in power and her range and control shot through the roof. Combine it with her mastery of Observation Haki, and Glynda, despite only being tier 7, could pull shit similar to a Pheonix powered Jean Grey in her limited expertise.


    The dragon took off with barely a movement of air, heading west by northwest along the trail of destruction that Doomsday had carved on his way eastward. Even as she passed, dirt filled in holes, roads reformed, trees replanted, and buildings rebuilt.


    In the short time, it would take her to reach Cleaveland, it would be like Doomsday never existed.


    "Now," I said, letting my smile drop. There was a stunned silence in the air as they realized they were not staring at one dragon but ten. "Let''s have that talk." I used one of the less-known abilities of Dragon Aura.


    The Fear.


    This story has been unlawfully obtained without the author''s consent. Report any appearances on Amazon.


    I flared my power, and I could see the instinctual response of those gathered. The regular people, onlookers and reporters could sense nothing. They were below tier 4.


    Everyone above that? They were confronted with Fight, Flight, or Fuck instincts. It wouldn''t make anyone fall in love with me, not when they were only exposed for a few seconds, at most a flare of lust, but it forced everyone to acknowledge my power.


    As kind and benevolent as I was acting, I needed them to understand I wasn''t a hero.


    To their credit, not one of the heroes gathered ran despite their instincts. A few stepped back, but that was it. I could see the fear in their eyes, the lust in a few women, but they all stood firm in opposition to me. When confronted with Fight, Flight, or Fuck, they had all chosen to fight.


    Only they couldn''t fight.


    In less than a minute, I had turned my Family into untouchables, and I could see that a few of the more intelligent heroes could see it.


    We had healed entire states.


    We were rebuilding homes.


    Anyone who attacked us now would be vilified in an instant.


    There were plenty of strong heroes. But how many could make a disaster like Doomsday have never happened? Only the strongest of reality warpers and those rarely cared for the common man. Any hero or villain that tried to fight Glynda or Melina would be lynched by everyone they met. The protection Panacea enjoyed before she became the Red Queen would be nothing compared to what people worldwide would provide to my Family.


    And I wasn''t done yet.


    I had gotten good at fighting over centuries of experience, I enjoyed a good fight, but combat had never been my specialty.


    It was lies, politics, subterfuge, and manipulation.


    I liked to think I used these abilities, vile as some would find them, to good ends. Was it wrong to manipulate Solaire, the Chaos sisters, Lucatiel, Sirris, and others to ensure their happy ending? It was undoubtedly underhanded, but I never thought it was bad.


    This carrot and stick game I was playing with the heroes of this world was all in the service of the Family.


    My wives wanted to be heroes? Fine. Let me set the field for them. They were strong, some even able to kick my ass unless I was in my main body, but that didn''t stop me from worrying about them.


    I was paranoid like that.


    If they were going to be on the front lines against Doomsday, Thanos, Darkseid, Molecule Man, Magneto, Galactus, Endbringers, or any other absurdly powerful beings in this world, then I wanted to stack the deck in their favour.


    I was a big fish in an ocean, and there were sharks in these waters. I couldn''t fight all their battles, nor would I want to. Look at Doomsday. If I had tried to fight him with anything less than my whole body, he would have beaten me like a redheaded stepchild.


    So, let''s mobilize an army for them.


    My new victory conditions were this: Make my family sacrosanct.


    I wanted the heroes of this world ready to throw themselves between them and everything that could harm them. Both because of how valuable they were and out of fear of what I would do should anything happen to them.


    Warranty did not make them expendable in the least to me.


    "We meant no disrespect," Wonder Woman, the one from this world, spoke up as I let the Fear fade. "My comrades and I were just nervous when one of your... station decided to visit our home. Surely you can understand our caution?"


    "I do understand," I nodded at her, my glare softening but not allowing a smile to form. "Caution is rarely something I find fault in. But, as I understand your position, so must you understand mine too. I have just regained a human form and was looking to spend time with my family. Imagine you were separated from your family for a long time. Right when you get the chance to spend quality time with them, you find yourself accosted by groups making spurious claims and posing themselves for a fight."


    A bunch of the crowd shuffled awkwardly at my words.


    It was a long-held problem of comics, the homelife vs. the costumed life.


    I was sure everyone standing before me had a date or anniversary interrupted by some villain attack or the equivalent. I was banking on that empathy.


    Rational but empathetic.


    Kind, yet not a pushover.


    Powerful, but not a threat.


    I was building my image, one sentence at a time.


    And I didn''t even need to lie.


    "You have made no attempt to open a dialogue before now," Wonder Woman pressed, unwilling to concede the point. "We have had no choice but to look upon you distrustfully."


    "You are wrong," I said with certainty. "I did try and open a dialogue. Well before I even reached earth, in fact. Acting as my Herald and Guiding Moonlight, Ranni flew ahead of my path. Specifically to alert people and clear the way so there wouldn''t be any conflict." I nodded at Ranni. I saw some look at her in surprise, likely those who knew nothing of the confrontation in space. I wasn''t only speaking for the benefit of those gathered here. Everyone in the world would watch this on the news. This was me controlling a narrative. "Did Ranni not tell you that I was coming? Did she not try and talk you down from attacking me? Did she not tell you I would help you when you told her you were readying to fight a Lord of Chaos? And when you mistook me for that Lord of Chaos, did she not tell you I was not?"


    "Hold on-" Iron Man tried to interrupt me, likely realizing what I was doing, but I kept going.


    "I admit, her words might have confused you since she comes from a more militaristic culture, but you cannot deny that she tried to dissuade you from fighting as much as possible. And when it came to blows, did anyone die? Before you tried to attack me, she fought to injure, not kill. Even when you attacked me unprovoked, did I hurt anyone? And when I reached earth, did I not destroy one of these Endbringers that has laid waste to your world? Even as you all tried to slay me? When I reached out to the Sorcerer Supreme as a kindness, warning him of a potential world-ending catastrophe, did he not attack me on sight? He called me an abomination less than an hour before I helped rescue the citizens of one of your greatest cities from a rampaging maniac."


    There was some awkward shuffling as I spun my weave. Nothing I said was untrue, so they couldn''t refute it. They could and would use only a few arguments, and I was prepared for them.


    "Answer me this, heroes of earth. Have I, since arriving on this planet, hurt anyone? Have I been anything less than a blessing to your world? Even now, my family has slain a beast you could not put down. We have healed your wounded and are rebuilding your cities. Have we earned any distrust from you?"


    "The people who disappeared onto that Island. Are they still alive?" Captain America asked grimly.


    "I have no idea," I admitted, half honestly. I could be omniscient there, like during the Dreaming, but it would require my whole focus. I would be trading the ability to control a body for the ability to watch grass grow. Not worth it.


    "How can you not know?"


    "Because the island is fucking huge!" I answered strongly. That was true. Unless I wrapped the entire thing in my power, like when I Dreamt, I had no way of observing every part of the Island. Instead, I had set ''rules'' with Medea''s help using innumerable bounded fields and my limitless power. "And I don''t care how people try and commit suicide. That is why only those with purely malicious intent can enter! They had to be completely irredeemable! I am not trying to protect myself from you all. I''ve already proven you can''t hurt me. I am trying to protect your world from mine. The things that call my Island home would kill all who enter it and drive your civilization back to the stone age should they be released!"


    I had set that up with Medea early on to get bodies for our experiments in a way the more heroic-minded of our Family couldn''t complain about. Ethically sourced human bodies for me to try out. Most turned to mush. I''m sure Medea the cat was also getting her fair share of extra food from the invaders.


    I always knew my lovable floof ball was a psychopath. Reaching Tier 6 and having the power to back it up had only made her cuter to me.


    "You''ve conquered worlds," Iron Man said, finally getting a word in as I finished my tirade. "Blueberry admitted to that, and you agreed when you met Professor X. Of course, we will distrust you. How do we know the earth isn''t your next conquest!"


    "You will return the same courtesy we have given you," I said seriously, letting the Fear spread again. I let it go after a second. "After aiding you, we have introduced ourselves. You will maintain basic courtesy and use our names, or I shall pull my blade from Doomsday and let him finish what he started. Do not mistake our kindness for weakness."


    "It''s still alive?!" Superman asked in shock as every hero rose to their feet, and numerous onlookers backed away.


    "Of course it is!" I said, not minding their shock or the disapproving looks Diana and Artoria were shooting me. Just as I knew the Simurgh was utterly dead, I knew that Doomsday was ''dead'' but not permanently. He kept trying to revive himself, but the time aspect of the blade kept killing him as he healed. The second I pulled the sword from his skull, he would be on his feet again, likely with a second head with a second Corona Pollentia, so the same thing couldn''t kill him again. The greatest threat the combination of Doomsday and Crawler posed wasn''t his mutation while he was alive but how quickly it came back to life.


    Comic characters were fucking absurd.


    Of course, there was no way in hell I would pull the sword out, not when I had no good way of killing the thing again without blasting away the eastern seaboard, but the heroes didn''t need to know that. And it gave me a perfect excuse to lessen the power of my Godslaying Blade held in the eyes of the world.


    I didn''t need a bunch of villains coming after my family and me because they thought I had an uber-weapon. Before revealing myself to Diana, I had already set up insurance for my other weapons. But the Godslaying Blade would draw extra attention since it was what felled the alien.


    "If Thor came to you today, saying he is returning from a conquest, would you be as suspicious? Did any of you ask Ranni what she meant when she told you all I had ''conquered'' worlds?" I asked the group, who were eyeing my ''seat'' with wide eyes. That drew attention back to me and calmed a few down when it looked like I wouldn''t go through with my threat. "Why would she join me if I conquered her world? Surely you don''t think that Diana or King Arthur would side with someone who goes on world conquest for fun? Ranni, Melina, tell them about the Lands Between. My most recent ''conquest.''" I said sarcastically.


    "When my Lord Husband arrived at our lands, the war of the Shattering had been ongoing for millennia," Ranni started without hesitation. By now, she understood what I was building towards. Of the Family, she, Emma, and Medea were the most politically savvy. Just because she had goofed a bit with the initial meeting with the heroes didn''t mean I couldn''t trust her to have my back once I had updated her on how this world worked. "My half siblings, demigods all, were vying for the Elden Ring and the title of Elden Lord. He slew them all, restoring peace to the land." She didn''t mention it was her assassination, with Marika''s aid, of Godwyn the Golden that had kicked things off.


    "That doesn''t soun-" Superman''s words were cut out by Melina.


    "The first demigod he slew was Godrick, of the golden lineage," Melina said seriously. Her face, ordinarily impassive and unreadable, was tinged with visible disgust. "He was called the Grafted, as were others of his line. He sent out his soldiers to capture all who he could. He would cut their limbs from them, grafting the strongest onto his form and fashioning others onto children''s bodies. These abominations served as the shock troops of his armies. I walked the halls of his castle. I saw the piles of flesh, the limbs hanging from the rafters, and the feral dogs glutting themselves upon the bloody remains." Numerous people looked sick, and a few of the crowd of civilians actively vomited at the imagery. "Godrick''s passing was celebrated throughout the land."


    "My Lord is not without mercy," Ranni picked up where Melina left off. "As I mentioned when we first met. When he reached the Raya Lucaria, where my mother was held prisoner. After he slew those who held her captive, he spared her life and those of her entourage even as they attempted to kill him."


    I opened my mouth, ready to move onto the next stage of my plan, my point having been made, but Melina continued.


    "Next to fall was General Radhan," she said to her captivated audience. "The Starscourge was the mightiest of the demigods. With his will and magic, he held the night sky''s stars in place. But his was a cursed existence. Consumed from within by the Scarlet Rot, he wandered the shifting dunes as a mad dog, distinguishing neither friend nor foe. He would feast upon the bodies of the fallen." I''m sure some of the heroes were listening to learn more about me and my abilities, but I saw some people look genuinely invested in the story.


    Which made me uncomfortable, to say the least.


    I squirmed slightly in my seat.


    "My brother''s soldiers held a Festival of War every twenty years," Ranni continued seamlessly. Was Emma ignoring me and allowing the two to communicate between themselves? Or were they just so in sync that they knew when the other would stop? "They knew their general would wish to die in honourable combat rather than continue to waste away. For centuries, the Radahn Festival drew the greatest warriors of the land, all fighting to be the ones'' to slay the greatest demigod. None succeeded. Till my husband arrived."


    "For four days and four nights, he battled the Starcourge," Melina picked up. For just a hint of a second, I caught her giving me a look. A slightly smug look. They were teasing me! Doing as I had asked but also taking the chance to see me squirm! The fiends! "Even after all other warriors fell to the general''s blades or his magic, Mikael stood defiant in the face of death. He slew the demigod and freed the stars from his control."


    "Morgott, the Omen King, responsible for the stalemate of centuries." Ranni picked up. They were bragging about me, and there was nothing I could do about it without shattering the image of solidarity I had been working hard to project. Even the other women of the Family were looking at me with appraising eyes. They had never gotten the ''full'' story from the two before. "Rykard, who unleashed untold blasphemies upon the lands. Malenia, the undefeated, the origin of the Scarlet Rot. She had unleashed the blight upon Aeonia. Once a vibrant place of beauty and life, Caelid became a fetid swamp, fit only for the rotted and the dying."


    "What did he do after slaying all those who had held the lands in the grip of war? After claiming the Elden Ring and becoming Elden Lord? After providing rest to the undying, rescuing those still living and setting up a refuge for those afflicted by the war?" Stop! Please stop it!


    "He left," Ranni said decisively. Oi! Don''t say it like it was my idea. It was you! I would have left anyway, but it was your idea to take the entire Order with us! "Even as the world cried out for his rule, even as countries bowed to him, begging him to be their Lord, he left. Taking the source of the conflict with him so the world might know. He never sought to rule. Only to liberate."


    That''s it! These two were not allowed to be alone together anymore! They were terrible influences on each other. They knew I hated attention, and while I was fighting my instincts to go out of my way to build an image now, they were teasing me.


    Where was the Melina who blushed at the thought of sex? What happened to the little Ranni who would poke her fingers together cutely and not meet my eye.


    Who had corrupted these sweet cupcakes? They became vixens who would tease their poor husband.


    "It was the same in the other worlds," Medea spoke up to the momentary silence after Ranni''s final declaration. She shot me a look as well, and it was all I could do to not show a glimpse of betrayal on my face. Et Tu, Medea? "He arrived in a world consumed by a curse of the undead. They had swallowed kingdoms and would eventually drown the world in the abyss. The only way to stop it was for him to give himself up to burn upon sacred flames. He burned for thousands of years so that others may live. When the curse returned, he built a world for survivors to escape. That is how he ''conquers'' worlds! With power, certainly. But mostly with kindness, compassion, and a willingness to fight and die for the freedom of others."


    Betrayal. Mutiny. This a Coup! I could have brushed it off if anything they said was a lie. But it wasn''t.


    It wasn''t the whole story, but nothing they said was wrong. I had gone out of my way to give people happy ends. Only I had done it for the selfish reason that I liked those people, not some noble spirit of altruism.


    Like all great betrayals, the most significant blow from who you least suspected.


    "Indeed," Artoria spoke up, her chin lifted proudly as if speaking of her own achievements. Stawp! "I would count Sir Mikael as the bravest, kindest, and noblest of my Knights of the Round."


    Artoria''s words, delivered without the intent to tease and purely from her genuine belief, dealt the final blow.


    I felt my cheeks redden.


    The looks sent my way by my family, full of teasing and honest smiles, were nothing compared to the looks I was getting from the crowd.


    Stop it!


    I was a dragon the size of a continent! I was a horror the human mind could not comprehend! I was older than humanity itself in this world! I can destroy this planet with a sneeze! I was ready to let Superman die and was actively manipulating the entirety of the world!


    So stop looking at me like that! Like I''m some sort of Dragon Jesus, ready to sacrifice myself for your sins. Die for your own sins, for all I care!


    I wasn''t a hero!


    I didn''t want to be a hero!


    Heroes don''t get happy endings!


    "Right," I coughed into one hand, trying to get things back on track. "As I said, all this distrust could have been avoided if you had simply asked Ranni a few clarifying questions. Is it any wonder we''ve tried to stay out of the way? Even if I gained a human body, can you blame me for quietly trying to pass my time on this planet with my family?"


    "On behalf of all of us here," Superman said firmly, standing before the group. "I sincerely apologize for our actions. We were hasty and judgemental, and we have wronged you and your family." As he bowed his head in apology, I blinked at him in surprise. Then I looked around at the other heroes. While a few were still side-eyeing me, nobody seemed outright distrustful or fearful anymore. The fuck? "While we might try to justify our actions, it is clear that you have done great good for the people of earth. Even if all you did was rid us of the Simurgh, we would not be able to thank you enough."


    Captain America looked deeply regretful. Wonder Woman was looking at Diana with... understanding? Iron Man wasn''t meeting anyone''s eyes. The Flash was rubbing the back of his head awkwardly. Glory Girl was nodding as if to say, ''I told you so!'' Other heroes were giving out mutterings of apology, bowing their heads in shame or nodding their heads at Superman''s words.


    Stop it!


    This wasn''t how I planned things!


    Where is your distrust? Your acknowledgment of the threat I pose? Your reluctant agreement to my words, as if prying them from your cold dead lips? Where was your paranoia?


    Where was Batman!? He wouldn''t believe me! He has to be listening right now, right? Bring him out here, and he''ll bring you to your senses!


    Why were you all so, so, so.... nice!? So good!?


    You are seriously making me feel bad, damn it! Like I kicked a superpowered puppy.


    "I accept your apology," I said with a sigh, not letting on how much their... heroism affected me. Initially, I planned to paint them in a terrible light and then engage them with a compromise from my position of absolute strength. I saw the headlines in my head; ''Justice League persecute poor dragon!'' ''Are heroes bad?'' ''A Family of Dragons; they are here to help!'' Now? There was no fun in kicking a good dog. The more I looked at their healed but dirty bodies, the worse I felt. I needed to get out of here. "Like I said, Ranni''s words must have confused you. Of course, even if I accept the apology, it still leaves us with a problem."


    "Thank you for your understanding," Wonder Woman said. Stop it! "What sort of problem?"


    "The problem of trust," I said, reaching my final goal of this conversation. Let''s get this out of the way and go back to Australia. Simple and easy to understand Australia. Where everything tries to kill you. "You don''t trust me, which I can understand, and I don''t trust you after all your actions against my family and me."


    "I understand," Superman said, still looking at me regretfully.


    "More than that, I cannot trust you all with the defence of the earth," I said. For the first time, the heroes looked genuinely insulted. Tough. "The earth has a special place in my heart," I continued. "Not only do Victoria and Amelia call it home, but half of my family hail from it or a version of it. If Diana and Artoria hadn''t stepped in to help, would you have been able to kill Doomsday? And at what cost?" Though many people looked affronted at my words, none could deny the truth of the words themselves.


    "What are you proposing?" Superman asked. God, the man looked so accepting. Stop being so naive, you doofus!


    "I am on vacation," I reiterated. "I don''t want to be disturbed when I am with my family. But not all of us want to stay out of conflict." I turned to Scathach, silent until now. "Are you still interested in training a few protegees?" I asked. Her smirk was beautiful, though the heroes shivered for some reason. Weaklings. "Are you two still interested in heroics?" I turned to Diana and Artoria. The blonde simply nodded, but the amazon looked at me with slightly widened eyes.


    Had I set this all up so Diana could spend time with her friends and be a hero again without all the suspicion and fear that being part of the Family would bring? Of course, I did.


    My initial plan would have the relationship be more strained but with more power in our hands, but this worked out just as well. When I promised to support them wholeheartedly, I never intended to do things by half measure.


    That it was a good excuse to open relations between the Family and the world was a happy little accident.


    "There you go," I said, standing from my seat atop Doomsday''s corpse. The rest of the Family also did so, their seats receding into the earth. "They will be around, either to train you or help you or act as heroes. Feel free to ask them questions, get to know them, and the like. We''ll stop by occasionally too. Trust isn''t built in a day but getting to know each other is a good first step."


    "We''d be happy to have them," Superman said with a welcoming smile at Diana, who smiled back. Of course, you would, you big blue boy scout.


    I sighed again.


    Do you ever go into a conversation expecting it to be awkward, confrontational, or emotionally painful? Then it turns out you were worried over nothing? Then you are left feeling vaguely cheated? You got everything you wanted, but you feel bad about it?


    That was me right now.


    Glynda landed and transformed as I stepped down from the body. She shot me a look as she did, and I shook my head. I knew what she was asking, and I was giving them enough rope to hang themselves by.


    "I have repaired all the damage I could find," she said. "What did I miss?"


    "Nothing important," I said. "We were just leaving."


    "Boss?" Victoria asked. "You are already leaving?"


    "I have a few things left to do, and a few of us will stay behind, but yes, I am returning to my vacation," I said. I wanted to relax and go for a flight to organize my thoughts. The young woman pouted at me. I rolled my eyes and smiled at her. "I''ll be popping in and out occasionally. And I don''t believe you''ve done all the Master/Stranger observation time. It''s only been a few days. We can talk more when they are sure I''m not some mind-controlling megalomaniac."


    "But it''s sooo boring," she whined at me. I saw Amy, staying well away from us, roll her eyes. I chuckled, happy to see the sisters getting along.


    "Much of life is," I nodded, feeling no sympathy. She could whine at me when she was trapped in a cell the size of a bathroom stall for months with no food, water, or anything to do. I was half sure my first death had been less me going crazy from my element than from sheer boredom.


    "Before you go," Wonder Woman said as she walked up to me. Superman was right beside her. Now that I had expressed the intention to leave, it seemed to have broken what little tension remained. Myrddin was talking to Artoria animatedly. She looked at me for help, but I pretended not to see. Serves you right, you traitor! A few other heroes had approached some of the Family, but a good chunk were leaving. Probably for home. The sun had fully set by this point. "I have a question that needs answering."


    "I have a few minutes," I nodded. I wasn''t in any rush. I had expected all this to take way longer, and the only thing I had really booked was tickets to a show in the evening. It was barely eleven in the morning in the land down under. My desire to leave was because of all the eyes on me.


    Journalists were waiting to descend like a pack of hyenas to a fresh corpse.


    "What did you do to me?"


    "Huh?" I asked, confused at the accusation amazon levied at me. I looked at Superman, but he nodded as if I should answer her.


    "The dreams!" She clarified. Only not, really. "The knowledge! What are you trying to do to me!"


    "I repeat my earlier question: Huh?" I was confused. Was she saying I was mastering her? But Dragon Aura isn''t even active?


    "Ever since you first landed, she''s been having dreams." Superman finally explained. "Flashes of memories, not her own. Knowledge about you that she shouldn''t have. Amelia says she has eyes in her brain."


    "Ah," I nodded in realization. "Insight. Maybe because of a resonance between my Diana and you? Either way, I can''t help you. It isn''t me doing it."


    "What?" The local amazon didn''t look too pleased by my words. "Can''t or won''t?"


    "Both," I nodded at the two. I explained more clearly when it looked like Wonder Woman would punch me. "I can''t control who gains insight or when. I try to limit people''s exposure to my body to avoid situations like this. It is your mind reaching out to a truth your eyes can''t understand. Only once it gets that truth, it can''t handle it. The only way I can control it slightly is to carve runes, symbols of my language, into your flesh. I doubt you want me to do that to you."


    "Is that the only way?" Superman asked worriedly. "And is this a risk to the public?"


    "Have Amelia use her powers to replicate the runes on her," I said with a shrug. "She has enough insight that she should be able to do it correctly. As for a risk to the public? No. Now that I have a human body, there shouldn''t be any risk of people gaining more insight unless through some sort of medium like my blood or certain rituals. I wasn''t exaggerating when I said my pocket dimension protects you more than it protects me."


    "That is a load off our minds," Superman nodded. I watched Scathach say something to Cyclops that had the mutant nodding. Perfect. "I do have one more question if you have the time?"


    "Shoot," I said as I watched Captain America approach Melina. It was only my years of experience with the woman that allowed me to notice the way that she held herself. She was feeling very awkward. The man was likely thanking her for her healing. Serves her right.


    "The beast, Doomsday as you called it, what can you tell me about it? And what is to be done with it?"


    "You can ask Diana more about her experience with it," I nodded at the woman. Glory Girl had left us to go meet the newest ''Di.'' "To make a long story short, a scientist created it to become the ultimate killing machine. That''s where its official name comes from. The Ultimate. Doomsday is just a colloquial name." Superman''s eyes widened slightly, but I continued on. "Start by taking a child, throw it on prehistoric krypton, and when it dies, retrieve the remains, clone it with the genetic memories, and throw it back down. Repeat until you have a creature that can survive anything. And if it dies? It will just come back stronger and meaner than before."


    "Why did it come to earth?"


    "I can''t say for sure since there are differences between timelines," I clarified. "If it is the same as Diana''s world? Then after killing the scientist who created it, it went on to conquer a bunch of planets, killing all their inhabitants it could. One planet''s main species banded together at some point and killed it. Unaware that it could come back to life, they jettisoned it into space, as was their custom. Through happenstance, it landed on earth. It''s probably been here a while and just woke up and broke its way free of its coffin."


    I left unsaid that Crawler''s power had to be a recent addition. Something screwy was going on here.


    "When it first appeared, one of its arms was still bound by a steel cable," Superman nodded in remembrance.


    "And what''s to be done with it? You said it is trying to return to life?" Wonder Woman pressed. For all that she looked the same as my Diana, she was brusquer. Less time in ''man''s world'' perhaps? "Are you going to leave that blade there? How long will it hold?"


    "Leave my sword? Are you crazy? That''s just asking for trouble," I said. "Although now that you mention it, that does remind me of something."


    I turned from the pair and waived at Glynda, who had been talking to Green Lantern with Robin. They both came over.


    "Do you two mind grabbing my weapons?" I asked, letting them know it was time to real in the fish. No way in hell I would leave without my collection.


    Even if it was bait.


    "Of course," Glynda nodded as she waived her ridding crop. Robin gave a sly smirk at me and held up five fingers.


    There was a rush of sound, and multiple people ducked as numerous weapons flew at me. They all flew into the bottomless box, even the largest of weapons squeezing down to fit into the wooden crate the size of my palm.


    "Is that all?" I asked rhetorically once the deluge of metal had finished. "I''m missing a few."


    "One moment, dear," Glynda said with a smirk. "Some are coming from farther away."


    Not even a few seconds later, the last five of my weapons returned to me. They were daggers and shortswords mostly. Easy things to hide. And they weren''t alone.


    """"MPH""""


    Four people struggled fruitlessly in the air, bound by Glynda. None of them were familiar, nor in any sort of uniform.


    "Who do we have here?" I asked, even as the heroes gave me a side-eye. More than a few looked like they were ready to step up if need be.


    "An agent of SHIELD, AIM, the PRT, and an opportunist who wanted a souvenir," Robin answered my questions as she nodded at all in turn.


    SHIELD and the PRT. It must be my birthday. The poor opportunist was crying.


    "And this one," I nodded at the weapon that had returned without a passenger. Mytha''s Bent Blade was covered in blood.


    "An agent of the Hand," Robin said. "He was very¡­ determined to keep hold of the blade. If anyone is interested, I believe his body is in his hideout in Winchester. He was contacting his handler when we took our weapon back, so I would hurry."


    The Flash was gone in a flash. I was almost impressed that someone could get that far so quickly. It hadn''t been that long since Doomsday had died. They must have picked up the weapon before the fight even ended.


    "And you all thought it was a good idea to steal from a dragon," I asked dubiously at the struggling group. Their struggles were redoubled. "I should flay you all for the impertinence." Their struggle stopped.


    "Do you mind leaving this to us?" Captain America asked as he approached, looking embarrassed but resigned. "There is no need for such harsh measures."


    I knew someone would try and ''save'' these people. I had been counting on it when I left my weapons for anyone to grab. Robin had a small eye and ear on every single one of them. I had initially wanted to use them as an example, but the heroes... hero-ness had shifted my plans.


    Killing them slowly as an example would solidify my ''don''t fuck with me'' reputation, but it would also ruin all the good rep I had built.


    "I can leave it to you," I nodded agreeably, a smile on my lips. Every one of my wives took a step back from me for some reason. "This time."


    "I appreciate it," the good captain looked relieved.


    "Diana will tell me what you do with them, anyway," I waived him off while warning him that I wouldn''t let this be swept under the rug. I could hold this over their agencies'' heads in the future, and it solidified my image as ''benevolent.'' "Just one last weapon, then." I said as I turned to the ''corpse'' behind me.


    "Hold on-" Superman started.


    He was cut off by the dying wails of the Dragonlord. Placidusax''s ruin rained a golden tide of fire and lightning upon the corpse of Doomsday.


    Could I have faced Doomsday?


    No. For the same reason why I considered Flash the most dangerous League member, and I wouldn''t have let Priscila face him either.


    Speed.


    While I had no theoretical top speed, Doomsday would have turned me into paste long before I could reach the likes of him, Superman or Diana. I didn''t have the stats of a servant like Artoria or Scathach. My ''stats'' were superhuman in strength, toughness, dexterity, and the like, but my base speed was only slightly faster than most heroes. I could let him pass through me while I gained momentum, but then what?


    To kill Doomsday, you need to kill him conceptually or completely annihilate his body.


    Priscilla is the only one of us who could do the former. If I had killed her and fashioned her tail and soul into weapons, I might have been able to do the same with a well-laid trap. But I liked my floofy dragon!


    My other option? I had to deal enough damage to instantly vaporize him before he healed. If he was still alive, he would dodge. I wasn''t a glass canon, but I also wasn''t a nuke. I could output a lot of damage quickly, but not instantaneously.


    Golden light bathed the area as I reduced everything about Doomsday to his component atoms. I kept the spell active for over a minute, ensuring not even a drop of blood remained.


    When I finally cut off the spell, the titanic corpse was gone. In its place was a crater tens of meters deep. The Godslaying Blade, made from the corpse of the Dragonlord and immune to its breath, was impaled in the ground so far down that I had to squint to see it.


    And I had night vision.


    A simple flex of gravity magic and the blade returned to my hands.


    "That should do it," I said as I sheathed the blade, turning back to the crowd.


    One of Glynda''s captives was unconscious.


    The other three had growing wet spots on their pants.


    "That was¡­" Wonder Woman stuttered, eyes wide and unfocused. "Ruin?"


    "More insight?" I blinked at her in surprise. Just how much was she getting from me? Time to get gone. I should look into how I can stop that. "You really need to get that looked at. Nine out of ten doctors say peering into the abyss is bad for you. The tenth doctor is a gibbering madman."


    "What?" She asked, eyes coming back into focus and looking at me in confusion.


    "That was a joke," I sighed. "I''m going back to my vacation now."


    "I thought it was funny," Robin said as she walked beside me. The other women were finishing their conversations and disappearing into the shadows of the night as Raven brought them away.


    "Pity laughter is worse than no laughter," I pouted at her.


    She giggled as she stepped behind a tree and disappeared.


    "Mikael?" Artoria asked, a bit hesitantly. She and Diana were eyeing me, a question in their eyes.


    She hadn''t added Sir to my name.


    "Don''t worry," I said, smiling to show I wasn''t mad. I really wasn''t either. Asking either of them to not be heroes would deny them who they were. I was already happy enough that they had gone along with my whims until now. The pair relaxed. "We''ll talk at home. Before that, you have a lot of questions to answer." Their eyes widened as I nodded to the crowd.


    A crowd of curious heroes, journalists, and other onlookers. Now that we weren''t being subtle, I didn''t have to worry about what they would let slip on accident.


    "Rejoice!" I said with a smile, my hand folded behind my back as I channelled my best Kirei Kotomine. "You are heroes again!"


    I turned, chuckling to myself and stepping towards the shadows myself.


    "Elden Lord!" A voice called out from the crowd, but I didn''t stop, and he continued to speak hurriedly. "Jimmy Olsen. Daily Planet. What do you intend to-"


    "I''ll stop you right there. Maybe some other time." I said, not even looking at the man but not speaking harshly. I could respect the balls on the man if nothing else. "I''ll have my people call your people."


    And with that, I was gone.


    Was it petty of me to leave Artoria and Diana to the hyenas after telling them I wasn''t mad? Yes, it was.


    Did I find it funny? It was fucking hilarious.


    Of course, I wasn''t laughing when I stepped into Raven''s shadow and out the other side.


    Instead of emerging in the sun of Australia''s outback, I emerged into a room of shadow and mist.


    Instead of coming face to face with my big tiddy goth wife, I came face to face with my big tiddy goth wife with four red eyes.


    "Finally!" Pride declared with a smirk. "We meet!"


    Oh dear.


    I was never getting my vacation, was I?

 Furlough 2

    <div>


    I''ve been reading books of old


    The legends and the myths


    Achilles and his gold


    Hercules and his gifts


    Spider-Man''s control


    And Batman with his fists


    And clearly I don''t see myself upon that list


    ********


    "Finally!" Pride declared with a smirk. "We meet!"


    When filling out the Catalogue so long ago, I had chosen the former Teen Titan because I honestly admired Raven as a character.


    The Raven summoned by the Catalogue to the Mansion had not been a teenager. She had been a version of the superheroine in her mid to late twenties. I only remembered a little of talking with her during her summonings. Most of the conversations I''d had with the women of the Island were lost to the centuries of life. From my impressions, Raven came from a world similar to ''canon.''


    If comics had such a thing.


    She wasn''t a version that assumed ultimate power, became a full-fledged demon, submitted to her father, or even merged with other characters. She was a version of Raven who had been born a half-demon and struggled against her father''s influence for her entire life. She had helped found the Teen Titans when the Justice League didn''t aid her. From there, she went on to struggle with control of her ever-growing powers, dangerous emotions, and numerous factions seeking to use her for their ends.


    She did all this while trying to be a hero.


    It is much harder to be a hero when your inner demons are literally demons.


    Staring into four red eyes, I knew this was not the woman I was familiar with, though it wore her face.


    I took in the changed form of my most reclusive ''wife'' with impassive eyes, not letting anything show.


    This could be a problem.


    "I hadn''t known I kept you waiting," I replied impassively, even as I lamented my long-gone wish for a vacation. "Did you talk to my secretary? She should have told you I leave Tuesdays free for any demonic entities. It''s not like Tuesdays can get any worse."


    "Cute." The way she deadpanned at my words was so much like the Raven I knew that a feeling of uncanniness overcame me.


    I realized then what was throwing me off.


    It wasn''t the four eyes glowing a fiery red.


    It wasn''t the pointy ears, less elfish like Medea''s and more angular like knives.


    It wasn''t even how her skin was now a light orange rather than the pale grey I was familiar with.


    "Your humour hides little from me, Monster," Pride''s cruel smile was back. Her four eyes peered up at me as if she could see through my soul by meeting my gaze.


    It was that smirk.


    That unfamiliar expression on a familiar face.


    While I didn''t remember much of my conversations with the women while trapped, I had watched them interact for over a year.


    That entire time, even when things were at their worst or best, I had never seen the cambion emote more than the slightest twitch in her lips or tightening her eyes. Unlike Ranni''s dolls which couldn''t emote, Raven''s impassivity was derived from an iron-clad control of her emotions.


    To see that impassive face twisted in a cruel smirk was disturbing.


    Out of all the Family, Raven was the one I spent the most time with since my release. Ever since she had become a Dragon of Shadow, she had only left my side a handful of times, such as when the Family had meals together or when I was getting intimate with someone else. At all other times, she was, quite literally, my shadow.


    She was the one I trusted to pull me back when the other ''ordered'' me, either by accident or as ''training.''


    "Is that anger I feel?" The demon leaned close to me as if to smell me. "No..." she drawled with a teasing grin, meeting my gaze again. "It''s fear. How cute."


    I snapped my Defences into place.


    Before I had gained my Defences, I had never been able to stop Raven''s empathy, unlike Emma''s telepathy. Since gaining them, I left most of my defences down for the Family as a show of trust. I could pick and choose who could affect me or not through them. If Emma wanted to read my mind, Medea wished to cast a spell on me, or Raven wanted to teleport me, I let them.


    The fact that she could sense my emotions gave me critical information. This wasn''t a twisted version of this world''s Raven. This wasn''t a demon of Trigons.


    This was MY Raven.


    Or at least her body.


    This was bad but not unsalvagable.


    Now I just needed two more pieces of information, and then I would know what to do.


    As a coward, I hated acting with all the info at my fingertips. But, as an egomaniac, I also knew that the proud loved to talk about themselves.


    As I stared into those red eyes, I doubted she would be able to stop herself from giving me everything I wanted.


    "So, what should I call you?" I asked, my face still impassive.


    "I am Pride," she said with... pride. That sounded bad even in my head. But still, that was one piece of the puzzle. This wasn''t Trigon speaking through my wife, as he would have bragged about it, but rather a separate being. Just one left. "I am sin. THE Sin. The one from which all others stem." She started to pace around me, a sway to her hips that wanted to draw my eye. I remained fixed, only turning my head to keep her in my vision. "When the morning star fell, it was I who dyed his wings. When Eve stole into the garden and bit the apple, it was I who whispered in her ear."


    Was she speaking metaphorically or literally? You could never tell with demons. On the one hand, Raven was less than thirty years old. On the other, Trigon was the closest equivalent of Satan in DC comics barring the Vertigo line of stories. He possibly infused some primordial demon into his offspring to corrupt her and make her more powerful.


    "You certainly sound proud of all that." Despite the situation, even though my wife might be possessed by a demon, despite the fact I was trapped alone with a woman who could order me to do literally anything at all, and I wouldn''t be able to stop her, I still made the pun.


    If there was a hell for dragons of freedom and life, I was going there.


    "More humour." She let out a mirthless chuckle, her voice sounding like sex and sin. She continued to circle me, a vulture looking at a tasty morsel. "Your words hide nothing from me, Monster."


    She was behind me again, the swish of her cloak audible in the void we stood in.


    Pride leaned in, her lips almost to my ear but not touching me.


    "I know you," she whispered throatily, her hot breath on my neck. Then she retreated.


    I fought not to flinch.


    So close, but I had missed my chance.


    For a second of frustration, I thought about using my Command Seals. If Pride was in Raven, then she could Order me, but I could do the same to her. I would hate to do it, but I was a coward. My morals came second to my life and freedom, just as they had when I was trapped.


    Just because I trusted the Family didn''t make me a different person.


    As soon as I had the thought, I rejected it.


    Not because of the immorality of depriving my wife, even if just her body, of her freedom while we sorted things out.


    I dismissed the idea because it wasn''t feasible. It was a difference in speed. My chest would glow as I channelled the Seals, and before I could get a word out, Pride would only need to say ''Stop!'' and I would lose what opportunities I had.


    "I know what lurks behind that facade of kindness, of humour," Pride continued to circle me as she spoke. "You joke, and you laugh because it is all you can do not to cry. To rage. To scream about the unfairness of it all."


    "I never was good at the whole crying thing," I said plainly.


    "And when the laughter fades?" She asked rhetorically. "What then? The facade of kindness gives way to what you really are. A Monster."


    "You sure are taking your time getting to your point," I said, getting impatient. I just needed her to get closer.


    That was my victory condition before she tired of her own voice and did something that would strip me of my control.


    Even if she did end up controlling my body if I could get the others to destroy it so I could recreate my Avatar and have Amy make it human once more. The only problem would be if they could not access this shadow dimension.


    Still, I would rather not abandon my body so easily.


    I just got it. I''ve barely broken it in.


    "I was there," Pride continued, unmindful of my words, still out of reach. "When I was summoned after you lost Melina to your own cowardice. I felt your rage, your hate. I didn''t need to read your mind to know what you did in those years."


    I said nothing.


    "How many did you kill?" She purred, behind me again but not close. "How much pain did you inflict upon the world? What slaughter did you wreak upon those innocent of your suffering? All that emotion, boiling up and consuming the world in your vengeful fire. It must have been exquisite." The sheer passion and lust in that last word sent shivers down my spine and blood flowing downward.


    What can I say? Being scared didn''t mean I couldn''t be aroused. Especially when it was the body of Raven speaking such words.


    Just because I had a fear boner didn''t mean I had forgotten my situation, though.


    "Uhuh," I drawled. "And?"


    "And I name you my kin," she declared, finally stopping in front of me, looking triumphant. "Like I, you are a demon hiding in plain sight. An abomination in human flesh. A monster. My monster."


    If the results of my actions could make me a hero, then my actions themselves made me a monster.


    In a similar vein to the rest of the Family earlier when they praised me, nothing she had said was technically wrong, and thus I did not deny her words.


    She needed a bit of context, though.


    My time of greatest slaughter, violence and rage hadn''t been in the Lands Between.


    That land had already been torn apart by war. Those relatively peaceful lands like Liurnia and Limgrave hadn''t felt my wrath. The already destroyed Faram Azula, the battlefields of Mt. Glemnir, and the bloody swamp of Mogh''s domain were where most of my pain had been unleashed.


    Even the Haligtree, the most ''peaceful'' place I had been to while consumed by my pain at the loss of Melina, was home to warriors, beasts, and the rot infected.


    Nobody ''innocent'' had been caught in my wake.


    What I unleased upon Yharnam, a city of mortals, was so much worse.


    But nobody had been around for that. Nobody knew that of a city of over a hundred thousand, less than a hundred had survived to see the sunrise.


    When trying to cure cancer, you must tear out all the tumours.


    Gehrman had told me a hunter must hunt, and I had heeded his words.


    I hunted.


    Everything.


    In opposition to Djura, who sought to preserve the lives of the beasts in hopes of a cure, I had granted every inhabitant the release of death. I slaughtered my way through the beast plagued, the clerics who spread Blood Ministration, and the scholars who had discovered the Blood.


    By the end of the hunt, I had set up a small refugee camp for the non-infected and sane in the forests surrounding Yharnam and burned the rest.


    Nothing but ashes remained of the Healing Church, Byrgenworth, or the city itself.


    From there, I entered the Chalice dungeons from which it all began. I continued my slaughter downwards, collapsing the structures above me. I would have been entombed there with the remnants of Pthumeru had it not been for my connection to the Hunter''s Dream.


    If the world ever managed to reach deep enough to the parts of the chalice dungeons I didn''t get to, it would be once they had enough technology to reach close to the center of the earth.


    Until then, that world was safe from curious scholars trying to elevate humanity at the cost of sanity.


    If future generations of that world ever learned of my actions on that night that lasted months, they might call me a hero. They would be able to see that my actions had prevented a plague that could have drowned the world in a tide of corrupted blood and beasts.


    To the survivors of Yharnam?


    I was the monster in the dark, their worst nightmare made flesh.


    A blood-drunk hunter that had carved his way through the bodies of their neighbours and friends. I hadn''t cared that a good portion of those I killed had been people lashing out in fear, cruel acts driven by their horrific situation.


    Any who took up blade, claw, or fang against me was mercilessly put down.


    To a little girl and her older sister, huddled together in a camp I had built for the few innocents I had managed to save, I must have looked like a monster covered in the blood of a city.


    I didn''t even have the loss of Melina as an excuse. Her death had been over a decade before.


    It had been my rage at the situation, enjoyment of combat, and desire to be free, all channelled into ensuring a ''happy end'' for a world infected by beings from beyond time and space.


    I had channelled my fear of letting Emma into my mind into a heroic result of a monstrous act.


    Two sides, the same coin.


    A hero and a monster.


    I was neither and both.


    I was just me.


    That was what it meant to be human.


    "You''re right." Pride knew nothing of my thoughts or of the context she lacked. She didn''t know that I felt much more comfortable being called a monster than a hero. Damnation and blasphemy were more familiar than praise and adulation.


    All she saw was me nodding my head in agreement.


    "Then join me!" She said in triumph, stepping even closer.


    Finally, close enough.


    "Join me, and we can-"


    Her words were cut off as I leaned in and kissed her.


    Four red eyes widened as our lips met.


    I don''t know if she sensed the power of my touch. None of the others reported feeling anything when I Freed them of an outside influence.


    Help support creative writers by finding and reading their stories on the original site.


    I expected four red eyes to become two dark ones. For her ears to return to human shape and her skin to return to its pale hue. I was the prince charming to her sleeping beauty.


    I Freed Raven of all negative influences, all possessions and all corruption.


    Trigon could hold no influence with her while she touched me.


    Nothing changed.


    The last piece slid into place.


    "Why would I join you?" I asked as I pulled away from her lips with a smile. Pride''s four red eyes looked up at me in confusion. "When you are already Mine."


    A member of my Family was a tad more evil than I expected? Or at least had an aspect of herself that was?


    So what?


    "How-"


    This time when I kissed the demonic sin that lived in my wife and pulled her close, I channelled not my Element but Sticky Fingers. My hands ghosted over her body, learning exactly what to touch by the way she shivered under my touch.


    I wondered briefly what sort of face one of the seven deadly sins would make if I drove her into a pleasurable mess.


    I was looking forward to finding out.


    As she melted into my touch, demonic red eyes closing in pleasure, my eyes scanned the darkness of this shadow dimension.


    My eyes found a patch of black, slightly darker than the rest, and I remained focused on it even as my tongue intertwined with that of the demon.


    Raven, the pale-skinned woman I was familiar with, stepped from the shadow. Her eyes were locked on mine, a tiny upturn of her lips the only indication of her satisfaction with the result of the situation she had set up.


    I rolled my eyes at her, then focused on introducing Pride to lust.


    Let''s see if I can corrupt a demon.


    ********


    "Welcome home," I called out from the couch, turning my eyes from my book towards the doorway.


    Priscilla, whose floofy tail I had been resting my head on, didn''t look away from her game, but she did raise a hand in greeting.


    Medea, the cat/dragon, didn''t even stir from her position as a bread loaf on my chest.


    Sometimes I really wondered if housecats were the most successful hunters of the animal kingdom.


    Artoria and Diana took in my decadent image, drowning in fluff, with surprise.


    "You did not return to Australia?" The king of knights asked as they entered the room, careful not to impede Priscilla''s view.


    Floofy dragon she might be, but nobody wanted her to pout at them because she lost a ranked match.


    "Change of plans," I shrugged. In protest of my movement, Priscilla''s tail tickled my nose. "There were many of those today," I said, ignoring the offending appendage.


    They winced.


    I sighed.


    "I''m not mad," I repeated my earlier statement as I sat up. Medea somehow managed to remain asleep and attached to my chest even though she was now at a ninety-degree angle. "But we do need to talk."


    "Where is everyone? Shall I call them?" Diana asked as she took a seat on one of the armchairs.


    "The rest are still touring the land down under," I explained. "I''ll join them later for the show. This is a good time for Ranni and Melina to spend time with the rest of the Family without me around. And I needed to talk to you two, not them anyway."


    "Then I shall see to the children and give thee thy privacy," Priscilla said as she won her match and stood. She pried Medea from my chest, the cat finally waking up to see what had disturbed her, saw the crossbreed, and went back to sleep.


    It was a good thing this damn cat was so cute.


    "Before anything else," I said once the hybrid had left the room. "How did things go?"


    "It went well," Artoria said from her own seat. We weren''t far apart, but there was an awkward shuffling to their movements. I fought the urge to sigh again. This was coming out all wrong. "They had many questions."


    "I would too if a gender-bent King Arthur and extradimensional twin showed up out of nowhere," I said with a smile, trying to ease their tension.


    "I answered what I could," Diana elaborated. "I tried to steer clear of anything about the Family, focusing more on my own experiences in my homeworld. They had questions about Doomsday and other villains, as well as their counterparts from my dimension. I could only answer some of them due to being unfamiliar with Emma''s world and the novel. They were still on guard, but I believe we will be able to work together without issue."


    "That''s good. And your counterpart? How are you handling it?"


    "This is not the first time I''ve dealt with other versions of myself," Wonder Woman said with a chuckle. "Separate timelines, other dimensions, evil clones, and even myself from the future. There are few situations I have yet to encounter before. This version of myself is less experienced than I am and still needs to learn how to deal with these situations. Especially given our... relationship."


    "Will she be a problem?" I asked, brow furrowed in worry. As it was, this worlds Diana was already gaining Insight from being close to me, and I had no way to stop it.


    "Not likely," Diana shook her head. "We are meeting her tomorrow for brunch, then she will show us to the Hall of Justice. It is quite late on this side of the world, so they would like to reconvene with their other members in the morning."


    "Have fun," I said with a smirk. Likely this world''s Batman would be there, as well as others that hadn''t been able to fight Doomsday, and they would be bombarded by a bunch of questions. "How about you, Artoria? Anything of interest?"


    "It seems all those who bear the name Myrrdin are cursed to cause me trouble," she said with the smallest of frowns. "While this version is less of a pervert than my court mage, he inundated me with questions and would not let me talk to the other heroes until I had signed almost every part of his costume. Then he proceeded to inquire about my relationship with you. Repeatedly."


    I snorted out a laugh, which caused the blonde to pout at me.


    "He''s a fanboy," I said with a giggle. Even Diana was smiling at her friend behind a hand. "I bet he has every single movie about you and your knights ever produced. Next time you see him, he''ll be carrying around a bunch of paraphernalia for you to sign. He''ll build a shrine out of everything you ever touch. He''ll attack me on sight for daring to sully the king." I pantomimed, holding up an epee as if challenging someone to a duel. "To defend your honour!"


    "What?" Artoria looked repulsed by my words. She was used to the crowd''s adulation, being king and all, but she was wholly unprepared for modern fan culture.


    Then I understood the ramifications of our situation, and my laughter died.


    "There''s going to be merchandise," I said with my eyes wide in realization. "Now that we are a known quantity to the world, and they know we aren''t going around killing everyone or something, there''s going to be a bunch of merchandise about us. Shirts. Toys. Plushies. Body Pillows." With every word that left my mouth, I felt the horror rise.


    Maybe there was still time to destroy the earth?


    "The fans can be insistent," Diana nodded, unbothered by my words. "A few creations can be of good quality, but sometimes they go too far. The League left such matters to Bruce, who ensured things did not go out of control and channelled the funds back to us to fund our operations."


    "Oh god," I whispered, still staring at nothing. "There''s going to be panties with my face on them, isn''t there?"


    "Mikael plushies?" Artoria murmured to herself, eyes as vacant as my own but for entirely different reasons.


    Oi! Can''t you see this is a serious situation, woman! This is the end of the world as we know it!


    "I need to talk with Emma later," I said with determination. "Like all evil, we must smother it in the cradle before it can grow out of control and destroy our lives."


    "You are exaggerating," Diana huffed with a roll of her eyes.


    "You say that now, but I bet you''ll be singing a different tune once there are Pricilla-shaped sex dolls on the market," I insisted.


    "We cannot allow even one to exist!" Artoria declared imperiously, and Diana nodded just as seriously.


    We would not allow the corruption of capitalism to taint our wholesome floof!


    As a dyed-in-the-wool capitalist myself, I understood the appeal of the mountains of money one could gain from the truth of ''cute is justice.''


    But not with my cinnamon roll of a dragon!


    "Anyway," I shook my head, clearing my thoughts on purging the world of its sin and returning to the actual topic. "Anything else?"


    "Nothing of import today," the knightess shook her head. "As I said, Myrrdin occupied most of my time. The only thing to note was that they know I am not from this dimension."


    "Eh," I shrugged, uncaring. "Going forward, they should assume we are all not native to this reality. It''s what I would do when I realized Diana existed. I expect they''ll piece together who Raven is pretty easily after what happened with Strange. I would ask you not to bring her up for at least a week if you can help it."


    "How come?" Artoria asked.


    "She asked me to do something for her," I shrugged. "It isn''t that big a deal, though do let the heroes know when you see them tomorrow that Scathach, Glynda and I will be spending the next few days in San Fransico and will probably spend some time with the PRT East by Southeast team."


    "To what end?"


    "The former Teen Titans that make up that team include Raven''s native counterpart," I explained. "Raven asked me for a favour regarding her younger self, and I promised Scathach a fun time, so I am killing a few birds with one stone."


    "What sort of ''fun time?''" Diana asked warily, well aware of the Celt''s preferences.


    Nothing the scarlet-haired woman enjoyed could be considered ''family friendly.''


    "Nothing that bad," I rolled my eyes. "She and Glynda will mostly be there for cover. We''ll use her desire to find ''students'' as an excuse."


    "You wish us to lie to the league?" Diana asked with a slight frown at the idea.


    "It won''t be a lie," I explained. "We will be training them, so long as they accept. Which they will, if only to spy on us. Nightwing, the leader of that team, is even one of those Scathach was interested in testing before Raven even asked me for the favour. Technically the truth is the best kind of truth."


    "What is the favour? And how dangerous will it be?" Artoria asked.


    "Slightly dangerous, only not really," I said, shaking my hand back and forth in a ''so-so'' gesture. "Strictly speaking, it only needs Raven and me. Glynda and Scathach are honestly overkill. We are just protecting her younger self through a difficult time. I can summon any six of you at a moment''s notice if anything goes wrong using the seals. I might do so anyway, if only because I think overkill is underrated."


    "If you are certain, we will do as you requested," Artoria nodded. "I urge you to call for us if things look dire."


    "Since I have been Free, when have I tried to do anything on my own? Or with anything less than the utmost caution. Unlike you two." I sighed, finally getting to the main subject. "I have to ask; what were you two thinking?" The words came out harsher than I intended. Judging by the pair''s narrowed eyes, they hadn''t taken it the best either.


    "What do you mean?" Diana asked.


    "Just that," I said more softly, not wanting this to become an argument. "I am trying to understand your thought process. A few weeks ago, I said I would support you all. I stand by that, even if you want to be heroes again. But I also asked you to communicate if you were going to do things that might negatively affect the Family. So I am trying to understand why you did the things you did? Walk me through your thought process."


    "We were having lunch when we were alerted to Doomsday''s approach," Artoria recounted. "Its last revival was caught on camera, and Diana was aware of its abilities from her home world. Since we feared causing too much destruction, we opted to use your armoury rather than transform or unleash Rhongomyniad. Medea has told me before of the nature of your weapons, and we hoped one of them would lay the beast to rest for good."


    "There!" I exclaimed as I pointed at the blonde. Both women half jumped at my interjection. "That right there is what I don''t get. I understand not wanting Priscilla involved. I didn''t, either. I understand trying to use my weapons and have no problem if you''re going to borrow them. In the end, one of them did work, even if it wasn''t one I left behind. What I don''t understand is why you didn''t ask me which weapons could work. Even if Emma couldn''t reach me on the other side of the planet, a simple text message or call could do the trick."


    "There was no time," Diana explained with a frown. "As far as we were aware, you were engaged with other heroes and would not have answered if we did try to reach you. We could not wait for that when every second could be a life lost."


    "So you thought the best idea was to rush in and hit it till it died? What were you going to do when none of those weapons worked" I asked rhetorically. When they looked about to interject, I plowed on. "How long was it between realizing Doomsday was near and engaging him? A minute? Two?"


    "A few minutes," Artoria interjected. "I summoned Dun Stallion, returned home to grab your armoury and back."


    "We are not stupid, Mikael," Diana was annoyed at my questioning. I could tell. "Should nothing have worked, we would have transformed and turned Doomsday to dust."


    Tough.


    Just as I needed to understand them, they needed to understand me.


    That was the only way this Family would survive in worlds where multiverse-level destruction is common.


    "Then why didn''t you do that right away?" I asked. "You grab him, and Artoria blasts him. A bit flashy, sure, but it would have worked."


    "You were the one who asked us to remain discreet!" Diana responded, pointing at me accusingly.


    The conversation was getting heated despite my intent.


    Even Artoria was now looking at me in displeasure, my words appearing more accusational than I intended.


    They just weren''t getting it.


    "I like secrecy because it keeps us safe! If it comes down to keeping a secret and risking your lives or becoming the flashiest bastard on the planet, I would prefer the latter. None of that changes the fact you didn''t even try to ask us for help. We all could have come up with a plan together."


    "You would have us wait?" Artoria asked, incredulous. "While people died, you would have us stand back and cower until we have a plan?"


    "Yes!"


    The pair recoiled from my shout as if struck, surprised at my vehemence and tone.


    Then the surprise was gone and in their eyes was disappointment.


    I was surprised by how much that look hurt.


    We were in a fortunate position where there was nothing we couldn''t run away from by moving to another universe. We did not have a home we needed to worry about. All we needed to worry about was the people of that home. They needed to understand that.


    "Mikael-" Artoria started to say, the title gone from in front of my name.


    I cut her off, willing them to understand where I was coming from.


    "You fought Doomsday for a minute and had a hole torn through you. You would have died if it weren''t for Avalon." I said to Artoria before turning to Diana. "You fought him with Aura, your Semblance, and Haki. All abilities you never had in your home world on top of weapons made from the souls of gods. And you were still losing. Putting up a good fight, sure, but losing. We won without sacrificing a good portion of the USA as collateral damage because the rest of us were sitting back and planning contingencies. What would have happened if we weren''t there? If I hadn''t been curious about why the Flash ran off? We took a gamble with the Godslaying Blade, and it could have easily failed."


    "We still would have slayed the beast!" Artoria insisted, standing up from her seat and looking into my eyes.


    When had I stood up?


    "How would you act if one of your Knights tried to fight Vortigern with a weapon they weren''t sure would work?" I asked. "Or someone attacked Apokolips on a whim? These are not actions we can take without ensuring our safety."


    "Your concern is warranted," Diana acknowledged steadily, rising from her own chair. "However, we do not always have the luxury of a plan, of time. We had knowledge from my world, as well as footage from this one. We acted based on what we knew. Was it the perfect plan? No. But it was one built on solid foundations. Quick action can be the difference between life and death for the innocent."


    "Then let them die!" I snarled.


    When they recoiled this time, the disappointment was even more pronounced. Despite how much that hurt to look at, the other emotion I saw there was so much worse.


    Fear.


    Looking down, I saw why.


    My human form, so dearly gained, was starting to unravel. Fin-like blades poked from skin that felt too tight on me. Blood welled up from the wounds, ruining my clothes. My limbs felt bound like I was wearing a shirt with no sleeves.


    The human mask I wore was slipping away from my desire for them to understand my fear and concern for them.


    Pride had not been wrong to call me a monster.


    She just didn''t know what kind I was.


    I could shed this fragile shell and assume my real form with but a flex of my will.


    I resisted the urge, calling upon the memories to refocus on what made me who I was.


    My body returned to its standard form. The holes in my flesh healed in a moment as my magic went to work repairing my form. I would still need to clean up a bit before meeting the others, but I no longer looked like an eldritch abomination stuffed into a meat suit six sizes too small.


    I sagged back onto the couch, suddenly feeling drained.


    So much had happened so quickly that I was surprised that it was only a few hours ago that we were all having a meal together before we went to confront the heroes on the outskirts of Sydney.


    Man, nothing went to plan today.


    "If it ever came to it, I would rather you left people to die rather than risk your life," I said softly. I rubbed my eyes tiredly, not looking at them.


    I didn''t want to know what their eyes looked like right now.


    "You know we cannot do that," Diana said just as softly, but there was no mistaking the conviction and her tone. There would be no changing their mind, I knew. "Even if we die, did you not purchase an ability to bring us back? Warranty, I believe?"


    "The Company already screwed me over," I responded, still rubbing my eyes. "I am not going to entrust any of our lives to them. There are beings here that destroy souls, so I wouldn''t even be able to use my abilities from Death to bring you back. We cannot act like we are immortal. Too many heroes and villains die because they are overconfident. I am powerful, possibly the strongest on this planet, but I am nowhere near some of the beings in this universe, let alone the multiverse we will explore.


    Even if I had proof the Warranty worked, which I don''t, I still wouldn''t want to risk any of your lives. It doesn''t matter if I see it work a billion times. It only needs to fail once for me to lose you forever. Even if everything worked perfectly, there would still be three days of worry where I wouldn''t know if you were coming back. I would much rather destroy a world than go through that."


    "Is that what this is truly about, Sir Mikael?" Artoria asked. "I know you. You are not the type of man who would leave the innocent to suffer if you could do anything about it."


    "That is just it," I said, finally opening my eyes and meeting theirs. Green flicked with gold, and dark blue looked at me with concern, and my gut twisted. "If I can do anything about it is the key. I have two rules I stick to whenever I want to do anything heroic. How does it inconvenience me? What do I get out of it? Everything falls into those two categories. Even if I only get satisfaction, sometimes that is worth more than the inconvenience. I don''t mind a risk if the rewards are proportional. Call me selfish if you wish, but nothing is worth risking any of you."


    "I do not think that is selfish," Diana disagreed as she sat beside me on the couch. "One does not need to be a hero to be a good man."


    "Did I ever tell you why I hate being called a hero?" I asked, trying one final tactic.


    "Not to me," Artoria said, and Wonder Woman shook her head.


    "It''s because heroes do not get happy endings."


    I could see them contemplate my words, trying to parse the implications.


    "How many heroes do you know that retired?" I asked Diana, trying to get them to understand where this was all coming from.


    "There have been a few," she nodded. "It was rare, but a few hung up their costume."


    "And of those rare few, how many actually stayed retired? How many died happy, surrounded by their family and friends?" I could see how she struggled to think of an example. "How many tried to retire only to be pulled back in by the next crisis? Or an old enemy? How many died from a life they could not leave behind? From a conscience that would not let them ignore a fight, they couldn''t win in the name of the ''innocent?''"


    "Too many," Diana nodded gravely, finally understanding where I was coming from.


    "Even if we ignore superheroes and villains," I turned to Artoria now, trying to put things from her own perspective. "If we look at heroes in the classic sense, the picture gets even worse. In the Throne of Heroes, a record of heroes from the past and the future, how many died happy deaths?"


    "Some, but they were one in a million."


    "And how many of them buried friends and family that were taken because of their heroism."


    Neither said anything.


    No hero hadn''t tasted tragedy.


    Even though they agreed with me and understood my fear and concern, I could see that my words would not dissuade them. The odds were against them ever finding happiness.


    A hero never knows peace. A hero gives and gives and gives and gives.


    Eventually, they have nothing left to give.


    "You know that we cannot stop," Diana said softly, intertwining her fingers with mine. "We would not be able to forgive ourselves if we did, and we would not be the women you fell in love with either."


    Despite all that, they would continue to do what they thought was right.


    That is what it means to be a hero.


    I sincerely admire people like that.


    I could never be a hero.


    "I wasn''t trying to get you to stop," I said, rubbing my thumb against the back of her hand. "I just want you guys to understand the risks. Understand that I can never be a hero."


    "What of those you aided during your travels?" Artoria asked, sitting on my other side. "Emma has told us what you did to help the natives of those lands. Those were not the actions of a selfish man."


    "The inconvenience was worth the satisfaction of getting them their happy ending," I shrugged my shoulders. "All it cost me was time, which I had in an infinite supply, and a bit of pain. No great cost. If I had thought that helping them would cause me to go hollow or prevent me from escaping, I would not have done so. It is easy to be generous when you are rich."


    "But it isn''t," Diana shook her head. "Just because one is wealthy does not mean they will share with those less fortunate. I have seen billionaires spare not a cent for a begar. You help when you can. That is more than most."


    "You care," Artoria emphasized. "For us. For the Family. For a cat you could have left behind. For people you could have ignored but chose to help anyway. For worlds that were not your own. When I call you Sir Mikael and say I would welcome you as one of my finest Knights, it is not because you are a hero. It is not because of your strength of arms. It is your humanity. After all you have gone through, all the suffering, hardship and loss, you retained your humanity. You still care."


    "What this family needs is not another hero," Diana continued. "We do not need a dragon, a god, or even a leader. What we need is someone who cares. Someone we can turn to for aid. Someone we can lean on and who will hold us when we come home. We did not fall in love with Mikael the Dragon. Or the Elden Lord. I fell in love with a man. A flawed, scared but good man."


    "Trust us to be heroes. Trust us to come home to you," Artoria finally said. "And we will trust you to fight for our happy ending."


    "Then work with me," I hated how much my words sounded like a plea. "No more going off half-cocked. You don''t need to call me every two-bit burglar, but if you think there is even a little threat to your lives, I want you to call me."


    "I can agree to communicate more, but that seems excessive," Diana frowned.


    "It isn''t," I denied plainly. "Don''t get me wrong. You two can take care of yourselves. You can kick my ass up and down the Island all day, and all I can do to stop it is blow up the Island itself. It is precisely that reason I want you to call me. If I can''t help you, then I''ll be able to summon someone who can. Even if all I can do is channel my power to you, anybody who can threaten you is someone we should face as a family."


    "Very well," Artoria nodded. "Even if only for your peace of mind, I can promise to try and reach out if I feel at risk. I might only sometimes be able to, depending on the circumstance, but I shall make an attempt." Diana nodded as well, though a bit more begrudgingly.


    "Good," I said with finality as I stood up. The conversation hadn''t gone as planned, just like everything else today, but that promise was the main thing I wanted out of this conversation. If they were going to be heroes, I needed to minimize what risks I could and being informed as fast as possible was the best way to do that. "Now, if you''ll excuse me, I need a shower and a change. I have a hot date with the rest of the family, and I''m sure you two have your own plans."


    I left them to talk in that living room.


    I didn''t find the situation ideal, but we were at a point where I could live with it.


    If I ever found out they didn''t call me or were truly at risk, I would summon them away from danger.


    Innocent lives or other heroes be damned.


    I wasn''t losing anyone ever again.

 Furlough 3

    <div>


    Looking for something


    We can rely on


    There''s gotta be something better out there


    Love and compassion


    Their day is coming


    All else are castles built in the air


    And I wonder when we are ever gonna change


    Living under the fear ''til nothing else remains


    All the children say


    We don''t need another hero


    We don''t need to know the way home


    All we want is life beyond


    The Thunderdome


    ********


    "How did you know?" Raven asked in her familiar monotone, even as I made out with her inner demon.


    "I''m honestly embarrassed how long it took me to realize what was going on," I admitted as I pulled away from Pride.


    "Mmmmggg."


    Not before lighting up every one of her nerve endings with pleasure.


    My Life Element and Sticky Fingers synergized to give me a few tricks that most others lacked. Something like this, commanding an orgasm at will, wasn''t something I did lightly as it had left even Artoria half-mad with pleasure and too over-sensitive to continue. Combine it with my inexhaustible trait, and I could provide infinite pleasure with just a touch.


    When I had told Medea I could mind-break Aphrodite, I hadn''t been exaggerating. With the ability to provide pleasure or pain directly and Sticky Fingers'' instinctual knowledge of body language, it wasn''t a question of if but when someone would give in to my touch.


    Was it petty of me to do that to poor Pride because she had given me a scare?


    Yes. Yes, it was.


    "If I were her," I continued even as I held Pride''s shuddering body close to me. "The first words out of my mouth would have been something like, ''stay still and don''t do anything.'' The fact that a demon, especially one with as much pride as her, did not try and lord her control over me should have been all I needed to know. It wasn''t that she didn''t want to. It was that she couldn''t. Not without her Orders being rescinded."


    "Then what tipped you off?"


    "She could sense my emotions, so she had to be you, or at least a part of you. You would have been freed when we kissed if it was a possession. Then I remembered how emotive you are when in my shadow."


    I looked around the pitch-black space we were in, noting how some parts seemed darker than others now that I had time to get a good look.


    "This is your inner world, right?" I asked. "That''s why you stay in shadow dragon form all the time. You can be in your inner world while still retaining control and using your powers in the outer world?"


    "It is not," she shook her head slightly. Pride started to stir in my arms. "Are you familiar with Jungian psychology? Emotions, personas, masks, shadows. By embracing my Element, I can seperate myself from them all and let them loose while retaining control of my powers. But we are still connected. Separate yet connected. One individual, yet distinct. The control I have always wanted. It also allows us to multi-task and watch over multiple members of the Family."


    "Same difference," I rolled my eyes at the correction. "Besides, Freudian and Jungian psychology has largely been disproven." Raven simply raised an eyebrow before looking at the demon in my arms. "Fair enough, you are a special case. If this is Pride, your demonic side, where are the others? I assume it''s more than just you two?"


    "You are mine!" Pride snarled, finally cognizant again and shaking off my hands to stand on her own. She grabbed my shirt, tugging me down to look at her. I''m sure it was a coincidence that it also allowed her to steady her still-wobbly legs. "Love, Knowledge, Happiness, and the others can only have you when I am done! You. Are. Mine!"


    "Sure, sure," I patted her on the head gently. Angry/possessive Raven was so cute. While I did, I looked at the Raven I was more familiar with for more clarification.


    "Pride isn''t an emotional persona," Raven explained simply. "She is the manifestation of our Demonic side. All of it. She wanted to talk to you first, get you on her side. She''s the one who pulled you in while you were travelling. I thought it was a dumb idea to leave her alone. Here we are."


    "Hey!"


    "So, what does she want?" I asked, still ignoring the growling demoness. Her face was red again, though it wasn''t from arousal this time. Her temper was about to erupt, but I wanted to pinch those cheeks.


    Her face too.


    "She has this hair-brained idea to-" Raven''s words were cut off by Mt. Pride blowing up.


    "Stop ignoring me!"


    Compelled by her Order, I focused on Pride with my complete attention.


    "Oh?" I asked softly. "Go on. What were you going to say?"


    For some reason, both women took a step away from me.


    "You are free," a tiny voice said from my shoulder.


    Turning slightly and looking down, I saw a tiny Raven, wearing a pink cloak, waiving up at me with a big smile on her lips.


    "Hi," she chirped before standing on her tiptoes to peck me on the chin.


    Then she was gone in a swirl of pink cloth.


    "I''m guessing that was Happiness?" I asked rhetorically to Raven, who nodded. Turning to Pride, I met her still wide eyes.


    I sighed.


    I had no one to blame except myself, but seriously, my big-tiddy-goth-demon-wife cannot be this cute.


    "Sorry. I took the teasing too far. Can you forgive me?" I spoke kindly.


    "Of- of course," she stuttered, recovering as her eyes narrowed at me. "So long as you recognize your fault, I can allow MY monster some leeway."


    "That is very gracious of you," I said seriously, fighting to keep the smile off my face. "Now, what were you going to say?"


    "You are aware today is the 25th of October." It was a statement, not a question. With her pride appropriately acknowledged, the demon was more than happy to exposit. I didn''t point out it was the 26th in Australia. Where I was supposed to be. "Our birthday is on the 30th."


    "I am aware," I nodded, haven taken the time to note down any important dates for the women. The basics of being a husband is remembering birthdays, holidays, and anniversaries. It was easy since I just wrote them into my phone. "I was planning on spending the day with you. Making a day of it, you know. I think I have a good gift idea, too."


    "You don''t need to," Raven said, her pale cheeks flushed. Even if her voice was the same calm intonation as always, she was way more expressive in this shadow world.


    She might have more control now, but she was still the same woman. It was honestly sad that the mere act of remembering her birthday was enough to make her this embarrassed.


    "He needs to!" Pride declared, contradicting herself and holding out her hand as if I would be carrying her gift for her right now.


    I met her eyes and raised a brow.


    She lowered her hand and continued on shamelessly.


    "My date of birth holds significance to not only myself but the world as a whole. I was created as a portal for Trigon to invade other dimensions." I nodded, aware of the prophecy about her birth from comics and TV shows. "In my home world, we repelled him, and the prophecy went unfulfilled. He tried various other means to encroach upon the earth, but through our efforts, he never got as close as he did to victory as our eighteenth birthday."


    "Sure," I said, indicating I was following along.


    "It is nearing our birthday, and Trigon approaches once more." Pride declared, looking triumphant.


    "For you? Or for the local Raven?" I asked. Depending on the answer, I could take two very different responses. If it was the Raven in front of me, I could bring her to space and go ''Nom Nom.'' Trigon might be DC Satan, but I can take him with the rest of the Family so long as I wasn''t in his dimension, the seat of his power. "I thought she was too old. She''s part of the Protectorate. When I checked up on her, she was a bit younger than you but still older than eighteen. Didn''t Trigon already try and take her over?"


    "What you might not be aware of," Raven explained for Pride, "Is that it wasn''t the exact birthday that was important but when I reached ''adulthood.'' Like Diana, I have experience with other versions of myself, and sometimes that age varies. In my home, it was eighteen. In others, sixteen. In this one, it is twenty-one. This year."


    "How can you tell?"


    "We can sense him," Pride said. "He holds no sway over us, but we are still familiar with his power. His influence. We, too, investigated our local equivalent, and she reeks of his power. She has five days before he tears a hole in reality through her and consumes this world as he has so many others."


    "If Dr. Fate, the Sorcerer Supreme, or any dozen other powerful heroes do not stop him," I pointed out. "His track record isn''t the best. We alert them, they fight, and we eat popcorn. Or better yet, you teleport me to San Fransisco, I poke local Raven, Free her of his influence, and we all go get tacos."


    "No." Raven shook her head, though I saw an upward lip curve.


    "No tacos?" I asked.


    "No stopping him." Pride clarified with a malicious smirk. "We are going to let him invade. In fact, we are going to make sure he succeeds."


    ********


    "Do you have a moment to talk?" Diana asked softly, knocking gently on the doorframe to announce her presence.


    "I can talk while I work," Medea said, not pausing from her sowing and only looking up briefly. "What can I help you with this early in the morning?"


    Strictly speaking, none of those bound needed sleep thanks to the benefits of the Catalogue. It helped with all the international travel they did, lowering the problems with jet lag or time zone problems. Most still took the chance for rest when night fell, but it wasn''t rare for one or more of them to pass multiple days without returning to their rooms.


    Medea was the most egregious offender, often staying up for over a week with her various projects and hobbies or locking herself in her workshop when inspiration took her.


    Diana, on the other hand, liked her sleep.


    She rose pretty early, usually around sunrise, but her long habit of getting sleep when she could as a heroine had carried over even after a year on the Island.


    Which made this meeting, right before the sun rose and only half an hour after the witch had returned from Australia, a bit of an odd occurrence.


    "What are you working on?" Diana asked rather than explain her presence.


    "Hm? Oh, I am working on a dress for Ranni. She was looking for something more modern than her robes and liked what I had made for the others. Hehehehe, she''s like Artoria. All stoic and placid. I can''t wait to see her in this. Hehehehe."


    For a moment, Diana appreciated the surrealness of the situation.


    Here was Medea, Witch of Betrayal and niece to Circe, one of her most dangerous foes, giggling perversely while weaving a dress for another woman. A goddess who they both shared a husband with.


    The reminder of Mikael shook Diana from her thoughts.


    "I take it that your evening went well then?"


    "It was wonderful," Medea sighed wistfully, pausing in her work to stare off into space in reminiscence. "The play was great, a modern comedy, but once it was over, he took us dancing. I had no idea modern dances could be so... intimate. It was magical." Medea paused in silence for a long second before shaking her head and returning to work with a rueful chuckle. "It seems Mikael''s bad humour is contagious. Anyway, a few people recognized us after the whole thing with Doomsday, but the news hadn''t completely spread since it hadn''t even been a day. We got some odd looks, as was to be expected with our large group, but went largely unbothered. It will be a long time before we can do something like that again without disguises or spells."


    "Sorry." The amazon apologized more for the inconvenience than genuine regret. She still stood by her actions in saving the local heroes, but she was sorry about the problems it was causing the others.


    "Don''t worry about it," her fellow greek shook her head. "Our images were already out there, and we planned to meet the heroes today anyway. All you did was change the venue and circumstances. But I doubt you are here to make small talk about our date. So, I''ll ask again, what can I do for you, Diana?"


    "It is about Mikael," Wonder Woman explained. "We had an argument. One that is bothering me, and I am not sure why."


    And so the amazon explained the situation of her and Artoria''s decision to help the heroes, their talk with Mikael upon returning and the argument that followed. She carefully tried to explain his words as precisely as she remembered them as well as their side.


    "What do you want me to say?" Medea asked once Diana had finished, setting aside her work and giving the amazon her full attention. "I agree with him. You two should have contacted us."


    "That is not the issue I am facing. Looking back, I can agree we were too hasty and going forward, I have no problem asking for help or being careful. It is just..." Diana paused, struggling to put her feelings into words. "I don''t know. Something about that conversation is bothering me. Artoria isn''t used to being the one that asks for help. That is where her issue resides. She was always the one whom people turned to. She was always the King. It will be a while before she reconciles having others as strong or stronger than her on which to rely. She will get used to it, but it will take time."


    "Makes sense. As much as I love that woman, she can be very prideful. Just like her lion. Most of the time, it''s cute."


    "But I have worked with teams before." Diana continued, getting to the heart of her problem. "I have called for help when over my head. I can even admit that Mikael was right to chastise us. But something is still bugging me. I do not know why his words were so... disheartening to hear."


    "And you came to me?" Medea raised an eyebrow in question.


    "You are the one who knows Mikael best." One raised eyebrow became two. "Even if we disregard the fact he named his cat after you and that you both share a love of magic, you both were in similar situations with regards to relationship and mindset."


    "I don''t think anyone''s ever been in the same relationship we are now," Medea giggled.


    "Maybe not the exact same," Diana had to concede that point. "But you cannot deny the similarities in both of your approaches. Caution, preparation, planning, and even manipulation. You think like him, though I hope you don''t take offence when I say he is the more heroic of you two." Medea nodded in agreement, conceding her own less-than-stellar moral compass. "Besides, Artoria speaks well of the advice you have provided her regarding her relationship with him. I was hoping your input could shed some light on what about that argument has kept me up all night."


    "I don''t think I should be playing love doctor, given my own past," Medea said with a wry smile. "Still, I can try and help. You said it wasn''t his request for you all to call for help that was the problem? Was it his willingness to let others die?"


    "No," Diana shook her head. "Or at least, I don''t think so. While I would not have put it so bluntly as he did, there have been times when I have had to make hard choices in my career. Sacrifice the few to save the many. I also don''t believe that preferring to keep one''s family safe over strangers is a problem, either. It is not what a hero would do, but, as he often stresses, Mikael is not a hero. I also don''t expect him to be. Nor am I so suicidal that I will sacrifice my life for a conflict with no benefit, even if I can return with Warranty."


    "So it is not his request to call for help. Not his choice of family over heroics. Nor is it his concern for your self-sacrificial nature." Medea counted off the various possibilities on her fingers. "I''ll be honest, besides those points, I don''t know what else you could be having a problem with."


    "I don''t either. That is what is bugging me. If I knew what the problem was, I could address it." Wonder Woman wasn''t one for dramatics. More often than not, acting as a moderating voice in their household with such diverse personalities, but after hours of tossing around in bed and turning the problem over in her mind, she was close to pulling her hair out in frustration. "While I never married as you did, I have been in enough relationships to know that talking with Mikael would be the best way to stop resentment building up. But I can''t. Until I know what is causing my frustration, its source, any discussion we have will end in another argument."


    "Maybe we are approaching this the wrong way," Medea said with her head tilted in thought. "Rather than look at the argument, let us look at the situation as a whole. Pull back from the trees to see the forest."


    "What do you mean?"


    "Why do you like Mikael?"


    "Pardon?"


    "What attracted you to him in the first place," Medea explained. "For example, I fell in love with him because he had the opportunity to do to us what Aphrodite did to me, but he refused. From there, we spent time together, and things fell into place."


    "Isn''t that the same for all of us?"


    "Right, I don''t know about all the others, but I do know Artoria fell for him because of his chivalric treatment of us despite the bad situation he was in. Yoruichi likes him because their personalities complement each other. Teasing, playful, and a bit sadistic. Like a pair of cats, really. Scathach was saved from living alone forever, gets all the fights she wants, and has many new things to experience. She also really enjoyed training him."


    "He has come a long way as a warrior," Diana acknowledged.


    "Some of his traits that are good points to one of us might be demerits to others." Medea continued. "Yoruichi likes his playfulness, but Glynda wishes he would be more serious. I appreciate his caution, but Tsunade desires he would be more direct. Robin likes his passion for learning and his love of history, but Yoruichi gets bored when he spends hours reading. I''m sure you appreciate how delicately he has handled his interactions with the heroes of this world, trying not to make any enemies. But Emma is frustrated by how passive he is being."


    "Ranni would like him to act more kingly, but Robin shares his sense of humour," Diana nodded, understanding where Medea was going with it. "You and I can be friends even though we disagree on the subject of the gods. You think it is something similar. I am having a problem with him, not the situation or his request for more caution."


    "We disagree on the subject of the gods because you don''t see them for the scum that they are," Medea retorted, but there was no heat to her voice, so Diana let it slide. "But yes, if we can find out what you like about him, I think we can figure out what is causing this... frustration you are having with him. The lures and Dragon Aura are only add-ons. They cannot create attraction and emotions, only enhance them. Mikael is not perfect. None of us are. There are parts you like and parts you don''t. What are they?"


    "I would say my tastes are similar to Artoria''s," Diana said after some thought. "I also admired how he treated us. We were living a life of luxury while he was suffering. Too many people would lash out at others in that situation, but he didn''t. While his distrust of us and his paranoia were not something I agree with, I can understand them now that I know the whole situation. Even at his lowest, after I confronted him about our plan to use your Noble Phantasm, all he did was use Command Seals to prevent us from ordering him. Not only did he continue to treat us kindly, he still helped others. While we were teasing him and painting a picture for the locals earlier today, there is no denying his actions have made him a hero, at least in my eyes. And his dedication to our Family, to ensuring everyone is happy and that we are safe and cared for, is something I wholeheartedly admire."


    The author''s narrative has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.


    "Ok, that is what you like about him. Now, what do you not like?"


    "I do not like his stance on the gods," Diana responded after a moment. "I understand where it is coming from, and like yours, I can live with that. My gods are not yours, even if they share the same names. I also agree with Glynda that his tendency for humour in serious situations can be grating, as is his paranoia. Neither of those is a serious problem, though. Barry and Bruce had those same traits. His apathy is of more serious concern, but, as I said, his actions have proven that if he can, he will help his fellow man even if it inconveniences him."


    "I am hearing a lot of back and forth here," Medea added. "All your complaints are tempered and qualified. What do you absolutely hate about him? Something that gets on your nerves every time. For me, it is his puns. Whenever he makes one, I just want to curse his mouth shut. And he even has me doing it."


    "Hate? Nothing springs to mind. I do not like how self-deprecating he is. Nor how he likes to flaunt his knowledge. He can be a bit of a hypocrite, too." Diana really tried to think, but nothing conjured the same frustration she felt after last night''s argument. "But these are all small peeves, things I can live with but nothing I absolutely despise."


    There was a long minute of silence as they tried to think about things they absolutely despised about the man, but it was hard.


    Certainly, the lures, dragon aura, and other aspects of the Catalogue helped smooth over the edges, but, as a general rule, it was hard to hate a man who went out of his way to ensure they were as happy and cared for as they were.


    More often than not, Diana''s main problems in relationships were due to her status as a superheroine. Either her partner was endangered by her presence, felt threatened by her superior abilities, were jealous of her closeness to her comrades, or resented the lack of time spent together due to her frequent need to be on call in an emergency.


    None of that was a problem with the current relationship. Not only had Mikael stated his support for her endeavours, but he had also put his money where his mouth was. Though he disagreed with her actions with Doomsday, he had still gone out of his way to set up a situation where she could return to being a heroine and spend time with the local versions of her friends.


    Hell, even her open bisexuality, which was often a sticking point for both men and women she had dated in the past, hadn''t been a problem.


    While Mikael wasn''t what Diana thought of when she thought of her ideal man, there was no denying he was a better partner than most she had tried to date in the past.


    So, if she was happy with their current relationship, why was the argument last night bugging her so much.


    "We''ve been going in circles here," Medea huffed in frustration.


    "So you see my problem," Diana responded with a wry smile.


    "By the way, while we''re on the subject, I''ve always been curious about what finally did it."


    "Did what?"


    "Tipped you over the edge." Diana continued to look at her blankly, so Medea gave more context. "Emma once said you were the last of us to fall in love with him. You resisted the urge for half a year and only ''gave in'' near the end of his third world. When was the moment you told yourself, ''this is the man for me!'' What finally pushed you over the edge?"


    "His conviction."


    As soon as the last syllable left her lips, Diana froze.


    Maybe it was because they had spent the last few minutes delving into Diana''s feelings, both good and bad, but the words came out of her mouth without conscious thought.


    "I never realized," she said, eyes wide. "What I look for in a partner, I mean. Male or female, I find myself attracted to people with conviction. I have seen some of the most attractive people of each sex, the smartest, the strongest, or even the most moral and none of those guarantees I''ll become emotionally attached. While those are important to me, as they are to everyone, I think it has only been those with strong convictions I have fallen in love with. Looking back, conviction tends to overlap with other desirable traits, and I''ve missed it all these years."


    "Conviction?" Medea murmured to herself with a frown, eyebrows creased in thought.


    Diana was on a roll, though.


    "It was what first drew me to Steve Trevor. His conviction in fighting the Nazis and going to war despite his weakness compared to us Amazons was what first drew me from the Thymescria. From there, despite my occasional flings, the ones who stick with me are those who are firm in who they are. Bruce, in his relentless pursuit of justice, Clark in his quest to inspire others, Trevor and his fight for civil rights. Have you ever heard Artoria talk about her ideals? It is an experience. Even Mala, my first crush, was firm in her convictions against Man''s World."


    "Mikael''s conviction?" Medea half asked, eyes still distant and mouth turned upside down. She looked to be in deep thought and not happy about it.


    "When I reflect on my time with him, two moments stick out to me. Early on, I found some of his traits admirable, but I never thought of him in a romantic light. I understood his attraction to some of you on an intellectual level but not on an emotional one. Then I met him before his fight with Gwyn. Before then, I had seen him grow more skilled and deadly, and more than one of you had expressed romantic interest. I supported Artoria''s bid for his affections and urged him not to leave him behind. I thought it too sad for that love to never have a chance to blossom. I also called him out on delaying things, of not rushing to the final confrontation. I practically called him a coward. He admitted, to my face, that he was scared. He was afraid that killing Gwyn would only be the start and there would be other worlds afterwards."


    "He was right."


    "He was, but that isn''t what sticks out to me. When I think about that conversation, the part that sticks out is the image of him walking away. He walked to a fight he knew he would win but was scared to face the consequences. But he walked forward. A good man who knew nothing of war and had been beaten down by the cruelties of a new world was fighting for his freedom despite his fear. That was the first time I was certain he would be Free, no matter what stood in his way. Be they gods or men."


    "That wasn''t when you fell in love," Medea denied. "That was too early."


    "It wasn''t, but it was the first time I found him truly attractive and could see myself with him." Diana smiled sadly. That conversation in the Kiln was a mixed blessing, looking back. "We didn''t know the extent of his situation. His death and revival. The length he spent in each world, and the real challenges he faced. He hid them from us all but Emma then. Had I known, I might have fallen then, understanding his true conviction. Instead, I fell in love when I confronted him about our plan to free Emma. I told him to his face that either he released her of control or we would. I blackmailed him, essentially."


    "And you fell in love with him for that?" Diana couldn''t help but smile at the witch''s disbelieving look.


    "I fell in love with him because he stood up to me," she explained. "I was blackmailing him. There are no two ways about it. It was not my proudest moment, but I still feel it was necessary for Artoria to have an honest relationship with him. And what did he do? He explained his situation in gruesome detail. His fears and how easy it would be to circumvent them if he was willing to compromise our free will with his command. He called us his wardens, the chains around his neck. I didn''t know he was being literal at the time, but he left little room for doubt about his fear. Despite all those claims and the reasons he had to enslave us to his will, when I met his eyes and saw how terrified he was yet still so firm, I did not feel even an ounce of fear for my freedom. That was the moment I knew he was a man who would never back down from who he was and what he believed in. That was the moment I fell in love."


    There was a beat of silence after Diana''s declaration.


    "I know what your problem is," Medea eventually said. It didn''t look like the words brought her any pleasure. In fact, it looked like she had swallowed a lemon.


    "Really?" Diana asked, surprised she could draw a conclusion from her recounting. "What is it?"


    "Mikael isn''t who you think he is." Every word out of her fellow greek''s mouth was deliberate as if she wasn''t sure she should say them. "Mikael is... Jason."


    One only needed to hear the sheer venom put into the last name to know Medea was speaking of her ex-husband.


    "While I am frustrated with Mikael, there is no need to insult him such," Diana frowned at her friend, a bit disappointed she would stoop so low.


    "I am being serious," Medea emphasized. "I am not insulting Mikael, just pointing out a realization I just had."


    "I fail to see how that is anything less the vilest insult you could utter. You have made no secret of your hatred for your ex-husband."


    "What I feel for that man and Aphrodite goes well beyond hatred," Medea snarled. The rancour in her voice shocked even Diana, who thought she understood the woman''s feelings. "The other gods had a hand in my fate, and I hate them for it, but what I feel for those two goes well beyond that. I was cursed to fall in love with a man I had never even laid eyes on. They raped me in every conceivable way, physical and spiritual. They made me kill my brother, who I loved dearly. They made me drive my father to suicide. They used me for years. The Argo would have sunk at the first stop without me. That man received all the acclaim while I was vilified for my actions despite doing them at his command. I was the one who saved the argonauts, but I was the witch, not the hero.


    Despite all that, all that had been inflicted on me, I would have continued to live a ''happy life,'' still cursed to love the fool. But when my use was up? They tossed me aside like trash. If I could inflict every torment, torture, every bit of pain this world and others have upon those two, I would do it with a smile. So when I compare the man I love to the one I despise with every fibre of my soul, you would do well to take my words to heart, Diana, Champion of the Gods!"


    It was easy to forget sometimes, with how she acted, that Medea was a woman who had carved her name into legend through blood, magic, and betrayal.


    Beneath the facade of the housewife who liked to cook, sow, go dancing and make dioramas was a vengeful Witch who had once sailed the seas with the greatest heroes the greek world had ever seen. Even Heracles, the Dioscuri, Caenus, Meleager, and dozens of others could attribute part of their survival and fame to the woman glaring up at her.


    As someone who often saw the more misogynist side of history, especially in the first few decades after leaving Thymescria, Diana should have remembered that women were just as dangerous as men.


    "I am sorry. I did not mean to belittle your words nor your insight, Medea, Princess of Colchis," Diana apologized, using her full title to show her sincerity. "Especially not when I sought out your council and aid. However, like you, I do not find the captain of the Argo to be a good example and comparing him to our husband is not a flattering thing to say. I merely wished for an explanation."


    Medea took a deep breath as she retook her seat.


    "I will accept your apology Diana of Thymescria, if you will accept mine. The subject is a touchy one for me, but that is no excuse to lash out."


    "Accepted and forgiven," Diana said with a smile that Medea returned wanly.


    "What I meant when I said Mikael is not who you think he is and that he is like... that man is not to denigrate him. Nor am I saying he lacks the conviction you find admirable in him. The problem you are having and your misunderstanding of the man is in the nature of said conviction. You said he and I share a mindset, and I will acknowledge there is some truth to that, but you are mistaken about something. You, I, or anyone in this Family, bar Mikael grew up with power. Whether that came from supernatural abilities, riches, positions of influence or all three, we all had power in some way. Mikael did not, and that has shaped his conviction."


    "Explain."


    "I am not denigrating any of our struggles. I trained, studied, fought and learned to get to where I am, as did we all, but our starting points differed. Even the most unfortunate of us had things that set us above the common rabble. Make no mistake, my ex-husband was a hero in the classical sense, if not the moral one. One could argue he was the greatest greek hero. He did not have the mind of Odysseus, the strength of Heracles, or the skills of Achilles. He was lacking in every way compared to every other greek hero you could name. And yet, it was he alone who could bring so many disparate heroes together and lead them. Do you know why?"


    "Why?" Diana couldn''t help but ask, riveted by this rare positive look into a man so despised by his ex-wife.


    "Because there was no low he would not sink to," Medea said. "If he had to have the god''s mind control a woman to love him, then he did. If he had to kill, betray, ambush, poison, rob, or even commit genocide upon a township, he would. Running away from a fight wasn''t just a last option. It was an equally appealing one to fighting in the first place. Anything at all was permissible in the name of his goal. Mikael became like him, not through character but through necessity."


    "That does not sound like Mikael at all."


    "The difference," Medea emphasized the last word. "Is in their goals. For... that man, the goal was always protecting his life. For Mikael, WE are the goal. Or at least we are now."


    "It was his Freedom," Diana said with realization. "But now that he has that, it is the Family. And he will stop at nothing to protect it."


    "Exactly," Medea nodded. "It was more evident in his first worlds when he wasn''t as skilled or powerful. He would use anything he could to win. Arrows from a distance, pyromancies, traps, and poison. Ranni told me his favourite tactic was to pretend to die, go invisible, and stab people in the back when they let their guard down. As he grew stronger, he fought more ''fairly'' but never forgot where he came from. Only once did he forgo dirty tricks when honest means failed, and that was when he was in the throes of grief for Melina. Even then, he triumphed eventually. It is easy to show conviction in the face of death when death isn''t permanent. He fights not as a god, dragon, or hero but as a human. And humans are really good at running away."


    "But he is a dragon," Diana argued despite herself. "He has all the power he could ever need. Mikael is millions of years old! He can help so many people. He shouldn''t be so quick to run away!"


    It took only a second of looking at Medea''s smirk to realize she had shouted that last part.


    "There it is," the witch said. "That is what is bothering you. Not asking for his help or even being more cautious. It is the fact someone whose conviction you admired and fell in love with seems to have regressed and become a coward. He can no longer stay firm in his beliefs and will run when things get dangerous. And he is urging you to do the same."


    "I don''t think he is a coward," Diana repeated. She honestly didn''t. Definity cautious, even paranoid, but not craven.


    You could not call a man who went through all he did and rose above it a coward.


    At the same time, she couldn''t deny that the witch''s words contained a ring of truth.


    "But he sounded like one last night, didn''t he? What else do you call a man who asks you to run away at the first sign of danger? He would argue running away and ''cowardly'' tactics are good sense, and we might even agree, but that isn''t how it sounds, does it? Both of those scenes you told me about featured a man facing his fear, standing up to figures of power," Medea said, retaking her seat with her fabric. "And that is what I meant when I told you you were mistaken about Mikael. Looking from the outside, he is a coward. He will run from a fight if he can''t win it. He is overly cautious and worried about situations that will never happen. He would be more than willing to let hundreds of thousands die if it brought him more information on a dangerous foe. Then he would poison, weaken, and backstab that foe rather than face it in honourable combat.


    But at the same time, he has conviction. A conviction to win, no matter the cost. If any of us were in any danger, he would do absolutely anything at all to see us home safe and sound. He wouldn''t just let other people die for us. He would wield the blade and torch. We are his goal. His bottom line. I am curious to know how he has managed to keep acting so human as he does despite passing millions of years as a dragon and eldritch being. Despite everything, I know this; now that he has his happy ending, he is unwilling to risk losing it. So the question is: can you love a coward with conviction?"


    It was a testament to how serious this conversation was and Diana''s desire to be true to herself that she took a deep look at her own feelings then.


    She had been in relationships before. Sometimes, what people presented themselves as was different from what they truly were deep down. It wasn''t rare for people to pretend to be moral to get close to Wonder Woman. They all slipped eventually, their mask cracking to show who they were at their core.


    Last night''s argument had unsettled her because it seemed Mikael was another example of such a character. Her belief in who he was had been shaken by this new aspect of his personality that she had never had to confront before.


    Was this revelation a deal breaker?


    Is Mikael still the man she fell in love with?


    Can she love a coward with conviction?


    "I can," Diana said to herself and the witch in realization. "I do. I can live with a man who is cautious or even cowardly if he is a good man and, when the time comes for him to draw his line in the sand, he stands firm with what convictions he has."


    "You better hope that day never comes," Medea said, already back to work on the frilly dress she was weaving with her magic. "The day he needs to show you his conviction is the day he sheds his veneer of humanity. I do not know how or why he has kept it this long, but I do not want him to lose it."


    "What about you?" Diana couldn''t help but ask. "You just compared him to your ex-husband, someone you revile. Can you love a man like that?"


    "Hm? Oh, I don''t mind. The comparison is distasteful, to say the least, but Mikael''s combat style does not bother me. It''s a difference in priorities, I guess. If he was like that man in any other way, I would definitely have a problem." Pausing in her needlework, Medea looked up and met the amazon''s eyes. "Still, I am glad we had this talk, even if it pointed out a part of him I am not fond of. Take it from me; you do not want to be blindly in love. That is not a good thing. You had a concern, you talked to someone about it, and I was able to help you out. That is really all we can do."


    "But Mikael is so accepting," Diana frowned. "Now that I know what bothered me, I can revaluate that argument. We were rather harsh. I cannot help but feel I am taking advantage of him. All he was doing was worrying for our sake. After he went out of his way to aid us as well."


    "You are forgetting that Mikael has observed us for our entire time on the Island," Medea said with a chuckle. "He might not know everything about us, but we have only had less than a month of regular contact with him. Less than a week since he has gotten his body back. We have time."


    "Perhaps Artoria and I should do something nice for him?" Diana asked herself and the witch. "To show there were no hard feelings if nothing else."


    "Good luck," Medea responded with a grumble. "I have been trying to think of a gift for last night, but I''ve been coming up blank. I wasn''t kidding when I said he is living his happy ending. He will always worry about us, about the situation, and about everything, really. That is just who he is. But neither Ranni, Melina, nor I have ever seen him as happy as he has been since regaining his body. Raven tells me that every time he goes flying, he looks deranged from the wide smile on his face."


    "I will think on it and let you know if I have a good idea," Diana shook her head and stood from her seat. "Thank you for your help. I really appreciate it."


    "No problem. What are friends for? Wives? Sister-wives? Whatever. What is Family for?"


    As Medea returned to her work, Diana left feeling more sure of herself than when she entered the room.


    Truly, Artoria was right when she called Medea her general in the war of love.


    ********


    "Have no fear. We are here!" I declared grandly as I stepped from the swirling portal of shadow.


    Shit, one of these days, I will have to find out what this world has in terms of Anime. Leviathan hadn''t sunk part of Japan, so they had to have something, right?


    I don''t need a lot, just Jojo.


    It was 2018, but I am okay with waiting a few years for the end of Stone Ocean and seeing Steel Ball Run animated.


    Please, Lord Dio?


    I will say 10 hail Mudas in your honour if you exist in this world.


    "Welcome to PRT south by southeast," Nightwing said, holding out his hand. "Otherwise known as the Teen Titans."


    The fact he responded so lamely to my All Might-style arrival did not speak well of my chances for Jojo.


    "It is a pleasure to me you," Glynda said as she shook his hand. I took it in turn, but there was something I had to ask.


    "How did you get that name? You aren''t anywhere near a teenager, and neither is your team." I was genuinely curious as I couldn''t find out online. There were a lot of theories, but there was no definite answer.


    "It''s standard practice for larger Protectorate teams to get their nicknames," Nightwing explained with a charming smile to all three of us. He was in uniform, so his eyes were hidden by a domino mask, but it couldn''t hide his emotions. "Avengers in New York, Ultraforce in Arkansas, Thunderforce in Florida, and so on. This team was originally supposed to be called the Titans, after the shape of our building. Since most of us were pretty young when we founded it, and many were known as former sidekicks, some news reporters jokingly referred to us as the Teen Titans. The name stuck even as our team grew."


    "And where is the rest of your team?" Scathach asked, looking around the almost empty lobby.


    Almost empty.


    We sent Artoria and Diana off to brunch with the locals, asking them to let them know we''d be stopping by the Titan Tower around noon local time. Plenty of time to prepare.


    I love having the power to arbitrarily decide things like that. I got a good chuckle out of the image of them scrambling to formulate a response or try and figure out my goals in this sudden decision to ''train'' a bunch of heroes.


    Even if I liked heroes and was willing to play nice for my wives'' sake, I was still a petty and sadistic man.


    "They''re waiting for us in the training room," Nightwing explained but made no move to lead us there. "I just have a few questions before anything happens."


    "Ask."


    Glynda and I kept quiet and let Scathach take the lead. This was her show.


    "What are you hoping to accomplish here?" Nightwing''s genial smile fell, replaced by a stoic look as he met the gaze of the shorter woman, almost glaring at her with suspicion. "Why the sudden decision to train heroes? And why us?"


    "Since I returned to earth, I have been disappointed by most of the heroes of this world," the celt responded. Her words were insulting, but her tone was a matter of fact. Fire was hot, water was wet, and heroes were disappointing.


    Harsh.


    "I have seen some wondrous abilities, but out of hundreds of ''supers,'' only a handful have even a modicum of skill. Too many rely on their power, whatever it might be that they did not hone it to a fine edge. I despise the wasted potential."


    "Why now?" Nightwing pressed. "And why my team?"


    "Now? Because my husband tells me you are looking for an excuse to spy on us." Credit where it is due, Nightwing did not even blink at the accusation. "Diana also wishes us to make nice with you. By being here now, I have accomplished all our goals. Mikael called it a ''polite fiction that benefits all.'' I care not if you seek to gain an advantage over us, try to find some weakness, or whatever other plot you might have. I am here to see if your team is worth my time. Nothing more, nothing less."


    "And why my team in specific?"


    "I would prefer to start a bit younger, but you are some of the most youthful active combatants. I will make do."


    There was no Ward program in this world. Instead most young heroes went through an apprenticeship program. Someone could apply to the Protectorate to become a sidekick of an active hero. The hero didn''t have to accept, but most did if the applicant had a similar powerset, skills or other factors that might endear the applicant to their desired hero.


    The hero was generally responsible for everything the sidekick did, and there were incentives to make sure they taught them right. Those who broke the law were punished severely to compensate for the extra responsibility. Still, every time one of their protegees joined an accredited team, the teacher got a stipend as the government was always looking to increase the roster of heroes.


    Whether it was the practicality of more heroes, the moral imperative of teaching the youth, the fame of being known as a good teacher, or the monetary reward, one could clearly see the benefits of having a sidekick or two.


    Even those who applied but did not manage an apprenticeship could still find training in institutions dedicated to training people with powers. The Xavier Institute and Protectorate Academy were the most famous in the US.


    It was a hodge-podge system that didn''t satisfy everyone, but it generally worked. Unlike in Worm, where an active force like Cauldron shaped the world a certain way, this one''s power, systems, and institutions had grown organically as needs changed and evolved. It meant this world was less controlled, regulated, and oppressive but more inefficient.


    A tradeoff I actually liked.


    Most of the current roster of the Teen Titans came from that apprenticeship system. Some had only ''graduated'' in the last few years.


    Scathach hadn''t been wrong to say they were the youngest group, as shown by their leader being Nightwing, who was only mid-twenties at best.


    Of course, she also knew the other reasons we were here, but the locals didn''t need to know that.


    "And what will you be teaching?" Nightwing continued to press.


    "How to fight." She said plainly, and I could see how that answer didn''t please the hero by the furrowing of his brow. "You are not my students. I am not your teacher. I am here for a week to see if you have potential and are willing to put forth the effort to nurture it. I will not be teaching you specific techniques or abilities. Nor will I be crafting dedicated regiments. Anything after this week will depend on what you show me. If you impress me, then we will see about teaching more."


    There was a tense moment where Nightwing tried to stare down the celt, but she remained unaffected.


    Nothing scared Scathach except for the prospect of returning to her previous situation in Dun Scath.


    At the end of the day, I considered Scathach the most hardheaded of everyone in the Family. She just rarely showed it due to how taciturn she appeared. But when it came to subjects she cared about, such as teaching and combat, nobody could change her mind.


    "Fine," the former Robin eventually gave in. "We are here to learn about each other, and I will not turn away one of the most renowned teachers of heroes when it could benefit my team. But I will be keeping an eye on you. All of you."


    "Hey, don''t look at me," I said with a smile, raising my hands as if in surrender. "I am just here to look pretty and for emotional support. These two are the ones who''ll be training you all. Think of me as the cheerleader. Teen Titans Go!"


    Nightwing didn''t look amused by my little joke, nor the way I had spread my hands as if holding pom-poms in the shape of a T, but he did turn his attention to Glynda.


    That''s fine.


    I''d get you to laugh before the end of the week.


    Just wait.


    "And you, Ms. Goodwitch?" He asked, not unkindly but still seriously. "I have seen your work, which is impressive, but none of my teammates are telekinetics. Raven can use magic to a similar effect, but that is it. What is your experience with teaching? And can it benefit my team?"


    It said a lot about how much Nightwing cared about his team and that he was taking the time to quiz us for their sake. Not once had he asked about what he would get.


    I''m sure it was a coincidence that it also allowed him to dig for information.


    "Over a decade as the vice-headmistress at the premier combat institution of my home world," Glynda presented her credentials calmly, the expression not shifting from her ''resting teacher face.'' During that time, I was the combat instructor for hundreds of students who all fought in unique styles. Even if their abilities are not similar to my own, I can teach them all the same. And it is Mrs."


    "What type of combat school? Hero? Gladiatorial? Entertainment?" I almost snorted in laughter at the image of Glynda Goodwitch teaching the likes of the WWE, but I managed to keep it to a slight chuckle.


    "The type of school that needed tens of graduates every year ready to fight and die to prevent my race''s extinction from an all-consuming force of evil," Glynda responded just as calmly as before. Still, I was familiar enough with her to hear the tightness of her voice.


    While my situation had sucked thanks to the Company, I never forgot that every one of the ten women summoned had come from ''dead ends.'' For all that I had a shit deal, I still knew my family and friends were safe in my homeworld.


    They had lost everything. Everyone they knew or loved before arriving on the Island was dead and gone. They had died themselves.


    It was one of the reasons I was so supportive of Diana''s bid to connect with the local versions of her friends and family. I would do the same for any of the others.


    Time to change the subject.


    "I have a question of my own," I said, saving the young man from potentially putting his foot in his mouth without realizing it. "A super serious one. A life and death one. I need you to be one hundred percent honest, or it could be the end of the world as we know it."


    "What?" Nightwing asked with a frown.


    "How long has he been standing there?" I jerked a thumb over my shoulder without looking. "I mean, we noticed right away. When you can see in the dark, black clothes in shadows actually stand out more than white clothes during the day. I just need to know how long he has been waiting to come out of the shadows all dramatically. Please tell me it''s been at least an hour."


    Nightwing didn''t even try and hide his chuckle when Batman stepped from a dark corner of the lobby, likely set up that way, with a Bat-scowl firmly in place.


    Forget by the end of the week, I got Nightwing to laugh within ten minutes.


    Man, I am good.

 Furlough 4

    <div>


    In a town without a name, in a heavy downpour


    Thought he passed his own shadow, by the backstage door


    Like a trip through the past, to that day in the rain


    And that one guitar, made his whole life change


    Now he needs to keep on rockin'', he just can''t stop


    Gotta keep on rockin'', that boy has got to stay on top


    ********


    There was an intense silence in the lobby of the Titans Tower.


    On one side, I stood with my Family.


    On the other was the Caped Crusader, the Man with a Plan, DCs very own Deus Ex Machina, the meme-lord himself, Batman.


    You could cut the tension with a knife.


    "...what is he doing?"


    Or, if you are Nightwing, with a whisper.


    Glynda let out a long-suffering sigh.


    "He''s Dio-posing."


    It was all I could do not to laugh at how defeated she sounded when she said the words. As if the mere fact that she could recognize a Jojo reference was enough to make her want to die.


    When I had first landed on Earth, baring spending time with the Family, working with Medea to try and build a body, and flying, I had a lot of time on my hands while the rest of the women went out to verify our knowledge of the world.


    Thankfully, the mansion came equipped with every book, game, or show ever produced up to the time of our joining from our home worlds. This included all the Dark Souls games and Bloodborne.


    The only reason the women of the Family didn''t know about it was that Priscilla was the only one to play video games. Even then, she disliked RPGs and had yet to explore that portion of our game library. In the year she spent on the Island, she hadn''t even made a dent in the fighting games alone, let alone others.


    Even if she had played them, it is not like it would have helped me. I had spent so much time in those worlds I knew them inside and out. Elden Ring would have been the exception, but it had yet to be released by the time of my incarceration and was thus not included in the mansion.


    With all my hobbies available to me and time to kill, what did I do?


    Did I use that free time to rewatch every episode of Jojo''s Bizzare Adventure up to Stone Ocean?


    Yes. Yes, I did.


    Among other things, watching TV together is a great way to spend time with a partner when you want a stress-free day. It can be an excellent way to learn about your partner''s likes and dislikes and lead to more conversation starters later.


    Glynda, Medea, and Priscilla had been the three most often relegated to Baby-Cthulu-sitting duty. The witch was usually engaged with her other hobbies, and most of my time with Priscilla was spent playing multiplayer games. That left Glynda as the woman who spent the most time with me when we would watch TV.


    To be honest, she got the better deal.


    Sure, she watched the entire Jojo series and other shows I was interested in, but I had to sit through her soap operas.


    If I had to sit through one more melodramatic confession of betrayal, cheating partners, long-dead twins, or similar drama for stupid reasons, I would reject my humanity.


    "...how long is this going to go on for?" Nightwing asked in another whisper.


    I didn''t look at him, too busy winning the stare-down with Batman.


    My proudest achievement to date.


    I couldn''t help it.


    I was in a playful mood.


    Yesterday had started as a cluster fuck, but after coming to an agreement with Diana and Artoria, I then went on to spend a night on the town with six incredible women. Capping it off by taking Nico Robin to bed for hours of intense sex.


    It was hard not to feel giddy.


    "If we let him?" Glynda asked rhetorically, sounding absolutely done. "Literally forever."


    "You know, my team is waiting. I thought this would take less time. They aren''t even saying anything. Just staring at each other."


    Nightwing was clearly young. He didn''t understand the battle of wills between the Dark Knight and me.


    Clearly, Bruce needed to teach him better.


    Of course, there is a victor and a loser in all battles.


    "I have had enough of this," Scathach said as she reached up and swatted me on the back, breaking my stare-off with the Bat.


    And my pose.


    In a battle between two men, it is their wives that win.


    Though both wives were mine, I counted it as my win by technicality.


    The best kind of win.


    "Come on." I was not pouting. You were. "He was clearly doing it too. I didn''t even get to make the joke."


    "You can make it later," Scathach said. Neither she nor Glynda looked really angry, but they were definitely done with my shit, so I refrained from commenting. Turning to the leader of the Titans, she spoke. "Lead us to the rest of your team. I will evaluate them."


    Nightwing subtly looked to his former mentor, and whatever he saw in the caped man must have been a signal because the former Robin nodded at the Celt.


    "I figured you''d want something like that," he turned and started to lead us deeper into the building. "They''re gathered in our largest training room. I''ll show you the way. It is underground, so we''ll take the elevator. Most of the PRT staff are gone for the day."


    Probably to protect them if it turned out we were hostile. This lobby was probably a kill box or as close as the former partners could make it in their limited time. They had reduced as many variables as they could before meeting us.


    Impressive for only a few hours of warning.


    Both Glynda and Scathach followed him, and I made to do the same when a voice stopped us in our tracks.


    "Elden Lord."


    Jesus, did the man gargle rocks? Or was it some sort of voice modulator? Either way, I looked at Batman with an eyebrow raised in question.


    The hero had moved as we did, though he was walking towards another doorway, not looking at us.


    I rolled my eyes.


    Both women looked at me with a question in their eyes, and I nodded at them to follow Nightwing as I followed his mentor.


    His not-too-subtle powerplay wasn''t a good enough reason for me not to at least see where this was going. And, as I said, I was feeling playful.


    "Na na na na na na na na na na na na na na na na... BATMAN!"


    If I was humming Adam West''s Batman theme under my breath?


    Well, that was just because I found how he tensed the first few times I said his name funny.


    I finished my song after we had passed through a few twisting hallways and down a few flights of stairs. I didn''t comment on the man''s knowledge of the layout of a protectorate building despite being a member of the Justice League.


    Information security? What is that? Is it tasty?


    Batman led me to a steel door and opened it without issue despite the card reader next to it being red.


    The room itself was small, but it also wasn''t cramped. A few chairs and a desk were the only pieces of furniture. The central standout was one wall entirely made out of glass. I followed Gotham''s Knight to look out into an absolutely massive room.


    Easily the size of a football field and tens of meters deep, we looked out over the underground training field illuminated by bright ceiling lights that were only a few feet above us.


    I saw the other Titans milling about and talking to each other.


    Beast Boy, a green-skinned young man who could turn into animals.


    Winman, formerly Kid Win, a tinker specializing in modular items.


    Starfire, a Tamaranean, a gold-skinned alien who could fly and fire bolts of superheated plasma.


    X-23, Wolverine''s clone/daughter, had a similar regeneration ability and an adamantine skeleton.


    Mercury, a mutant whose entire body was made of silvery liquid mercury, could manipulate her body into various forms.


    With seven active members, including Nightwing, this protectorate division was mid-size for one city, though small for the population. All the members were on the younger side, and none had any sidekicks. Despite protecting a city of over three million with few numbers, the Teen Titans'' ability to hit above their weight class, their relative youth, and their long service made them one of the most popular teams in the US.


    Batman and I watched the large doors on one side of the field open, allowing entree to my wives and Nightwing and drawing the attention of the young heroes.


    We couldn''t hear what they were saying from up here, but we could see the leader of the Titans say something to his team.


    Then he was almost impaled by Gae Bolg.


    As I watched the Queen of the Land of Shadows tear through the Teen Titans, Glynda watching from the side and making notes, I turned to the man standing beside me.


    "So," I asked, not even trying to hide my humour at the situation. "Why so serious?"


    ********


    Raven fought to keep her face from showing any emotion.


    Then she fought harder to stop feeling any emotion at all.


    She failed.


    "She''s blue. I''m green. It''s a total match." Raven could feel the undercurrent of lust and envy in Garfield as he showed a picture to Chris.


    "She''s also a goddess. And married. That''s not cool, man, and I don''t know about you, but I don''t want to get on the bad side of a dragon that ate the Simurgh" despite his words, Raven could also feel a tinge of lust in Chris. Unlike their green friend, it was tinged with fear.


    A lot of fear.


    Understandable. The Simurgh had been a nightmare for everyone, especially psychics and tinkers. It was the right move to be wary of a creature that had eaten it in one gulp.


    Raven tried to smother the anger the thought of the Elden Lord brought. It wasn''t his fault they had been deployed to the other side of the world for a fight that never happened. Nor was he responsible for the lack of sleep last night, as Nightwing wanted to brief the team on the situation that had occurred while they were in Australia.


    It also wasn''t his fault that the team had spent the last twenty minutes in their training hall waiting for their illustrious leader to arrive and let them know why he had gathered them.


    This was one of the few times Raven had a day off, and she could spend it reading, meditating, or doing anything other than standing around doing nothing.


    "Not her," Garfield protested. "But she''s an alien, right? So there are bound to be more like her where she''s from, right? So I find out where she''s from, ask Star for directions, and we go there on vacation. I hear the League is working on some spaceships now that Ziz is gone. A week or two off, and we drown in blue tail. It''ll be awesome!"


    "And how will we find out where she is from?" Chris continued to look dubious.


    Raven consciously tried to tune out the rest of that stupid conversation.


    The girls weren''t much better.


    "Look, I don''t judge," Cessily was telling Kori. Laura was nearby but, much like Raven, preferred to keep silent. "If it works for them, great. But if a guy I''m dating tries to sleep with others, no matter the reason, I will show him exactly what I think of cheating." Her hand flowed into a silvery mace, which she swung for emphasis.


    "But Friend Mercury," Kori pressed with a pout. She was flying probably a bit too close to the mutant than was comfortable, but most of the Titans were well used to the alien''s friendliness. "What about other males? If one boy-friend is good, two or more must be of the better?" Despite her words, Raven only felt pure curiosity from the gold-skinned woman.


    "Now that is different," Cessily said with a smirk. There was definitely lust in her mind as well as amusement. "A guy can''t get you off? Move on to the next. One of them is bound to know what they are doing. But that is only for a wild night or two. Not something I would want long term. Too many personalities. If you fight with one boyfriend, imagine the fights with two or three?"


    "Were polyamourous relations common on Tameran?" Laura asked before the alien princess asked another question.


    "Very much so. There was lots of the love to go around. As a princess, I was to be of the married to one person, like my parents. It is for the... Blood road?"


    "Bloodline," Cessily corrected quickly.


    "Bloodline."


    Raven also tuned them out and decided to get what meditation she could while they continued to wait.


    Of course, as soon as she decided to do that, the doors to the training room opened, admitting Nightwing and two unexpected guests.


    Raven felt Laura''s emotions churn at the sight of the purple-clad woman.


    While the mutant had moved to the west coast to get independence from her ''father,'' X-23 and Wolverine still cared for each other. Anger, wariness, admiration and confusion warred in her at the sight of the woman who had handily kicked Weapon X''s ass.


    "These are Scathach and Glynda Goodwitch," Nightwing introduced the women. As if he hadn''t spent last night going over the dossiers with them that the League had thrown together after the ''Doomsday Incident.''


    Scathach: Irish/Scottish (depending on the telling). Melee and likely magic. Known as a trainer of famous heroes. Can summon spears. Can likely turn into a dragon.


    Glynda Goodwitch: Extreme telekinetic, possibly telepathic. Possible melee abilities depending on the use of a riding crop. Possible magic user. Can definitely turn into a dragon. Dragon form enhances already considerable telekinesis.


    Both were ''consorts'' of the Elden Lord and very formidable women.


    But what were they doing here?


    Just as her teammates were looking at them, the pair were eyeing the Titans, looking them up and down. Evaluating them. Judging them. Raven could not feel their emotions, but she thought their eyes remained on her longer than the others.


    "Duuuudddddeeeee," Garfield said in a low whisper.


    "I know, right?" Chris responded just as lowly.


    The way both women looked at the young men made it clear they had heard them, and one didn''t need to be an empath like Raven to know what they were thinking.


    "To foster communication," Nightwing continued as if he hadn''t heard his male teammates. "These two have volunteered to act as ambassadors for the rest of their group. They will be with us for a week and have volunteered to act as combat instructors. They claim to have extensive experience teaching."


    Raven felt a ripple of discontent and wounded pride pass through her teammates at their leaders'' words.


    Their team was young, sure, but they also had been heroes for years. They knew what they were doing. On top of small timers like Control Freak or HIVE, they had contended with the likes of Dakan, Sabretooth, Crimson and Winter, and The Fallen. Even Mole Man a few times since the Fantastic Four had retired.


    They weren''t the Justice League or the Avengers, but they were still one of the Protectorate''s stronger and more popular branches.


    "You are not convinced," Scathach said plainly as she noticed the effects of Nightwing''s words. "Then let me convince you."


    Then she stabbed Nightwing in the back.


    He was probably expecting something like this when he incited his teammates, so he was ready to dodge out of the way, turning to face the Celt and drawing his escrima sticks to block any follow-up blows.


    Their leader definitely didn''t expect the woman to run behind him again and plant her foot in his ass, sending him flying over Goodwitch''s head and back toward the entrance. The hero recovered and landed in a roll, turning to face the group.


    The taller blonde didn''t even blink at the outbreak of violence, drawing a tablet from somewhere and stepping to the side.


    "You have courage," Glynda said to their leader. Scathach just watched the hero, her back towards the Titans, who were still blinking in surprise. "And skill. You should have gotten closer to your team and alerted them to your plan before trying to instigate a fight, especially against an unfamiliar enemy. Now the rest of you, attack."


    As if taking her words as orders, the group threw themselves into action.


    Unauthorized content usage: if you discover this narrative on Amazon, report the violation.


    Starfire was the quickest, blasting star bolts at the back of the woman even as she flew closer. The Celt quickly side-stepped the blasts without even looking and turned around slowly in time to catch a gold-skinned arm extended in a punch.


    Scathach tossed Starfire over her shoulder.


    "Good speed and strength. Like your leader, you should have waited. Taken shots and maintained your distance until you could attack with the rest." Glynda said, writing something on her tablet.


    Beast Boy bore down on the purple-clad woman as an enormous green-skinned rhino, ready to gore the enemy on his horn.


    "Good instincts," Glynda commented as Scathach side-stepped and planted the butt of her spear in the nape of the creature''s neck. It was a testament to its thick hide that when it turned back into a man, he was only coughing slightly rather than dealing with a collapsed larynx. "You two are the only ones who''ve attacked with intent to kill. Mercy is the blessing of the strong. You are not the strong in this fight."


    "Ack!" Beast Boy''s cleaver reply would never be heard.


    X-23, hidden by the rhino''s bulk and the other person of whom Glynda spoke, just growled. Two metal claws on each hand flashed at Scathach''s throat while she was striking the green beast.


    The Celt took one step back and swung her spear as she avoided the claw. The heroine ducked under the weapon, her foot lashing upwards. The metal claw passed harmlessly in front of the Celt''s face.


    "You are the Wolverine''s child?" Scathach asked, speaking for the first time. "You move like him."


    Then she used her spear to impale the young woman''s remaining foot to the ground.


    "Laura!" Mercury cried as she caught up to her friend, who had cried out in pain. The silvery woman placed herself between her friend and Scathach, who had summoned a new spear to deflect a few bullets from Winman on his hoverboard.


    "Instinct will only get you so far," Glynda continued to take notes. "Even if you can heal, it is better to avoid blows whenever possible. Especially if they inhibit movement. And you. Why did you not attack? Protecting a comrade is good. Doing so when they are not in danger is stupid. You wasted a valuable opening."


    Raven hadn''t been idle while the others fought. She had been concentrating on her magic, pulling the equipment from its place along the walls and gathering it into a massive lump to throw at the purple-haired woman. Winman tossed one of his AOE stun pads into the mess, a hidden trap if the woman tried to dodge.


    The woman effortlessly weaved around the bars, bags, dumbells, and other exercise equipment, only needing to bat away a few metal bars that Raven took personal control of. The stun pad landed nearby, and Winman pressed his remote detonator.


    Before the first spark escaped the device, a barbed spear split it.


    "You lack control," Glynda looked up for the first time from her pad to watch Raven''s attack. "A few well-directed attacks are better than one big blind one. And next time you try and trap someone like that, attach the device to another object to hide it. The point of a trap is to be unseen."


    Though only a few seconds had passed since the start of the brawl, Nightwing had already returned and was engaging Scathach with his weapons.


    They exchanged a few blows before Beast Boy tried to entangle the woman as an octopus. While the Celt dodged and batted away the appendages, Nightwing took the distraction as an opportunity to drop a smoke bomb, obscuring the area.


    Raven pulled Beast Boy from the smoke, also removing the spear from X-23s foot, as Starfire and Winman blasted the area from the air. The Cambion guided the weapon along the ground, aiming to keep it unnoticed.


    A heeled boot emerged from the debris, kicking the red spear up at Winman, knocking his hoverboard from the air and sending him tumbling down.


    Starfire stopped firing to catch him while Mercury wrapped herself around Schathach''s other leg. X-23 lunged, her claws extended to impale the unbalanced opponent.


    The Celt turned her weapon kick into a backwards cartwheel, severing the liquid metal from her foot with her other spear. Her backward movement placed her back into the smoke, obscuring her from view slightly, but X-23 followed her in, her enhanced senses aiding her. Nightwing was already duelling the woman, having charged forward as soon as Starfire stopped firing.


    "Much better teamwork," Glynda complimented, typing once more. "The smoke was a bad call. It inhibited your vision more than hers. Mercury should have tried to cut off the foot the moment she had it. Starfire should have left the rescue to Beast Boy while she aided the group."


    "I''m not trying to maim her!" Mercury cried in disbelief.


    "You should be," Glynda continued plainly, not even looking up. "The healing of this world can fix a lame foot. Only my husband can fix death. And he will not. So if you have to choose between crippling an enemy and the lives of others, whatever you decide is what you have to live with."


    "This is training!" Winman answered in turn, strafing around to recollect his board.


    "This is training," the blonde agreed, but her voice sounded anything but comforting. "Scathach is teaching you to fight." Raven banished the smoke, allowing her to catch sight of Scathach twirling her spear to knock X-23''s claws into Nightwing''s escrima stick. "We have different teaching styles and goals. By the end of this week, you will fear her much more than me. Listening to me will spare you some pain."


    Beast Boy entered the fray by flying above the woman as a hummingbird and turning into a whale, angled to not land on his teammates.


    The Celt planted her spear tip down in the ground and took two steps away and closer to Nightwing. The changeling''s weight drove him down on the weapon, and the sound that escaped the massive creature made the cambion''s body shake.


    "Do not expect her to be kind." Glynda continued once the Beast Boy turned back into his human form. "She has killed more of her students than have graduated. Her most famous pupil fought an army by himself and died standing tall after tying his guts to a rock. She will train you to be your best. She will only care about the wasted potential if you fail along the way."


    Mercury took the lack of weapon in the Celt''s hand as an opportunity to make up for her earlier lack of attack. As the purple-haired woman exchanged fists with Nightwing''s weapons, the mutant curved her body around her leader to attack as a halo of blades of liquid metal, ready to impale the woman.


    Scathach, rather than try and dodge or conjure another weapon, stepped closer to her opponent to grab the former Robin''s wrist and pull him forward, forcing the mutant to cancel her blades or risk friendly fire.


    "She is teaching you to fight," Glynda repeated with emphasis. "I am teaching you to survive. Her goal for students is to become the best they can be. My goal is for my students to make it home alive. You have one week. If, in the end, we find your dedication, skill, or talent lacking, we will leave to find better prospects. We are not so bored as to take students who do not learn and will die."


    "We didn''t ask for this!" Beast Boy yelled as he turned into a velociraptor and scrambled around from the melee approaching his downed form. Raven took the chance to pull both spears Scathach had summoned since the start of the battle away to prevent the Celt from rearming.


    Winman released half a dozen drones, firing non-lethal but painful sparks at the woman. He had been using the last few moments to summon his power armour piece by modular piece and was now fully kitted out. He was taking care of suppressing fire, so Starfire landed on the ground behind the purple-haired woman.


    "This has been most fun," the tamaranean said with a joyful smile. "But we have you surrounded."


    Weaponless, Scathach faced Nightwing. A hissing velociraptor on her left and a growling X-23 on her right, with a tamaranean princess behind. Around the group was a ring of liquid metal. In the air, six drones circled quickly under the watchful eye of Winman. Raven kept her distance, acting more as battlefield control than an active combatant but ready to start blasting if she got the opportunity.


    It was a setup they had used multiple times in the past to devastating effects. Even Deathstroke fell into their hands when they managed to get their act together.


    "If you think your status as heroes will give you special consideration, you are wrong." Glynda continued, uncaring for the predicament of her fellow. "You didn''t ask for it, but if you do not take opportunities to learn when you have them, you are completely hopeless. I have seen a man rise to heights you cannot imagine with only the barest of instruction from us and starting with much worse fundamentals. He took advantage of everything he could get his hands on. I do not expect you to get that far, but if you refuse aid when given freely, even if painfully, we will simply leave."


    There was a moment of silence as the Titans not only digested Glynda''s words but also readied to attack the Celt.


    They never got the chance.


    "I''ve seen enough," Scathach said.


    "Titans G-" Nightwing''s order to charge was cut off by the woman stepping up to him and lashing out with a fist. He blocked it with his baton, but Schathach used her shorter stature to use her other fist to get inside his guard and punch him in his throat.


    "Gak," the hero didn''t even have time to gag before he was grabbed by the throat and tossed in the way of a leaping raptor.


    Using his fallen weapons, Scathach batted away two clawed fists and smashed them into the temples of X-23. Even if she could heal, the brain-rattling gave the Celt the time to toss the escrima sticks at two of the drones, downing them, and grab the mutant''s extended arms. Ducking under the feral woman''s armpit, wrenching the limb in the process, Scathach avoided a punch from Starfire that could have destroyed a building. Manhandling X-23 like a puppet, the Celt continued her circling to slice a gash through the alien princess'' side with an adamantium-tipped fist.


    Raven grabbed the falling drones with her magic, tossing them at the opponent as she pulled both X-23 and Starfire away. Winman used his four remaining drones to rain bullets down now that his teammates were not blocking.


    Scathach, in a feat of acrobatics that would have made anyone jealous, jumped over Mercury, trying to entangle her feet in place once more. She landed on one of the broken drones coated in Raven''s magic with a light step. The half-demon cancelled her spell to let that one fall and concentrated on blasting the woman out of the air.


    Scathach hopped over the blast of dark energy in a backflip, sending the drone down at an angle to land in the puddle that was Mercury. The remaining electricity in the machine sent the mutant into a spasming fit as her body was destabilized.


    Raven released more power, changing her dark lance into a massive energy cone. She was trapped in midair, with bullets raining down on her and a magic blast tearing its way toward her.


    Scathach smiled a little to herself.


    She summoned a spear, not to her hand, but under her feet. Using it as a stepping stone, she launched herself further skyward. In less time than it took to blink, the Celt had grabbed the lip of Winman''s hoverboard. With a pull and a twist of her body, the purple-haired woman flipped around the aircraft and kicked the hero from his perch.


    He fell.


    Though Raven knew his armour would absorb most of the blow, she tried to catch her teammate.


    She failed when, in action that displayed supreme control of her body, Scathach continued her midair spin and tossed the hoverboard in her hand. It flew across the room in less than a blink to smack Raven in the sternum, driving the air from her lungs and knocking her from the air.


    Scathach landed lightly on her feet as Raven and Winman crashed into the ground with violent thuds.


    From the time the woman had entered the training room, less than a minute had gone by.


    Less than ten seconds had passed when Nightwing tried to call on the Titans to charge.


    "Good job," the Celt said, the tiniest of smiles on her face.


    The Titans groaned in pain.


    "You barely passed."


    "This was a test?" Raven heard Beast Boy groan as he separated himself from their gagging leader.


    She was too busy trying to breathe to sit up.


    "It was. Glynda will teach you this week, as promised. I would only act as an opponent. Until you passed."


    "What was the test?" Laura asked.


    "Make me use my magic, outperform me when I used lesser stats, or make me summon more than two spears. You barely passed the last one, but your teamwork was enough."


    Raven felt the emotions of her teammates, the anger, pain, and helplessness as they realized exactly how much the woman had been holding back.


    "Nightwing. You are the weakest but the most skilled. Learn to use your team like weapons, or you will fall behind." Starfire, you are the reverse. All power, very little skill. We will work on that. Beast Boy, you need to be more flexible. You simply tried to crush me with size rather than creativity." Raven could feel how the Celt''s words impacted her friends as the woman walked her way. "Mercury, stop playing it safe. X-23, control yourself. Winman, you need basic conditioning. Without your board or armour, you were useless."


    From her place on the ground, gasping for air, Raven saw Scathach lean over her. Unable to sense her emotions, the cambion was forced to judge her facial expression alone.


    It was not a good one.


    "And you," Scathach said in a disappointed tone that bordered on disgust. "Your every action was tinged by fear. Either discard your fear or face it and overcome it. Or you will die."


    The woman stepped away, and Raven lay there, panting and trying to control her emotions.


    "You only have one week," Scathach said as she walked away. "I want everyone on their feet in five seconds. We will start with essential conditioning by running laps around the room. Yes, even you, Starfire. Mercury, you''re with Glynda."


    "How many laps?" Winman asked.


    "Until I tell you to stop." Raven was sitting up and facing the back of the woman, so she couldn''t see her face but judging by the emotions of her friends, it was not a reassuring sight.


    "What about our duty?" Nightwing asked as he rose. "One or two must stay on watch, and we have patrols. We can''t spend a week just training and ignoring the city."


    Beast Boy and Winman looked at their leader in hope.


    That hope was swiftly crushed.


    "If anything happens, we''ll know," Glynda answered for her fellow.


    "So, you''ll be the heroes?" Starfire asked with sparkling eyes.


    "No," Scathach denied. "We''ll simply bring you to where there''s trouble. If you want to be heroes, learn to fight even when exhausted. Because if any of you go to bed without passing out, I have done my job wrong. Now run!"


    At her last words, dozens of blood-red spears appeared above her shoulders and flew at them, tearing through where they had been if they hadn''t started to run.


    ********


    Batman only kept a tiny part of his attention on the training ground below and the earpiece that piped in sounds from his former protegee. He would go over everything in the training in more detail later, using the testimonies of the group and the footage of the cameras to get everything he could out of it.


    Even without focusing on the outbreak of violence, what Batman saw threatened to tug his frowning face into a full scowl.


    She was toying with them.


    Scathach, if that was who she actually was, looked like she was dodging and evading easily. And she was, but Gotham''s protector knew the Titans were unaware of how easily she was actually beating them.


    From his vantage, it was evident to Batman how she controlled and regulated her abilities. When confronting Nightwing, she was slightly stronger and faster than an average thug. She used much more force when she threw Starfire than when hitting Beast Boy. But that same strength was less when duelling Logan''s daughter.


    The lancer was always slightly slower and weaker than whoever she was facing. She was making up the difference in attributes that she created with pure skill.


    It was a display Batman would not have thought possible when he and Dick had set up this confrontation to probe the ''teachers'' the Elden Lord would send.


    He didn''t believe the nonsense about fostering communication for a second. The Elden Lord was here for a reason.


    Judging that he would learn nothing else for the moment, the Dark Knight focused wholly on the man beside him.


    Tall, dark-haired, well-muscled, tan-skinned, wearing comfortable clothes. His face was passably handsome but not noteworthy. His only remarkable feature was his draconic eyes, and a pale blue ring on his left finger was the only odd article on his body.


    He held himself with relaxed confidence as he gazed down through the window. His face was set in a soft smile, and his yellow-orange eyes looked at the fight with a warm fondness. When Scathach would score a hit, his lips would quirk into a proud smirk for a fraction of an instant.


    Someone unaware would have thought he was a family man, looking at his wife with love and support.


    Batman knew better.


    This was but one of the Elden Lord''s many masks.


    The relaxed confidence belied a power that could destroy the world.


    The soft smile hid a sadism that took pleasure in others'' pain.


    Those kind eyes watching the fight hid a mind that was, even now, learning more about the Titans than they were about his consorts.


    Even his shadow, something Batman had been careful not to look at this entire time, hid a terrifying truth.


    It was the latter that Batman suspected contained clues as to why they had chosen the Teen Titans for ''outreach.''


    Raven was a common enough name. One who could manipulate shadows, or cast magic that made it look that way, was enough of a hint for Batman to make some conjectures.


    If Diana, why not someone else as well?


    As Scathach started the training earnestly, the Elden Lord turned his full attention onto Batman.


    "So," he asked with an amused tilt of his lips. "Why so serious?"


    Batman allowed the scowl to form this time.


    The humour was another of the beast''s masks, one that reminded the man too much of the Joker for his comfort.


    "What is your goal?" He asked rather than answer such a stupid question.


    "Hm?" If anything, the Elden Lord looked even more amused than before. "If we''re answering questions with more questions, you tell me. If someone has infinite power, limitless wealth, immortality, more fame than anyone else in the world and a family of beautiful women, what more would that man want out of life?"


    More.


    That was the easy and obvious answer. Those who had always wanted more.


    More money, more power, more women, more everything.


    But if the Elden Lord was like other megalomaniacs, Batman would not have been as frustrated as he was by the thing before him.


    Even just standing next to it gave him a headache.


    There was no denying he had power, but so far, ''Mikael'' had barely used it. He made no grand gestures to take over the world or bind others to his will. He asked for nothing and seemed to move on a whim.


    Baring his efforts to gain a human body, every other action he took had been precipitated by one of his ''consorts.''


    Whether it be Ranni acting as his herald, ''Diana'' rescuing the heroes of this world, or ''Scathach''s'' desire to teach, it looked like he was being tossed around by the desires of his ''family.''


    Batman did not believe that for an instant.


    There was no power without purpose.


    Whether his power was genuinely endless or it was simply the bragging of an egomaniac, so far, the heroes of this world had found no common purpose in all the Elden Lord''s actions.


    But they still learned a lot.


    Time to use what they knew to get more.


    All this passed through Batman''s head in less than a second as he evaluated his words and actions to try and leverage them to the desired outcome.


    "I don''t buy it," Batman said, turning to face the other man and narrowing his eyes. "Not this fake image you are showing others. Not your fake heroism. Not that fake embarrassment-blushing act you pulled yesterday. How many innocent lives did you end when you conquered those worlds with kindness? You have millions of lives on your hands. An ocean of blood at your feet. You might have left those worlds, but you left an incalculable amount of death behind. So I don''t buy your lies, and I will show everyone else that this is all a mask."


    Most of this information had come from Diana''s ''insight,'' something the Elden Lord claimed to have no control over. Either he was lying, or it was information he didn''t know they had.


    Clark was willing to see the best in everyone, and Diana argued that death was inevitable in making worlds like Ranni''s a better place.


    It was up to him to be the voice of reason to his friends.


    When the Elden Lord thought he wasn''t being observed, he had gotten the greatest hints.


    His manipulation of Amelia, Logan, and Charles in that graveyard had been a good hint of how he handled surprises and could grasp people''s weaknesses.


    His appearance on ''Priscilla''s'' stream gave away what sort of monster the Elden Lord really was. In less than a second, the man had gone from pretending to be a goofball to his ''wife'' to a charming public speaker who had charmed an audience of tens of thousands with humour and wit.


    If his humour reminded Batman of the Joker, then his separate personas reminded him of Two-face. Only controlled and bent to purpose.


    The reason Batman tried to keep other heroes out of Gotham wasn''t some ego-driven desire for control. It was because he believed, in his heart of hearts, that other heroes would lose.


    One only needed to look at the Red Queen to show that even the best heroes could be driven to extreme actions by the Joker in an afternoon. If the Clown ever focused on someone like Superman? Batman did not want to imagine what would happen to his friend.


    The Elden Lord was just as cunning, chaotic, and manipulative as others that called his home city theirs. Only he wielded enormous power, had numerous allies, and was smart enough to play the long game.


    Batman''s words of confrontation were to be used to expose him. He recorded everything from his cowl, sending the video to secure off-sight storage. Even if the Elden Lord did not outright admit to his manipulations or goals, whatever he said in denial would be used to further build a profile that would eventually lead to his defeat.


    "You''re saying you don''t believe me? That you''ll bring everyone else to their senses about me?" The monster looked at him, emotion filling his face.


    Surprise? Did he not think anyone would catch onto his lies? No, it wasn''t a surprise, or at least entirely. Another mask?


    "That''s right." Batman asserted. "Whatever your goal, I will not allow you to succeed."


    The Elden Lord raised a hand, and Batman tensed, ready to press the emergency request button in his glove and summon Superman and Wonder Woman from a nearby room.


    But then the dragon in human form gently put it on his shoulder, and Batman could read the emotion in those draconic eyes.


    Joy.


    "Thank you." The fake man squeezed his shoulder gently. "You have no idea how much that means to me. I knew today was going to be a great day."


    For less than a second, Batman was so genuinely confused that he almost let his bewilderment show on his face, but it passed as he realized what was going on.


    Another persona! One set up to allay those suspicious of him. How deeply did this dragon''s plans run?


    "You know, I was pretty worried we wouldn''t get along," Mikael said as he released the hero''s shoulder. He still looked thrilled. "With you being all edgy and all. I mean, you have a sense of humour, but you aren''t allowed to laugh. If you do, the world is destroyed and everything. But now I know we''ll be great friends, Bruce."


    Batman didn''t flinch at the name.


    "Oh, don''t worry about secret identities or anything." The Elden Lord waived off his imaginary concern. Clark had thought he was paranoid when he claimed that name choice on the stream was anything less than a random coincidence. "Diana talked about her friends a lot, so I feel like I already know you quite well. I''m sure you already guessed we knew, but you don''t have to worry about us spreading it around. I would hate to upset my wife. Happy wife, happy life. Your secret is safe with me. Wink wink."


    Every word out of the beast''s mouth served only to mock Batman, despite his kind and happy tone. He was flaunting his knowledge.


    He held all the cards.


    "I know you don''t believe me, and you''ll keep trying to prove otherwise, but I genuinely think we can get along. Heroes are a brave and superstitious lot," a paraphrase of something Batman had once thought to himself when designing his hero persona. How did the Elden Lord know? "You''ll keep trying to find proof of some grand plan. Go ahead. Do you know the best way to get information? A guys'' night out! After this week, why don''t you and I and a few others go for drinks and pool? As you can imagine, I''m drowning in estrogen at home. You grill me on my evil plan, and I get some guy friends. It''ll be great!"


    There it was. A clue!


    Why the insistence on a week? Halloween? A spell, perhaps. Magic was an area Batman was limited in, but he was aware that certain holidays had unique properties.


    "Why the Titans?" The world''s greatest detective pressed. He had the time of the crime, and now he needed a motive. That would lead him to the act itself.


    "Believe it or not, I really do want to make them better heroes." The fake persona would have fooled anyone else into believing the Elden Lord''s words. "I admire heroes and don''t want to see them die pointlessly. Especially the young. They have so much more Life left to live. By the end of the week, I guarantee they will be much better off than they are today."


    But he was the goddamn Batman!


    "You''re mad if you think I''ll believe that."


    "Everyone is mad. It''s our unique madness that makes us what we are." The Elden Lord smiled again as if making another joke, but Batman didn''t get this one. "Out of all the heroes in this world, you are the one I like the best. You are like me."


    "I am nothing like you!"


    "You are," the Elden Lord asserted. "The more you are suspicious of me, the more you investigate, analyze, and evaluate, the more you will find similarities. Except I''m prettier. And smarter. And have a successful love life. And a much better sense of humour. Anyway, the point is I think we can be great friends. I''ll be around for a while and need drinking buddies. The Family comes first, of course, but you can''t only hang out with your wives."


    Batman said nothing, staring the dragon in a human suit down.


    "We''ll set it for next Saturday. Invite Supes along, will ya? I''ll see about getting a few others. Diana will love her husband and friends getting along."


    The Elden Lord stepped to the glass and stepped through it in a reminder of how untouchable he considered himself to be.


    "I will stop you." Batman reiterated, freezing the dragon for a moment. "Whatever your plan. We will stop you."


    "Great!" Mikael said with a laughing smile. "I love having enemies. Especially ones that I''m friends with."


    Still laughing to himself, he allowed himself to fall to the floor of the training room. The Titans froze in their training as he approached with wide arms.


    "There is a cost to your training!" Batman heard him declare through his earpiece, his voice still buoyant. He tensed, ready to bust through and aid his protegee''s team. "You must only address Scathach as Shishou! Anyone who fails to do so will be pranked mercilessly."


    There was a moment of confused silence as the Titans looked at each other in bewilderment, and Glynda put her face in her palms.


    In a reenactment earlier in the lobby, Scathach smacked her husband gently on the back of the head.


    "Did I say stop running?" Weapons filled the sky once more at her words.


    "Can I have an autograph?" Beast Boy yelled at the Elden Lord as he ducked under a spear.


    "I''m free next Saturday," Clark said from his other earpiece.


    If their talk had been a battle of wits, Batman couldn''t help but feel he had been defeated as readily as the Titans.

 SS (A) – All Hands on Deck

    <div>


    I lose my cool when she steps in the room


    And I get so excited just from her perfume


    Electric eyes that you can''t ignore


    And passion burns you like never before


    I was in search of a good time


    Just running my game


    Love was the furthest


    Furthest from my mind


    Caribbean Queen


    Now we''re sharing the same dream


    And our hearts they beat as one


    No more love on the run


    ********


    The music was slow and sensual, like the woman in my arms.


    My hands flowed over her body, teasing and fluttering. A delicate brush teased her with possibilities that hinted at future pleasure yet dangled it out of her reach.


    I touched nothing inappropriate. My actions were almost chaste and prudish.


    I was driving her absolutely wild.


    In return, she tempted me with sexuality, with tactile physicality.


    She pressed into me. The swell of her generous bust was like fire on my chest. Her nipples, separated from me by only two thin layers of cloth, felt like blades as they cut their way through my restraint with every movement. Her hips swayed, the movement matching mine but with extra sway, a lilt and roll only a woman of lythe beauty could pull off.


    Every move of hers was the flutter of silk in the wind.


    Or like a falling petal.


    Nico Robin was sex on legs, and everyone around us knew it.


    Her light purple dress covered everything necessary to be decent and left so much exposed that it drove me absolutely mad with tantalization.


    I had seen more than one man trip over his feet while staring at her.


    Not that I could blame them.


    All seven women accompanying me were beautiful, dressed to kill, and moved with the confidence of women who had faced down the greatest heroes this world had to offer earlier today.


    Ranni had attracted multiple odd looks with her blue skin and four arms, but she had still been hit on no less than seven times in the four hours we had been touring various clubs and dance halls. The night was still young here in Sydney, and more than a dozen men or women had tried their luck with my Family only to be shot down.


    Some were more brutal than others.


    Yoruichi would tease the person good-naturedly before letting them down easily.


    If they tried to hit on Melina, Tsunade, Medea, Glynda or Scathach, they would be firmly, but not unkindly, told they weren''t available.


    The worst was Robin.


    She wouldn''t say anything.


    With her impressive height, she would just loom over most of the unlucky bastards with an expressionless face. Then there would be a few seconds of awkward silence. Then she would slowly and obviously, look the person up and down.


    Then she would raise an eyebrow as if asking, ''really?'' and turn back to the group without saying a word.


    One guy had cried.


    Yoruichi had fallen over laughing.


    The night was still young, but Glynda and Scathach had decided to retire for the night. Melina and Ranni had used them as an excuse to leave as well, enjoying the dancing but not liking the crowds. I''d like to get a more private affair set up for them. Medea had also dipped out, returning to her hobby.


    Robin had turned and was sensually grinding her delicious ass against me.


    Soon it would be just Yoruichi and Tsunade.


    Her arms snaked their way upwards, wrapping around my neck as I pulled her closer to me. One hand held her hips as the other butterflied its way across her abdomen as I leaned down to kiss her.


    Our lips stayed together even as we continued to dance, the world fading away until it was just her, I, and the music.


    It was an incredibly intense and intimate moment, neither of us saying a word, just revelling in each other''s touch.


    In being there together.


    Robin will always have a special place in my heart.


    Not only because she was the most like me in demeanour, thought process, and sense of humour, but also because she had been the first to appear in that cell in the Asylum.


    In a very real way, Robin had been to me what the Straw Hats had been to her.


    A spark of hope in the dark.


    I connected so easily with her that it sometimes frightened me.


    Our first time together had been less than a day after I had gotten my body back. I had joined her in the library, grabbed a book I hadn''t finished, and layed out to relax on a nearby chair while she lay on the couch.


    For over an hour, we had simply sat by each other, the sounds of pages turning the only noise in the room.


    There had been a tension in the air then, and it had erupted without warning.


    One moment, we were contently reading, and the next, she pulled my hair and scratched at my back as I slammed myself into her repeatedly.


    And then it was over, and we went back to our books. She curled up to me on the couch since the chair was ruined.


    Not a word had passed between us since I had walked in.


    That was often how it was between us.


    I, as a general rule, hated silence. I liked to talk, joke, and laugh. Even while reading, I want to listen to music. When things were silent around me, it meant I was too caught up in my thoughts.


    Which was a bad thing.


    There were precisely two times I liked silence.


    When I was flying.


    When Robin and I were reading together.


    Barring Melina and Ranni, who had an unfair advantage, I can unequivocally say I was closest to Robin.


    While some might decry me as playing favourites of loving one over the others, the Family and I understood the truth.


    Some relationships progress faster than others. Some people just click easier.


    Did it make my feelings for the others any less?


    No.


    It meant I needed to work harder to reach that level of understanding with them that Robin and I attained instinctively.


    And I had eternity to do it.


    Caught up in my feelings, memories, hopes for the future, and Robin, I didn''t realize the music had shifted to a faster pace beat. The dancers around us had ceased their slow movements and were jumping, singing, and moving more frantically with the more upbeat tunes.


    The former Pirate also didn''t notice the change, holding me fast in her embrace.


    We would have stayed there, dancing to a tune only we could hear and caught up in each other for hours if Yoruichi didn''t take the opportunity to tease us.


    The whistle, an honest to god catcall, rang loudly over the music.


    It originated from below my feet, and the swish of a black tail danced at the edge of my vision.


    "Get a room!" I heard her shout, though I couldn''t see her even as I whipped my head to the bar where she and Tsunade had been.


    ''Had'' was the keyword.


    They were long gone, likely to drink the city out of house and home.


    One of these days, I was going to collar that cat.


    Every eye had turned to us.


    A few returned to their dancing or drinking, but a half dozen pairs of eyes remained locked on us.


    We had been on international news not even a whole day ago.


    I was honestly surprised we were so rarely identified. I chalked it up to most people not having caught the incident with Doomsday and its after-effects.


    That anonymity, limited as it was, would fade in a matter of days.


    "I found her," Robin told me, one eye closed as she used her power. The other looked up at me, an electric blue that reminded me of the clear skies, and a wordless conversation passed between us.


    She smirked, her hands crossing over her chest.


    I didn''t need to ask to know that Yoruichi had just had a very bad time.


    "She does have a point, though," I said softly, tucking a strand of dark hair behind her ear. She let her power fade as I kissed my way up her collarbone and up her neck. Robin let out a throaty sound that drove me wild. "We plan to meet the Titans in less than ten hours. That''s barely enough time."


    "Time for what?" She asked breathily.


    "Time for me to learn every inch of your body," I said as my hands stopped their delicate dance along her form and grabbed two handfuls of her incredible ass. She groaned as I pressed my erection against her. "Intimately."


    She moaned in desire.


    "Time for me to teach you what can''t be learned in a library," I said as we ground into each other, heat overtaking us.


    "I learned a lot in that library," Robin chuckled as she nipped at my neck. She was one of a few in the Family who could reach that high.


    "A quicky is nowhere near enough time to learn anything." We were both panting with desire, practically dry-humping on the dance floor and giving the onlookers a show they wouldn''t soon forget.


    "Hmm," the former pirate hummed sensually, continuing to writhe in my hands. "Teach me, and I may remember. Involve me, and I''ll learn."


    I froze, my hands stopping their exploration as I looked down into electric blue eyes in disbelief.


    "Did you just quote Benjamin Franklin as dirty talk?" I asked.


    "I did," Robin smiled up at me impishly.


    My booming laughter was even louder than the whistle had been, but I couldn''t help it.


    The raw heat between us faded slightly as I roared with laughter, and she giggled behind a hand. Replacing it was a sense of comradery. If she or I had done something like that with anyone else in the Family, they would not have recognized the quote for the joke it was.


    You could be reading stolen content. Head to the original site for the genuine story.


    God, I loved this woman.


    It was probably for the best we cooled it for the moment. I had been seconds away from tearing Robin''s dress from her body and having my way with her on the dance floor.


    Exhibitionism wasn''t one of my fetishes, but I wasn''t opposed to it either. We both would have enjoyed giving the world a different kind of show than the one we had given the heroes earlier.


    It would have cost me the gravitas I had built up, which would have been a shame.


    "Let''s go," I said as I leaned down to peck her on the lips once my laughter had faded. I used the chance to concentrate, maximizing my focus and carefully dredging up my power.


    This was my first time casting the spell with a companion, and I would rather not smear us across the space-time continuum.


    After a few seconds of making out, our forms began to shimmer in pale blue starlight.


    Three seconds later, we had disappeared from the dance floor to appear at the entrance to the master bedroom at the Mansion.


    "That''s a new trick," Robin said as we separated.


    "A bit of a mishap earlier told me I should look into other teleportation options than just relying on Raven," I said with a shrug. I had seen Ranni use the spell a few times but had yet to have the chance to officially learn it since she had been limited by her doll body in Elden Ring. I had spent a few hours learning it from her earlier today. "I''ll learn an imitation of Medea''s teleportation later too. It''s faster."


    The newly risen sun shone on my bed as I opened the door to my room.


    I had barely opened the door before I was pushed from behind with considerable strength.


    Robin chuckled lowly as I flew across the room and landed sprawled on the bed.


    "I need to get ready," she said as I sat up. Before I could get off the bed and undress, two forms appeared beside me and held me down.


    "Don''t worry." The Robin on my left said as she started to unbutton my shirt.


    "We''ll keep you company." The Robin on my left continued, working on removing my pants.


    Both of them were only copies from the waist up but the four naked breasts, topped with perky pink nipples, provided more than enough reason to not feel weirded out by the uncanny display.


    "Have fun," Robin said as she sashayed out of my room, her hips swaying in an almost hypnotic movement.


    You hate to see them leave but love to watch them walk away.


    Of course, I could only focus on her sexy exit for a moment before the two clones completely undressed me.


    The haze of lust that had temporarily left us with Robin''s joke earlier redescended as two pairs of eyes watched my throbbing erection hungrily.


    I, in turn, felt my pulse quicken as each of the clones made from the Hana Hana no Mi pressed a silky smooth hand against my turbid length. Unsurprisingly, they moved with perfect synchronicity up and down my length.


    "Oh my," Right-Robin gasped, her empty hand covering her mouth in feigned surprise even as her other one continued to jack me off. "How did this fit into me?"


    "Our husband is quite the brute," Left-Robin replied as if they weren''t the exact same person in different bodies. She leaned her cheek on her other hand, looking up at me in fake fear. "Whatever shall we do when he slakes his ravenous lust on our poor body?"


    I didn''t need Sticky Fingers to know she was asking for it.


    Grabbing the left clone''s head, I was about to drive her snarky mouth down onto my dick when she dissolved into flower petals in my hand.


    "How violent," Left-Robin said teasingly as she reformed on my side, her hand re-joining the other clones'' in massaging my length.


    I narrowed my eyes.


    While the dual handjob felt nice, I was panting from lust after this evening and her teasing. I also wasn''t one to beg, even in the bedroom, nor was I someone who enjoyed being passive or submissive regarding sex.


    If she kept this teasing up, I would get... creative.


    "I wanted to try something," Left-Robin explained, perhaps sensing my intent. Both hands stopped their motions and grabbed me at my base, holding me fast, so my erection stood straight up.


    Then, the Robin clone on my right placed her unoccupied hand flat over my tip.


    From her empty palm, a mouth formed, tongue dashing out to lick me.


    "Hm," Robin hummed contemplatively. "The catalogue makes you taste good." She lowered her hand slightly, the mouth closing around my tip to suckle and lick lightly. "I''ve been interested in experimenting with my Devil Fruit like this for a while. Ever since we talked to Amelia. I''ve had some wonderfully fun ideas."


    Slowly, ever so agonizingly slowly, the hand lowered. My dick disappeared into that mouth millimetres at a time.


    "This little trick, for example," she purred in my ear. "I can grow my mouth wherever I want, even in your pants. You could be doing absolutely anything, and I could be in the mood. I could be swallowing your dick while you were in a meeting, and nobody would know. And," Robin breathed deeply, caught up in her fantasy, as her hand lowered. Less than two inches had disappeared. "I might not use my mouth."


    She was still teasing me.


    That wouldn''t do.


    I had watched over the Dream for the entire time the women had been on the Island. I knew precisely how their powers had evolved as they ascended tiers from consuming my blood.


    Robin had seen the most significant change.


    She had started at T5, the weakest of those summoned. Her ascension had been focused on unlocking her Conqueror Haki and allowing her to multi-task with her Devil Fruit to an absurd degree. That was how she could give me this hand/blowjob while still talking.


    One of her most significant weaknesses, the fact that everything done to her sprouted limbs reflected back onto her physical body, had been negated once she became Tier 7.


    But just as I knew where she had improved, I also knew where she was still lacking.


    "I would welcome you into me." Left-Robin continued to whisper into my ears as her clone lowered her hand the barest fraction of an inch. "Anytime. Anywhere. My womb woul-"


    Her words were cut off as my hand, stealthily moving downwards, got close enough to grab her wrist.


    In one fluid and fast motion, I yanked the hand down until her fingers and palm were pressed flush against my groin.


    "Aghk," Robin choked at the sensation.


    It used to be that if someone cut one of her summoned hands, the cut would be replicated on the real Robin. Now? She would only feel the pain of being cut but would have no wound.


    The tight, wet, and warm throat surrounding my dick was only a conjuration of the Devil Fruit. Her actual throat remained unblocked and unchanged.


    To Robin?


    She felt every inch of my shaft carve its way down.


    Robin hadn''t been just going slow to tease me. It was also because this was her first blowjob, and she was not used to the sensation, even if she didn''t have to worry about the lack of air that most women faced.


    What I did was introduce her to no-risk deepthroating in one deep thrust.


    She gasped as I quickly raised her hand back up.


    "Glurk!" Robin choked on air as I lowered it down again just as quickly. "Ack! Urk! Glark! Slurp!"


    To be honest, watching the clone of Nico Robin choke on empty air as I used her mouth like a sex toy would have been somewhat amusing if I was in any mind to tease her about it.


    But I was focused on the feeling of her mouth, tongue, and throat.


    I had been teased and tormented by seven beautiful women for hours, some deliberately, others purely accidentally. A crescendo had been building, and I was ready for a release.


    Just because I could withhold my orgasm forever didn''t mean I wanted to.


    I stopped the clone''s choking sounds when I roughly pulled her head up for a blazing kiss as I held the hand against my skin.


    Robin shook as she felt me spasm my release down a throat that didn''t exist. She tried to pull away, but I held her firm as I blew load after load down her throat.


    As my orgasm petered out, I let go of Right-Robin''s arm and Left-Robin''s head.


    The one on my left almost instantly dissolved into pink petals and didn''t reform.


    The one on my right remained where she was, eyes glazed and unfocused. A bit of drool and possibly cum, dribbled out of her jaw.


    It was her throat I had just been ravaging.


    In for a penny, in for a pound.


    I lifted the hand still pressed against my groin and used the mouth attached to clean myself off.


    "How... violent," a sultry voice said from my doorway.


    Looking up, I saw why Robin had needed to step out. There was no way she could have been wearing that under her dress.


    She was a study in black and white. Robin''s alabaster skin contrasted with the dark lace that covered her form. Her long, sensual legs were garbed in black stockings. More black lace was used as a garter belt to hold them in place and accentuate a waist covered in panties that might as well have been painted on.


    Robin''s prodigious breasts were covered in a bra that hid nothing, pink nipples acting as a splash of colour on the monochrome.


    Her electric blue eyes were as unfocused as her clone''s had been, and she held a hand up to her mouth even as she leaned against the doorway on unsteady legs.


    "To be so rough," she whispered to herself, and I noticed her body shudder.


    Even if I couldn''t go literally forever, there wasn''t a straight man in the world who wouldn''t have gotten hard again at the sight of Nico Robin posing in lingerie in their doorway.


    I let out a draconic growl, low and rumbling, as I stood from the bed and stalked my way to her. I reached her and grabbed her by the hips, hands pressed against the lace.


    That shook her from her daze.


    "I do believe I have learned something already," Robin said, looking up at me with a sly smile.


    "And what is that," I rumbled.


    "Why I never enjoyed female company as much as some of the others do," she said, pressing herself against me. I could feel the dampness of her panties against my erection. "There is just something so... solid, reliable, and rough in your form that the others lack." As Robin talked, her hands roamed around my torso, my arms, and my dick. "I do believe I have sthenolagnia. How curious."


    I blinked down at her before mentally shrugging.


    A muscle fetish wasn''t even that strange. Good on her for finding out more about her preferences.


    I wasn''t a bodybuilder and never had been.


    I had been in shape in my old life, exercising regularly for health benefits, but I never saw the need to waste so much time at the gym. When I had Amelia/Shaper create my body, I modelled it on my Elden Ring form. Not only because it was what the blood was from but also because it was the one I had spent the most time in. Thus my extra height as I gained more power and consumed more dragon hearts.


    My muscles had been forged by long rides on Torrent, wearing heavy armour for decades and for swinging around massive slabs of metal and carving through bodies.


    My body wasn''t made for display, to brag about in gyms or to seduce people.


    It was built for war.


    That didn''t mean I couldn''t use them for this.


    Robin could contemplate the implications of her new fetish later when she wasn''t so aroused she couldn''t stand straight.


    Right now, I had pirate booty to plunder.


    "Ah," Robin gasped as I picked her up at the waist.


    To be honest, she wasn''t heavy in the least to me, but I did go through the effort to flex my muscles under her hands. I also used a minor application of Priscilla''s size-changing spell to give myself a few more inches of height, so I towered over her by at least a foot.


    Since Robin was six foot two, that put me well over the seven-foot mark.


    Then I carried her to the bed.


    Slowly.


    I dragged out the manhandling, the show of strength and control, of dominant power.


    When I had picked her up, she had been wet and wide-eyed.


    When I set her on the bed ten seconds later, she was panting and positively gushing.


    "Wha," Robin looked up at me, her pupils so dilated in desire that the blue had almost been swallowed by the black. "What now?" She rasped from a dry throat, even as she liked her lips in lust.


    "Now?" I asked rhetorically as I grabbed each of her arms and held them aloft with one hand. She hung there, ass off the bed, as I held her. The only limbs she could move were her legs, and even those were halted when I placed one of my enlarged hands on her hips to hold her in place.


    Nico Robin was utterly at my mercy.


    The seductress of earlier, the tease who had driven me wild, was no more.


    The image of womanly grace, sophistication and refined beauty was gone.


    What had replaced her was a beautiful woman indulging in a newly discovered fetish.


    "Now," I said as one of my fingers pulled the front of her soaked panties aside, revealing the sopping core beneath. "You are Mine!"


    I drove myself into her.


    She came undone.


    Moaning and thrashing, her head tilted back as her body undulated in my grasp. Robin''s arms remained firmly in place, as did her waist, but her legs spasmed and writhed before wrapping themselves around me, holding me deep in her.


    I didn''t let her orgasm stop me.


    Even as Robin''s legs tried to lock me into place, I ignored their feeble strength to withdraw and thrust again. The force of my movement sent her massive breasts jiggling free of their lacy confines.


    Artoria had been so inexperienced that, despite her greater strength, I had played her like an instrument. I imagine any future intimacy would be more back-and-forth than it had been that night.


    Ranni had been incredibly willing and craved any sort of stimulation on top of being a virgin. She got off on literally everything I did.


    Robin was someone whose button I found and hammered like I was panic-rolling from Ornstein and Smough.


    Sticky Fingers helped make sure that my every move, every part of my body language, further emphasized my strength. I not only towered over Robin, and held her in place, but I also controlled the pace.


    Just as when I carried her to the bed, I moved slowly and deliberately. I withdrew slowly, ensuring a flat pace even as her legs tried their best to lock me within her. I felt every bump and ridge of her velvety insides, and I made sure to carve my shape into her. When I slammed back into her, I did it with enough force to send her breasts and ass jiggling.


    There was no subtlety in this. No seduction. No elegance.


    I was a tower of muscle and strength, and I used that power to have my way with her at my own pace.


    There was nothing Robin could do about it.


    Robin was too weak.


    Robin loved it.


    My pace remained constant, and my hands were firmly in place, but the bouncing tits in front of my eyes also demanded attention.


    I leaned down, much more than I usually would have, and caught a bouncing breast with my mouth, my teeth lightly scratching at her nipple.


    "AAAHHHH!" Robin howled, her voice cracking as her most explosive orgasm yet shook her. Her insides undulated along my length, trying to milk me for all my worth.


    I did not stop.


    I maintained the same solid and steady rhythm as she writhed and thrashed. Her breast fell from my mouth, but I simply reached down and bit the one I had neglected.


    I continued for half a minute as Robin rode her orgasm to its end. I was starting to feel the pleasure building up again, and instinct and desire wanted me to raise my pace, but I controlled myself.


    The after-effects were still fading, minor spasms rocking Robin''s form when she remembered her Devil Fruit.


    Arms, half a dozen of them, sprouted along my body.


    For a second, I feared I would have to put some effort into this show of strength.


    I underestimated how much Robin wanted to explore this new discovery of hers.


    Rather than use her powers to try and free herself from my domination, Robin''s limbs started to caress me. Focusing on areas of dense muscles, such as my shoulders, thighs, arms and chest, her arms fondled, squeezed, rubbed, and massaged my body. Sometimes mouths would form on the palms of her hands, and she would lick or kiss a particularly taut muscle.


    I had been worshiped before as my time in the Lands Between drew to a close.


    I hated it with a passion. Any sort of blind faith made me disgusted. I had only been able to stomach their fawning because it served the purpose of my plan to escape.


    This form of worship, so intimate and sensual, I could get behind. It did wonders for my ego.


    A hand fondled my balls, four more massaged my shoulders, two mouths nibbled at my pecks, and a tongue was dragged along my abbs.


    But all good things must end, even if I still had hours to go before meeting with the Titans. And there was a lot I wanted to do with Robin.


    After minutes more of this strength play, even my steady pace brought me to the edge.


    With an animalistic growl, I slammed myself hilt deep into Nico Robin one last time.


    "MMMMMHHHHHHH," She moaned as my scalding cum blasted into her warm, waiting core. This set off another of her climaxes, one I let ride as I was caught up in the pleasure of my own release.


    I continued to hold her in place even as my orgasm finished. Shrinking back to my regular size, I sat on the bed and pulled her close through the last throes of her own climax.


    If it wasn''t for the Catalogue, I would be genuinely worried about how easy it was to get these women to orgasm. My previous lovers had been nowhere near this responsive, and even then, we still had to deal with chaffing, soreness, and dehydration.


    Sex magic for the win.


    "Well," Robin said, still panting but lucid. "That was informative."


    "I would hope so," I replied with a chuckle.


    "Now," she continued as she stood up. Robin moved with the fluid grace she usually did, unlike the animalistic thrashing from earlier. Turning to me, still clad in her black lace lingerie, she kneeled between my legs. "Onto the next lesson."


    Two more clones of her grew from the bed on either side of me, and all three pressed their naked breasts against my still-hard dick. They began moving up and down in perfect sync, rubbing their breasts and nipples against me and each other.


    "Was my enhanced breast sensitivity due to the situation, or are they naturally like that?" Robin said with a sly smile, looking up at me with eyes still darkened with lust even as she hefted her massive mammaries.


    "You are the image of a dedicated scholar, my dear," I said with a chuckle as I lay back and let the three versions of Nico Robin go to town under my watchful eye.


    Today was going to be a good day. I could feel it.

 SS – Meetings, Minds and Mysteries

    <div>


    ''Cause what she''s doin'' now is tearin'' me apart


    Fillin'' up my mind and emptying my heart


    I can hear her call each time the cold wind blows


    And I wonder if she knows what she''s doin'' now


    ********


    Taylor drummed her fingers impatiently on the steering wheel of her car.


    She''d been stuck in traffic for the last fifty minutes, barely inching her way forward as the sun descended from late afternoon till full twilight. Only the barest hints of natural light reflected off the buildings, most illumination coming from the streetlamps of Brockton Bay and the other cars around her.


    She took their honking as a sign they were all as impatient as her. But there was nothing they could do. They should know by now that they were lucky that the danger had already passed.


    An entire stretch of nearby road had been destroyed by a villain, who Taylor didn''t know, but she had seen the usual ''Super Fight Scene'' signs for the last half hour. She hoped no one was hurt, but she refused to check out her phone.


    Where on earth were the heroes? Or the cleanup crews?


    She had shuffled through the radio for any update on the situation, but all the news outlets had been raving about some new Super incident in Ohio. Giving it up as a bad job, she had turned it off and spent most of her time thinking about how she would write her upcoming essay on William Blake''s Lamb.


    There was a time, years ago, when the news of a Super fight nearby, or the one making the national news over in Ohio, would have piqued her interest.


    Back when she wore Armsmaster panties, went as Wonder Woman for Halloween, and had a Flash brand lunchbox.


    That was before she discovered she was a mutant with a useless power.


    Before she understood the fear of losing everything to a stray shot from a blaster.


    Before her dad died, collateral damage to a fight between Typhoid Mary and the Scarlet Spider. No rhyme or reason, just the wrong place at the wrong time.


    Now she kept her head down, avoiding Supers and anything to do with them as much as possible.


    Taylor Hebert was one of the millions worldwide who won and lost the genetic lottery.


    In a world where one in ten thousand people have an ability of some sort, and the number rising every day, it was almost guaranteed you''d run into a Super at least once a week.


    Most of them were less dangerous than a thug with a bat.


    For every pyro that could destroy a building in one blast, thousands could barely light a match. Every flyer that could reach Mach speeds overshadowed the countless others who could only hover. Strongmen able to lift a car were much rarer than those who could lift a couch.


    In a world where more and more people had powers, either from mutation, triggering, science, or extraterrestrial origin, only a handful had abilities that allowed them to make a difference.


    The sheer population of the earth ensured that there were still thousands of people who had ''Super'' superpowers, but most were like Taylor.


    Underpowered.


    A term the internet had coined that fit her to a T.


    Her only ability was immunity from psychic influence.


    She had gone the first fifteen years of her life not knowing she had it, and since discovering it, it had not proven useful once.


    It was only when the X-men, and the Xavier Institute, went public after joining the fight against Behemoth that Taylor learned that mutants were a separate classification of Supers.


    If her power had been more practical, she might have pursued further education at the Institute or gotten an apprenticeship.


    She could have been a hero.


    Then she might have been able to save her dad.


    Taylor wasn''t bitter, more like wistful.


    If that had happened, she would have had to leave Emma, even if only for a little while, until she got her power under control. Both of them would have hated that.


    Their relationship might not have survived.


    Still...


    Taylor Hebert spent the remaining drive, twenty minutes to cross the two blocks to home, caught up in her mind.


    Not about a long-dead poet but about what could have been.


    Parking the car, Taylor picked up the package left on the doorstep and entered. Judging by the size, no bigger than her hand, Emma might have received new make-up samples again. Companies often sent her some of their product when she advertised for them.


    Emma was in the living room, a news broadcaster''s voice barely a murmur from this distance.


    Some Super incident, probably. That was all the news talked about these days.


    "I''m home," Taylor called out as she set her heavy bag down with a sigh of relief. The package was put on the table.


    It was surprisingly addressed to her.


    There was no return address.


    "You''re late. I was worried." Emma called back.


    Grabbing a pair of scissors, Taylor cut it open gently.


    "Some Super incident on the road. The heroes were taking forever to show up, so it was bumper to bumper."


    Inside was a black cloth pouch and a small white card.


    "I''m not surprised," Taylor heard her fiancee snort. "The whole world went mad for like an hour. Huge Super throwdown through a bunch of states and ended up near Washington. Did you hear about it?"


    Fliping opens the card, Taylor read it even as she answered Emma absentmindedly.


    "Something about a mutant in Clevland, right?"


    ''With my condolences for your loss and wishing you a happy ever after.


    Mikael, Drakon Inc.''


    Taylor frowned at the card in confusion. The name was unfamiliar, but the company sounded familiar for some reason.


    It took her a moment to place it.


    The tall blonde last week!


    The one who had been asking about her dad.


    Danny Hebert had been well-connected and friendly, so it hadn''t been rare for people to stop by asking about him, but she had stood out because of how attractive Taylor had found her and the fact it had been over a year since his death.


    So this Mikael was her boss? Odd that he hadn''t included a last name.


    "Turns out it was an alien. It was pretty scary. It kept getting stronger and stronger as it rampaged. Mutating and changing. The League, Avengers, X-men, and a bunch of the Protectorate showed up to try and stop it. It was kicking their asses."


    "What happened?" Taylor asked as she picked up the pouch.


    Emma would have a much different tone if any of her favourite heroes died, so she assumed they won in the end.


    The cloth of the pouch was silky smooth, unlike any material she was familiar with. Definitely not cheap.


    Pulling the strings open and upending the contents onto her hand gently, Taylor blinked in surprise as a small sculpture fell out.


    It was an insect of some sort, made of glass to glitter like multi-coloured gems. A beetle? It didn''t look right for that. But it was familiar.


    Taylor Hebert wasn''t an insect expert by any measure, so it took her a few seconds to identify the palm-sized figure as a scarab. Like one she saw in Egyptian design.


    Why would a CEO send her a glass scarab?


    "The Elden Lord, you know, the huge dragon that nommed on the Simurgh, got a human body and brought Glory Girl back from the dead," Emma rambled.


    Taylor rolled her eyes.


    Just because she didn''t actively seek out info on Supers anymore didn''t mean she had been living under a rock. She hadn''t seen the famous video of Panacea Park, but she had heard retellings enough to get the gist.


    All that had been impossible to miss even if she didn''t watch the news or go to forums.


    "Anyway. It turns out he married some sort of extradimensional clone of Wonder Woman, and she came to help. With King Arthur. Who, it turns out, is a girl. A hot one. She''s the one from the Panacea video."


    Taylor turned her attention from the small scarab in her hand to look at the living room in disbelief.


    "What." Taylor made her way to the living room, her voice flat in deadpan.


    In what possible world did those strings of words make any sense?


    Supers were always weird, but what Emma said was some absurd, next-level shit.


    "So these two come in, rescue the heroes and kicking this thing''s ass using a bunch of funky weapons. Only nothing seems to put it down." As Taylor entered the room, Emma stood to give her a hug and a quick peck on the cheek before quickly refocusing on the TV. "The Elden Lord shows up, says a few words to the New Wonder Woman and gives her a sword. She kills the thing dead. You''d think that would be it. But then a whole bunch of other women show up. There''s, like, ten of them plus the Elden Lord. And they''re all married or something, and they''re staring down the heroes. One turns into a dragon and flies off to fix all the destroyed stuff. Another one grows this huge golden tree. I mean massive. I could see it from the window. Did you?"


    "No," Taylor said with a shake of her head. She must have been facing the wrong way when it happened. As her childhood friend rambled on, she felt the headache that had disappeared earlier make its way back. Whenever Emma got on one of her tirades, it was better to let her get it all out than try to stop her.


    She seemed particularly energetic tonight.


    "So this tree heals everyone for, like, five hundred miles and then everyone is in this big standoff. It turns out the Elden Lord is pretty cool, but because the heroes have been scared, they''ve been hounding him while he spends time with his family. They talk, Superman apologizes, and some people try and steal his weapons, only he goes ''Nuh-uh'' and catches them all. Then he summons these two dragon heads, blasts the alien''s corpse to pieces and leaves with most of the other women. King Arthur and the new Wonder Woman stay behind."


    "Okay," Taylor nodded, showing she had followed along. Maybe this would all make sense if she watched what had happened.


    This time alone, she''d go out of her way to actually look things up, even if only to find out what was up with the massive dragon off the coast, the blue moon in the sky, and this gigantic tree.


    It all sounded insane, and Taylor felt a sense of vertigo.


    Every day, more and more incidents, attacks, or disasters appear. It was one of the reasons she stopped watching the Super scene.


    It was just depressing.


    And now this.


    Was it wrong to want a quiet, happy life?


    "Anyway, how was your day?" Emma asked, finally running out of steam.


    "Fine," Taylor said with a shrug. "Midterms, you know. Do you remember that woman? Glynda?"


    "Glynda Goodwitch? The dragon?" Emma asked in turn, looking confused.


    "What?" Taylor asked, bamboozled. "No, the blonde from last week. The one asking after my dad for her boss?"


    Reading on Amazon or a pirate site? This novel is from Royal Road. Support the author by reading it there.


    "It''s ringing a bell, but I can''t remember the details. Did you tell me about it already? Was I home?"


    "You were the one who answered the door," Taylor said with a sigh. Sometime she could be such an airhead. "Anyway, what does the Wizard of Oz have to do with dragons?"


    "Nothing," Emma shook her head with an amused smile. "That was one of the women with the Elden Lord. The one that turned into a dragon was named Glynda Goodwitch. I thought it was a joke, but she is seriously powerful. That''s what''s on," she nodded to the TV. "She flew over Clevland and repaired everything. Like a tenth of the city was wrecked, and then: poof. All better. She couldn''t do anything about the people who died, but the city was repaired, and the tree healed everyone else."


    "Good for them," Taylor said, feeling sympathy for the inhabitants.


    On the one hand, it was Ohio, so they were used to getting a bad hand. On the other, as someone from Brockton Bay, she would appreciate it if, after a disaster, someone came and cleaned everything up for them as well.


    It would make the commute much more manageable.


    Shaking her head slightly at her joke, Taylor lifted the glass scarab to show her fiancee.


    "Ooooh, pretty," Emma cooed at the sight of the light bouncing off the figurine. She took the fake insect in her hand, rubbing her fingers over it.


    "Mikael, her boss, sent this with his condolences," Taylor said as Emma froze. "But why a glass scarab?"


    "What did you say his name was?"


    "Hm? Mikael. From Drakon Inc." Emma''s eye twitched. "There was no last name, which is weird."


    "Taylor, dear, I love you," Emma said slowly and patiently, like talking to a stupid person.


    "Thank you," Taylor answered, looking at the redhead in confusion. "I love you too."


    "But you need to listen to me!" Emma nearly shouted. "It''s okay if you don''t want to deal with Supers. I get it. But when I talk about the dragon the size of a continent that was in town last week and brought someone back from the dead! You. Need. To. Listen!"


    "Woah," Taylor said, raising her hands in surrender as she stepped back from Emma. "What''s wrong?"


    The blonde was right.


    When Emma had been talking about the famous footage of Glory Girl''s return, Taylor had been too distracted by the idea of the dead coming back to life.


    Could she have her parents back?


    Could she see them again? Hold them? Tell them all the words that went unsaid?


    Eventually, she snapped out of her funk as reality settled. Not only were there probably a bunch of conditions for bringing people back, but why would someone like the Elden Lord care about poor orphaned Taylor Hebert?


    Everyone had lost loved ones.


    That''s just how it was in a world full of Supers.


    She was no one special, and she had nothing to offer.


    For the last week, she had tried to put the thought out of her mind.


    "What''s wrong?" Emma repeated rhetorically, sounding near hysterics. "What''s wrong is that Mikael is the Elden Lord''s name! What''s wrong is that a blonde called Glynda was here last week! What''s wrong is we were given a gift from the CEO of a fake company, whose name is a shitty pun! That''s what''s wrong!"


    "What?" Taylor asked, struggling to understand but getting the gist.


    "Quick!" Emma said, pulling up her phone and scrolling through it at a blistering pace. "Is this her? The woman from last week?"


    The image on the screen was a tall blonde with green eyes in a blouse and skirt combo standing in front of a wooden chair. Nearby, other attractive women filled similar chairs. Behind them, a massive grey and white carcass and a man sitting atop it.


    "That''s her," Taylor said softly, her mouth suddenly dry.


    Emma Barnes let out a low keening sound from her throat as she held up the scarab to the light.


    "You don''t think..." Taylor Hebert hesitated even to voice the idea. "That''s not a real gem, right? Right?"


    Emma choked.


    ********


    As Nico Robin walked the dirt road, backpack slung over her shoulder, she revelled not in the view of the Mediterranean sea glittering in the setting sun as it descended but in the feeling of her body.


    She was familiar with soreness from training. Soreness from exhaustion. From bruises or pulled muscles. Those hurt, but she was long used to pain.


    The soreness that still tingled through Robin''s body was a pleasant one.


    Not one part of her didn''t ache deliciously after last night, even if her body did not have any actual marks.


    As Mikael had promised, he had spent hours exploring her body. It was fantastic.


    And so new.


    Even now, the phantom sensation of his hands, his tongue, or other parts of him sent trills of ghostly pleasure along her nerves. She was half tempted to go through with her threat of sprouting a part of herself in his pants right now.


    She shook her head in denial.


    Not only was he on the other side of the globe, but his meeting with the Titans was not the time to experiment with that aspect of her powers.


    Still...


    Robin had thought that over six hours of passionate, experimental and kinky sex would be excessive, but now she knew it was barely enough.


    The only reason the pair finally separated was that Mikael had to meet the Teen Titans.


    To shake herself out of the feeling of emptiness his departure had brought, Robin had showered and set off to continue her little adventure.


    This world did not have the Void Century, nor did it have Poneglyphs to search out. Until The Family travelled to a world similar to her home, her dream was put on hold.


    For now.


    Able to read all the writings of this world, thanks to the Catalogue, most archeology came pretty quickly to her. It was a very well-defined field of study here, unlike her home, so there was no central mystery of the world that attracted her attention.


    Except for one she had discovered by chance while they had been settling down and evaluating this world for risks.


    Atlantis.


    So here Robin was, walking along a dirt road on a small island off the coast of Croatia.


    The small house on the nearby hill was her destination.


    A black and white dog barked a few times as she approached. Its tail wagged happily as Robin drew closer. Paying the appropriate tribute, she scratched it behind its ears, much to its joy.


    "Can I help you?" An older man asked in Croatian from his place in the doorway. He was well past his prime but still fit enough to stand, and he eyed her warily.


    "Dr. Jakov Vukelic?" Robin asked in the same language. She didn''t even have an accent. "Former professor at Humboldt-Universit?t zu Berlin?"


    If one ignored the sexual slavery aspect, every aspect of the Waifu Catalogue could be considered a very useful superpower by itself. Many would cut off a limb for the ability to read, write, and speak every conceivable language.


    "I am he," the old scholar nodded, looking less wary and more intrigued. "May I have your name, miss?"


    "Nico Robin," she said as she left the dog. "I am an archeologist. Do you have a moment to talk about your work?"


    "Of course," the balding man''s eyes lit up with joy as he waived her in. "Come in, come in. I always welcome fellow scholars. Would you like something to drink? I have tea, coffee, or something a little stronger if you prefer?"


    "Some coffee if it wouldn''t be too much trouble," Robin said with a smile as she stepped into the modest house.


    It was clean, with sturdy, well-made furniture and a half dozen bookshelves filled with hundreds of books¡ªenough room for one man to live out his retirement days in peace and study. The nearby town was far enough not to disturb him but close enough that he could get there with little effort for supplies.


    "It''s no trouble at all," Dr. Vukelic said as he busied himself with making her drink. "Please have a seat."


    "Thank you," Robin sat in one of the plush chairs, eyeing the books with evaluating eyes. "You are a hard man to contact, doctor."


    "Jakov, please," he said with an amiable smile. "I apologize for that, but I am retired and have been for years. I''m not too fond of all this technology, phones, computers, and the like. If my old colleagues need me, they can send me a letter."


    "If you don''t mind me asking, why did you retire so young?"


    "Ah," the old Croatian looked slightly hurt as he set a cup of coffee in front of her and settled into his chair. "It is sad when a line of study one has dedicated their life to ceases to be of interest to others. The wall''s fall was just a good excuse to take my leave and pursue my studies independently."


    "Truly?" Robin asked in surprise. "I had known there were few scholars on Atlantis, but for no one to be interested? I believe you were, and still are, the premier scholar of Atlantian civilization."


    "It is easy to be the best scholar of a subject most believe to be a hoax." There was a note of pain in the older man''s voice, but he shook his head. "Nevertheless, I started this pursuit because of my curiosity, not for fame. I wish to know the truth. Whether people believe it or not is their matter." The stubborn pride in the former professor told Robin this was an old wound long scared over.


    "I believe you," Robin smiled at Jakov over her coffee. "That is what I am here for. The truth of Atlantis."


    "What would you like to know?" He leaned forward eagerly, his scholarly passion not diminished by age.


    "How do you know it was real?" She started by asking, trying to establish his credentials.


    "Right to the heart of things," Jakov winced slightly. "We will ignore Plato as the origin of the name and sailor accounts over the centuries since they are notoriously unreliable, as well as other underwater civilizations in myth such as Mu, Lemuria, Ys, or Thule. That leaves me with only archeological remains, first-hand accounts over part of the twentieth century that I had the pleasure to interview, and a few records of coastal cities trading with an unnamed but advanced civilization."


    "First-hand accounts?" Robin asked, pulling a notepad from her bag and writing in it as they talked.


    "Multiple," the former professor nodded with a smile. "That is how I became interested in the subject. I had the pleasure of working as an intern for Dr. Stephen Shin while working on my thesis. He was the expert on the subject at the time. He met an Atlantian in person. His testimony matched those of others who fought in the Great War. Unfortunately, he died of a heart attack not long after I received my doctorate."


    "What happened?" Robin asked, leaning forward in interest. "That sounds like a valid study, at least to build on with further evidence."


    "Unfortunately, the post-war period was the last time we could find reliable testimony consistently," Jakov shook his head in sadness. "We still received the occasional notice of sightings along coasts or were able to track down records of trades with unknown foreign powers that were consistent with previous behaviour. But that also disappeared during the Cold War. What few colleagues I had eventually gave up once we were able to use submersible technology to scan the sea floor and found nothing. I turned in my resignation after that. Here I am now."


    "You said there were archeological remains?"


    "The usual things," Jakov nodded. "Pottery not matching any known style. Tools made of sea-based material such as coral and the like. Many bore a similar emblem, a symbol similar to the letter A. That is how we knew them to be from a common source. We then matched them to the same styled items that did not bear the symbol."


    "And where are these remains now?" Robin asked, taking more notes.


    "The Pergamonmuseum holds most of the artifacts we discovered," he said with a sad shake of his head. "They display them not as a symbol of Atlantis but as a derivative form of the Ancient Greek Delta. Despite their age not consistent with its use as a writing system."


    "Have any more records or artifacts appeared since your retirement?"


    "None," Jakov answered with a shake of his head. "The last valid discovery, a half-destroyed weapon similar to a trident, was discovered in Fisterra, Spain, a decade before my retirement. One of my former students would send me updates for a while as she continued looking for more evidence but had no luck. Reports were unverifiable, and sightings turned out to be mutants. Back then, most of the mutant population was still hiding what they were. Eventually, she gave up like the others."


    "But not you?" Robin asked.


    "No," the old professor answered with certainty. "I have seen too much proof, talked to too many people, and noticed too much consistency that I am sure Atlantis exists. Or did so in the mid-twentieth century at least. What happened after that is a mystery I would love to solve."


    "So would I," Robin agreed with a kind smile.


    If this man was correct, then the advent of the Endbringers six years ago was not the catalyst for the subaquatic civilization''s disappearance, unlike Mikael''s theory.


    Of course, Robin needed to verify the truth with her own eyes.


    "Do you have any records on hand?" She asked. "Of your studies, findings, or which artifacts are which so I may track them down?"


    "Certainly," Jakov Vukelic stood with some slight difficulty and made his way over to a bookshelf filled with notebooks and binders.


    Nico Robin allowed herself a triumphant smile.


    This was the kind of thing she lived for.


    History and mystery.


    ********


    "What do you have?" Amanda Waller asked the lead scientist working on Project Leukocyte as they walked through the halls of Cadmus.


    This was her first meeting with this particular man, a tall, broad-shouldered man who looked like he hadn''t seen the sun in years. He had to be good if the heads put him in charge of such an important project.


    "Everything and nothing!" He declared with quiet pride.


    She wasn''t amused.


    "We simply do not have enough material," the scientist explained upon seeing her dower look. "We had to use a few drops for testing, and the remaining samples are nowhere near enough for more extensive experiments."


    "Cloning." She asked/ordered.


    "Impossible," he rejected with a shake of his head. "Any and every attempt to replicate the material fails. No matter what we do, it does not grow, multiply, or divide. We cannot make more. Whether this is due to mystical limits or an inherent property of the material, we do not know."


    "So you have nothing."


    "And everything," the man corrected. God save her from eggheads, and this one seemed even prouder than most. "The limited material has hampered us, but we have discovered quite a bit. First and least consequential is that the material doesn''t degrade. At all. We''ve had it for a week, and it has not dried, degenerated, evaporated, or even decomposed. Once we extracted the dirt from it and isolated it, it remained entirely unchanged except when we pulled a few drops for our experiments. It can exist indefinitely so long as it is not mixed with something."


    "And?" The head of the PRT was intrigued by the implications of something that didn''t degrade, but she did not allow it to show. Refrain from giving science types an inch of interest, or they will ramble about nonsense for hours.


    "Secondly, we have evaluated the DNA the blood contained. It''s not human." Amanda grunted, showing she wasn''t impressed. Anyone could have guessed that. "It is genetically compatible with humans, which isn''t rare in the broader universe, but unremarkable, unlike our work with other extraterrestrial DNA. What is more interesting is the external genetic information it contains."


    "Stop beating around the bush," Amanda ordered.


    "It contains DNA similar to reptiles, though infinitely more complex." The man continued to lead her down the underground halls. "But it is separate from the main threads, an external influence. It changes the original. To what extent, I do not know. We do not have a base to act as a control. We only know the sample has been changed because of an experiment where we introduced other DNA samples to a drop, and this ''reptile strand'' spread and infected the new blood."


    Amanda didn''t say anything, mind racing at the implications. The image of a stern blonde, Glynda Goodwitch, transforming into a dragon yesterday.


    "Third, and most importantly, is what happens when the blood is mixed with still living material," the pale scientist continued. The pair had reached a lab attended by other scientists watching and documenting something occurring in a small cage. They parted as the pair approached.


    In the small container, a tiny white mouse paced around the edges, head swinging back and forth as its beady orange and slit eyes took in the room, the people, and its cage.


    Tiny, almost invisible scales dotted its tail.


    "We gave it one drop. Only one." The head scientist said, almost reverentially, as tiny slit orange eyes watched them warily. "It became smarter. Stronger. Faster. Better in every way imaginable. The blood does not spread. Unlike a virus, it doesn''t self-replicate. The change is directly proportional to the amount of blood introduced to total body mass. It would take roughly half a litre to see comparative transformations in a human."


    "We do not have enough blood for that," Amanda said, disgruntled.


    "We don''t." The scientist agreed as his eyes met hers steadily. Left unsaid was that they needed more. "The blood doesn''t reject anything¡ªan actual, universal donor. It works for any species, sex, or organism. As we have seen, the transformation can be reversed without health detriments, leaving only the benefits. It can be ingested or injected. Everything it touches is more than it was before. And the growth is exponential."


    Visions of draconic soldiers swam in Waller''s mind. Heroes they could trust, given a dose of blood to see their powers grow exponentially.


    Immortality.


    "Enough blood could turn anyone, absolutely anyone, into a god." There was a look in the scientist''s eyes; the genuine desire, the flame of ambition. His passion was admirable, even if it did make him look a little sinister. He met her eyes, emphasizing every word he said next. "This is the next step in human evolution."


    There was a beat of silence.


    "How much do you need?" Amanda asked, turning her eyes back to the dragon-mouse.


    "As much as possible." He answered, calming down now that he had the promise of support. "Samples from the Dragon would be best. A beast of that size has more than enough blood to lose."


    "We know how to get to the island," Amanda nodded, a plan forming in her mind. "Getting back with any samples is the problem."


    "If you manage it, bring samples from other wildlife there. It might be the island itself that is the key. Other fauna might possess similar blood. We need anything and everything."


    "You''ll have your samples," Amanda said firmly. "Keep up the good work, and learn everything you can about it. Especially if we can replicate it."


    "Of course."


    "I do not want even a hint of this leaking out," the PRT head emphasized. The tall man nodded. "If the Elden Lord finds out, we can kiss goodbye to our lives, country, or even the earth. He''s fooled others with that goody-too-shoes act, but I don''t buy it."


    "Naturally."


    "I''ll be back in a week to inspect your progress," Amanda turned to leave. She still had to meet with Captain America about rebuilding the Clevland branch of the Protectorate. She paused, realizing an oversight. "I never caught your name."


    "My apologies," the man said with a somewhat archaic bow. "I assumed someone had briefed you. I took over after Director Westfield''s unfortunate accident. Nathaniel Essex, at your service."

 Furlough 5

    <div>


    Hey Bob, Supe had a straight job


    Even though he coulda smashed through


    Any bank in the United States


    He had the strength but he would not


    Folks said his Family were all dead


    Planet crumbled, but Superman he forced himself


    To carry on, forget Krypton, and keep goin''


    ********


    "Two triple-deckers, half a pound of bacon, and fully loaded with extra cheese," I called out as Chris, still in his costume as Winman, eagerly proffered his plate on which I placed his burgers.


    "Thank you," the red and gold-themed hero said as he sat nearby on the lip of the building and dug into his meal with gusto.


    Someone else might have been put off by someone eating that much food and staying in healthy shape.


    I lived with Artoria.


    "And for you," I turned to the shorter green hero. "Two towers of deceit, half a pound of lies, and fully loaded with everything wrong with the world."


    "Dude," Beast Boy whined good-naturedly as I passed him his own meal of fake barbeque. "Not cool."


    "Sorry," I said with a chuckle. "I couldn''t resist."


    I had seen no sign that Cyborg, a hero usually associated with the Teen Titans or Justice League, existed in this world when I first investigated. I was bummed at the idea since he was one of the more interesting characters. I couldn''t help but echo his words to Beast Boy, if only as a tribute as a fellow meat lover.


    I liked to think there was a version of him somewhere that shed a tear of pride at my dig.


    "It''s healthier!" The green-skinned man defended himself.


    "It is," I agreed. "Doesn''t mean I''ll give up on bacon any time soon. Trust me. When you go for centuries unable to taste anything, your first lamb chop is like nothing else."


    There was a beat of silence as the group digested (ha) my words.


    Of course, I took the opportunity to fuck with them some more.


    "After barrel rolling into and then electrocuting me, that damn goat tasted delicious."


    "You have electric goats?" Mercury asked, looking doubtfully.


    "I have electric, rolling goats," I corrected smugly. "Much cooler. I might bring one sometime."


    "They are an odd breed," Scathach corroborated. "But you are correct. They are quite tasty."


    "Especially after they annoy you," I nodded sagely. "Vengeance is my favourite meal of the day."


    "Dude," Winman piped up in between bites. "What even is your life?"


    "A greek comedy," I answered easily, getting small smiles of amusement from Glynda and Scathach.


    "Anyway, I turn into animals," Garfield explained after shaking his head, even as he took a bite of his fake meat. "It''s, like, I am them. How would you feel if you ate people?"


    "Nothing," I shrugged, uncaring. "It wouldn''t be the first time."


    Not counting eating dragon hearts for communion, I also felt everything the draconic heads I summoned did. When one of them ate an enemy, I tasted everything.


    There was an awkward silence as everyone on the roof heard me and paused.


    "Oh duh," Beast Boy eventually said, smacking his head in realization. "You''re a dragon!"


    "I had honestly almost forgotten," Nightwing said, also still in costume, as he took his own order from me. "You act so humanly, it''s hard to think of you as being larger than the state of California."


    "That and you are seriously cool," Winman piped in, already working on his second burger. "Seriously, you are way chiller than I would have thought for someone who ate the Simurgh whole."


    "How was she tasting of?" Starfire asked eagerly, floating near my face even as I poured extra mustard on her meal.


    "Like chicken," I deadpanned.


    "Really?"


    "No, but if you believe that, then I have this lovely igloo for sale," I snarked. I thought I heard a snort that could have come from Raven, sitting in a corner by herself, but when I turned to look, she was staring over the bay. Turning back to Starfire, who looked crestfallen at my words, I rolled my eyes. "I didn''t really taste anything. She was too small. The closest comparison would be if you tried to eat a piece of plastic the size of a mote of dust." That answer satisfied her more as she floated over to her seat beside Nightwing.


    "So you can breathe fire and stuff?" Beast Boy asked eagerly with his mouth full. "That''s so cool."


    "I can''t," I shook my head with a slight pout even as I served Scathach her own meal. "I''m not that type of dragon."


    "Right," Winman nodded in realization. "You''re white. You have ice breath."


    "Nope," I denied again. "I actually don''t have a breathe weapon of my own."


    "Really?" Winman looked disappointed. "So, no poison? Acid? Lightning? Nothing? None of you have a dragon''s breath?"


    "We do," Scathach nodded, a hint of smugness in her tone. "All of us do. Just not him."


    "Laugh it up," I said petulantly.


    "What about when you destroyed that corpse? That was fire and lighting." Nightwing asked.


    "It was a spell," I said with a shake. For emphasis, I summoned Smarag''s, Ekzykes'', and Borealis'' heads above me.


    The titans flinched but didn''t react more than that.


    "How marvellous," Starfire said, her eyes shining in excitement.


    "I can use a whole bunch of dragon breaths using magic," I explained and dispelled the conjurations, knowing full well the Justice League and PRT would know about this by the end of the day. "But they aren''t mine. Just recreations of others."  There was a reason I used Placidusax''s Ruin to destroy Doomsday''s corpse rather than a breathe weapon of my own.


    A ''weakness'' that really wasn''t a weakness.


    A show of trust.


    A dragon''s breath weapon wasn''t just another weapon. It was a way to extend their Element outside of their range. It was an incredibly powerful attack and symbolic of the dragons themselves.


    Without a breath attack, a dragon was just a giant lizard with wings.


    I was a bit bummed not to have an elemental breath of my own, but I didn''t let it bother me. It wasn''t like I was hurting for ways of killing people.


    I was just confused about why I was the only one with the problem. Tsunade was also a Life dragon and could use her Element as a dragon''s breath attack. Diana had inherited my Freedom element and her breath, while not really damaging, had some cool effects.


    Maybe because I was the only one with dual elements?


    "Don''t worry, dear," Glynda patted my chest affectionately as she took her plate. "We do not love you any less. I hear it is quite common. One in four dragons suffer from it. We will get over this. Together."


    "Really." I deadpanned at the blonde. "ED jokes? After yesterday? For shame." I shook my head even as her cheeks pinked at the memory. "To hit below the belt like that," Beast Boy laughed, but most of the others groaned at the pun. Starfire just looked confused. "Someone has been a terrible influence on you."


    "You." She said as she took her seat.


    "I know," I answered, grinning. "I am so proud."


    I loved when I was a negative influence on people.


    "How do you do it?"


    "You''re going to need to be more specific there. Use a breathe weapon? Corrupt my wives? Satisfy them?" I replied, waggling my eyebrows with a smirk at X-23 as she took her steak.


    "How do you act so human?" The mutant clarified with a frown.


    I pretended not to notice a bunch of ears perk up.


    Just as I pretended that this entire meal wasn''t being recorded.


    We were on top of Titan Tower in San Fransico''s bay, and, in a rare break from training over the last few days, I was cooking for the Titans as well as Glynda and Scathach. It was just the ten of us, even if I''m sure some PRT personnel would have loved to come out to enjoy the refreshing autumn air.


    Once it was clear I wasn''t planning some sort of violent attack, the PRT personnel that supported the Titans returned to headquarters. They had been avoiding my wives and me, but I was sure my every action in this tower was being recorded by six cameras at any given time.


    In the last three days, I had only been in the tower for a few hours in total. Mostly when the training was on pause for one reason or another. I had nothing to contribute that Glynda or Scathach couldn''t do better. So what time I did spend here was mostly spent getting to know the heroes when they weren''t getting their asses kicked.


    I used the opportunity to continue building my reputation just as they used the opportunity to try and dig more info out of me.


    And this was another chance for both parties.


    "I''ve had practice," I shrugged casually. "This isn''t the first time I''ve had a human body. Though I do admit, it has been a long time. With my wives, you can imagine I''ve put it through its paces." I finished with a sly smile.


    Laura didn''t even blink at the innuendo, but Glynda, sitting fifteen feet away and talking to Starfire, blushed a faint pink and glared at me. Scathach simply smirked.


    There had been a few hours where all three of us had seemingly disappeared into thin air while in the tower. The PRT freaked out until we returned, thinking we were sabotaging them somehow.


    I squarely laid the blame at Glynda''s feet.


    Watching her ''corruption'' by the celt during the Dream was one thing.


    It was wholly another to participate in the sort of degeneracy the usually proper huntress conjured up since her sexual awakening.


    "From my point of view, to be human is to be flawed. No one is perfect. Being human is the constant state of being aware of that and either improving yourself or living with the consequences of your imperfection. That is my definition." I continued when it looked like the heroine wouldn''t accept my joke as an answer. " But that is just mine. If you really want my advice, stop trying to be human."


    "What?" Mercury asked, disgruntled by my answer to her friend.


    "Explain," Laura said simply rather than be insulted.


    "Stop trying," I repeated with a shrug. "I certainly have my ideas on what it means to be human, but those are my ideas. Thousands of minds have asked, ''What does it mean to be human?'' Do you know the answer?" Laura shook her head. "That''s because no one does. Some think they do, but they don''t. We only know what it means to be ourselves. That is my advice."


    "Be yourself?" Laura asked in disbelief. "That is it?"


    "Yep," I answered as I loaded up my own plate. "I don''t mean in the kumbaya, power of friendship bullshit. Think about it this way. Starfire isn''t a human at all. Never has been. Mercury is entirely inorganic. Beast Boy''s DNA probably looks like a kaleidoscope through the lens of psychedelics. I am a Dragon from beyond time and space. All of us ''act'' human. None of us are. Because humanity is irrelevant."


    "Hey!" Winman cried out in fake offence, but I waived him off to drive the point home.


    "I mean that literally," I continued. "Humanity is entirely irrelevant. One of the countless other species the universe calls home. One day it will go extinct, as all will. Why obsess over something so insignificant? Instead of being human, whose entire race might disappear in the snap of a finger, try to be Laura. Do you want to fight someone? Fight them! Want to be a hero? Be one! You can be a hero in the body of a monster. An angel in the body of a demon. But only you can be you."


    While talking to Laura, I ensured my words carried to the whole roof, especially the grey-skinned woman sitting off to the side, well away from anyone else.


    "You ask me how I act human? I say I don''t. I act like me."


    My words weren''t lies, as I genuinely believed them, but they weren''t the whole truth.


    Acting like myself involved acting like others to mislead and manipulate.


    Like right now.


    Batman hadn''t been wrong that the images I presented to the world were fake in a way. A mask carefully crafted to achieve my desired outcome of carving my Family a place on this planet.


    A mask that was as real as everything underneath it.


    I never pretended to be perfect.


    To be human was to be flawed, after all.


    "Thank you for the advice," Laura said politely, brows furrowed in thought even as she joined Mercury beside Scathach with her meal.


    "No problem." I shrugged again. "As I said, everyone has different ideas about what it means to be human. I don''t define humanity as a race or a behaviour pattern. To me, any self-aware, flawed being is ''human.'' Though I suppose ''mortal'' is a more accurate term than human. It doesn''t roll off the tongue as well, though."


    "So only someone immortal would not be human in your eyes?" Nightwing asked with a frown.


    "No," I shook my head as I cut up my steak, not looking at the hero. "There is no such thing as immortals. And that''s a good thing."


    "Uh," Beast Boy chimed in. "Yeah, there is. A whole bunch of them, in fact. Off the top of my head, all the amazons, Galactus, a bunch of gods, and a few villains, and I think Kryptonians don''t age under a yellow sun. Right?" The green-skinned hero looked to his leader for confirmation, and the former Robin nodded.


    "When I talk about immortality, I don''t mean agelessness," I shook my head as I thought about how to word my explanation.


    Stolen from its rightful author, this tale is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.


    I had been subtly guiding this entire conversation, trying to make a point to one person in particular without ever talking to her.


    "Do you know where the title Elden Lord comes from?" I asked.


    "From Ranni''s homeworld," Robin answered easily.


    "Right," I nodded. "But, strictly speaking, I am not an Elden Lord. That title was originally given to those who reigned with the blessing of the primordial god of that world. Most recently, it was used to denominate the consorts of Queen Marika the Eternal. Before her, it was used for other beings. Every one of them was immortal by your standards, as were her children and supporters. You following me so far?"


    The heroes nodded.


    "I killed them all. And their god for good measure."


    I could almost see an electric current pass through the group as my words registered, the dichotomy between my casual interactions with them until now and the acknowledgement that I was a killer with a body count in the seven digits conflicting within their minds.


    I wasn''t building my reputation to make myself seem like a hero. That was Artoria and Diana''s desire.


    I was building my reputation to make my Family sacrosanct.


    Something sacrosanct did not just mean holy or good. It also carried the connotations of divine punishment should that sanctity be violated.


    If I had my way, the heroes of this world would fight to the death defending my Family if they were ever at risk. They would do it because my wives were not only helpful and likable but because they knew what I would do if any of them came to harm.


    While extending my hand in aid, I would be the boogeyman at their back.


    Building my reputation now was simply killing three birds with one stone.


    "They had been alive for tens of thousands of years," I continued as if I hadn''t noticed their tenseness. "And I killed them all the same. And I am not the only one. Scathach, how many gods have you killed?"


    "A few," the celt replied casually. "They weren''t too impressive. More power than skill. They were hardly worth mentioning compared to when I slew my own death."


    "And Glynda, your world had immortals, right?"


    "Two of them," the teacher nodded, understanding the lesson I was trying to teach. "One I worked for was reincarnated in a new body every time he died. The other was just unkillable. They fought each other for longer than recorded history. They are both dead now."


    "You see," I turned back to the young heroes. A few had gotten my point already, but some still needed clarification. "There is no such thing as immortality because all things end. It doesn''t matter if it is after a hundred years, a million years, when the sun goes out, when the universe collapses, or when the multiverse vanishes into nothing. Everything eventually dies. You can try and avoid it. In fact, you should. I know I will. But all things die. Even I, who will measure my life not in years but in universal terms, will eventually perish."


    Death had proven that point when she had told me every Tier had limits. Even she, multiversal to a degree I couldn''t even fathom, was still limited to certain worlds and abilities.


    Eventually, once everything under her domain vanished into the annals of time and the last breath of life left the last multiverse, she too would disappear.


    "You say that is a good thing," Mercury asked.


    "It is," I nodded. "If something was truly immortal, there would be no room for anything else. They would be the be-all and end-all. They could attain anything they wanted because nothing could stop them. Without the limits of mortality, they would consume everything eventually till nothing remained. Just by existing, something without end would guarantee the end of reality."


    Even the Company was limited. If it wasn''t, there would be no need to hire people, expand a business, collect waifus, or be petty enough to screw me over.


    One didn''t need Company Policy when they were the be-all and end-all.


    They would just kill Death and me, and probably our omniverse for good measure.


    In other words, you are limited when you want something but don''t have it.


    Everything with limits will eventually end.


    I had thirty-five million years to think about what it meant to be a Dragon of Freedom and what it meant to be truly limitless.


    And I came to realize the truth.


    I was only without limits, theoretically.


    I could grow infinitely.


    That didn''t mean I would.


    A True Immortal would either want nothing; thus, their existence is irrelevant, or they want and have everything. Then they would consume it all.


    And I wasn''t there yet.


    "Ugh," Beast Boy groaned, holding his head. "I don''t get it."


    "You don''t need to," I shook my head in amusement even as I made sure to enunciate my following words carefully so everyone could hear me very clearly. "You just need to know this: Every god, demon, or immortal can be killed. No exceptions."


    ********


    "He is very... what is the word?" Starfire asked her boyfriend.


    "Unique? Scary? Grim? Intense?" Nightwing suggested.


    "Intense!" The Tameranian exclaimed, clapping her hands in excitement.


    "Mikael can be," Glynda agreed, even as she ate her meal. Her movements, like most things about her, were elegant in their precision.


    "He likes to teach," Nightwing said diplomatically. Preach is a better word, in his opinion.


    Glynda''s look in his direction told him she understood what went unsaid.


    "You must understand something about Mikael," the huntress said, wiping her mouth with her napkin before continuing. "He is old. He is powerful. He has experienced more in his life than most do in millennia of living. You would do well to remember that. When he gives advice, you would also do well to listen. It might save your life."


    Nightwing frowned but said nothing.


    "He is like my father," Starfire said somewhat somberly.


    "How so?" Glynda asked curiously.


    "He laughs loud and cries quietly," the tameranian was looking skywards, the stars not visible in the evening sky just yet. Nightwing grabbed her hand tenderly in his own, intertwining their fingers. She looked at him with that wide smile that always did things to his stomach. Then she turned to their temporary teacher again. "My people were peaceful. My father''s reign has not been. Mikael bears that weight. His words are wise, but he talks from pain."


    "That is not... untrue," Glynda nodded slowly, a rare look of vulnerability on her face. It was gone in an instant. "You must understand we all have our own circumstances. Nobody is without pain. My husband works hard to ensure we are all as happy as possible."


    "That is admirable," Nightwing nodded, and, this time, there was no hidden undercurrent in his words.


    If there was one thing he had learned for sure over these last few days, it was that Mikael and his wives were very much in love.


    Their subtle glances at each other.


    How they would gravitate together, trading small smiles.


    The way their eyes would soften at even the mention of each other.


    If it weren''t for the irregularity of their polyamorous relationship, it would almost be textbook fairy tale love.


    Nightwing was almost jealous.


    Beast Boy and Winman had definitely been jealous.


    "You said you worked for one of the immortals of your world?" Nightwing asked to change the subject and dig for more information.


    "He was the headmaster of Beacon academy," Glynda nodded. "The institution I taught at."


    "You mentioned it when you first arrived," Nightwing nodded. "You were the deputy headmistress, correct?"


    "I was," Glynda nodded stoically, not giving more information. She''d be a tough nut to crack in an interrogation.


    Thankfully, he had a Starfire.


    "Were you close?" She asked their temporary teacher, eyes wide in empathetic sympathy.


    Raven might have been the actual empath of the team, but Star was the most genuine, outgoing, and empathetic person Dick had ever known.


    "We were colleagues. Friends, even," Glynda nodded. "We all were. My compatriots would get on my nerves with their antics, but they were reliable when it counted. Teaching with them at Beacon will always be an honour I hold dear."


    "What happened," the Tameranian asked softly.


    "The other immortal, Salem," Glynda sighed. "She led the enemies of humanity, the Grimm, and destroyed my world."


    "That is terrible," Star raised a hand to her mouth in shock. "Why would she do that?"


    "Sometimes villains do not need a reason, Star," Nightwing sighed sadly, thinking of his own time in Gotham. "Sometimes they just want to see the world burn."


    "She had a reason," Glynda shook her head in denial. "A good one. She was immortal. She didn''t age and could not be killed. And she tried. After millennia, she decided the only way to die was if the gods who cursed her were to return. The only way to do so was cause the destruction of the world."


    "You sound as if you agree with her?" Nightwing asked.


    "I understand her," Glynda emphasized. Nightwing noticed her eyes flick to Mikael and Scathach quickly before meeting his. "I have recently gained a new perspective on how terrible it is to be unable to die. So I understand Salem. I still condemn her. I have seen proof that her actions were not the only option. Others in her situation rose above their pain and loneliness. Even if she was not a good person, sealing herself away and resting until the world reached its natural conclusion would have been a valid and easier option. She did not."


    "Did Mikael kill her?" Nightwing asked.


    "No," Glynda sighed. "She got her wish. The gods returned and ended her life and all life with her."


    "Then how..."


    "Did I survive?" Glynda finished for Starfire with a grim smile. "I didn''t."


    All eyes turned to Mikael, chatting animatedly with Beast Boy and Winman.


    "As I said," Glynda''s were on her husband, and that same softness Nightwing had noticed before was there again. "We all carry our own pain. I am sure you have your own stories. Only the young or stupid believe their own pain is the only one that exists."


    "...Sorry," Nightwing apologized, realizing how insensitive he had been with the blonde. Not just when they first met but today as well, prying into what must be a painful subject for a woman who had been nothing but helpful. Just because they weren''t heroes didn''t mean they hadn''t faced their own tragedies.


    "Apology accepted," Glynda returned her gaze to him with a warm, almost matronly smile. "That is what teachers are for. To help you learn from your mistakes."


    Dick Grayson had another realization then.


    No matter what else Mikeal''s goal was, Glynda Goodwitch sincerely wanted to teach them. To make them better and wiser heroes.


    To keep them safe.


    ********


    "I have to know," Cessily asked her Celtic teacher. "How did the Elden Lord convince you to go along with this harem thing?" Scathach raised her eyebrow and quirked her lips. "I don''t mean anything by it!" Mercury hurried to clarify, aware of what kind of hell would be waiting for her if she put the older woman in a bad mood. "It''s just a bit strange, is all. You don''t seem they type, is all."


    "The type?" The warrior asked. Her brow was still raised, but her face was placid otherwise.


    That didn''t mean the mutant was safe yet.


    "Badass." X-23 chimed in as she finished her meal. Laura then looked to Cessily, asking if she had used the expression correctly.


    "A badass," the inorganic young woman nodded. "So''s Miss Goodwitch. If your Wonder Woman is anything like ours, I cannot imagine her going along with it. You all can do better than being one of many. Isn''t it demeaning? So I just wanted to know how he convinced you, is all."


    "You believe he is controlling us," Scathach said, seeing the root of the problem at a glance.


    "No!" Mercury practically shouted, causing a few eyes to look their way. "It''s nothing." She called out, and most returned to their meals or talks.


    She didn''t notice Mikael do so with a smile.


    "He''s not right?" She asked under her breath, eyes still scanning the rooftop for anyone eavesdropping.


    "If he was, would asking about it when he is here be a good idea?" The raised eyebrow was lowered now, but the celt looked almost amused at the question.


    "You usually leave as soon as training is done. This is the first time I''ve had the chance."


    "Your concern is understandable but misguided." Scathach dismissed.


    "It''s just weird," the mutant pressed, certain something unnatural was going on. "One guy. Ten girls. At first, I thought it was a personal thing. Submissive women, dominant guys. It sometimes happens in some cultures. Which, hey, great for them if it works for them. But none of you seem like you would take shit from anyone. Even if they were super strong. You can''t tell me that it isn''t suspicious that all of you are following his every order and fawning over him."


    "Shady." Laura nodded in agreement, looking severe. Mercury didn''t let the wince show, once more remembering X-23''s less-than-stellar time living on the streets.


    "Enough."


    Scathach''s word wasn''t loud.


    Mercury shut her mouth.


    "I am Scathach!"


    The declaration was final.


    "I am submissive to no one." She said it with certainty, a resolute pride no one could break. "I have killed students for similar claims in the past."


    Mercury''s liquid body rippled.


    X-23''s claws peaked from beneath her skin.


    Those red eyes, like bloody gems, bore down on the pair with tangible weight.


    Neither doubted she would kill them if she wished.


    "I follow Mikael not because he is my superior. Not because he is a man I love. Not because he is stronger than me. Not because I am being controlled." The Queen of the Land of Shadows enunciated every sentence slowly as if daring the pair to speak up in contradiction.


    They didn''t.


    "I follow Mikael because he saved me. Because he shows me places and peoples I have never dreamed of. Because his council is wise and his love is true. Because this road we travel together will one day end when our blades meet. I follow him because I desire that battle more than anything else in existence. I follow him because one day, Mikael will kill me."


    Laura and Cessily sat in shocked silence, unable to understand the thought process of this beautiful yet utterly alien woman.


    "Your words stem from concern, so I will not slay you where you sit," Scathach stood from her seat, her body as prideful and regal as any queen or goddess. "You have five minutes to meet me by the shore. If you have time to be concerned about your teacher, you have time to train."


    And then she was gone, leaving the stunned pair to look at where she had disappeared.


    "Pst," Mikael stage whispered, his face appearing between the two young women, causing them to jump in surprise. "I think you pissed her off."


    "Jesus!" Mercury exclaimed, turning her arm back from a flail into a hand.


    Laura had been quicker.


    "Are you alright?!" She asked with urgent concern as she withdrew her claws from an inch deep in his neck.


    "It fine," the Elden Lord waived off with a smile, raising a hand to his torn throat. When he removed it, not even a drop of blood remained. "See? Fine. You really don''t want that touching you." Then he waived his hand, and the blood disappeared from her claws in a small burst of smoke.


    "You surprised us," Laura said.


    "That was the point of sneaking up on you," Mikael laughed.


    "Why was she angry?" Mercury asked, guessing he had been listening. "I mean, no offence, but you can''t deny it''s a bit weird for one guy to keep ten women happy."


    "It works for us," he shrugged. "It wasn''t the questioning of our relationship that was the problem. You wounded her pride."


    "By insinuating you could be controlling her?"


    "By saying she is submissive. That she can be controlled at all," Mikeal elaborated. When they didn''t look convinced, he continued. "You must understand that all my wives come from different cultures and have different values. The whole kerfuffle with the League was because Ranni values strength in a leader."


    "Did you just use the word kerfuffle?"


    "Anyway," Mikael continued, ignoring Mercury''s incredulity. "Though she doesn''t show it most of the time, Scathach is one of the proudest of my wives. From birth, she was the best, and she knew it. Her students might be more famous, but no one during her time was her equal. Since then, she has only gotten better. She might follow my lead every once in a while or even act a certain way in the bedroom, but I never mistake her for submissive. Especially because you think she is weaker than me. Of my Family, she is the most willing and able to kill me."


    "But that doesn''t explain why she''s in your harem!" Mercury wasn''t inherently opposed to non-monogamous relationships, but the Elden Lord''s entire dynamic was in opposition to her worldview.


    "I keep telling everyone," Mikael sighed, still smiling as he shook his head in wry amusement. "It''s not a harem. It''s a Family. Maybe I should bring a whiteboard with me. With diagrams, graphs, red strings, and photos? Then I''ll be able to conclusively prove I''m the Queen of England."


    This?


    This was the man who married the proud Scathach? Who managed to convince ten women to share?


    This buffoon?


    It had to be mind control.


    Or he was really, really good in the sack.


    "By the way," Mikael said with a sadistic smile. "Hasn''t it been a few minutes already? You aren''t going to keep her waiting, are you?"


    Laura said it for both of them.


    "Fuck."


    "Have fun," Mikael waved them off with a smile that wouldn''t melt butter. "I''m going to go poke our little misanthrope."


    ********


    "Poke. Poke. Poke. Poke poke. Pokepokepokepoke."


    "STOP!" Raven shouted in frustration, fed up with this most recent annoyance.


    Bad enough she had to deal with Garfield and Chris, now the Elden Lord, the guy everyone was freaking out about a few days ago, turns out to be a huge man-child?


    If there was a god, he hated her.


    "I will once you eat your food," Mikeal said smugly, holding out a plate for her.


    It smelled delicious.


    "I''m not hungry," she denied.


    Her stomach rumbled.


    He raised an eyebrow, somehow looking even smugger.


    Azarath. Metrion. Zinthos.


    Azarath. Metrion. Zinthos.


    Calm down, Raven.


    Don''t punch the man who can destroy the city with a sneeze.


    He''s trying to get a reaction out of you. Do not let him win. You are peace. You are calm.


    "Poke."


    "Gah!" Raven screamed in frustration, the nearby furniture tearing itself apart from her outburst of emotion.


    Glynda waved her hand, and it was back together.


    Mikael wasn''t even poking her!


    He was just saying the word ''poke!''


    "I''m leaving." She declared. She tried to stand up.


    Tried again.


    And again.


    "Did you glue me to my chair?" She asked incredulously.


    "Glue is such a harsh way of putting it," Mikael waived her off. "I prefer the term ''cursed for my amusement.''"


    "You cursed me!" Raven asked, aghast.


    "For my amusement," Mikael added again, not looking guilty in the slightest. "I''ve been trying to widen my repertoire recently, and I am married to one of the most famous witches to ever live. I''m still new to curses, so this one is straightforward to get out of."


    "How do I do that?" Raven demanded.


    "You can try and overpower it," Mikael said, and Raven tried to channel enough power to escape. No success. "Good luck with that. Or I can release you if you do something for me."


    "What do you want?" Raven asked warily.


    Mikael held the plate of barbeque in front of her face.


    "I want you to enjoy the meal I spent so much effort to make for you out of the kindness of my heart."


    "Fine," Raven sighed aggressively. "Give it here."


    Mikael did.


    Raven hated that it was the best meal she had ever tasted.


    "There you go," the Elden Lord smiled at her, taking a seat nearby. "That wasn''t so hard now, was it?"


    Raven glared at him, her mouth full of the most tender and juicy steak in the world.


    "By the way, that curse will wear off in another five seconds," Mikael said with a shrug, still smiling smugly. "What can I say? I''m new to curses."


    Raven glared harder.


    Raven kept glaring as she ate the rest of the food.


    She wanted to slow down and savour it but was unwilling to give the annoying man the satisfaction.


    "You''re welcome," he said, taking her plate from her.


    "Thank. You." She bit out as she stood up to leave.


    She took two steps and froze.


    "I recognize that rune, by the way."


    "I don''t know what you are talking about," Raven said, pulling her hood further and deepening the shadows covering her forehead.


    "Scath. Or scaith, however you want to pronounce it. It means shadow in Irish. Did you know that?" He said casually as she quickened her pace. "It''s actually part of Scathach''s name and the name of her home. Dun Scaith. I''m sure she noticed it as well. Has she said anything? I don''t think she has. Afterall-"


    She was fleeing.


    Running from his words.


    From him.


    From the truth.


    From tomorrow.


    Raven disappeared through the door, not bothering to open it, just phasing through it like it wasn''t even there.


    She was down the stairs so quickly she didn''t even feel them.


    Items shattered as she passed, her emotions leaking destructive magic into the air.


    The hall. A left. Another hall.


    There.


    Her room.


    Raven burst into her room, her sanctuary, with her chest heaving from adrenalin and fear.


    Mikael sat in the chair near her bed, smiling softly at her.


    "Why would she?" He continued, not showing any indication of having stopped his sentence or taken notice of her flight. "She knows nothing of Trigon the Terrible."


    Her sanctuary shook.


    Books flew open, pages tearing from their binding. Her dresser fell over with a loud BANG. Her bed split in half. Mattress, frame, sheets and covers tore down the middle sending shards of wood and bolts of fabric spinning across the room. Her window exploded, glass tearing through the thick curtains and showering in a deadly crystalline rain.


    Mikael sat in her chair, unbothered by the chaos around him.


    His eyes never left hers, and his smile never dimmed.


    "What..." Raven rasped from a dry throat. "Do you want?"


    "I would really like for the world not to end tomorrow. I just got here." He said with a chuckle. "That would be a shitty birthday gift. Take a seat," he nodded to a chair that appeared out of thin air in front of him. "And we can talk about stopping the apocalypse."


    ********


    The next day, October 30th, at 3:33pm, a fiery explosion would rock Diamond Heights Shopping Center.


    The Teen Titans, battered and bruised from the day''s training, would do the heroic thing and drag their weakened forms to aid first responders in rescuing the victims and investigating the original cause of the explosion.


    They were walking into a trap.


    Only one of them was aware of it.


    She did not tell the others.

 Furlough 6

    <div>


    And they say


    That a hero could save us


    I''m not gonna stand here and wait


    I''ll hold onto the wings of the eagles


    Watch as we all fly away


    Someone told me


    Love would all save us


    But, how can that be


    Look what love gave us


    A world full of killing


    And blood spilling


    That world never came


    ********


    "It''s been six minutes since the initial explosion," Nightwing explained, his voice coming through the communicators as the wind rushed by the group. He, Mercury, and X-23 were being carried by Raven while the rest flew under their own power. "Emergency responders are on their way, but we will be there first. Civilian evacuation is a priority."


    "What caused the explosion?" Winman asked as he navigated the sky on his hoverboard. Six of his drones followed in a loose formation.


    "The exact cause is unknown, but there are sightings of a large, extremely muscular dark-skinned man running around and destroying the buildings. Apprehending him is also a goal but evacuation takes precedence. If anyone runs into him, radio the others and move to intercept if possible."


    ""Understood.""


    Nightwing noticed Raven didn''t respond with the others but filled it away for later discussion. This was hardly the first time she hadn''t spoken up when prompted.


    The smoke from the burning shopping center, one of the largest in San Fransico, was visible long before the buildings were. A towering plume of black fumes filled the afternoon sky, and the Titans could hear sirens and screams as they approached the disaster.


    The area was devastated.


    The parking lot was the center of the blast, with a large hole gouged out of the middle. Concrete, metal and piping lay exposed in the deep hole that was now filling up with sewage from the ruptured lines. Cars had been blasted to the side in a ring, toppled over on their sides and upside down.


    The buildings were not better off.


    They were all on fire, and most of the roofs had collapsed to one degree or another.


    Large glass windows had shattered, sending shards like millions of tiny knives at the hapless shoppers.


    The dead and the dying lay everywhere.


    Screams, cries for help, wailing, and begging resounded through the air.


    "Titans! Go!" Nightwing cried, landing with a roll and sprinting for one of the nearest buildings. Pressing a button on his neck, a gas mask rose to cover his mouth and nose.


    Already briefed on the way over, the young heroes dove into action with the confidence of long experience.


    Except one.


    Raven flew over the parking lot, righting cars and freeing those trapped inside.


    As she levitated the injured and the dying towards a safe spot for the paramedics to treat when they arrived, she felt no confidence.


    Even the sombre resolution that her teammates held was wholly absent in her.


    As she gently lowered a woman screaming in pain due to the shrapnel in her legs to the sidewalk, all Raven felt was guilt and fear.


    ********


    The fight left Raven at the Elden Lord''s words.


    He knew.


    He knew everything.


    Woodenly she floated to sit on the ruined frame of her bed, uncaring for the woodchips, destroyed sheets, or shards of glass that covered the floor.


    What was the point of running anymore?


    With Raven''s emotional surrender, the chaos caused by her powers subsided.


    For a long moment, everything was silent in the Titan''s room. Her dark curtains had been shredded by the exploding window panes, letting in the barest hint of light from the fading sun and the much brighter blues of Ranni''s Dark Moon.


    Mikeal''s smile, so teasing and smug a second ago, softened slightly as he watched her collapse.


    "Hey," he said softly, a teasing note in his voice. "Relax. It''s just an apocalypse. Not the end of the world or anything. Think of it as another Tuesday." He paused, realizing how absurd his words sounded. "Scratch that. It''s Tuesday. You don''t have the energy from the weekend left over, like on Monday, and you still have the rest of the week to go. Tuesdays are the worst. I''d rather have an apocalypse."


    There was another long moment of silence, this one slightly more awkward, as Raven stared at the man in disbelief.


    "Jeez, tough crowd," he sighed.


    "What do you want?" Raven asked again, her voice firmer than before.


    "I already told you," Mikael smiled smugly again. "I want to stop the apocalypse. One of them, at least. You guys have one every other week, and I am not bored enough to spend all my time dealing with them. This one just looks more fun than others."


    "You can''t stop him," Raven said softly, drawing her knees to her chest and wrapping her arms around them. She stopped looking at the man, staring at the debris-covered floor but not seeing it. "No one can. He''s too strong. You might have conquered worlds, but he rules dimensions. This is just another one on his list."


    "It''s like you didn''t listen to me at all. Everything dies. No exceptions. The big jalapeno is just a jumped-up imp with delusions of adequacy. I can take him."


    "You can''t!" Raven insisted, looking at the lounging man once more. At some point, he had flipped himself in the chair, his head hanging down in the air and his feet on the back. His hair brushed the ground as he grinned up at her. "No one can. I''ve talked to everyone I can think of. Dr. Fate. Dr. Strange. Constantine. I even managed to ask Morgaine le Fey. None of them have ever heard of anyone ever stopping him. Once he sets his sights on a dimension, it is his. He is inevitable."


    "That''s my line," Mikael said petulantly. Then he frowned for the first time in this conversation. Flipping himself right side up, he suddenly met her eyes, looking serious. Draconic eyes bore into Raven''s own, and she swallowed nervously at their intensity. "You talked to all these people? About Daddy Daddy Do?"


    "When I first arrived in this dimension, I was looking for all the help I could get," Raven nodded, thinking back to those early months. Lost and confused, before meeting her fellow Titans, she had wandered the world alone in search of anyone who could help her.


    "And they did nothing?" Mikael asked, looking dubious. "Didn''t try and banish you? Kill you? Stop Clifford, the big red dog? Nothing?"


    "They didn''t believe me," Raven shook her head, subtly clenching her fists at the memory. "Most thought the dimensional walls would hold him back like they have before. Those who realized I was his daughter, a half-demon, they thought it was a trap. They thought he was controlling me. They''d be opening the way in trying to stop his arrival." Raven smiled wanly at the man rubbing his chin in thought. "He is not known to be a good father."


    "Hmm," Mikael hummed, eyes narrowing. Then he shook his and refocused on her. "No matter their mistake, never fear. I am here!" He puffed up his chest and sent a cheesy smile her way.


    As if to reassure her.


    It didn''t.


    *********


    X-23 found the suspect in under a minute.


    The smoke obscured her senses, so it was more a factor of luck than skill that she noticed the towering black man with four glowing red eyes crash through a wall in one of the buildings. A movement in the corner of her eye had drawn her attention, and she saw his back disappear into the smoke-filled halls.


    "Target spotted," she called out to her communicator as she sliced through a door with her claws. The people trapped inside clamoured out, coughing and wheezing from the smoke, but since they were mobile and no one else was in that room, X-23 was already turning to chase. "The mail store. Pursuing."


    "I''m nearby," Mercury called out. "I''ll be with you once I get this last guy out. Try to drag him into the open. The buildings are already unstable."


    "Everyone else, keep evacuating," Nightwing called.


    "Copy," X-23 called as she hurried to follow the trail of destruction the man was leaving behind.


    The mutant felt her annoyance rise.


    This entire attack was pointless.


    Destruction for its own sake.


    There was no reason to attack a shopping center. No money in it. Nothing valuable or significant.


    She could be training, getting better with every spar against one of the best teachers the world had ever seen.


    Instead, she was here.


    A bunch of people were dead, and more would follow.


    X-23 looked forward to taking out this frustration on the attacker''s hide.


    She was so caught up in her feelings that the mutant was almost defeated when the monster of a man burst from the wall to her side.


    Sheetrock, wood and metal blasted away as hands the size of plate lunged to grab X-23.


    Only instincts, long ingrained in her through training, saved her.


    That, and Laura was short.


    At over eight feet tall, the giant of a man was so massive that his head carved through the ceiling. His arms were so thick with muscle that each was as wide as her waist.


    While all that suggested superhuman strength, it also limited flexibility and mobility.


    X-23 tossed herself bodily out of the way, rolling on the ground and coming up in a crouch, claws extended in preparation.


    Four red eyes glared at her as he snarled.


    X-23 snarled back.


    She lunged at him, claws extended to carve chunks from his flesh.


    He smacked her aside with a massive fist.


    X-23 smashed into, and through, two walls before landing and carving a groove through the dirt of the park behind the buildings.


    She was on her feet in a few seconds, wounds already healing.


    She snarled again.


    Partly at the four-eyed man charging at her.


    Mostly at herself.


    It pissed her off that he had managed to get the drop on her.


    It pissed her off more that she hadn''t killed him yet.


    "Grrrrr," she growled, the ability for speech lost in her rage.


    She lunged for him, ducking under another punch and impaling one set of claws in his side.


    He roared with rage and pain, grabbing her by the arm and tossing her aside closer to the buildings again.


    She landed on her feet, ready to charge once more.


    A tendril of liquid metal wrapping around her throat stopped her.


    "You don''t deserve it," a female voice growled in her ears. "If I can''t have a body, no one can."


    X-23 lashed out, claws separating the chunk of silvery substance holding her tight.


    Whoever this was, they were pissing her off too.


    "Die!" The strangely familiar voice snarled.


    If the red haze of rage that consumed X-23 had been less dense, the mutant might have cried the same thing as she lunged.


    Instead, Laura snarled as she tried to kill her best friend and teammate.


    ********


    "You can''t win!" Raven insisted, standing from her and glaring at the irreverent man. "I can''t stop him. You can''t stop him. The League can''t stop him! No one can! He isn''t something like an Endbringer! You can''t fight him and beat him back. When he arrives tomorrow, that is it. The End!" The debris started to float around her room as her emotions rose again.


    "I am sensing a lot of negativity in you," Mikael leaned back on his chair on two feet and stapled his fingers together as he looked at her in mock seriousness. "Let us talk about that. What are the stressors in your life? How is your relationship with your father?"


    The chair under the Elden Lord shattered.


    Mikael didn''t move, still holding his position in mid-air like some bad magical therapist.


    Raven had never wanted to strangle someone more.


    Perhaps sensing she was near her breaking point, he finally took mercy on her.


    "In all seriousness," Mikael sighed, standing up and ignoring the items whirling around the room. "No one and nothing is invincible."


    He gently rested a hand on her shoulder as his smile turned sympathetic.


    She flinched at his touch before relaxing. Usually, proximity to people increased her empathic abilities to an uncomfortable degree. Skin-to-skin contact was almost painful. But Mikael and his family were different. She felt nothing from them.


    He still removed his hand when he noticed how uncomfortable she was.


    "What do you have to lose?" He asked softly. "Either the world is destroyed tomorrow, and nothing we do will stop it, or we can stop it if we put forth the effort. I hate people who give up due to their circumstances without even trying. Even if a struggle is fruitless, it is never without meaning. Even if only to ourselves."


    Raven stared into the draconic eyes of a man she had only met a few days ago and felt a sense of vertigo.


    In a brief, very minor flash of Insight, she realized a tiny fragment of the Truth.


    In her mind''s eye, she saw a man walking alone through ash as worlds crumbled around him. As walls rose up in front of him, he kept moving forward.


    Battered. Bruised. Beaten.


    Broken.


    But never bowed.


    Worlds would end and rise again long before Mikael ever gave up.


    "What do you want?" When she said the words this time, even she was surprised by the acceptance in them. She still had no confidence in his ability to defeat her father, but Mikael was right.


    What did she have to lose?


    "I want to kill the devil," he said with a smile, realizing the implications in her tone. "And I need your help to do it."


    ********


    Regarding search and rescue, Mercury was hands down the best Titan.


    Her form didn''t have to worry about air and smoke, it could flow through the tiniest cracks, and her shapeshifting allowed her to become anything needed to help civilians evacuate.


    Mercury, the liquid that is, boiled at over six times the temperature of water. So long as she avoided active power lines or getting too much of her body separated, the heroine was one of the best heroes in the business.


    This was why, despite Laura''s call coming only a minute after their arrival, she had already rescued a half dozen trapped or injured men and women.


    There was quite a bit of luck to it, Mercury would argue. She seemed to find those in need easily despite not possessing the enhanced senses of her teammates.


    Nevertheless, she had evacuated the building incredibly quickly by the time she received the call and would have gone to aid X-23 right away had she not caught sight of a form shrouded in the shadows of the smoke.


    "Help!" The man called out.


    "I''m nearby," Mercury called out to her friend, moving back inside the building. "I''ll be with you once I get this last guy out. Try to drag him into the open. The buildings are already unstable."


    In times like this, Mercury was incredibly envious of Laura''s mutation.


    Healing, enhanced senses, and claws were soooo much better than shapeshifting and a body that couldn''t feel anything.


    Remembering the barbeque from yesterday, the one she couldn''t eat, doubled the envy the young woman felt.


    "Help!" The man called again, somehow even further from the entrance than before. Was he lost in the smoke?


    "Here!" Mercury shouted, trying to draw him closer. "This way!"


    A burning support beam fell on her, splattering her body across the floor.


    It only took a moment to reform and press forward, but Mercury couldn''t help but wish she had Starfire''s strength and flight. She would have just caught the beam.


    And she could have sex with her hot boyfriend.


    One of many things Mercury would never experience.


    From a hole in the wall, billowing smoke into the air, Mercury saw X-23 blast across the grass of the nearby park and the massive man chase after her.


    Super strength would also be good.


    The tale has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation.


    Life just wasn''t fair.


    All thoughts of rescue were lost to the young woman as she watched the brief clash.


    All she could think about was all the things they had that she didn''t.


    It wasn''t fair.


    She didn''t even realize she was strangling her best friend and teammate.


    ********


    "How?" She asked, still not believing she was going along with this absurdity. "He is literally invincible."


    "He is," Mikael nodded. "Make no mistake, I am not underestimating Tri-hard in the least. If we were both at the peak of our powers, he would wipe the floor with me and most things in this dimension. I might have infinite power, but so does he. And he can bring more to bear at any given instant than I can. So I''d lose."


    "You are not making me feel confident in your chances," Raven snarked, falling back on her default defensive response as she crossed her arms and glared up at him.


    Why did he have to be so tall?


    "I said that is only if I fought him at his peak," Mikael rolled his eyes. "I am not stupid. I do my homework. You forget we have the home-field advantage."


    "What does that mean?"


    "If Tri-Hard 2: Tri-Harder is so powerful, why can he not just barge in and wreck this dimension? Why does he need you?" Mikael asked rhetorically. "Dimensions have their own protections, walls that do not come down easily. On top of that, we have people like the Sorcerer Supreme who reinforce them and ward off intrusion attempts. To be honest, he should be here with you, not me, but," Mikael shrugged. "I haven''t been too impressed with him lately. I get he is busy, but he is never around when you need him."


    "Dimensional walls," Raven forced the man to refocus before he went on another tangent. "How do they help?"


    "Right," Mikael continued. "Think of each dimension as a castle. Walls, defenders, standing armies, the whole nine yards. You can theoretically burst through the fortifications, but doing so is difficult and inefficient. Much easier to have someone on the inside to open the gate for you."


    "Me," Raven said plainly, the pit in her stomach growing.


    "Exactly," Mikeal smiled at her. "Whether you want to or not, you will lower the drawbridge to let him in."


    At that moment, Raven wanted to die.


    She wished she could just disappear, never to be seen again. To never be a threat to her friends. To the home she had known and grown to love in the last few years.


    She should never have been born.


    "Jeez," Mikael sighed again.


    Then he flicked her on the forehead.


    Right on the Mark of Scaith.


    "No need to cry," he said with a roll of his eyes. Raven glared up at him, rubbing her hurt head. "That''s a better look on you. I hate damsels in distress. Even if the world ends, you should face it with a glare, a pun, and a middle finger. Not with tears."


    "Fuck you," Raven snarled, a floating book smacking into his head.


    He didn''t flinch, just smiled down at her.


    "There you go," Mikael smiled at her before continuing. "I wouldn''t feel bad if I were you. He would just have a different kid even if you died or were never born. When dealing with beings of that power and longevity, it is not a matter of if but when. At least until they are put down for good."


    "So, how do we do that?" Raven asked, feeling more desperate than ever before.


    ********


    Winman focused on keeping the woman steady as she lay on his hoverboard. Its program would follow him, but she had thrashed in her pain enough that he was worried she would fall.


    Since her lower half had been crushed by part of the roof, getting her back on the board would take time.


    Time better spent saving others from the wreckage.


    The focus was easy to achieve for a tinker, even for Chris.


    Long hours in a Tinker Fugue contrasted heavily with his struggles in class due to his dyscalculia.


    The focus was what he needed now.


    Focus on not paying attention to the screams. The crying. The begging.


    The still bodies he stepped over.


    The blood on his hands.


    Ignore the woman lying limply on his board, her eyes glassy and empty.


    Ignore the man wailing to the sky as he caught sight of her.


    Ignore the guilt of leaving the still-warm body with the grieving husband.


    Focus.


    Focus on directing his drones.


    Focus on the next building.


    Focus on being a hero.


    It was an innocuous thing that knocked the focus so dearly gained from Winman''s mind.


    A penny.


    Right side up.


    Lying there on the sidewalk in front of a store. The afternoon sun and the flickering flames glinted off of it, drawing the hero''s attention.


    Winman pocketed it absentmindedly as he rushed into the building.


    It was supposed to be good luck.


    But his focus had been lost.


    The front of the next store was thankfully already empty, but Winman was ready to dive deeper into the wreckage, just in case, when another small detail caught his eye.


    The cash register had fallen in the chaos and popped open. Cash and coins spilled out over the ground.


    A drone gathered it all in a few seconds.


    It wasn''t like anyone would miss it. If Chris didn''t take it, it would just burn.


    And he had been eyeing a new pair of shoes anyway.


    No one else was in the building, even after he had his drones sweep again to be safe.


    It also gave him time to empty the safe.


    Winman was detaching the golden watch from a limp wrist when he heard the crash from the front of the store.


    Followed by the distinctive roar of the Tyrannosaurus Rex.


    Beast Boy.


    He wanted the money!


    Not if Winman had anything to say about it.


    It was his!


    Well, it would be when no one was alive to take it from him.


    ********


    "Going back to our castle example, even if you open the gate and drop the bridge, it doesn''t mean he wins right away," Mikael explained. "He still has to go through the process of conquering, of making the castle his. Until he does so, no matter how large the gate, he still can''t bring his whole force to bear. Power and army both. If he could, the sheer wave of manpower from multiple universes would be enough to drown this one instantly."


    "So, he''s weaker on this side and can''t bring a huge army over." Raven summarized, beginning to see where the Elden Lord was going with this plan.


    "Right," Mikael nodded. "There will be a brief period where he is in our dimension where his power is still infinite, but he will not be able to channel the same amount. Where he can''t bring everything to bear because the dimensional walls will still be in place. He wouldn''t want to either, lest he risk his already conquered dimensions being attacked by other multi-dimensional foes. The problem with wars of conquest is you always have to worry about multiple fronts opening up in your back if you overextend. Once he wins, he can focus on consolidating this dimension with his others. Until then, he is vulnerable in a way he would never be in his own home worlds."


    "Ok," Raven turned his words over in her mind. There was still a major, obvious flaw to this plan. "That doesn''t mean you can beat him."


    "It does," Mikael shook his head. "I will be able to bring more to bear than he will. That is how a home-field advantage works."


    "How do you know?"


    "Because one of my wives has dealt with Three''s Company before," Mikael shrugged. "I haven''t seen any proof that this version differs from the other. And, as I said, we have nothing to lose since he''s coming either way. If I do find I can''t win, whelp, at least I tried. I''ll take my Family and peace out."


    "You''d leave?" Raven asked, for some reason feeling oddly hurt.


    "Of course," Mikael gave her an odd look. "Why would I stay and die? If there is no choice, I''m all for fighting to the end, but you''d be surprised how often running away is a valid option. It''s the end of your world, not mine. This isn''t the first world I''ve left to doom, either. But don''t worry, it won''t come to that. I have a lot of tricks. So let''s kill satan. Or at least a version of him. Satan zero point two: demonic doo doo, if you will."


    Raven didn''t know what to say to that.


    Mikael wasn''t wrong, she knew that, but at the same time, it didn''t sit easily with her.


    Thankfully, the Elden Lord continued.


    "Now, we come to the part I need your help with. The entire reason we''re having a little pow-wow now is because there is something you can do to help. That, and I wanted to let you know I''m going to gank your dad. I''m nice like that."


    ********


    Fire was not a good matchup for Beast Boy.


    Ignoring that most of his instincts were urging him to flee, the simple fact was that most animals did not deal well with fire.


    Fur burned just as easily as flesh.


    Beast Boy ignored the sting of the flames with the long experience of someone who''d been doing heroics since he was a child.


    A trick Mento had taught him, counting down from one hundred and skipping all prime numbers, helped him keep his transformation up as the last of the evacuees rushed away.


    Once done, however, Beast Boy let his burden fall and turned back from his gorilla form to put out the flames on his costume and blow off his singed hands.


    Fun fact: pain hurt.


    The green hero let out a coughing chuckle a the joke, deciding to remember that one for later during training with Shishou.


    "Status of the Safeway?" He asked in his communication with his teammates.


    No one answered.


    They must all be occupied.


    Even as his eyes watered from the pain and smoke, Garfield turned into a hummingbird and flew to the grocery store. Rising air currents caused by the fires made flying not impossible, so long as he chose the appropriate animal.


    Landing in the destroyed entrance, Beast Boy transformed back again.


    "Is there anyone in there?" He shouted before turning into a monkey and scrambling inside. He climbed over the fallen isles and smashed produce, idly popping a grape in his tiny mouth as he continued to look around.


    No-one.


    Someone else must have already cleared it, Beast Boy thought, munching on a pop tart.


    Better safe than sorry.


    Besides, he was a bit hungry.


    The green hero spent a few minutes checking the break room, the office, and even the bathrooms. He also lifted up or slithered under the fallen isles in case anyone was unconscious under them.


    Empty.


    Beast-Boy was about to leave the building to rendevous with the others and capture the perpetrator when the most delectable smell he had ever sniffed wafted into his nose.


    Well, second most delectable smell.


    Beast-Boy didn''t think anything he ever ate would top the barbeque from yesterday.


    With his stomach rumbling, the green man threw aside the half-eaten watermelon to find where that delicious scent was coming from.


    He found its origin in a still bubbling vat of oil in the deli.


    Eagerly, he lifted the pan from the vat and grabbed hold of the crispy delight in it, uncaring that his flesh sizzled from the intense heat of the metal.


    Beast Boy moaned in satisfaction as he shoved the chicken tenders in his mouth.


    The only issue was they were a bit too crispy. They had been in the oil too long.


    They needed to be fresh.


    Beast Boy became a wolf and ripped through an entire pack of raw hamburgers. Then a steak. Then a chicken.


    It wasn''t enough.


    It was old. It had been frozen.


    Fresh meat.


    Fresh meat.


    So hungry.


    So very hungry.


    As he chewed on a link of sausages, Beast Boys enhanced senses caught a particularly loud scream from outside.


    He froze.


    Fresh meat!


    Leaving the half-eaten meal behind, Beast-Boy dashed for the exit, transforming into one of the largest carnivores the planet had ever known as he did so.


    FRESH MEAT!


    ********


    "What should I do," Raven asked, ignoring his last few sentences with the skill of someone who lived with Beast Boy and Winman.


    "We need to make sure to capitalize on our advantage. We do that by setting the stage in our favour. I don''t need to tell you that it will be destructive if I throw down with the ol'' four eyes. We don''t want that. So we need to choose an appropriate battlefield."


    "Where?"


    "Here," Mikael said, spreading his arms and gesturing around the room.


    It didn''t even take a second for Raven to realize what he was talking about.


    "Titan Tower?" She asked in disbelief.


    "The ocean around it, to be more specific," he corrected with a shrug. "So long as we keep the showdown to over the water, I can promise nobody will die. If not, I will need to be concerned about civilian casualties and not able to fight at full power. Your job is easy. When the time comes, you need to be in, or near, Titan Tower."


    "How will I know when it''s time?"


    "I expect it will be pretty obvious," Mikael smirked. "Either the portal will burst from you like the chest-burster from hell, ha, or he will use minions. It will likely be the latter. World conquering invasions requires certain dramatics. Malevolent rituals, blood sacrifices, Latin chanting, that sort of thing. Assume any incident tomorrow is a trap set to capture you. Your job is to be caught as close to the ocean as possible. The tower would be best, so stay here unless necessary, but near the port would work if you can''t manage it. I''ll take care of clearing personnel."


    "If it''s a trap, we should tell the others," Raven said, but Mikael shook his head. "We won''t tell them about him, just that it is a trap."


    "Then they''d ask a bunch of questions you can''t answer," Mikael continued to shake his head. "Remember, you need to be captured. We need them to succeed. Your teammates would never allow that to happen. And if we told them the truth, they''d get the League and other heroes involved. Who would also interfere and, since we have less than a day, we don''t have time to persuade them. This is our only chance to control the battlefield. I promise you, none of your friends will die. Neither will you. No matter what happens."


    Raven hesitated. She was torn between hiding her shame from her friends or telling them that the shady godslaying dragon was trying to convince her to help summon her satanic father so he could kill him.


    Mikael''s words sealed her choice like a devil on her shoulder, whispering in her ear.


    "If this works like I want it to," the Elden Lord said. "You will never have to worry about Tommy the Lightish Red ever again."


    "Ok," Raven took a deep breath, steeling herself. "Ok. We''ll do it your way. I won''t tell anyone, and I''ll stay in the tower. If I need to leave, I''ll lure them back. How do you know they, whoever they are, won''t just bring me somewhere else?"


    "Like us, they only have one chance," Mikael explained. "If they can teleport, they might bring you away, but if they can, we wouldn''t be able to stop them and will just have to deal with it. If they can''t, then the tower is an excellent place to summon Timmy the Toddler since he is a big bastard. A respectable demon lord needs elbow room, you know."


    "You have an answer for everything," Raven snarked.


    "What can I say," Mikael pretended to buff his nails on his shirt. "I am very... thorough. I only do something risky with a plan. And this one is one of my best."


    "We''re going to die," Raven deadpanned. "We are all going to die. But what the hell. Might as well go out with a bang."


    "That''s the spirit," Mikael grinned at her.


    "By the way," Raven said, realizing something that should have been obvious. "How come nobody has come here? We haven''t been subtle, and I know Nightwing is watching you."


    "I''ve covered us in an illusion since I sat with you. Another thing one of my wives has been teaching me," Mikael shrugged. "As far as they know, I annoyed you to eat dinner and then you stormed off. ''I'' have been watching Scathach take out her annoyance on your friends since."


    "If you don''t want them to find out about this meeting, you will need to help me fix my room. It''s a mess."


    "Fix what," Mikael tilted his head in question. As he spoke, the room around Raven shimmered, and, in an eye blink, it was back to its pristine form. "Nothing happened."


    Then he was gone, dissolving into pale blue starlight.


    Within Raven''s chest, the most insidious of demons grew.


    The one demon she had been fighting her entire life but would never destroy.


    Hope.


    ********


    Nightwing''s ''defeat'' was the quickest and most understandable.


    Even his former mentor, Batman, would have fallen for it.


    In an emergency situation, when you find a man crumpled on the ground in a heap but still alive, you should rescue him, right?


    It''s what a hero would do, after all.


    And if he doesn''t respond to your calls, you should pick him up and carry him to the exit. That is just common sense.


    Not that the lanky man was hefty.


    In fact, he was incredibly skinny.


    Skellatal, really.


    Like he hadn''t eaten in weeks.


    Nightwing would need to remember to tell the paramedics to take extra care.


    Once he got outside, of course.


    It seemed so far away.


    Almost not worth the effort.


    Nightwing put one foot in front of the other, purposefully at first.


    Then steadily.


    Then occasionally.


    Then he stopped.


    Five feet from the door.


    This was good enough, wasn''t it?


    There was hardly any fire here. And the ceiling looked like it would still hold up for another half an hour.


    Plenty of time for a break.


    A small breather.


    Nightwing had been tired a lot recently.


    He had been dealing with Batman''s paranoia, intense training, spying on a country-sized dragon, and making sure his teammates were dealing with things.


    Then this happened.


    He deserved a break, didn''t he?


    Nightwing worked hard. Harder than most heroes.


    All the buildings had been searched, right? He''d been keeping track until just a while ago.


    Any that he missed, the others would get.


    No one had to know if he just took a break.


    A quick nap.


    Five minutes. Ten max.


    And he was sooo comfortable here.


    Sure his beard was itchy, and his clothes were tight around his bulging stomach, but that was fine.


    The ground was warm, and a piece of metal was as good a pillow as anything Bruce used.


    He''d slept in worse places during his training.


    With heavy eyelids, Nightwing watched the smoke rise into the night sky.


    Oh, look. That was Raven.


    Man, look at her work.


    Nightwing''s eyes drooped some more.


    He didn''t see the green star-bolt smash into her from behind.


    He didn''t see Raven fall from the sky.


    Nightwing was already asleep.


    ********


    He was perfect.


    The perfect man had never existed before Him. He was as tall as her, with dark hair and pale skin. His pointed ears and four red eyes gave Him an otherworldly charm that was just... perfect.


    "Can you do something for me, Starfire?" He was so kind, asking her.


    She''d do anything for Him.


    Anything.


    "Yes!" She chirped happily.


    He smiled at her, and she almost melted into a pile of pleasure.


    "I need to talk to Raven." Starfire barely registered a massive man walking up to them, four red eyes glowing in malicious joy as he crushed a car between his hands. Her eyes were locked onto Him. "Bring her to me. Quickly."


    "Yes, sir!" She saluted like Boyfriend Nightwing asked her to do. She hoped this made Him happy.


    Then she flew off to do as He asked.


    She felt terrible for Friend Raven, but He had asked her to be quick.


    So she was.


    The star bolt caught her teammate in the back, disrupting her concentration and causing her to cry out in pain as she fell.


    Starfire caught her.


    "Sorry, Friend Raven," the tamaranean apologized happily, carrying the goth by one of her legs. "Please be coming with me."


    "Wha-" the pale-skinned woman grunted in pain and confusion.


    They didn''t have far to go.


    Starfire found Him right where she had left Him. Waiting for her.


    There were two more men with Him, all four eyes and pointy-eared, but they didn''t matter.


    Only He did.


    "Hello, sister," He said to Raven.


    Were they family?


    Was Friend Raven going to be Sister Raven?"


    "What did you do to her," Sister Raven asked Him. Only she did it rudely. If she wasn''t His sister, Starfire would have hit her. Instead, the alien dropped her to the ground and looked to Him for approval.


    "Go find my other brother," He ordered her. Starfire was happy to do so, though she wished He would look at her instead of Sister Raven. "You''ll find him by your leader. Probably asleep."


    "Yes, sir!" Starfire saluted again, happy to be of service.


    Dick would understand.


    He was perfect.


    ********


    Raven watched Starfire fly away, the guilt and fear in her all-consuming.


    What had she done?


    She should never have listened to the Elden Lord.


    But the die had been cast.


    Now she truly had nothing to lose.


    "What did you do to Starfire," Raven demanded, standing before the four unfamiliar men.


    Sons of Trigon.


    Her brothers.


    "Honestly, I barely even talked to her," the man controlling Starfire shrugged with a casual smirk. "You know how mortals are. They''d do anything for a pretty face."


    Raven''s teeth clenched in anger as they laughed.


    "She''s still better than the other two girls," he continued. "Envy and Wrath barely had to even do anything, and they were tearing each other apart."


    "I wanted to kill them," the massive one made out of muscle and rage snarled. "So easy. Squish. Like bug."


    The others laughed harder.


    "Do you want to see some pictures?" The one in a suit and tie held out his phone for her to see. Even from feet away, Raven could see Winman rifling through the purse. Beside him lay the corpse of the previous owner. "You like it? I have discovered I am quite fond of this world''s ''social media.'' I do believe it will get quite a few ''likes.''"


    They howled in mirth.


    Raven clutched her fists so tightly that she felt her nails pierce her skin.


    "The green one had to be the stupidest," the fat one joked. "''I don''t eat meat.'' He does now!"


    No matter how annoyed Raven had been yesterday, it absolutely paled before the absolute rage she felt at that moment.


    She wanted to kill them.


    To smash their faces into the concrete and bury them beneath the debris.


    Raven wanted to tear her brothers limb from limb, to see their laughing faces contort in pain and agony.


    At that moment, it did not matter that Raven had lost control of her emotions.


    There was nothing left to destroy.


    "Here you are, sir," Starfire announced as she arrived, carrying a lanky man in her arms.


    The man, long-haired and in a leather jacket, looked asleep as he crumbled to the floor and stayed there.


    Not out of weakness but pure laziness.


    "Now that we''re all here and have had our fun," Lust smirked at Raven, his arm wrapping around her teammate and fondling a breast. Starfire moaned in pleasure. "Let''s get down to business."


    "It is time to fulfill your destiny, dear sister," Greed smirked down at her.


    "Never!" Raven snarled as she gathered her magic.


    Screw the Elden Lord''s plan.


    She was killing them here and now and rescuing her friends.


    All fear, guilt and despair disappeared as rage consumed her.


    They would not get away with this.


    Raven would have thrown herself into the fight, heedless of the wisdom of her actions if a hand hadn''t been gently but firmly placed on her shoulder.


    Raven froze.


    "That is quite enough," Glynda Goodwitch silenced the Sons of Trigon with a glare.


    For the first time, the blonde huntress let Raven feel her emotions.


    Concern for her and her team.


    Anger at the men in front of them.


    Love for the woman at her side.


    Exasperation at the man waiting for a plan to come together.


    But not one ounce of fear.


    "A teacher has a duty to correct their students when they take the wrong path," Glynda said, the shopping center repairing itself behind her. "And to excise bad influences."


    "I just think this will be fun," Scathach twirled her spear with a bloodthirsty smirk. "I will be making sure they understand where they failed tomorrow. For now, I do hope you put up a fight."


    "We don''t have to fight," Lust smiled at the pair, stepping forward with a hand extended. "Come here."


    Glynda raised an eyebrow.


    Scathach was more direct.


    "Argh!" Lust screamed in pain, staggering back and clutching the stump of his right arm.


    His brothers just watched, unsympathetic in the least for his plight.


    "I dislike men of style and no substance," Scathach said, tossing the severed limb over her shoulder casually. "Now, will you make this interesting or not?"


    "How''s this for interesting, you bitch!" Lust snarled, red magic gathering in his good hand.


    He released the energy, not towards them, but to the sky over the nearby park.


    The red energy tore through the afternoon sky like a comet before vanishing into thin air over Glen Canyon Park.


    There was a beat of silence.


    "Was that supposed to do something?" Glynda asked, unimpressed.


    No sooner had the huntress spoken that a hole was torn in reality.


    Taller than a sky scrapper and as wide as the park, it glowed a malevolent red and orange. Like a bloody wound in the sky, it pulsed and bled angrily.


    Looking at it physically hurt Raven.


    "Your husband," Lust spat the word like a curse. "Made things easy for us. It has never been easier to breach the Walls. Now choose. Try and stop us, or try and protect this pathetic city. No matter what, we win."


    As he spoke, demons poured from the tear in the sky. Big ones, small ones, scally, furry. Countless variants from countless conquered worlds. Some beautiful enough to make you cry. Others were horrific enough to make your eyes bleed.


    The screaming started immediately.


    Scathach was gone in an instant, leaping skyward and spears impaling a demon she used as a springboard to ascend higher.


    She smiled the whole way.


    Her husband gave her the best presents.


    Glynda continued to stare at Raven''s brothers, still unimpressed.


    "Is that it?" She asked, feeling underwhelmed. If it was, they were making her life hard. How was she supposed to play along if they were this pathetic?


    She hoped they had more to offer.


    "No," Lust snarled once more. "This is. Kill her!"


    Starfire charged.


    The Titans, baring Nightwing, who had gathered under the influence of the Sons of Trigon, also charged.


    Glynda sighed.


    "Run," the blonde told Raven. She spoke as if asking someone to do their homework. "I shall take this opportunity to give them a ''midterm.'' We will be going over their and your performance tomorrow. I expect you to be there."


    Then Winman tried to blast her with a cannon.


    Raven didn''t see the result.


    She was already fleeing toward the ocean.


    Six demons chased her, but the most insidious one was in her heart.


    Unlike yesterday, this flight was over in seconds, though it covered half a city.


    It was the difference between running towards something compared to running away.


    The ocean, glittering in the sun, had never looked so beautiful to Raven.


    It was then, when Raven felt joy at the blue waters, and her hope was at its peak, that a massive body smashed her from the sky.


    She crashed into the beach, the air leaving her lungs in the brutal halt of momentum.


    A hand, steely and implacable, held her head in place.


    Blinking the black spots from her eyes and fighting to remain conscious, Raven''s blurry vision struggled to make sense of what she was seeing.


    Superman?


    What?


    "Hello, sister." Four red eyes on the famous Kryptonian face told Raven that this was no hero. "So good of you to visit. I''ve been waiting a while."


    "Envy," Greed greeted casually as the five men arrived, Sloth slung over Wrath''s shoulders. "Everything good?"


    "I had enough time to set up and enough materials at hand," he answered, still holding Raven''s head down into the sand.


    "Then we should get this show on the road," Greed said, crouching down and tweaking Raven''s nose with a smug smirk.


    "You knew where I was going," Raven realized.


    "Of course we did." Envy raised Raven to her feet, still holding her fast. "Just like we know your little plan with the dragon. Daddy dearest has been keeping a very close eye on you. The Elden Lord made that possible when he weakened the Walls."


    They were in a large ritual circle, spread roughly over the sand using gallons of blood. A dozen nearby bodies were its clear source.


    "He''s very proud," Sloth said slowly, his voice an uninterested drawl.


    "Trying to cheat Trigon the Terrible," Lust shook his head in mock disbelief. "We couldn''t believe it when he told us."


    "So we had to try it ourselves," Gluttony said, binding one of her arms to a crude metal cross. Wrath roughly did the same to her other. Envy prevented any escape with his firm hold on her skull. "Only we''re hunting dragons AND demons. And you are bait for both. Or did you not notice how we had something planned for both of your ''teachers.''"


    Surrounded by six demonic siblings in a ritual circle made from the blood of the innocent while they casually explained how they would crush a plan that was already a gamble, Raven felt her last fleeting spark of hope die.


    She gave up, sagging against the bonds of her crucifix.


    "Time to fulfill your destiny, dear sister," Greed repeated, plunging a dagger into Raven''s chest.


    She didn''t resist.


    Like all the worst demons, hope fled right when it was needed.

 Furlough 7

    <div>


    In you I know we''ll find!


    The hero of our time!


    An evil king has come to reign!


    All that you know


    You''ll be leaving it behind


    Look deep inside


    Soon enough you''ll find


    The courage to win


    Now you''d best be on your way


    For you have a demon to slay!


    ********


    Raven was still alive as Greed pulled her beating heart from her chest.


    She felt no pain.


    It seemed like she was disconnected from her body, and everything was swimming. Like everything was happening to someone else, she was just watching, helpless to move.


    Probably in shock, she distantly realized.


    She would die soon.


    As she deserved.


    "What now?" A voice from behind her asked.


    "Father is on his way," Greed responded, still holding her beating heart. Blood flowed from the organ onto the ritual circle at their feet, oddly black and unending. "We have a few minutes max before he gets here. We must finish the ritual by then if we want to absorb his power."


    "Do we still need Raven?" The voice asked.


    In her haze, Raven thought it sounded familiar. A rumbling tone that sparked annoyance in her delirious thoughts.


    Couldn''t she at least die in peace?


    "Damnit, Jack! Get off your lazy ass," Lust cursed. "She''s the portal. The key. She holds more of his power than any of us. We do this now! We must absorb him before the dragon gets here, or we''re fucked."


    "How do we do that?"


    "You didn''t read it?!" Wrath rumbled. Raven saw, more than felt, her crucifix shift as the giant took a massive step forward.


    "Get back in place!" Greed ordered, now glowing with red power. The heart in his hand was beating faster and faster.


    Wrath did as he was told, but not before glaring down at the man crumpled in the sand behind Raven.


    "Just..." Lust said, visibly restraining himself from saying anything else. "Just focus on channelling magic to the heart. It connects to her and, through her, to him. When he arrives, pull all you can back. That will drain him to us."


    "Isn''t Tri-hard with a vengeance watching right now?"


    What.


    "Hah," Envy snorted, the expression looking out of place on Superman''s face.


    "I''m blocking him from looking through her eyes. Have been since we caught her," Gluttony responded. He was the only one not in the circle. "Don''t want to ruin the surprise."


    Both of them were glowing brighter and brighter. The entire circle was burning an eery red, as were four of its five male inhabitants. They were all positioned in a pentagram overlaid on the Mark of Skath carved into the beach. There were other magical markings, ones she didn''t recognize, but Raven was too busy watching her still-beating heart be ripped from her chest to care too much.


    The exception out of her brothers was the lanky figure with long black hair in ripped jeans and a leather jacket that lay sprawled in the sand behind her body.


    He hadn''t moved since Wrath had dropped him in place.


    How... was she seeing this?


    Her eyes were closed?


    Weren''t they?


    There was still no pain.


    Like she hadn''t even been hurt.


    Or had already been healed.


    Raven felt the sensation of vertigo intensify as the red light grew brighter.


    "What about the dragon? What''s the plan for him?"


    "We kill him," Wrath snarled. "Now shut up! Do your job!"


    "But how? He''s very big and strong. And have you seen his scales? They are very shiny."


    "Even if he could fight father, which he probably can''t," Greed said, not taking his eyes off the heart. The blood had turned into bloody red fire and dripped onto the sand. "He won''t be able to stand up to all six of us with his power. With the book, if we can kill or subdue him, we can drain his power as well. We''ll be unstoppable."


    "That''s it? That''s all you got? The trick with the Titans was pretty well thought out, so I was hoping for more. To kill such a handsome, powerful, handsome, funny, handsome, dashing, and handsome dragon? What about the rest of the Family? Please tell me you have a good plan for them that isn''t ''Sons of Trigon go bonk.''"


    What.


    "...what?" Greed asked, finally looking away from his prize to stare at his slothful brother.


    Or where Sloth had been.


    Mikael was still sprawled out on the ground, but that was the only point that remained the same between the truth and the illusion.


    He was closer to Raven, for one. His back rested against the cross on which she was tied, and his shoulders leaned against her legs. Rather than wear torn jeans and a leather jacket, he was wearing shorts and a god-awful floral print shirt that burned Raven''s eyes with its bright colours.


    He looked like a beach bum in Hawaii rather than an ancient dragon lying in the center of a bloody ritual.


    "All I''m saying," he said with a shrug and a smile. "Is that you had a good idea but poor execution. You are a few million years too young to be scheming against me, you young whipper snappers. Back in my day, when we tried to kill and absorb the powers of demons and dragons, we did it with skill. Finesse. And a massive sword. Unnecessarily large, really. Let me give you all a lesson. I call it Mikael''s SSSSS class."


    Wrath bellowed in rage, unable to handle the taunting and stomped forward to grab at the smirking man.


    He made it one step.


    Then he exploded in a shower of gore, magic, and pale moonlight. So close to the exploding mass of flesh, Mikael and Raven were covered in the gore.


    His floral print shirt somehow looked better this way.


    "Huh? That''s interesting," he murmured so low to himself as he looked down at his ruined clothes that Raven was sure she was the only one who heard him.


    Then he shook his head slightly and refocused on the group around him.


    "See," Mikael smirked, holding the massive greatsword made of moonlight in one hand, the other slung around Raven''s shoulder casually. When had he stood up? "Kids these days. So impatient. Back to the lecture. In my opinion, SSSSS is how you can determine a victor of any fight. The least important is the first S. Strength. If you only have strength or power, you end up like poor Wrath. Chunky salsa."


    Envy glared lasers at the man.


    That wasn''t an expression.


    The Son of Trigon literally fired a laser from Superman''s eyes at Mikael''s head.


    Ba-bump.


    Then his head exploded as a bluish-black magic missile impacted the back of his skull in a shower of blood, bone, and grey matter.


    "You should have turned into the Flash," Mikael said casually. He had only moved slightly to get out of the heat vision. "Then it might have been a bit interesting. Laser eyes are easy to predict if I know where you are looking. That is another S, by the way. Speed. I would take greater speed over strength any day of the week."


    In seconds, Raven had gone from being surrounded by six Sons of Trigon to only three.


    Ba-bump.


    Gluttony seemed frozen, paralyzed by the change in the situation.


    Greed and Lust, to their credit, did not freeze. They made a judgment call.


    Without Trigon''s power, they couldn''t beat the Elden Lord, so they needed to summon Trigon.


    Quickly.


    Thankfully, they had the perfect distraction.


    "You want this," Greed smirked, holding the heart to the Elden Lord''s eyes. It glowed black and red and pulsated with power. Greed seemed to squeeze every drop of magic he could into the heart, and its palpitations sped up.


    Ba-bump.


    Ba-bump.


    Ba-bump. Ba-bump. Ba-bump.


    Ba-bump ba-bump ba-bump ba-bump ba-bumpba-bumpba-bumpba-bumpbabumpbabumpbabumpbabump.


    Faster and faster, the heartbeat pounded. The sound grew louder and louder. The sand on the beach started to hop and bounce from the vibration.


    The light was so intense that Raven should have needed to shield her eyes.


    She didn''t.


    Somehow, she could still see clearly, even with the harsh glare of the red light.


    She saw Greed throw the heart over the ocean with a mighty toss.


    "Fecth!" Greed orderd.


    Mikael didn''t move.


    "The third S is the situation." He lectured. "This accounts for terrain and defences, as well as hostages and other points of victory. Leveraging your situation is critical to any successful conflict. A nice try, but you cannot understand my greed. That and your abilities don''t work on me. You failed to account for your one true victory point in this situation."


    Mikael lightly stomped on the sand.


    The ground rumbled.


    Lust died, impaled groin first on a massive pillar of stone that arose below him.


    "If I were you, I would have paid more attention to the fact I have stayed by Raven''s side, keeping her alive this entire time. If you all had come at me at once or managed to separate me from her, I would have had much greater trouble than I did. Now there are only two of you left."


    "Argh!" Gluttony screamed, his rotund body lifted in the air by red and black briars of thorns formed from the blood of the citizens slain.


    The Briars squeezed, drawing another scream of agony from the corpulent man.


    From the thorns, a swarm of bloody flies erupted and turned upon the feast of flesh.


    The blood flies devoured Gluttony.


    Blood, fat, and viscera rained on the beach.


    "My mistake," Mikael said with a shrug. "Only one left. Although now I am a bit bummed. I''m not going to be able to finish my lecture."


    Greed turned toward the city and fled.


    He made it five steps before a golden shockwave knocked him backwards.


    He slid to a stop at Mikael''s feet.


    Raven could see the fear and rage in his eyes.


    "The penultimate S is skill. The culmination of not only experience but also the talent and the control one has over their own abilities," Mikael droned with a smile, golden light starting to radiate from him. "With enough skill, one can overcome almost anything. And I have a lot of skills. It''s great when I want to inflict some truly ironic deaths."


    "You cannot stop him," Greed glared up at the man. "He will come, and he will kill you."


    The cambion tried to stand, but a foot on his chest kept him firmly pressed into the sand.


    "Nah," Mikael waved off the words. "I''m sure he''ll try. But better than him, have failed. Before I do something funny to you, I should thank you. I''m sure there are videos of what you all did at the mall. Plus, this little ritual site. I''ve been racking my brain for days on who I could kill that wouldn''t ruin my reputation. It''s been really hard to find the right target. Not killing things isn''t really an option. I don''t want to seem like one of those people who is all talk and no substance. That would just be embarrassing."


    Greed continued to struggle as the man rambled, but there was no escape.


    "So thank you for not only pissing me off but for mastering one of the most beloved Protectorate teams in the country. That''s a Kill Order right there. I don''t think anyone will want to mess with my Family now. I just wish you had made it more fun."


    "You''re a monster," Greed spat up at the abomination in the shape of a man. "Worse than any of us."


    "Sure I am," Mikael''s smile was gentle, almost pitying. "There are two differences, though. One, I am smart. Two, I am handsome. People are much more willing to work with a pretty monster."


    Then he laid his hand on Greed''s forehead.


    The four-eyed man froze, face contorting in pain.


    Crystal burst from below his skin, but not a drop of blood fell from the wound. Multiple blueish-green crystals grew from, through, in, and over the Son of Trigon until he was nothing more than a statue in the vague shape of a man.


    It was over in an instant.


    "Huh," Mikael grunted in amusement. "I didn''t know those that absorbed too much sorcery were still considered living. Medea will be ecstatic for the opportunity to test the properties of living glintstone. Greed should be happy too. He''s now the single most valuable crystal on the face of the planet."


    Ba-bump!


    Ba-bump!


    Ba-bump!


    BA-BUMP!


    The heart, still beating as it floated above the ocean''s waves, had grown loud enough for them to hear again. It was so bright now that its glow eclipsed the sun''s light.


    Mikael looked at it curiously but then ignored it to turn to face Raven.


    She had been strapped to the cross this entire time, her chest still open from where her heart had been carved out. Blood had flown freely at first, but without a heart, it had stopped circulating.


    "I have Freed your consciousness from the limits of your body for the moment," Mikael told her. "Do not panic. I must remain in contact with you at all times. I am keeping you alive. My wife will be able to heal this. You will be fine. If you need to talk, your magic should still work. Just spell out any words for me. I know this isn''t pretty, but you must see what happens next."


    BA-BUMP!


    While that explained much, it did not make Raven feel that much better.


    ''What about my friends? Are they okay?''


    The words formed themselves in the air before the man, made of dark light.


    "They''re fine," he said, untying her from the cross and throwing her limp form over a shoulder. Raven should have been insulted by how disrespectfully he treated her ''corpse,'' but she honestly had bigger things to worry about. That, and she still felt nothing. "Glynda is with them. She would have messaged me if anything happened."


    BA-BUMP!


    ''Did you know this would happen? About my brothers?''


    "I knew something would happen," he admitted. "I told you as much yesterday. I did not know how it would go down or who would do it, though. And I definitely did not expect what happened to your friends, or I would have thought up a different plan. We came as soon as we could, which was pretty fast, all things considered."


    BA-BUMP!


    ''Is that why you were so brutal?''


    BA-BUMP!


    "Guilty," the man smirked at the words, looking the furthest thing from guilty as possible. "I really don''t like Masters. If it had been possible for your teammates to resist, I wouldn''t be so mad." BA-BUMP! "But it wasn''t. Your brothers weren''t tempting them to fall into sin. They were outright controlling them. A big nono."


    BA-BUMP!


    ''What now?''


    "Now?" BA-BUMP! "We watch the fireworks."


    BA-BUMP!


    BA-


    Silence.


    For one frozen instant, it was like the world held its breath.


    Then the heart exploded in the cataclysm of flames and shadow, a circle of fire forming atop the ocean''s water.


    "THE"


    An arm, covered in red scales and ending in claws, burst from the flaming circle.


    "EARTH"


    A second arm tore free from the depths of flame. Both massive red arms pressed into the ocean bottom and pushed. Waves as tall as buildings rose and fell in the turbulent disturbance.


    "IS"


    An enormous head rose from the depths. Crowned by antlers and a long white mane of hair, his four red eyes glowed with firey power as he crowed his triumph.


    Even with ocean water up to his shins, the Lord of Madness still towered over the city like a titan.


    And he grew larger with every second.


    "MINE!"


    Trigon the Terrible was here.


    It was the end of the world.


    "Sasageyo! Sasageyo! Shinzou wo sasageyo!"


    Which was why Raven could not stop herself from asking the question.


    ''Are you seriously singing right now?''


    "I regret nothing! The moment was too perfect! I live as few men dare to dream!"


    ********


    Laura was the first to be released from her mind control.


    One moment she was lunging for Beast Boy''s throat, easy to do since he was a brontosaurus, and the next, she froze mid-step.


    Glynda let the crystal shield around the green hero''s neck fade once she saw the mutant stop her lunge.


    Fighting the Titans hadn''t been hard, as skilled and powerful as they were.


    Keeping them alive while they attacked her, each other, and any nearby civilians, while also repairing the damage to nearby structures, had been the real challenge.


    Glynda could only do so because of her extensive training with Observation Haki, the unparalleled control of her semblance, and her long experience dealing with violent teenagers.


    That, and Glynda Goodwitch was just that good.


    Laura, frozen in the moment of her liberation, was an easy target for Mercury.


    The liquid metal mutant poured over her friend, silvery material covering X-23''s head as Mercury tried to drown her.


    Glynda grimaced in concentration even as she used one of Winman''s drones to block Starfire''s bolts. The metal contraption melted into slag but did its job.


    Liquids were always more challenging to manipulate than solids with her semblance.


    The huntress allowed Beast Boy to whip the pair with his long tail, knowing it wouldn''t cause any irreversible damage and focused on pulling the mercury from Laura''s throat, forcing her will against Mercury''s malleable form.


    She also had to divide her attention on yanking Starfire''s arm so the plasma she released hit another of Winman''s guns rather than her.


    On top of that, the teacher kept a part of her focus on the metal muzzle she had crafted around Beast Boy''s jaws using the frame of a destroyed car.


    Then the green hero turned into a fly, and Glynda had to catch the mass of metal before it hit anyone.


    Thankfully, this was when Mercury stopped struggling.


    The metal mutant fell from her friend''s body into a silvery puddle on the floor, leaving Laura panting for breath.


    Wolverine''s daughter looked around frantically, eyes wide and dazed as she tried to take in her situation.


    Then she lunged at Winman.


    Glynda, noticing she had withdrawn her claws, didn''t stop her.


    Laura tackled her teammate, knocking him to the floor and easily overpowering him. She tore his gloves from his hands and the helmet from his head, then headbutted him for good measure, knocking him into a daze.


    Beast Boy took this opportunity to turn from a fly into a blue whale above everyone''s heads.


    Glynda strained to keep the sheer bulk of the largest animal to ever live in the air. She couldn''t just hold him up at one point, or his weight would tear him apart against the forces she pressed against him. Instead, she had to support every inch of the two-hundred-ton mammal.


    This was complicated because Starfire, the only Titan to not attack the others and focus solely on her, flew under the green whale and carpet-bombed the area Glynda was standing in with green star fire.


    Protecting herself with multiple destroyed cars for a moment, which quickly melted into slag under the force and heat, Glynda created a platform under her feet and rose into the air.


    Flight was much more viable now that she only needed to focus on two enemies rather than five.


    Glynda needn''t have bothered.


    Before Starfire could chase her teacher into the sky, the Tameranean froze in place like her teammates.


    For a few seconds, her face contorted in confusion, then realization, then disgust, and finally wide-eyed fear.


    "Nightwing!" Starfire shouted, dashing off to look for her boyfriend from where she had left him lying in a burning building.


    Glynda knew he was fine, having kept a portion of her attention on protecting the sleeping man throughout this whole incident.


    Winman was still struggling in X-23''s grip, and Beast Boy, transformed from a blue whale into a leopard, was lunging at the back of Glynda''s head with his jaws wide open.


    She caught him easily, now able to dedicate her full attention to him.


    For a few seconds, the green hero struggled in her telekinetic grasp transforming from the jaguar into a rhino, then a triceratops, then a fly, then a whale again.


    Glynda never let him go, adjusting her hold on him in an eyeblink every time he transformed.


    Then he froze in place, eyes unclouding from the voracious hunger that consumed them, and Glynda let him fall gently to the ground.


    "Blegh!"


    Where he promptly began vomiting all over.


    "Where is Si- Friend Raven?" Starfire asked urgently, flying back with Nightwing in a bridal carry in her arms.


    The leader of the Titans had it the best and worst of the heroes.


    He had slept through the whole ordeal and had no injuries to speak of, but his physical changes were not reverting either. He still had a long scraggly beard and a large amount of fat, and he smelled terrible even from where Glynda was standing.


    It would take him ages to get back into shape.


    That, or they would let Amelia out of M/S confinement long enough to revert the changes.


    "She is with my husband," Glynda answered calmly, waiving her hand and pulling Winman from Laura''s grasp. He still struggled in her intangible hold but had even less success than Beast Boy. "He will take care of her."


    "What happened?" Laura grunted, looking disturbed and guilty. "I was angry. So angry."


    "You walked into a trap," Glynda said, voice softening and looking over the Titans with well-hidden concern. "Your actions were not your own. Do not blame yourselves. Mikael and Raven can explain everything when it is over."


    "You know I didn''t mean it, right?" Mercury asked frantically, reforming her body beside X-23 and looking at her friend in desperate fear. "I mean I''d never- I was just- and you were- I just... I''m sorry. I am so, so sorry," she apologized frantically.


    Laura, eyes still staring into the distance vacantly, absently nodded her head.


    "Oh god," Winman muttered, freed from his own control. Glynda set him down, and he collapsed to his knees, staring at his hands in horror. "Oh god. What have I done? I took- Oh god."


    This book was originally published on Royal Road. Check it out there for the real experience.


    "You were controlled," Glynda repeated, more severely this time, and all eyes turned to her. "Mastered. Your free will was stripped from you, and someone else took your place. You had no way to stop it, and no one will blame you except yourself and fools."


    "I guess we failed our midterms," Beast Boy joked, but his eyes were haunted, and his lips were still stained with bile.


    "I have not given them yet," Glynda denied. "Your exam is this: recover. Rest. Talk to friends and family. Ask for help. We shall reconvene tomorrow evening. Whatever you decide to do following this ordeal, you will only fail my ''midterm'' if you try to bear this negativity alone. And always remember. As your teacher, I am always here to listen."


    The Titans looked at each other and at her. They looked haunted, violated, guilty, and confused. For all their experience with heroism, for all their strength and skill, they were so very young to her eyes. Younger than most Beacon graduates.


    Barely adults.


    Young men and women who had chosen to take up the defence of the innocent and put their lives at stake for others.


    Glynda had not become a teacher to raise heroes or huntsmen.


    Glynda became a teacher to give people like them the skills they needed to come home. She accomplished this with a firm hand but guiding hand.


    Sadly, most of her students only learned their lessons too late.


    Glynda never stopped trying.


    That is what it meant to be a teacher.


    The moment of silence was interrupted when the monstrous voice roared its triumph over the city.


    "THE EARTH IS MINE!"


    The entire team tensed, assuming battle-ready stances as they looked around frantically for the source.


    They could barely make out the top of the head of the red giant from their position.


    "What the fuck was that?" Winman cursed, scrambling to re-don his helmet and gloves, which he used to control most of his devices.


    "That," Glynda responded with a small smile. "Was the sound of a plan coming together. If nothing else, take solace in knowing my husband will have vengeance for you."


    "The Elden Lord will fight that thing?" Mercury asked, eyes wide as she stared at the demon lord growing every second.


    "Fight?" Glynda let the barest chuckle escape her before recomposing her expression. "There will be no fight. Make no mistake, Mikael is strong. Enormously so. But it has never been his power that made him dangerous. It is his mind."


    "Right," Beast Boy let out a nervous chuckle before changing the subject. "Where is Shishou? Wasn''t she here earlier?"


    "I wouldn''t worry about her either," Glynda actually allowed a grin to form as she nodded behind them. The pulsing red tear in the sky remained even after its summoners had died. Demons continued to rain down, but none left the park''s confines.


    Beast Boy looked to Glen Canyon Park, though it was still mostly hidden by the buildings Glynda had repaired. His eyes unfocused again for a moment, then he doubled over to regurgitate again.


    "What the fuck is that?" The green hero asked in between heaves of nausea.


    "Blood," X-23 answered, nose scrunched up in disgust. "A lot of blood."


    "Knowing her, this is the most fun she has had in millennia," Glynda said fondly.


    The Titans looked at her oddly as Beast Boy continued to vomit.


    ********


    What makes someone a hero?


    If someone asked Scathach, her answer would be simple.


    Strength, skill, and courage.


    Morality or destiny were irrelevant.


    A hero is someone with power and the will to use it.


    And Scathach was a hero.


    Her spear tip tore through the throat of a demon.


    It fell from the sky in a rain of visceral meat and brackish blood.


    It joined the dozens she had already slain, the blood seeping into the canyon ground from the bodies.


    Three more flyers, each more grotesque than the other, descended on her as soon as they exited the pulsing hole in the walls of reality.


    The first went down with two spears in its eyes.


    The second fell when Scathach used the tip of a spear to carve a rune into its carapaced body faster than it could blink. A simple fire rune, with the skills of a master, boiled its flesh from its bones.


    She ripped the wings from the third with her bare hands, riding its body to the ground and smiling the whole way.


    Looking skyward, the celt took in the enemies that still covered the sky.


    In the time it had taken her to kill two dozen, hundreds had exited the portal.


    A few flew toward her, but most were making their way toward the city and its defenceless inhabitants. She noticed those who did get close to leaving the park fall and frowned at her Family''s interference.


    That would not do.


    An idea came to her.


    Scathach''s smile stretched in almost childish glee.


    If Setanta could face an army alone, in one-on-one combat, she would meet them all at once.


    First, separate the wheat from the chafe.


    "Gae Bolg Alternative!"


    The sky was red.


    Red from the tear in the dimensional walls, as it pulsed and glowed ominously.


    Red from the countless demons. The abominations that blotted the blue sky beyond with their numbers.


    Red from the barbed spears, hundreds of them flying skyward in a hunt for death.


    Red from the blood that rained from the sky in a waterfall. A torrent of demonic ichor drowned the once-green park in a flood of red.


    The innumerable carcasses fell to the ground in a grotesque hail of bodies, limbs, and roars of pain.


    Then the sky was blue once more.


    If anyone else had been in her position, they would have taken this brief intermission before more demons emerged to transform.


    Standing atop a pile of bodies surrounded by knee-deep pools of red liquid, there was no better battlefield for a Blood Dragon.


    She could have used the power and size of her draconic body to block the portal of most of its escapees.


    But Scathach was not anyone else.


    She did not transform.


    She was Scathach!


    She did use her Element, but only as material for her spell.


    The rivers of blood glowed as it flowed in complicated, archaic patterns that no one but her would understand.


    When the next hoard of demons emerged from the portal, they no longer sought to enter the city to wreak havoc.


    They couldn''t break the Geass.


    These new arrivals, bigger, meaner, stronger, and more horrific than the first wave, could only invade by climbing over her dead body.


    It would not do for the student to surpass the master just yet.


    Facing down an endless army by herself, Scathach smile deepened.


    "I am Scathach," she told the hoard, uncaring if they understood her. "Teacher of heroes. Queen of the Land of Shadows. I have felled demons, gods, even death itself."


    The army charged at her.


    Fire and magic.


    Flesh and muscle.


    All bent to one purpose.


    "Kill me if you can!"


    She did not transform into a Blood Dragon when she charged.


    Not when she slew the second wave of demons.


    Not when the actual monsters, big enough to tower over skyscrapers and strong enough that the earth shook with their every movement, tore themselves from the portal.


    Not when her Aura ran dry from her use.


    Not when blows started to accumulate on her body, her Armament reducing the injuries to nothing but hitting nonetheless.


    Numbers and attrition doing what quality could.


    All the skills in the world and Haki could not prevent injury against the army of thousands, made up of some of the greatest champions of Trigon''s conquered dimensions.


    Despite all that, the celt remained human.


    Scathach never transformed as the piles of bodies became a hill, then a mountain, then two.


    For she was Scathach!


    With no unique heritage, prophecy to guide her life, and no world-renowned teacher to instruct her, Scathach had carved herself a place in the annals of human history through her efforts, strength, and skill alone.


    She stood alone, a Warrior Queen against the greatest foes Trigon could throw at her from multiple hell dimensions.


    Her bloody smile never left her lips.


    She was Scathach, and turning into a dragon would just make her weaker.


    *********


    In my opinion, the key to a good plan can be divided into three parts.


    Control what you can.


    Know what you can''t control.


    Be prepared for when everything goes wrong.


    Generally, you have almost complete control of yourself, decent control of allies and the situation, and limited control of your enemies.


    You never have absolute control.


    Emotions, enemy action, or plain bad luck always mean that a situation will go tits-up when you don''t want to.


    Take this situation, for example.


    I could exert pretty good control over my Family, at least to get them to go along with a plan. I had spent the last few days studying hard with Ranni and Medea on illusion magic to pull this plan off and get around my lack of defences against cameras. That was an easy part of the situation I could control, and it helped me form a half dozen contingency plans.


    Raven, the younger one, would not follow my every order and would not trust me in the limited time I had. I had to be careful about how I dealt with her. By only talking to her on the evening of the last day, I limited the time she would have to go to second guess my plan.


    She was also at her most desperate.


    There was no way a calm and rational Raven would allow her team to wander into a trap without telling them.


    It also served the purpose of controlling my enemy.


    I knew they were watching her somehow, thanks to my Raven, though I didn''t know at the time it was through her own eyes. Through their observation, I could exert limited control over them.


    There is an old trick used when dealing with dictators, world leaders, or terrible bosses.


    Show them a problem, then give them three solutions to fix it. If two of them are terrible, they will go for the third without fail and think it was their idea the whole time.


    Especially if they think they are the smartest one in the room.


    And, like me, villains tended to be egomaniacs.


    I gave whoever was watching her everything they wanted.


    They''d be able to lure her out of the tower without incident. This would free me from the constant observation by Batman and others without arousing their suspicions.


    They''d be able to deal with the Titans however they wanted. This would also separate her teammates from her, limiting the variables when Trigon showed up.


    They''d be able to set up a stable ritual site along the ocean. I honestly didn''t know what exactly they would need as that changed based on the media that started Trigon, but I gave it good odds it would be needlessly complex.


    By talking to the young Raven, I maximized what I could control.


    Then there were the things I could not control.


    I had no idea how or where they would lure the Titans too. I had just heard of Diamond Heights today, so I had no clue they would attack it.


    I also had no idea who ''they'' were.


    Trigon would definitely have agents on this side, he''d be stupid not to, but I didn''t know who they would be. Was it Deathstroke? Brother Blood? Cultists? Or even a host of demons?


    I simply had no idea who, how many, or how strong Trigon''s agents were.


    The Sons of Trigon had been a possibility I had considered, so they weren''t too big of a surprise, but I still kept vigilant for anyone else.


    I mitigated the things I couldn''t control as best I could by following the Titans with Glynda and Scathach.


    The pair''s job wasn''t just to keep the Titans alive and weed out all the hidden support the Trigon agents might have. It had worked with the demon gate, but Glynda''s only foes had been the Titans themselves.


    That had been one of two significant things to go wrong with the plan.


    The Sons of Trigon were definitely powerful. They all had potent magical abilities, and Envy''s ability to shapeshift and use the powers of figures of envy was incredibly useful. On top of that, their ability to manipulate Sins was especially dangerous to those without my Defences.


    In a strait up fight between them and the Titans, I gave even odds on who would be the victor.


    But that was in a straight-up fight.


    What they had pulled was something I had never expected of them.


    The Sons of Trigon were men drunk on their power in the comics.


    Young. Dumb. Full of cum.


    What they pulled in that mall had been one of the most subtle and impressive shows of subterfuge I had ever seen. I honestly think even the Justice League would have failed had they been the ones in the Titan''s place.


    In less than ten minutes, they had defeated some of the most promising young superheroes in the world and completely ruined their reputation.


    PR damage control revealing that the Titans were mastered would help, of course, but images of Beast Boy chewing on a dead man''s arm would haunt the shapeshifter for the rest of his life.


    It was a masterstroke of manipulation that took advantage of heroic psychology.


    And it pissed me off.


    Because there was absolutely no way the six idiots who had explained their ''master plan'' to become ''unstoppable'' could have come up with it.


    If they were different from their comic counterparts, that was one thing. I had seen plenty of differences in this world from the various media I knew characters from.


    But these numbskulls were fucking morons who taunted my wives and lorded their control of the Titans instead of capitalizing on it or trying to control Raven. They had summoned a demonic gate, possibly their trump card against the League and PRT, because they got mad.


    They had openly stated their plan to drain my power despite having no goddamn clue how to go about it beyond ''let''s gang up on him and go bonk!''


    These guys were wastes of potential, and talking to them actively lowered my IQ.


    And then there was the second thing that went FUBAR in this situation.


    The ritual site itself.


    Magic Talent was unbelievably useful when it came to learning. It didn''t give me knowledge out of nowhere, but it allowed me to learn at an incredible rate and keep that knowledge memorized.


    Naturally, as I knew Trigon would be summoned, I had brushed up on rituals regarding him.


    The library''s mansion had every book ever written in any of the original worlds of the ten women first summoned and mine.


    Which included Raven''s homeworld and the ritual used to summon Trigon there.


    So I recognized the part of the ritual intended to summon Demon Daddy, even if it was slightly different due to changes in dimensional structure.


    It was the other part, the adaptions that had been made to the ritual, that was the fucked up part.


    I only recognized it because I had been curious about a couple of books mentioned in passing.


    A portion of the ritual circle carved with blood into the sand was designed to remove the soul and the power it contained and implant it in another body.


    It was only luck that I recognized it as coming from Pythagoras'' Treaties on Animism.


    That was one hell of a coincidence.


    And I don''t believe in coincidences.


    Somebody I didn''t know about was hidden in the shadows of this entire situation.


    Someone skilled enough with magic to alter a ritual, smart enough lay a cunning ambush for the Titans, and malicious enough to work with demons.


    And they had access to Pythagoras'' Treaties on Animism, whose only known copy was last seen in the hands of the Sorcerer Supreme.


    I really needed to see Steven Strange when this was all over.


    I absolutely hated risks like this, but it was both too late to give up and too early to sacrifice my plan to deal with Trigon over what might be my paranoia.


    Even if I was playing into someone else''s plans.


    So as I flew over the ocean to face Trigon, Raven''s body thrown over my shoulder like a sack of potatoes, I kept my gaze vigilant.


    If I did have to fight Trigon, it would be the perfect opportunity for a third party.


    My eyes flitted the ocean''s water below me before leaving it instantly to not give the game away.


    If I had to fight Trigon, my plan would have already failed.


    ********


    "Correct me if I''m wrong," I said, poking Pride''s cheeks playfully. She swatted my hand away with a glare. I poked again. She swatted again. My demon wife cannot be this cute. "But don''t demon invasions end badly for everyone involved? Especially those who summon them. Especially, especially if they sacrifice a version of their younger selves to achieve it. Especially cubed, when we can stop it really, really easily."


    "We will not be sacrificing my younger self," Raven replied, paying no attention to the escalating poking and dodging going on between me and her demon side. "I am doing this to help her. To give her something I always wanted but never achieved. A life free from his influence. I will need your help to help her survive the summoning."


    "I don''t really know what would be involved in whatever summons Trigon," I shrugged, and Pride stepped away at the opportunity, eyeing my hands warily. She was really tickling (ha) my sadistic tendencies. "So long as it isn''t an instant death, I can keep her alive. But I still don''t see why I can''t just Free her from his influence. It would accomplish the same thing without the risk his summoning would bring. I really don''t like this."


    "Even if we Freed her now," Raven said with a shake of her head. "She would not believe it. She would still live in fear for the rest of her life. And she would be right to do so. Unless you maintain contact with something or someone, they can still be ''un-Freed.'' And we will not be in this world forever. Trigon would find a way to influence her again."


    I grimaced at the reminder.


    My Elements gave me some handy abilities that exceeded the others''. It could be a power difference, the conjunction of two Elements, or more experience with them, but Tsunade and Diana could not do half the things I could.


    But there was a hard limit.


    I had to be touching the thing I wanted to influence. Whether it was my main body touching the ocean to make it ''trash free'' or my avatar able to free Rhino, they both worked, but that was it.


    If I wasn''t touching someone or something, my abilities stopped working.


    Something that did not limit the rest of the Family who had already gained their Element, though their abilities were not nearly as useful.


    "I''m not sure how comfortable I am with taking on the closest equivalent to Satan this world has," I admitted. I wasn''t being facetious, either. I had looked for people like Lucifer, The Endless, and other significant characters from Vertigo comics. Extensively. And found nothing. "Is this that important to you?"


    "It is." Raven nodded, her placid look shifting to one of determination I rarely saw on her. "I would have given anything to be free of him. To live my life far from his shadow. If I can do the same for my younger self, I must try."


    I idly messed with Pride''s hair, much to her consternation. She glared at me, but I wasn''t really paying attention.


    This was a risk I didn''t like.


    Sure, I was Tier 10 and had unlimited power, but I was by no means the biggest fish in this ocean.


    And Trigon was a Big Deal despite being thwarted by teenagers in various media.


    You only became a multiversal-level conqueror in a comic book world with the power, intelligence, and cruelty to back that up.


    I was going to talk with Artoria and Diana later about taking pointless risks, and doing something like this sounded too much like hypocrisy to me.


    In the end, it came down to the simple question; would I support Raven, as I did the others?


    "Heroes are really the worst," I sighed with a helpless smile.


    And Raven was a hero.


    She might not be a chivalrous one like Artoria or a classical one like Scathach. She certainly wasn''t the prototypical example of a comic hero like Diana, but my demonic wife was just as much a hero at heart as all of them.


    And I loved heroes.


    Even if I''d never be one.


    "If," I said, stressing the word. "If we are going to do this, we are going to need a plan. A good one. Right now, all I can think of is kidnapping your younger self on her birthday and summoning dear old dad to space where we are all lined up to blast him to smithereens."


    "That would not work," Pride shook her head. "We have sensed his power on her. He is monitoring her. Either directly or through agents. If she disappears or he thinks this is a trap, he will take countermeasures. Trigon is not stupid. If he was, he would have invaded and lost already. His plans span centuries."


    "Your not making me feel good about killing my Father-in-Law, dear." I snarked, falling back on my habit of humour and sarcasm when I was uncomfortable. "He is not someone I would want to face without my actual body. But if I did it anywhere on earth, even in the oceans, it would result in enormous collateral damage. I can be free from physical restriction, or I can hurt him. Not both."


    "You won''t need to fight him at all," Pride smirked.


    "I have been trying to devise a plan for weeks," Raven admitted. "Ever since we landed, and I investigated my counterpart. I knew she would be a problem. If I didn''t discover one by the 29th, I would have asked you to just Free her."


    "But now," Pride''s smile was positively malevolent. "After Doomsday, I had an idea, my Monster. I need to know if it is possible and if you could build a plan to make it happen."


    The way the demonic persona said it, it was clear it was she and not the primary consciousness that had come up with the plan.


    Joy.


    "Tell me," Pride purred. "How much power can you give us with a Command Seal?"


    My eyebrows rose.


    Well, now.


    There was an idea.


    ********


    "ELDEN LORD," Trigon sneered as I approached.


    Trigon''s voice reverberated through my body, loud enough that glass shattered in the city and the water churned.


    "Discount Satan," I greeted with a nod and a polite smile.


    "I AM HERE," he replied in a condescending tone. Every moment he was growing larger. "WHERE ARE YOU? WHERE IS YOUR CONFIDENCE NOW, PUNY DRAGON?"


    I had thought he would have done something grandiose upon his summoning.


    Maybe try to destroy the city, freeze time, turn the oceans into lava, or destroy the planet. Most of my contingencies and all my wives were set up to minimize casualties as best they could.


    If he had thrown his power around to create some dramatic battlefield, he would have been in for some very unpleasant surprises.


    That''s what happens when you give Medea, one of the greatest witches to ever live with a Territory Creation skill of A, time to set up in the Domain of a Goddess of Order.


    Even ignoring the shadowy hand behind the curtain, I had backup plans for my backup plans.


    Trigon, perhaps accidentally, sidestepped almost all of them.


    "You know," I said casually. "I thought you''d be bigger. I mean, sure, you''re taller than a few buildings, but you won''t even get caught between my teeth. I''ll give you a few minutes. It''s only fair."


    Trigon laughed.


    ''What are you doing!?'' Raven asked, her magic spelling out the words in a tiny font right in front of my eye in the hope of going unnoticed. ''Why aren''t you killing him?''


    "It''s pre-fight banter," I said in mock seriousness, making no effort to be quiet. "It is very important. How else are we supposed to see who has the bigger dick? I am winning, by the way."


    ''What happened to killing him before he could grow too strong? Move that lazy lizard ass and kill him before it''s too late!''


    "It''s already too late," I shrugged, bouncing Raven''s body as I did so.


    ''What?''


    "LISTEN TO HIM. THE LAZY LIZARD KNOWS HE HAS LOST. HE LOST AS SOON AS I ARRIVED. I. AM. INVINCIBLE."


    What Trigon had done had been brilliant in its simplicity.


    He knew I was waiting for him on this end. He knew I was strong, and he''d be at his most vulnerable when he arrived. Unless he had a few days, he simply would not be able to match me while separated from the seat of his power.


    So he made sure he had a few days.


    All his power, all that had crossed from his dimension, was bent to one purpose.


    Defence.


    Right now, Trigon''s body could be thrown into the sun, and he would not even get a little singed.


    If I wanted to kill him, I would need to throw enough power around to destroy the solar system. That would obviously destroy the earth and everyone on it.


    That, and I plain could not do it. Though I had infinite power, my output had always been a stopgap.


    Tier 10 scaled infinitely upwards, and Trigon was just plain higher on the food chain than me. This was not Dragon Ball. I couldn''t gain the power to destroy galaxies on a whim.


    A big fish in an ocean full of sharks and leviathans.


    That''s all I was.


    At the same time, he had no power to spare for grand displays nor the ability to destroy me.


    That is why he was fine talking things out right now.


    We were in a stalemate.


    One that benefited him more and more every second that passed.


    He had outsmarted my outsmarting.


    Turns out the devil isn''t easy to kill.


    Who knew?


    "You remember that castle analogy I used? When you lowered the drawbridge and opened the gate, he came alone with no weapons, but he was in a mech suit without power. We can''t hurt him, and he''s charging up his beam canon."


    ''What?''


    "HE MEANS I HAVE WON, DAUGHTER. ALL HIS PLANS HAVE FAILED. NOW, HE CAN ONLY FLEE."


    "To go back to my lecture on the five S''s of combat," I said, hovering in front of the red giant who looked at us in amusement, confident in his victory. "Even with all my strength, speed, or skill, Trigon has controlled the situation, so I have already lost if we were to fight."


    ''So that''s it? You''re giving up without even a fight? What happened to all that bravado? To going out with a bang?''


    "Hey," I said defensively. "I told you, didn''t I. Fighting to the death is for those who can''t run away. And I am very good at running away."


    "THEN FLEE, LITTLE LIZARD. LEAVE MY DAUGHTER AND FLEE LIKE THE FLEA YOU ARE. WE WILL FIND YOU. MY DAUGHTER WILL LEARN HER PLACE AS MY RIGHT HAND, AND THEN WE SHALL HUNT YOU AND YOUR FAMILY DOWN LIKE THE DOGS. IT SHALL BE FINE SPORT."


    ''I''ll never join you!'' Raven spelled in massive black letters across the afternoon sky.


    I smiled.


    It was good to see she had some spunk.


    I hated damsels in distress.


    "You know," I said with a laugh. "Your family is so dysfunctional you should have your own sit-coms. ''Devil''s in the Details?'' ''Meet the Trigons?'' ''Full Hell?'' We can workshop the name later. I have to ask. How do you feel about all your kids wanting to kill you and absorb your power?"


    "PRIDE," Trigon said with a smirk, arms crossed and four eyes looking at me in amusement.


    I must look like a bug to him.


    I laughed.


    "THEY WOULD HAVE FAILED, BUT MY BROOD SHOULD HAVE SUCH GRAND AMBITIONS. MY DAUGHTER WILL LEARN AS WELL."


    ''Never!''


    "Pst," I mock whispered with a giggle. "I don''t think she likes you very much."


    "What is going on here?" A voice interrupted our little conversation.


    All three of us turned to the new arrival.


    Eidolon.


    He was floating in the sky above us, obviously trying to understand the situation.


    Usually, when you see someone like Trigon, you blast first and ask questions later, but I imagine me standing here talking to him threw him off.


    You obviously don''t want to start a fight that can destroy a nearby city without getting the details if you can help it.


    "Nothing much," I said casually. More heroes were showing up now. Superman. Green Lantern. Wonder Woman. Wonder Woman. Artoria atop Dun Stalion. "Just the end of the world. Standard Tuesday."


    "Sir Mikael?" Artoria asked, gripping Rhongomyniad tightly.


    "Nothing to do, really," I mock sighed. "The winner is already decided. Have you guys been introduced? Everyone, this is Trigon the Terrible. Lord of Madness. The Ravager. Conqueror of multiple dimensions. Raven''s dad. Swell guy, really. Trigon, this is a good portion of the League of Justice. Oh, look. More heroes."


    Artoria and my Diana relaxed.


    Everyone else tensed up.


    "FLIES, THE LOT OF THEM." Trigon did not even look at them, staring all four eyes at Raven and me.


    "What have you done?" Green Lantern hissed, ring glowing with power as he alternated a glare between the demon lord and me.


    "Me?" I asked in my best innocent voice. They didn''t look convinced. "Why is it that every time a multi-dimensional Demon Lord shows up, it is the dragon''s fault? This is racial profiling, and I will not stand for it!"


    "Why should we believe you?" Eidolon asked, starting to glow as well.


    Supergirl. Myrddin. Martian Manhunter. Iron Man.


    "Because I''m pretty?" I asked, running a hand through my hair and giving everyone a roguish smirk.


    Again, they didn''t seem impressed.


    Weird.


    ''It is not his fault,'' Raven wrote in massive letters in the sky. ''It''s mine. He was just trying to help me. He''s the only reason I''m still alive.''


    "Raven?" Superman asked hesitantly, looking at the dark letters.


    ''Yes.''


    Was that Aegis? It was hard to identify Worm characters on sight because they were from a book rather than a comic. A few more heroes appeared that I didn''t recognize.


    "She''s in pretty rough shape," I nodded as I casually held up Raven''s body for them to see.


    "By the Gods!" Wonder Woman gasped, staring at the bloody gaping hole in the young woman''s ribcage.


    "''Tis but a flesh wound," I put Raven back on my shoulder. "She''ll sleep it off. Now, I feel you all have been terribly rude to our guest." I turned back to Trigon, who had watched everything without batting an eye. He was taller than the Empire State Building by now. "Sorry about them. They really aren''t good with visitors. You should have seen them when I first showed up."


    "YOU AMUSE ME, ELDEN LORD," Trigon laughed. "YOU ARE STRONG. CUNNING. DO NOT WASTE YOURSELF UPON THIS MISERABLE PILE OF DIRT. JOIN ME. BECOME A GENERAL IN MY LEGION. AID ME IN MY CONQUEST. I SHALL SPARE YOUR LIFE AND THOSE OF YOUR FAMILY."


    "What kind of dental are you offering?"


    "Elden Lord!" Superman said sharply. Even the blue boy scout was fed up with my bullshit.


    "Fine," I sighed with a pout. "Why is it that only the devil thinks I''m funny?"


    "Because you should go to hell for your jokes?" Diana asked guilelessly. Unlike her counterpart, she was completely relaxed.


    My wives, even those I argued with, knew me so well.


    It almost made me feel bad for doing this to prove a point to them.


    Lack of communication was a bitch, wasn''t it?


    "Before we get to the blasting and the killing," I said, looking around at the dozen heroes gathered. "I have three questions for all of you. I gave a lecture earlier on what I consider the five S''s of combat. By evaluating them, you can determine the winner of any fight. I named four of them. Strength. Speed. Skill. Situation. What is the fifth S?"


    There was a beat of silence as I got odd looks from the heroes and even Trigon. Many of them were already amped for a fight, but they were waiting for the signal from one of their leaders.


    "Sarcasm?" Iron Man said sarcastically.


    "No, but that does sound like something I''d say," I answered with a smile.


    "Stealth?" Supergirl asked hesitantly.


    "Good job," I said, conjuring the illusion of a golden star on her forehead. "The exact word I was thinking of was ''surprise,'' but I''ll accept it. Have a star." She beamed at me. "The next question is a riddle. Only one colour, but not one size. Stuck at the bottom, yet I easily fly. Present in sun, but not in rain. Doing no harm and feeling no pain. What am I?"


    ""Shadow.""


    Multiple voices answered all at once.


    "Perfect," I smiled, conjuring golden stars in front of everyone that had answered. Iron Man. Green Lanter. Myrrdin. Martian Manhunter. Superman. Diana. Wonder Woman. "Fun fact though, the riddle is slightly misleading. Only one hundred percent pure water does not cast a shadow. All impure water, such as the ocean below us, casts shadows."


    I saw Artoria''s and Diana''s eyes widen in realization.


    "Enough of this farce," Eidolon snorted, conjuring a plasma sword.


    I tensed.


    Trigon wasn''t the only one that benefited from more time.


    "Wait!" Superman called, holding out a hand to stop him. I saw him watching me, evaluating me.


    Then he decided to trust me.


    "One more question won''t hurt," the Kryptonian said, looking at his fellow heroes. "The longer we delay, the more time for evacuation."


    "ALL THE TIME IN THE WORLD WILL NOT SAVE YOU FROM ME, FLIES."


    "Then you have nothing to fear from one question," Wonder Woman asked, following her friend''s lead and extending the hand of trust. She still looked ready for a fight, though.


    "IT MATTERS NOT WHAT AMUSEMENT THE DEFEATED BRING. THE VICTOR HAS BEEN DECIDED." Trigon paraphrased my earlier words, unconcerned that he was surrounded by the world''s greatest heroes. "I WANT TO SEE THIS ''SURPRISE.''"


    "Great," I said with a smile and a clap of my hands. I could tell most of the heroes were put off by my chipper attitude. Too bad for them. So long as I was having fun, that is all that really mattered. "This last question is a simple but difficult one. What six words am I thinking of?"


    "This is nonsense," Eidolon cursed but did not move.


    "That was three words," I wagged my finger at the green hero. "Though I do agree that it fits the situation pretty well."


    "That isn''t fair," Supergirl said, pouting at me. "It could be anything."


    "I got the idea from the Hobbit," I shrugged. "Blame Tolkien. I know I do. But fine, here''s a hint. The first word is one of the seven deadly sins."


    "Pride comes before the fall," Tony Stark said, his voice noticeably hopeful as one of the world''s greatest minds put together the clues.


    "You are so close, but that is only five words," I sighed. "Any other guesses?"


    I felt a hand tap my shoulder as a few heroes threw out their guesses, each worse than the last.


    "That''s not it either," I sighed. "You guys are getting further from the answer."


    "Just tell us and finish this farce," Eidolon snapped.


    "Fiiiiiineeee," I pouted, turning to look at Trigon and shrugging my shoulders in a ''what can you do'' sort of gesture. "Iron Man actually got the closest, one out of six, so you get a quarter of a star. The answer is this:"


    My chest glowed red as I channelled six command seals.


    It was hidden in the shadow of my shirt.


    Nobody even noticed, too surprised by Raven''s body dissolving into nothing.


    "Pride!"


    The first seal disappeared.


    "Absorb!"


    The second seal dissolved. Black spread across the ocean floor.


    "Consume!"


    The third seal vanished. A dark light shone from below Trigon''s left breast.


    "Supplant!"


    Forth seal. Trigon staggered.


    "Overthrow!"


    The fifth vanished as the sunlight seemed to dim in the sky, though there was no cloud to block it.


    "Usurp!"


    Darkness overtook the earth as Shadow consumed the sea and sky.


    A mad, throaty laugh resounded through the air as a Demon Lord fell to the coup.


    The dark bubbled up from the ocean depths, almost tar-like, as it slowly, methodically climbed Trigon''s legs.


    The Demon Lord did not struggle against the Shadow in the water.


    He was too busy clawing at his chest frantically, desperately, as he doubled over, roaring in pain.


    "WHAT HAVE YOU DONE?" He roared, red flesh distending as part of his body collapsed. Pustules and boils formed and burst in explosions of puss and darkness. "WHAT HAVE YOU DONE, YOU PATHETIC LIZARD?"


    "Me?" I asked innocently. One of Trigon''s horns was sucked into his skull with a disgusting red ''splorch.'' "I didn''t do anything. Maybe it was something you ate. Heartburn is a real threat when you get your age."


    His right arm fell into the Shadow as his shoulder dissolved in an explosion of darkness and blood.


    The fallen arm was consumed by the tar in a moment.


    "By the gods!" Wonder Woman gasped.


    Trigon did not shrink.


    "ELDEN LORD!"


    He sank.


    "ELDEN LORD!"


    Two red eyes, glaring hatred at me, exploded as shadowy tendrils erupted from Trigon''s face.


    "I think I''m going to be sick," Supergirl said, hand covering her mouth.


    His red-scaled skin was filled with countless holes, and his white and red muscles were visibly absorbed by the shadows that intertwined throughout his body.


    "ELDEN LORD!"


    "Moshi, Moshi," I said, flying closer to the collapsing body of the Demon King. "Elden Lord''s heart burgers. You kill ''em, we grill ''em. Any complaint with your order?"


    "WHAT HAVE YOU DONE?"


    "I told you," I sighed, disappointedly shaking my head. "This isn''t me. This is all you. You really should be more careful of what you use to make your portal invade a new world. You never know where it''s been."


    "What is going on?" Eidolon asked.


    I ignored him.


    "I do appreciate a bit of irony, though," I continued. Part of any good showdown is the gloating. The rush of victory after a hard-fought battle. Even if this entire fight had been one of the minds rather than might. "When I said all your children wanted to absorb your power, I wasn''t exaggerating. They all wanted to do it. It''s almost impressive that they all came up with the same idea. But then you said you felt pride at the thought. Well, let me introduce you to Pride."


    From the shadows escaping Trigon''s eyes, a body formed beside me.


    A taller, more mature Raven with four red eyes.


    Her cloak, rather than blue, was half covered in red. The colour spread with every second that passed, mirroring the parts of Trigon dissolving into shadow.


    "Greetings, Father," Pride curtsied, her mouth curved in a malicious smirk. Her voice, layered and distorted, was still laughing in the air. "I see you have met My Monster."


    Trigon stared, his two remaining eyes wide with surprise.


    "To continue the introductions, have you met my wife?" I continued as my Raven formed from my shadow, her younger self held in a bridal carry in her arms and uninjured. Now that I was no longer in contact with the young woman, she was no longer Free from her body and was just unconscious. But she had seen what she needed to. Her father had lost. No one was invincible. "I think you are familiar with each other."


    Like her demonic aspect, Raven''s cloak slowly changed colour in a mirror of Trigon''s consumption.


    Instead of red or blue, Raven''s cloak turned a pure, pristine, uncorrupted white.


    She said nothing, watching this universe''s version of the man who terrorized her every nightmare be absorbed by her Shadow.


    "You know," Pride said, idly toying with her fingernails. She was also partaking in the time-honoured tradition of kicking people when they were down. I am so proud. (Ha) "It could have been over quickly. All you had to do was use your powers more. Focus less on defence and more on offence. You might have even noticed me in time if you did. Been able to run back. But you didn''t. And so sure of your victory. Now, I get the pleasure of eating you slowly."


    Trigon stared.


    Then he laughed.


    "HAHAHAHAHAHA!"


    I tensed, ready for the next layer of the fight.


    This had never been a brawl about power but a contest in preparation and planning.


    The winner was the one who could control the ''situation'' and held the greatest ''surprise.''


    By controlling the one aspect Trigon could never change, the need for Raven to be the portal, I had outsmarted his outsmarting my outsmarting.


    I knew more than Trigon, so I had the upper hand, but there was one aspect I did not know about.


    The hand behind the curtain still hadn''t shown itself, and I had never truly dropped my guard.


    But nothing happened.


    Trigon continued to laugh as he dissolved.


    He laughed as his knees collapsed in on themselves, forcing him to support himself in the black water with his one good arm.


    He laughed as his chest exploded, a pulsating mass of shadows pumping within his breast.


    He laughed until only half a face remained unconsumed by Shadow.


    "THAT''S MY GIRL!"


    And then Trigon the Terrible was no more.


    "I am not yours anymore," Raven said plainly, face wholly blank and cloak entirely spotless.


    Then, in a move I would not have expected in a million years, she shifted her younger self to one arm and wrapped the other around my waist.


    "I am his."


    I beamed.


    "Ah," I said, wrapping my arm around her and nuzzling her cheek. Her cheeks pinked very slightly. "I love you too."


    "Hey!" Pride shouted, her chest puffing forward with pride. God, was she cute. "I did all the work!"


    "You''re the same person," I rolled my eyes. "But, I will reward you too. Happy birthday, by the way. I hope you like my present. Only the best husbands can give their wives demon lords on a silver platter. Should I start calling you a Demon Queen now?"


    "Yes!"


    "No," Raven said plainly, ignoring her demonic aspect. "Let his conquests sort themselves out. I do not plan on ruling anything, so they are free to do as they wish. Trigon is dead, and I have most of his power. This is done."


    "Ahem!" A polite cough from Superman interrupted my little triumph. Most of the heroes were flying around awkwardly, looking uncomfortable at our public display of affection. "Now that this situation is handled, can you explain what happened? Is Raven, that is, our Raven, all right? And what is with the gate to hell in the park? I feel that should be a concern."


    "Nah," I waved him off with my free arm. "That''s just Scathach having fun. Feel free to ignore it. Once she get''s bored, I''ll have Medea close it. Raven''s fine, as are the rest of the Teen Titans. As for an explanation? It will be a while. Let''s get something to eat. Who wants tacos? I''ve been craving them for days."


    "I do," Artoria raised a hand eagerly.


    "I could go for some fish tacos," Yoruichi said, startling all the heroes with her appearance.


    What did they expect?


    There was no way I would risk fighting a Demon Lord without my Family.


    Yoruichi is just the one that decided to join us. The others were around here somewhere.


    Just like they always would be.

 SS – Rest for the Weary

    <div>


    Shadow and shape mix together at dawn


    But by the time you catch them, simplicity''s gone


    So we sort through the pieces, my friends and I


    Searching through the darkness to find the breaks in the sky


    And the reason that she loved him was the reason I loved him too


    And he never wondered what was right or wrong


    He just knew, he just knew


    ********


    Raven awoke with a start to the sun setting over San Fransico Bay, the light glinting off Titan Tower.


    From the strange disembodied perspective the Elden Lord had held her in, her last sight had been a vision of herself. A more mature, red-cloaked and four-eyed version of herself, standing over her father and taunting him as he died.


    One moment she watched Trigon, her father and source of all her nightmares, collapse inward in a shower of blood, fire, and shadow.


    The next, she sat bolt upright from where she lay on a bench, the sensations of having a body again, plus the light from the setting sun, almost blinded her.


    Raven blinked back stars as her vision swam.


    "Easy there," a calm voice murmured in her ear. It was soothing and familiar.


    For a brief instant, Raven thought of her youth. Thought of those early years in Azarath before she had heard of Trigon.


    Before she knew what she was.


    "What happened?" Raven asked, not willing to allow herself to follow that thought. Blinking away the light and turning to the woman. It was all a blur of colours, predominantly white with a splash of red. "Who are you?"


    "Trigon''s dead," the woman said, her voice almost entirely monotone but for the barest hint of emotion. Raven froze, her sight recovering. "Mikael confirmed it. There will be no resurrections, comebacks, or summonings. You are free."


    "Mom?"


    Raven would deny the crack in her voice till the day she died, deny that her eyes welled up and a hope, long thought lost, budded in her breast.


    The woman shook her head gently, sending Raven''s hope to die.


    Now that she was paying attention, however, Raven could make out the little differences between the woman in front of her and her memories of her mother.


    For one, she was more full-figured than Arella had been and possibly taller. It was hard to tell since they were both sitting down. Apart from that, the white cloak the woman wore was not a robe of the Azaranthian order, but one similar to Raven''s own, and its hood was embroidered with a red crown-like circlet in the cloth.


    Apart from those little details, the woman was almost an exact copy of Angela Roth had been.


    Or how Raven would be in a few years.


    "I am not our mother," the older Raven said gently. "No matter how I wish she had lived to see this day."


    "Then you are..." Raven asked hesitantly. "Like the other Wonder Woman?"


    "You can call her Diana, and I, Rachel," Rachel said, the barest uptick of her lips indicating a smile. "I do still prefer Raven, but it will keep things from being too complicated when the two of us are together. But yes, I am you. A version of yourself from a different universe."


    Raven sat for a moment, reeling at the idea or implications, then her last sight before falling unconsciousness came back to mind.


    "You killed Trigon?" Raven half asked, half demanded.


    "I did," Rachel said.


    "How?"


    "I absorbed so much of his power he simply could not keep himself invulnerable any longer. From there, it was relatively simple," Rachel said in her monotone as if explaining how she had changed the ink of a copy machine.


    "It couldn''t be that simple!" Raven denied it in disbelief.


    It couldn''t be that easy.


    Trigon the Terrible would not die so quickly.


    Not the figure who had destroyed worlds and haunted her every waking nightmare.


    "The setup was a bit more complicated," Rachel nodded. "Mikael made the plan, so if you want exact details, you''ll need to ask him. But in the end, that is basically what happened. As soon as I had absorbed enough, consumed enough of what made him so powerful, he was no different than any other strong demon."


    "How did you absorb his power?"


    "A gift from my husband," the older woman said, the first clear sign of emotion on her face as she smiled. It wasn''t a wide one, but it was real.


    She raised her hand, and whisps of darkness fell from it. A wave of shadows fell to the pier and spread slowly. A cigarette butt someone had thrown away sank into the murky waves. Raven watched it with wide, almost terrified eyes.


    "One of many," Rachel continued, dismissing the shadow with another hand wave. "If Trigon had noticed, he might have been able to flee with most of his power. But he didn''t, and now we are free. Everything he once was, I now hold."


    "He''s gone? For good?" Raven asked, reality almost swimming in her mind from the thought. Was she dreaming?


    "For good." Rachel nodded, a hand idly touching the red crown embroidered on her hood. "Mikael was right. You didn''t believe he could do it. You still don''t. Even when he separated your consciousness and forced you to watch, you still don''t believe he''s gone. But this is real. You are not dreaming or dead. Trigon is dead. You are free."


    Raven didn''t answer for a long moment. Then she did what she usually did when confronted. She deflected.


    "So you are the new Trigon?" Raven asked, half hopeful and half fearful as an idea came to mind. Would she have to stop being a hero? She still knew some magic, but most of her powers came from her fa- from Trigon. "Can you... can you make me human? Remove his influence, his blood?"


    "You are already free from his influence," the older cambion said. "My husband purged it when he switched your body with my shadow construct. But you never had his blood. It was always yours. Ours. Never his."


    "But-"


    "Take it from someone who has walked that path," Rachel cut off her younger self. "We may deny it as much as possible, but we must stop being afraid. Our demonic side is us as much as our love, our compassion. Like humans, we hold both. The sooner you accept it, the sooner you can truly live. Only then can we truly gain control of our powers."


    "Is that what you did?" Raven asked, her words almost bitter in their sarcasm.


    "Yes and no," Rachel nodded, unconcerned with her disgruntled younger self. "I have my own method. One that lets me be whole. The same process will not work for you. We are different people with different experiences and goals."


    "If we are so different, why are you helping me?"


    "Because I wish someone would have helped me," Rachel responded simply. "My team tried, but our situations are so unique that I never had a mentor or guide. I would have given almost anything to be free of my Trigon, to have someone who knew what I was going through and could provide some advice. I was blindly flailing around, and I hope you can avoid some of my mistakes."


    "You were a Titan too?" Raven couldn''t help but ask, curious about her older self''s experience.


    It also shifted the topic away from one of her deepest, darkest wishes. The thoughts that kept her up at night, bitter laments over ''whys'' and ''what ifs.''


    "I was," Rachel nodded, smiling slightly in fond remembrance. "My team was somewhat different, and it changed over the years, but the Teen Titans will always hold a place in my heart. The family I found when I had nowhere else to go."


    "What happened?" Raven asked, detecting the tone of the woman''s voice even if she couldn''t feel her emotions.


    "I lost them," Rachel admitted. "Too early. Before I gained control. Before I allowed myself to feel. I always held myself back, too afraid of what I could do if I lost control. Of Trigon and his plans. I hope you can avoid that. Laugh. Love. Cry. Build precious memories without fear of ''what could be.''"


    Raven didn''t know what to say to that. How do you comfort an alternate version of yourself from the future?


    "Your team will need you," Rachel continued. "Now especially, but in the future as well."


    "Are they alright?" Raven asked, almost fearful of the answer.


    "They are whole and safe," Rachel nodded. "Glynda is looking after them, but you should talk to them. Explain things. Our brothers were not kind to them, but if they are like my friends were, the Titans will recover. They are strong."


    "This is all my fault," Raven grumbled. "I should have told them. Explained the plan. Now a bunch of people are dead, and they were mind controlled."


    "If you had, many more people would have died," Rachel denied plainly. "We didn''t know who was out there or what they planned. Trigon had been watching you and would have set up countermeasures against anything you did. By walking into a trap, we could minimize casualties and end Trigon''s threat once and for all. If you wish to blame anyone, blame our father and brothers. Their actions are theirs alone."


    Raven wanted to argue, to explain that if she hadn''t been there, then none of this would have happened.


    Rachel simply raised a brow, an almost imperceptible smirk on her lips.


    Raven''s words died in her throat.


    Of course a version of herself would know precisely what she would say.


    Better to change the subject.


    "The Elden Lord?" Raven asked in her normal caustic voice. "Really?"


    "Hm," Rachel hummed, obviously deliberating what to say as she looked out over the ocean. "Don''t let his terrible sense of humour fool you. Though he may pretend otherwise, he is more mature than anyone I have ever dated. If your tastes are anything like mine, that is one of the most important things we look for in men."


    "Mature? Him?" Raven sputtered in denial. "The guy who kept saying ''poke'' to get me to eat? Who can''t finish a sentence without making a pun? Are we talking about the same man? No way. Not happening. He''s like an older, more cocky Beast Boy."


    Rachel''s mouth quirked the tinies bit again, and it took Raven a moment to realize what was so funny to her other self.


    "That''s not possible," Raven denied. "There is no world where I would ever date Garfield. I mean, he''s, he''s... he''s Beast Boy." She said as if that explained anything.


    "And yet, before I started my relationship with Mikael, my time with Garfield was some of the happiest I had ever been," Rachel said plainly.


    "I don''t believe you."


    "I am not saying you should date him, or anyone for that matter. I have no idea if he is the same as my Garfield or if your tastes are the same as mine. Just... do not discount him, nor Mikael. Star noticed right away. Those who laugh loudest often cry quietly. Someone doesn''t have to be quiet to be mature. I won''t say anything about Garfield, that is his story to share if he wishes, but I will say Mikael is like us. The primary thing he searches for in a relationship partner is emotional maturity."


    "Then why is he so," Raven searched for the right word.


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    "Childish? Annoying? We have all called him much worse before, do not mind it. He knows what he is doing." Rachel paused, eyes distant. "When things get bad, and I mean really terrible, people handle it differently. You and I, we retreat inward. Others get mad. Mikeal laughs. He chooses to laugh. And then, when things get better, he continues to laugh because why wouldn''t he? There are much worse habits than jokes."


    "I guess," Raven agreed reluctantly. "I just don''t see what you see in him."


    "That wasn''t what originally got me to fall in love with him," Rachel admitted. "It was his control of himself and his emotions. He channels them, even the worst of his whims, into his goals. I only know of one time he ever lost control in the entire time I''ve known him. It was in completely understandable circumstances, and even then, it was only for a short time. Then he refocused. I admired that control and envied it."


    "That''s it?"


    "And when we were... dating, I guess you could call it that, it was the little things that built up. How he always made sure to show us the best the world had to offer. He would listen to our problems, even though he had enough on his plate. And his curiosity. Mikael is always learning. More than anyone I have ever met, Mikael is always seeking to improve his knowledge."


    Raven listened to her older self almost ramble as she talked about her husband. The look on her face, placid to most observers, was an open book to the Titan.


    Amusement.


    Sympathy.


    Remembrance.


    Love.


    For just a moment, Raven felt jealous.


    Jealous that this woman, this ''what if'' version of herself, had found someone she clearly loved and who loved her back. Her relationship was unconventional, to say the least, but she was clearly happy.


    "Perhaps another way to look at it then," Rachel said, standing up and looking down at the still-sitting Raven. "My husband successfully schemed against one of the greatest demon lords ever. He orchestrated events that minimalized casualties, less than fifty injured or dead, against a being who conquered multiple realities. I can only think of two, maybe three beings on this planet who would be smart enough to pull that off and not one of them would have done so at their wife''s request."


    "When you put it like that," Raven muttered, standing as well. She was already fully recovered from the vertigo she felt when she first awoke.


    "Maturity is not age," Rachel said patiently. "It is not being serious or not being childish. Maturity is knowing oneself and your place in the world. It is accepting the consequences of your actions. Then deciding to act in a way that allows you to be who you want to be. Maturity is not something some people simply are. It is a choice."


    "And he chooses to be a man-child," Raven sighed. "It just seems like such a waste, is all."


    "But it is his choice," Rachel nodded before redirecting the topic back to what she had stayed around to say. "Just as you now face yours. It is not my place to say what you should do or who you should become. I merely wished to give you options and opportunities I lacked."


    "Thank you," Raven said softly, meeting the older woman''s eyes. "I never said it to him, but I will say it to you. Thank you. For everything."


    "Your welcome," Rachel replied just as softly. Then she nodded towards the Titan Tower. "You should get back. Mikael is done explaining things to the others, though they will have questions for you. Your team is also worried about you."


    "Will I see you again?" The young woman asked, hiding her nervousness well.


    "I''ll be around," Rachel nodded lightly. "I''ll visit. If you have questions or need to talk, you can tell Glynda. She''ll let me know. She has become quite fond of you all and will be sticking around. Though I think Scathach will probably move on once the week is over."


    "What are you going to do now? You''re the new Demon Lord."


    Raven didn''t know how to feel about that. Anything was better than Trigon, but she was sure there would be problems in the future. Nightwing would be insufferable with his questions, she knew. He was very much his teacher''s student like that.


    "I am more powerful, but I am still me," Rachel said in a repeat of her husband''s words. "Power is just power. It is up to us to decide its purpose. I will use it for my family. To never lose it again. What you do with yours will be your choice. I am returning to where I belong, just as you should. We both have families waiting for us. Take care, and let me know if you need anything."


    Raven almost spoke, made some sarcastic comment or asked another question.


    But the young cambion closed her mouth and looked away, the tiniest flush in her cheeks.


    It felt... nice, to have a woman she could count on. To look up to.


    She would never say it, but she was always a bit envious of her teammates'' bonds with their mentors.


    Rachel gave her younger self one last encouraging smile before disappearing.


    Raven watched her older self vanish into her white shadow.


    It felt odd knowing she had someone looking out for her now. And, out of every Titan, her backing was definitely the coolest.


    None of the others could say they had a demon lord looking out for them.


    With a sardonic smirk at the ironic twist of fate, Raven turned to fly home, that most insidious of demons still beating in her breast.


    ********


    Batman watched the footage for the seventeenth time.


    He frowned.


    He was missing something, some clue that fit everything together. Some niggling little detail that put the picture together.


    So far, everything was lining up as the Elden Lord, and later Raven, explained.


    According to the draconic alien, he sensed Trigon''s influence on Raven and started a plan to minimize casualties and stop Trigon''s invasion.


    If you bought his arguments, Mikael had done it to help the earth and save a younger version of his wife.


    Batman was not surprised that the hitherto unseen ''Raven'' was a version of the Teen Titan. He had deduced as much as soon as the dragon had stated his interest in the Protectorate team.


    He hadn''t told anyone that fact. Both to observe the dragon''s movement and determine his aim.


    Batman squashed his slight guilt at the thought of his lies by omission with the iron will he cultivated throughout his life.


    Guilt and regrets would not save the world.


    Dick would recover, as would his team. Batman had kept an eye on them since the failed invasion, even more than before. Partly out of concern and partly to make sure the Elden Lord didn''t have any further plans.


    He also used his considerable money and influence to ensure that the Titan''s image was not ruined. He wasn''t the only one, as the PRT had a vested interest in making sure one of their most beloved teams was not seen as a group of monsters.


    So far, the narrative had been successfully shaped to the Titans being victims of a group of Masters while performing search and rescue. Public sympathy was on their side, despite a vocal minority.


    People always wanted to tear heroes down or kick people when they were down.


    Thinking about the last week, there was one silver lining to this debacle.


    Everyone now knew how manipulative the Elden Lord could be.


    Most were convinced he was still on the side of good and saw him as a more powerful and friendly Batman.


    Batman''s frown deepened into a scowl.


    Using all he gained through observation, testimony, and evidence, the caped crusader had already compiled a primary psychological profile of the dragon.


    It wasn''t pretty.


    And then there were his ''wives.''


    Diana and Artoria, over the last week they had been working with the League, had proven themselves to not only be incredibly powerful and resourceful but to be fiercely loyal to their ''family.''


    The pair had solved several issues on their own, from basic robberies in a city to helping negotiate a peaceful settlement between two warring nations. They then stopped a cabal of rogue magi hoping to inflict a curse upon London. The pair flitted from one heroic effort to another, rarely resting or taking a break.


    It was an energy usually seen in heroes just starting out, which they definitely weren''t, or coming back from a long injury or retirement attempt.


    The two were never really alone, always accompanied by another Leauge member, usually Wonder Woman, but that hardly slowed them down.


    Batman''s scowl deepened.


    Despite hopes to use them as a point of weakness for the insular ''Family,'' either as turning points or sources of information, he had learned little of use.


    The pair were friendly enough and happy to talk about their lives before meeting Mikael. Batman already had an extensive dossier on potential threats this new version of Wonder Woman had pointed out, though he was careful to take it with a grain of salt since he had noticed discrepancies.


    Any time the subject turned to the Elden Lord, they either replied with vagaries, shifted the topic, or outright said they wouldn''t spill his secrets. It was the same when they talked about the rest of the ''wives.'' Little amusing anecdotes were the best the League had gotten on them, but nothing about abilities, goals, or origins.


    The only commonality Batman had found was that all the women were from destroyed worlds, and the Elden Lord had saved them. All but Ranni and Melina.


    And then there was this most recent disaster.


    Looking at the things on the surface, the Elden Lord had saved the world from the interdimensional invasion by one of the most infamous world conquerors.


    Looking even a bit deeper, you could see the truth.


    The Elden Lord now had the power of that same interdimensional conqueror through one of his loyal followers and gained an enormous boost in positive PR.


    And the superhero community took another black eye by failing to be the ones to stop the threat.


    Again.


    To call it an unmitigated disaster was an understatement.


    Batman was about to rewatch the clip for the twenty-second time when a communication came through.


    After making sure proper defences were in place, and the signal was encrypted so it couldn''t be tracked to the Batcave, he accepted the call.


    Stephen Strange''s face appeared on his screen, looking worn and haggard.


    "What happened?" Batman asked by way of greeting.


    As a member of the League, he did not have any jurisdictional authority over the Sorcerer Supreme. Nor was the magic user the type of man who would follow his orders out of admiration or respect like some of the junior heroes did.


    But, as a fellow member of the Illuminati, a small group dedicated to preserving life on Earth, a certain amount of communication was expected since he was the one who relayed messages more often than not.


    "I''ve caught the thief," Strange said with an exhausted sigh. "Some hedge mage specializing in teleportation. Would have got him days ago if he wasn''t being protected by members of the Hand."


    "Any connection to the Elden Lord?" Batman asked.


    "Not as far as I could tell," the sorcerer denied. "An opportunist that managed to discover that my wards were destroyed. He teleported in while Wang was out, and I was dealing with an out-world threat. I recovered most of the stolen items, but I am still missing a few books and artifacts. By the time I caught up, he had sold them, and the leads have dead-ended."


    "Anything to be aware of?"


    "Nothing especially dangerous or significantly powerful. He could only grab whatever was out in the open and not behind the internal protections. A few books on rituals, astromancy, one of the scrolls the Elden Lord gave me, a handful of protection charms against scrying, and a pair of conjoined doorways that allow for minor dimensional travel on the same plane of reality. The most I see it used for is some smuggling operations and some basic dark magic."


    Ironically, the mention of the Elden Lord''s scrolls allayed Batman''s fear that this was another one of his schemes. There would be no point in giving the Sorcerer Supreme a tome only to steal it again. It was always possible the dragon had tipped this opportunist off about the Sanctum''s weakness, but there was so little gained that it was not worth the risk.


    On top of that, it just wasn''t the dragon''s style.


    The Elden Lord was an egoist.


    If he wanted to rob Strange, he would do it himself.


    With his power and immunity to all forms of magical observation, there was little Strange could do to stop the Elden Lord without a direct confrontation.


    "Sent me a detailed list. I''ll let the others know what to keep an eye out for. Have you checked the site?"


    "I have. Whatever Medea did repaired the dimensional walls enough for them to recover independently. That park will need to be quarantined for a while. That much death and blood, especially demonic, can often lead to cursed locations. We will need to watch it to see how it develops."


    "I will have the PRT keep an eye on it. It is their jurisdiction now that the active crisis is over."


    "Then I''m going to sleep," Strange sagged. "I''ll be out of it for a few days. I''ve been up for over a month."


    "Get some rest," Batman nodded, knowing how busy the man had been since the Elden Lord''s landing.


    "One last thing," Strange said before closing the communication. "I''ve heard some disquiet from the magic community of late."


    "The Blinding?" Batman asked, aware of how the Elden Lord''s arrival had disrupted all prophecies.


    The Clairvoyant''s most recent prediction was proven wrong within half a day.


    "Many people are still reeling from that," the Sorcerer Supreme nodded, then shook his head. "This is something else. A lot of people are running scared. Hiding away, setting up more potent wards, only travelling in groups and only when needed. I''ve even had a few come to me to ask for transportation out of the dimension."


    "Anything concrete?"


    "Near as I can tell, a Council of Skyfathers was convened while I was gone, and factions split. I don''t know what about or along what lines, but it has scared anyone connected to the Divine. Some of them are claiming the end of the world. Others are saying it''s a new diluvian-esque judgment. Most are taking a wait-and-see approach. These same people are always freaking out about one thing or another, though never to this degree."


    "I''ll have Stark talk to Thor when he returns from Asgard," Batman responded, wishing he had more insights into the magical community for the millionth time. "I''ll hit up some contacts. Get some rest. You''re dead on your feet."


    "I''ll do that." The Sorcerer Supreme cut his feed, rubbing his eyes tiredly.


    Batman quickly sent off encrypted messages to the rest of the Illuminati, filling them in on what he decided they needed to know and asking for updates.


    Stark was attending another gala, so he wouldn''t respond till tomorrow when he woke up and sobered up.


    Parker answered right away. He''d have their project ready by the end of November. Hopefully in time to be used in the next Endbringer fight.


    Xavier reported the new White Queen of the Hellfire Club would be a possible recruit.


    Batman would have to look more deeply into Emma Frost and her recent rise to the top before he agreed to put forth feelers. Her intelligence wasn''t in question after her recent actions with the club. She must have been planning that coup for years. She had also been willing to work with the heroes when they had been planning to confront the Elden Lord in Australia, so she was at least heroic leaning.


    The group were looking for a few recruits after Doom left them to govern his country, and Richards retired with the rest of their family. It had been years, and over a dozen other candidates had been rejected by the group for one reason or another. They could start the process of testing her next week.


    Batman was still more partial to admitting Dragon to the Illuminati. She was one of the best Tinkers on the planet and had a solid moral compass despite being an AI. Her inclusion would also free him up from communication and aid in his development of the Watchtower and other projects.


    And should worst come to worst...


    Batman looked at the briefcase encased in one of his containment bays, and for a second, his scowl lighted just a tad.


    Then it was gone, and he was back to work contacting the last active member of the Illuminati, even if only for inclusion.


    Luthor was focused on winning his upcoming election to the Senate and wasn''t likely to involve himself in the group''s affairs for another month or so.


    After the Illuminati, Batman also sent a message to Constantine, hoping the unreliable mage would answer within the month. Then he directed Damian to consult Zatara on anything she might know about the recent unrest Strange had noticed.


    Then Batman spent five minutes dealing with Bruce Wayne''s correspondence.


    Nothing of note, just an invitation to a charity ball, notifications of his stock portfolio, the monthly status update of Wayne Enterprises, and other miscellaneous letters and messages.


    There was a brief interruption when Alfred brought him lunch, but then Batman returned to studying the Elden Lord''s actions on the 30th.


    As he was watching the clips for the thirty-seventh time, he paused. Then rewound.


    Footage of the Diamond Heights Shopping Center was plentiful, thanks to all the security cameras. The events in Glen Canyon Park were also well documented, thanks to the size of the gate and the length of the fight.


    Unfortunately, that is where their luck ran out.


    The few public cameras along the beachfront had been too far away from the ritual site to have any good look at the exact goings on, and what they did have was soundless.


    Batman could read lips, even if the images were grainy, and the words matched Raven''s account, so that was a small blessing to know there weren''t inconsistencies in her story that would point to her being compromised.


    It wasn''t the lips he was staring at, though.


    He was staring at a bright, floral print shirt. It was open, exposing most of the Elden Lord''s chest.


    Then Wrath was killed in a shower of gore, and the bright colours were dyed bloody red and brown.


    Batman watched, eyes unblinking as the camera, zoomed in as much as possible, moved forward one frame at a time.


    Click.


    Click.


    Click.


    Cli- There!


    Batman froze the image, pulled up the last frame, and placed them side by side.


    Both pictures had an awful shirt covered in blood and viscera.


    One of them had an equally bloody chest.


    The other was completely clean of blood except for a few drops still being absorbed into tan flesh.


    Batman couldn''t scowl any harder at this point.


    But he tried.

 SS (A) – Devil’s Pride

    <div>


    The sky it flashed, heave ho, heave ho


    His pillow toed to the brink


    The curtains ran between my legs as we began to sink


    I closed my eyes, heave ho, heave ho


    As the ship was rent and fell


    Eddies in the water headed to the mouth of Hell


    "Hush now, hush love, here''s your gown."


    There''s the bed, lantern''s down."


    "I''m begging you please wake me up


    In all my dreams I..."


    ********


    "How''d it go," I asked Raven as she formed from my shadow.


    "You were right," she said with a sigh. "She still didn''t believe he was gone."


    "I''m always right. Life would be so much easier if people just assumed that and did everything I told them to," I replied, puffing up my chest with exaggerated pride.


    Raven rolled her eyes.


    I grabbed her by the waist, pulling her flush against me and knocking her white and red hood from her head. My Island was already plunged into the night when the sun set in San Francisco.


    I took a moment to stare at her.


    Pale skin shone in the light of the moon, her white cloak the only source of brightness atop the otherwise empty meadow I had chosen. We were high enough to see the Island but not high enough to breach the clouds.


    The stars glittered in her dark purple hair, and amethyst eyes met mine, emotions flickering in them briefly before her control exerted itself and she regained her placid look.


    I smirked down at her. She wasn''t the smallest of the family, but she was close. Despite that, her form was full and lush, sinful even. It compelled me to rub and explore her body, to drown in pleasure, but I held firm.


    For now.


    "Being afraid of Demon Lord like Trigon is smart," I continued, fingers ghosting along her lower back as I talked. "I was. But I absolutely cannot stand blind faith. And the fear she felt for Trigon was just that in another form. Nothing is perfect. Nothing is eternal. Everything is flawed. Everything will end. She just needed to see it to believe it. It will be a while before it really sinks in. She''s young. She''ll learn."


    "I told her I''d look out for her," Raven said, her voice monotone but breathing heavy. "Train her."


    "If you want to, I won''t stop you," I nodded casually as I tucked a strand of her hair behind her ear. "But that is for tomorrow. It is still your birthday for a few more hours. Let''s send it off with a bang."


    Raven was in the middle of rolling her eyes at the pun when I picked her up by her ass and kissed her.


    The kiss started gentle, almost hesitant on her part. As the seconds dragged on, Raven untensed bit by bit and started to lean into my touch more and more. Eventually, she let me in, and our tongues danced.


    My hands were busy luxuriating in the fullness of her rapturous rear.


    If I were forced to choose my ''type'' at gunpoint, I''d have to say I was a breast man.


    To quote a wise sage, ''Oppai are heavier than a man''s life.''


    But that was incredibly reductive, and I... was a true gentleman.


    Yes, breasts were glorious.


    But so were butts, thighs, legs, navels, and almost every part of a woman''s body.


    You did not just love a walking pair of breasts but the complete package.


    So, when I say this, know I am not speaking casually or from ignorance.


    Raven''s bodacious booty was the stuff of legends.


    Thick globes filled my hands and spilled over. Not an ounce of flab or sag. The flesh was tight and springy with a layer of essential muscle under comfortable padding.


    Forget bouncing a quarter off it. You could bounce a hundred-dollar bill off these cheeks and send it to the moon.


    Her form-fitting leotard only accentuated the appeal, and I considered it a crime of the highest nature that this terrific tush was hidden by her cloak.


    Then again, I was a possessive bastard, so I appreciated that this amazing ass was all for me.


    As we kissed, I luxuriated in the feel of her remarkable rump. Hefting, squeezing, and kneading it with joy. Of course, one of my hands danced along her body, teasing, tickling, caressing, and exploring. I paid appropriate homage to her breasts, pressed against my chest, but I always returned to her beautiful butt.


    Even as I explored her body with my hands and her mouth with my tongue, she returned the favour. One of her hands was possessively gripping my hair, holding me fast to her, while the other spent considerable effort fondling my chest and abdomen.


    And my butt.


    I wasn''t the only one appreciative of a bountiful bottom.


    We were moving against each other, grinding, grasping, fondling, and consuming each other in a dance as old as any sin.


    Then, as my hands started removing her skin-tight uniform, she froze for a second.


    Pulling away from her bruised lips, I met her lust-clouded eyes.


    "What''s wrong?" I asked.


    "It''s too much," she responded, panting for breath between every word. "She''s being loud."


    "Hm?"


    From my understanding, Raven maintained control of her powers and emotions by delegation. At any given point, one of her emoticlones was dedicated to maintaining absolute management of her powers. This allowed her to experience the full range of emotions without suppressing them as she had her entire life.


    They all counted as one being, feeling the same things. Any of the emoticlones, Pride included, could be the ''public'' persona, but more often than not, it was Raven''s primary consciousness, simply due to her being the best middleman.


    To hear that I had drawn enough conflict between the various personalities through a bit of kissing and some heavy petting fed my ego.


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    "Sorry," she responded. I caught an impression of regret on her impassive face. Her monotone voice contrasted the blush on her face and the situation. "I did promise she''d get to go first."


    As she talked, I caught sight of her cloak.


    The garment had been tossed to the ground in our movements, but my eyes still saw the red spreading over the once-white cloth. In less than a second, crimson had replaced the white, leaving the cloak a dark red with a white circlet woven into the hood.


    Pride''s four red eyes looked up at me, her mouth curved into a lustful smirk.


    "My monster," she purred, a hand brushing my jaw in an almost gentle gesture.


    Then she was on me.


    Her short stature proved to be little problem as she jumped, wrapping her legs around my waist and grinding her mound into my crotch. Her mouth assaulted mine in a frenzy of desire, her tongue trying to wrestle mine into submission. One of her hands held my hair once more, only now it was a harsh tug that would have hurt any lesser man.


    The other hand, nails sharpened to claws, tore my shirt to shreds in a burst of violent tugs.


    "I liked that shirt," I said with a pout as I pulled away from her lips. I had to use quite a bit of strength as she did not want me to stop.


    "I was hideous," Pride said between kisses along my jawline.


    "That was the point," I nodded. "I thought you''d appreciate it."


    "Hmmm?" Pride hummed in question as she suckled at my neck.


    "A subtle fuck you to everyone," I explained, my hands tweaking her engorged nipples through her leotard. She moaned. "I''m so powerful that I don''t have to dress nice or put on a costume. I can show up in shorts and an eye sore like that, and there is nothing anyone can do about it. How many other people can say killed a demon lord in flip flops?"


    Pride let out a deep, lustful chuckle as she released my neck, hickey firmly in place.


    Her thrusts against my groin increased in ferocity.


    "You are right," Pride purred, pausing her kissing. "I do like that."


    And then, finally fed up, she burned away my shorts, leaving me naked in the night air.


    "Did you just dry hump my underwear into oblivion," I asked with a smile, looking down.


    My naked cock was trapped between us, pressed tightly against the damp fabric of her outfit. Her arousal had formed a wonderfully distinct cameltoe that would have been obscene even in the best circumstances.


    "I''m anything but dry," she drawled, grinding against my length once more for emphasis. "And you are mine!" She declared passionately, shoving her leotard aside and impaling herself on my dick. "My monster." She sighed in contentment.


    I grunted.


    My demonic wife was, perhaps unsurprisingly, incredibly hot.


    Figuratively and literally.


    Wet too.


    And tight.


    But it was the heat that stood out to me the most. It was like a furnace. A human probably would have lost his dick. I, who had bathed in lava and endured the Fires of the First Flame, enjoyed the warmth for a moment.


    Then she began moving.


    Her cunt massaged my length as she rocked her hips back and forth, obviously experienced with passion. It was a steady rhythm, slow and sensual, focused more on gyrating than the traditional thrusting.


    My dick, consumed to its base, never felt the night air as Pride did her best to bring me to orgasm through skill alone.


    I might have let her had she not opened her mouth.


    "Yeeeessssss," she hissed, gyrating her hips slowly. "You are mine! This dick is mine! Your children will be mine! Forget the others. With my new power, we do not need them. Be mine and only mine! MY Monster!"


    Yeah. No.


    Intellectually, I knew this was only one facet of Raven. Her darkest, most deviant desires. Everyone had those feelings, no matter how saintly they pretended to be. My wife''s were more developed than others due to her demonic heritage and ability to disassociate those personality traits.


    On top of that, she was hyped up on Demon Lord juice.


    I couldn''t blame her when I knew I was an incredibly possessive bastard myself.


    At the same time, any faction''s greatest weakness comes not from outside forces but from infighting.


    Best nip this in the bud right now.


    I grabbed her hips, freezing them in place with my firm grip.


    Pride smirked up at me, unbothered.


    "That''s a nice look you have there, monster," she purred, massaging my length with expert control of her inner muscles even as our bodies remained still.


    "I need to correct a few things," I said.


    Then I collapsed to my knees, slamming Pride''s back against her cloak on the ground.


    "Urk," she grunted in surprise from the blow.


    I was firmly against any sort of domestic violence. Always had been and always will be.


    Pride?


    She shuddered at the violence, not orgasming but relishing the blow non the less.


    Sticky Fingers was great for telling me my partner''s boundaries.


    And the new Demon Lord did not have any.


    In a move that would have been difficult, if not impossible, for a regular mortal, I lifted Pride up once more and grabbed her thighs. With enough strength to dent metal, I pulled them apart until her legs were spread and no longer trapping my waist.


    Still impaled on my dick, I spun Raven''s body, the friction sending pleasure to both of us instead of the injury it would have caused most people.


    Then I slammed Pride down on the ground once more.


    "Urk," she grunted again, still unhurt in the least. Rising to her hands and knees, she threw a smirk over her shoulder at me, four red eyes daring me to go further. To push more. "Harder."


    The entire time, she had not stopped working her kegel muscles to try and drag me to orgasm.


    "Let me explain something to you, puny demon," I said in a conversational tone. I grasped Pride''s hair tightly, holding her head in place to meet her eyes. "I love Raven. You are a part of her, so naturally, I love you too." Pride smirked, opening her mouth to say something else. "But."


    I withdrew until only my tip was still inside her. She squirmed, hips bucking in an attempt to get me back inside.


    I held her in place.


    "You are not her. Not fully. You are a fraction of a fraction of who she is. I am not yours. You are mine. Ours. Our little murder tool. A pet. A rabid dog. We''ll let you off the leash to bite our enemies. That is all you are good for. Still, if you are a good girl, you get rewarded."


    I slammed myself into her with enough force that the earth under her red cloak cratered from the impact. Her ass, those wonderful peach-shaped globs of flesh, wobbled hypnotically from the blow.


    Pride''s eyes, all four of them, widened as her mouth opened in a grunt/moan.


    "If you are a bad girl," I continued, holding still balls deep in her. "If the pet starts thinking it''s the owner, then it gets nothing but scraps. Love. Happiness. Knowledge. Bravery. I''m sure they are chomping at the bit to replace you. To be good girls. And Raven would let them if I told her to."


    My other hand grasped her left breast roughly and twisted.


    Pride moaned again.


    God, I love supernaturally tough bodies.


    "Never forget. It was I who gave you Trigon on a silver platter. I am not yours." I leaned forward. My body covered her tiny frame entirely, and I allowed not an inch of movement. My words were purred in her pointed ears. "You. Are. Mine!"


    "Yeeeeeessssssss,"Pride gasped.


    "Yes, what?" I murmured gently as I nibbled on her ear and lit up every one of her nerves with pleasure.


    "Yes, Daddy!" Pride screamed as she came. Her cunt undulated and spasmed against my length, trying to milk me for all I was worth.


    I held on, riding out the wave of pleasure.


    I was a bit surprised by the whole ''daddy'' thing, having been going for more of a ''sir,'' ''boss,'' or ''master'' if she was feeling kinky.


    I internally shrugged, not allowing the surprise to show on my face.


    Whatever made her happy.


    "Good girl," I said softly. I rose to my knees, leaving Raven''s body shuddering as it lay on the cloak.


    Withdrawing myself again, I repositioned Pride''s ass to the perfect height.


    I slammed forward, only slightly more gently than before.


    Better I pound this lesson into her now rather than risk infighting in the Family. So far, there had been minimal conflict despite the larger-than-life personalities of the women. Largely thanks to their maturity and friendship with one another, as well as some of them being lovers.


    My movements were steady and rhythmic for all their brutality.


    "Daddy, Daddy, Daddy, Daddy, Daddy," Pride chanted like a mantra in her delirium.


    "Good girl," I repeated for lack of better things to say. "You''re a real Daddy''s girl, aren''t you? Are you ready to be mine?"


    It wasn''t my fetish, but I was happy to work with my wives exploring their own so long as it wasn''t an actual turnoff for me.


    I pulled back slowly and slammed forward instantly. I delighted in how Raven''s ass responded, and one of my hands was always fondling it.


    I was going to fuck that ass one day.


    Not today, though.


    "Yours, yours, Daddy''s good girl. All yours. Your pet. Your daughter. Your slut. I''ll be a good girl, so fuck me. Beat me. Rape me. Just keep fucking me!"


    I grimaced at the word ''rape.''


    I really did not like that.


    But I could stomach a bit of roleplay if it got her off. So long as it was between two consenting adults, I didn''t think anything was wrong with fantasies.


    As violent as I was being with Pride, I didn''t forget that today was all about Raven.


    "You don''t tell me what to do," I growled, pressing her head into the ground. "You lay there and take what you are given."


    After I was done with Pride, I''d be much gentler with the other emoticlones and Raven herself.


    Didn''t want her to think less of herself or that my words and actions were anything more than bedroom fun.


    "DAAAADDDYYYYYYY!" Pride screamed to the moon and the stars as I came inside her.


    Then she collapsed.


    Sweaty, her leotard sticking to her skin, she looked like a mess. Her hair was dishevelled, her four eyes glassily staring at nothing as she panted for breath. Her ass was red from the rough pounding I had given it, and her cunt twitched as it leaked my cum onto her cloak.


    I had killed a demon lord a few hours ago, yet this sight filled me with more pride than Trigon falling for my trap.


    Then Raven''s cloak turned pink, and Happiness jumped on me and rained kisses on my face.


    "Thank you, thank you, thank you," she repeated in between smooches. "She''s so mean."


    Sometimes, I think my wives are more quirky than I could ever be.


    Grabbing Happiness'' cheeks, I kissed back gently.


    "You''re welcome," I say. "Now it''s your turn."


    Then again, I would absolutely hate it if they were boring.

 SS (A) – Amazonian Diplomacy

    <div>


    You make me wonder, woman


    How do you do it?


    Some superpower


    I don''t understand


    You make me wonder, woman


    How do you do it?


    You''re superhuman


    And I''m just a man


    ********


    "Do you have a minute to talk," Diana asked, her face upside down in my vision.


    "Sure," I said, putting down my book. "What''s up?"


    "It is a matter of some... privacy," the amazon admitted as her eyes roved over what I was mentally calling the ''Cuddle Pile of Doooom.''


    The Family had set up a ''reading room'' equidistant from the library and the kitchen as a gathering spot.


    Essentially, it was a room big enough for the whole Family renovated to be as comfortable as possible. The floor was a big bowl, and the entire floor was made supernaturally soft, warm and cozy. Then we pilled in cushions, blankets and pillows, and Medea had created enchanted trays to float around and carry drinks and snacks.


    When we first landed, and I was still Baby Cthulu for the first month on Earth, we had spent more than a few nights here.


    The fourteen of us all pilled in here, talking, napping, laughing, reading, and getting to know each other better.


    In the week and change since I had gotten my body back, the whole Family hadn''t had the chance to gather together, but I still enjoyed spending time here with the others.


    After the craziness of the last week, it was nice to relax.


    Right now, Robin and Melina were at my sides reading, Medea was leaning against my legs doing the same, and we were all wrapped in Priscilla''s tail as she played a handheld game while she lay behind me.


    Since there were only four of them, it was only a ''pile'' instead of a ''Cuddle Mountain of Dooooooooooooom.''


    Medea (cat) had also joined us. She, as always, decided my chest was the best place to nap, so I was lying on my back and holding my book aloft when Diana poked her head over Priscilla''s tail.


    "How private," I asked with a grin. "On a scale of ''the book Melina started writing that she thinks we don''t know about,'' to, ''I must kill all witnesses, their pets, and burn their houses,'' where do you say it lands." Robin and Medea chuckled. Priscila was too engrossed in her game, her tongue sticking out of her lips in concentration.


    Without looking up from her book, Melina raised her hand to flick my nose.


    I sneezed, and Medea (cat) gave me the most offended look I have ever received. Thankfully, she accepted compensatory payment in the form of throat rubs.


    Diana rolled her eyes, but I saw her lip twitch upwards as my dragon/cat/thing returned to purring on my chest.


    "Somewhere in the middle," Diana responded. Her face looked serious, almost grim. "May we speak in my room?"


    "Sure," I said easily, sensing this might be really important. "I just finished a chapter anyway."


    Putting a bookmark in place, I plopped my cat Robin''s lap with my book. The feline(?) looked offended again, but a few limbs sprouted to pamper her.


    Appropriate tribute paid, she went back to sleep.


    The following escape from ''Cuddle Pile of Doooom'' was a tale worthy of epics.


    Involving no less than a Maiden, Witch, Dragon and Devil, sixteen kisses, one angry cat(?), and more inappropriate groping than was allowed in an R-rated movie, the story of my escape was the most fantastic tale never told.


    But if Robin felt me up one more time, I was diving back in and giving her a piece of my mind, exhibitionism be damned.


    "After you," I said to the superheroine while giving the former pirate the stink eye.


    That mysterious ''Ara ara?'' smile might fool others, but I am on to you, you fiend.


    "Is Raven with you?" Diana asked as she led me toward the foyer.


    "She''s being introduced to the Titans by her younger self and Glynda," I explained. My mind was only half on the words. The other half was watching the delicious sway of her hips.


    Wonder Woman was in ''uniform,'' which did nothing to deter my gaze. It wasn''t the star-studded bloomers from classic comics, but the armoured kilt didn''t really hide anything either to maximize maneuverability. She wasn''t even doing it on purpose. Just the natural sway of her hips was hypnotic to me.


    "Good," Diana let out a small sigh of relief as we ascended the stairs to the second floor. "This is hard enough as it is with just you."


    "Is everything all right?" I asked, tearing my eyes from those amazing thighs to watch her back worriedly. It wasn''t like her to dance around issues like this. The Diana I knew was confident, proud, and almost blunt with her problems.


    "It is," she responded, but I detected a hint of nervousness in her usually confident voice. "I''ll explain more in my room."


    "You''re giving me ominous foreshadowing vibes here," I joked. "Next thing you''ll me is you are actually a dude, also my long lost brother with testicular cancer, and you need my left nut to survive. And you''re pregnant with my child."


    Diana stopped in the hall, turning to look at me in complete befuddlement.


    "I watched too many soap operas with Glynda," I shrugged with a grin, tension wholly defused.


    "How does any of that make sense," she said, shaking her head in disbelief as she continued to her room.


    "I know," I agreed readily. "And it''s supposed to be ''relatable.'' Give me JoJo any day. That is much more normal."


    "That is the animated show you are infatuated with, correct?" Diana asked as she opened her door and led me into her room.


    "Infatuated is a strong word," I say, following her in. "I like the mind games in it, the creativity in the powers, and I think it''s funny as all hell and has some good stories to tell. It has flaws, though. And to be honest, I was always more of a Fate fan, but that has fewer memes. But I doubt you asked me here to discuss the intricacies of fandoms and the best mediums to consume them."


    I had never been in her bedroom before, but I didn''t bother looking around in surprise.


    Thanks to the Dream, I knew every inch of the Island, the Mansion included.


    Despite going against the laws of physics, Diana''s room was not a room at all. It was a hilltop temple with a greek bath attached with no windows or walls obstructing the view of the ocean at the southern tip of the Island.


    The door was connected to no wall, just the marble floor of the temple-like structure we stood in. Half a dozen marble pillars held up a circular dome of stone, but there were no walls, only silk curtains hanging and swaying in the ocean breeze.


    There was no obstruction to the view, but I knew we were wholly hidden when looking in from the outside.


    "You''re right," Diana said, setting her sword and shield on their racks. Removing her armoured boots, she continued softly. "There are two things I wish to discuss."


    "Shoot." I laid out on one of her wicker divans and watched her undress.


    "The first, are you still angry?"


    Unfortunately, she stopped at her boots and circlet, leaving her still in her armour and bracers with her Lasso at her hip.


    "Angry? About what?"


    "Me and Artoria fighting Doomsday as we did," the Amazonian sat on the opposite divan and met my eyes steadily.


    This was more like her.


    "Why would I be?" I asked.


    "Trigon. You told neither of us the plan."


    "Hey," I protested. "I did tell you both I was doing something for Raven, and it would give Scathach a fun time."


    "You also said it wasn''t going to be that bad," Diana countered. "Not that you would be going toe-to-toe with one of the strongest foes of the League."


    "In my defence," I answered with a grin. "When I say I am going show Scathach a good time, did you think it would be small?"


    "Fair enough," Diana said with an amused huff before giving me a slight glare. "You still deliberately excluded us. Why would you do that if you weren''t angry?"


    "Before I answer that," I sighed and sat up to meet her eyes on an equal level. "Answer me this. What did you feel when you realized we were fighting Trigon, that he was here?"


    "I was..." Diana paused to search for the best words. "Terrified. I know you are strong, but Trigon is a multi-dimensional devil. Artoria has never fought him, so she doesn''t understand just how absurd of an existence he is. Hearing that he was here, on earth, and that you were fighting him... I thought my heart would stop. That I would lose you. I flew as fast as I could. To arrive there, to see you safe, I can''t say how relieved I was."


    "That fear, that terror you felt, I felt that when I saw you and Artoria fighting Doomsday," I responded gently, taking one of her hands and squeezing it in reassurance. "You are strong. She is strong. I am strong. We all are capable, powerful, and intelligent people. But we are not the best. Not even close. I know you know that. The multiverse is a big place and filled with dangers. I wanted you to understand where I was coming from when I urged you to communicate."


    "I get it."


    "Do you?" I pressed gently. "I may have come up with the plan to kill Trigon, but I was hands down the most useless in the actual execution. My role was essential mook control and keeping Raven alive while killing time. Glynda kept the Titans alive and ran damage control. Scathach pulled some next-level shit with that Geass. We hadn''t planned that. It was all her. When the gate opened, Robin, Tsunade, and Yoruichi saved dozens of lives before Scathach arrived. Ranni was Guiding evacuation from behind the scenes. And Raven was the only one who could actually defeat Trigon. If any of them hadn''t been there, we would be dealing with casualties in the triple digits if we survived at all."


    "I get it!" Diana repeated, this time with feeling. Her hands grasped mine tightly as if afraid I would disappear. "I feel like we''ve had this argument before."


    "But now you know where I am coming from," I held her hand and smiled. "I didn''t want to make you feel bad about being a hero. I was just scared you''d find some hill to die on. Some cause to sacrifice yourself for without asking for help. I am not asking you to change who you are. I would never do that. So, I will ask for a promise for the third and final time. A promise to reach out and ask for help. We are a Family. We are here for you."


    "I promise."


    This time, when she said the words, I believed her.


    "Thank you," I said softly. Then I grinned. "Now that that is out of the way, I will admit part of the reason I didn''t tell you two was because I was being a petty bastard. Not a huge part. Just ninety-nine percent pettiness, one percent reconciliation."


    "You know, sometimes I wonder why we put up with you," Diana huffed, but I could see the crinkling at the side of her eyes.


    "My long flowing locks of hair," I suggested with a sly grin. "My rugged handsomeness? My razor-sharp wit? My killer sense of humour? My butt? According to some, it is my best feature."


    "You have a nice butt," Diana admitted with a teasing smile. "But I''m not certain about the rest."


    "Ouch," I winced, pretending to sniffle. "That is the meanest thing anyone has ever said to me. I''m going to cry."


    "Really?" Wonder Woman deadpanned.


    "Really," I sniffled again and pretended to dab at my eye. "I am a very sensitive soul. My ego is fragile."


    "No, it''s not," the amazon retorted immediately. "I think your ego is the strongest thing in existence."


    "That is the nicest thing anyone has ever said to me," I said, fake tears forgotten as I lept to pull the heroine into a hug. She rolled her eyes in exasperation but did not resist as I dragged her to my divan. "I wuv you. Yes, I do. Mwah" I gave her a big, exaggerated kiss on the forehead.


    I expected her to push me away and wipe her face. Diana wasn''t one for exaggerated displays of affection like this, even in private.


    She didn''t.


    She stayed in my arms, head bowed and hands grasping my shirt.


    "Hey," I said gently, sensing something off with her behaviour. That timidity I had noticed before was back. "What''s wrong?"


    "''s ''othing." I heard her mumble into my chest.


    I was actually worried now.


    Diana never acted like this. She had her pride, a dignity engraved deep in her bones that never left even in the lowest of lows. She wasn''t shy, submissive, or demure in the slightest.


    "You can tell me," I said gently. "If it''s something I said, let me know. I won''t take offence. Ninety percent of everything that comes out of my mouth is bullshit anyway. I don''t understand why anyone thinks differently."


    Diana chuckled, rumbling my chest.


    There was a beat of silence.


    Then she sat up, disentangling herself from me and sitting on the edge of the divan while I lay behind her.


    "Diana?" I asked softly.


    "It''s the second thing I wanted to talk to you about," she responded just as softly, facing away. Her hands were fiddling with her Lasso in nervousness.


    "What is it?"


    "I was talking with Medea," she explained. "When we first argued. She helped me put things in perspective."


    "Okaaaay," I said slowly, wondering where she was going with this.


    "And I realized we''ve been taking advantage of you."


    "Le wut?" I asked, befuddled. "How so?"


    "You are always at our aid," Diana turned to meet my eyes, looking surprisingly serious. "Setting things up so I could rejoin the League, helping Raven with her father, funnelling resources to Emma, aiding Medea with her projects, helping Priscilla set up her music career, giving Scathach the fight she wanted, and allowing Glynda to teach again. That was just in the few days since you''ve had your body back. And all we''ve done is make trouble for you and get you involved in one crisis after another."


    "None of that stuff was hard for me," I protested. "Trust me. I will never do something I really don''t want to. At most, it was a slight inconvenience. And you all helped me a ton in the past. You helped train me when I got out of the cell."


    "I gave you two lessons and some advice," Diana said. "And that was years apart. You figured out most of it on your own."


    "But you helped," I pressed. "Put up with my bullshit and emo phase. Hell, most of the stuff you just said was tangential. I was killing multiple birds with one stone, so I wasn''t being altruistic. You weren''t taking advantage of me in the least."


    "You might see it that way," Diana agreed. "But that does not lessen the fact that we wished to do something nice for you. A gift. Only we could not think of one."


    "I''m not opposed to getting gifts," I grinned at her before mellowing it into a smile. "But I have everything I need. The love of beautiful women. A home. Bottomless wealth. Power that few could match. This is my happy ever after. I am content."


    "So you see the problem," Diana nodded and looked away again. "What do you give the man who has everything? Anything you want, you can take for yourself. I thought long and hard. Especially after Trigon. What did I have that you did not. I already gave you my heart. The only reason we have not consummated our union was the lack of availability since you achieved a human form. My body was already yours, as well. There had to be something else."


    "Diana?" I asked, almost fearfully at the tremble in her voice.


    "Then it hit me," the amazonian continued, her voice quivering. "The one thing I had that you could have but would never take. The one thing that was mine alone to give."


    She pressed something into my hands, and I looked down.


    The Lasso of Truth was glowing softly in my palm.


    My eyes followed the golden rope from my hands to its end, where it was wrapped around Diana''s wrists.


    This story has been taken without authorization. Report any sightings.


    "Diana?" I asked again, my voice a hoarse whisper.


    "All I have left to give," her blue eyes burned into mine. There was a nervousness there but also a certainty. A resolution. "Is my Freedom."


    I felt like I had been punched in the gut.


    A sense of vertigo overwhelmed me, and my vision swam.


    Then it narrowed, and all I could see was that golden rope binding her wrists.


    This was...


    Big didn''t even begin to cover it.


    A Dragon''s Element, at least those from the catalogue, was not just the nature of their breath or a particular affinity they were predisposed to. It was a manifestation of who they were.


    A crystalization of the concept of one''s being.


    A Dragon was not just a fire-breathing lizard that flew. They were forces of nature, rivalled only by the strongest existences.


    In catalogue terms, even if you only purchased the most basic dragon heritage, you were guaranteed to reach Tier 10 by age alone.


    As a contractor, I had been able to choose my Elements, but even then, they had a profound impact on my psyche.


    Just as the Element reflected who you were, so did you become more in line with your Element as you aged and grew.


    All of my wives who had undergone the transformation showed slight changes from the process.


    Tsunade''s desire for a child was partially fueled by her Life Element.


    Scathach''s bloodlust was enhanced by her Blood Element.


    Thanks to Shadow, Raven changed her entire way of handling her emotions.


    Emma, as a Diamond Dragon, became firmer in her convictions.


    To be honest, if they weren''t simply extensions of their own natures, I would be worried that I was controlling their minds. Further experimentation had allayed that worry for the most part.


    Artoria was more heroic after becoming a Dragon of Light, but that was barely noticeable.


    Priscilla''s Death attribute manifested not as some grim reaper personality or a propensity for nihilism but rather to let the dead rest peacefully. She viewed the dead like she had her fellow residents of the painted world. My spirit ashes all liked to spend as much time with her as possible, and she welcomed them.


    Medea being a Magic Dragon, had only enhanced her joy at experimenting and creating.


    Altogether, we had been experimenting with our Elements. Learning what we could and could not do.


    None of the women had unlimited power like me, so their expressions of their Elements were limited and highly based on the individual.


    In the process, we learned about ourselves.


    Tsunade''s expression of the Life Element did not make her tougher to kill as it did me. It enhanced her healing abilities and allowed her to use her grandfather''s famous Wood Release techniques.


    Diana could not Free herself from absolutely everything like I could. Instead, it acted almost like an aura around her that freed others from their bonds.


    She could stage a jailbreak while standing outside a prison and doing absolutely nothing, whereas I would need to go cell by cell, touching all the doors.


    Personly, I believed that was a result of hearing tales about the tragedy that Thymescria was built in response to.


    On the other hand, the Lasso of Truth could exert no influence over me but still held sway over her if she was bound.


    We were different people and thus had different expressions of our Elements.


    Diana was Free in a way I would never be.


    I, as a Dragon of Freedom like Diana, would never be able to give up my liberty.


    The thought of willfully chaining myself, of handing over control to someone else, made me physically nauseous. It was one of the reasons I was so against reviving more people after Glory Girl, despite being able to mitigate their influence with Raven''s aid.


    Staring at the rope in my shaking hands with wide eyes, I couldn''t help the word that slipped unbidden from my lips.


    "Why?" I rasped.


    "Because it is my Freedom to give," Diana answered firmly. Her earlier nervousness was gone now that the process was done. She was Wonder Woman once more. Princess of the Amazons. An icon for women everywhere. She had seen my response. She knew I understood the magnitude of her gift. "Because this is the only way I could think of to show you my trust in you. You might not be a hero, but I was not mistaken in who you are at your core."


    I had a realization at that moment. A single moment of clarity that explained so much.


    My Freedom was a selfish one.


    A rejection of all chains that bound me, real or societal. A desire to chart my own path and be who I wanted to be.


    I had to touch things to free them because ''I'' was the only one genuinely Free.


    Diana''s Freedom was a selfless one.


    She was Freedom as an Ideal. An aspiration for everyone. She stood for something grander than my selfish desire. The Freedom to choose for all, rejecting none.


    I chose my own path, but she could choose any.


    She was Free to believe in others, whereas I could only believe in myself.


    We both had the same Element but could not be any more different.


    "Alright," I said slowly, hand tightening on the divine tool. It weighed less than a pound but felt like a mountain.


    Any doubt, any bitterness I once felt toward the woman for her words in the Kiln was swept away in the golden glow of the Lasso. The command seals were one thing. They could be resisted or interpreted at one''s convenience or even dispelled by Rule Breaker.


    The Lasso was absolute. As a Divine Instrument, Rule Breaker could not damage or destroy it. While Diana was bound, she was compelled to answer everything truthfully, hiding nothing. She also had to follow my every order.


    I could have her spill her deepest darkest secrets. I could have her kill every one of Justice League. It would be hard for her to do bound, but she would have to try.


    "Alright," I said again, mind scrambling.


    "You are repeating yourself, dear," Diana said with a smile.


    She was the one bound to my absolute control, yet she sat there, proud as any queen, while I panicked.


    She was Wonder Woman. THE Superheroine. An Icon. A Legend.


    I was just a man.


    But I had my own pride.


    "This is my absolute order," I said, meeting her eyes with conviction. "No matter what happens after this, no matter what I say or do, this order will be followed without fail."


    The Lasso glowed brightly as I channelled as much power into it as possible. I also activated all six command seals. All so that my words would be engraved upon her soul.


    An immutable truth.


    "You are Free!"


    She was free to follow me.


    She was free to untie her binds.


    It would always be her choice.


    But my words were also a promise.


    If Diana''s Freedom was a selfless one, then I had to be selfish enough for both of us.


    I''d be selfish for her.


    I could only walk my own path. That would never change. But I could make my path one she wanted to walk beside.


    Diana''s eyes never left mine as the glow of the Lasso and the seals faded.


    Her smile was more beautiful than the Mona Lisa''s.


    "There is the face I fell in love with," she looked radiant as her bound hands raised to cup my face. "I knew you had conviction."


    The kiss that followed was sweet, loving, and tender.


    An affirmation of who we were, who the other was, and what we meant to one another.


    When we separated, I didn''t need Sticky Fingers to notice the passion and lust in her eyes. Nor did she need any supernatural ability to feel my own excitement.


    "You know, that consummate our relationship thing," I said with a grin. "We''re doing it now."


    I wasn''t giving her a choice on that.


    "I would like that."


    "Good," I nodded sagely. "Since this is our first time together, I will give you the option." Diana''s eyebrows raised in question. "I can make sweet, tender love to you. The kind out of fairy tales and romcoms. The lovey-dovey sex that would make romanticists die with envy."


    "Or?" Diana asked, her mouth quirked in amusement at my description.


    "Or..." I didn''t say more. I just held up my end of the Lasso of Truth as the explanation. Diana''s eyes widened slightly in realization of my meaning. "What do you want?"


    The Lasso glowed as it worked its magic.


    "I''ve dreamed about our first time together," Wonder Woman explained, unable to keep anything from me. "After talking to Artoria, I''ve imagined it countless times. Fantasized. Pleasured myself at the idea. In my mind, you are gentle. You are kind. You are everything I hope a man and woman can be together. We become one."


    I nodded, ready to make her dreams a reality.


    Then she continued.


    "I still desire that," Diana could not stop herself from revealing the whole truth. "But not today. Right now, all I can think about is what you will do with my Lasso. With my Freedom. Will you force me to strip and parade me around as a trophy? Will you bind me and leave me to stew in my arousal? Will you tie me up and allow the rest of the Family to have their way with me as I lay helpless to resist? I am not as ignorant as I was when I first left my homeland. I have seen couples engage in such acts of depravity that I could not comprehend them at first. Now, all that fills my mind is a desire to explore this new aspect with you. I wish to learn why some women enjoy this act."


    With every sentence Wonder Woman uttered, I felt my surprise rise.


    I would expect this kind of stuff from Glynda or Yoruichi, not Diana.


    Honestly, I had thought this aspect of the relationship would be minimal. The Lasso largely symbolic of her ''gift'' but not seeing much actual use in the bedroom.


    Even if she had given me her ''Freedom,'' I had no desire to take advantage of her or do things she didn''t want to do.


    Who knew Wonder Woman was BDSM curious?


    Man, did I have my work cut out for me.


    "Stand up," I ordered as I rose to my feet. Diana did as she was told, unable to resist as I started to lead her to her bed. "Let me explain the absolute basics of this type of relationship. It''s not for everyone. It can come in thousands of different forms, but they all have one absolute rule that must be followed."


    Since Diana''s room was always the warm temperature of Thymescria, her bed was more like a larger divan with a few thin sheets and pillows, surrounded by four thin marble pillars from which light silk drapes hung.


    "Some only like a bit of light bondage, fluffy handcuffs, silk ties, that sort of thing," I explained once we reached the bed. "Lay down." She did, and I tied the end of the Lasso to the headboard. "Others go a bit further. Laytex, nipple clamps, gags, toys of all sorts. Some like pain, whips, chains, hot wax, paddles, and other ways of inflicting pain without actually doing damage. Some like roleplay, horseplay, or even let their fetish out of the bedroom and make it part of their day-to-day lives."


    "You know a lot about it," Diana commented as she lay there. Her arms were raised above her head, and she had to tilt backwards to look me in the eye. I finished with the knot and started working on unfastening her armour.


    "I''ve never been part of a relationship like that, if that is what you are asking," I said as I freed the fastenings and moved to set the armour on its rack. Those magnificent breasts were topped by dark nipples that accented her olive skin. "At one point in my life, I was working a graveyard shift and finished around midnight. My commute home involved walking past a BDSM-themed bar. It was all that was open without me going out of my way, so I would grab a few drinks there and talk to a few people."


    "Really," Diana asked in disbelief, head craning up to watch me.


    "They all respected my boundaries, so it was never a real problem, and you should know I feel no shame," I grinned at her before working on removing her armoured skirt. It was easier than her armour, but I took the same amount of time because I wanted to enjoy the wonderful sight of her.


    Three words.


    Abs for days.


    You could grate cheese on those things.


    "The thing I learned, the absolute rule I was telling you about, is this," I continued as I drank in her beauty. "The Dom, the Master, whatever you want to call it, is like a director. They set the scene, the pacing, the props, and the script. They control the tone and the actors. But it is the submissive, the one that is bound, blindfolded, whipped, and degraded, who has the final say. The go or no go."


    "That is counter-intuitive to my understanding," Diana admitted as she lifted her hips for me to slide her last piece of armour down her legs.


    I smiled in am as I saw the blue, star-studded panties.


    "It is a requirement," I emphasized. "It is the only thing that stops relationships like this from going wrong. A Dom that doesn''t stop when the Sub wants to or goes too far is an abuser at best and a rapist at worst."


    "I see."


    For a second, I stopped and admired my work.


    Diana was laid out on her bed, naked as the day she was born, her blue eyes watching my every move. Her arms were raised above her head, and her hands squirmed in their binds. Her dilated pupils, erect nipples, the slight tremor of her abdomen, and the dampness of her core told me she was as turned on as I was.


    Her form was well-muscled. Like me, it was a body built for war, and we lacked Artoria''s appetite that ensured her body was always well-padded.


    She had curves, large breasts, wide hips, and an ass to start wars, but her beauty was amazonian in nature rather than matronly like Tsunade or aristocratic like Robins.


    Abs for days.


    Thighs that could crush steel.


    Arms that bench thousands of tons.


    Though she was bound, she looked like a queen upon her throne.


    For a second, I thought about how many men would look at her and go, ''Step on me, Mommy!''


    I didn''t say it, but my mouth quirked at the humour of the thought.


    "What?" Diana asked.


    "Nothing," I said, shaking my head and refocusing. It was time to enjoy my gift. To do that, I needed to learn. "I was wondering what everyone would say if they could see this sight. Wonder Woman. The icon of women laid out on her bed. Naked. Bound. At the mercy of a man."


    I approached her slowly as I spoke my taunting words. As I did, I Freed myself from my clothes, and they fell to the ground behind me, leaving me as nude as she was.


    Her eyes devoured me.


    One hand trailed along her body as I approached the head of the bed.


    From her ankle, it trailed up her shin, knee, and thigh. I wasn''t pressing hard, but the flesh shivered under my touch.


    "Would they think it an illusion, I wonder. A deception? Wonder Woman, the Princess of the Amazons, can''t bind herself to a man. That is impossible."


    My fingers curved around the dip between her legs.


    Not yet.


    Blue eyes followed the trail religiously as my hand traced well-defined abs upward between her breasts. My hand ignored the two proud mountains, continued to her throat and stopped at her chin.


    "A woman like that couldn''t be a bastion of Freedom," I said as I held her chin in place, and her eyes pierced mine. "A woman like that can only be a slut."


    Diana was quivering with excitement and anticipation, turned on beyond belief.


    But she was not the type to cave to her desires.


    Even now, she retained her dignity. Proud. Defiant.


    A woman to match and surpass any man.


    "I do not care what anyone thinks," the amazonian declared.


    "Good," I purred. "You are not theirs. You are Mine. Now open wide!"


    Compelled by her own Lasso, Wonder Woman obeyed and opened her mouth.


    I hissed in pleasure as I plunged the tip of my cock into her mouth, and she worked over the tip with her tongue.


    I held her head firmly in place so she could not back away nor take me deeper.


    "There''s a good slut," I purred, combing her dark hair away from her face with one hand so I could stare into her eyes. "You''ll do as I say, and I will fulfill your every degenerate desire. Those filthy fantasies that run through your dirty little brain."


    "Hmmmmn," Diana hummed, sending a shiver of pleasure from my dick to my spine.


    "How often have you fantasized about this? About being bound and used?" I withdrew from her warm mouth and laid my dick along her face.


    "A few times," Diana admitted, compelled by her own tool to tell the truth. She did not look embarrassed in the least. "The first time a villain caught me with my Lasso, I wondered what it would be like with a lover. An idle thought I never explored. Slurp." She continued to lick along my length as she talked, her eyes never leaving mine. "Either my partner was not the type to enjoy the act, were intimidated by me, or I did not trust them enough. Mwa. Once the internet was developed, I masturbated to the thought a few times, but that is it."


    "Now you''re just buttering me up," I grinned as I inserted myself into her mouth again. This time I continued to press forward slowly and steadily. "I am the only one who''s seen your slut side. The only one who gets to use you like my own pocket whore. It gives me the warm fuzzies."


    Diana''s nose met my groin as I bottomed out in her throat. Even as I held her down and she deep-throated me, she continued to undulate her throat to milk the cum from my balls.


    My other hand was not idle either. I pinched, groped, and slapped at Diana''s breasts, testing what she responded most to.


    Learning your partner''s kinks, erogenous zones, and preferences usually is the result of weeks and months of careful study and honest conversation.


    I was a cheating cheater who cheats.


    Sticky Fingers did away with the need for all that. It did away with the need for safe words, embarrassing conversations, or instructions. I knew when and where to push and pull. What was too much and too little.


    I was Beethoven, and a woman''s body was my instrument.


    "Sluurp. Gahck. Hmmmmn."


    Her mouth was occupied as I moved her head up and down along my length, but I still made her body sing.


    Diana''s breasts weren''t sensitive like Robin''s or Artoria''s. Nor did she show many reactions from pain vs more pleasurable fondling. So she wasn''t masochistic either.


    Despite being tied up, she wasn''t submissive at all. My cock was deep in her throat, but her eyes were firm and challenging.


    A power bottom if there ever was one.


    The amazon liked my body, but she wasn''t as infatuated with my muscles as Robin.


    So, why was she so excited?


    "Glrk!" She gagged along my length as I picked up the pace of my thrust.


    Wonder Woman did not need to breathe nearly as much as a regular person, nor was she as fragile, so I didn''t worry about hurting her as I became rougher with her.


    "You''re going to swallow everything," I ordered. "Then I''m going to use another of your holes. You''d like that slut? I think I''ll keep you here all day. Tied up and helpless. I''ll use you as I please. Maybe I''ll invite Artoria in when she gets home. Have her see the whore you''ve become."


    I watched her like a hawk for her reaction to my every word. Diana seemed to show responses to the name-calling, but her most significant response was when I mentioned showing her to Artoria.


    Exhibitionism, perhaps?


    "Maybe I''ll cast a few illusions on us," I grunted as I neared release. I could hold out indefinitely, but as enjoyable as Diana was finding this, she was no closer to her own orgasm than when we first started. I was anything but a selfish lover. "Go on a date, but you''re naked the whole time."


    "Sluuurp." Barely an extra twitch as her blue eyes continued to watch mine.


    "I should invite the others," I said, trying a different tact. Perhaps I should play up her bisexuality? The amazon didn''t blink. "How would you feel having thirteen women licking you while you could do nothing." A twitch, but that was it. "I imagine it will be a shock for poor, innocent Priscilla. The woman she looked up to, who trained her, was nothing more than a cum guzzling whore."


    Diana slammed forward, taking me to the hilt once more. Her throat constricted as her eyes lost their focus.


    I came.


    Shot after shot of cum burst down her throat.


    Held firmly in place, Diana did not choke or gag as her throat filled, and my release overflowed between her lips to dribble down her chin.


    I held her there for half a minute, spending myself and making sure nothing was left before slowly withdrawing myself. The princess of the amazons licked and cleaned me on my way out.


    "That was nice," I said patronizingly as I pet her head.


    Her eyes narrowing slightly was the first sign of displeasure since I started.


    So dirty talk was fine, but dismissal or condescension was not.


    Good to know.


    But I had her weakness now.


    "What now?" Diana asked, challenging me to continue or stop there.


    I was nowhere near done.


    "I promised to use another hole, didn''t I," I grinned. Diana''s eyes narrowed again, this time in suspicion. But it was too late.


    I kneeled on the bed, grabbed her muscular thighs, and spread them wide. She was more than aroused enough to not need more foreplay.


    Then I plunged forward.


    She was tight.


    Not like Ranni or Raven, whose small size ensured it would be a snug fit no matter what happened. Wonder Woman was tight because every inch of her was trained, well-toned muscle.


    Bottomed out in her, I leaned forward to whisper in her ear.


    "You are a terrible influence," I whispered to her. Her breath hitched.


    "Of what do you speak?" She asked, her blue eyes wide with fear and arousal.


    "What you did to Artoria. Tsk, tsk. You took that naive, trusting, virginal woman and turned her into such a slut." Her cunt clenched around me. "I bet you wanted to do the same to Priscilla. Take her under your wing. Teach her the joys of the flesh. Corrupt her until she was only pure on the outside but a rampant whore on the inside. Just. Like. You."


    I squeezed her clit between my fingers, and Diana came.


    Her eyes rolled back in her head as her arms thrashed in her bonds. Her thighs closed around me with enough force to bend steel, but I held her down, grinning at her loss of control.


    Diana was not a submissive, exhibitionist, or masochist.


    She had a corruption fetish.


    The idea of something pure, untainted, and wholesome being tainted, soiled, and corrupted made her go wild.


    Herself included.


    Contrary to popular belief, a fetish wasn''t a person''s ''true self.''


    A sadist could be a good person. A submissive could be domineering at work.


    Wonder Woman could be a heroine, an icon of female empowerment, and a defender of justice and freedom during the day.


    And a depraved slut at night.


    The latter was only a part of who she was and did not detract in the least from the fantastic things she did.


    But it sure was hot.


    "By Hera," Diana panted, recovering from her orgasm to stare at me with wide eyes. "What was that?"


    "Tell me this," I ordered with a grin, and the Lasso glowed. "How would you feel if I seduced your counterpart. If I took that naive, fresh-off-paradise island heroine and corrupted her. If I wormed my way into her heart and body. If I bound her and gagged her. If I made her beg for release. Begged to be my slut. Begged to be like you."


    As I spoke, I kept up my steady rhythm of thrusts, increasing the pleasure my words brought.


    Diana''s eyes widened as she answered, her words seeming to surprise herself.


    But she could hide nothing from the Lasso of Truth.


    "I would feel betrayed. I know our relationship isn''t conventional, but you are not the type to ever cheat," the amazon answered. The answer most would give was perfectly acceptable. I would never cheat, and the idea of anyone in the Family cheating was enough to fill me with a blinding rage in most cases. But I waited for the rest. "But the idea is incredibly arousing. The mere thought of it sends shivers down my spine. To see her face distorted with pleasure, covered in your semen and begging for more, it is... hnnnggg."


    "Welcome to the dark side," I grinned at her as she shivered at the idea. "Now imagine this. I''m not content with you all. With your counterpart. I go after other heroines, and you help. They trust you, and you hand them to me on a silver platter. You don''t have a choice. You are mine. But even if you weren''t, you''d still help me. Because you are that much of a slut."


    Diana moaned, her legs still wrapped around me, she urged me to hurry up. I was practically slamming into her, her bed rattling from every thrust.


    "It''s all consensual, of course," I purr, weaving the fantasy for her. "A slow seduction does not need to force anyone. One by one, heroines fall. The League first. Then the PRT, then the independents, then we''ll work on the villains. Reform them on my cock and your tongue. Poison Ivy, Harley Quinn, Cheetah."


    "So hot," Diana gasped, bucking wildly at the mention of her one-time friend.


    I doubt she had ever really entertained the idea. Her strong morals would reject it even if she had a stray thought about it. For the same reason, it would never actually happen.


    Diana was too much of a hero to ever make that fantasy real. And if it did happen, she wouldn''t really enjoy it, knowing what it cost.


    But this was fantasy.


    And I was not a hero.


    "We''ll fulfill Emma''s wish of ruling the world. One cunt at a time." I delighted in her pleasure, in her unravelling. "Of course, once we''ve done that, there is only one place left to go."


    "Where?" Diana gasped, wide-eyed and dishevelled.


    "Thymescria," I purred the word, and Wonder Woman froze.


    I kept going thrusting away as I wove my final words.


    "Your home." Thrust. Slam. "Turned into my harem."


    "Your neighbours." Thrust. Slam. "Cock-crazed."


    "Your friends." Thrust. Slam. "Watching you getting bred with envy in their eyes."


    "Your mom." Thrust. Slam. Crack. "Giving you a younger sister."


    "Your gods." Thrust. Slam. Crack. "The virginal goddess begging for defilement."


    "All." Thrust. "Our." Slam. "Sluts." Crack.


    The headboard shattered as Diana tore her Lasso through it. Her arms wrapped around my head, hands still bound, as she pulled me in for a passionate kiss.


    The collapsing under us went unnoticed as I unloaded into her orgasming cunt.


    "You are a terrible influence," Diana told me after we had recovered.


    Hair in disarray. Spittle flecked her chin. Cum oozing from her cunt around my dick.


    Diana lay in the ruins of sheets, pillows, wood, and stone that was once her bed.


    She still looked like a queen to me.


    "I know," I agreed with a grin.


    Then I kissed her, hand tightening around the Lasso of Truth.


    ********


    The next day, when Wonder Woman met up with Artoria and her counterpart for their shift with the League, her Lasso was at her hip as usual.


    But underneath her bracers, if she ever took them off in public, an observer might notice something off before shaking their head in denial.


    There was no way Wonder Woman would ever wear bondage clothe handcuffs.

 SS (A) – Killer Rabbit

    <div>


    The sky is red, I don''t understand


    Past midnight I still see the land


    People are sayin'' the woman is damned


    She makes you burn with a wave of her hand


    Warning came, no one cared


    Earth was shakin, we stood and stared


    When it came no one was spared


    Still I hear "Burn!"


    ********


    My day was perfectly normal.


    "I want to fight."


    "Sip," I said before actually taking a sip of my tea. "Ok."


    I was biting the inside of my cheek.


    Perfectly.


    Normal.


    Scathach turned away from me to go outside, but I stopped her.


    She hadn''t gotten the hint I wanted to finish my tea.


    Or that I was holding back.


    "Did you just get back from your last day with the Titans?" I asked, taking another sip.


    "I did." She nodded.


    "How are they doing?" I asked, killing time a bit so I could finish my cup.


    "As well as can be expected," the Celt explained, leaning against the doorway as she waited for me. "Starfire is sticking to Nightwing''s side as much as possible while he trains to get back in shape." Sip. "X-23 is barely affected, but Mercury is still shaken and walking on eggshells around her." Sip. "Winman took a few days off to meet with his mentor again." Sip. "Beast Boy is repressing everything with humour." Sip.


    "Uhuh," I nodded to show I was still listening as I finished the last of my tea. Then I asked the question that had been burning my tongue since she walked in and challenged me to a fight. "Have you changed since you got home?"


    "No," she tilted her head in question. "Why?"


    "No reason," I fought to keep my voice toneless, barely keeping from roaring with laughter. "So you just... showed up today? Wearing that? With no explanation?"


    "Do I need an explanation?" Scathach asked, looking down at her outfit and then looking up and meeting my eyes.


    She saw nothing wrong, but her eyes were twinkling mischievously.


    Scathach could be very playful if she was in a good mood.


    I bit my lip. Hard.


    I was so close to losing my shit.


    "No." I squeaked. "It''s just... a bit different than what you usually wear, is all."


    "I understand," the Celtic queen nodded imperiously. The movement made her fake ears bob. My fists clenched hard enough to split my palms. "Don''t let your guard down just because I look like a lovable bunny. Know that this bunny has fangs."


    I lost it.


    "Hahahahaha," I cackled madly. "Oh god. Hahahaha. I can just imagine it. Hehehehehe. The look on their faces. Hahahaha." My laughter was near hysteric as I pounded my fists on the counter. "Haha, Nightwing is, hehe, going to, hehe, tell, hahahaha, Batman!. Ohahaha." Tears beaded my eyes as I fought down gasping breaths. I kept laughing. "He''s. Hehehehe. He''s going. Ha, oh god, hahahaha. He''s going to watch the footage."


    I fell from my stool I was laughing so hard.


    If it was the last thing I ever did, I would get a copy of that footage.


    Then I would play it in his face every chance I got.


    Or maybe post that training online. It would drive the paranoid theorists and trolls absolutely wild.


    ''What did this mean!? Was this an Elden Lord plot!?''


    Oh god, I was dying.


    I laughed for minutes straight at the images my mind conjured.


    I could just imagine a ''counter-bunny PRT task force.''


    At one point, Melina walked into the kitchen, took one look at Bunny-Scathach, one look at me rolling on the floor in laughter, and walked out again.


    "Thank you, dear, hehe," I giggled, getting myself under control as I stood on unsteady feat. "Ha. I really needed that."


    "I fail to see what is so amusing, but you are welcome," Scathach said, an almost imperceptible smile on her face.


    "I have to ask. Why are you wearing that? Don''t get me wrong, it looks good on you. Really good. It''s just a bit odd."


    I wasn''t giving empty compliments. Scathach looked absolutely stunning.


    It was the classic ''bunny girl'' outfit.


    A purple strapless bodysuit that hid nothing of her generous cleavage paired with dark nylons that emphasized her long shapely legs. On her wrists were white detached cuff links and a pair of long purple rabbit ears atop her head. To top it off, she had a large cotton ball tail drawing attention to an ass that could start wars.


    The Queen of the Land of Shadows, the woman who had taken on the armies of hell single-handedly only three days ago, looked like the ultimate wet dream made real.


    Which just made it funnier to me.


    "This bunny girl outfit? I''ve always been interested in them since Artoria wore one. I had Medea make one for me," Scathach explained, looking over herself.


    "Fair enough," I shrugged. I wasn''t going to complain.


    "It is easy to move around in," she continued. For emphasis, she raised one leg completely vertically in the air in a display of balance and flexibility.


    "I''m sure it is," I said, watching her movements hungrily.


    "Medea told me I should wear this to fulfill my promise to break your hips. Come on, let''s go."


    Without giving me any more time, Scathach turned and left the building. My eyes tracked that small fluffy tail as it swayed hypnotically in my vision.


    "You mean in a fight, right?" I asked with a grin as I followed her. I hadn''t heard anything about this promise, but I was a kind man. I wouldn''t want her to break her word.


    "That too."


    Oh boy, was I in for it.


    My grin was feral as we exited the Mansion and passed the orchard to a broad field where most of the Family''s training and sparing was done.


    Along the way, we passed the four dragons napping as the sun set, Medea (cat?) resting atop Cassandra''s head and splayed out. Using his ability to remain airborne after his rise in Tier, Torrent stole fruit from the top of the trees.


    I was surprised when we passed the training field and into the forest.


    "Do you have somewhere specific in mind?" I asked.


    "I do."


    That was the only answer I received, so I focused on following that fluffy white tail as it entered the forest. After the first minute, I started to hum under my breath.


    "We are young, heartache to heartache. We stand," I sang, and Scathach looked over her shoulder at me before continuing deeper while picking up speed. I followed her easily. "No promises, no demands. Love is a battlefield."


    We ran through the Island, faster and faster, the trees blurring past us as I gained more and more speed.


    Scathach was always in front of me, no matter how fast I moved. Always the exact distance away from me.


    Even now, before any fighting had begun, she was challenging me.


    We broke not a branch, disturbed not a leaf, and left no print in the ground.


    Our skill was such that the only mark of our passage was the wind passing through the trees.


    The only sound was my singing, my voice even and unruffled as I chased her.


    I finished Pat Benatar''s ''Love is a Battlefield'' and was halfway through Bonnie Tyler''s ''I Need a Hero'' when we reached the destination.


    It wasn''t anywhere special, just the foothills of the mountain range that cut off the southern tip of the Island, where we lived, from the rest of the enormous subcontinent. Once we crossed the first peak, we''d leave the bounded field I had set up to protect the Mansion from the more... esoteric animals.


    We weren''t going that far, though.


    No sooner had we burst from the dense woods into an open area did Scathach whirl on me.


    "Up where the mountains meet the heavens above, out where the lightning split- Oof."


    The kick took me in the side, sending me flying end over end.


    I crashed through three trees and came to an abrupt halt as my body slammed into a stony cliff side, cratering it.


    "Ow." I deadpanned at the woman from my place upside down in the stone cliff. "That was rude. You gotta let a man finish. You''ll scare him off if you''re too rough from the start."


    Did you know this story is from Royal Road? Read the official version for free and support the author.


    "This bunny kicks hard," she smirked at me instead of explaining further.


    "No shit," I snarked as I righted myself, stood back up, and stretched.


    I was dirty but completely uninjured.


    I didn''t have any sort of healing factor like in the comics.


    I just had Miracles and infinite power to fuel them.


    Baring Artoria with Avalon, I was hands down the toughest of the Family.


    "Good, good," she nodded at my posture change as I readied myself for the fight of my life.


    Or my hips.


    I''d see how it goes.


    "See how this bunny gets serious," Scathach cried as she lunged at me. "Hop."


    "That is violently adorable," I deadpanned once more as she lunged at me with her ''war cry.''


    As cute as she was, the Celt''s fist moved with enough speed that it could have taken off my head if I didn''t dodge out of the way.


    I tilted my head as I spun, the dislocated air from her fist blowing my hair back. I grabbed her outstretched arm in the same fluid motion and flung her over my shoulder to the ground.


    "Toh," she grunted as her back hit the earth. Hard.


    "The bunny may kick hard," I said, leaning over her prone form. "But it''s wabbit season. Hehehehe." I did my best Elmer Fud as I allowed her to rise to her feet.


    "Hehe... I''m going to enjoy this." Scathach''s smile was euphoric as she stared at me, but her eyes were searching. Hungry. Violent.


    "Hop to it then," I smirked, my gaze just as hungry.


    I was a coward. There were no two ways about it. I liked to set things up to my advantage as much as possible.


    But, as a product of my centuries of fighting and conflict, I had learned to love a good fight. Maybe not to the same degree as Scathach, but I still found joy in the bloodshed and the violence.


    The careful positioning of Ornstein and Smough.


    The long moments of inactivity are followed by the clash of blades with Sir Alonne.


    The sheer breadth of skills Gael had accumulated for millennium.


    The mind-numbing exhaustion of days besieging Radahn.


    With no books, only rare conversations, and no other form of entertainment, my mind had adapted.


    The clash of blades, spells, fists, and wits was my only stimulation for centuries.


    I found joy in it.


    One just needed to ask Ranni or Melina how I acted in the Lands Between. Knowing I would return from any death, I had gotten a bit... wild.


    "Hop," Scathach said, hopping forward to blast me with a flurry of punches and kicks.


    More than that.


    I.


    Got.


    Good.


    No longer caught by surprise, I stood with my feet firmly planted as I blocked, parried, deflected, or weaved.


    Scathach was faster than me and physically stronger as well.


    Servants were bullshit like that.


    But every blow she landed was healed in an eye blink.


    So long as I was not defeated decisively in one blow, I would never lose.


    It was a shame that comic worlds were full of people who could do that.


    Ironically, I was Hoarah Loux in this situation. Scathach played the role of my past self, hopping, kicking, punching, and trying to wear me down while I turtled up and waited for an opening.


    "Come on, come on!" Scathach cried, her voice brimming with wild joy as she leaped over my head to try and kick my back. I couldn''t dodge, so I hardened my flesh with pyromancy. My feet remained planted thanks to Beast Claws piercing the floor.


    Her foot met my spine with the strength to shatter mountains.


    I stood unmoving.


    But this blow triggered my trap, and the incantation activated.


    A blast of golden light burst from me in a torrent.


    "Wah!" Scathach yelped as the Law of Causality blasted her away and into the cliffside.


    Yoruichi was faster than me.


    Raven was now just as powerful as I.


    Scathach was more skilled.


    Artoria was tougher.


    Ranni was a genuine Goddess with Authority to match her status.


    Diana was all around a monster.


    Thinking I could defeat any of them while wearing my meat suit was a folly of the highest order.


    Even now, Scathach only moved at a fraction of her top speed.


    In a strait on fight with most of my Family, I would lose. Badly.


    In a battle to the death?


    I was undefeatable.


    Because I cheated.


    I chased after my wife as she flew through the air. I was there to give her what she wanted when she crashed.


    I kissed her. Roughly. Passionately.


    Then I dodged a blood-red spear ready to pierce my throat.


    Another spear fell from the sky to impale the spot I had just vacated.


    Then another.


    And another.


    Dozens of spears rained down on me, every one of them aiming to take my life.


    I dodged, wove, and flipped away from the prone Celt as she rose to her feet, twin spears in her hands.


    "I''ve played around too much," Scathach smirked, knees bending. "It is time I fulfilled my promise." Her eyes were alight with lust and battle lust.


    "Any chance I can convince you to let me grab a mattress?" I asked as I conjured the Dancer''s Twinblades to my hand. I didn''t bother with armour. Against Scathach, it would only slow me down. "I''m worried about chafing."


    "No. Show this bunny your strength!" Midspeach, she lunged. Twice as fast as before, I barely had time to deflect the spears as they lanced for my chest. They whirled, spinning blades of death, thirsty for my blood.


    The following few seconds were a blur as our weapons clashed hundreds of times. Her weapons were everywhere, searching and probing the slightest opening. She fought in a zig-zag of starts and stops, abrupt shifts in momentum meant to disrupt and disorient lesser opponents.


    Every twelve blows of hers were met with one of mine.


    I had chosen my weapons just for this.


    The fluid, curved nature of the two swords fitted this type of defensive battle perfectly. Like a stream flowing down a mountain, my blades moved in a steady but intractable rhythm as they deflected every one of her thrusts.


    In five seconds of clashing, I had received hundreds of tiny wounds along my arms and legs but no real damage to my torso or head. Every wound closed as soon as it opened.


    And I was gaining speed.


    My ''one move,'' my dance of blades, the constant and uninterrupted flow of my swords, was gaining more and more momentum.


    I was pulling her in, sacrificing pointless wounds for decisive advantage.


    The Queen of the Land of Shadows knew it too.


    So she changed the dynamic.


    "Bunny Strike!" She cried, jumping backwards and forwards again, gaining momentum as she descended on me from above.


    Man, she was having way too much fun with this.


    My blades met her spears again, deflecting them to the sides as they continued their dance.


    That was my mistake.


    Scathach released her spears, the loss of opposing force enough to stagger me for less than an instant.


    It was enough.


    She landed at my feet and thrust upward with two new spears.


    The barbed weapons pierced my unprotected stomach, bursting out of my back in a shower of blood.


    The strength of her blow lifted me from my feet and slammed me into the ground, spears pinning me in place.


    Well used to pain as I was, I barely felt their presence as more than an inconvenience to my movement.


    In a move that would have made any stripper jealous, she twirled on her spear and landed groin first on my face.


    Her leotard was soaking.


    "This is what happens when you attack a cute, innocent bunny," Scathach declared as she reached down and pulled her bodysuit to the side, exposing her weeping slit. Her nylons were still in the way, but my teeth tore through them quickly. "I shall introduce you to the friendship of the thighs."


    I mumbled something along the lines of it being the guy''s job to do the impaling, but she ground her naked cunt along my face, and I got to work.


    Digging in, I licked, sucked, probed and consumed the incredible snatch.


    My hands were not idle, caressing along her incredible, nylon-clad legs before coming to rest at the stupendous ass above my head.


    "Rubbing a bunny''s foot is good luck. Hop," Scathach said, bouncing her ass for me, though making my tongue work more difficult. "Luck is important, you know? Hop hop."


    On her last ''hop,'' my hand smacked her ass, stopping her bouncing and allowing me to work in peace.


    You don''t interrupt Beethoven when he is composing!


    "Ah," Scacthach gasped as I lightly grazed her clit with my teeth. "Mmm, hop... no, never mind." She made to bounce once more, but my hand crashed into her jiggling cheeks.


    As she shivered and shuddered under the work of my tongue, she took the time to lean forward.


    Not to pull the spears from my gut but to tear my shirt from my body.


    What did my wives have against my awful shirts?


    I kept making her hum and groan as she reached down further and annihilated my shorts and underwear, leaving me nude.


    I''d have made a joke about my ''spear,'' but my mouth was otherwise occupied.


    I didn''t mind performing cunnilingus. In fact, I even enjoyed it, but being trapped and submissive was a turnoff.


    It was time to switch things up.


    Like all my greatest victories, success would come from the element of surprise.


    "Mmmmmnnnnn," Scathach groaned as my tongue extended to her G-spot as I released the tiniest bit of control of my human form to extend the appendage.


    That was the distraction.


    My actual attack was my hand, wiggling under her bodysuit and tearing another hole in the nylons.


    "Ahhh," Scathach came with a cry as my thumb breached her defenceless ass.


    The vice-like grip her thighs held on my head loosened.


    One hand tore the spears out of my gut in a spray of blood, but the wounds healed instantly.


    The other wrapped around the queen, holding her in place as I rose.


    "Grrrh." I slammed the dazed Celt against a tree, pinning her for long enough for me to wrap my arms under her thighs, behind her shoulders, and meeting to clasp behind her head.


    In less than a second, I went from pinned to the ground to trapping Scathach in a full nelson.


    "Bunnys don''t talk," I growled in her ear as I lined myself up. "They breed!"


    I impaled her.


    "Grk!" She grunted as my cock speared her.


    "Hop," I said sarcastically, bouncing her on my dick. "Hop. Hop." I slammed my hips forward with every hop, carving deeper into her core.


    This position was suboptimal for depth, speed, or positioning and was almost impossible to do with only human limits without injuring one party or the other.


    It was perfect for controlling an uppity bunny.


    I gritted my teeth as I carried her forward, every movement accompanied by another bounce. Concentrating on the rhythm was difficult enough when I was just fucking her, but the Celt was easily the most experienced woman in my Family when it came to sexual matters. Even if her body was locked in place, her velvet walls'' undulation, contractions, and grip were working overtime to milk an orgasm out of me.


    All while she fought to free herself.


    I could contend with her B-rank strength, one thousand times the peak of humanity, thanks to my magic and the leverage I held over her.


    Focusing on holding her down, along with everything else, was exhausting.


    To distract her, I slammed my wife into a nearby tree head first.


    "Ugh!" Scathach grunted, her breasts finally bouncing free from her leotard after a violent thrust pushed her along the tree''s rough bark. "You fool! My outfit!"


    "Don''t worry about it," I barked, teeth gritted as her muscles flexed and fought for freedom. "Medea doesn''t do shotty work."


    "Hah, hah," she panted. Pressing her against the tree allowed me to speed up, her cotton tail tickling my waist as I pounded her. "Urk." Whenever I thought she was getting too comfortable, I slammed her into the tree again.


    Scathach loved this.


    The fight.


    The violence.


    The display of power and strength.


    The pain did nothing to her but egg her on, fighting for purchase and position.


    She wasn''t masochistic or sadistic.


    She just loved the battle.


    "AHHHHHH!" CRACK!


    Scathach screamed her second orgasm as I slammed her hard enough against the tree to shatter its trunk.


    "RAAGH!" The tree fell away as I road my release, slamming into her, unloading shot after shot of boiling cum deep in the bunny''s hungry cunt.


    I should have been more careful. I had trapped the lancer''s arms and legs but not her hands.


    Scathach was no blushing virgin, no submissive woman, and not one to lose easily.


    Even as I rode my orgasm and she was still in the throes of hers, the Queen of the Land of Shadows was launching her next offensive.


    "Watch this bunny''s runes!" Scathach declared, her insides still quivering from her orgasm as she carved a glowing rune in the air.


    The wood of the fallen tree sprung to life, winding like snakes to bind my feet and crawl up my body.


    Shuddering and still cumming, I could not stop the wood from yanking me to the ground, winding around my arms to free the Celt from my hold.


    Scathach rode me to the ground, my dick never leaving the warm, wet embrace of her cunt.


    It was seamless and effortless.


    This woman had taught Cu Chullain runes well enough that he could qualify as a Caster class servant.


    "The bunny knows all," she smirked down at me challengingly. "You have a long way to come before you''re worthy to defeat this bunny... Hooop." She bounced, slow and sensually, along my still-sensitive dick. Her freed breasts wobbled in time with the fake ears on her head.


    It was a sight to set one''s lust aflame.


    My mind went cold.


    While I wasn''t the least bit submissive, I didn''t need to be completely dominant in bed. Mutual pleasure or a back-and-forth was fine for me as well.


    Getting smothered by thick thighs while giving oral sounded like a great time in bed.


    Cowgirl riding me? Yes, please.


    But being tied up? Bound? Trapped?


    I fought down nausea.


    This was the difference between Diana and me.


    The sight before me was one of the hottest things I could imagine. A bunny girl Scathach was hopping on my dick like a pogo stick. Her every bounce getting harder and faster.


    Soon she really would break my hips.


    It was only Sticky Fingers that prevented me from softening inside of her core.


    Blood-red eyes stared down at me.


    "Hop."


    Knowingly.


    "Hop."


    Challengingly.


    "Hop."


    The bunny knows all.


    "Hooooop..."


    In a surge, I Freed myself from my cage of wood, sitting upward and slamming my head against hers in a brutal headbutt.


    "I told you," I growled, one hand grabbing her long hair and yanking her head back.


    "Ah!" She gasped as I mauled her left breast roughly, teeth biting down on her engorged nipple.


    I had been going easy on her.


    She didn''t want that.


    Fine.


    Time to break her.


    In my meat suit, I would lose 10 out of 10 times against Scathach in a battle.


    I trailed my tongue along her breasts, lighting up every inch of skin I touched with pleasure and pain. Her nerves were on fire as my tongue and dick branded themselves deep into her mind.


    "AAAAAAAHHHHHHHHH!" Scathach screamed her third orgasm of the day.


    And screamed.


    And screamed.


    After three minutes of stimulation, I withdrew my tongue from her skin but kept myself sheathed in her spasming and twitching cunt.


    "I told you," I repeated as blood-red eyes stared up at me vacantly.


    Drool dribbled out the corner of her mouth.


    Her breasts rose and fell rapidly as she desperately gasped for breath.


    "Bunnys don''t talk. They breed!"


    Her eyes refocused, alight with joy and challenge.


    Her mouth curved into a taunting smirk.


    "Then breed this bunny."


    Scathact screamed again.


    Even if I might lose to her in battle.


    In bed, I was undefeatable.


    I might never be able to give Scathach the death she wanted, but I could kill her in other ways.

 Probation 1

    <div>


    I heard from God today and She sounded just like me


    What have I done, and who have I become?


    I saw the devil today and he looked a lot like me


    I looked away, I turned away


    Arms wide open


    I stand alone


    I''m no hero and I''m not made of stone


    Right or wrong


    I can hardly tell


    I''m on the wrong side of Heaven and the righteous side of hell


    The wrong side of Heaven and the righteous side


    The righteous side of hell


    ********


    "Before we begin," Lois Lane said to me, a sombre look in her dark eyes. "I want to thank you for saving Superman and the other heroes. For a time, I feared we would lose them."


    "No problem," I replied with a knowing smile. "It was my wives who stepped in anyway."


    "Still," the famous reporter insisted, her eyes just as knowing as mine. We were being vague due to the other people in the room, but I could feel the sincerity radiating off of her. "I know I feel safer knowing they are still with us."


    "As I said," I smiled my most charming smile. "It was no issue. I am happy to help. I am also glad the misunderstanding with my landing has largely passed. My Family and the inhabitants of this world are striving to gain trust in each other. It has gone well so far, and I hope this little program will aid that effort." The cameras weren''t rolling yet, but it didn''t hurt to build a foundation. "By the way, congratulations."


    "Sorry?"


    "On the pregnancy," I said with a smile at her question. She froze, her eyes wide. "A daughter. You and your husband must be very happy."


    "We are," usually mild-mannered Clark Kent interrupted. "How did you know? We haven''t announced it."


    "A perk of being me," I smiled mysteriously, waving my hands vaguely mystically. "I know all. Woooo."


    Lois relaxed slightly at the joke, defusing the tense air that had risen from my ''threat.'' I hadn''t meant it as one, but I could see why she thought it might be.


    The camera crew and tech aids took this chance to congratulate their coworkers, along with more than a bit of ribbing of Clark.


    Apparently, it was an ongoing joke around the Daily Planet that plain ol'' Clark Kent had taken years to work up the nerve to ask out his childhood friend and crush.


    "If you don''t mind me asking," I said to Lois quietly while one man loudly proclaimed he ''taught Clark everything he knows.'' "I thought I was to be interviewed by Jimmy Olsen. I''m not opposed to the change. Just curious as to why the sudden shift?"


    "He''s on assignment," the intrepid reporter observed my movements in case I took offence to being ''stood up.'' "I was available to cover him, and he was the closest to the incident."


    "What happened?" I asked, more for politeness'' sake than actual interest. This was all theatre to me anyway. It didn''t matter who was actually asking the questions. Now that I thought about it, Lois might be a better fit since I saved her husband a week ago.


    "A few prisoners have disappeared from the Birdcage''s feed," Lois whispered conspiratorially, leaning forward in her chair. I leaned in as well. "Hasn''t been made public, and no one knows if they''ve escaped or not, but it has the brass buzzing like flies."


    "Anyone I should know about?" I asked, now actually curious. "I''m sure you have some... inside sources."


    In this world, lacking the Endbringer Truce, thus the need to keep prisoners alive as fodder, the Birdcage was used to house the superpowered prisoners that couldn''t be killed for one reason or another that had earned a Kill Order. It ran differently than in the novel, with each cell tailored to its occupant rather than acting as a loose prison yard.


    It was a hole they could throw people in and forget about, secure in the knowledge that they would never see the light of day. It had operated for decades without a loss or breakout.


    Until now.


    "Nothing official," Lois gave me the stink eye at my look towards her husband. "Just a few names, Gavel, Swamp Thing... the Faerie Queen."


    I raised a brow.


    Those were some big names.


    Gavel was just a big thug, but one whose defences were strong enough to stand up to Zion in the original Worm for several minutes. While I wouldn''t put him at Superman''s or Wonder Woman''s level of toughness, he was still durable enough that executing him was almost impossible.


    Swamp Thing, an anti-hero in most continuities, had gone berserk for some reason decades ago. He had a stronger form of chlorokinesis than even Poison Ivy and was immortal so long as he retained his connection to The Green. The burgeoning hero community at the time had fought desperately to contain him. He was one of the earliest prisoners of the Birdcage and had been one of the reasons it had been built in the first place.


    The Faerie Queen was...


    Quite frankly, she was the boogeyman of every Super in the world.


    In the original Worm, Glaistic Uaine could collect imprints of parahumans, killing them, or from those already dead. She would then use the power as a shadow of its former user. In the book, she could use two or three reliably, more if she was willing to sacrifice power for numbers.


    A useful and powerful ability, but in this world, that would have only put her in the A-lister classification at most. In a comic world, where most powers are not from Shards and whose heavy hitters way out-scaled her, she would have been a memorable, if limited, villain.


    That was if the Faerie Queen''s powers were the same as in the book.


    They weren''t.


    She wasn''t limited to shard bearers. Mutants or other supers were just as susceptible to her ability. Possibly regular humans as well, but she had shown no desire to harvest them.


    She summoned tens of dead as easily as breathing. Most of her army was low-level villains, rogues, or heroes. C and D-listers. But, with over forty known kills to her name, even A-listers could and had fallen to her.


    If that wasn''t terrifying enough, she was also immortal. There was footage of her head and chest vaporizing and regenerating.


    I had no idea why Ciara, the woman known as Glaistic Uaine as a villain and later Valkyrie as a hero, acted the way she did. In the book, she essentially ''talked'' to shards, driving her to a special kind of madness, but she had never been outright malicious.


    Like all potential threats, I had investigated her upon my landing. She had remained almost entirely unknown as a super for most of her life. Flying under the radar and using her powers subtly and infrequently for decades.


    A rumour of a ''super using other supers.''


    A ghostly figure, but one that didn''t stir any waves.


    Then, at some point after Behemoth first appeared, she snapped.


    Putting Glaistic Uaine behind bars had been the first significant victory for the Justice League, cementing their status as the greatest heroes in the world. She had been an Endbringer in all but body count, and even then, only because she targeted supers exclusively.


    No complex moral quandary like in the New Wave incident. She was a villain, and they were heroes. As simple as that.


    Between the start of her rampage in Los Angles and its conclusion in the outskirts of Gotham, an estimated three percent of all Supers on Earth had fallen to her growing shadow army.


    I could see why it was being kept hush-hush that she was AWOL.


    If the public thought that Glaistic Uaine was on the loose, the panic would be insane to deal with.


    "Thanks for the info," I nodded, recognizing an olive branch when I saw one. "If I hear anything, I''ll let you know, and you can pass it on to your... sources." I gave an exaggerated wink as I sat back in my chair.


    Lois Lane nodded, sitting back as well before calling out to the half dozen men joking and chatting with her husband.


    "Boys!" She shouted, making them jump. "Let''s get the camera rolling. You''re making the Elden Lord wait."


    More than one of them looked at me, terror on their face.


    I smile guilelessly.


    Judging by his quick exit and awkward walk, I think one of them shit himself.


    I chuckled.


    The others quickly regained their positions at the cameras, lights, and microphones.


    "We''re on in three. Two. One. -"


    "Elden Lord. World Conquerer. Dragon. Necromancer. Polygynist. The public is crying for answers. Who are you? Why are you here? Are you a hero? Who is Mikael?" Lois dived right in, not wasting any time on useless introductions. An actual intro would be filmed by their crew later.


    "I am here to answer all those questions and more," I replied with a charming smile. "I''m afraid I''ll have to summarize, though. Tens of millions of years don''t fit into an hour-long program easily." The reporter didn''t even blink at the length of time.


    She had seen some shit.


    "Why don''t you start with your youth, then?"


    "Depending on your definition, I am still quite young," I replied. We started with some easy questions and playful banter. "I am unique in nature, but those closest to me biologically are all older than this universe. Compared to them, I am just an infant."


    "That is... disturbing," Lois replied slowly. "Should we be worried about these other dragons?"


    "They wouldn''t be dragons, each a different being with different morphology, but you don''t have to worry," I waived off. "They are in different realities entirely and have no way of getting here. Even if they did, they are primarily sympathetic to mortals."


    "You said you are different from them? In what way? Because you are younger?" Lois pressed.


    "Essentially, yes," I nodded before starting the real reason I was here. "Unlike them, I was not born strong. I was mortal. Weak. Weaker than the humans of this planet, in fact."


    I noticed her eyes widening and saw them flicker to her disguised husband. The rest of the room''s occupants shuffled uncomfortably, realizing things were going off script.


    Like most interviews in this fashion, I had presented with questions I would be asked, and I was able to approve or reject them. Shows like this could not survive if they could not get people to come on them.


    No one wanted to look like a fool.


    So news agencies compromised. The guest came on, explained their side of the current issue, and got some publicity. The reporters got the chance to ask questions in a one-on-one context. Things veering off course was common enough, but only to the extent of digression, not a complete shift in the script.


    Lois Lane, a world-famous investigative journalist, rarely hosted things like this. She was well known for not pulling punches, asking tough questions, and being the type of bloodhound reporter dedicated to finding the truth, no matter the risk.


    She offended more people in power on a weakly basis than even me, and I was actively trying to push buttons.


    She was only here because the Daily Planet didn''t want to risk me going to another news outlet for an interview. With Olsen occupied, they hoped a big name like Lois Lane would draw me back. A basic, if practical political move to asway the large egos that usually came on shows like this.


    She was also on her best behaviour, sticking to the approved questions and catering to my earlier requests. Part of it was because I differed from the usual politician or corrupt CEO. I was a confirmed killer, incredibly powerful, and had a massive support following after the Simurgh, Doomsday, and Trigon. Part of it was that she did have some goodwill toward me for saving her husband''s life.


    If I had stayed on script, this little interview would have ended with a flattering, if slightly dull, article on ''Your Friendly Neighbourhood Elden Lord.''


    The Daily Planet''s narrative would have worked if I was a new hero looking to establish myself as reliable, trustworthy, and humane.


    I wasn''t.


    The narrative I wanted was completely different.


    Heroes were bound by specific codes of conduct, rules and laws that needed to be followed. I would face a massive backlash if I had that reputation and acted differently from the narrative later.


    I had brutally murdered five people on camera and gotten away with it for two reasons. First, their actions were enough that no judge would have tried to defend the Sons of Trigon. Second, people were still downright terrified of me.


    They wouldn''t be scared of ''Your Friendly Neighbourhood Elden Lord.''


    Medea had put it well. Humans need heroes to fight monsters. Heroes need to fight monsters. Monsters need humans to prey upon.


    But heroes are thrown down by the humans that raise them up.


    Monsters attract heroes like flies to honey.


    And humans are helpless before monsters.


    I didn''t want to be any of those.


    I was going to be all three.


    Human enough to evoke sympathy and support. Heroic enough that the mortals needed me to fight monsters. And monstrous enough that I wasn''t bound by any rules but those I chose to follow.


    I hoped my ''explanation'' with the heroes over Doomsday''s body would cover this.


    Keep them vague. Keep them guessing.


    Then I discovered Wonder Woman was gaining a bunch of Insight that I couldn''t control.


    So here I was, doing damage control using the ''truth,'' which Insight would confirm is the truth.


    God, was I tired of this shit.


    I had so much shit to do. I needed to practice with Haki and Aura, cuddle my cat(?), discover what my semblance is, cuddle my wives, fly some more, fuck my wives, read through my library, fuck my wives some more, play video games, and tour the world.


    Why can''t I be the big bad Dragon? I just want to fuck with people, is that too much to ask?


    Still, it wasn''t like I wasn''t good at what I did.


    Like a shark in the water, Lois Lane lept at the bloody bait I laid for her.


    "What do you mean by mortal?" She asked, leaning forward hungrily. She was more than willing to go off script if it meant getting a story she wanted.


    "Exactly that," I nodded. Without the genetic manipulation of beings like the Celestials, I hadn''t been kidding that I had been weaker than most of the humans on this planet. "You could call me human if it makes things easier. It''s not the same, but there is enough overlap with the humans of this world that the differences are academic. It is one of the reasons I was searching for a way to gain a human body and why my standard of beauty is similar to many people''s today." Little tidbits I am sure the super geniuses of the world already discovered.


    "Were you born on Earth? A few supers are well known to have lived for thousands of years or have the ability to shapeshift."


    "No. It was earth-like, but there were some major differences. We had a lower technological base, were biologically weaker, and had no supers. Not villains or heroes."


    "I''m sure quite a few people would love to know about what a world without supers was like, but we don''t have time for that. Tell us what happened. How did you go from a world with no powers to who you are now?"


    I could imagine anyone watching this leaning forward eagerly, wanting to know the source of my power and any weaknesses.


    "I should warn you, and any viewers watching, that the story is not a nice one," I said somberly. "I will do a lot of summarizing and gloss over a bit to save time, but what remains will still be disturbing. Anyone with a weak stomach should turn away."


    "We shall display the appropriate warnings," Lois said seriously. She didn''t even flinch. This woman had been to warzones and massacres and seen the worst humanity had to offer. She wouldn''t be scared away easily.


    Perfect.


    "As I said, I was mortal once," I started weaving my tale. My Performance Talent might not be as directly useful as Martial or Magic Talent, but I would put it to good use. "I had a family. Friends. People I loved and who loved me. But I was taken from them. I awoke one day in a stone prison. Locked away in a cell no bigger than a cubicle and left to rot. I stayed there for months. Alone. I received no food. No water. There was no one to talk to, and I had no idea what I had done to deserve such a fate."


    "How did you survive?" Lois asked, entranced. I wasn''t using Dragon Aura, but I didn''t need to.


    "I didn''t," I answered sombrely. "My first death came while I was in that cell. Starving and dehydrated, a husk of the man I once was."


    "That''s..." Lois furrowed her brow, trying to understand what I was getting at.


    "I hadn''t realized until then that I had been cursed," I explained. "I was undead. Cursed to never find joy in life nor peace in death. Any time I died, I simply returned. Still trapped in that cell. For eternity."


    "You escaped? Or were you released?"


    "After many months of struggle, I managed to escape my cell by shoving my limbs, one at a time, through the bars and reforming on the other side once I perished from the blood loss."


    I heard one of the cameramen retch at the image I was painting.


    Good.


    I firmly believed in moving on from painful memories. Of growing stronger from opposition.


    It was why I allowed Yoruichi to keep Ordering me, despite it tickling my trauma. My self-inflicted training regime.


    It wasn''t for everyone, but I would endure the discomfort if it meant overcoming my trauma.


    My ''story'' was just another weapon in my toolbox. It not only gave me sympathy from those who heard it, but it also acted as a shield. I placed a sword at any opponent''s neck by showing ''vulnerability.''


    Even if someone could theoretically kill my Family or me, what happens when I return?


    From there, I would resurrect the rest, and all you''d have accomplished was to make a very powerful and immortal Family mad at you.


    Nobody knew that my main body was my weakness. Nobody knew I couldn''t revive my wives like I could others. I was turning the cluster-fuck that was Glory Girl''s resurrection into ''proof'' that my Family was unstoppable.


    This interview was to be my magnum opus.


    If you stumble upon this narrative on Amazon, it''s taken without the author''s consent. Report it.


    This wasn''t me reacting or doing things for my wives. This was something I had set up and would achieve all by myself. A week in the making since I had talked to Wonder Woman in the wake of the Doomsday incident.


    After this, I can stop this constant politicking.


    I enjoyed the process and was good at it, but I did not want to worry about it for the rest of my time here. I''d still do it for shits and giggles occasionally, as well as to support the others, but after this, the narrative would be firmly set.


    I had my body for two weeks now, a month and a half since I had landed on Earth, and I was ready to retire.


    I wanted to spend my days reading, flying, playing games, trolling the people of this world, being a degenerate with my wives, and enjoying my happily ever after.


    The simple truth was that most things did not need my attention.


    I''d never be left entirely alone, but this interview will be the final touch on cementing my public image.


    "I resurrected outside my cell in a new world. One filled with undead, demons, dragons, and decrepit gods. All crawling toward a slow but inevitable apocalypse. I was naked. Powerless. Alone. With no skills and no clue as to what was going on."


    "What happened?"


    "I died. A lot." The other occupants of the room flinched. I was smiling, but it was not a happy smile. "I was bludgeoned to death. Decapitated. Burned. Impaled. Crushed. Eaten alive. Torn apart. I had never held a weapon, had no fighting experience, and was outnumbered thousands to one. That was not counting the demons that roamed the halls. Monstrosities three stories tall that killed anything that approached. That was how I spent my first month out of the cell as I tried to leave the Undead Asylum. It took one month to leave a building, even a large one. The rest of my journey was not any easier."


    My tale wove together effortlessly for the next few minutes, entrapping the listeners in my weaving.


    I uttered not a single lie, simply omitting a few details.


    I spoke nothing of the Catalogue or that my wives were part of the tale.


    I chose to do this because there was no better lie than the truth. I was sure the super geniuses of the world had already pieced together vast swaths of information about my Family and me, and I had no way of knowing what Insight had given the local version of Diana.


    By controlling the narrative, I could contextualize everything to my desire.


    "It was there I met Priscilla," I narrated. I had gotten her permission to explain the bare basics of her situation. In return, I had made her a promise. "Locked away in a magic painting because of fear and discrimination. A peaceful woman who wanted nothing to do with all the blood, violence, and death of the outside world. If you have watched her streams, you will know she loves music. It was my solace wandering the world alone, and it drew her to me. We sing together frequently, even today. I hope to soon be able to sing with her on stage and share our joy with the world."


    A little promotion for her burgeoning career.


    I saw one cameraman pump his fist in joy.


    She might be more popular than I thought if she is already that recognizable after only streaming for a little over a week.


    "That is lovely," Lois chimed in. "So Priscila was your first love? How did the others come into the picture? Was she accepting of your other wives?"


    "We will get to that story soon. Unfortunately," I sighed, looking into the distance as if lost in bittersweet memories. "Our time together was limited. I was still undead. The world was still coming to an end. The Fires of the First Flame were still fading. If I chose to stay with her, we might have had a few decades or centuries of happiness before the end. I didn''t want that. With a heavy heart, I took up my weapons again and continued my journey. I found a safe place for her while I did what I could for that world."


    I paused in my story when I saw a few eyes misting up in the room. Superman himself was red-eyed.


    It was almost physically painful not to make a laser vision joke.


    It made sense.


    Not only was I a supernaturally good storyteller, but my story contained hints of classics like Rapunzel and Beauty and the Beast, and carried a note of doomed heroism that resonated powerfully with people who lived in this world.


    Everyone loved a good romance, even the most stone-hearted, but a doomed romance was even more enticing.


    Despite being a parody of teenage love, Romeo and Juliet would not have resounded through the ages so well if that weren''t true.


    Still...


    Did they forget that this story had a happy ending?


    "That is the world Medea was talking about," Lois said, furtively wiping her eyes. It took a moment for me to remember what she was talking about.


    The Great Betrayal.


    When Ranni, Melina, Medea and, most damning of all, Artoria turned on me.


    I still had to get them back for that.


    "Ah..." I started to deny it on instinct.


    Then I paused and swallowed my words bitterly.


    Like it or not, and I definitely didn''t, their ''testimony'' would only help me form my narrative.


    "She said you burned for thousands of years to keep others alive. That always struck me as odd," Lois pressed. "You make no secret that you do not wish to be a hero despite how many people you have saved. Even immortal, burning for thousands of years would not have been a pleasant experience. You didn''t sacrifice yourself for a world or civilization. You did it for love! So your wife could live!"


    No, I didn''t! Don''t make my Tragic Backstory ? into a shitty Young Adult Romance Tragedy (Definity not TM).


    "There were others I was close to, and for myself, since it was the only way to end the curse," I insisted. I couldn''t say I was doing it for my Freedom or that I rescued Priscila as an experiment, but I could still deflect. "A handful of people I had managed to save. Less than ten in a kingdom that once housed hundreds of millions. And I had no idea I would burn for that long."


    I didn''t like the look in her eyes. I knew that look. It was the look of a fanfiction fan who was gushing about their OTP.


    Thankfully, Lois Lane didn''t disappoint me. Even lost in the ''romance'' of it all, she didn''t forget what she was here for.


    "Hem," she coughed slightly into her fist, refocusing on me with a set face. "While the story is fascinating and romantic, I notice you are skipping a lot and being intentionally vague. What are you trying to hide?"


    "In my defence, this story took place over decades, and we are just starting. Being light on details is a necessity. Still, you are right. I was trying to hide things, though not for my sake." I nodded agreeably, thankful she had taken my bait.


    "For your family, then," the reporter nodded.


    "Yes," I answered. "And I will continue to do so. Their secrets are their own. If they wish to share, they will. All I will say is that the place I managed to hide Priscilla is the Island I carried to this world. A separate dimension that the rest of my Family called home. I couldn''t not go there myself, but I could send her to them."


    "Why were they there?"


    "I won''t say," I shook my head firmly. "I don''t really have a concern about privacy for myself and am an open book. What you see is what you get. But those are my beliefs, not theirs. I respect them enough that I will not spill their secrets."


    "Very well," Lois nodded. I could detect a hint of respect in the action even if I knew it must rackle her news senses to have secrets dangled before her. "But that is how you met them, correct?"


    "In a way," I agreed. "I could not go to the Island myself, nor could they leave initially, but we could communicate."


    "And you fell in love," Lois said decisively.


    "Not even close," I disagreed. For a second, I delighted at their confused face before explaining. This portion of the story was a bit more than I would have liked to explain, but it was necessary to alleviate the concerns that I was Mastering my wives. "You must understand that I was still undead. Still in a world spiralling toward its destruction. I still had no idea what had led me to that place in the first place. I had no plans to fall in love. In fact, I actively resisted any sort of romantic overtures from them. While not unfamiliar with polygamy, my original society was still largely monogamous. I had no intentions of creating a ''harem,'' as some people are calling my Family."


    "What changed?"


    "Time," I said simply. "Time, sincerity, and support. It is hard to remain aloof when given love, care, and support. I was particularly stubborn, though, so I managed to hold off for centuries as I travelled to more worlds. Only after Melina died did I realize how important they all were to me. That was before I learned how to resurrect people, so I believed I had lost her forever. It led to me reexamining all my relationships."


    All true, yet so out of context that people would draw the utterly wrong conclusion.


    "Your ability to bring back the dead," Lois pounced. "Can you expound on it? The confirmation of the existence of the afterlife. Of the soul. It has stirred up a major hornet''s nest, and our readers and viewers are dying to know more."


    "Good one," I chuckled at the pun. Confusion rolled across her face instantly before her eyes twitched in annoyance. "We''ve already digressed so much to talk about my love life that I don''t want to waste too much time on this. Still, I can give the highlights."


    "It would ease many minds if they knew what was happening."


    "First, I will say something plainly to everyone who watches this. I will not be resurrecting anyone else. Period."


    "Why?" The reporter didn''t look judgemental, just curious. "While I am happy for Glory Girl''s return, what separates her from all the other heroes who have died. What about civilians? Are there restrictions on how many people you can bring back?"


    "I could, theoretically, bring back as many people as I wanted."


    "Then why just her?"


    "Let me ask you a question in reverse," I replied airily. "Would people be happy if I brought back everyone I wanted? If the dead walked the street with the living, immortal and unaging? More powerful than they were in life? If I was Glaisig Uaine 2.0. The Faerie King. Would people feel safer then?"


    "No, they would not." The grim set in her mouth told me Lois was seriously considering the idea.


    She wasn''t the only one.


    Most of the crew in the room was shuffling awkwardly.


    "That''s one of the reasons," I nodded. "There are a few others. Firstly, if you have watched the video of Glory Girl''s resurrection, you will know that I believed resurrection to be common at the time. And, after hearing my tale of my time as an undead, can you blame me? I had no idea it would be such an issue to the people of this world."


    It was an absurd truth but a truth nonetheless.


    Comic worlds had more death and resurrection than even Dark Souls.


    "I suppose not."


    "As for why Glory Girl, in particular, that reason is twofold. First, I needed a human body, and Panacea is still the best biokinetic in the world. With my abilities, I knew she wasn''t dead. The trade for her services was natural. Second, I received Glory Girl''s permission before contacting her sister. Notice how I did not bring back her parents? That is because they didn''t want to come back."


    "They didn''t?" The reporter looked surprised at my words before narrowing her eyes, looking for any signs of deceit. "I find it hard to believe someone would want to stay dead."


    "That is the arrogance of the living," I nodded. "They assume death is terrible. That coming back to life would be a good thing. It isn''t. Take it from someone who knows what he is speaking of. Life is a struggle. It is pain. Heartbreak. Loss. When someone dies, it is not the dead that are the victim. It is the living they leave behind. The dead are at peace. Beyond pain and sorrow. Being able to die can be a person''s greatest gift."


    "...My apologies," Lois Lane said softly, looking genuinely regretful for her words as she remembered that I had been denied that gift for the longest time. But she pressed on. If that was enough to stop her curiosity, she wouldn''t be who she was. Her eyes narrowed accusingly. "You make it sound like you are advocating suicide. That we should all just die."


    "I''m really not." I shook my head emphatically. "The dead are at peace, sure, but that is all they are. The dead cannot build or destroy. They might not feel pain but nor do they experience the joys of life. What they are is all they will ever be. Never able to grow. Never able to improve their lot or the world around them. We must live. For ourselves. For others that came before or will come after. Life is a struggle but a necessary and beautiful one."


    I wasn''t speaking out of my ass, nor was my opinion formed from my Life Element.


    I had faced grief. Pain. Depression. For centuries my existence had been an existential nightmare as I battled fear that ''I'' was being controlled, puppeted by women claiming to love me.


    Despite that, in my entire time, from waking in that cell to this second, the only time I had been suicidal had been while I burned in the Fires of the First Flame.


    Don''t you dare go hollow.


    Even after all these years and all the pain those words had caused me, I still thought those words and what they represented were beautiful.


    "I didn''t take you for a philosopher."


    "Anyone who lives long enough becomes one," I said genially. "Old age does that to people."


    "You called yourself an infant earlier," Lois reminded before getting back on track. "Before we return to your tale, do you mind explaining the nature of the afterlife? Baring your ability to resurrect people is what most concern the populous."


    "The short answer is afterlife: yes. The slightly longer answer is that there is a ''catch-all'' afterlife where the vast majority of anything with a soul ends up. It''s not some sort of paradise or a different place, just a layer of reality most can''t perceive where souls reside once they lose their physical anchors. I.E., Their bodies."


    "So you are claiming religious afterlives don''t exist?" Lois asked with a frown.


    "Eh," I said, waiving my hand in a so-so gesture. "As I said, that is where most souls end up. Any being of sufficient power that can interact with souls can create its own afterlife. I could theoretically do so as well. So if you make a deal with a devil or god, you are going to their afterlife. Prayer, sacrifices, or belief in such a being counts as making a deal, depending on its nature. The benefits are obvious. If you are Christian, for example, you might go to heaven. The downside is as obvious. You might not. You''re not the one who chooses. They are. More than that, you cannot forget that whatever you are making a deal with might change its mind, change the afterlife itself, or be completely different than what you believe it to be."


    "Please elaborate," she furrowed her brows, not getting the point right away.


    "Again, with the Christianity example, one can''t forget that what it means to be Christian has changed over the years. Early Christianity was an apocalypse cult, thinking the world would end in their lifetime. That influenced their views. Later Christians became incredibly militant. Not only was killing and enslaving permitted but it was also encouraged. That is not counting the hundreds of different denominations of Christianity or that Christianity is only one of three Abrahamic religions. You have no guarantee that your belief system, even if it is based on a religion, matches that of that religion''s deity. Or that diety might change over time, and what might have been favourable once no longer is. So it''s a gamble."


    I saw how disconcerting my words made her, Superman, and the other occupants uncomfortable. They had been raised in Kansas, in Christian America, and probably hadn''t dived too deep into history or theology.


    I fought the urge to sigh.


    Though this world had gods, magic, and all sorts of other ''heretic'' concepts, I could not forget that comics such as DC or Marvel were formed mainly in very Christian America. More modern stories were more nuanced or dealt with things more fairly, but a considerable part was still steeped in Americana.


    One of the most famous heroes was called Captain America and had been around in the early twentieth century! He had punched out Hitler!


    There were literal propaganda posters with him as their face!


    I hadn''t wanted to go too deep into it for this very reason.


    Religion was deeply personal to people and, baring politics, was the easiest way to spark controversies.


    Comic worlds had a bunch of different afterlives, with a dozen other gods or demons to rule them. I had just been trying to explain the rules to the people of this world who didn''t have the information I did.


    Time for some damage control.


    "Look," I said softly. "As you can tell from my story, I have problems with gods. I''ve died at their hands an uncountable number of times. Their actions doomed that world to a slow decay because they were unwilling to let their power go. To accept that all things must end. But that was those worlds. This one operates by different rules. There is nothing wrong with prayer, belief, or religion. Putting your trust in a higher power can be comforting, and there are benevolent deities. We all know how much effort Thor goes through for mortals. I''ve married a goddess. Multiple if you want to get technical. Like all things, religion is complicated and cannot be condensed into a few minutes of explanation in a tv interview. I''ve explained all this not to convert people to my view but to simply ensure people know what they are getting into."


    "I see," Lois said, looking a bit more relaxed. "Thank you for the explanation, though I fear we have gotten off topic."


    "Where was I?" I asked, knowing but letting her reset where she wanted.


    "You had left Priscilla on the Island and met the other inhabitants there," she said easily.


    "Right," I nodded.


    I continued my story from there, paying careful attention to emphasize how difficult fighting the Lords had been, the atrocities of New Londo and other aspects that highlighted the violent nature of the worlds I travelled to.


    That little tangent hadn''t been planned, but it served to help humanize me, which was good, so I decided to tell the rest of my story, emphasizing less my human element and more the inevitability of my victories.


    When your opponent is immortal, violent, and bent on a goal, it is not a matter of ''if'' but ''when'' they will find and kill you.


    So don''t fuck with them.


    I blasted through the rest of the Dark Souls series, explaining that after returning to the world for the third time, I had simply decided that the weakening of the fire was inevitable and set out to build a new world for the inhabitants than try and light it again.


    Elden Ring led to a few questions, such as clarifications on a few names Lois had noted from Ranni and Melina''s speeches but was otherwise blasted through easily.


    I framed my world travel as my own skill, though one that left me weak and alone due to my young age at the time. It was an excellent excuse for why I hadn''t curb-stomped any new world I visited right away.


    My goal had been to reach my Family on the Island, and I had searched, one world at a time, for a way.


    I hinted that I had visited or knew of other worlds, just to keep people guessing, but denied talking about them, citing that we were already low on time for the interview.


    Then we got to Bloodborne, and I put the finishing touches on my narrative.


    "In that world, afflicted by a plague I helped cure," I explained away, not delving deeply into what I had done. "I had found a way to reach the Island, but in doing so, I had to discard my human form and ascend beyond it. I became more than I was. That was millions of years ago, of course, and a lot has happened since, but we have almost run out of time, so I will skip to the end."


    I love telling technical truths. It gives me the tinglies.


    "Finally, with my Family, I decided to visit earth as it was familiar to most of them, for obvious reasons. It wasn''t all perfect, though. I am afraid the League was right to a degree," I said regretfully. "I had become something that was a threat to others. In size alone, I would never be able to find a planet that could support what I had become. I do wish they had tried to talk first, they would have known that I had mitigated the danger I posed, but I cannot blame them for their caution."


    Clark Kent winced.


    "You know of my wives," I smiled proudly. "After everything we''ve been through, they are quite protective of me, and I of them. I would like to use this interview to formally apologize to the superhero community of this world. Their rejection of my Family had hurt Diana and Raven. It was one of the reasons we were operating covertly for the first month on Earth. I didn''t want to force them to choose between the Family and versions of their friends. When they surrounded us in Australia last week, I was angry. I was prepared to do something... drastic."


    "I am happy things worked out," Lois smiled in turn.


    "So am I. If I had gone through with my plan, I would have been sleeping on the figurative couch for at least a month," I said with a chuckle. Lois gave a polite laugh that died at my following words. "Who would think Doomsday would save the world? What a time to be alive."


    "...Right. You never know what might happen." She looked at her watch nervously before meeting my eye. "We have run out of the time you promised us."


    I didn''t know what disturbed her more. That I was planning on destroying the earth, something they knew I could easily do, or that I would only be in the dog house for a month for doing it.


    Either way, I found the bead of sweat on her brow hilarious.


    One little joke and I had just coopted any attempts to subvert my Family against me.


    Wonder Woman would try a save the world from me if they crossed my line, but that''s all she would do.


    When we first landed, I held a tiny sliver of fear that she would leave us now that we had found a world like her home. That sliver had been exacerbated by what happened with Doomsday.


    It was one of the reasons I had almost lost my cool arguing with her and Artoria.


    Fear, as always, was my greatest foe.


    That had changed after our last... talk and her gift.


    Now I was sure of one thing.


    If it came down to it, she would choose the Family over the world, even if she''d be put out with me over it.


    "One final question before you leave us," Lois said quickly, shifting the topic away from the armageddon they had avoided by pure luck.


    "Alright," I agreed readily, pausing in my rise from my chair to look at her. "I am meeting some friends for drinks soon, but I''m sure they will understand."


    "I''m sure they will," Lois said. I only caught the micro glare she sent her husband because I had been looking for it. "It is about your island. It''s been a constant in your story, but you never elaborated on it. What is it? Is it a threat to the people of earth?"


    "As I said, it''s a pocket dimension," I explained. "One that my Family and I have made our home. Think of it as a massive mobile house. But no, it is not a threat."


    "You claimed that the creatures of your island would be able to ''drive our civilization back to the stone age.'' Please elaborate on why we should not consider it a threat."


    "For one, I am keeping them contained," I said, an idea springing to mind. "If I were to die for a while, then yes, it would pose a risk, and something could get out. But we don''t have to worry about that."


    I hadn''t considered it before, but it was a good idea to use the Island as a deadman switch-type threat.


    Kill me, and Pandora''s box is opened.


    "The other reason is you''d have to be monumentally stupid to try and invade a dragon''s den, let alone one that has had millions of years to fortify, one that is the size of a continent and is married to some of the greatest mages of all time. Think about how dumb you''d have to be to think going there with malicious intent was a good idea."


    "Then why do you allow those with such intent to pass through the barrier?"


    "To help the gene pool," I joked, but Lois didn''t laugh. "Seriously, and I cannot stress this enough. Crossing that barrier is optional, but anyone who does is doomed."


    "So you kill them all?" She asked seriously.


    "I don''t need to. I don''t even have to pay attention when someone enters. As something of a connoisseur of ways to die, take it from me, the easiest way someone will die is if they are eaten alive if they cross my threshold. Some of the stuff there..." I shuddered, remembering the Wormfaces, Runebears, Basilisks, the maggots, Blood Flies, and other things that have killed me in the past. "There are no less than ten different kinds of poisonous swamps on the Island, each worse than the last. The animals range from Lightning Goats to full-on Hydras. And I would still take the latter over some of the other creatures that live there."


    "I see..." Lois looked a little pale at the idea of anything that would make me, the Elden Lord and someone who had died countless times, shudder. "Thank you for your time today, and I hope we get the chance to talk again."


    "We might," I nodded agreeably, standing up. Seeing the reporter still slightly shaken, I put a comforting hand on her shoulder and smiled as the cameras cut and the crew started talking. "As I said, don''t worry about it. So long as I am here, nothing will escape the Island. And anyone who enters is both morally irredeemable and suicidally stupid." That type of person made great test subjects for Medea. Or food for Medea and the dragons. "Or just plain suicidal."


    ********


    Amanda Waller watched the infrared drone feed as long as she could.


    Then she started the video footage of the interview again before looking back to the drone.


    Then the ship disappeared, passing through the White Mountains as if they weren''t there, and all she had left to watch was the interview feed.


    In the privacy of her office, the head of the PRT let out the smallest of relieved sighs.


    There had been some concern that unconscious people wouldn''t count, even if they fit the Elden Lord''s requirements. Thankfully there were no issues.


    If nothing else, the massive island was a great way to kill people on death row.


    Now, all that was left was to wait.


    Out of habit and paranoia, Waller pulled up the dossiers once more to go over everything for points of failure.


    For the twentieth time, the head of the Parahuman Response Team concluded that any point of failure would not fall back on her, the PRT, or the US government.


    All six had been contacted through intermediaries, promised freedom in exchange for services. As far as they all knew, they now worked for a rogue agency with a twitchy trigger finger, ready to blow their brains out at the slightest sign of disobedience.


    Five of the six had been outfitted with explosive devices inside their bodies, and the sixth, Gavel, had been given enough incentive that, in the unlikelihood of his survival, he would focus more on the Elden Lord than returning to his old ways.


    Waller grimaced.


    Swamp Thing''s escape was of little consequence. The modern Protectorate was more than able to deal with him when he showed his mossy head compared to decades ago. As soon as they knew where he had gotten off to and how he escaped, he''d be back in prison where he belonged.


    The Faerie Queen though...


    That was a shit show waiting to happen. Even ignoring the optics of the first break out of the Birdcage, the PRT still had no clue where she was, what her goals were, or if she would start another rampage.


    There were over thrice as many Supers today than six years ago, more soldiers for her army than ever.


    The only silver lining of the entire exodus was that it had provided the perfect cover to sneak Gavel free, even if his escape had been the tipping point that alerted the facility to the loss of its inmates.


    The other members had been nowhere near as difficult to recruit as their facilities had been PRT based and thus easier to exfiltrate from their prisons.


    Deathstroke and Taskmaster would do well to keep the others in line. They weren''t the strongest, but they were the most professional. The latter, in particular, was more deadly than ever. Waller didn''t trust any of them, but those two were known to at least keep their word.


    Killer Frost, Gavel, and Hookwolf were muscle, barely more than superpowered thugs but useful ones. Waller half expected them to kill each other before this was over, bombs be damned, but that was acceptable as long as they fulfilled their task first.


    Ideally, they would band together to stay alive for as long as possible, but there was nothing lost if they didn''t.


    They were all going to die anyway.


    Waller crushed the tiny spark of guilt as she came to the last profile.


    She didn''t know what the woman had been before she had appeared in Maddison, but Spiral was no longer anything but a ticking time bomb.


    One that could use magic, teleport, and paralyze others. When looking at potential ''recruits,'' the six-armed mutant had fit their needs so perfectly that Waller seriously considered whether she needed the rest of the crew.


    With the Simurgh dead, most of her plans were to be considered failures, but appropriate caution still needed to be taken, even if her victims would never recover.


    And the mutant, Ziz bomb or not, was simply too valuable to let rot or execute.


    At least now, she could do some good for the world.


    Amanda Waller was placing a lot of eggs in this basket. She had done everything to be as safe, careful, and discreet as possible. Learning that the Elden Lord would return from the dead was extremely disheartening. It just emphasized the need to pry out his secrets if it was the truth, and talking about the island had clearly been something he didn''t want to do.


    Even if they could only kill him temporarily, it would still be better than not being able to touch him at all.


    As the ship carrying six unconscious villains landed on the shore of the Island, Amanda Waller prayed that this would be enough.


    That the risk she was taking would pay off.


    That the US would no longer have to fear the Elden Lord''s whim.


    That the secret of the Dragon''s blood would be the key to humanity''s independence from the powerful forces that lurked in the darkness of space.


    She prayed that her Suicide Squad would do their job and then die, never alerting the Elden Lord to their presence.


    Amanda Waller was not the most moral of people or devotedly religious, but she was still human.


    Like most people, her dreams were simple.


    Success and a better tomorrow than the day that came before.


    After her family''s tragedy, she spent her entire life climbing the ladder of the world to accomplish those goals.


    She had no way of knowing that both of those dreams were mutually exclusive.


    She should have prayed for failure.

 Probation 2

    <div>


    Well her friend is looking at me with an evil grin


    I think the bloody racket might soon begin


    I must have said something


    To the George street queen


    The boys are joining in!


    Because the old black rum''s got a hold on me


    Like a dog wrapped round my leg


    And the old black rum''s got a hold on me


    Will I live for another day?


    Hey, Will I live for another day?


    ********


    "One Homeboy," the waitress said, sliding the beer over to Clark, who thanked her kindly. "One Caped Cruiser."


    She set the drink in front of the smiling form of Bruce Wayne, who thanked her in turn, shooting me a glare when she looked away for my choice in order.


    I smiled guilelessly at him.


    "And one ''most absurd drink you have on the menu," she drawled playfully at me before giving me a wink. "Otherwise known as the Trash Can."


    "Thank you, dear," I flashed her a charming smile as I paid for the drinks with a generous tip. Her smile deepened. "Keep them coming?"


    "Will do." She sauntered away to her next customers, hips swaying suggestively. "Holler if you need me."


    There was a beat of silence before Clark spoke.


    "Your married," he reminded me, taking a swig of his beer. "And she''s not even twenty."


    "First off," I pointed out, sipping my drink. The cup was massive, the liquid was glowing neon blue, and an upside-down Red Bull floated in it.


    It wasn''t that bad.


    A bit sweet.


    "I''m tens of millions of years old. Even if all the ages of my wives were put together, I''d still be robbing the cradle. How do you know her age anyway?"


    "Her ID''s in her pocket," Clark shrugged. "She can serve but not drink alcohol in the states."


    I stared at him for a second.


    Did he seriously card our waitress?


    I shook my head wryly.


    "Secondly," I continued. "Looking is a free action. Look but don''t touch is the rule. I don''t begrudge any of my wives if they find other men or women attractive, and they return the favour. Basic trust. We''re possessive, not jealous. There''s a difference. You can''t tell me, in your industry, you don''t appreciate the... colourful costumes some of your coworkers wear."


    I stared the pair down, daring either to lie and say they had never stared at an attractive heroine or villain in tight or revealing clothes.


    Clark looked away, taking another swig of his beer.


    Bruce took his first sip, not wilting under my questioning look.


    "Why Montana," the disguised Batman asked.


    "Less chance of either of you two being recognized," I shrugged. "Look around this bar and tell me that anyone here knows Daily Planet photographer Clark Kent or reads celebrity magazines and knows infamous playboy trillionaire, Bruce Wayne."


    The bar I had brought them to first was a small town tavern in some town nestled in the Rockies whose name I didn''t care to remember. The type of place with all wood furniture, a pool table, and a picture of Chuck Norris on the wall.


    Perfect for two men in their middle age and an infant Great One to have a few beers and get to know each other.


    "Then why are you the only one disguised," Clark asked.


    "If you hadn''t noticed, I''m kinda a big deal," I ran my hand through my long blond hair, my now green eyes shining in mirth.


    Keeping up the illusion was easy. The most annoying part of this whole disguise was the tightness in my body. I could see why Priscilla didn''t like shrinking. It was like squeezing into too-tight pants. You could still move, but it was uncomfortable.


    "My face is on every magazine and every news channel, and my name is the current most trending search on the internet. If I were to go anywhere undisguised or without a Stranger effect, I''d be mobbed in moments."


    "Fair enough," Superman nodded. "To be honest, when you said you''d be taking us out for drinks, I was afraid you''d take us to some loud club or neon-lit dance floor. This is nice. Reminds me of the first bar my Pa took me to when I turned twenty-one."


    "The night is young," I smiled mischievously before softening it. "But neither of you two would enjoy that. I''m more at home with a cup of tea and a good book than any large party with blasting music. Maybe when we have a few more drinks in us."


    "Please, no," Clark smiled shakily. "If Lois finds out I went somewhere like that, I''ll be sleeping on the couch for a week."


    "Whipped," I said in good humour.


    Clark nodded, looking proud rather than embarrassed.


    What happened tonight didn''t depend on me.


    "What are we here for," Bruce interjected suspiciously. "Why all this? You know as well as I that alcohol or poison won''t work on us."


    "Chill, dude," I said in my most nauseating ''surfer bro'' accent. "Let the wave of life ride you to the beach of happiness, man." Bruce didn''t look amused, but Clark did chuckle. I decided to toss the bat a bone. "We are here to relax. Get to know each other. Build some bridges. Get away from all the estrogen in our lives. I don''t know about you two, but I am drowning in it. In my household of twenty-one, the only males in my Family are two drakes and our two horses."


    "You have a farm?" Clark asked, interested.


    "On an Island that big, of course we have some land to cultivate," I said wryly, my words laced with double meaning. "Not counting anything Tsunade does or Medea''s garden of ingredients, we have an orchard and have recently started harvesting animals."


    "I thought you said your Island was a deathtrap," Bruce interjected.


    "It is," I nodded. "But it is also MY Island. Not only have I cordoned off my home, but I am the top predator there. Nothing messes with me."


    Dragon Fear was great for dissuading anything without higher brain functions from trying to escape. "I won''t be inviting anyone not part of the Family home, you''d still probably die, but I''ve been meaning to spend some time with Best Boi Torrent, my steed. If you want, I can ride him there next time you visit the folks in Smallville."


    "Thanksgiving is coming up," Clark nodded genially while Batman scowled, not liking the reminder that I knew almost everything about their civilian identities. "We''ll be up there all week. Ma would like to meet you, so it should be fine if you want to come by on Monday or Tuesday."


    I had been expecting some conditions, maybe a veiled threat or two. This was his family, after all. I guess he really was on board with this whole trust thing.


    "Great," I nodded. "Would she mind if Artoria came as well? We''ve been meaning to have a race, and Kansas would be a great place since my Island doesn''t have a good prairie or hill land large enough for us. You can referee since she''s so competitive, and I like to cheat."


    "Only if you bring Diana," Clark agreed. "Ma''s been bugging me to bring them over since the whole Doomsday incident. Wants to thank them in person."


    "That it? Sure," I blinked, a bit surprised. "Fair warning though, if there is going to be any food available, she will want to make triple the amount. Artoria has the stomach of a black hole."


    "I know," Clark''s smile twitched slightly. "The League''s chefs have been... vocal since she started dining with us on the job."


    "You didn''t answer the question," Bruce said. His face returned to a well-practiced smile as the waitress passed by again, but I could tell it was fake. His eyes had been observing me intently the whole time. "Why all this? What are you hoping to achieve by bringing us here?"


    I sighed and finished my drink.


    Clark being a friendly, farm town homeboy, made it hard to fuck with them.


    I would still do it, but I''ll go easy on them for now.


    "I''m hoping that if we can''t be friends, we can at least be friendly," I said, waiving down the waitress for another. "I''m sure you guessed, but Diana is the last survivor of her world."


    Clark winced, but Batman kept staring at me intently, not even blinking.


    "You aren''t her dead friends," I continued before pausing to give a nod of thanks to the waitress and waiting for her to leave. "But you are men almost identical to her best friends, fighting for a cause she believes in. Unless something happens, you''ll naturally be friends again in a few years. It would break her heart if something happened to you because of me. And, I am sorry to say, if a fight were to break out between me and this world, there is a clear winner."


    "We would stop you," Bruce insisted. Clark almost looked like he would say something but remained silent, watching for my response.


    "There''s nothing to stop," I sighed again. "I am, quite literally, a sleeping dragon. So long as nobody decides to come to tickle me, I will be content to remain sleeping in my lair with my hoard of wealth and my princesses in the tower."


    "And when someone does tickle you?" Bruce asked suspiciously.


    I rolled my eyes.


    "I will deal with them," I emphasized the last word. "Accordingly. I am not some gibbering madman. I''m reasonable, measured, and controlled. I won''t lash out blindly because some villain decides he wants to commit suicide by Elden Lord."


    "But you''ll kill them," Batman pressed, his playboy mask slipping as he scowled at me. Clark touched his friend''s shoulder as if to tell him he had gone too far.


    "Probably," I shrugged, not offended in the slightest. "I''m not going to go on a killing spree if that''s what you''re worried about. If someone bumps into me on the road, the worst they can expect is a spell to tie their shoes together or similar pranks. But, yeah, if someone really fucks with me or mine, I''m gonna kill them. If they''re lucky."


    This was my bottom line.


    I was willing to play nice, both because of Diana and because I genuinely thought I could be friends with them, but they should never forget who I was.


    Their laws were not mine.


    Their morals were not mine.


    They should never mistake my complacence for compliance.


    "Remember those thieves who tried to take my weapons," I reminded the pair. I had set that trap for just such an occasion. "I got my stuff back, so I let them off with a little scare, and then I let you deal with it. Even though I knew the PRT and SHIELD agents were operating on the orders of their superiors, I sought no further reprisals or dispelled the little charade on camera. I didn''t burn down their organizations or even touch their agents."


    While Bruce continued to meet my eyes without issue, Clark winced.


    I didn''t blame him.


    After all, I had baited that trap for just such an opportunity, and those loveable greedy bastards had dove right in. I''ll be milking that one for a while.


    Aren''t I such a kind, understanding abomination?


    "We appreciate your cooperation," Clark nodded agreeably. "Now and in the future."


    I internally golf-clapped the Kryptonian. By wording it that way, he implied I should leave it to them to deal with similar situations.


    Keeping my ego intact while also getting my agreement.


    Homeboy knew the game better than expected.


    Bravo.


    "So long as they don''t cross a line," I gave him the slight win while keeping my options open.


    Honestly, I was too lazy to deal with everyone who''d ever annoyed me. I''d just sick the League on them now.


    I could imagine it now.


    ''Superman! Go beat that guy up. He bullied me!''


    "I hope that has given you some peace of mind," I nodded at the disguised Cape Crusaider. "Though it brought the mood down. Do you know what will solve it? More booze!"


    "I''m still working on mine," Clark replied sheepishly, a third of his beer remaining.


    Bruce took the second sip of his cocktail of the night.


    "Please," I waived him off. "You can''t tell me you honestly think that stuff will do anything for you. It was a tension breaker to start the night. Pregaming the pregaming, if you will."


    I finished my second Trash Can with a chug, and rather than call the waitress over again, I dipped my hand into my Bottomless Box.


    I withdrew it holding two clay jugs and three clay cups.


    "What do you get when you marry a celt who can''t get drunk with regular booze and give her supernatural cooking ability," I asked rhetorically as the two men opposite me eyed my prizes warily. "You get mead that will get even a Kryptonian drunk."


    "Uh," Clark stammered as I poured him a cup before using the other jug to pour one for Batman, who eyed it suspiciously. I poured myself one from the first jug. "Is this safe?"


    "It''s fine," I waved his concern away before looking at the billionaire. "Feel free to test it. I''m sure you brought something to test your drinks. That jug is fine for humans. Don''t have any of this one, or Alfred will be scraping you out of bed in the morning."


    I was unsurprised when a small device fell out of the man''s sleeves and dipped in the amber liquid. He then repeated the action with Superman''s cup.


    After a second, Batman scowled and put away his tool.


    "Now that we know it''s no more poisonous than all other alcohol," I chuckled, holding my cup aloft. "I propose a toast!"


    The other two raised their cups uncertainly, wondering where I was going with this.


    "To good friends and happy wives!"


    "I can drink to that," Clark smiled in relief as he clinked his cup with mine. Batman did as well without a word. "That''s good!" The Kryptonian said in surprise as he took another sip of his drink.


    "Supernaturally good cooking includes brewing," I reminded him with a grin as I drank. Batman took the smallest of sips. "Just remember to pace yourself. Scathach likes her booze like she likes her men. Strong and able to knock her on her ass. Don''t drink too much."


    "I''ll be fine," Superman waived me off, taking another sip.


    ********


    Clark had drunk too much mead.


    "I like that plashe," the Kryptonian slurred as Batman half carried his friend from the building pulsing with light and music.


    "Good to know," the Elden Lord smiled mischievously. "I''ll bring you and Lois again when she can drink again. It can be a regular haunt for you two."


    "Than-ksh," Clark slurred. "Ya know, you''re a good guy. Ebry one is shhhooow nish. Like ''at nish lady."


    "You mean the bartender?"


    Batman could understand Mikael''s confusion, even if it didn''t stop the glare he was levelling on the man for getting him in this situation. Despite supporting his friend over his shoulder, the hero kept his eyes open as he followed the man down an alley and away from a view of the street.


    "Ya. Ya," Clark nodded drunkenly. "Don tell ''ois, but I think shhhheeee was into ''e. I ''ried ta let ''er down eashee. She''s purtty, but ''ois is the ''est. I wuv Wois."


    The Elden Lord howled with laughter, doubling over and smacking his knees.


    Once the disguised man was looking away, Bruce allowed himself a small smile at his friend''s expense.


    The Kryptonian, unused to alcohol that could affect him, had drunk way more of the enchanted mead than the other men had recommended.


    At one point, using Superman used his superior speed to grab a full jug from Mikael''s hands and run away to chug it.


    He only returned when it was empty.


    Things devolved from there as the two heroes were swept up in the dragon''s pace.


    Mikael had taken the Kryptonian''s inebriation as a challenge and showed a willingness to use illusions to trick the pair into ''funny'' situations.


    Once Clark said the bar was ''boring,'' the Elden Lord decided it was time to take the pair on a world-hopping trip using his magic to teleport the group to various establishments.


    Their destinations included, but were not limited to, a vodka factory in Siberia, the Sahara, the Antarctic (where Clark decided to help the melting icecaps using his ice breath), and some sort of magical grove where the trio was chased by monkeys after Mikael swiped some drinks from a tree.


    In the privacy of his mind, Bruce could admit that peach wine had been one of the best things he had ever drunk.


    The monkeys had only stopped chasing them once Mikeal had thrown a jug of mead at them.


    Now they were back in the US, on the east coast, and the night was almost over as the moon descended closer to the horizon.


    Bruce thought they might be in Boston but wasn''t sure. The Elden Lord had given them little time for recognizance before disguising the pair with another illusion and heading into another bar.


    A gay bar.


    Themed around superheroes.


    With a drag queen dressed as Captain Marvel as the bartender.


    Bruce had subtly slid them a thousand-dollar tip when they kept Clark occupied long enough for him to go on a much-needed bathroom break.


    Unlike his small-town friend, the Gothamite knew what sort of people ''cape groupies'' tended to be as he was the one that oversaw the League''s merchandising operations.


    Unauthorized duplication: this tale has been taken without consent. Report sightings.


    So long as there was no crime, Batman didn''t care, even if he was slightly put off by the number of Batmans and Robins engaged romantically with each other.


    Returning, the Caped Crusader had half carried his drunk friend out of the bar after ''Captain Marvel'' slipped him their number.


    Mikael had been laughing from start to finish.


    The Caped Crusader had watched the Elden Lord for any trouble throughout the night.


    Batman was ready to call the League in at a moment''s notice.


    He tested every drink for poison, evaluated every destination for an ambush, and used his equipment to disrupt any cameras nearby in case the man thought he could use compromising pictures as blackmail.


    Nothing.


    Oh, the man was no saint.


    A few of the things they had done tonight skirted the line of illegal, to say nothing of the embarrassing situations Clark found himself in.


    But the alien dragon had been mischievous and playful, never malicious.


    At one point, Mikael had even stepped between Clark and a group of women looking to take advantage of his friend''s inebriated state.


    Bruce was, dare he say it, starting to relax.


    He''d never let the Elden Lord know.


    "Oh god," Mikael panted, still chuckling as he rose from his knees. "You''re a great drunk."


    "''m not drunk," Clark slurred out, his shifting weight making Bruce''s life difficult. "''ou are."


    "Nah," the Elden Lord denied with a chuckle, approaching the pair and holding up his hands, which began to glow subtly. "I''m a terrible drunk. Too much trauma."


    Bruce took a step back, made difficult by his friend''s unsteady form.


    "What are you trying to do?" He asked suspiciously, finger ready to press the emergency signal in his cuff in the blink of an eye.


    Just because there hadn''t been a trap yet, didn''t mean he had ever dropped his guard.


    "Chill," Mikael rolled his eyes. "This is just going to flush the alcohol from your systems. I don''t know about you, but I have no desire to bring a drunk Superman home to Lois."


    Maybe it was the drinks, as Batman had been forced to have a few, but the billionaire allowed the disguised dragon to lay his hands on his back.


    Warmth passed through the pair as the Elden Lord whispered, ''Flame, Clease Them.''


    Then everything was clear again. The slight sluggishness of Bruce''s thoughts, thanks to the late hour and the drinks, disappeared.


    Clark staggered away and threw up on the ground.


    "How much did he have to drink," Mikael asked, looking at the Kryptonian in surprise. "That spell shouldn''t have any side effects. I''ve been using it all night."


    "Too much," Clark said after he finished retching. "Way too much. Oh god!"


    "There, there," the Elden Lord patted his back consolingly. "Everyone knows what beer goggles are like. Nothing to be ashamed of. And he was a very convincing Captain Marvel."


    "Oh god!" Clark repeated in horror as Mikael howled with laughter again.


    "This has been great," the Elden Lord said, wiping a tear from his eye as the Kryptonian finished emptying his stomach and stood up. "What do you say, one more stop before the night is through?"


    "No," Superman denied. "No more drinking. I''ve had enough for the decade."


    "At least I didn''t leave you to deal with the hangover," Mikael playfully pouted. Then he placed his hand on both men''s shoulders, and they started to glow the pale blue that indicated he was teleporting them somewhere again. "And relax no more alcohol tonight. We''re just dropping Bruce off before you."


    They disappeared from the alley.


    And reappeared in another.


    Bruce''s breath froze in his throat.


    It didn''t take more than a glance to recognize this place.


    He visited it every night.


    Either in person or in his nightmares.


    "Where are we," Clark asked suspiciously, seeing his friend tense. He tensed as well at the Elden Lord''s answer.


    "Crime Alley, behind the Monarch Theatre in Gotham."


    Mist began to gather, its pale white tendrils visible in the glow of the city.


    "Why have you brought me here," Batman snarled, fists clenching and body tensing for action.


    He should have never trusted the Elden Lord.


    "I told you earlier," Mikael shrugged, not intimidated in the slightest. "Tonight is about building bridges."


    Batman was about to show the infuriating man precisely what he thought of him when a voice paralyzed him in place.


    "Bruce?"


    The Dark Knight barely heard the Elden Lord''s following words as he stared in shock at the see-through forms of a man and woman.


    "Mom? Dad?"


    ********


    "Do you want me to drop you off at home? Or would you rather fly?" I asked Clark as we stood outside the alleyway.


    "I''ll stay with him," the Kryptonian said seriously, eyes never leaving the alley. I was looking away, not willing to watch. "You said he has till sunrise?"


    "Yep," I nodded easily. "That''ll give him a few hours. If you''re not going home, let your wife know. I''d hate for there to be a dragon hunt for me because she woke up without you."


    "I already did."


    "Then I''ll see you around."


    As I made to teleport back to my home, Superman''s voice stopped.


    "This is a kind thing you are doing," he said softly. "You didn''t have to do it."


    "Eh," I shrugged. "No skin off my back. I''m sticking with my promise to not bring anyone back, but letting him talk to them is easy."


    At his core, Batman was still the scared, traumatized child who watched his parent''s murder. Targeting that aspect was the best way to ingratiate myself.


    I got Batman''s favour, and he got closure.


    This was the kind of emotional manipulation I liked, one that benefited both parties and cost me nothing.


    "Still, I know how much this means to him." Those blue eyes stared me down intently. "Thank you. He''ll never say it, but this will go a long way towards building trust."


    I snorted at Superman''s words.


    "He won''t ever trust me," I denied. "For the same reason I am sure he has a plan for every hero if they go rogue. It doesn''t matter what I do, he will keep trying to find my weakness and never rest until he has a plan to put me in the ground. That is who Batman is. Tonight was never about stopping his fear and paranoia. That is impossible without changing who he is. It was about building a rapport that we can live with."


    If tonight were a win/lose game of who gained the most information between Batman and me, then the bat won.


    He was more intelligent than me. No ifs or buts about it. I am sure he gained a host of valuable data about me, my habits, and my powers.


    I had only learned one thing.


    But that one nugget gleaned was all I needed to consider tonight, my victory.


    My win condition tonight had never been about getting Batman to completely trust me.


    It was seeing if he would play along with my game.


    At the end of the day, Batman was like me.


    We were ruled by our fears, and learning to channel and overcome them was our most significant advantage in a world so much bigger than us.


    We''d never leave our paranoia behind.


    So, if I could convince Batman, the Man with a Million Plans, the Dark Knight, the mind behind the greatest organization on this planet, to go along with my games and whims, there was nobody left who I needed to fear standing in my way on earth.


    Tonight he had engaged in breaking and entering, illegal border crossings, theft, and a host of other minor crimes.


    He had done those things before; he was Batman, after all, but that had been in pursuing justice or stopping other crimes.


    Tonight he''d done them at my urging.


    And I''d rewarded him for playing my games.


    We both had lines we wouldn''t cross, but until those lines overlapped, we''d be friends.


    We''d be friends not because we trusted each other but because we trusted in the other''s nature.


    Because we were the same type of men.


    ********


    "They''re going to betray us," Deathstroke said calmly.


    "No shit," Killer Frost deadpanned at the mercenary. "What gave it away, Sherlock? The fact they sent us to an Island full of goddamn monsters? That they asked us to try and cut the dragon the size of a continent? Which we can''t do. Or the bombs in our skulls?"


    "Speak for yourself, cunt," Gavel ground out, not looking at the others as he continued to roast one of the piglets they had killed. Everyone had already eaten, but he decided he was still hungry. "Ain''t nothing in my skull. I''m just here for those weapons and to show a stuck-up dragon that he can''t park on my planet."


    "We get it," the white-skinned woman smirked. "Your heads empty. We all knew that."


    "You wanna go, bitch!" The massive man said as he rose to his feet in a second, an enormous already mallet in his hand.


    "Try me chucklefuck!" Far from being intimidated, the cryokinetic sneered right back.


    "How?" Taskmaster asked him, ignoring the two posturing villains as he sharpened his weapons.


    Slade could appreciate his willingness to stay professional.


    Especially when they were in dangerous territory.


    "The portal," Deathstroke nodded at the ship they had landed with. Apart from the six pods they had woken up in and the containers with their equipment, an archway was the only other feature of the remote-controlled craft. "They told us it has seven uses. Six for samples and the last for extraction. None of us are tinkers. We can''t verify their words."


    "It only has six uses," Taskmaster nodded in agreement. "And I''m sure they will blow our brains out if we go through early."


    "So what," Killer Frost interjected. "They leave us to rot here? What stops us from going south and telling the dragon about them? We won''t have much choice."


    "We don''t know who the fuck they are, you frigid bitch," Gavel mocked.


    Killer Frost flipped him the bird.


    Deathstroke didn''t say anything, nor did Taskmaster though they shared a look.


    There were very few organizations with the means to extract all six from different prisons, outfit them with premium alien tech, and do it all in a week.


    The portal tech on the ship was something Deathstroke, one of the greatest mercenaries alive, had never seen.


    As far as he knew, there was only one, maybe two, Tinkers in the world who could tunnel through dimensions.


    "If I were them," Taskmaster said calmly, not letting another argument start. "The sixth time the portal is used, it will self-destruct and set off our bombs. The only possible witness will be Gavel, who won''t go to the Elden Lord."


    "I''ll go to him, all right," the massive man waived his hammer suggestively. "I''ll smash him after I crush all those birds of his. I want to see his face."


    "You''re one sick bastard," Killer Frost spat to the side, though there was some grudging respect in her voice. "Got a pair on you, I''ll give you that. I''m staying the fuck away from Lordy. I don''t want to mess with something that ate the fucking Simurgh."


    "The Elden Lord is the least of our concerns," Deathstroke interjected. It was like herding cats. "He admitted that he doesn''t care who lands on his island. Instead, we have to worry about the local flora and fauna."


    "And escaping," Taskmaster pointed out as he set his spears in their sheaths. "As of right now, that portal is our only way out. If we don''t use it to send samples through regularly, boom. If we try and go through ourselves, boom. If we trust their word that we''ll be free, boom."


    "So we''re fucked no matter what!" Killer Frost threw her hands up in frustration, to Gavel''s amusement, as he took the pig off the spit. It wasn''t large, only the size of a regular pig, but it had been a nasty little thing that had tried to tear his leg off.


    "For now, we play along," Deathstroke outlined. "Send samples through once a week. That gives us five weeks to find a way out of this. Either something on this island can help us, or one of the other invaders might be a Tinker we can coopt to mess with the portal."


    "Invaders?"


    "We are definitely not the only ones sent here," Taskmaster explained to the woman. "Countries, other organizations, or Super groups will have sent their agents or armies. The island is so big that nobody will notice a few ships entering in the middle of the night. Once they learnt the Elden Lord wasn''t killing invaders outright, that number will have multiplied."


    "They won''t have the portal we do," Deathstroke continued. "Those that are still alive will be trapped. Desperate. Even a basic battlefield surgeon with their equipment will allow us to get the bombs out. I''d prefer a Tinker."


    "We can''t go far from the ship," Killer Frost pointed out. "Not if we want to bring ''samples,''" she air quoted, "back."


    "That''s what she''s here for," Deadshot nodded at the fifth figure around their camp.


    The six-armed woman had been sitting there, staring vacantly at the night sky.


    Since they had landed, Spiral had not said a word, just following every order given to her.


    If Deathstroke was being honest, he wished the other four of his companions would be more like her.


    "Who''s she anyway?" Killer Frost asked.


    "Sprial," Taskmaster said. "Mutant. Touch paralysis. Magic. Teleporter. Her numbers are Blaster 4, Mover 7, Striker 5, and Brute 2. All her ratings can increase by one or two, depending on her spells."


    Killer Frost whistled.


    "Damn. Can she teleport us out of here?"


    "Can you?" Slade asked the mutant, already knowing the answer.


    The woman stared at them blankly.


    "Didn''t think so," he drawled, looking back at the villainess. "It might only look like a few miles away, but we are in a completely different dimension. That''s Mover 9. Minimum."


    "Still, how come I haven''t heard of her? That''s B-list at a minimum."


    "She''s a Ziz bomb," Deathstroke said plainly.


    The effect of his words was immediate and violent.


    Killer Frost blasted herself away on a sheet of ice, the cold destroying their fire as she pushed herself tens of meters away.


    Gavel, who had been in prison since before the Simurgh first showed up, still threw himself away, food forgotten on the ground as he raised his hammer in a defensive crouch.


    Spiral did not even blink.


    Deathstroke and Taskmaster shared a long-suffering look.


    Amateurs.


    "What the fuck!" Killer Frost screeched, ice building around her. "What the fuck?!"


    "I hate to agree with the pale cunt," Gavel rumbled, eyeing the two mercenaries. "But what the fuck? Why aren''t we killing her?"


    "Because she''s harmless," Taskmaster drawled. "Watch. Sprial, punch yourself in the face."


    Three fists smashed into the woman''s face hard enough to split her lip, bloody her nose, and blacken her eye.


    "The fuck?" The cryokinetic asked again, her tension easing slightly. "You a Master? Cause you totally got to tell us if you are."


    "He''s not," Deathstroke said, watching as the mutant did a little dance, and the marks on her face disappeared in a small flash of light. "The Simurgh fucked with her mind. She does everything anyone tells her to."


    "Anything?" Gavel leered sadistically at the woman, who was back to staring blankly into space.


    "The one thing she does on her own," Slade drawled. "Is paralyzes everything that touches her. Then she tortures them. It''s how we know her. The PRT tried to make her a hero by blocking her ears to all orders but theirs. It didn''t end well for them."


    "That''s messed up," the ''sane'' woman of the group said, cautiously returning to the temporary camp.


    "So long as you don''t touch her and know what you''re doing, she''s a useful tool," Deathstroke said.


    Of course, he wouldn''t let his guard down just because the Simurgh was dead. Whatever she had planned for the six-armed mutant might still be in effect.


    "She''ll be useless against any of the other invaders if they know of her, but she can teleport any animals we capture back to the ship and send them through the portal. Or bring us across obstacles, and she''ll be useful to escape any sticky situations we find ourselves in."


    There was an unsaid agreement between the group that if the portal was a trap, the Ziz bomb would be the one to trigger it.


    "Fine," Gavel grunted, sitting back down and looking at his fallen meal in disgust. "I won''t touch the daft bint."


    "Why are you still here anyway?" Killer Frost asked the mountain of a man as she settled down as well. "Thought you wanted to throw down with the Elden Lord. If you keep travelling south, you''re bound to run into him or those bimbos of his."


    "Cause I ain''t stupid," he grumbled, poking the fire back to life. "I''ve been in the ''cage for years. No idea what''s what, who the players are, or what''s up with this fucky island. Costs me nothing to stick with you bastards for a while. You better be thankful."


    "So thankful," the villainess drawled sarcastically.


    Gavel flipped her off.


    "Hookwolf has been gone too long," Taskmaster pointed out.


    "Probably ditched us," Killer Frost waived off. "Good riddance. I may be a villain, but at least I''m not a goddamn nazi. Maybe he''s going to throw down with the dragon. He''s into that dipshit ''gladiator honour'' stuff, right?"


    "We''ll follow his trail in the morning," Deathstroke ordered. Taskmaster nodded, seeing the wisdom in his words right away.


    The other two weren''t so quick on the draw.


    "Why the fuck would we do that?" Gavel asked. "He''s the one who left chasing dogs. We don''t need him."


    "We don''t," Deathstroke agreed. He had taken jobs from many unsavoury types in the past, but the nazis had been some of the worst. It wasn''t their ideology that bothered the mercenary, just their unprofessionalism.


    You''d think they''d have realized after WWII that racial ideology only works so long as you don''t shoot yourself in the foot.


    Then again, they were nazis.


    Nobody accused them of being smart.


    "He''s carving a path for us," Taskmaster explained. "Our hunting dog. So we''re going follow his trail."


    "We''re using him as bait," Gavel grinned.


    "He''s going to get rid of anything in our way," Killer Frost nodded. "If he dies, we learn what got him."


    "We''ll move out at sunrise," Deathstroke said, looking to the sky to judge the position of the stars and moon. "Six hours or so. One person on watch at all times. Spiral never takes a shift. I''ll take the last one."


    "I''ll take the first one," Taskmaster called, getting rough agreement from the other.


    It was apparent neither of the others had really roughed it before, or they would not have let the two most desired shifts go without argument.


    The discussion finished for the evening, the mercenary found a defensible position, set up some rudimentary alert traps, and fell into a light doze.


    The slightest crinkle of a nearby leaf or the breaking of a twig would wake him up.


    Four and a half hours later, when Killer Frost tried to kick him awake, he was already awake.


    "Next time you and Gavel want to get your rocks off, do it when you are not on shift," Deathstroke whispered, unhanding his pistol.


    "Whatever," the white-skinned woman waived him off as she lay between two trees and tried to get comfortable. "Don''t clam-jam me. First action I''ve gotten in years."


    Slade took a deep breath to recenter himself as he started his vigil.


    Fucking amateurs.


    The very slight hope the mercenary held that the pair''s tryst would calm them down flew out the window as soon as they started arguing again in the morning.


    The pair would not shut up despite the clear danger the island represented.


    Deathstroke would kill them both if this is how the next few weeks would be.


    Taskmaster looked like he''d help.


    There was no greater enemy than an incompetent ally.


    If there was one blessing, it was how obvious Hookwolf''s passage was.


    It was clear early on that he had transformed into his metallic form, a path of destruction carved through the forest''s underbrush.


    Following the road of torn-up dirt, knocked-over trees, and the destroyed forest was easy, and they passed the day unmolested by any island inhabitants, munching on meat leftover from last night''s meal as the day wore on.


    Tens of miles later, with the afternoon sun beating down on them, something finally changed.


    They heard the barking well before they saw anything out of the ordinary.


    The deep braying of wild dogs in the distance echoed off through the forest, reverberating between the trees unnaturally loudly.


    It set Slade''s teeth on edge, and the group''s progress slowed,


    their guard raised from the offputting sound.


    The next minute passed in silence but for the howling of mad dogs in the distance.


    Then they crested a hill and saw what was causing that awful barking.


    Not dogs.


    Birds.


    A dozen black crows, each half the size of Gavel, their skin sallow and feathers dripping from their body in a disgusting slurry of diseased flesh.


    They pecked and clawed, beating each other with their wings and barking like dogs as they fought over the bloody carcass.


    "The fuck?" Killer Frost asked in a low whisper.


    It was loud enough.


    One Carrion Crow looked up, a half-eaten eyeball hanging from its beak as its milky eyes caught sight of the group.


    For a tense second, nothing moved.


    Then the crow launched its fat, flightless body at them.


    Sickly black feathers filled their vision as its compatriots left the dead body and threw themselves with mad abandon at the fresh meat and eyes.


    "Jesus Crist!" Killer Frost yelled in fright, stumbling backwards in fear. On instinct, she blasted the murder of crows before they could murder her.


    It was enough.


    Creepy and disgusting as the barking birds might be, they were still just animals and could not deal with being flash-frozen. The dozens of black birds were trapped in a block of ice a dozen feet across.


    "Jesus fucking Crist!" The villainess repeated, trying to calm her pounding heart. With a shaky finger, she pointed to the improvised ice sculpture. "What the fuck are these things?"


    "Birds," Gavel spat on the ice. "You live long enough Down Under, and you learn all birds are evil and should die. These were just bigger than most. Good job."


    "Thanks," Killer Frost replied sarcastically. "But seriously. Why were they barking? Fuck that noise!"


    Deathstroke and Taskmaster ignored the byplay, inspecting the body the crows had been eating.


    Vast swaths of flesh were missing, and the face was completely unrecognizable after the birds had gotten a hold of it.


    Still, the tattoos and long blond hair were unmistakably Hookwolf''s.


    "He hasn''t been dead long," Slade judged. "Blood is still pretty fresh."


    "The birds just arrived," Taskmaster pointed out. "Crows eat eyes and tongue first."


    After that first exchange, the pair fell silent as they studied the body and the surroundings.


    With every second that passed, their mood continued to darken.


    Gavel let out a low whistle as he walked up to the corpse as well.


    "Those things did a number on poor Hooky. Couldn''t happen to a nicer mutt."


    "The birds didn''t do this," Deathstroke declared grimly.


    This wasn''t good.


    Not Hookwolf''s death. He didn''t care about the dead nazi.


    It was what this meant for them.


    "Look at the back of his skull," Deathstroke used his blade to lift the bloody hair to show the hole to his companions.


    "They ate his brain?" Killer Frost asked in morbid curiosity.


    "Not yet," Taskmaster said, his voice grim. "They would have eventually, but the birds just got here. Whatever killed him did that."


    "That is where you want to shoot if you want to kill someone with a Corona Pollentia," Deathstroke explained. "Something took that little part of his brain right out of his skull. He was still alive when it happened."


    "How can you tell?"


    In reply to the villainess''s question, the mercenary pointed his blade in the direction they had been walking all morning.


    A few feet wide, a clear duvet had been carved in the upturned dirt and mud. Red and brown blood dotted the trail from the nearby hillock and ended at Hookwolfs body.


    "He crawled his way here," Deathstroke explained lowly, careful to keep his voice from echoing into the distance. "Still alive but bleeding. He would have shifted for better mobility or defence if he could have. He didn''t, so he couldn''t."


    "If he had a hole in his skull, how did he live that long?"


    "Say what you will about the mutt, but he was a tough son of a bitch," Gavel grumbled with grudging respect.


    Deathstroke shook his head, but his eyes never left the hill they hadn''t crossed.


    "This was sadism, not endurance. Whatever did this was smart enough to know exactly what to tear out to leave him alive, awake, and helpless. It didn''t eat him and let him crawl away and die slowly. For hours before finally passing. He died less than an hour ago but has been crawling since the morning, at the least."


    "Ffffffuuuuuuccccckkkkk," Killer Frost let out in a terrible whisper, staring at the mangled remains.


    Then her eyes shot in the same direction Taskmaster and Deathstroke were staring at.


    "Is it... still here," Gavel whispered, hands tightening around his hammer as he glared at the trail Hookwolf had carved.


    "We need to find out," Slade said, his voice even.


    Running wasn''t an option. Not without seeing what it was and if it was still here.


    Hookwolf had been a Brute 7 in his Changer form, tougher than all except Gavel.


    He would not have died easily.


    They would be ignorant and helpless if they ran before even discovering what had killed the nazi.


    With careful, quiet movements, the group of five slowly inched their way over the next hill. Their breaths were even and measured, and their steps light upon the dirt.


    Even Gavel and Killer Frost remained quiet as they slowly and carefully exited the shallow valley containing Hookwolf''s body.


    What was on the other side would have been beautiful if they didn''t know what it represented for them.


    It still took their breaths away.


    A massive hill of metal blades, hooks and other sharp weapons lay in a circle of destroyed forest. It wasn''t wolf-shaped, indicating the Changer had felt pressured enough to give up his favoured form to survive.


    Not that it helped him.


    Across the pile of metal, small glittering forms scurried, refracting the light of the afternoon sun in a thousand different beautiful hues. They were lizard-like in movement, though the enormous crystals on their backs made them look closer to turtles than lizards.


    They chewed on the metal, feeding off the inadvertent monument to Hookwolf''s death.


    The entire picture reminded Slade of that art gallery he had bombed a few years back.


    The crystalline animals obviously weren''t the nazi''s cause of death.


    They were scavengers like the crows, only they preferred metal to flesh and had found an easy meal.


    Hookwolf''s killer was obvious, though the group stared uncomprehendingly at the sight.


    Like someone had taken a bite out of an ice cream cone to get to the creamy caramel center, a massive hole was torn into the hill of blades.


    In that hole, napping in a ball in the afternoon sun with bloody paws, was a chubby brown and white housecat.


    For several seconds the Suicide Squad watched the Crystal Lizards teem over the metal and The Cat enjoying a midafternoon nap.


    This time, it was Taskmaster''s whispered voice that broke the silence.


    "The fuck," he asked in an uncomprehending whisper, the absurdity of the sight breaking through his professionalism.


    The Cat''s ears twitched.


    Deathstroke glared at the man as the rest of the group remained frozen in fear.


    They watched for agonizing seconds as The Cat''s ears twitched again and again.


    Then it sat up.


    Slade''s heart almost stopped as The Cat looked over at them.


    He would swear until the day he died that its verticle slits met his eyes.


    And laughed.


    With languid movements, The Cat stretched in a cat yawn.


    Its back arched as it stretched, showing off a pair of tiny draconic wings. The Cat was only slightly fatter and larger than a regular house cat, but those wings were obviously too small for its rotund form.


    Finished with its stretch, The Cat started licking its bloody paws as it eyed them.


    Deathstroke didn''t know if it was mocking them, contemplating killing them, or simply cleaning itself.


    Probably all three.


    He readied his gun.


    The Cat gave the group one last lazy look, then turned around.


    It made a point of showing them its asshole as it lept into the air, tiny wings flapping as it flew off to who knew where.


    Nobody said a thing for a long minute and kept their eyes on the sky, fearful of The Cat''s return.


    When nothing happened, they unclenched.


    "Holy fuck," Killer Frost let out a shuddering breath. "I have never been so scared in my life."


    "Same," Gavel grunted in agreement rather than argue. "I don''t think I want the Elden Lords'' weapons anymore. Let''s get off this fucking island."


    "Spiral," Deathstroke ordered the mutant, regaining his composure. "Capture a few of those crystal creatures. Paralyze them, send them through the portal, and return."


    With a wiggle of her hands and hips, the six-armed woman disappeared in a flash of light.


    "That will satisfy whoever''s holding our leash for now. Let''s get back to Hookwolf''s body," the mercenary told the group. "I want his bomb so we know what we are dealing with. Then we''re going to find someone who can take them out. I want off this fucking island."


    There were noises and nods of agreement as everyone was just as eager to leave.


    Deathstroke had a reputation as a mercenary that got the job done, but that was predicated on a job being possible in the first place.


    With a contractor planning on leaving them to die on this island, he felt no guilt at reneging on his promise.


    The Suicide Squad had been on the Elden Lords'' Island for less than a day, and the first one had already died.


    He wouldn''t be the last.

 Probation 3

    <div>


    It came with a warning, now we''re all out of time


    This romance with ignorance has left us behind


    Sit back, relax, begin


    It''s too early for surrender


    Too late for a prayer


    We can''t go to hell if we''re already there


    They say the end is coming


    And I need to prepare


    We can''t go to hell if we''re already there


    ********


    "I hath placed mine Diorama. They art entrapped," Ranni reported.


    "Thanks," Tsunade smirked, cracking her knuckles.


    She loved this part.


    The former Hokage punched.


    The mountain shattered.


    The earth upended from the force of her blow, cratering and sending dirt flying into the air as the cave system below their feet collapsed spectacularly with a deafening rumble.


    Like an anthill crushed by an elephant, the collapse was total and catastrophic.


    Like an anthill, the survivors flooded from the tunnels as they tried to flee.


    They could not.


    Any who tried were met by Ranni''s dolls or Tsunade''s clones who had been placed at the exits. Their bodies, blasted and frozen, warned of the futility of flight.


    As one, like marionettes dancing to the same tune, those few survivors of the collapse of the base and Ranni''s culling turned to fight their way out.


    Tsunade met them easiliy.


    The blonde wove through body and blade, dodging with speed and grace born from long years on the battlefield.


    The ninjas of her world were faster, stronger, had weirder abilities and were overall better in every way than The Hand.


    Ninja in this world were stealthier, trickier, and more subtle than those of the Elemental Nations. They had to be. They lacked the power and speed chakra gave those of Tsunade''s homeland and lived in a world where they could be killed by a farmer with a hoe that got lucky.


    Tsunade lived in a world where men dropped meteors on each other. Stealth still had its use in her world, and she knew her way around the clandestine arts, but its value decreased as one ascended the ranks.


    It doesn''t matter if you can hide in a forest if your enemy can destroy the entire forest in a breath of fire.


    And Tsunade was the greatest kunoichi to ever live.


    It was not a battle.


    It was a slaughter.


    They were literally genin trying to take down a Kage.


    What few chunin and singular jonin that had been in the Hand''s base were felled just as quickly as all the others.


    The former Hokage might not be the strongest or most dangerous member of the Family, but any who underestimated her would die for it.


    Tsunade was not just the greatest kunoichi to ever live in her world. She had spent over a year learning Haki, had an Aura to protect her, and specialized in Taijutsu to the degree that Yoruichi was the only woman on the Island able to compete with her in hand-to-hand combat.


    The slaughter was over in just a few minutes.


    Not a sound escaped the ninja as they were slaughtered to a man.


    They did not beg for their lives, cry out in pain, or ask questions.


    They just died.


    Tsunade was unbothered by this.


    Not only from her experience from her world, but this was hardly the first Hand base she had destroyed.


    They were all like this.


    The only difference this time was the companion with her.


    "A few hath tried to escape by way of secret passages," Ranni reported. "Mine dolls hath slain them."


    "Got it," Tsunade nodded, dropping down into the crater she created and entering the tunnels. "Just give me the directions."


    "Follow my Grace," Ranni said as she floated beside the blonde.


    Tsunade could not see her reflection, or she would have seen a pale blue glow fill her irises.


    What the Hokage could see was a line of pale blue light leading her through the tunnel, guiding her toward her target.


    "Useful," Tsunade nodded as she followed the guidance of blue Grace down the dim and claustrophobic halls of the mountain base.


    "My thanks," Ranni said with a calm smile. "Our Lord Husband taught me the trick of it whilst I was teaching him illusions. I hath centuries to go before I am the equal of Queen Marika and the Elden Beast."


    "It''s handy for missions like this one," Tsunade complimented.


    Typically, the kunoichi worked together with Yoruichi, their skills in stealth complimenting each other, but they had decided a magical expert was needed for this venture.


    Ranni was available, and Tsunade wasn''t opposed to spending time with the goddess.


    She knew the blue-skinned woman had been starved for companionship, but the radiant smile that covered her face was a bit much in the blonde''s eyes for a simple compliment.


    Tsunade could see why Mikael and Yoruichi loved to tease her.


    Ranni reminded the Hokage of...


    Tsunade did not allow herself to continue that line of thought, focusing instead on following the blue light and keeping her senses open for any potential traps or ambushes. Just because The Hand had never managed to hurt her before didn''t mean she should let down her guard.


    "I do wish I needn''t have such limits," Ranni admitted. "Had I been as proficient as Marika, I needn''t have talked to that boorish man and received the images of our targets. The need for a visual aid is a weakness a Princess of Caria can hardly accept in our spellcraft."


    "We all start somewhere," Tsunade said philosophically. Even she had needed hand seals and chakra control training early in her career. "And if Strange had been a problem, I would have flattened his house."


    "T''would be no more than he deserves," Ranni sniffed haughtily. "What manner of ''sorcerer supreme'' would allow thieves into his sanctum without appropriate defences."


    "To be fair," Tsunade said, punching a door blocking their way to pieces and stepping over its remains. "Medea did get rid of his wards. I have no idea if magic like that takes a long time to fix."


    "He should have prepared for the loss of his defences. My manor was not only protected by illusions and barriers but also by defenders, monsters, and a dragon. Most of which would return within hours of their destruction. That Strange did not account for such a possibility speaks poorly of the mages of this land."


    Tsunade did not know about magic to argue with the goddess, so she remained silent as they walked.


    Ranni broke the companionable silence a few minutes later.


    "Hath he answered thy request?"


    "Hm?" Tsunade grunted in question as she absently smashed the skulls of two Hand ninjas together when they tried to ambush her.


    There was a trick to smashing skulls hard enough to kill them without making a mess of splattered brains and grey matter. A trick Tsunade had learned years ago.


    "On the subject of children," Ranni elaborated. "Has our Lord Husband decided to bless you with child?"


    "If he did, I wouldn''t be drinking so much," Tsunade smirked, dusting her hands off as the dead bodies slumped to the ground. "Why the question? You want kids?"


    "In a few decades," Ranni nodded calmly through her cheeks were flushed a light azure. "Once I hath mastered mine Order and the Elden Ring. T''was just an errant thought for the moment. Why the delay?"


    "Mikael says he''s waiting for Amelia to be released from their confinement," Tsunade explained.


    "Is his body impaired?" Ranni asked in alarm.


    "He''s not infertile," Tsunade rolled her eyes. "If he was, I''d know. One of the perks of the Catalogue is the ability to control one''s fertility. None of us will get pregnant without his explicit intent."


    "Then why hath he need of the fleshwarper?"


    "No idea," Tsunade grunted. "If it was a healing issue, I''d know about it."


    "Most curious," Ranni said, floating to the side as Tsunade threw another body over her shoulder. How many of these ninja were there? "Should it not be too personal a question, why dids''t though request an infant so soon."


    Tsunade made a light misstep at the question and kicked the last ninja hard enough to completely render him into bloody chunks.


    The Hokage scowled.


    She hated getting blood on her sandals.


    "Thy hath known our Lord Husband longer than I, in a manner," Ranni continued. "Nevertheless, thy wish for children so soon after he hath regained his form is... uncharacteristic."


    "You''re right," Tsunade said, continuing to follow the Grace. "That is too personal."


    "My apologies," Ranni nodded, backing off. "I meant no offence."


    Tsunade let out a weary sigh.


    It was easy to forget that Ranni and Melina had only been with the group for less than two months.


    The pair lacked the year of camaraderie the others had built together and were unaware which subjects were sensitive to whom.


    In her own way, Ranni was trying to reach out and build that friendship with Tsunade.


    "I had a lover," Tsunade said suddenly, interrupting the silence that had fallen after the goddess'' apology. "We were planning on getting married. Starting a family. But we were at war, so we decided to wait. He died."


    So much went unsaid in those few sentences.


    The dream she shared with Dan. The other dream he had, to be Hokage, the one she had accomplished but never wanted.


    The necklace.


    "Before that, I had lost my brother," Tsunade continued, not even bothering to keep punching the Hand ninja. They all died as roots grew from the ceiling and strangled them. "After the war was over, I went into mourning for years, decades. I only returned to my home when my teacher, a man who had been a father to me, was killed."


    Ranni remained silent, letting the blonde continue.


    Tsunade appreciated it. This was hard enough as it is.


    "A teammate of mine had been in love with me for years. I could never return his feelings as a child. God, was he an annoying pervert," Tsunade smiled slightly at the memories as genin under Sarutobi-sensei. "When we were older, I met Dan and fell in love. Then I was grieving. It never seemed the right time to try and build something with him. Always something in the way, always something else to do. Most of it my fault."


    "What happened?" Ranni asked softly.


    "Right when he returns to the village after being gone for three years, right when I think about giving him a shot, he runs off and gets himself killed. By one of his former students!" Tsunade destroyed a wall she passed at the thought of Pein.


    Naruto and Jiraya were better people than her.


    If she had been in the Uzumaki''s place, facing the source of so much of her pain, Tsunade would have killed him. She had tried to do so when he had invaded the Leaf, and it had nearly killed her.


    It would have, if not for Naruto convincing Pein he was wrong.


    "My last hope was a young man, a boy I loved like a son," Tsunade sighed. "I was betting everything on him. Our people''s hopes and dreams. My biggest dream was to pass my title, my hat, to him. I died fighting for that dream."


    They reached their destination, a storeroom filled with crates, barrels, and other containers.


    "But I am still here," Tsunade sighed wearily. She couldn''t be bothered to go through it all, so she started to seal the containers in seals for her transport. "The fact that I am means my world no longer exists. He died. And I am still here."


    Even before Tsunade had learned that their worlds were gone, she had not been in a good place.


    Once more, she had lived where others had died.


    For months she had been listless. Tired.


    So goddamn tired.


    The beauty of the Island, the other women, the mystery of their imprisonment, none of that mattered to her.


    She only got out of bed in the morning to reach for the sake bottle.


    As the best med-nin in the world, the blonde had recognized clinical depression when she saw it. It was one of the leading causes of death for ninja in her world. She could have tried jutsu, medication, or other techniques to try and mitigate it.


    Tsunade just didn''t care enough to bother.


    So she retreated into herself and the bottle.


    When Yoruichi expressed interest in bedding her, the Hokage went along with it from pure apathy.


    She wasn''t opposed to a relationship with another woman, but Yoruichi had been a rebound, plain and simple. Over the year spent together, the kunoichi had come to develop feelings for her friend, but at the start, it was a physical relationship born of grief and loneliness.


    After her failure with men, why not try it with a woman?


    It wasn''t like her luck could get worse.


    "My condolences," Ranni said, levitating more crates onto the scroll. "I hath never had a lover before Mikael, and cannot understand thy pain. My mother, however, was abandoned by my father. It destroyed her. That thee still find the willingness to love is proof of thy strength."


    Tsunade let out an unladylike snort as she sealed up the goods.


    Her strength.


    Right.


    "It wasn''t anything like that," Tsunade said as they left the storage room and exited the base. They took a different route as she wanted to clear out the remaining ninja before they left. "I never wanted to fall in love again. Too much pain. Too much heartbreak. And certainly not with Mikael."


    "Why so ever not," Ranni turned, floating backwards through the halls as she frowned at her companion. "Our Lord Husband may be a letch, too infatuated with his own voice and a buffoon to the greatest degree, but he is still a fine man. Kind yet strong. Intelligent and humourous. Attractive and loyal. I hath found no greater man to be mine consort."


    Tsunade rolled her eyes.


    Save her from maidens in love. Ranni might be older than her by several millennia, but she was still very much her junior in matters of relationships.


    "I''m not saying I don''t love him now," Tsunade emphasized the last word. "I''m saying he is the worst person I could fall in love with. You know about Warranty Plan?"


    "I do."


    "Mikael is paranoid that it won''t work." Tsunade actually approved of that aspect of his character. Paranoia kept people alive. "But if it does work, we will return to life so long as he lives. The only way for us to die for good is if he releases us, which he won''t do unless we beg him or for him to already be dead. So we will all outlive him."


    It might not be soon, it might be in millions of years, but there would come a time where Tsunade outlived another man in her life.


    She wouldn''t survive that.


    Not without something to hold onto.


    "I waited too long with Dan. With Jiraya. I refuse to wait with Mikael!"


    "I understand," Ranni nodded, idly freezing a group of ninja that had tried to attack her from behind. "If thou will forgive another inquiry, what led to thy decision to pursue an amorous relation with our Lord Husband if such was thy fears?"


    "Couldn''t tell you," Tsunade shrugged.


    "I do not understand," Ranni frowned in confusion. "T''is it a secret?"


    "I mean, there is no clear-cut day or reason I can point to and go, ''this is why I love him,''" Tsunade explained. "I liked him well enough. As you said, he has redeeming qualities and is attractive enough, but for months I simply considered him a friendly face. It was like we were on a long-term mission together, and we got along by nature of the time spent together."


    "Then how can thee declare thy love with such certainty? T''is my understanding that his ''lures'' and ''aura'' may increase positive emotions to him but may not create love from nothing."


    "Sometimes, love sneaks up on us," Tsunade shrugged. "It doesn''t need a concrete reason, an overt moment or some grand gesture. Emotions are like that."


    Ranni''s lips pursed together in thought.


    By now, Tsunade had a decent grasp on the goddess'' character. She was a schemer, like Mikael, and most schemers did not like the idea of such randomness.


    "The best I can give you is an approximation of the time and my best guess," Tsunade offered.


    "If thee would be so kind."


    "It was after we had been told our worlds were destroyed Mikael was between his second and third world," Tsunade narrated, thinking back to those days. "We had this big sending-off party. Drank a lot. Cried a lot. Told stories of the people we''d miss, the dreams we never fulfilled, and stuff like that. We grieved for days, some for weeks. In many ways, we are still grieving."


    This book was originally published on Royal Road. Check it out there for the real experience.


    Ranni remained silent.


    Her world still lived. Another aspect that set her apart from the other women of the Island.


    "I couldn''t tell you the exact day, but it was at some point after we were summoned to the third world. I woke up one day and realized I would be summoned in a few hours. I got ready, spent time with the others, was summoned, came back, watched a few movies and went to bed."


    "I do not understand," Ranni tilted her head in question as she bobbed lower in the air to duck under a doorway. "In what manner would that indicate love? T''was nothing special in mine eyes."


    "The next day, I realized I did not have a single drink the entire day before."


    Ranni still looked quizzical, not understanding the significance of that fact.


    Tsunade sighed.


    Of course, the goddess from a world with terrible medical information would not understand the link between alcoholism and depression. Why would she? She spent thousands of years as a doll without the need to eat or drink.


    "At some point," Tsunade explained slowly. "I stopped trying to numb the pain with sake. I couldn''t tell you when that was, just that I started looking forward to my days. To waking up. It was no longer a chore. A few weeks before, I learned that my entire world was destroyed. I still mourn that loss, even today, but I realized that I could accept that. I made peace with the pain. With peace, came a willingness to love again."


    Tsunade still drank, of course. But she did it because she loved the taste of sake. She did it not to numb the pain but for the pleasure of a good drink with good company.


    She did it with Family.


    "I thank you for sharing," Ranni said as they reached the bottom of the hidden base. The last three ninja did not even move from their praying positions as her Ice Blade decapitated them. "I admit, I have felt some fear of the disconnect I share with the rest of my Lord''s consorts. I am glad we have talked, and if thee ever wish to ask questions in turn or need aid in locating something, please let me know."


    "I''ll probably take you up on that offer," Tsunade smirked. "You made finding this place a breeze. Next time Yoruichi and I need to blow off some steam, you should come."


    "I shall," Ranni smiled softly. "Dos''t thou wish to destroy this place, or shall I?"


    "You do it," Tsunade said with a smirk. "I haven''t had the chance to see what you got."


    "I shall endeavour to not disappoint," Ranni said with pride, raising her arms. But then she paused, head tilting in question. "Before I do, pray tell me what these ''ninja'' were worshiping?"


    "That?" Tsunade asked, looking at the statue the goddess was indicating. "That''s supposed to be some sort of demon. I think it''s called ''the Beast'' or something. According to Mikael and Emma, the Hand is controlled by it, influencing them toward nihilism and annihilation. Why?"


    "Idle curiosity," Ranni shook her head. "I simply find the objects of worship of this land fascinating in their diversity. T''has become a hobby."


    "This one isn''t anything special," Tsunade shook her head. "It''s never done anything, given blessings or anything like that. No matter how many of its basses we''ve smashed. Honestly, I don''t think a real demon is behind The Hand."


    "How so?"


    "The statues don''t line up with what Mikael told me to expect," Tsunade explained, looking at the sculpture at the center of the room. "He said the Beast is a ''fat bastard who never gets off his lazy ass.''"


    "I would not call it fat," Ranni tilted her head as she looked at the statue.


    It was not fat at all. It depicted an incredibly large and muscular man with his arms crossed. It had no facial features, hair, or other identifying marks, but by its posture, it was clear it was looking down on the world in arrogance.


    "I think this is another one of those differences between Emma''s world and this one," Tsunade stated. "Instead of a demon, some sort of psychic or Master is controlling the Hand. It would explain why they''re not undead like in Emma''s world and are completely unresponsive to words. Nothing is going on in their brains but their missions."


    "How dull," Ranni said, conjuring a pale blue moon in her outstretched palm. "Whosoever they are, they made the mistake of drawing our Lord Husband''s attention by stealing his gift to the Sorcerer Supreme. There is nowhere to hide on this planet from mine Order."


    "If we keep smashing bases like this, they''ll have to do something," Tsunade said as she opened a portal to the Island. While Ranni, Medea, or Raven could teleport, they could all return to the Island at will so long as they had a few moments to concentrate. "Each base might not mean much, but if we keep hounding them enough, it will force them to show their tail. It was a tactic we used during the shinobi wars to force stronger ninja to respond and give us information on their abilities and locations."


    "Should the fiend appear, alert me. I wish to show it the error of standing against our Family."


    "Meh," Tsunade led the goddess through the portal and closed it before Ranni''s spell hit the ground. The Himalayas just lost a mountain. "They''re more of an annoyance at this point. The only reason Mikael cares is he''s petty. Like what happened with the Titans, he doesn''t like being toyed with. I agree with him that if there are players out there trying to manipulate us, we should know and stop it. Don''t tell him I said that. His head will grow any larger."


    "His ego is fragile for all its size," Ranni smiled mischievously. "Let us alert Lady Melina. She shall add it to her chronicle."


    Tsunade chuckled.


    Melina''s book, a recounting of Mikael''s time in the Lands Between, was the worst-kept secret in the Family.


    The second worst-kept secret was how embarrassed it made the man.


    A dry retelling of the facts would not have mattered to him in the least, a helpful tool for propaganda, but Melina was making a special effort to point out all the good he had done.


    Call Mikael an abomination, a monster, or insult him, and he''ll laugh it off. Empty flattery would only stroke his ego, and trying to tease him would see him return the favour hundredfold.


    But give him a sincere compliment, or worse, write a book with him as the hero, and he''d squirm uncomfortably, blush, and flee the room or change the subject.


    All attack, no defence.


    Honestly, if there was one thing that showed how close Melina and Mikael were, it was how easily the maiden could get under his skin. It was only after her arrival that the women managed to fight back against his constant teasing.


    Tsunade found it cute but also worrying.


    Mikael would be the first to crow about his achievements, taking pride in his actions and being self-aware enough to recognize their impact on the world. But he got uncomfortable the second someone tried to make him seem heroic.


    How isolated had Mikael been that some basic positive reinforcement could make him so uncomfortable?


    It was a shame that he and Emma were still at odds, or she would have asked the mutant about her worries.


    Thoughts like these swirled in Tsunade''s mind as they returned home.


    As Tsunade and Ranni walked up the path to the house, they passed Priscilla tending to the four young drakes outside the large building that was their home and stable. The massive red beasts, each the size of a house, rubbed up against the tall crossbreed affectionately as they vied for her attention.


    Only, instead of petting them, feeding them or singing to them, the hybrid was staring northward, her eyes unfocused as she looked at the mountain range that separated their home from the rest of the Island.


    Ranni and Tsunade slowed to a stop at the uncommon sight. Andromeda and Hengeron II started tugging the crossbreed''s dress for attention. Llamrei II and Cassandra started wrestling, their massive bodies tearing up the ground with spikes, tails, and wings.


    Priscilla stared northward, paying no attention to the ruckus.


    "Lady Priscilla," Ranni asked in concern. The crossbreed did not move, and the pair of women frowned. The goddess floated over to the woman and shook her shoulder gently.


    The crossbreed jerked into focus with a start, her eyes staring at Ranni in wide-eyed confusion.


    "Lady Ranni," Priscilla asked in confusion. "When didst thou arrive?"


    "A mere moment ago," Ranni said, still frowning in concern. "What has beguiled thee? Art thee well?"


    "I am fine," the crossbreed shook her head but turned to look northward again. "I merely felt an emanation of power from the Island that captured mine attention. T''is gone now."


    "What sort of power?" Tsunade asked, approaching as well.


    "One of a similar nature to my Element, though not the same."


    "Death?" Tsunade asked, closing her eyes and extending her senses.


    Despite her chakra control, she had never been a sensor ninja. But, like all good ninja, she cheated.


    So long as she was on the Island, she could connect her Element to Mikael''s and extend her senses through the plants that covered the land. It wasn''t perfect, plenty of places did not have enough plants for her to sense completely, but it was enough to find pretty much anything.


    As Tsunade reached out, she found what she had expected.


    The number of invaders had decreased to a few hundred again. After last week''s interview, most who had entered the dimension had already died. A few were still clinging to life, but they''d fall to animals, plants, land, or Medea''s experiments. Even as she ''watched,'' more died.


    None of them felt like ''death.''


    "Indeed," Priscilla nodded. "I no longer sense it, but for a moment, t''was there. I am sure of it. T''was a strong presence, as potent as Diana''s, but fleeting. It flickered in and out as a candle in the night."


    Tsunade frowned and redoubled her effort to search.


    Anything as strong as Diana was worrisome.


    "We shall alert Lady Medea," Ranni declared. "She is the one who ventures out beyond the mountains most frequently. We shall also tell our Lord Husband of this. T''is his Island. Nothing shall hide from his eyes if he brings forth another Dreaming."


    "I wouldn''t bet on it," Tsunade continued to frown. There was something there. Something on the edge of her senses that was utterly unknown to her yet familiar. It felt nothing like ''death'' or the undead, but it was something. "If it comes and goes like Priscilla says, it might not be a person but an ability. Something like Edo Tensei, a powerful technique that summons the dead, can be cast and rescinded. Unless they use it, we''d have no way of knowing who did what. They''d look like everyone else."


    "Still, there will be value in the attempt, even should it fail," Ranni said. "Though I shall request he let us deal with it. His rest need not be disturbed."


    Tsunade continued to search but found nothing. It did not ease her concerns.


    Something was on the Island, something powerful.


    The only things that could pass through the barrier were those with malicious intent.


    When the women reported their discoveries to Mikael, he facepalmed and shook his head in exasperation.


    Ninety percent of everything he said was bullshit, but people decided to test one of the few absolute truths.


    He had told everyone of this world multiple times.


    Anyone who entered the dragon''s den would die.


    ********


    "This is bullshit!" Gavel swore as his hammer smashed the last of the massive ants to puss.


    "We know it''s bullshit," Killer Frost sighed. "Stop being a little bitch about it. The ants are better than the bears."


    "Or the dogs," Taskmaster interjected as he pulled one of his twin spears from an ant''s head.


    All four of them shuddered at the memory.


    Even Sprial seemed to flinch at the memory of those massive dog/t-rex things that had chased them for hours.


    Taking on one or two each would have been fine, even thirty or forty, with the whole group with some injuries and advantageous terrain. But over a hundred?


    Gavel might have survived, thanks to his ability to take limited damage, but the horde of beasts would have killed the rest and tortured the massive man for hours before he killed them all.


    Assuming more didn''t show up.


    So they had fled underground into this cave system filled with enormous red ants.


    That had been over a day ago.


    The Suicide Squad had hoped that the tunnel system connected to another exit, but it just kept going deeper and deeper.


    It was getting to the point that they were considering having Spiral teleport them all back to the ship, which would have set them back over a week in their explorations.


    One night they had tried to use her to teleport them back to the ship for the night. When they teleported in the morning to their previous farthest point, the group was surrounded by a bunch of golems made of crystal.


    They decided to keep teleportation to a minimum after that.


    For now, they were going to push on. The ants weren''t a threat, as giant and numerous as they might be. The Tunnels limited how many could attack at once.


    The real threat was the stench.


    The limited air in the caverns was filled with the smell of rotted meat, blood, death, and biological waste. The ants must not have any sense of smell, or they would not have pilled up their food in these grotesque mounds of blood and bones. The footing was treacherous as the bones would shift and slip under their feet as they fought off the massive insects.


    "We should leave," Gavel growled, smashing his hammer on the ground for emphasis. "I don''t care if we gotta start over. I''m sick of smelling this shit. I want some good food, damnit! I''d kill for one of those boars right now."


    Deathstroke ignored him, shifting his blade through the piles of blood and bones.


    Where was it?


    "As much as I hate to agree with this neanderthal." Killer Frost ignored Gavel flipping her off with long, practiced ease. "We ain''t getting anywhere. We should teleport to the forest before we ran into those dogs. Instead of heading north, we''ll head south and circle around the mountain."


    Slade would swear he had seen that glint of metal, familiar to all soldiers, when an ant had been sent tumbling down when he cut its head off.


    "The same forest filled with bears the size of a house?" Taskmaster asked, his derision for the idea plain in his voice. "Those same super aggressive bears, covered in magic runes, that we could barely hurt?"


    "I''d rather run from a fucking bear in the fresh air than stay here for another day!"


    There!


    In a pile of bones in shapes and forms unfamiliar to the mercenary were the remains of something he recognized at a glance. It was dented, shattered, and missing most of its pieces, but it was clearly a human rib cage.


    And wrapped around one of the ribs was his prize.


    "After passing the forest of bears we can barely kill, we''d go around the mountain?" Taskmaster continued dryly. "The mountains covered in wyverns that breathe fire and lightning? The wyverns that can fly when we can''t?"


    Whatever counterargument Gavel and Killer Frost were going to present never left their lips.


    "We keep going," Deathstroke ordered, his tone brokering no argument.


    "Why should we?" Killer Frost denied, not cowed in the slightest.


    Rather than answer with words, the mercenary held up his discovery.


    Hanging on the end of his blade, dented and covered in blood, were the familiar metallic forms of dog tags.


    "Where did you find those," Taskmaster asked, his eyes roaming the pile of bodies.


    "A skeleton over there," Deathstroke nodded at the shattered ribcage.


    "So the ants got some poor schmuck," Killer Frost rolled her eyes. "We knew other people would be on this deathtrap. It just means we got here too late."


    "No," Gavel denied, grasping the discovery''s significance as he looked first to where they had come in from, then further down the passages. "Dog tags mean soldiers. Military. Unless they were airdropped, unlikely with the dome, they came by ship. A military ship. What country are they from?"


    "The writing is in Russian," Slade smirked. "Ground Forces, 1107th."


    Taskmaster let out a low whistle that echoed in the dark tunnels.


    "They were serious about this," Taskmaster said, stopping his search.


    "Stop being so damn vague!" Killer Frost looked annoyed to be the only one out of the loop, so Deathstroke explained.


    "There is no 1107th. It''s a cover. It''s a made-up group for soldiers in the Kremlin Guard. The elites, trained to work with the Winter Guard." Deathstroke knew of them thanks to a few contracts, and he imagined it was the same for Taskmaster.


    "They sent their fucking national Supers to this hellhole!?" Killer Frost asked in disbelief. "What if the dragon notices? He''d know right away who they were. Then they''re fucked."


    "Probably only one or two," Gavel denied with a smirk. "The big wigs''ll claim the Supes went rogue with their teams. Wipe their hands of them. Wouldn''t be the first time."


    "We saw no casings, bullet holes, or other signs of military action on the way in," Taskmaster said. "The ants aren''t sneaky enough to sneak up on a whole group of trained soldiers, nor would they only kill and eat one. The soldiers came in from somewhere else."


    "Of thanks fuck," Killer Frost sighed in relief. "A military ship sounds great and all, but I''d rather worry about finding it once I don''t smell this shit anymore."


    "We keep going," Deathstroke repeated his earlier words, and this time there was no more disagreement.


    ********


    It took almost a day for them to find the next sign of other humans, the tunnels were winding and interconnected, and they had to backtrack a few times as they reached dead ends. They only found a few guns'' bent and broken remains, but it was enough to show they were on the right track.


    More and more signs of soldiers appeared as they delved deeper into the tunnels under the mountain. No bodies, the ants didn''t leave any meat uneaten, but arms, bullet holes, and the destroyed remnants of clothes became increasingly common.


    They had discovered enough supplies to outfit fifty people by rough estimation. That was only what they found. There was certainly more in the tunnels.


    A small army had died in these tunnels.


    Recently too.


    It was impossible to get an exact date, but the few human skeletons they did find were fresh enough to know they had been eaten within a few weeks.


    Something finally changed on the second day after they found the dog tags.


    All traces of the ants stopped.


    No footprints, no remains, no mark of any animal passing through those deep tunnels.


    The Suicide Squad would have turned back if not for the clear footprints in the dirt from standard-issue army boots. They had remained there for weeks, preserved in the caves, thanks to a lack of airflow, exposure to the elements, or other creatures walking over them.


    The five criminals continued deeper under the mountain, following a clear trail unhindered by foes. They made much better time.


    It only took them a few hours to reach their ''destination.''


    The putrid stink of rotted meat and dead bodies, left behind with the ant caves, was replaced with a sickly sweet scent.


    The pinkish-red glow filled their eyes as they stepped out of the claustrophobic caves into a glowing cavern so large they couldn''t see the ceiling or the other wall. A pink mist filled the air, further obstructing their vision.


    The lake of red water, covered in sickly black spots, was glowing an eerie light, and sickly trees stood in its shallow depths as waves lapped the walls below the small outcropping they found themselves on.


    "Why." Killer Frost bit out, enunciating every word slowly as her voice raised from a whisper to a shout. "Does. Nothing. On. This. Fucking! Island! Make! Fucking! SENSE!"


    SENSE!


    Sense!


    Sense.


    ''ense.


    -se.


    Her voice echoed across the enormous lake, over and over.


    The rest of the group glared at her, but she glared back. She was sick of this nonsense.


    Massive bears? She could deal with that.


    Ants the size of an eighteen-wheeler? Squish them like all other bugs.


    Rotting dogs that look like fucking dinosaurs? Nightmare fuel, but manageable.


    But why the fuck was water red? And glowing!


    Was nothing sacred in this damn hell hole? Even the water was deadly!


    For a tense moment, nobody moved, afraid that the unstable woman had alerted something to their presence and they''d need to flee.


    There was a response, but it came from an unexpected and welcome source.


    "''ello," a raspy voice called out in a Russian accent. "Someone there?"


    The squad looked around wildly for the source of the voice, not seeing anyone. Taskmaster found it first.


    "''own here," the voice rasped out again before descending into a coughing fit.


    "Down there!" He said, pointing to a pile of rubble jutting out from the red water.


    It looked like a part of the cavern wall had collapsed, taking part of their ledge down with it. The group could barely make out a tiny hole in the wall and a pallid face looking up at them.


    "Got it," Gavel said, levelling his hammer in the direction of the rubble and pulling the stone toward him, then he banished it toward the lake. After a few boulders were cleared, the Suicide squad saw four bodies.


    One was still moving, the man who had called out to them, his body thin and his skin sallow. His legs had been crushed by the rubble. He stared up at them with bloodshot eyes.


    The other three soldiers were dead, one with a hole in his skull. That same body was also undressed, and parts of it were missing.


    Deathstroke didn''t even blink at the sight.


    You did what you had to survive.


    "Bring him up," the mercenary told Gavel, who pulled the man toward them with a frown.


    "''merican?" The cannibal asked softly, his voice was weak, but his eyes were alive and active with a frantic energy. "''ave water? Out." He coughed harder this time. Blood flecking his lips.


    Thanks to Spiral being able to teleport, the Suicide Squad didn''t have to worry about supplies, so Gavel passed the man his canteen, which he drank greedily from.


    "We''re not American," Slade said in Russian. Killer Frost and Gavel looked at him in confusion, but Taskmaster nodded. "Mercenaries. We want to leave this Island. How''d you get here?"


    "Followed orders," the soldier replied in his mother tongue, head twisting this way and that, never staying still. "We need to find the source, ack-ack, of the dragon''s power. Followed Powersurge to explore, and, cough, we found these caves. Dragon Koschei collapsed the path."


    His breathing was laboured, and he coughed intermittently, but his words made Slade frown.


    A dragon zombie?


    "Where is the Koschei," he asked. Taskmaster was providing a translation to the others.


    "There," the Russian nodded toward the red lake, eyes flickering to everyone in the group for a moment before moving on in a flash. "Massive thing. Would have killed us all if not for Powersurge."


    "Did Powersurge kill it?"


    "No," the man bit out, teeth clenching and bloodshot eyes glaring at nothing. "His armour was too strong for it. He would have killed it. But it got him. It got him. Got him. Killed him. Ate him. Opened his armour like a can of tuna and ate him. Wants to eat me. Won''t let it. I''ll win. I''ll live."


    "What ate him? The Koschei?"


    The Russian continued to glare at nothing, pupils dilated in fear and refusing to answer as his eyes scanned the red lake.


    Slade decided that answer could wait for now. Whatever had killed Powersurge had done so over a week ago, before they had even landed on the island. It hadn''t killed this soldier either, so it was long gone.


    More critical was getting as much information as possible from the clearly unstable man.


    "You came on a ship?" He asked, and the soldier nodded, taking another sip of water. His eyes continued to dart around, never staying in one place. "If you take us to it and help us, we will get you off this Island. We have a portal."


    Deathstroke was taking a calculated risk, telling the man about the portal. It was a good bet, though. A man like this, who had done the things he did, would be willing to do almost anything to survive and escape.


    If the man betrayed them, it''s not like they couldn''t kill him immediately.


    "That way," the soldier said immediately, desperately, pointing to the other side of the rubble where another cave was. His eyes, so scared a moment ago, were wild with hope now and even more frantic. "We came in through there. You will bring me with you, or Fantasma will not believe you and attack. I''ll explain what happened to her."


    With their current group, Slade thought they could take on a bunch of soldiers and Fantasma, a Russian magician, with little trouble.


    No need to tell him that.


    "Spiral," he ordered the six-armed mutant. "Heal him. He''ll lead us to his ship."


    The Ziz bomb gyrated in her dance, and slowly, the man''s crushed legs started to realign. With hesitant hope, the man sat up and slowly rose.


    "Thank you," he said in broken english as he stared at the mutant.


    He doubled over, coughing again, but managed to get his breathing under control after a second and drained the rest of the flask of water before passing it back to Gavel with a grateful nod.


    "Name is Alexi. Thank you all. It is day to surface, cough," he told the group in english before switching back to Russian and talking to Deathstroke. "From there, it is three days to the coast and two more to the ship. We will need food, water, and a way to cross this gap. Do not touch to water!"


    "Frost," Slade said simply as he nodded at the missing ledge.


    "Yeah, yeah," the cryokinetic rolled her eyes but did as asked. With a wave of her hand, a bridge of ice connected the gap and gave them passage. The woman frowned. "Hurry up. The mist dissolves the ice quickly."


    "Let''s go," Slade ordered, and the rest hurried across the bridge. The mercenary went last, staying behind Alexi as the soldier moved more slowly as warily tested the ice before stepping on it.


    Deathstroke was the only one to notice the Russian freeze as he looked up and out across the lake.


    "No," the man whispered in Russian, his voice filled with disbelief. And terror. "NononononononONONONONO."


    "What?" Deathstroke asked, instincts and long experience having him throw himself into action in a moment, putting his back to the wall and palming his weapon.


    "You!" Alexi shouted, whirling on Slade in a frenzy. "You did this!"


    "Did what!?" Gavel asked, looking around for a threat from the entrance of the other cave, his hammer raised and ready to strike. "The fuck you talking about?"


    "It toys, it bats, it plays, but I know. I know." The disturbed soldier babbled in Russian, stepping away from the group.


    "He''s crazy," Killer Frost said though she, too, was surveying the surroundings wearily. "The Ruskies have all their soldiers doped up on something. He probably hasn''t slept in days. He''s seeing things."


    "Calm down, Alexi," Slade spoke in Russian, his voice authoritative. "Come with us. You will leave the island. You''ll live. But only if you come with us."


    "Live?" Alexi asked, giggling madly. Then he doubled over, coughing, hacking, and spewing blood. Teeth fell from his mouth and clattered noisily on the ice. "Ack! That''s what it wants. You run and run and run and run and hide and cry and hide. It likes that." His eyes, wild and mad, stared at them, then deeper into the mists over the lake. He continued to back away from them. "Nobody lives. Nobody leaves. We''re going to die. We''re dead. You don''t know it. Already dead."


    Alexi threw himself backward and over the edge.


    The fall wasn''t long, only a few feet to the red water.


    The water wasn''t deep either, and Alexi stood in the waist-deep liquid, arms wide in triumph.


    His skin bubbled and twisted, pustules growing and bursting in moments.


    "I did it!" He crowed, a broad smile on his face. His clothes bubbled and hissed as they dissolved. "I finally did it!" The meat from his thighs and legs floated to the water''s surface as it disintegrated. "I win! I win! You can''t have me. You wanted me but can''t have me!"


    Hair fell from his head in a rain as his face melted, cheeks, lips, and eyes sloughing off in a disgusting slurry of blood, muscle, and meat.


    "I win, Bayun!" The soldier laughed joyfully as his organs fell from his torso with a ''plop'' as they met the red water.


    Alexi kept laughing for the five seconds it took between touching the Lake of Rot and turning into Putrid Corpse.


    The Suicide Squad was long gone, fleeing down the passage toward the surface.


    Alexi had killed a comrade, eaten his body, and drank his blood in order to preserve his life. For days, he had been trapped with no hope of escape but had never used his gun to end the pain. He had been willing to work with unknown mercenaries without question if it meant escaping alive.


    They did not want to stay around anything that could drive a man so desperate to survive to commit suicide in such a gruesome fashion.


    Half a mile from the tunnel entrance, sitting atop the boney head of a Dragonkin Soldier, with her round paws tucked under her like a loaf of bread, Medea tilted her head cutely.


    What was that about?


    Ultimately, the cat(?) closed her eyes and returned to sleep. Unlike the one in the power armour from last week, she hadn''t wanted to eat that guy anyway.


    Rot left a weird aftertaste.


    Medea debated eating another one now. Only the big one would fill her stomach, so the others were just for fun and flavour.


    The cat(?) decided against it for the moment.


    She was still digesting the other one.


    And Medea wanted to watch them squirm.


    But first, nap time.

 Probation 4

    <div>


    You know there ain''t no rest for the wicked


    Money don''t grow on trees


    We got bills to pay


    We got mouths to feed


    There ain''t nothing in this world for free


    I know we can''t slow down


    We can''t hold back, though you know, we wish we could


    Oh no, there ain''t no rest for the wicked


    Until we close our eyes for good


    ********


    "Blergh."


    The sound of vomiting filled the night air, overwhelming any noise of insects or night birds.


    Taskmaster didn''t miss a beat as he cleaned his weapons. Both spears had been covered in blood, fat, and viscera after their most recent run-in with the wildlife of the Elden Lord''s island.


    Whoever thought it was a good idea to crossbreed a frog with a manta ray needed to be shot. In the head. Twice.


    "Blargh," Gavel vomited again.


    The massive man couldn''t keep this meal down either.


    Taskmaster was glad he was vomiting downstream this time and had the sense to follow the stream a ways away from their camp. The water would wash away most of the stink in a few minutes.


    "Ack, ack, cough, bleurgh."


    Based on experience from the last few days, Gavel would vomit for another five minutes before stopping.


    The coughing wouldn''t stop.


    "He''s dying," Deathstroke said quietly.


    Taskmaster nodded, not denying the words or the implications.


    The question was, should they leave him behind?


    "We''re going too slow," his fellow mercenary continued. "We should have been at the ocean yesterday. If we keep stopping for him, we''ll waste more time."


    "He''s still useful," Taskmaster said. "More so now than before."


    Deathstroke reluctantly nodded.


    By now, they were all familiar with each other''s abilities, and Gavel''s unique invincibility was no exception. It capped the amount of damage he could receive at any point.


    Since getting sick, the former vigilante had not gotten so much as a scratch.


    On the outside.


    Who knew what his insides looked like when he spent hours a day vomiting his stomach contents.


    "If he gets worse, we leave him."


    "What is the rush?" Taskmaster asked. "We were lucky to find the Russians. We still have weeks before we use up the portal, even if we assume the last few are traps."


    "A bad feeling." Deathstroke looked to the night sky, visible above the canopy of their resting place for the night.


    Two moons glinted down at them.


    The larger one was dark blue and covered in concentric circles of golden runes.


    The other was much smaller, overshadowed by its blue counterpart. The typical pale moon of earth hung in the sky as it had for billions of years.


    It was the latter and smaller of the pair that Slade Wilson was glaring at.


    "We are running out of time," Deathstroke insisted. "I don''t know why, but our deadline has been shifted. Something is different with this island now. Something in the air."


    "Magic?" Taskmaster asked, looking around warily.


    "No," the other man shook his head. "Just a feeling. Instinct."


    Taskmaster''s hands tightened on his spears. Newbies who trusted ''gut feelings'' died. Vetrans'' instincts, honed after years of survival and bloodshed, were more trustworthy than any mission briefing.


    If the greatest mercenary in the world said his instincts were telling him something, you better be prepared to listen.


    "We''ll reach the ocean tomorrow morning. We''ll reach the ship in three days if we keep the pace. We may need to fight them. Gavel will be useful."


    Deathstroke didn''t respond, staring at the rising moon in contemplative silence.


    Taskmaster wouldn''t be the one to say it, but the squad had been lucky. Despite losing Hookwolf on the first day, they had spent almost two weeks on the island without further losses. It hadn''t been easy, but they had all survived everything the island threw at them.


    Once they got the bombs out of their necks, Spiral would teleport them back to the ship, and they''d face whatever was on the other side. The more members of their team that survived till then, the better their chances of escape.


    Barring Spiral herself, who''d be useless on the other side, Gavel was the single most useful member of the team. He''d be the one they''d send in first. Losing him would be a significant hit to any escape attempt.


    They just had to hope he''d last that long.


    More concerning was whatever the island threw at them next.


    Today alone, they had run across no less than three different kinds of boar, and all tried to kill them. Then they had been unlucky enough to enter a ravine where a pair of cyclopedia... things lived.


    Taskmaster didn''t know what they were, only that they had one eye, yellow tusks, were twice as tall as Gavel and four times as wide, and their hide was tough enough that neither his spears nor Deathstroke''s sword did any damage.


    They looked like a demented cross between a cyclops and a hippopotamus, with a rhino horn because why the hell not.


    Killer Frost was almost killed when one barrelled through her ice and grabbed her. Only Gavel''s close proximity saved her from having her head bitten off.


    The squad could not keep counting on luck if they wanted to survive.


    One slip up, and someone would die.


    The tension and the sense of unease were wearing on everyone''s nerves. Sleep was hard to come by when you woke at the slightest sound.


    Even now, Taskmaster had to decide whether Deathstroke''s ''feeling'' was due to a long experience in dangerous situations or a paranoia born from having no sense of peace for weeks.


    Even the most incredible men in the world made mistakes when they went without rest for so long. He would know.


    Taskmaster rubbed his eyes tiredly.


    "Where''s the mute," Killer Frost asked as she joined the pair around the warm embers of the fire. Gavel walked behind her with a pallid look as he climbed the little outcropping that led to the shallow cave.


    "Sent her off for this week''s delivery," Deathstroke said plainly, not taking his eyes off the pale moon. "Something boring and uninteresting. I want them guessing."


    "Anything would be boring after crystal lizards that eat metal and fire-breathing insects with six legs and four arms," Gavel snorted. Then he started coughing again. Killer Frost gently touched his arm as he covered his mouth. Gavel didn''t react, but he did manage to get his breathing under control. "What is she sending through?"


    "Some of the boars we ran into," Taskmaster answered. He didn''t care if the pair were fucking, hated each other, or had a whirlwind romance. So long as they were useful, he''d keep them around.


    If they weren''t...


    "Which ones?" Killer Frost asked with sardonic humour in her voice. "The small and violent ones? The big and violent ones? Or the fucking big and violent ones?"


    "All boars are violent," Taskmaster sighed. "Not just those on this island. We just told her to grab a few and shove them through. Compared to everything else, a few pigs with no special abilities will not be what they seek. They''ll be eager for the next delivery. Won''t blow us up in the meantime."


    "And the next delivery is my fist to their groin," Frost smirked, punching a fist into her palm.


    "Idealy," Taskmaster nodded but didn''t say anything more.


    "Anyway," Frost continued. "I call dibs on the first watch."


    "I''ll, ack, take second, cough. Cough cough."


    "I''ll take last then," Taskmaster rolled his eyes as he stood up. God save him from horny idiots. Gavel was clearly sick, and they were still going at it? Morons. "Once Spiral is back, have her set up inside the cave. Otherwise, she''ll jus-"


    "Something''s there!"


    Deathstroke''s interruption was not loud, barely a whisper, but they all heard it clearly.


    In less than a second, his spears were in his hands. Killer Frost and Gavel were back to back and watching the night as they shuffled toward where the man''s massive hammer lay. This was not the first time their ''camp'' was invaded by some nocturnal creature.


    Taskmaster bit back a groan. They''d have to find a new place to set up after this. The blood of whatever was here would attract more predators.


    Sleep was still far off.


    They heard them before they saw them.


    Clack.


    The clacking, shuffling, and grinding of bones against one another were initially quiet as the first things shuffled out of the forest on bone-thin legs.


    Clack, crack.


    Then ten more followed the first. Each was a dark shadow in the night, their thin bodies only slightly illuminated by the moons'' light.


    Clack, crack, clack, crack.


    Behind those ten were fifty more.


    Clack, crack, clack, crack, clack, crack, clack, crack.


    Skeletons.


    Clack, crack, clack, crack, clack, crack, clack, crack, clack, crack, clack, crack, clack, crack, clack, crack.


    Hundreds of them exited the forest in lockstep, shambling their way toward the mouth of the small cave the group had chosen as their resting place for the night. The squad watched them, despair setting in as more emerged from the trees'' cover.


    Clack, crack, clack, crack, clack, crack, clack, crack, clack, crack, clack, crack, clack, crack, clack, crack, clack, crack, clack, crack, clack, crack, clack, crack, clack, crack, clack, crack, clack, crack, clack, crack.


    They weren''t human.


    There were too few ribs, each shaped like a dragon''s fang. The bones were too sharp. Instead of skulls, the spine was connected to jaws filled with razor-sharp teeth. Teeth that clacked, ground, and chomped at the air as if hungering for the flesh of the living.


    Clackcrackclackcrackclackcrackclackcrackclackcrackclackcrackclackcrackclackcracclackcrackclackcrackclackcrackclackcrackclackcrackclackcrackclackcrackclackcrackclackcrackclackcrackclackcrackclackcrackclackcrackclackcrackclackcrackclackcrack.


    "What the fuck?" Killer Frost asked in a horrified whisper.


    Hundreds of undead were filling the space between the cliff and the forest, drawing closer to their camp. They were all armed with bone weapons. Swords. Spears. Daggers. Bows.


    "Wall!" Deathstroke ordered sharply, stepping back into the shallow cave.


    The ice was almost too late.


    Crack!


    Taskmaster stared, wide-eyed at the bone arrow inches from his face.


    His spears were raised to block it. Even if he succeeded, he would have been riddled with holes from the dozens of other bone missiles.


    More arrows were hitting the ice, wedging themselves in deeply even as Killer Frost made the wall thicker and thicker.


    "We need to break through," Deathstroke said quickly. "We''re surrounded."


    "How?" The cryokinetic asked, a note of hysteria in her voice. "I don''t know if you noticed the fucking army of fucked up skeletons outside!"


    "We can''t, erghem, wait here," Gavel said with a slight cough, laying a hand on the woman''s shoulder to calm her. Killer Frost''s wide eyes stared up at the man for a second before taking a deep breath and nodding. "They came from, ack. From the forest."


    "They are not natural," Taskmaster realized. "We would have heard them coming sooner. Like that ghost snail a few days ago. We kill whatever is summoning them, and they''ll disappear."


    "We''ll follow you," Deathstroke nodded at the Australian vigilante. "Once we''re in the middle of them, the archers will lose line of sight. Frost, you''re on defence. We''ll cover you."


    "What, cough, about the daft bint?"


    "She''ll be back any minute. Either we''ve killed the summoner by then, she helps, or she shows up in the middle of them, and she''s a distraction. Keep an eye out for her, but our priority is exiting the encirclement."


    The Suicide sharded a determined nod.


    With a deep breath to calm herself once more, Killer Frost destroyed the ice wall by exploding it outwards.


    Dozens of warriors tumbled away as shards of ice, feet thick, blasted them to pieces.


    Gavel was right behind, smashing a skeleton warrior with a bone sword like he was hitting a golf ball. He extended his invulnerability to his hammer and, through it, to the skeleton.


    Like a bowling ball, the undead warrior crashed with a disastrous force, knocking its compatriots back and clearing a hole in the line Gavel charged through. Killer Frost was at his back, already freezing a dozen arrows out of the air.


    Within seconds, the hole in the lines of the undead was filled with more clacking, biting, and crushing foes.


    The nearest skeleton tried to smash its bone blade through Taskmaster''s skull. He blocked, staggering slightly from the unexpected strength of the undead, but managed to hold it off with one of his spears. The other severed its spine.


    Gavel''s hammer swung in a wide arc, destroying ten skeletons with one swing and sending bone shards flying through the air. The man coughed, pausing in his stride momentarily before pushing forward, a one-man wrecking ball. He carved through the horde like a buzzsaw.


    Killer Frost was more focused on defence, raising walls of ice above their head to prevent the unending rain of arrows from turning them into porcupines. Whenever Gavel paused to catch his breath or cough, she took the brief pause in their push forward to send icebergs the size of houses into the army of fanged foes. Her attacks were infrequent, but each destroyed or froze dozens with their vast area.


    In contrast, Deathstroke was a picture of measured efficiency. His every move put him just out of reach of an enemy''s swing. Every time he swung his blade, a bone warrior lost a limb or had its spine severed. He killed fewer than the previous two, but he did it with such an economy of movement and energy that it looked like he was walking through a busy crowd on a subway rather than fighting an army of the undead.


    Taskmaster didn''t have Deathstroke''s pure efficiency. Didn''t have Gavel''s strength, invulnerability, or Killer Frost''s ability to affect a wide area.


    Taskmaster wasn''t a Super, not a mutant, not an alien, or a product of some genetic experiment.


    Taskmaster was one hundred percent, baseline human.


    His one ability stemmed not from any supernatural phenomenon but from his memory. All he could do was recreate the movements of those he had seen. He didn''t gain their strength or superhuman abilities. He just copied their movements and learned from them.


    This made him a famous and deadly mercenary that had tangled with the multiple PRT teams such as the Avengers or Titans, vigilantes like Spider-man, and other Supers.


    Then he had the bad luck of being in the wrong place at the wrong time.


    Taskmaster hadn''t even known The Flash was in town before he was in a cell.


    He languished in prison for years, waiting for his chance.


    Then he was offered to come to this island in exchange for freedom. Despite knowing the mysterious benefactors would betray him, he accepted the deal rather than continue to rot away.


    And they unknowingly made Taskmaster so much deadlier than he had ever been.


    After they planted the bomb in his neck but before they had been shipped to the island, the organization gave them all footage of all known associates of the Elden Lord so they knew who to avoid to remain covert.


    Including images of her.


    Scathach.


    A mythological warrior-queen.


    A woman who had trained heroes.


    A woman who had fought an army of demons on camera for over an hour.


    A woman whose most significant advantage wasn''t her ability to summon spears, cast magic, or other superhuman abilities.


    A woman who had carved her myth through pure skill.


    Skill Taskmaster could replicate.


    Certainly, he''d never be able to do everything Scathach did. She had so many more tools at her disposal than he did, to say nothing of the difference in physical parameters.


    But what he could replicate was enough.


    Enough that he didn''t need to copy Deathstroke.


    Enough that with his two spears, he could dance through the dead.


    In a brutal whirlwind of bladed death, Taskmaster tore through the horde of skeletons. His movements were fluid, unending as one blow flowed into the next into the next into the next. Even when he dodged, blocked or parried, it only furthered his goals.


    Any blow blocked was used to push him back to a more advantageous position. A parried blade crashed into another skeleton. By dodging, he placed one bone warrior in the path of others.


    Taskmaster wasn''t their squad''s strongest, smartest, most experienced or toughest.


    But he was the most skilled.


    It saved his life.


    The squad had made it to the treeline. Despite killing hundreds of undead, they were being blocked by hundreds more. The trees limited how many could attack at once and provided more cover from the rain of arrows, giving Killer Frost more chances to attack. It also restricted the squad''s movement and line of sight as the moons'' light struggled to filter through the thick overhead branches.


    Skeletal fragments flew around the Suicide Squad in such numbers and density that it looked like they were trapped in a snowstorm of bone. Their movements, familiar with each other from the long weeks of survival on the inhospitable island, were seamless as they wove through and around each other.


    They moved with brutal efficiency deeper into the forest, eyes peeled for any sign of the summoner.


    This story has been stolen from Royal Road. If you read it on Amazon, please report it


    The attack should have killed him.


    The blade was less than a foot from his throat when the moonlight glinted off it.


    Pure skill saved Taskmaster at that moment.


    He didn''t have time to think, dodge, or call out to his companions. All he had was human reflexes.


    And the muscle memory of one of the greatest heroines to ever live.


    His right spear, extended to destroy a bone warrior with two daggers, was too far for him to pull back and block.


    Taskmaster stepped into the attack as his arm moved without conscious thought. The haft lightly nudged the arm holding the curved blade.


    Blood flew through the air.


    "Aaaarrrrggg!" Taskmaster screamed in pain, throwing himself backwards. Despite the pain, he swung his spear in an arc.


    The figure nimbly backstepped, just outside his spear''s reach, before darting forward. They came in quick and low, their dark clothes blending in with the shadows of the night.


    The movements of a trained assassin.


    Taskmaster, bleeding from his lost ear, unbalanced and in pain, should have died then, his copied skills only saving his life for the briefest of seconds.


    If he was alone.


    Ice rained from the sky in chunks, and the cloaked figure was forced to dodge in between skeletons to avoid being crushed by the frozen blocks.


    "You good?" Killer Frost called out. One side heard it as a shout. The other was barely cognizant of the sound.


    "I''ll live," Taskmaster bit out in pain. Losing an ear was terrible because of the blood loss and the disorientation caused by imbalance. It was better than having his neck slit. If they could kill the summoner and Spiral returned, she could heal him. Even in pain, his eyes followed the cloaked figure as they moved through the undead horde in an arc. "I found them!"


    The mercenary needn''t have called out. Gavel was already barrelling down on the figure, his hammer destroying another wide swath of undead. He missed the figure as they ducked and weaved through the trees, blinking in and out of existence.


    "Hold still," the vigilante called as he battered down a tree, his swing unslowed. "This will only hurt, cough, a bit. Then it''ll hurt, ack, a lot."


    The figure remained silent, nimbly backing away from every wide swing of the hammer. Killer Frost tried to rain more ice down, but the canopy of trees provided enough cover for them to avoid any damage.


    Deathstroke emerged from behind a nearby tree, blade swinging to decapitate them.


    They managed to duck out of the way but lost their cloak as the sword caught it in its arc. The figure slipped from the entangled clothe with the ease of long practice, regaining their footing.


    Taskmaster finally got a good look at his would-be killer.


    Chestnut brown hair fell to her shoulders, and one eye observed the squad. She crouched, ready for the next clash, as her curved blade glinted with a golden glow.


    Taskmaster recognized her from the videos.


    Melina.


    They had been found by the Elden Lord.


    Deathstroke shot her in the head.


    This entire trip, he had been conserving the limited ammo on the ship. Most things they faced on the island would ignore bullets if they hit at all. Either too big, too tough or came in such numbers that a few shots would not have made a dent.


    Now that he had a clear target, he took his chance.


    Like all things the mercenary did, his movements were refined to perfection. There was no pause in his movements as he withdrew his pistol and blasted the woman.


    He hit her in the forehead.


    Melina staggered back.


    The bullet fell to the ground.


    A forcefield of yellow light rippled around the impact zone, less than an inch from her skin, before disappearing. Melina''s one open eye landed narrowed in annoyance.


    Deathstroke shot her again.


    This time, the woman dodged.


    With supernatural grace and dexterity, she backflipped out of the way of his bullet and Gavel''s hammer as it swung down behind her. The giant was forced to turn his weapons as more undead tried to pile on him and Frost, leaving the woman unmolested.


    A golden flame lit her blade as she swung it in an arc, sending it in a wave at the mercenary. The ice that rose to block the gold fire slowed it slightly as the energy carved through the wall. Deathstroke dove out of the way in time to avoid being bisected.


    Taskmaster''s spear caught the woman in the back while she hung in midair, driving her to the ground. The same forcefield of energy prevented him from drawing blood.


    Melina rolled along the ground, uncaring for the dirt that stained her clothes, as she shot to her feet and lunged.


    "Freeze her!"


    Melina''s lunge brought her right to Taskmaster. Ducking under another spear thrust, she coiled up and around him like a snake, plunging her dagger down into his throat.


    Then she stopped, frozen in place. Her blade pierced his skin and drew blood, but not deep enough to kill.


    Taskmaster saw Spiral withdraw her hand, her order fulfilled.


    He was still wrapped by the paralyzed woman, one arm unable to bend, but the other lanced up with spear in hand.


    "¦¡¦Ó¦Ë¦Á?!"


    The air pressure solidified around the pair, and Taskmaster''s thrust froze, unable to move an inch as the air locked him in an invisible prison.


    "Teleport us away!" Deathstroke ordered.


    Purple light bloomed in the sky, circles of magic covering the canopy.


    Taskmaster watched with wide eyes, unable to move, as rays of purple magic lanced down with murderous intent.


    BOOOOM!


    Like an artillery bombardment, the magic crashed all over the forest, upending trees, dirt, stone, and skeleton. Over and over, the magic crashed down in the woods around the frozen pair, reducing the landscape to rubble.


    Then the explosions stopped, and the purple glow of the dozen magic circles faded, leaving the paralyzed pair amid a billowing cloud of dirt and debris.


    For a few seconds, the forest was tranquil.


    It had been less than a minute since Melina first appeared, and the situation had changed dramatically.


    "Rule Breaker!" A voice called out from the dust cloud.


    Melina fell, no longer paralyzed, from atop Taskmaster.


    The mercenary remained trapped by the cage of air pressure.


    "Did you get them?" Melina asked as she rose to her feet.


    "No," the same voice responded. It was female and frustrated, but Taskmaster could not see her from his angle. "The other four got away. What were you thinking?"


    "We can ignore them," Melina ignored the question, brushing the dirt off herself. "They aren''t who we are looking for either. Let''s move on to the next group."


    Taskmaster felt his hope grow. If the Elden Lord''s women weren''t here for them, there was a chance they''d let him go. Or he could trade information or services in exchange for clemency. He was a handy man to have around.


    "I''ve followed your little whim for long enough," the unknown woman said sternly. Melina "We are not going anywhere until you tell me what this is about."


    "We do not have time," Melina said with a frown, looking behind Taskmaster. "I will tell you later."


    "If you want me to keep teleporting you around, you will tell me now."


    Taskmaster hoped this argument continued. Whatever was distracting them or pressing them for time was good for him. They would have killed him, helpless as he was, if they wanted him dead. That he was still alive meant he still had use. He still had some leverage.


    The longer they argued, the more time they wasted, the better chance the spell holding him would wear off.


    Taskmaster had no thoughts about trying to take them both on after that display of magic, but he wanted to escape if possible. Once he snuck away, he''d cauterize his ear and make his way north. He knew where the squad was going, and he''d make better time by himself so he would catch up.


    These women just needed to stay distracted and keep ignoring him.


    He''d live.


    He''d survive.


    He''d get off this damned island.


    "Why did you attack them?" The unknown woman asked, insistent. "My Dragon Tooth Warriors were drawing them in. They were almost at my statues."


    "They were taking too long and being dealt with too easily," Melina said plainly, stepping closer to the figure and out of Taskmaster''s line of sight. "We weren''t forcing them into a corner fast enough."


    "Why are you in such a rush?"


    "Because we need to find the Death user immediately."


    "Why? Mikael will find them when he brings them into the Dream. Why all this effort? You could have been killed if I wasn''t here! For no reason!"


    In pain from his wound, Taskmaster was occupied by listening to the argument between two women who held his life in their hands, and contemplating his escape, he almost missed the two glowing eyes in the dark.


    Almost.


    Taskmaster struggle redoubled in a frantic effort.


    He grunted, tried to scream, tried to flail, anything at all to draw the women''s attention. Crying, heaving, and praying for anything to save him.


    Neither woman noticed as death approached Taskmaster on softly padded paws.


    ********


    Medea was trying to remain calm. She really was.


    She still wanted to strangle this woman''s pretty little neck.


    Would it kill her to not be vague?


    Would it kill her to answer the damn question?


    If she didn''t, Medea would definitely kill this little...


    The greek witch took a deep breath, getting herself under control.


    "My Lord should not create another Dream," Melina answered.


    "Why," Medea asked again, unwilling to let a non-answer like that stop her.


    "Becau-"


    Melina''s words were cut off as the moon started to glow a blood red, bathing the torn forest in its pale blood glow.


    "Looks like you are too late," the greek said with some vindictive pleasure. "Might as well tell me now."


    Melina continued to stare up at the red moon, her expression unreadable.


    Then she sagged in relief as the bloody glow in the night faded once more, leaving behind the regular moon after only a few seconds.


    Medea frowned, now genuinely worried as the kindling maiden seemed to deflate, tension leaving her form.


    "What is going on, Melina? Why would him starting another Dream be bad?"


    "It is not the Dream that is the worry," the maiden shook her head. "It is the mindset that it requires that worries me so. Any of his more... inhuman abilities require a shift in thought."


    "Didn''t you help him hunt down and eat dragon hearts so he could assume dragonic forms?" Medea arched a brow. "That is hardly a human thing to do. I''m not human. Diana, Ranni, Raven, Yoruichi, and Priscilla are all not human. I did not know that was a problem."


    "Your race is irrelevant, as is my Lord''s," Melina shook her head again. "Whether he be dragon, man, or abomination, I would love him the same. What I speak of is his mind. Have you not noticed?"


    "Noticed what?"


    Melina frowned and looked away, staring at the moon again in thought.


    "Perhaps I need to speak to Lady Ranni," the kindling maiden whispered to herself. "Perhaps only those who knew him well before can notice the change?"


    Oh no, this bitch didn''t just say that.


    Rage, cold and calculated, filled Medea.


    "What do you know of Servants?" Medea asked, her voice conversational. As if she was asking about the weather.


    "I fail to see why that is important at the moment," Melina said. "We should meet with my Lord to discuss what he discovered."


    "Humour me."


    "Very well," Melina nodded. "Most of my knowledge comes from you and the occasional talk with my Lord. I know that you are figures of myth made real. Heroes of legend that ascended to the Throne of Heroes to be recorded through history as Heroic Spirits. Heroic Spirits are forces of nature, supremely powerful but rarely appearing. Servants are those Heroic Spirits forced into a class container, such as your Caster class. This limits their abilities but makes it possible to summon them. Most often, this is to compete in a Holy Grail War for a wish. That is my understanding. What does it matter?"


    "You have the basics," Medea nodded. "What you didn''t mention was that Servants, and their Noble Phantasms, are the crystallizations of their legends."


    "I had heard of that," Melina agreed, but her tone suggested she didn''t understand the point.


    "What you don''t get," Medea bit out the last word. "Is those legends are cyclical. Repeatable. Stories are told over and over again. Servants are dead things. The dead cannot change the world. Not because we have no abilities or we don''t impact those around us, but because we, as legends made real, are trapped in our own stories."


    "I do not understand."


    "Through fate, luck, cosmic coincidence, or whatever you want to call it, Servants tend to repeat aspects of their legends when summoned. It is our greatest strength and weakness. Gilgamesh will be the greatest, but his arrogance will be his undoing. Leonidas will be placed in a situation where he must sacrifice himself in a position to defend against an overwhelming foe, buying time for others to win the war as he loses the battle and his life. Diarmuid of the Love Spot will meet his end because of a jealous husband, even though he is innocent. Medea of Colchis will fall in love, but the man will choose another woman over her."


    "Oh..." Melina said softly, meeting the Demigod''s eyes. "I see."


    "Do you?" Medea asked harshly. "Do you really? I did everything. Everything! I helped him with his experiments. I fed the other his blood for weeks without them knowing at his request. I unified a harem of women for him. I was the first to tell him of my love. I am the one who worked tirelessly on countless methods of pulling him from his prison. Emma might have been the most trusted, but I was the most useful. And he used me and left me for another woman. Just like Jason."


    "That is unfair," Melina denied. "I do not deny your aid or your feelings, nor the feeling of betrayal my existence brought, but you cannot claim my Lord is like your former husband. He repeatedly told you he was unable to reciprocate your feelings. He never once led you on. Any of you. Just because you love someone does not mean they are forced to love you."


    "Oh, I know," Medea nodded, a vicious smirk on her face. "But feelings do not care about logic. All I could see was my past repeating itself. I might have still loved Mikael, but something most forgets about love is that it does not mean it supersedes other emotions. For days between learning of what happened in the Lands Between Ranni and Mikael''s escape, I loved and hated Mikael. And I absolutely despised you. You who had everything I had wanted. You who threw it away."


    "I died for him!" Melina shouted.


    "And I couldn''t even do that!" Medea shouted back. "I could do nothing! Once more, I was a victim of powers higher than myself, unable to determine my own fate."


    The pair of women glared at each other in that ruined forest, each daring the other to make the first move.


    Melina was the quicker of the two, and Medea was within reach of her blade. Medea was the most destructive. If the first blow didn''t kill her, which it wouldn''t with her Aura and Haki, she''d bombard Melina from on high.


    Neither moved.


    Then Medea took a deep breath.


    "I was planning on killing you," the greek witch admitted softly. "When we found you in his room. I knew right away who you were. It would have been easy with everyone else crowding around him."


    "Why didn''t you?" Melina asked, her glare still there but less harsh. "I wasn''t bound yet. My Lord might not have been able to bring me back."


    "It wasn''t pity. It wasn''t fear or hesitation. At that moment, a week after learning of your existence and everything that happened in the Lands Between, I was still consumed by my emotions. Only one thing stopped me from killing you in revenge."


    "Mikael stopped you?"


    "No," Medea shook her head. "Do you know what his first he said after landing on the Island and finding you? It was ''Medea.''"


    "So he did stop you."


    "He wasn''t even talking to me," the greek witch denied with a smirk on her lips. "He was talking to his cat. The cat that he named after me. It had jumped on his face when we all woke it up with our arrival. It recognized him even though he was in a completely different body."


    "Why did that stop you?" Melina asked with a tilt of her head, hand leaving the pommel of her blade.


    "Because it was absurd! What kind of man names his cat after one of the greatest betrayers of all time?" Medea giggled at the memory. Melina eyed her warily. "Don''t you get it? Mikael is absurd. The situation was absurd. My feelings, hating someone who had done me no wrong and who had given me the greatest gift, were absurd. It wasn''t like you chose your situation, and Mikael certainly didn''t plan for everything that happened. Yes, him falling in love with you after rejecting our feelings was terrible. Yes, we are all jealous of you."


    Melina froze.


    "But if he hadn''t?" Medea continued seriously. "If Mikael continued to stubbornly reject everyone? Not only would he have never been freed, but he would never have been able to accept anyone else in his heart. I, who had schemed for so long to build him this Family, forgot the primary goal of it. In Artoria''s words, in losing a battle to a third force, I had lost sight of our war aims. Which were to make sure he didn''t leave us behind. You are the one that achieved that goal, and killing you would have destroyed it. That fat cat saved your life and this entire Family."


    Medea couldn''t help but giggle at the thought. Her life was absurd, and she wouldn''t have it any other way. But she had a point to make.


    "Since then, I''ve done my best to be accommodating, friendly, and helpful," Medea continued. "When you asked for my help tonight, I gave it without question. We''ve been at this for hours, and I''ve stopped you only when you almost died. I might not have decades with Mikael like you, but I care about him and this Family. I am owed at least an explanation if something threatens it. Your dismissal of the rest of our feelings will not do you any favours with me or the other if you keep wishing for our aid."


    "I see," Melina repeated with eyes slightly wide. While not to the degree of Raven, the woman was not too expressive and generally hard to read. Right now, she looked like Medea had just told her the most shocking thing in the world. "You were jealous? Of me?"


    "That is what you got out of that?" Medea asked, incredulously throwing her hands up in the air in frustration. "Yes, you moron. We all were. Still are. If someone cares for their partner, they''ll be jealous of the person who spent decades with them. That is common sense!"


    "But I am jealous of you."


    Medea froze, hands still hanging in the air, falling limply to her side.


    "I may have spent the most time with him, but I am by far the most useless," Melina admitted with a grimace. "I showed him how to channel runes once. Fought with him once. And died for him once. That is it. That is all I have done, all I can do. I am the weakest on this island. My skills are the least useful. Unlike you, who he relies on more than any other, I am nothing more than a memory. A bad one. I am an outsider with no purpose. My Lord tells me to live for him, for the Family, but I do not know how to do that. What is my purpose when you all are so much more capable?"


    Melina met her eyes, not with a glare but with a look that was at once envious as it was helplessly lost.


    "I meant no insult to you when I asked if you hadn''t noticed a change in my Lord," Melina said. "I simply worried it might be my imagination. If Lady Ranni noticed the change, I would have confirmation of my worries, and I could bring them forward. I may be of some use then. If she did not, it must be because I have been gone from my Lord too long and do not understand him as well as I thought."


    Even after meeting Melina, Medea had not forgotten her anger, her jealousy, for the woman. She played nice for the Family, but even months later, those feelings still simmered deep within her. It was why she lashed out at Melina''s words.


    Medea wouldn''t apologize. She did not regret any of her actions, and her feelings were valid.


    "What are these changes you are worried about?" The greek witch asked softly.


    But she could make peace.


    "As I said, it is when my Lord employs his abilities from the world after mine. Bloodborne, I believe it was called." Melina replied, accepting the peace offering. She looked to the sky. "He was not there long, weeks rather than years, but it affected him. He doesn''t speak of those days. All his other worlds, he will joke or tell tales of. When I bring up that one, he deflects. And he gets this look on his face when he uses his ''GOO'' powers, as he calls them. Like all emotion or personality has bled from him."


    "I thought he was just learning to use those abilities since he had less time to practice than others," Medea answered, knowing the look Melina was talking about.


    "I have seen him practicing spells before," Melina shook her head. "He spent a year in Raya Lucaria pouring over tomes and learning all he could. That is not his study face. His study face is one of intense focus, and he will occasionally stick his tongue out between his mouth if he is particularly determined."


    "Like his cat?" Medea asked in disbelief, imagining Mikael pouring over books with the tip of his tongue sticking out in what he called ''blep-face'' when his cat did the same in her sleep.


    "Exactly," Melina nodded.


    Medea felt the familiar pang of jealousy. She had never noticed that habit of his. She knew the kindling maiden wasn''t doing it on purpose, but it was stuff like this that made her and the others jealous. What other habits were they unaware of?


    "It is an entirely different expression to the one when he manipulates his eldritch abilities," Melina continued. "That expression is one I recognized as when he was in his worst moods. Not anger, but apathy. When the weight of the years and his curse would get to him. He''d retreat inward, acting as if a machine. Hours, sometimes days, would pass. When I could, I would draw him from the trap of his mind, but I was not always able to right away."


    "We''d have noticed if Mikael went unresponsive for days," Medea frowned.


    "It is not the same," Melina shook her head again. "The expression is, but the situation is different. When we travelled together, such a mood was not common. In four decades together, he fell inward only a dozen times."


    "But it''s much more common now," Medea nodded, understanding the maiden''s conundrum. "Even if it''s shorter, if it happens regularly, it could mean something is wrong. And you say it happens when he uses his abilities from Bloodborne?"


    "That has been my observation," Melina nodded. "I hope to stop him from using them as much as possible."


    "It''s too late tonight," Medea said, looking up at the white moon. "But talk to Ranni about it. I''ll ask Raven if she''s noticed anything similar. She''s the one who spends the most time around him."


    "His Shadow would know," Melina nodded. "Ask her about when he gives ''treats'' to his pet and thinks we do not notice. That is the most common time he uses his abilities."


    "Alright," Medea agreed, aware of her husband''s habit of spoiling his cat. Not that she blamed him. She spoiled it as well. "We should head back and find out what he discovered. He also will know where the group left to and might want to deal with them."


    "What group?" Mikael asked, appearing in a shimmer of starlight. Both women jumped in, surprised, and he grinned.


    "Every day, I curse Ranni for teaching you teleportation," Medea muttered.


    "But then you taught me your version as well? I wouldn''t be able to do it this quickly without your lessons. That doesn''t sound very clever of you, oh Witch of Betrayal."


    Melina glared at Medea, and her ears reddened in embarrassment.


    "How was I supposed to know he''d start teleporting everywhere to surprise people?" Medea defended herself.


    "Because he is Mikael," Melina said, using his name rather than the usual title for emphasis.


    Mikael grinned, completely unrepentant.


    "Why did I marry you again?" Medea asked, putting a hand to her forehead in exasperation. "You are not even my type."


    "Because I am pretty," Mikael responded instantly, batting his eyelashes and flicking his hand through his hair in an exaggerated huff. "I am your trophy husband. You only want me for my body. Admit it. I''m just a meat dildo to you all, aren''t I?"


    Melina facepalmed.


    "Must you be so crass, my Lord?"


    "Yes," Mikael grinned. "Anyway, what group were you talking about?"


    "Four people managed to teleport away," Medea said, not mentioning that they had almost seriously injured Melina. They hadn''t even really scratched her, so there was no point in worrying him. "One with six arms, one woman, two men-"


    "One huge and the other covered in armour and a mask? Yeah, I saw them. Gavel, Killer Frost, Spiral, and Deathstroke," Mikael nodded in recognition. "They''re about four miles north of here. They landed in a hive of Gravekeeper Scorpions. They aren''t having a good night. Though, I am surprised they managed to get away from you two."


    "We caught one," Medea said. "After we get info out of him, I want to try to grow Glintstone again. I am this close to finding out why they make those ''mage balls.''"


    "Oh, you caught someone," Mikael said innocently. Too innocent. Both women narrowed their eyes at him. "Where is he? How come I don''t see him?"


    Melina let out a long sigh.


    "He''s right..." Medea turned to point at the man trapped in her spell, only he wasn''t there. "Medea!" She shouted in shock as she caught sight of the tubby cat sitting where the man had been, licking her paws and grooming herself.


    Mikael burst out laughing as the cat gave them all the side eye before continuing its self-care.


    "What has Mommy told you about eating her test subjects," the greek witch stomped toward the fury creature. "Bad girl!" Medea held Medea up by the scruff of her neck, and the fat cat''s body hung like a limp noodle as tiny wings beat fruitlessly for freedom.


    "Mrow?" The cat(?) whined piteously at her, eyes wide and wet.


    Medea caved instantly.


    Mikael laughed harder.


    "Ok, you''ll get off this time since I hadn''t started any experiments on him. But next time, Mommy will cut you off. No more leftovers."


    "Meow," the cat(?) agreed? Or close enough that Medea let Medea go.


    Its too-small wings carried it over to the still giggling Mikael and landed on his shoulders, rubbing against his head affectionately. He started scratching the thing below her chin.


    Then he tried to sneak her a ''treat.''


    Subtly, he formed a tentacle in the palm of his hand.


    Medea bit off the new appendage, eating it with glee, her tiny cheeks stuffed with his flesh.


    When he stopped giving the cat(?) scritches, there was no indication of any wound on his palm.


    He looked to the pair sharing a concerned look, and smiled guilelessly at them.


    "What?" He asked innocently before starting to rub his face affectionately against the beast. "She''s best floof. Yes you are. Yes you are. Who''s my little glutton? You are, you big tub of adorable lard."


    He knew that they knew he was sneaking Medea treats, but so what? He''d spoil Fat Floof forever.


    "Nothing," Medea answered, not mentioning the brief look that had appeared on his face for a moment. "Did you discover what Priscilla was sensing?"


    "Yep," he nodded, popping the ''p.'' "I also found that other thing Tsunade sensed. Both are strong but nowhere near worth worry. A few of us can deal with it. I''ll explain everything back home. I was just coming to pick you two up, since everyone else is there."


    "Very well," Melina nodded and approached him to grab his arm.


    Medea almost did as well, then she froze as a thought came to her.


    "You said you were aware of everything during the Dream?"


    "Yeah," Mikael nodded, tilting his head in question at her. "What do you want to know? There are still a few large groups on the Island if you need more test subjects. The Chinese just sent three more ships. You''d think they''d learn after the first five."


    "It was the same last time? You watched everything?"


    "You asking about your private time?" He grinned. "I saw it all. You are one naughty witch."


    "Not that!" Medea denied, her face a deathly white. She wasn''t embarrassed. She was afraid. "After Ranni arrived while you were in Bloodborne..." She couldn''t say it.


    "Oh," Mikael nodded in realization. "You mean when you destroyed your workshop, spent hours turning the training field into ruins, and cursed my name while describing, in excruciating detail, what you''d do to me? I never saw any of that. My favourite definitely wasn''t when you said you''d give me magical diabetes just to force-feed me my own pancreas. That would be insane."


    "Then you knew..." The greek witch looked between the man and the woman standing side by side.


    "You described what you''d do to Melina if she was still around enough times that I got the hint," Mikael deadpanned with a roll of his eyes.


    "Then why didn''t you stop me! Say something to me!"


    "Stop you?" Mikael asked, bewildered. "You never did anything."


    "I was going to," Medea insisted.


    "But you didn''t," Mikael drawled slowly as if speaking to a particularly dumb animal. Medea would have been insulted if she wasn''t so confused and afraid. "Really, I don''t see what the problem is. I''ve thought about killing my friends and Family a bunch of times. We make each other mad. That''s how Family works." He paused for a second before giving a grudging nod. "To be fair to you, what I did was pretty shitty. I had my reasons, but I still hurt you all with my actions. You especially, given your circumstances. I haven''t apologized for that, have I?"


    "I don''t want your apologies," Medea denied emphatically. Even when she was angry at him, she understood his actions. If she could have found love away from Jason, she would have in a heartbeat. "I want to know why you never brought it up. Why you never stopped me from getting near her."


    Melina, who had been watching this interaction with interest, also looked at Mikael.


    He shrugged.


    "I trusted you."


    Melina facepalmed.


    Medea felt like she''d been punched in the gut.


    "Wha... But my legend?"


    "What about it?" Mikael asked casually. "You aren''t Medea, the Witch of Betrayal. You are Medea. My wife. If I don''t trust you now, after everything you''ve done for me, I''d be an idiot."


    "But I could have hurt her," Medea pointed at Melina. "I was planning on it."


    "Nah," Mikael waived her off casually. "Being jealous of her, angry with her, even hating her. Those are all valid and understandable, given our situation. Even hating me, I get it. When I chose the lures instead of any form of control, I knew that loving someone did not preclude them from hating me either. Dragon aura might help positive feelings develop, but it doesn''t stop negative ones. And I wouldn''t want it to. You had every right to those feelings. But hurting her? You''d never do that."


    "How can you say that?"


    "Because you are the only person who loves this Family, the whole Family, as much as me. You would never do anything that could tear it apart." Mikael shrugged again. "Actions, not words, prove it. You are the one we all go to, rely on, and who never turns anyone away. We all trust you, and you''ve never given us a reason not to. Medea, General of Love is a better title for you any day of the week."


    The witch stared at him with wide eyes, ignoring his last sentence with the practice of a woman well used to her husband teasing her.


    Medea liked reticent men of sincerity, those with few words but each with meaning. She disliked muscles and preferred a slim build.


    Her ideal type was the exact opposite of Mikael.


    But when he said stuff like this...


    Mikael might not be her type, but gods be damned, did she love this man, this Family.

 Probation 5

    <div>


    ''Cause this ship''s going down


    All on account of the weather


    Though we''ll drown


    There''s no need to frown


    ''Cause we''re all going together


    And I won''t say "Woe is me"


    As I disappear into the sea


    Oh hell!


    ''Cause you''ve all been so good to me


    So we''re all going together.


    ********


    "Sir Mikael, I have the utmost confidence in you," Artoria stared at me, her eyes focused and unwavering. "Your strength of character and strength of arm are beyond reproach. Though I know you have committed dishonourable acts, they were for honourable goals, and I know the extent you go to to ensure the safety of the innocent and this Family."


    The King of Knights met my eyes with resolution but also sadness.


    "So why? Why this? Why now? Why must you not only sully your image in my heart but betray me in such a cruel fashion?"


    I was stone.


    Unshaken, even if the sky fell upon my head, I was stone.


    I met her resolute gaze with one of my own, unwilling and unable to back down from this most important of battles.


    "Answer me!" Artoria demanded, her face contorting in a way that had never been directed my way. Hurt. Sadness. "After all this, I owed an answer! So, please. Sir Mikael. Why?"


    Everyone in the room held their breath, waiting for my answer.


    Answer that was as cruel as it was true.


    "Because it''s funny," I said softly.


    Artoria stared intently at me, unable to accept the answer, for it was incomplete. That was not what she wanted to hear.


    "And," I paused for dramatic effect.


    The tension in the room skyrocketed.


    "Mashed potatoes are the best potatoes."


    Artoria recoiled as if slapped, eyes watering as they looked from me to her plate and the pillowy mounds that lay upon it.


    "Pfft," Yoruichi couldn''t hold it in anymore as she collapsed into giggles. Other women at the table also stifled their laughter.


    "They are as soft as clouds," I continued with utmost seriousness, driving the point further into the King of Knight''s heart. "White and pure, their pillowy grace reminds the eater of a soft pillow or a woman''s bosom. Covered in gravy, with peel, mixed with cheese or bacon, or innumerable other contents, the infinite permutations and ways to eat the mashed potato are a reflection of the nature of the universe. Unending, yet encompasing all. Mashed potatoes are... love."


    "Hahahahahaha," Yoruichi was leaning on Tsunade as she shook while Robin wasn''t even trying to cover her laughter.


    "Lies!" Artoria tried to deny the truth as her hand slammed into the table. "Mashed potatoes are only for those too unskilled in cooking. They are gruel, fit for pigs and soldiers who have no choice and no skill at hunting or foraging. The fry is the superior potato. Crispy on the outside, soft on the inside. Its salty taste goes with so many dipping sauces you are spoiled for choice."


    "I''ve always preferred a solid baked potato," Emma said, cutting her steak with elegant motions. I saw her smile slightly at the ''potato war.'' Despite everything, I was happy she was having fun. The awkwardness between us did not mean she was not part of the Family. "There is an elegance in its simplicity. One tuber can become so much, yet its base form is already delicious."


    "Chips," Priscilla said simply.


    "All valid opinions," I nodded gregariously. "All wrong, of course. But valid. I accept you all, despite your obvious flaws, for I love you. And I know, one day, you too will recognize the mashed way as the only true road to enlightenment."


    As always, it was Melina that got under my skin.


    "I want to try those ''scalloped potatoes'' you mentioned once," she said guilelessly.


    "You shut your heathen mouth, wench!" I said in an over-the-top manner so she knew not to take my words too seriously. I know she was doing this to get a rise out of me, but some things were too far. "I will not have that kind of talk in my house! Any who would dare create that abomination in my kitchen shall be sent to the dungeon!"


    "We have a dungeon?" Wonder Woman asked softly to Glynda.


    The teacher choked slightly on her wine.


    "Ugh," she coughed, dabbing at her lips before answering. "We have two. One is the facility where we keep Medea''s patients anesthetized. He calls it a dungeon because it''s locked from the outside in case any wake up somehow. And he''s a drama queen. The other is for... personal use." The teacher''s face was tinged a light pink that had nothing to do with wine.


    "Oh," Wonder Woman said softly, fiddling with her bracers contemplatively. Her face was also starting to flush. "I see."


    Damn, I had been hoping to surprise her with it. Baring Emma, Diana spent the least time on the Island, so I had given it good odds she wouldn''t have noticed us repurposing one of the many rooms in the cliff for a sex dungeon.


    "What are scalloped potatoes?" Ranni asked.


    "They are filth!"


    "After he ate some of Torrent''s raisins, I asked him if there was anything he wouldn''t eat," the great betrayer explained softly. "His answer was, and I quote, ''I''ll try everything once. If someone cooks for me, I''ll eat it because they worked hard for me. Except for scalloped potatoes. Anyone who puts that in front of me must burn in the fires of hell!''"


    "But what are they?"


    "FILTH!" I repeatedly insisted.


    "A side dish made of sliced potatoes in cream and covered in cheese," Medea, the resident chef, answered simply as she deftly blocked Artoria''s attempts to slide her mashed potatoes onto her plate.


    The King of Knights pouted, looking around for another ''victim.''


    "What is wrong with them?"


    "They are a monument to our sins! Proof that mankind is inherently an agent of chaos and destruction. Proof that there is no just god!"


    "I honestly don''t know," Melina answered, ignoring me with the ease of long practice. "I just know it is the one thing he refuses to eat. I''ve seen him consume some genuinely vile stuff."


    "You go for years without being able to taste food, and you''ll be an epicurean, too," I interjected.


    "He''s made salade out of Miranda Flowers, which are poisonous or grilled the Land Octopi." Melina moved her plate without looking. Artoria pouted harder. I don''t think anyone else had a problem with mashed potatoes since they had all eaten theirs without complaint. They just found her desperation funny, like me. "He once made a broth out of a skeletal snail. It killed him."


    Half the table looked at me.


    I shrugged.


    "It didn''t taste bad," I answered the unasked question. "A bit bland, if anything. I think what actually killed me was the other stuff in the soup. Could be the Ghost Glovewort. Could be the Deathbird. Don''t know, really. I had been going for a whole ''death draught'' thing."


    "You''ll eat something called ''deathbird'' but not scalloped potatoes?" Raven asked neutrally. Not judgemental, just genuinely curious.


    "The Deathbird had the same texture as chicken, only blander," I shrugged again. "I''ve been meaning to try it and a few other things again now that I have the defences and don''t have to worry about being poisoned or cursed."


    Seeing as they were still curious about the scalloped potatoes thing, I decided to be frank.


    "It''s a pavlovian response from my time before the Cell. I had a bad experience with them when I was still human," I pretended not to see Emma''s fist curl, "and now the sight and smell of scalloped potatoes are enough to make me nauseous. I have yet to find another food that does the same. I wasn''t joking about the taste thing, either. With Faery Feast, almost anything can be used to make good food, so I went wild in the Lands Between. Being undead sucks."


    "T''is that why thy art such a letch?" Ranni asked in realization. "A lack of physical pleasure for years?"


    "No. I am just a horny pervert."


    "Pfffttt," Yoruichi sprayed out her sake at my deadpan delivery of the fact, even as Tsunade gave me the stink eye and Raven, the unfortunate victim, waived her hand. The alcohol disappeared in an instant. The Demon Lord didn''t even blink.


    I grinned.


    Shame?


    What is that?


    Can I sleep with it?


    Artoria, the cunning strategist that she was, had found the perfect target to foist her unwanted food onto and was holding her plate under the table as surreptitiously as she could.


    Medea consumed the mashed potatoes, looking like a cat eating ice cream with the way she licked and licked. After less than ten seconds, my pet licked the last of the small meal from the tip of her nose in an adorably cross-eyed manner.


    I seriously doubted eating potatoes would harm her, considering some of the things I''ve seen her eat. Honestly, I had no idea what she was, thus, I always thought of her as a ''cat(?).''


    My nearest guess was ''Tsathoggua but cat shaped.''


    It didn''t really matter. I loved the floofball all the same.


    Looking around up from under the table and around at my Family, my grin slipped into a more genuine smile.


    Everyone was laughing, talking, eating, and enjoying themselves.


    With the difference in time zones, our busy lives, different projects, heroes, villains, and hobbies, we rarely got the chance to sit all together for a meal. The fourteen of us together filled me with satisfaction like almost nothing else.


    If this was real.


    I shook the thought from my head once more.


    This was not the Cell.


    This was not the Kiln.


    I was free.


    This was real.


    "I don''t think he gets to say it is his kitchen because he cooked once," Medea was saying to Artoria.


    "I agree," she nodded like a chicken pecking the ground. "Not only does he not get to call the holy- the kitchen his, he should never cook again. Ever. Who knows what other sacrilege he will commit."


    I grinned again, tuning out their complaints to focus on another conversation.


    "I do not mind if you wish to film your training," Scathach agreed with Priscilla. "Is it for review after? That is a good idea, now that I think about it."


    "Nay," the crossbreed shook her head. "My fans have expressed interest in my exercise. I saw no harm in it but did not wish to violate thy privacy and seek thy permission before I post."


    "Hm," the celt hummed in thought. "I don''t care about privacy, but the tactics are the problem. I don''t think releasing our training images is a good idea. It shows potential foes our weaknesses."


    "Perhaps simple exercise videos then," Priscilla wondered allowed.


    "Don''t," Emma interjected, her tone firm but kind. "I''ve been keeping track of your image on social media and your streams. A large part of why you are so popular is the mystery of who you are and what you do. Keep singing, keep playing games. Feel free to talk to your fans, but keep any answers about your home life, past, or Family vague."


    "I believed we were beyond the need for secrecy?" Priscilla frowned in question.


    "We are," the White Queen nodded. "This isn''t about keeping our abilities secret, though Scathach is correct. This is about managing your image. Your fame is explosive after Mikael''s interview a few weeks ago. We want to capitalize on that. The public now considers you a ''princess in the painting'' or other such titles. All they have in common is a proper, aristocratic, peaceful image. A woman of innocence and love who is discovering more about the modern world through video games and music. We want to preserve this, at least for now, if you still want to start a singing career."


    I nodded at Emma''s words and the hidden reason we didn''t want her to release such footage.


    No degenerate netizens will be getting off to my floofy dragon exercising if I can help it!


    As a dirty netizen myself, I knew exactly what was going through their filthy little minds.


    "What of my appearance?" Priscilla asked. "My viewers have complained about my robes at length. Are they as archaic as they claim?"


    "Ignore them for now," Emma insisted after sharing a look with me. "It is actually better for you to keep the same uniform. When we get you on stage, it will make your difference in appearance all the more appealing."


    Not only do they want to see her exercise, but they also want her in revealing clothes? Indeed, humanity was a mistake.


    Priscilla wasn''t naive and knew more about life''s harshness than most, but she was in unfamiliar territory. Grail Knowledge gave her basic information on using computers and the internet, but it didn''t go in depth.


    It was like knowing porn existed as an abstract concept but not understanding how much was out there or how widespread it was. Or what some people could get off to.


    By the time the perverts of the internet really got going, I planned on having an army of lawyers at hand to ensure my floofy dragon stayed floofy.


    "I shall do thee as recommended," Priscilla nodded obediently. "When shall that be? I find myself quite nervous yet excited at the prospect."


    "Still a while," Emma shook her head. "Stuff like this takes time. We want to capitalize on the novelty of our arrival, but we want to do it right if you want to have any staying power. Speaking of," Emma looked down at the table at me. "Have you heard of the Memorial Gala?"


    "No," I shook my head after finishing chewing. "Should I have?"


    "It''s a fundraising auction for Endbringer victims around the world. It''s held in New York. Some top-tier heroes are invited, but so is anyone who donates something of significant worth to be auctioned off. Tony Stark started it after the Behemoth attacked, and it is one of the largest gatherings of the rich and powerful in the world. Frost International is naturally one of the donators."


    "You don''t say," I grinned hungrily, and the mutant''s smirk was just as hungry as mine.


    For a second, Emma and I were of the same mind again. Just like we had been for those first decades, planning and conspiring. The two of us worked hand in hand to ensure everyone got their happy ending.


    Then I remembered what I had unknowingly done to her.


    I remembered her ''betrayal.''


    I remembered our goals were currently opposed, even if she followed my lead.


    My grin slipped as the awkwardness returned.


    Emma looked away, sipping her wine.


    "Anyone else have news we should know about?" I asked, looking around the table.


    Everyone had finished their meal except Artoria, who was diligently eating her fourth steak. She had ensured the bowl of mashed potatoes was on the other side of the table so I couldn''t slip some onto her plate again when she wasn''t looking.


    One day I would convert her to their pillowy ways.


    "Strange hasn''t done anything strange," Yoruichi reported dully.


    "The tensions with the League are mostly gone," Diana went next. "A few are still suspicious but will work with us. Most are relaxing around us and recognize we are trying to help. My counterpart, in particular, has been very helpful. She would like to talk to you again when you can."


    "I''ll pop in at some point," I grinned.


    "Please don''t."


    "Too late!" I looked around again. "Anything else?"


    "I''ve been travelling around Africa," Scathach said.


    "Am I going to get complaints about you overthrowing a nation?" I asked in exasperation.


    Thanks to the likes of the Justice League, Africa was far from as bad as it was in Worm, thanks to the lack of S-class threats. In fact, many nations were quite prosperous, to say nothing of states like Wakanda. But, part of the problem with being backed by the UN was that the international team of heroes could only step in if they had reasons for sanction, such as a threat to, or crimes against, humanity.


    Thus, many smaller nations were still ruled by military dictatorships, only with Supers instead of tanks and guns. So long as they toed the line and kept their international image, they could rule without outside intervention.


    "Not that I am aware of," Scathach answered. That did not fill me with confidence. "I slew a few minor warlords, but that is it. A few of the fights were well coordinated. They were possibly backed by larger nations."


    "So long as we have plausible deniability, you''re good. Have fun, dear."


    I continued looking around the room, but when nobody brought anything else up, I decided to get to the main subject I wanted to discuss tonight.


    "For those who haven''t heard, Priscilla recently felt something off on the Island. She said it was as strong as Diana but felt like death," I nodded at the crossbreed and then at Tsunade. "Tsunade was unable to sense it through the plants of the Island, but she also noticed something else off. An hour ago, I started another Dream to discover what was happening. To make a long story short, our net caught some big fish."


    A case of content theft: this narrative is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.


    "Who is it this time?" Glynda asked with a long weary sigh.


    "As of the moment, I dropped the Dream, there were 1256 invaders on the Island," I recounted. "Some more have probably died since. I counted fifteen that could be considered Supers of varying strength. Three of which were the recent escapees from the Birdcage."


    "That is good," Diana let out a relieved sigh. "We received notice of the breakout a few days ago. The League has been hunting for them ever since. We cannot let them run rampant again."


    "Feel free to tell the League they can stop looking. They can''t escape, I double-checked," I nodded. "We can ignore Gavel. He''s got the Rot. He''s a dead man walking, even if he has a few other Supers with him. The other two, Swamp Thing and Glaistig Uaine, are travelling alone. Those two are who Tsunade and Priscilla, respectively, felt. The question is, why are they here?"


    "Are they also here for the ''source of your power?''" Robin asked dryly.


    I had only learned about this recently, but when I had been on my way to Earth, there had been a big meeting about the ''Lord of Chaos.'' And it was the source of a bunch of my problems.


    If I could travel back in time efficiently, I''d go back and kick Dr. Fate and Green Lantern in the crotch. Their words about the Jewel being a ''power source'' or ''tether'' had given people stupid ideas. Followed by my repeated insistence that ''the Island is a deathtrap, don''t go there,'' some dumbasses thought I trying to ''protect my power'' or some other bullshit.


    The majority of invaders were from governments of one kind or another who had seen the UN records of the meeting. Once they learned the requirement for getting through the Jewel was being a piece of shit and wanting to hurt my Family and me, they loaded up their most dickish soldiers and sent them on their way. They each had some sort of ''escape,'' either through magic or technology, but none of it would work for them.


    Oh, it all worked just fine, just not for them. They had to literally pass through my Jewel to enter my dimension. Obviously, I would mark them. By now, I had quite a collection of portals, amulets, charms, or other things that would teleport me to the invaders'' bases, landing zones, or wherever they were connected to.


    One of these days, I should use some of them to troll their home countries.


    "I don''t know which would be worse, that they are stupid enough to believe that, or they have some other purpose," I sighed. "I never understood that in stories. If someone puts up a flashing neon sign that says, ''Certain death here!'' why do people go there?"


    "Human curiosity is dangerous," Robin said, and I gave her a nod of acknowledgement. If anyone knew that, it was her.


    "Thy are making a mistake, my Lord Husband," Ranni cautioned, and I looked to her. "Thy assumption is that their minds are as great as yours, that they might comprehend the greater nature of the world. T''is why I sought to have Order at a great remove, to guard it against such knaves."


    "As a rule of thumb, I always assume someone plotting against me is as smart or smarter," I shrugged. "If I am wrong, I am pleasantly surprised."


    "You shouldn''t," Tsunade interjected. "Overestimating an opponent can be just as deadly as underestimating them. I cannot count the number of enemy ninja that lost when they could have won because they were scared of ''one of the sannin.''"


    "Doing so in battle leads to hesitation," Scathach reminded, sipping her mead.


    "There is also the difference in priorities," Artoria added. "An enemy general might have different conditions of victory than yours. A villain might think taking a town hostage is rational, even if we know it to be foolish."


    "Difference in access to accurate intelligence is a key factor," Yoruichi also chimed in. "The Island is a black hole. What comes in never leaves. They know nothing. We know pretty much everything on this side. They will make plans with that faulty information."


    "Alright, alright, I get it," I held my hands up in playful surrender. "No need to gang up on me. Sometimes people will be dumb. I get it. I still want to know why, upon escaping from Earth''s most heavily guarded and specialized prison, they all thought it was a good idea to travel across North America, grab a boat, and sail to the nearby deathtrap. Separately to boot. They can''t all be dumb."


    "What were they doing?" Artoria asked seriously.


    "The Faerie Queen is leading her little army eastward, and Gavel''s team is headed north along the coast. Swamp Thing is being a vegetable." Almost the entire table groaned at my pun, Raven even sparing me a glare. I smiled smugly. Their hatred filled my heart with warmth. "By that, I mean he''s not moving. He keeps to one place, forming and dissolving his body to merge with the plants nearby."


    "All three must have some sort of goal," Medea looked thoughtfully at me. "And it cannot favour us, or they would not have been able to cross the barrier."


    "I cannot speak to Gavel or this Faerie Queen, but Alec was a fine hero in my world," Diana answered. "He had his troubles but was no maniac as he is in this one. It is possible this Swamp Thing is not him, as I understand that the name is something of a title given to the champion of the Green."


    "I plan on keeping an eye on them for a few days," I said. "There aren''t a lot of Supers out there who can survive on the Island for long, but Glaistic Uaine and an Avatar of the Green would do it. That''s one of the reasons I called everyone here tonight. While in the Dream, I cannot pilot my avatar, so I will be gone for a few days."


    "No."


    "Hm?" I looked at Melina in confusion at her firm denial. "What''s wrong with that plan? It''s just a separate layer of consciousness superimposed on reality. I''m not actually leaving. If you need to talk to me, you can just call my name on the Island, and I''ll pull you in to talk. Unless you want to spend the entire time in there with me?"


    "I believe she means there is no need for you to begin another Dream," Medea answered after sharing a quick look with Melina. I was happy they were getting along, but I still needed clarification about where the problem was with my plan. "I am more than capable of scrying on them or using familiars to follow them."


    "That won''t help with Swamp Thing," I pointed out. "You won''t be able to sense if he does anything weird. I can."


    "Tsunade will watch him." The former Hokage frowned at Emma for volunteering her. "She wants the practice with her Element and new techniques." Tsunade''s frown lessened as she gave the idea some thought.


    "That''s two people doing a job I can do alone," I raised a brow. "Seems inefficient. But if you want to..."


    "It would be good practice," Tsunade nodded.


    "You are busier than most of us," Medea continued. "It''s more efficient, not less, if we do it this way."


    "Fine, fine," I shrugged, waving her off. "It''s not like it was something I was looking forward to. Just make sure to let me know when they do something strange."


    "What if they don''t," Robin asked. "Do anything strange, I mean."


    "What, they came to death-island to live out their Gulliver''s Travels fantasies," I asked sardonically. "If that''s the case, let ''em. They can only cross the southern mountain range by breaking the boundary field first. Unlike the outside, I''ll just blast them with my real body if they do. Hell, if she wanted, Priscilla could probably solo them both. She''s pretty much their perfect counter. It''s curiosity, not fear, this time."


    I might be a self-styled coward, but that was due to necessity from the knowledge that there were bigger fish in the ocean than me. I wasn''t afraid of even S-class threats, let alone ones whose powers I knew and had plans for.


    If you weren''t capable of planetary levels of destruction, at the minimum, or conceptual attacks, then you couldn''t do anything to me when I had access to my main body.


    I was wary of Swamp Thing and the Faerie Queen, not because they were a threat, but because I didn''t know what they wanted. Their initial goal had to be malicious, or they would not have been able to come in, but that might have changed. They were the only ones so far who wouldn''t be killed by the flora and fauna of the Island, so they were the only ones I had to give some thought to.


    Maybe they came here to slay a dragon, found out they liked it here, and decided to settle down. I doubted it, though.


    I truly could not care less what they did, so long as they didn''t cross the southern range. My Island was just that big.


    The whole ''invasion'' was just so inconsequential to me now.


    Medea and I had initially set up the spell to allow assholes onto the Island because we needed some volunteers for projects to get me a body. Medea would still grab one occasionally, but that was less than a dozen, even after almost two months.


    We kept it going only because we might as well use it to capture some dangerous Supers. We didn''t even have to do anything. If they could survive on the Island, as unlikely as it was, they were serving their sentence for any crimes they committed. If they died, it wasn''t our fault. I had repeatedly warned everyone how deadly the Island was.


    Suicide by Island was responsible for the death of over twenty villains, not counting a third of the estimated manpower of the Endbringer cultists, the Fallen.


    Just by sitting in the ocean and opening the door, I was single-handedly responsible for more ''arrests'' than most PRT teams made in a year, all without lifting a claw.


    Neither Diana nor Artoria, the most ''moral'' of my Family, had a problem with the current setup. Hell, the latter''s entire myth was based on a king rising up to defend the isles of Britain from invaders. It wasn''t like we were inviting them in. Anyone who entered was literally scum who brought it on themselves.


    The biggest concern anyone had was about Medea''s experiments, but the greek witch had been as humane as possible. Just because she occasionally needed a human body didn''t mean it always had to be alive. Or if it did, that meant that the subject was required to feel pain.


    This was the first time we had someone of concern show up in almost two months. And it was two of them at the same time to boot.


    I gave Gavel a week before he puked his lungs out.


    ********


    "I don''t like this," Slade whispered, looking over the hill they were lying on and down to the Russian ship.


    The abandoned Russian ship.


    "I''ve seen prisons that look more inviting than that thing," Killer Frost ''agreed.''


    "There is too much of a mess for them to have abandoned it in an orderly fashion," Slade continued.


    He didn''t have enhanced vision, but the knocked-over tents, fortifications, and other emplacements in the camp beside the ship suggested a fight. They had a clear line of sight thanks to the soldiers removing all plants and trees in a hundred-meter radius around their landing zone. The barren land indicated the camp had been there for a while, as even the grass was gone, thanks to the trampling of footprints and a few craters from explosions.


    There was just one problem.


    "Where are the bodies?"


    "They weren''t eaten," Slade answered as he continued to survey the barren area for any threats. "Unless they were swallowed whole, there would be blood everywhere. If something could do that, we would have seen tracks. I''m only seeing human footprints."


    "Could those skeletons a few days ago have been them?"


    "Possibly, but I don''t think so. That is miles away." The mercenary continued to stare at the scene for a few quiet moments before recognizing the futility of the action. He wouldn''t be learning anything more from here. "Let''s rejoin the others. Be on guard. With any luck, we will be off the island by nightfall."


    "Thank fucking god," Killer Frost said softly as they crawled back down the hill.


    Spiral and Gavel were a ten-minute walk back, each ''watching'' the other. The former was the same as always, unmoving unless directed, but the latter was measurably worse after the last few days. Every breath was a wheezing rasp instead of a deep rumble. Every time he coughed, blood mixed with his saliva. He was keeping his words to a minimum now.


    He could still move and fight, thanks to Spiral regularly healing him, but he''d die if they didn''t find a way to cure him soon. Or got him to a trained medical professional.


    Slade was debating whether to leave him behind on the island, as he was almost dead weight by now, or if it was better to release him upon their backers on the other side of the portal and let them deal with him while he made his escape.


    He could decide in a few hours once they had the bombs in their necks removed.


    "We''ll move slowly," he told the rest after they regrouped. "I don''t want anything surprising us from behind. We''ll pass through the camp first, then sweep the ship. Only if we don''t find anyone in either, and their medical room is intact, do we try to remove the bombs."


    "And, cough, if it, ack ack, isn''t," Gavel asked between laboured breaths. He was skinny, too skinny. The massive man had wasted away in the week since their encounter with the Russian soldier, leaving him a husk of what he once was. Even now, he was practically leaning on Frost for support.


    "We''ll have to try anyway," Deathstroke insisted. "We''re running out of time. Not just for you, but for all of us. Who knows when they will decide to push the button. Spiral and I can perform the procedure if we have the right equipment."


    Slade had been hoping not to count on the Ziz bomb to operate on him, trusting Taskmaster''s professionalism more, but he had no other option.


    He had not told the others, but after studying Hookwolf''s body, he suspected the bombs in their necks were not just remotely activated but on a timer as well. They weren''t Tinkertech, and he knew his way around bombs, so he immediately noticed that they would have no way of receiving a detonation signal from another dimension.


    It was precisely that lack of Tinkertech that soothed his initial worries that they needed a Thinker or Tinker to perform the operation. He was sure he could remove the devices from his squadmate''s neck if he had some scalpels, anesthesia, magnifying equipment, and Spiral on hand to heal.


    Then, he''d order Spiral to repeat the procedure on him. Her movements were precise enough that he knew she could do it, even if he didn''t like trusting his life to the six-armed woman.


    If everything went to plan.


    "Let''s get going," he ordered, double-checking what remained of his equipment. Hopefully, he could stock up on any supplies the Russians had left behind.


    The others nodded seriously.


    The previous weeks had removed all of their backtalk, arguing, and sass. The Suicide Squad had seen too much and suffered too much to be the same people they were when they first landed.


    The island had changed them, marked and scared them. They''d never be the same.


    If they survived.


    ********


    The camp was a mess.


    Everything was knocked over and filled with holes, and a few tents had been burned to ashes in a fire that had, thankfully, not spread to the rest of the camp.


    Empty shell casings and the occasional mark of long-dried blood proved there had been a fight at some point, but there were no marks of animals. Not even scavengers.


    Everything was silent and unmoving but for the flapping of torn clothe on the wind and surf upon the shore.


    The group of four passed through the base''s remains slowly, checking under every tent, opening every container and bag, and ensuring someone was always watching their backs.


    Nothing.


    They found enough MREs to feed them for a month, enough guns and bullets that Slade could finally be fully armed, and even some heavier ordinance. Gavel decided that he would be the one to carry the RPG since waiving his hammer around was getting harder and harder. With his ability to imbue it with his invincibility, he could even use it as a club.


    Of course, nothing was marked with anything that suggested it was state-sponsored by the Russian military, but anyone with a lick of sense would be able to tell that this base was too well organized and funded to be anything less.


    All their gains would have made them very happy if the scene wasn''t so creepy.


    The silence in the air was oppressive, eerie, and foreboding.


    Slade would have preferred the piles of bloody corpses under the mountain to this silence. At least then, he knew what he was dealing with.


    After an hour of careful search, the remnants of the Suicide Squad were left with one last place to look.


    The ship.


    It wasn''t particularly massive, large enough to carry three or four dozen soldiers and their equipment but not so large that it couldn''t enter the little bay the Russians used as cover. The soldiers had built a dock to connect to it, likely with the aid of Powersurge''s armour.


    More shell casings littered the path to the ship, indicating a fighting retreat but no bodies. The squad took the time to look over the edge of the dock, just in case anything hiding under it, but found nothing.


    They reached the ship without incident and climbed aboard the deck to find more of nothing. A few ship guns were the only armaments on the deck facing the island. Likely what caused the craters around the camp.


    Nobody said a word as they looked at each other outside the door to the vessel''s interior. Even Gavel''s cough was held in as best he could.


    Deathstroke opened the door with a creek.


    With his new gun at the ready, the mercenary descended into the ship''s bowels, followed by the rest of the Suicide Squad.


    The vessel creaked and groaned with their passage, every footstep reverberating down the dark metal interior. Their hearts furiously beating in their chests, they swept the ship one room at a time, wary of any sound or movement.


    If anything had jumped out at them from the shadows, they might have died of a heart attack.


    But no, nothing did.


    The bridge, the mess, the cabins, the engine, the hull, the officer quarters, and all other places they searched was void of all life.


    Silent as a floating tomb.


    Though they all felt a flood of relief when they discovered the med bay, messy but intact, they kept sweeping the ship for anything out of place. They did it twice to ensure nothing was hiding in dark corners to jump out at them. Then they returned to the camp to triple check they weren''t being ambushed from land.


    Nothing.


    Hours after they had first walked into the abandoned camp, the Suicide Squad finally relaxed enough to speak.


    "There''s nothing here," Killer Frost said, letting off a relieved sigh as she collapsed to a seat on the deck of the ship as the tension left her.


    "So it seems," Slade said, still looking around warily. "The ashes from the fires were long cooled. It''s been at least a day since it died down. The amount shows a lot of material was burned, which would have lasted a while. Whatever did all this must have already left. It came from the island. That''s where the ship''s guns fired. Let''s do this quickly. Frost, you''re first. Gavel, you stay here on watch. If anything approaches, smash your hammer on the deck. We''ll hear it from the med bay."


    Neither argued, both were determined for this nightmare to end.


    It took a bit of time to turn the power back on and then organize the messy med bay, but within the hour, Killer Frost was lying face down on the operating table.


    Whoever had installed them had stitched the wounds closed and healed it, leaving only a little scar indicating where he needed to start.


    It was with a steady hand that Slade made the first incision in the back of her neck, right above her shoulders and around her spine. The mercenary was no surgeon or doctor, not like whoever had installed the little bomb, but he did have a sorceress on hand to heal any errors he made.


    Not that he made many.


    The fundamental truth was the ''operation'' wasn''t complex. The bombs were impact resistant, so any hits to the head wouldn''t set them off. They were also small to not interfere with muscular and spinal movement. As the minutes dragged on and Slade continued his careful work, he realized more and more that these bombs were not designed to provide a viable method of control or even to resist interference.


    Whoever made them believed that resisting interference wasn''t a problem and that there would be no way for the squad to get the medical help they needed to remove the bombs safely. So they only had basic anti-tampering measures. If someone tried to yank them out forcefully, they''d go off, but that was it.


    These bombs were insurance, not a threat like they had initially estimated. They were rugged, hardy, and packed a wallop but would only go off once time ran out or they received a signal. They would last for weeks, then ''BOOM!''


    The Suicide Squad was never meant to return.


    Slade smiled under his mask.


    Their enemies'' mistakes were their gain.


    The sun had set when Killer Frost woke up from her medically induced sleep. She sat up to the curious sight of Spiral deftly manipulating multiple scalpels and tweezers.


    Oddly, she wasn''t operating on Deathstroke but on one of those small rabbit/squirrel things they occasionally caught and ate. As the cryokinetic watched, the six-armed mutant performed one of her spell dances and the flesh on the back of the creature''s neck reknit over a new, metal addition to its body.


    Deathstroke, who had been watching the entire procedure nearby, checked the small creature over.


    "What are you doing," Frost asked, still groggy from waking up.


    "Making sure she can perform the surgery with only a small prompting," he answered, not surprised that she was awake. "I''m the only one with enough medical knowledge to know if something goes wrong, which won''t help if I am unconscious."


    "Then stay awake."


    "There is no point," he denied. "If it was just pain, I could ignore it, but I cannot see the back of my neck without a specialized setup. It is better to be under if I can''t do anything." Satisfied with his inspection and that the creature was still alive, just unconscious, he looked at the mutant. "Now remove it without hurting it or setting off the bomb."


    In a whirl of limbs, blades, and blood, the Ziz bomb went to work.


    Killer Frost lay back on the bed she had been moved to, letting her eyes rest.


    The blade at her neck was finally gone.


    She was free of prison, free of the threat to her life, and soon to be free from the island.


    Things were finally looking up.


    Twenty minutes later, better rested and clearheaded, the cryokinetic watched Deathstroke be put under for his operation.


    Rather than watch, she decided to bring some medication up to Gavel. It was nothing special, just some pain meds, but it would tide him over until Spiral could heal him again.


    ********


    "-KE UP!" A rough shaking roused Slade from his medically induced unconsciousness.


    The voice then degenerated into a hacking fit.


    Slade was on his feet instantly, his groggy mind regaining focus with every moment as he forced his will to ignore any dizziness.


    Gavel was leaning against the wall, coughing blood, but uninjured. Nobody else was in the room with them.


    "What is the situation?" Slade asked urgently as he grabbed his weapons and clothes.


    "The situation, ack, is you''ve been asleep, cough cough," the Australian coughed harder before taking a swig from his water canteen. "For four bloody hours."


    Four hours. Twice the length the dose should have put him under by.


    A miscalculation of the amount? No. Was he just tired? Possibly. Slade was a monster of will, determination, and skill, but he was still a baseline human, and the last few weeks had been hard on them all.


    "Frost on watch?" He asked, and Gavel nodded. "It''s already late. It will be better to rest and escape in the morning when we are in better condition. We''ll teleport back to our ship now, though. Don''t want to stay here if we can help it. Where''s Spiral?"


    "With Frost, mhm. We''ll need to grab, urk, some food. All those MREs were bad."


    "All of them? They shouldn''t have expired yet?" Slade asked as he finished dressing and arming himself.


    "Yeah, all of them we tried," Gavel nodded, wiping bloody phlegm from his lips. "Didn''t spoil, but they were all filled with dust. Maybe the Ruskies didn''t want their guys surviving either."


    "Dust?" Slade paused as he made to leave the med bay, his mind racing at the odd occurrence.


    Then he connected it to the lack of bodies.


    The lack of grass and plant life around the camp.


    "Fuck!" Deathstroke allowed himself a rare break of professionalism as he ran from the room. "Fuck! Fuck! We need to leave! Now!"


    "What?" Gavel called out, chasing after the dashing man. "Why?"


    "I thought something from the island did the Russians in," Slade explained himself as he ran through the tight corridors of the ship. "But it wasn''t. Someone from the outside did it to get to Fantasma. Then she turned all other organic life to dust."


    "Who? Fantasma? They''re gone. Why do we to leave now?"


    "Because she can sense Supers!" Slade launched himself up the stairs two at a time.


    If he had known she was on the island with them, he would have grabbed left by himself rather than tag along with the group. It would have been a more challenging trip and less likely to be able to remove the bomb, but he wouldn''t have been spending weeks with the equivalent of bait.


    "You mean it''s..."


    Deathstroke didn''t hear Gavel''s following words, though he was sure they matched his own as he burst out of the ship and beheld the terrifying sight before him.


    "The Faerie Queen," he whispered in horror.


    There were tens of shades of dead Supers upon the deck of the Russian ship, all black and greys but glowing with a green light.


    As Gavel arrived, panting and coughing behind Deathstroke, Slade''s eyes noticed three figures he expected and the lack of one other.


    Glaistig Uaine was there, looking for all the world like a beautiful young woman out for a midnight stroll with her friends if one were to judge by the compassionate look on her face. Blonde hair and green-eyed, her cloak of black energy swaying in the night air, she was a figure of terror to any who knew of her, despite her enchanting visage.


    Behind her stood her greatest warrior, the reason she allowed herself to be captured after getting what she wanted from Gotham.


    Solomon Grundy was more terrifying as a shade of black and green energy than he ever was as a zombie.


    You could kill a zombie, if temporarily.


    You couldn''t kill one of the Faerie Queen''s warriors.


    Killer Frost was nowhere to be seen. Not besides Spiral and Glaistig Uaine or among the horde of shades. They all looked exactly as they had in life, so Slade would have noticed if the cryokinetic was one of them.


    Spiral was the same as always, standing in place and unbothered by the army of the undead surrounding her.


    "Come, my long weary dancer," the terror of the Super world said gently. Kindly. "Join our Parlement. Be free of your chains of mind, spirit, and life."


    The Ziz bomb only started to react when the Faerie Queen laid a hand gently on her cheek. Her arms raised, ready to eviscerate the ethereal young woman.


    But it was too late.


    Spiral fell to the deck with a soft thud. Dead.


    Slade knew what was coming and braced himself.


    A feeling of weakness assaulted him, almost sending the mercenary to his knees as the wave of energy erupted from the form of the fallen mutant. His stomach roiled and twisted, nausea rising in his gorge, but he forced it down with a force of will.


    Gavel, unprepared, fell to the deck coughing and unable to support his weight as the feeling of Decay overcame them. His skin began to flake off, almost revealing the emaciated muscle below, but stopped as his invulnerability kept him alive.


    The weak and the dying had no place in Queen''s court.


    Only the Dead.


    Spiral''s body disintegrated to dust, as did any other organic matter within a hundred-meter radius of the mutant''s remains.


    A six-armed figure of black and green energy coalesced from the swirl of dust.


    "We welcome a new warrior to our fold," the delusional Super told her shades. They said nothing. "Welcome her! She will not be the last to join us tonight, to raise arms against the oppressor."


    The Faerie Queen turned her green eyes upon Gavel, lying on the deck coughing behind Slade.


    Maybe she would have said something else.


    Maybe she would have killed them instantly, bringing Gavel back as another one of her undead soldiers and leaving Deathstroke as dust in the wind.


    Slade would never know.


    Because that was when the shade of the woman who was once Spiral started screaming.


    ********


    Medea the cat sat atop the bridge, tail swirling about behind her in displeasure as she looked down on the deck as her lost prey let out a wailing scream.


    Her frosty breath fogged the night air as she let out a hiss of anger.


    Nobody stole her food.


    Nobody.

 SS – Site Unseen

    <div>


    Keepin'' my mind on a better life


    Where happiness is only a heartbeat away


    Paradise can it be all I heard it was


    I close my eyes and maybe I''m already there


    I''ll take those long nights, impossible odds


    Keepin'' my eye to the keyhole


    All that to be just what I am


    Well I''m gonna be a blue collar man


    ********


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    ? Topic: Mutant Attack on Cleaveland


    In: Boards ? EMERGENCY ? Ongoing Super Attack ? Cleaveland, Ohio


    OhighO (Original Poster)


    Posted On Oct 25th 2018:


    Mutant attack in Cleveland, Ohio, PRT response failed, heroes dead. Anyone in the area should find a secure shelter and wait for further news. I will update this thread as we know more.


    *Edit: Superman managed to get the mutant out of the city. Rescue operations are ongoing in the city while he battles it in less populated areas. Other heroes'' responses were delayed for some reason.


    *Edit: More heroes have arrived, some X-men, some PRT, and some Justice League. Mutant has biological adaptation. Lethal permission has been given. Fighting continues as the creature heads east. Nearby towns are being evacuated.


    *Edit: Wonder Woman came to aid with fighting the creature. Glory Girl and Panacea came to help. The latter''s powers have changed (improved?), and now has a flying brick package. They managed to kill the mutant. It got better. Washington and Metropolis are beginning to evacuate.


    *Edit: Two new heroines. One (blonde, armoured, on a horse with a glowing lance. A knight?) held off the mutant for a few minutes, then evacuated the heroes. Possibly magic called out some spell (Bright Engewn?). The other (Wonder Woman''s twin? Sister? Clone) took over and is fighting the thing with a bunch of projections and an assortment of weapons. (Testing what it''s adapted to already?)


    *Edit: It''s dead. Finally. The Elden Lord showed up casually, gave Wonder Woman 2.0 a sword that killed it first try. Now he''s staring down the heroes. We might have a fight on our hands. I don''t think the heroes can win this in the state they are in.


    *Edit: Bejesus H. Christ on a pogo stick.


    Good news, there doesn''t look like there''s going to be a fight. One of the Elden Lord''s wives just healed the entire northeastern US with a golden tree three times the size of Everest. My scraped leg, stuffed nose, arthritis? All gone. A giant purple dragon just flew over the city and repaired every single pothole in the road and rebuilt the bridge and buildings Doomsday knocked down.


    Bad news, the heroes fucked up. Badly. Apparently, the delay in response time was because a huge portion of the heroes who could be called were on the other side of the world setting up an ambush for the Elden Lord while he was eating breakfast with his family. If he wasn''t a good guy, married to a version of Wonder Woman and LITERAL KING ARTHUR (who is a hot blonde), then Washington, Metropolis and who knows how many other cities would have been destroyed before Doomsday would have been put down for good.


    *Edit: This issue is no longer an emergency. This thread is closed and archived. A separate thread has been created to continue the discussion HERE.


    (Showing page 13 of 124)


    ?Addons


    Replied On Oct 25th 2018:


    This doesn''t look good. I''ve never seen Superman this beat up. The Flash is stuck doing search and rescue and can''t help. The other heores are barely damaging.


    ?Chrome


    Replied On Oct 25th 2018:


    This is rough. To anyone in the area, I hope you are safe.


    ?SUPERfan (Super Groupie)


    Replied On Oct 25th 2018:


    They''ll get it. You''ll see.


    ?Addons


    Replied On Oct 25th 2018:


    It''s not that I don''t think they can win. It''s just at what cost.


    A lot of people have died. Heroes as well. It''s like a mini-Endbringer.


    ?Bruce Lao


    Replied On Oct 25th 2018:


    I see what you mean. You think it is one? It''s not acting like the others.


    ?Addons


    Replied On Oct 25th 2018:


    I don''t know. All I know is I feel like shit. The Simurgh is gone, we have our first win against them, then this shit happens. It''s like we can''t catch a break.


    ?Bruce Lao


    Replied On Oct 25th 2018:


    I feel ya. We just got to hope that the League, the PRT or someone will stop it.


    ?Char


    Replied On Oct 25th 2018:


    Glory Girl! Wonder Woman! They''re tough enough that they can take it head on.


    Why is Panacea flying thought?


    ?SUPERfan (Super Groupie)


    Replied On Oct 25th 2018:


    They killed it!


    ?Realisticlysavage


    Replied On Oct 25th 2018:


    It got back up. Even when they kill it, it just heals. Nothing can stop it. We''re doomed.


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    ¡ö


    ? Topic: Doomsday Incident Discussion


    In: Boards ? Supers ? Incident Discussions ? Cleaveland, Ohio


    OhighO (Original Poster)


    Posted On Oct 25th 2018:


    Continuation of the Doomsday Incident thread here.


    Discussions on power speculation for the Elden Lord and his family HERE.


    Before anything else, I just want to say thank you to Melina and Glynda Goodwitch.


    My mom would not have survived her injuries without you. If you ever read this, know that the city of Cleveland and everyone else in the US Northeast will never be able to thank you and your family enough.


    My heart goes out to everyone who wasn''t as lucky as me.


    (Showing page 53 of 456)


    ?Pastothefuture


    Replied On Oct 26th 2018:


    Like, I get it. I am also freaked out by the dragon bigger than most countries sleeping in the ocean nearby after it ate the source of my nightmares, but why didn''t they try and talk to him. They apparently had plenty of chances. Instead, they ambushed him at breakfast.


    I don''t know about you guys, but when a bunch of people in costumes surround me before I''ve had all six cups of coffee, my response is somewhere between ''fuck off'' and ''You all are going to die.''


    I''m just glad he showed up when he did. My uncle lives in Metropolis.


    ?Notparanoid


    Replied On Oct 26th 2018:


    @Pastofthefuture I don''t think you do get it.


    I agree it''s helped us out alot, the Simurgh and now Doomsday, but that doesn''t mean it should stay on Earth. If it snores there''s going to be a hurricane. I think the heroes are right to be cautious of it. It was clearly lying that whole time. It knew about Doomsday, it probably knew it was going to attack. Then it swooped in and made itself look like a hero.


    If anything, I wish Superman and the league hadn''t caved so easily.


    ?QualityworkR


    Replied On Oct 26th 2018:


    *Deleted*


    ?Tinmother (Moderator)


    Replied On Oct 26th 2018:


    @QualityworkR Take a temp ban.


    We''ve all lost someone. Keep it civil.


    ?Addons


    Replied On Oct 26th 2018:


    @Notparanoid While I wouldn''t put it like @QualityworkR, I do think he has a point.


    Mikael has no reason to help us at all. At any point in time, he can take his Island and leave for any number of planets in the universe. (Or other realities since he would have had to travel to them to marry an alternate version of Wonder Woman.)


    Despite all that, he''s not only been the only one to kill an Endbringer, but his family has also been helpful. To say nothing about stopping Doomsday (the entire point of this thread) when nobody else could, they then healed LITERALLY EVERYONE and repaired all the damages done and then some.


    I hope he never leaves Earth if this keeps up.


    ?Answer Key


    Replied On Oct 26th 2018:


    Do you know how rare it is for Supers to clean up their messes afterwards? It''s practically unheard of except in specific situations. I am not saying it''s their fault, most of the time. They try to minimize collateral damage, but once an incident is pacified, they move on to the next.


    Unauthorized use: this story is on Amazon without permission from the author. Report any sightings.


    ?Joshthebossh


    Replied On Oct 27th 2018:


    Fun fact, in the wake of Doomsday''s attack on Cleaveland a few days ago, property prices didn''t fall, nor did insurance rates rise, unlike in every other incident. It was the exact opposite.


    My family and I were nowhere near the disaster, but we were worried about being able to keep our home with the increased rates that were bound to come. We couldn''t afford it.


    But, thanks to that beautiful purple dragon, property values have skyrocketed, and insurance tanked. Somehow, she managed to fix every problem our building had from miles away. Our leaky faucet isn''t even leaky anymore.


    HOW?


    ?Phildrillman


    Replied On Oct 27th 2018:


    @Joshthebossh I''m honestly jealous. I lived in Seattle when Magneto did that thing with the meteor. Lost everything but our lives.


    It sounds terrible, but for every person that dies or knows someone that does, a hundred more go bankrupt.


    ?Notparanoid


    Replied On Oct 27th 2018:


    Again, I am not saying it hasn''t done some good, I am just waiting for the other shoe to drop.


    Nobody with that much power doesn''t have some long-term plan. And he is not a nice guy. He literally threatened to skin people on international TV.


    ?Threadninja


    Replied On Oct 27th 2018:


    After they tried to steal from him. And he didn''t, did he?


    He''s on vacation. His plan involves sleeping in.


    ...Or not sleeping at all, seeing his wives.


    ...... I''m not jealous. You are!


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    (Showing page 54 of 456)


    ?Noveltry


    Replied On Oct 27th 2018:


    Is it wrong that the thing that most stood out to me wasn''t the alternate versions of heroes, that King Arthur is a smoking hot blonde woman, that there is a thunder of dragons capable of doing whatever the fuck they want, that the heroes were persecuting a family due to a miscommunication, or that the entire east coast just got the best healthcare?


    What stood out to me most was that Elden Lord''s harem complimented him into a blushing mess.


    We know Mikael is a dork (when he''s not being absolutely terrifying), but the second question we must all ask ourselves is:


    Is Dragon Jesus a tsundere?


    ?Affectionstarved


    Replied On Oct 27th 2018:


    My fanfic senses are tingling.


    ?Acree (Super Groupie)


    Replied On Oct 27th 2018:


    But who do you ship? I mean, they''re all together, obviously, but whose OTP. The four-armed blueberry kuudere goddess? The valiant and busty blonde knightess? The amazon? Or one of the others.


    ?Ekul


    Replied On Oct 27th 2018:


    Yoruichi Shihouin. No question. Anyone who disagrees is scientifically wrong.


    Two words: Cat Girl.


    They''re all dragons, right? What do you think the others look like? I bet she''s a cat dragon.


    ?Addons


    Replied On Oct 27th 2018:


    @Ekul You, my good sir, are wrong. You obviously don''t watch Floofdragons Stream. If you''ve ever heard Priscilla and Mikael sing together, you''d know they are made for each other.


    PS: Dragon girls > cat girls.


    ?Affectionstarved


    Replied On Oct 27th 2018:


    @Addons Ah, the classic tale of a bard and a dragon.


    Or, in this case, two dragon bards together.


    But you are all missing the obvious answer.


    Medea.


    Not only is she a figure from Earth (hometown represent!) but she was the one to tease him past the point of no return.


    And Elf girls are best.


    ?OhighO (Original Poster)


    Replied On Oct 27th 2018:


    Ah, the internet.


    Come for a serious discussion on an incident that could have ended major cities. Stay for the waifu wars.


    BTW: Glynda Goodwitch (is that her real name? Seriously?) is clearly the best. Not only is she tall, incredibly busty, blonde, and the single most useful woman alive right now, but she also has that hot secretary/librarian look.


    ?Noveltry


    Replied On Oct 27th 2018:


    Can we all just take a moment to appreciate that Dragon Jesus is clearly a Man of Culture? Baring a loli, he has most major bases covered. And there might be more we aren''t aware of.


    ?MR.Krew


    Replied On Oct 27th 2018:


    Dragon''s Day, MR. Krew edition: 3 Doomsday, 6:15-19


    And the Elden Lord lay his eyes upon the flock, the heroes you once opposed him now supplicating at his feet in twisting regret. His consorts at his sides spoke the words of truth:


    Let there be no discrimination.


    Let no judgment be cast on others based on race, colour or creed.


    All are welcome. Tall and small. Thick and thin. No matter your fetish, your preference, or your disposition, all are welcome to join together in love and acceptance.


    Bra-men.


    ?Addons


    Replied On Oct 27th 2018:


    Bra-men.


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    ¡ö


    ? Topic: Trigon the Terribly Dead


    In: Boards ? Supers ? Elden Lord ? Encounters


    Titanomachina (Original Poster) (Veteran Member) (The Guy in the Know)


    Posted On Oct 30th 2018:


    And he''s done it again! Another possible apocalypse averted by our resident White Dragon.


    For those living under a rock, here are the cliff notes.


    A few of the Elden Lord''s consorts (Glynda and Scathach) have been training the Teen Titans. Supposedly this was to help ease the tension between his family and the PRT. That is probably true (Alt!Wonder Woman and Artoria have also been working with the league recently for the same goal) but not the extent of the Dragon''s plan, oh no.


    To make a long (and still a bit unclear) story short, a bunch of demons were planning to ritualistically sacrifice Raven to summon a Demon Lord and open a gate to hell in the process.


    So the Elden Lord laid a cunning trap.


    After luring the demons out into the open (minimizing casualties as he could), he saves our favourite goth heroine and kills not only the cultists but the demon lord as well, while barely lifting a finger. Scathach, meanwhile, is being the personification of Scarousal and fighting an army from hell by herself. Glynda Goodwitch rescues the Titans (who were mind-controlled by the demons.)


    There are videos, pictures, and reports HERE, but I would caution anyone before clicking the link. It is some disturbing stuff.


    (Showing page 3 of 423)


    ?Notparanoid


    Replied On Oct 30th 2018:


    SEE!


    I was right!


    It clearly doesn''t care about people. Why else would he let the Teen Titans walk into a trap like that? Or let so many people die? They were bait.


    All it cared about was getting one of its women more power. Now, on top of a dragon the size of a continent, we have to worry about its pet Demon Lord.


    And look what it did to those guys! The Elden Lord is no hero!


    ?Char


    Replied On Oct 30th 2018:


    I don''t like people dying any more than anyone does, but what other option was there?


    I''m not being facetious. I am asking a genuine question.


    What do you do if you know an attack will happen but not where, when, or by whom, and only know their goal?


    What happened to the people in that mall sucked, no questions about it, as did what happened to the Titans, but I genuinely cannot see another option. Things could have been so much worse if the demons, the gate, or Trigon had gotten away to fight another day.


    ?Pedantics (Super Groupie)


    Replied On Oct 30th 2018:


    The Elden Lord has repeatedly repeated that he''s not a hero, nor will he follow human laws unless it''s convenient. He''d never pretended to be anything but what he is. That doesn''t mean the good he does is bad.


    PS: Even if you ignore everything else, you gotta admire the balls of this guy to trade bants with a Demon Lord so casually.


    ?Notparanoid


    Replied On Oct 30th 2018:


    @Pedantics Yes, it does. If you''re not being a hero for the right reasons, you are not a hero, plain and simple. You cannot trust heroes in it for money, fame, or power. It obviously has other goals, and doing good is tangential to them. Ergo, we cannot trust it.


    ?Fillers


    Replied On Oct 30th 2018:


    @Notparanoid


    In order to not get banned, I''ll keep it civil, but I severely dislike people like you. You are the type of person who thinks others risking their lives, their families, and their lively hoods is only acceptable if they are doing it ''altruistically.''


    Heroes need to eat, sleep and make money in order to survive, just the same as us. Only selfish idiots demand others sacrifice their lives for them without a reward.


    Look at the Titans. They are volunteers that just went through hell in order to save people. They didn''t need to do that. Instead of worrying about motivations, we should judge them based on their actions. And their actions, like those of the Elden Lord, Glynda, Scathach, Artoria, Alt!WW and Alt!Raven, make them heroes in my book.


    ?Mainlytrouble (Super Husband)


    Replied On Oct 30th 2018:


    @Fillers Well said.


    Our hearts and prayers go out to everyone in San Fransico.


    ?Antigone


    Replied On Oct 30th 2018:


    I hope the Titans are doing all right. Nobody should have to go through that. Especially heroes that young.


    ?Miraclemic


    Replied On Oct 30th 2018:


    You know, I kind of feel bad for the League. They are constantly being shown up.


    ?Tripleres


    Replied On Oct 30th 2018:


    I don''t. I''m just happy someone is planning ahead for once. Too often, heroes only show up when it''s too late. It''s not their fault, but the Elden Lord clearly does things differently. He plans ahead and sets traps. If that Demon Lord had managed to get through, we''d all be doomed.


    ?Addons


    Replied On Oct 30th 2018:


    To be fair to heroes, I am sure they do plan ahead and set traps. It''s just that what they can prepare for is limited to their power and knowledge. The Elden Lord obviously has more of both thanks to his Wonder Woman and, now we know, Raven.


    BTW: Milf Raven is the best thing ever. Of all time.


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    ¡ö


    ? Topic: Elden Lord Interview


    In: Boards ? Supers ? Elden Lord ? Info


    Notprobed (Original Poster) (Veteran Member)


    Posted On Nov 3rd 2018:


    As is the case with everything Elden Lord-related, there is a lot to unpack here.


    This thread is a general one about the interview. Specific topics such as Religion, Powers, or particular Consorts have their own threads.


    I''ll start us off with the most essential questions:


    Who gets the TV rights for the story? My vote is HBO.


    And who plays who?


    (Showing page 9 of 999)


    ?QwertyD


    Replied On Nov 3rd 2018:


    Does anyone else find it weird how much the dragon from space knows about human history? Like, I get he had to have stopped off here at some point to meet Medea or Scathach, if nothing else, but he knows a lot about other stuff.


    I mean, most Christians don''t even know about its early days and its controversies as it became the state religion in Rome, but the alien does? Was he around for it? Or is there something I''m missing?


    ?Answer Key


    Replied On Nov 3rd 2018:


    I think he was human. Not like us-human, but similar enough that he wants to study us. He did say his race could have bred with us. That is usually the sign of one species, even if they are different in appearance. If I found out a race of people who look exactly like me were out there, I would want to study them too. He''s been here for a month and a half now. Maybe he''s catching up on what he missed.


    Then again, a bunch of aliens look human, so what do I know.


    ?Joshthebossh


    Replied On Nov 3rd 2018:


    Please click this link.


    We are starting a petition to ask the Elden Lord to create an afterlife.


    ?Man-a-hat-in


    Replied On Nov 3rd 2018:


    Damnit! Rick-rolled again!


    But that isn''t a half-bad idea. I don''t mind a bit of sacrifice, prayer or whatever if you get a guaranteed party for eternity.


    ?Savehalf


    Replied On Nov 3rd 2018:


    @Man-a-hat-in Didn''t you hear him? You don''t get to choose your afterlife. Whoever you make a deal with does. For all you know, his afterlife could be an eternity on his Death Island.


    Who needs that many poisonous swamps?


    ?CuteisJustice


    Replied On Nov 3rd 2018:


    I mean, if I have to choose between a peaceful but boring forever or one created by Ham Dragon Jesus, I kinda want to try the latter, if only for morbid curiosity.


    ?Ekul


    Replied On Nov 3rd 2018:


    Ha. Morbid. *Eye Rolling intensifying.*


    ?Antigone


    Replied On Nov 3rd 2018:


    I''m still reserving judgment before I say one way or the other. I don''t like his family situation, it doesn''t sit right with me for so many women to be with one man, or how he dealt with those men in San Fran, but he has done a lot of good.


    I''m still in wait-and-see mode.


    ?Acree (Super Groupie)


    Replied On Nov 3rd 2018:


    I saw those videos. Threw up my dinner. But, weirdly, I think I like it better that way. Not the brutal murder part, that was gross, but the willingness to get shit done, ya know? It seems like every day, there is news about another jailbreak, and it''s nice to know some villains are gone for good.


    ?Char


    Replied On Nov 3rd 2018:


    @Acree I get you, there are a bunch of villains that should be shot, but we have to realize that it is a dangerous game to be playing. If we leave the decision on who lives and who dies to those with superpowers, moral or not, then we cease to have any control over our fate.


    I like Superman, and I trust Superman, but I don''t want the boy in blue to be able to decide my justice system. It''s not perfect by any stretch, and it struggles with the rise in the number of Supers in the last few decades, but it is ours.


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    (Showing page 10 of 999)


    ?Addons


    Replied On Nov 3rd 2018:


    No, but seriously, the more I learn about Mikael, the less freaked out about him I am. By this point, we know more about his life than most heroes that have been around for ages.


    Knowing his story now, or at least the basics, I feel like I understand him more than actual heroes. He was dealt a shit deal, and went through some terrible stuff, but he came out on the other side remarkably human (in attitude, if not race and power)


    Notice how he speaks of his wives? Everything he does is tied to them.


    How do I put this? It''s like a family man holding the nuclear launch codes. You know they pose an existential risk, but you''re not afraid because you know they would never hurt their wife and kids. Or wives, in this case.


    ?Ofage


    Replied On Nov 3rd 2018:


    I can imagine it now:


    Wife 1: You destroyed the Earth! You''re sleeping on the couch!


    Mikael: Yes, dear.


    Wife 2: I''m the couch.


    ?Pedantics (Super Groupie)


    Replied On Nov 3rd 2018:


    Familiarity breeds contempt.


    Or: I was scared of Space Dragon, but he keeps making my life better (entertaining and safer), so now I''m not.


    ?Fillers


    Replied On Nov 3rd 2018:


    I''m still scared of the lizard from space with teeth the size of actual mountains; thank you very much.


    ...But if he''s looking for another consort, I won''t say no.


    ?Affectionstarved


    Replied On Nov 3rd 2018:


    I get ya. His not really a himbo, too smart and crafty for that, but he does have that biker dad energy, you know?


    Guys want a good girl who will be bad only for them.


    Girls want a bad boy who will be good only for them.


    I can''t think of a better example of the latter than a man literally providing his wife with her Demon Lord dad''s heart on a platter.


    ?MR.Krew


    Replied On Nov 3rd 2018:


    Currently, the Mikael/Raven (demon-dragon) pairing is still going strong, but so far, it is falling behind in the polls. Knight-dragon is in a solid third place behind Wonder-dragon but ahead of Blueberry-Dragon in fifth.


    In an overwhelming lead is Bard-Dragon, by 15%. It used to be neck and neck before the interview.


    If you want to vote on your favourite pairing for Dragon Jesus, you can find my site here.


    The ''other'' option is for any consorts we don''t know about or any he adds while on Earth.


    ?Tripleres


    Replied On Nov 3rd 2018:


    I just had an excellent idea for a poll.


    What is the next unbelievable thing the Elden Lord (or one of his wives) does that sets the internet on fire?


    Impressive villain capture/kill. Answering more existential questions? Something wholesome? Something disturbing? Resurrects Elvis?


    Fill it out here.


    ?Thequiethalf (Super Wife)


    Replied On Nov 3rd 2018:


    Elvis never died, idiot.


    I have my money on another interview, myself. One with one or more of the women. I get that the Elden Lord is kind of the "Big Thing" right now, but I would like to get more information from the women since he won''t speak about their secrets.


    They''ve been pretty lowkey, all things considered.


    ?bothad


    Replied On Nov 3rd 2018:


    @Thequiethalf I agree. I want to learn more about them.


    It''s a bit weird, now that I think of it. If I saw Mikael in the street, I''d like to shake his hand or give a high five, but if I saw any of the women, I think I''d be too intimidated to even say hello.


    How is the dragon the size of the continent the most approachable one in that family?


    ?Xamaniac (Super Groupie)


    Replied On Nov 3rd 2018:


    @Tripleres You need to add another option to your poll.


    It''s almost time for another attack.


    At least if the pattern holds after Ziz''s death.


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    ¡ö

 Probation 6

    <div>


    Desert rose, desert plain


    I have seen so much pain


    Now I see into the eyes of a girl


    No more, no more, cruel world


    Cruel, cruel world, must I go on?


    Cruel, cruel world, I''m moving on


    I''ve been living too fast


    And I''ve been living too wrong


    Cruel, cruel world, I''m gone


    ********


    Rita Wayword, Spiral, still lived.


    And she hated that.


    Life had not been kind to Rita.


    Falling in love with the wrong man at the wrong time left her stranded in a foreign universe, tortured and altered to serve as the right-hand woman of the leader of that world.


    Then the Simurgh got her.


    Anyone familiar with the Endbringers knows they don''t really get magic.


    They can see its effects, fight them, and are not blind to its potential to damage them. But it''s a hiccup in their system, a weakness that the heroes of this world have used to keep them at bay.


    It has been conclusively proven, time and time again, that heroes who draw their powers from technology, biology, or any combination thereof, are measurably less effective against Endbringers than heroes with equivalent powers in magic.


    Superman has never landed a hit on Ziz.


    Shazam has.


    The Entities from which Shards and Endbringers originate are creatures of biology and science. They lacked the creativity and imagination to use magic. Older Cycles they had engaged in had not brought forth enough information to combat this natural flaw in their design.


    While Earth was not the only planet in the universe to hold magic, certainly not the multi-verse, it was the first one to have enough people who used it as their source of power for it to pose a genuine threat to the Cycle.


    The Simurgh had plans to change that, to gather knowledge, data, and experimental data on magic so it would stop ruining her plans.


    Rita Wayword, Spiral, would have been the tool she used to remove her one weakness.


    So the Endbringer pulled the six-armed mutant from Mojoworld to Madison, altering her cybernetic implants so that she could not act on her own. All the angelic-shaped being had to do was sever a slight connection between the brain and the automatic control unit of her implants. By measures of those physical controls, getting around her immunity from possession, she would follow the orders of anyone and everyone.


    Trapped in the prison of her own mind, Rita could only watch, helpless for over a year, as her body did cruel, unspeakable acts. Not that she felt guilty over them, long gone mad as she was, even before the Simurgh pulled her through. Her helplessness just fuelled her rage and sadism.


    The urge to lash out grew with each order she was forced to bend to, each new master she must serve.


    Her only times of self-control were when the self-preservation modules would allow her to act against targets. In those brief instances of freedom, Rita relished the pain she inflicted on others, a tiny part of what was inflicted on her.


    Through these control methods, the Simurgh could regulate her use of magic by using others as a medium. The Endbringer predicted an increase of 1/10619863 of a percent of increased efficiency of dealing with magic every time Spiral cast a spell.


    Of course, that was not the extent of her plans regarding the six armed mutants, as she was still following the Prime Directive. Spiral had enormous magical potential, enough to be a Sorcerer Supreme candidate if adequately trained and motivated.


    If she could use even a fraction of that potential, then there was a risk she could overthrow the Simurgh''s plans, but at the same time, the more magic she used, the more data the Enbringer could aggregate.


    The key was to release Spiral''s shackles in such a way as to fulfill the Prime Directive at the same time as directing her to create more data with minimal risk.


    During Ziz''s next attack, Johannesburg, in the spring of 2019, she would release the Butcher from her dimensional prison, trapped there by the Scarlet Witch when the body-hopping villain had attempted to have Magneto kill them.


    Filled with wroth, the villain would leave for the US, the last known location of the mutant father and daughter. While there, the Butcher would carve another swath of destruction through the west coast, dying twice and gathering further powers, even as their goals changed with different hosts.


    Then, in a joint meeting with other PRT heads, one James Tagg would put forth the idea of ''trapping'' the Butcher in the body of Spiral, held in their custody for over a year.


    Unaware that Spiral was immune to possession.


    Unaware that the process would ''free'' Rita from the control of her implants thanks to one of the Butcher''s powers healing the connection to the automatic control unit.


    The shackles Mojo and the Simurgh had placed on Spiral would be lifted through the Butcher.


    In two attacks, a total of forty-seven minutes and thirteen seconds, the Simurgh will have unleased a magician with enough power to qualify as the Sorcerer Supreme, who could teleport through dimensions, who held shards of all the other Butcher''s powers, and one who suffered from intense psychosis at the hands of PRT and heroes due to their wariness of a Ziz bomb.


    With so little effort, the Endbringer would gather all the data she needed on magic, satisfy her Prime Directive, and create one of the greatest threats the world had ever seen.


    Unable to be killed due to fear of the Butcher moving to a new host.


    Unable to be imprisoned, thanks to her powerful teleportation.


    But the best-laid plans of mice and Endbringers oft go astray.


    In all her predictions, the Simurgh did not, could not, see herself being ''Nom-ed'' to death by a dragon the size of Great Britain.


    Nor could she have predicted that Amanda Waller would send Spiral to the Island, where she would be killed by the Faerie Queen, who was still trapped in the Birdcage in the Endbringer''s predictions.


    If Ciara''s power was Shard based, as it was in Worm, that would have been the end of Rita Wayword, able to pass on. Finally freed from the prison of her body and mind.


    But that wasn''t the end for poor Rita Wayword.


    Glaistig Uaine''s power might have started out the same as her counterparts, but it had attracted the attention of something... Blacker.


    The Rot was not Shard-based.


    And so Rita Wayword died, yet still lived, immune to the control of the Parlement of Decay thanks to her mutation.


    The Simurgh''s plan succeeded beyond her wildest dreams, as the shade of Rita Wayword, Spiral, screamed her pain, rage, and freedom.


    Ready to lash out, to rain destruction on those who had done this to her, Rita tried to teleport to her once prison so she may exact her bloody vengeance on those who had confined and controlled her. From there, the rest of the PRT. Then Mojoworld. Then Longshot. Then everyone and everything else.


    But she couldn''t.


    Spiral''s magical senses reached out to her destination, grasping for the spatial/temporal coordinates of the cell she was so familiar with in a PRT containment facility.


    But her senses found nothing.


    Nothing but the smooth, glittering Jewel.


    No longer controlled, yet still trapped, Rita screamed.


    She screamed not because she was in pain or trying to intimidate anyone.


    Spiral screamed for all the years she wanted to scream but could not.


    ********


    "AAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHH!


    Sprial started to dance, screaming her undead throat raw as her hips gyrated and her arms waived maniacally in frenzied movement.


    Deathstroke threw himself to the side.


    Having spent weeks with the mutant, he knew any spell she cast that needed that much movement would be enormously powerful.


    Even with his decisive actions, Slade Wilson would have died in those first few seconds if not for Solomon Grundy.


    The shade of the great zombie launched itself at the dancing spell caster in an instant, obeying the unspoken command of the Avatar of the Black.


    He was too late to stop the spell from being cast.


    BOOOM!


    The ship shattered as the explosion ripped through it with immense force. Metal shards measuring in feet flew with the speed of bullets, impaling dozens of black shades as the ship fractured and cracked from the shockwave.


    The vessel rocked and buckled, sending the uninjured but coughing form of Gavel sliding off the edge and into the bay below.


    The explosion''s epicentre had been Spiral herself, perhaps in an attempt to finally end her eternal imprisonment and her un-life. She had not been spared the damage of heat and force. All that remained of her was a skeleton of charred flesh and blackened metal cybernetics.


    Grundy, with a strength and durability that could rival Superman, had fared slightly better despite his close proximity. His massive body had blocked a large portion of the blast as he tried to stop the suicidal explosion, inadvertently saving Deathstroke.


    Still, so close to the explosion, he took his own injuries. The front half of his body had faced the blast of heat and force. The top layer of his skin was flayed from his muscles, his internal organs boiled in his exposed chest, and all his ratty hair was gone, but he still stood on blackened legs.


    "Why must you cry out, my Dancer?" Ciara asked gently as she stepped out from behind the chared form of her greatest warrior.


    Already whisps of black energy were wafting from the remains of Grundy and the other shades damaged by the explosion. The boogeyman of the Super world approached the reconstituting body of Spiral and held her black skull in her hands as a mother would a child.


    "Can you not see? I have freed you from the Oppressor''s yoke," Ciara stroked the flaking cheek as it reformed, mercy and compassion in her gaze. "No more will you dance to his tune, to his bird''s song. Cry not, my Dancer. You are no longer a prop on the stage, you are now an actor, and I am your voice. Cry not. Scream not. Let us laugh together."


    Spiral''s reformed hands gently fell upon the pair holding her cheeks.


    "aaaaaa," Rita moaned pitifully, throat and lungs still reforming.


    Then she paralyzed Glaistic Uaine.


    "aaaahhhAAAAhhhaaAAAHHHHHHHH!" Spiral warbled, metal limbs digging and tearing into the flesh of the paralyzed woman holding her. She screamed as she tore chunk after chunk from her victim, each second increasing her volume as her body reformed.


    Ciara did not scream.


    She did not flinch or cry, and her eyes continued to gaze down with gentle affection at Spiral as the mutant tore her heart from her body.


    Three of the black shades tackled Spiral away from her as a fourth laid its hand upon her and freed the Faerie Queen from her paralysis. Already her flesh had reformed.


    "I understand," Ciara said softly, watching Spiral blast one shade to pieces even as she used a mixture of martial arts and her six arms to defend from the other two. "A newborn''s cries. Your old life is over, and you celebrate your new one. I did the same when I threw off the yoke and bridle. Very well."


    Her words were soft. Understanding. Full of compassion even as one of her shades had its head torn off.


    "Let your fellow warriors provide you a stage for the first rehearsal of your new life, my Dancer."


    A tide of black shades descended upon the mutant.


    Rita continued to scream.


    ********


    The shock of the water woke Slade up.


    Despite being protected by Grundy''s bulk and throwing himself away, being so close to such a large shockwave had discombobulated the mercenary enough that he had lost consciousness.


    Only for a moment, though, as his body fell from the ship''s deck into the bay''s shallow water. The cold was enough to reinvigorate him and open his eyes, even as he choked on the salty cold water.


    Fighting dizziness, Slade looked around as pieces of the ship rained down from above him, mixing the water with bubbles and silt and obscuring his vision even further as the weight of his equipment threatened to drown him.


    Were it not for the bright light of the two moons, Slade would have been completely blind in the dark water.


    Sploosh!


    A massive piece of what was once one of the guns on the ship fell into the water, missing Slade by less than two feet but still dragging the man further down with the suction of displaced water. The mercenary swam frantically, dropping all his guns but keeping his sword as he desperately fought to rise to the surface for air.


    A part of his mind, the part that was always calm and in control in any situation, noted that the ship would sink soon and drag him down if he didn''t get clear. That same part told him he would not be able to keep swimming for long. Exhaustion would claim him if any sea-based monsters didn''t.


    Mastering any panic that might have doomed lesser men, Slade swam at an angle, away from the ship but closer to shore.


    His head broke the surface for an instant, and Slade gratefully took in a lungful of air before diving down again.


    His only hope for survival was to pass unnoticed by the Faerie Queen. Hopefully, she either thought him dead or was too busy with whatever was wrong with Spiral to care about someone she wouldn''t even add to her army.


    More debris continued to rain down in the ocean, but most of it fell behind the mercenary as he made his way as stealthily as possible toward the shore. Though he was forced to come up for air two more times, Slade made it to the beach and crawled upon the wet sand of the coast, panting for breath.


    Looking around, Slade realized he wasn''t far from the dock connecting to the sinking ship. The night air shook with the sounds of metal tearing, explosions detonating, and Spiral screaming as the mutant fought more and more of the Faerie Queen''s shades.


    Slade gave himself only five seconds of rest before climbing to his feet, only to almost fall again as his left leg seized up in pain.


    Looking down, the bright blue light of Dark Moon glinted off a long piece of shrapnel in the meat of his left thigh.


    As he looked southward along the coast for a second, the mercenary considered trying to leave anyway. It didn''t look like it hit anything fatal, and he could tear his clothes to make a rough bandage. He didn''t want to be close to Sprial or Glaistic Uaine for any longer than he had to.


    But then his brain, his greatest tool, reasserted itself.


    Slade might avoid the conflict between the two deranged women by leaving now, but he was now alone. With no backup, his only chance of survival was to avoid or outrun threats. Injured, his chances of reaching the ship with the portal were practically nil.


    On the other hand, he had a very brief window of opportunity.


    Deathstroke was not an indecisive man.


    Without further pause, he limped away from the crashing surf and toward the remains of the Russian camp, the battle echoing behind him as he moved as fast as he could without aggravating his injury. Thanks to the squad''s earlier inspection, it took comparatively little time to find a basic first aid kit in the wreckage of the camp.


    With quick and practiced movements, Slade withdrew the shrapnel from his thigh. The jagged piece of ship hull was thrown away without care as he bandaged his leg, popped a few pain meds in his mouth, and quickly put together a sack full of everything he might need to survive on this accursed island in the coming weeks.


    Once he had a safe place to set up, he would stitch up the wound, but this would have to do for now.


    As he worked, Slade kept an eye on the battle, fearful that the Supers would take their bout to the shore. He caught glimpses of Spiral fighting off shades two or three at a time, the Faerie Queen watching patiently from Grundy''s shoulders.


    The entire medical and scavenging process took less than ten minutes, but it was enough time for the whole of the ship to be torn asunder, and the combatants started duelling on the few pieces of debris that still floated on the surface.


    Through it all, Spiral kept screaming. Her voice rose and fell, depending on if she was injured, reforming, or casting spells, but she just wouldn''t stop.


    Thanks to Glaistic Uaine''s power, she never would, Slade realized.


    It was time to go.


    With his bag over his shoulder, a pistol and a few mags he managed to scrounge at his hip, and his sword in hand, Slade Wilson set off south toward the ship he had arrived on.


    With stealthy movements, only slightly hampered by the bulk of his supplies and injuries, Slade navigated along the coast''s rocks in the moons'' dark light, their jagged edges and bulging shadows hiding him better than the barren plain would have.


    He was forty feet from the camp when he heard it.


    "Ack, ack, bleurgh!"


    Peeking out from a dip between two wave-washed rocks, Slade spied a prominent figure in the shadows.


    Gavel looked wretched, his skin grey and sickly as he leaned sat with his back to a boulder, coughing and hacking seawater and blood as he leaned heavily on the RPG he had managed to keep a hold of in his unexpected swim.


    Once more that night, Slade had a judgment call to make that could save or doom him.


    Gavel, even sick and injured as he was, was a Super to be reckoned with. Even if he acted only as a meat shield or an extra pair of eyes, he would make the trip south safer.


    Another deafening explosion rang out in the distance.


    Slade made his decision as he quietly stepped away, leaving his erstwhile squadmate to whatever fate had in store for him.


    Whatever benefit the Australian could provide was outweighed by the fact he would slow Deathstroke down. On top of that, he couldn''t count on Sprial keeping the Faerie Queen occupied forever.


    It was well known the deranged necromancer could sense Supers from miles away, and once she was finished with the six-armed woman, she''d come for Gavel.


    It barely took another minute, even with Slade''s slow and careful pace, to reach the boundary where the coastal rocks gave way to sand and then the trees of the forest.


    The mercenary was about to dash for the protective obscurity of the woods when, once again, his careful observations and quick mind saved his life.


    In the sand between the beach and the trees were four paw prints.


    Small and cat-shaped, a regular person might have judged them to be simple tracks left by an animal that lived nearby.


    Deathstroke was no regular person.


    His mind saw those four imprints, noticed the lack of others on the sand and their distance from the grass and rocks, and his mind went into overdrive.


    Cat prints.


    Hookwolf.


    Bayun.


    Powersurge.


    Slade''s heartbeat pounded in his ears as a cold sweat ran down his back. Fear, cold and dreadful, filled him.


    "I know you''re there," he called out. Not loud, lest he attracts the attention of something or someone else on the island, but his voice was firm.


    It betrayed none of the terror he was feeling.


    There was no response, but Deathstroke didn''t move his gaze from those four paw prints in the sand.


    "It''s no use pretending, Cat," he continued. He could see nothing. Hear nothing but the waves, Gavel''s faint coughing, and the rumble of battling Supers.


    Every second that passed increased the likelihood of his death.


    But it was on the edge of death that one could find a chance to live.


    A fifth paw print in the sand.


    A sixth.


    Between the sixth and the seventh, a chubby white and brown cat with tiny wings shimmered into view.


    "Mrow," The Cat greeted as it plopped itself on the sand five feet in front of the mercenary. Its breath tinged with ice crystals in the night air as its feline gaze met Slade''s. Its tail swished back and forth behind it.


    "You''ve been following us, right?" Slade asked, already knowing the answer. His heartbeat was thunder in his ears. "You ate Killer Frost, didn''t you? Just like you did Hookwolf and Powersurge. You eat Supers."


    The Cat''s cute little tongue ran across its lips.


    Slade repressed a shudder.


    "I''m not a Super," he said clearly. Another explosion rang out behind him, but he didn''t flinch. The Cat''s eyes left him instantly, tail swishing angrily as it glared at the battle before refocusing on the mercenary. "I''m just a regular human."


    "Mrow," The Cat tilted its head in a display that would have been cute to anyone who didn''t know what a monster it was.


    "I know where one is," Slade continued, using everything he knew about hunting animals to escape this mess. "Injured. Sick. Helpless. Easy prey."


    The mercenary had no idea if Gavel''s invulnerability would protect him from this... thing, but he was more than willing to sell his former squadmate under the bus if it bought him time to run.


    "Mrow," The Cat looked towards the rocks where Gavel lay, then back to Slade.


    "I''ll fight," the mercenary said, hand on his sword. "If I scream, he''ll come help. And the Faerie Queen will come to look too." At the mention of the last, The Cat looked at the remains of the ship. Its fur stood on end as it let out a displeased hiss. Was it afraid? Or angry? Either way, it was conscious of the woman''s danger. "Or you can let me go. You get an easy meal and don''t have to deal with-"


    "Deathstroke? Cough, cough, ah, hack. That you?" Gavel called out across the beach, and the mercenary froze.


    The Cat looked at Deathstroke, amusement in its gaze as it stood once again.


    Slade tensed as it casually walked toward him, swaying with a cat''s swagger as it approached one tiny step at a time. Its soft paws made no sound on the sand.


    His hand grasped his sword''s hilt, ready to attack at the slightest movement. The Cat continued its casual, plodding pace. Its tubby belly jiggled with every movement as it walked up the world''s greatest mercenary.


    And past him, brushing against his legs as it did so.


    Slade released his breath.


    That brush had not been affection.


    It had been a taunt.


    The Cat could kill him at any point but chose not to. It could rub against him, and he could do nothing about it.


    Slade was okay with that.


    He had his pride, but he valued his life much more. In a world full of Supers, he had gotten to where he was today by swallowing his pride. People with power overlooked and underestimated those without it. Slade had killed some of the strongest Supers in the world because they underestimated him.


    Unauthorized usage: this tale is on Amazon without the author''s consent. Report any sightings.


    The Cat might look down on him, but it was Deathstroke, not any of the powerful Supers in his team, that would escape.


    Slade wasted no time making a beeline for the forest.


    "Wha? ARGH!" Gavel screamed behind him, but the mercenary continued on even as the hiss of an RPG going off rang out.


    BOOM!


    "AAHHHHHHHHH!"


    For an instant, Gavel''s screams of pain and fear drowned out Spirals.


    Squelch.


    Then there were no screams.


    Deathstroke continued to make his way south toward freedom.


    ********


    Sprial teleported away from a concussive blast of force, appearing ten feet above the Faerie Queen''s head.


    "AAAAAHHHHHH!" She continued to scream even as she cast another spell, sinking the piece of ship the woman stood on with a localized gravity well.


    Solomon Grundy simply held his summoner''s body and hopped to a new platform. The shade of a Changer, shaped like a demented parody of a pterodactyl made of barbed wire, crashed into the six-armed mutant, sending them both falling. A Blaster released a torrent of lighting, frying them both.


    "Let my voice guide you, my Dancer," Ciara said, sitting daintily in the Grundy''s palms. "I know your pain. Your death whispered it to me. For long has the chain held tight to your neck. Before the Oppressor''s bird''s song, it was the Spineless Director. Before that, it was the chains of ignorance, of naivety. Your old life was naught but chains and pain."


    "AAAAAAAHHHHHHHHH!" Spiral screamed as she reformed. The same electric Blaster unleashed another volley, but the mutant teleported behind the shade and paralyzed it with a touch.


    Then she teleported behind another, this one a man wielding a long spear, and paralyzed him as well.


    She didn''t kill them, just paralyzing their movements before teleporting to a new victim. In twenty seconds, she managed to immobilize seven shades.


    Then she touched a shade that caused her arm to melt into a bloody and meaty slurry. Then another arm fell. Then her body dissolved into a disgusting mush.


    "My warriors, your new companions, are many and varied. The Parliaments must use all tools to overthrow the Oppressor''s yoke. My army may be small, but it is strong."


    By the time Spiral reformed, her paralysis victims had been freed by one of the other shades. The one that reset things to a prior state that had released Ciara earlier.


    "AAAAAAHHHHHHH!" Sprial cried, ghostly blades forming in four of her hands as she tore through the shade that melted her. She had to replace three of the swords as they turned to a slurry.


    Another shade tried to tackle her, a brute of some sort, but was cut down just as quickly before she teleported beside the shade that reset the others. Its head fell even as Spiral''s spine was severed by a metallic arm.


    "Your first dance is beautiful but pointless," Ciara continued to talk to the deranged mutant from her place of safety in Grundy''s cupped hands. "Cease this rebellion and join us. With each day that passes, the Oppressor conscripts more to his army. He has almost reached the point of saturation. The final battle approaches. This island shall be our fortress, our utopia, our ark. Aid us in its defence and conquest. When the Parliaments convene, this Jeweled vessel will see us safely in the coming storm."


    "AAAAAAHHHHH!"


    Once more, Spiral tried to teleport close to the Faerie Queen, only to be batted aside by an errant swipe of Solomon Grundy''s massive fist.


    She flew, end over end, before crashing to the ground on the shore, her body carving a deep divot in the sand and dirt.


    The small army of shades followed her, surrounding her pulverized body in a ring twenty feet wide.


    "Let your screams quiet, my Dancer. Your throat grows hoarse," Ciara gently said as the shades parted for her and Grundy''s massive form. "Pain will be a thing of the past. Let all of it fade to Black."


    "aaaaaaaaAAAAAAHHHHHH!" Spiral warbled, dragging herself with her three workings arms through the dirt toward the Faerie Queen as her legs bent back into place. "AAAAAAA-"


    The scythe''s blade separated her head from her neck in a clean swing.


    "Can thou not hear her pleas for rest?"


    Rita Wayword, Spiral, did not hear those words. Nor did she feel pain.


    Since her capture, Spiral''s mind had been filled with voices. The commands of Mojo, then the incessant song of a dead Endbringer and the whispers of the Parliament of Decay. They could not control her mind like her body, but they were always there. Always loud and incessant.


    Not anymore.


    For the first time in years, Spiral''s mind was blissfully silent.


    Rita was finally at peace.


    ********


    Priscilla tightened her hands upon the shaft of her scythe.


    "My Dancer?" The fey woman asked, her voice pained and in disbelief as it stared in horror at the dissolving corpse.


    She fell from her giant''s hand and walked to the fallen form. She cradled the head gently in her hands as if a lost child, even as it dissolved into strands of black dust. Whatever else, this woman cared about her ''warriors'' in some twisted fashion.


    Which made her deafness to their pleas all the more inexcusable to the Crossbreed.


    Her Lifehunt had ensured the poor woman finally found the solace of death. It was taking all her self-control to not do the same for the shades that surrounded her.


    This was not what death was supposed to be.


    Some of these men and women might have been great criminals, vile fiends, or monsters in human form, but they did not deserve what was happening to them.


    Death was the great equalizer.


    A gentle embrace that accepted all without judgment.


    This torturous existence, these cries of the damned, was wrong on a fundamental level to Priscilla. It reminded her too much of the Undead Curse and the Dark Sign.


    Only she could now understand their plight thanks to her Element.


    Priscilla had stayed her hand for days. She, too, had been curious about this necromancer''s goal and watched her actions with curious disgust.


    But the tortured cries of the woman had been too much for the gentle giantess.


    Even now, surrounded by dozens of black shades and the woman Sir Bard was warry of, Priscilla did not regret her actions.


    "What have you done?" The Faerie Queen asked, looking up at Priscilla with tears beading in her eyes. She was a third the Crossbreed''s size, but Priscilla knew not to underestimate a woman that even Sir Bard was wary of. "My Dancer is beyond me, beyond the Black."


    "She is beyond thought and pain," Priscilla said softly, her tone gentler than it had been. "Thine ''Black'' is but an approximation of true death. A trap between the boundary. Neither Life nor Death."


    "Life is a gateway to the Rot," Ciara said as if in a daze.


    "A Black Rot instead of Scarlet," Priscilla asked, and the woman at her feet nodded. "I understand. The fault is not with thou but with thy masters. A power over Life bent to control the Dead. And thy victims suffer for it. Release them. I shall petition Sir Bard to allow thee to leave. This Island shall once more know peace with thy parting."


    "Release them?" Glaistig Uaine asked, looking up at the Crossbreed with wide, fearful eyes. "My warriors and comrades in arms?"


    "Thy slaves," Priscilla corrected gently but firmly. "Can thee not hear their wails? Let mine scythe bring them to rest. Should they wish to join thee after, I shall have no complaint, but it must be of their volition. Not the will of thy masters."


    "I had not thought to lose a comrade before the final battle," Ciara said as she rose to her feet, Spiral''s head still cradled gently in her arms as the last of it dissolved into nothing.


    "Should thy companions wish to continue to aid thee after they know peace, I shall call forth their Spirit Ash for thee," Priscilla allowed. She didn''t know what battle the woman was discussing but knew she could no longer look at these shades without tears prickling her eyes.


    Her heart went out to them. Their mouths might be closed, but their soul''s wails were deafening when she stood this close.


    "I refuse!"


    Priscilla''s heart sank, and hands tightened once more upon her scythe.


    She hated violence, even if she understood it was sometimes required.


    "Why?" The Crossbreed didn''t even try to keep the sadness from her voice.


    "The Oppressor''s army grows with each day. The Parliaments must keep what few soldiers we hold," Ciara declared firmly. "Should your words prove true and they are in pain, I would ask them to bear with it for a few more years. If Life is to continue, we must all make sacrifices."


    "Sacrificing others and not thyself is no true sacrifice."


    "Should my sacrifice be required, I shall give it. This play is nearing its curtain call, and all actors must one day take their final bow. I act to ensure the curtain may rise again."


    "Will thee not consider peace?" Priscilla couldn''t help but ask in one last-ditch attempt to avoid violence. "Let the dead lie, and I shall aid thee and petition Sir Bard on thy behalf. He is no fan of oppressors and mine sisters enjoy the thrill of battle. We might be allies."


    "Albion''s and his queens'' help would not be worth the bonds of my fellow warriors," Ciara gently shook her head in the negative. "Not when I have naught but a promise of a petition."


    "Should we battle, thou shalt lose thy life and all companions with it," Priscilla warned. "Thy final battle will go unfought. Even the gods fear mine scythe."


    "That will not be so," Ciara denied. "Instead, you and yours shall join the Parliaments. You shall aid me in our battle against the Oppressor. Then you shall see that threat that would destroy all life. But first, tell me your name. I cannot hear your story as I can others. You are blind to my sight and mute to my ears."


    "My name is Priscilla, a lowly crossbreed," Priscilla curtsied adequately, as she had been taught many millennia ago. "Wife of the Elden Lord and Dragon of Death."


    "I am Ciara, named Glaistig Uaine and the Faerie Queen by my foes. Avatar of the Black. Valkyrie of the Parliament of Decay."


    Despite having introduced themselves and knowing conflict was inevitable, neither woman moved for a long instant.


    Then the Ash of Black Knive Tiche appeared, wrapping herself around the Faerie Queen like a snake and plunging her blade into Ciara''s neck.


    Solomon Grundy roared, charging at the Spirit Ash, who released the woman and backflipped out of reach.


    All around Priscilla, the army of black shades launched themselves at her.


    Dozens of pale white spirits burst into existence around the Crossbreed, meeting the tide of dark shades with their bodies as Priscilla launched herself at her opponent, scythe raised to end the battle with one swing.


    Her Observation Haki warned her enough to dodge out of the way of a blast of lightning that scorched a path through her summoned ashes.


    Kristoff blocked the blast of electricity before it could do too much damage. Latenna, riding atop a spectral wolf, pierced the offending shade with three arrows before refocusing on the flying shades.


    Oleg duelled a shade with a spear, and a shaper transformed into a bear, his blade flashing and carving through black flesh.


    Ogha knocked three more over with one of his great arrows but was beset by a shade who melted him with a touch, only to be burned to ash by Amon.


    All around her, Prisiclla''s ashen companions battled the black shades in a confusing melee of magic, energy, and violence.


    Because the Crossbreed had released all the ashes who wished to pass, her army was much less numerous than her opponent''s, even if they were more skilled. The shades also had the advantage in the diversity of powers and, unlike Spirit Ashes, reformed as soon as they were destroyed by anyone but Priscilla''s Lifehunt.


    Even as Pricilla cut down the shade of a man whose hair had turned into a bladed whip, Ciara''s throat healed, and the fragment of the Rune of Death in Tyche''s blade was not enough to put the Avatar down for good.


    "I understand," the Faerie Queen said, looking around at the small cohort of white spirits fighting her shades. "Their stories tell me of your love. They are at peace, though they fight. How did you do it?"


    "T''was their wish to remain, though their forms were not of their choosing. I simply offered the choice," Priscilla said as her tail swept the feet off a woman, preventing her from wrapping her oscillating arms around the Crossbreed. Her scythe pierced the shade''s heart a moment later.


    The simple fact was that most Spirit Ashes were created by the spirits'' enemies. Exceptionally few willingly choose to come back as ashes. Once Priscilla had discovered their plight, she released those who wanted to pass on.


    Most remained, feeling a peace they had never felt before in the presence of the dragon hybrid. They differed from Ciara''s shades in that they could pass on any time they wished and were not controlled by the Black or the Faerie Queen''s Shard.


    "I see," Ciara said, closing her eyes and looking pained. "I did not know such was an option."


    "Then let them rest."


    "I cannot," Glaistic Uaine said, even as a beam of light tore through Tricia, dissolving the ash. "The actors may leave, but the stage shall remain. I must turn the Oppressor''s weapons against him. It is the only method of victory."


    "There will be no victory if you fall here," Priscilla continued to urge.


    "The loss of my companions at your hand pains me, but I am winning. You are surrounded and will join us soon," Ciara pointed out.


    "Ah," Priscilla gasped softly. "I believe Sir Bard said something to this effect once. I am not trapped in here by thee. Thou art trapped in here by I."


    Ciara tilted her head, observing the situation. Each of the Crossbreed''s Spirits was entangled with at least two or three of her shades. They were putting up a spirited defence, but they were losing ground, the circle around Priscilla tightening with every second.


    Light bloomed in the night sky.


    And Medea rained magic upon the shades.


    Purple magic fell in a wave, a carpet bombing that reduced shades and spirits to rubble. Each lance from the Caster''s Rain of Light fell with the force of an A-rank attack.


    And there were hundreds of them.


    Entangled in combat as the shades were with the Spirit Ashes, not even the most agile could escape the Rain before being shredded.


    Over and over, the magical artillery barrage fell upon what was once the Russian camp, reducing it and tens of meters around it to blasted rubble. Even as the shades tried to reform, they were blasted to pieces once more.


    Only one small space was spared destruction.


    From that small circle, Priscilla launched herself the moment the barrage stopped. The dust and debris obscured her form as her scythe swung for Ciara''s neck.


    The Faerie Queen had been largely protected from the magical assault thanks to the bulk of her greatest warrior hunching over her in a protective cocoon. Solomon Grundy was a hodgepodge of holes and charred flesh, but he stood firm, defending his mistress.


    Maybe some crude intelligence or instinct still lay in that long rotten mind.


    With a spin, Solomon Grundy threw Ciara high into the air at an angle.


    The blade pierced his undefended back.


    The great zombie, the former Avatar of the Grey, fell to the ground.


    "NOOOOOO!" Ciara yelled as she fell through the air, into a tumble on the ground.


    Black shades, hundreds in number, burst into reality from her landing point. They ranged in appearance from children to elderly, men and women. Some were in military uniforms and held arms, but most were empty-handed.


    These were not Supers, only regular people. The people Ciara had killed, died around her or passed on in the general area.


    All headed the call of the Avatar of the Black.


    Medea continued to rain magic down, but the sheer numbers and speed of their reformation meant there was little effect. For every dozen she destroyed, three more replaced them.


    Priscilla grimaced as more and more black shades poured from the distraught woman. Their gamble had failed and cost them her Spirit Ashes. Unlike their opponents, they would reform, but it would take a few minutes.


    The Crossbreed wasn''t specialized for group combat without the Spirits, and she was the only one who could put the shades down for good. It was looking more and more like she would have to transform into her dragon form, which would leave her an easy target for the shades of the Supers who were reforming.


    Still, it didn''t look like she''d have a choice.


    Her decision to put Spiral out of her misery seemed to be a mistake in hindsight. But even now, Priscilla didn''t regret it. It was not in her nature to allow such pain to continue when she could do something about it.


    The Crossbreed threw herself into the oncoming tide of shades, trying to put a few of them between her and the Supers before transforming. Medea''s beams curved around her, their impacts deafening, but Priscilla heard a sound over the din.


    Four familiar roars.


    No longer drakes since their ascension to Tier 7, the four young dragons fell upon the growing army of undead in defence of their mothers.


    Hengeron II and Llamrei II bathed the Super Shades in a torrent of fire, swooping from the night sky in a diving run that disrupted their reformation and gave Priscilla more time.


    Andromeda and Cassandra descended from the other directions, their crimson wings bringing them behind the Faerie Queen to stop her summoning at the source. Their fires melted the tide as their claws swooped through the horde.


    Priscilla threw herself into motion as the night was lit by the purple Medea''s Rain of Light, the red of the dragons'' flames, the black swirl of dissolving and reforming shade, and the everpresent glow of the Dark Moon.


    Her babies were sturdy, thanks to all the effort Medea had gone into casting defensive charms on them, but even all that magic on top of their scaled hides would not be able to stand up to a concentrated attack of the Super shades.


    Now, more than ever, the Crossbreed was on a time limit.


    Lllamrei II flew before her mother, her flames carving a path through the onrush of black figures. She veered upward into a climb as her siblings, approaching from the other direction, met her.


    Priscilla had a clear line of sight to Ciara. The boogeyman of the Super world was burning in her children''s flames, but shades still burst from her in waves.


    Their eyes met, both resolute in their desire for victory.


    With one last burst, the Crossbreed launched herself at Glaistic Uaine, scythe raised to end this short battle once and for all.


    A shade burst from the Faerie Queen, lightning crackling in its palms and blasting Priscilla in the chest.


    The Mimic Tear dissolved.


    Priscila''s scythe cut the shade''s head off from behind the fading double.


    Her momentum carried her forward, swinging once more at the woman only a few feet away.


    One last shade burst from the shorter woman. The one that could dissolve things with a touch. It would die in place of its mistress and deprive Priscilla of her weapon with the action.


    That was when Medea, her tiny wings flapping to direct her fall from Llamrei II''s head, landed on Ciara''s shoulder.


    Her girth didn''t even have time to send the Faerie Queen stumbling before her Maw consumed everything above the woman''s neck.


    Every shade stuttered like a scratch in a record or an internet connection was briefly lost. It was only momentarily, and Ciara''s head was already reforming, but something had clearly been lost when Medea ate the woman''s head.


    That brief stutter was enough for Priscilla to alter her swing and bisect the shade and the woman behind it.


    Ciara fell, her head half reformed.


    The shades disappeared in a snap, black figures turning into so much dust in the wind.


    With the army of the undead gone, all that remained was a blasted battlefield that once held the Russian camp.


    Then Medea, having fallen to the ground with the Food Thief, let out a tiny burp and rolled over onto her back.


    Priscilla''s tension fell, and she let out a small smile as she kneeled on the ground to give the floof the tummy rubs she deserved.


    "That was too close," Medea said as she floated to the ground. The four young dragons followed her, their landing sending the ground rumbling with their bulk. "We should have waited for the others."


    "Mine apologies," Priscilla said with a bow of the head. Even kneeling, she still towered over the Caster. "I had not intended to intervene until thou gave me permission. When the poor woman fell at mine feet, I could ignore her cries no longer."


    "At least we made it out without serious injuries, or I''d never hear the end of it from Mikael," Medea sighed but gave a wry smile. Then she rounded on the four dragons. "And what were you all thinking, getting in the middle of a fight like that. You had Mommy scared to death!"


    Three of the red dragons looked away as they lowered their long necks in shame. Llamrei II, on the other hand, raised her head proudly. Then she pointed her spiked tail at the cat lying on its back, getting belly rubs.


    "I don''t care if she told you to do it!" Medea glared up at the non-compliant dragon. "If she told you to destroy a country, would you?"


    There was a beat of silence.


    Then all four red dragons nodded.


    "That was a rhetorical question!" Medea exclaimed in exasperation. Then her tone softened. "You could have been hurt." Llamrei II finally looked as abashed as her siblings as she saw the worried look on the Caster''s elfin face. "And don''t think you are getting out of this because you are acting cute," she declared as she rounded on the fat cat. "No treats for a week! I''ll make sure Mikael doesn''t sneak you any, either!"


    Medea, the cat, burped again.


    Priscilla smiled at the sight, rising to her feet to look around the devastation.


    Though there no bodies remained, she could See the dead.


    "Thou may all rest in peace," Priscilla told them, her voice oscillating through a layer of reality most could never perceive. "No one shall disturb thy slumber."


    The hundreds of the Dead only she could see all watched her. Some looked happy, others resigned, and some few even glared at other spirits.


    Most looked content, eyes closing as they faded deeper into death''s embrace.


    "I shall make of thee all an offer," Priscilla continued, eyes landing on the spirit of a woman looking around nineteen years old. "I cannot offer resurrection. That is beyond one such as I, and Sir Bard will not provide it either. I can offer a chance to take up arms. To leave the peace of death for the chance to face this ''Oppressor,'' thou spoke of."


    More spirits disappeared, not willing to return to the pain of existence.


    "Thou shalt be bound to me, as the Ashes thee faced were, but thou shall have thy freedoms besides. I need no slaves."


    The army of hundreds of dead was reduced to ten.


    Then five.


    Then three.


    With a final bow of thanks and a smile at the Crossbreed, Rita Wayword turned away and disappeared into the gentle embrace of Death, leaving only two spirits behind.


    Both stepped forward.


    Priscilla nodded at them and used her Element for the first time today.


    Both figures turned material as they stepped from the peace of death and became Spirit Ashes.


    "Once more, my valiant champion?" Ciara asked. In response, the Spirit Ash of Solomon Grundy lifted the dainty woman and set her on his shoulder. The Faerie Queen let out a tinkling laugh. "I see you are still the quiet actor though you be my champion no longer. Without the Black or my Faerie, I have gone from Keeper of the Dead to but a prop. I fear I will be of little use against the Oppresor''s army."


    "Your knowledge can help us more than your powers would have," Medea said, eyeing the pair while rubbing her chin in contemplation. "Whoever this ''oppressor'' sounds like a big deal, and our Family likes to be on top of making plans for potential threats."


    "If you will aid in the final battle, I have no reason to withhold my knowledge of the script," Ciara nodded but looked regretful. "I would caution that all I possess are memories. My knowledge is limited without access to the visions of the fey or the whispers of the Parliaments. My former champion may aid in battle, but I am without arms. If I may be of use to you in another fashion, Queens of Albion, please let me know."


    "What is thy skill with the musical or performing arts?" Priscilla asked, an idea coming to mind.


    "All actors must be able to sing and dance," Ciara said with pride.


    "Then I believe thou shalt be of great use to me."


    ********


    Two months later.


    Despite the upheaval the outside world experienced in those two months, the Island''s life forms remained unchanged, barring the occasional new batch of invaders.


    Swamp Thing continued to form and dissolve his body over and over again. As far as Tsunade could tell, the former anti-hero was trying to connect to the Green of the Island but was unsuccessful in his attempts. He wasn''t hurting anyone, and Priscilla felt uncomfortable killing a man who wasn''t a threat. Ciara knew he was an Avatar of the Green, but she did not know more than they already knew without a connection to the Parliament of Rot. Grundy was hardly a font of knowledge either. Talking to him provided no response either.


    So, after the second week of no change, the Family installed some boundary fields around his location to be safe and left him alone.


    The sun rose and set. Plants grew. Animals hunted, fought, killed and died in a cycle as old as life itself. If one ignored that at least half of all life forms on the Island were monsters of some sort, then one could even call those two months on the Island peaceful.


    Slade Wilson, stumbling from the brush of the forest only a hundred feet from his ship, would disagree.


    The former mercenary had seen better days. Of the great Deathstroke, the fearsome hitman that had landed on this Island with the rest of the suicide squad, very little was identifiable.


    His clothes were little more than tatters, hanging to his body thanks to large swaths of thick leather made into makeshift belts of armour. His sword was broken, the blade acting more like a small knife as it hung from a loop of hide at his waist. His only other weapon was a crude spear he fashioned from a branch and the shattered blade of his sword.


    His mask was long gone, showing his wild, unshaven face as his eyes roved over the ship he had not seen in three months. His face was sallow, with sunken eyes and cheeks showing a lack of rest and food for the many weeks he journeyed southward.


    His eyes darted to and fro over the area, wary of any threat. Even now, so close to the end of his journey, he kept his guard up. Too many times had he thought himself safe only to be ambushed by Blood Bugs, Salamanders, Golems, Tree-lizards, or other nasty surprises. A trip that had taken the Suicide Squad three weeks had taken twice as long for him alone because he was constantly forced to run, hide, or avoid areas of risk.


    That caution, that paranoia, was the only reason the Island had not claimed him as it had so many others. Even with excitement rising within his eyes, and hope kindling in his breast, Slade remained in control of himself.


    He did not run for the ship and the portal as he wanted to, instead approaching the landing point at an arc. He moved slowly, wary of any creatures that might have made the vessel their home in the months since the group had landed.


    For once, his luck held, and he found no sign of rampant wildlife or a predator. A few nests of seabirds were the only sign of animal life. Which was a good thing, as the creatures would not have built their homes in dangerous territory.


    Still, no need to rush.


    Between spotting the ship and actually climbing aboard, over three hours passed, such was Deathstroke''s wariness. Even then, the mercenary took extra care to go through the vessel to make certain no nasty surprises lay within.


    Finally, the last surviving member of the Suicide Squad stood before the large frame of the portal and activated it, bracing for any sort of trap.


    Boom.


    The loud sound resounded across the area as a vortex of swirling yellow energy coalesced in front of Slade.


    He released a deep breath. They had only sent ''samples'' through three times, so he hadn''t been too concerned with its number of uses being too high, but he had been afraid that their ''mysterious backers'' had trapped it to self-destruct after a certain period of time.


    Even with the portal still working, it didn''t mean he was out of danger.


    He didn''t know what was on the other side of this swirling portal, but anything was better than this hellish land.


    Hands tightened around his crude spear, Slade stepped towards his freedom.


    Tok.


    And hit an invisible wall.


    "What," Deathstroke mumbled, uncomprehending as he tried to pass through the portal again.


    Only to be rebuffed by an invisible yet intractable force once more.


    "No, no, no, no, no, no, no, nonononononNONONONO," Slade chanted as he pushed, heaved, and tried to throw himself around the invisible barrier between him and his escape from this damned hellscape. The iron control of his emotions and actions slipped as he tried to go around, to smash the barrier, to do anything to escape this terrible, terrible place.


    Slade Wilson had no way of knowing that he had been trapped as soon as he had crossed the Jewel. Marked to never escape. A geas contract that ensured all who entered could never leave.


    Mikael had not lied when he said everyone coming to his Island would die. Anyone who came here had malicious intent toward him and his Family, and he would not allow such loose ends to roam free. He might not be the one to kill them, but he had little tolerance for anyone or anything trying to take what was his.


    When people had first landed on the Island, Mikael and Medea had performed extensive testing to ensure nobody could escape. The first few simply tried to sail away, but later incursions had various escape plans. Teleporters, portals, magic, summonings, they had tested everything they could to ensure nothing escaped. In the end, they settled on the simplest and most complete solution.


    A geas on the Jewel.


    Anything that passed through the dimensional barrier be they person or item, could not be used to escape.


    The portal in front of Slade would not have opened if it originated from the ship itself, as that had passed through the Jewel.


    Somehow, something from outside knew precisely when and where Slade, and Spiral before him, were trying to activate the portal. It then beamed the receiving end to them. But the geas still prevented escape.


    The Suicide Squad had been doomed from the start.


    It didn''t have to be this way. They would have been in a uniquely advantageous if they had had complete information on the nature of the Island and Mikael.


    Had they gone south instead of north and reached the barrier that separated the Family''s lands from the rest of the Island, their disturbance at that boundary field would have attracted his attention. Uncaring about the distinction between hero, anti-hero, and villain, Mikael''s curiosity would have driven him to ask questions after capturing them.


    From there, Spiral would have been freed of the Simurgh and Mojo''s control, Emma would have recognized her and the asset she could have been, and she could have lived. Hookwolf and Gavel might still have died, but the rest would be imprisoned again since they had not chosen to invade but had been forced to by others.


    Mikael, always sympathetic towards those seeking their freedom, would have let them live just to fuck with Waller. And he would have loved to know about a portal that got around his safeguards.


    If the Suicide Squad had not been so informationally handicapped, tragedies would have been prevented.


    If the Suicide Squad had not been so informationally handicapped, they might have lived.


    But none of them would.


    "Mrow."


    Slade froze in place, arms still raised as he pushed against the barrier.


    A furry form brushed across his leg.


    The Cat stood on the other side of the invisible barrier that kept the mercenary from his freedom.


    "Mrow," it mewled gently as it faced him.


    It had never let him go, Slade realized. Like Hookwolf, it had simply been playing with him. Watching him struggle. Waiting till he had hope of survival, only to cruelly snatch it away at the last second.


    How cat-like.


    Deathstroke''s last sight was the gaping void of darkness that opened impossibly wide to swallow him whole.


    Of the six members who landed on the Island, only Rita Wayword had been spared the Maw.


    ********


    Medea was a cat.


    Not a cat(?), The Cat, a cat-girl, or any other unnecessarily complicated way of describing her.


    She was simply a cat.


    Medea was the same as she always was, she thought as she walked through the swirling yellow portal to explore what lay on the other side.


    She emerged into a large and barren room. Once there might have been something to stop her, guards, barriers, or walls, but all that remained in this cavernous room was debris, blood, and claw marks.


    Her tiny wings carried her into a room that once observed the portal room behind thick glass that now lay broken in shards on the ground. Computers, files, paper, and other electronic equipment littered this room''s floor. Medea spared the papers an idle glance, noting the repetition of a symbol, a red triangular DNA strand on a yellow circle, on most of the forms before walking away.


    Just because she could read didn''t mean she enjoyed it as much as her pet. She''d much rather find something to eat.


    Casting the only spell she knew, Medea turned invisible as she left the observatory.


    The Lesser-Floof had shown her this trick. It was a suitable recompense for daring to be called ''floofy'' by her pet.


    Medea was the Floofiest of Floofs. Her pet, Mikael, had said so repeatedly. Anyone wishing to use the title must pay tribute.


    Still, all these new pets were good for something, Medea thought as she meandered through destroyed underground halls. They paid the appropriate tribute of scritches, pets, and tummy rubs.


    And food.


    She was just walking randomly, exploring this new place by climbing over cabinets, knocking the few computers still intact to the ground, and doing other things at her whim. Occasionally she would come across a dead and half-eaten body, but Medea turned her nose up at them.


    She was too good to eat leftovers.


    Bored, Medea continued to pad softly down the halls of the ruined Cadmus.


    Sure, she could turn into a dragon and bust her way out of here, but why would she? This exploration was just an idle curiosity on her part, and Medea felt no need to change who and what she was, especially something as dull as a dragon.


    Dragons were just larger, scalier and uglier cats.


    Before Medea had woken up in her new home, she could have chosen to become something else. An infinite list of possibilities had been presented, but she had disdained them all. She could have been a dragon then if a smaller one. But Medea derided the thought.


    Cats were the best, and Medea was the best cat. Ergo, she didn''t need to change at all.


    The only concession she made was to allow tiny wings to grow. It just made finding napping spots easier.


    Like now.


    Medea staired up a destroyed elevator shaft, then looked down.


    Down was easier than up, so she went down. Her tiny wings carried her to the bottom and through an open elevator door.


    Medea''s distaste for this new environment grew as she looked at more destroyed rooms, furniture, and dried blood.


    Her new pets were also helpful in keeping her house clean, Medea acknowledged internally. And the one named after her, the one with the pointy ears, was also good for giving her treats.


    The others gave her food, so she tolerated their monopolizing of Mikeal''s time, but the Non-Floofy-Medea gave the best treats. Those red pills were the highlight of every meal.


    Still, Mikeal was her favourite pet.


    Not only because he had been with her the longest but because he didn''t just give her treats. He gave her Meals.


    At the thought of one of Mikael''s tentacles, Medea''s stomach rumbled.


    That snack earlier hadn''t done anything for her stomach. He had been an afterthought, kept alive to provide entertainment and because she had been full for the first time in a while. She hadn''t eaten him earlier because she was still digesting the ''Shards'' of the other two.


    The metal wolf had gone down easily enough after a nap, and the big man''s would have done the same since they were both only the size of a continent. But then Medea had also eaten one larger than a planet right after.


    That had taken a while to digest, even for her.


    Mikael had been worried when she hadn''t eaten more than one tentacle. Medea didn''t bother explaining to him that she was full.


    It wasn''t the job of pets to worry about their owners.


    Still, now she was feeling a bit peckish. One of the reasons she had left that snack alone for so long was because she hoped he would lead her to more morsels, but this place was a dud.


    Just as Medea was about to open a Door to return home and demand tribute from her pets, she sensed movement.


    Deciding another minute wouldn''t kill her, Medea padded her way down a dark hall.


    As she approached, the cat heard the sound of eating, of bloody flesh being torn and knawed on. A scramble of claws on metal and bone being crunched by teeth.


    A thick metal gate tried to block her, but Medea just had to nibble a little to carve her way through the feet-thick steel.


    On the other side was a familiar sight.


    One of those Maneater Boars, the ones with the dozens of eyes, that were great fun to chase. Well, her pet dragons would chase them.


    Medea, as befitting of her status of Floofiest of Floofs, would ride those dragons and accept their sacrifice as a light snack.


    But something else was eating this boar.


    A white mouse with a four-foot frame that dwarfed Medea in size continued to consume more of the dead pig''s body. Already it had carved a good chunk from the animal, despite it being over thirty times its mass.


    Medea watched the mouse eat with distaste, blood, meat and bone raining down around it.


    "Mrow," she ordered it to stop. Its crude waste of food was appalling to a gourmet like her.


    The mouse froze, looking up from its bloody meal. Thirteen glowing blue eyes looked at Medea menacingly. Its scaled tail swirled behind it as it rose to its full height and let out a rumbling squeak.


    Medea was unimpressed.


    The rats on the Island were much larger.


    How dare this puny rodent try and speak against her, the Floofiest of Floofs.


    So Medea decided to teach the rodent of unusual size a lesson by opening her Maw.


    The black void consumed the mouse, the boar, and most of the room.


    Licking her paws clean on the floor that had once been steel, now bare stone, Medea gave a lazy stretch.


    Then she opened a Door home and walked through.


    It didn''t matter if she had wings, could turn into a dragon, was the embodiment of Hunger, or that she was Tier 9 thanks to all her ''treats.'' When confronted with a mouse getting uppity, there was only one thing to do.


    After all, Medea was a cat.

 SS – Surging Current

    <div>


    And everybody knows that the Plague is coming


    Everybody knows that it''s moving fast


    Everybody knows that the naked man and woman


    Are just a shining artifact of the past


    Everybody knows the scene is dead


    But there''s gonna be a meter on your bed


    That will disclose


    What everybody knows


    ********


    Mindful of her image, even with only a few onlookers, Artoria only ordered a light snack.


    "A blueberry muffin, a breakfast sandwich, a slice of banana bread, and a kiwi smoothie." It wouldn''t do to seem like a glutton, after all.


    "Of-of course, ma''am, your majesty," the poor waitress stuttered, writing the order down with a trembling hand.


    "I will just have a Flat White," Robin interjected with a kind smile, taking pity on the poor woman who was clearly nervous in their presence.


    "And I will have the same, thank you," Wonder Woman, the local version, said as well.


    "Right away, princess," the young woman hurriedly nodded up and down as if a bird picking at the ground before scurrying off to complete their orders.


    Despite the small scene the trio had caused, there were few other patrons in the small cafe this early in the morning. It was barely six thirty in New Zealand, and the only people up and about at this hour were few and far between.


    So when Nico Robin, Artoria Pendragon, and Wonder Woman walked into the cafe after an eventful night, the teenage waitress, the cook, and an elderly couple were the only ones present. All four were shooting the women looks while trying to be discreet, but none of the trio were bothered. The smell of freshly ground beans after the chill spring air was invigorating after their long night.


    "Thank you for your aid," Diana said to Robin as they waited for their orders.


    "It was no issue," the former pirate said with an easygoing smile. "I was in the area, and search and rescue comes relatively easy to me."


    "There is no need to denigrate your accomplishment," Artoria chided gently. "You saved a number of lives that would have been lost had you not stepped up."


    "We may be able to lift a ship, but even we cannot be in multiple places at once," Diana agreed. "That is a powerful and helpful ability you possess. I am envious."


    "It is quite rare for me to be thanked, so I will simply accept it this time," Robin smiled wryly. "For the longest time, I was unable to swim despite spending most of my life at sea. Rescuing drowning people. Being thanked. People jealous of my power rather than scared. It has been a night of firsts."


    "If you wished, it would not be the last," Diana said persuasively. "The world always needs more heroes. You could do a lot of good."


    "I don''t think I can be a hero. I''d have to share my meat," Robin giggled.


    "Meat?" Diana asked, confused by the non-sequitur.


    "Sorry. An old joke from my old crew," Robin waived it off. "They did great things in our world, but we were not heroes. Never wanted to be either. We were just dreamers, and any good we did was tangential to our own goals. Our captain, in particular, hated being called a hero. He always said that heroes share their meat, and he refused to share any meat, so he couldn''t be a hero."


    "That is... one definition of a hero," Diana said, still looking a bit perplexed.


    "He sounds like a wise man," Artoria nodded, understanding the deeper connotations of Monkey D. Luffy''s words thanks to the numerous times Robin had spoken of her former friends. To be a hero was to sacrifice.


    "Uh... Pardon me," the waitress spoke up hesitantly, holding a tray of drinks and food. "Your orders."


    "Thank you," Diana received her drink with poise, and the other two did the same, Artoria digging into her food with efficient movements. At once classy, as it was horrifically quick.


    "That actually brings me to why I asked you here," Robin continued after sipping her drink lightly. "I do not know if the others have told you, but I am an archeologist."


    "I did not know that," Wonder Woman responded. "Your family is notorious for keeping each other''s secrets. I should not be surprised, though. I suppose we all thought you were warriors rather than people with jobs."


    "While we all possess combat capabilities, only about half of us use it in our day-to-day lives beyond standard training to keep in top form," Robin explained.


    Medea was a researcher. Tsunade considered herself a medic before a kunoichi. Emma was a businesswoman. Thanks to the lack of Grimm, Glynda felt herself more of a teacher than a huntress. Priscilla, a ''bard.'' Even Ranni thought of herself as more of a ''ruler'' or mage than an active combatant. Melina was still finding her place in the world. Yoruichi straddled the line thanks to her spy work, but it was only Scathach, Artoria, and Diana that actively sought out combat situations.


    Mikael considered himself ''the greatest hobo to ever live.''


    His words, not hers.


    "I''ve been in New Zealand for the WWI exhibit at the local museum," Robin continued. "It holds an artifact relating to my current field of study."


    "Atlantis?" Artoria asked in between bites.


    "The local curator claims it to only be a photo of soldiers, but I believe one of them to be an Atlantean," Robin nodded before looking at Wonder Woman. "Please tell me everything you know about that civilization."


    "I am afraid I don''t know much. The name is familiar, of course, but that is it. I have made no study of it nor remember any of my sisters speaking of it at length. I simply thought they were even more reclusive than my people."


    "They weren''t," Robin shook her head and sighed. "They actually had a robust trade system with civilizations on land, likely due to limits of material found underwater. Then all traces of them disappeared between thirty and forty years ago. I am trying to uncover why. Nothing sticks out to you?"


    "Apologies, but nothing does. What makes you think I could help you," the Amazonian asked with a curious frown. "And why not ask my counterpart?"


    "Because she knows about the Atalantis of her world, not this one. In her world, the city continued to exist in the ocean until the end, whereas, in this world, there is no proof of its survival past the 20th century. Their reclusivity can explain the lack of evidence, and Mikael''s efforts in the ocean tragically removed any ruins that might still have existed."


    "But why me?"


    "Wonder Woman is well known to have fought in WWII. In fact, there is a photo of you at the exhibit," Robin replied with a raised brow. "I had hoped you had met with an Atlantean during your time. Also, the deities of your religion are reported to be the ones to have cast it down in mythology."


    "My mother held the title of Wonder Woman at that time. We look similar," Diana explained. "I am one of the youngest amazons, and I did not leave my home until slightly before the turn of the millennia. I, unfortunately, cannot help you."


    "Truly," the King of Knights asked in surprise, finished with her food and sipping at her smoothie. "Diana, our version, first left her home to aid in the world war and continued to act as a hero for the next century."


    "As Robin said, there are differences between worlds," Wonder Woman smiled wryly.


    It was a constant point of confusion ever since her ''twin'' had shown up. For every threat she had told them about ahead of time that managed to pay off, two more were either completely unknown to her or were different in this world.


    "And your home has no records of Atlantis?" The archeologist pressed. "No trade passed between your lands? Invoices? Records? No diplomatic envoys? What of your mother? May I speak with her? Or your gods? According to Diana, Atlantis venerated Poseidon, your deity of the seas. Would he know?"


    "I imagine Lord Poseidon would know something, as might my mother," Diana allowed. "The former, I am afraid, I cannot aid you in contacting. It is not up to us to dictate to the gods. On the other hand, my mother should be willing to answer some questions on the subject when you visit."


    "Visit?" Artoria asked.


    "She wished to speak with my counterpart as well as her ''husband.''" Neither of the other women at the table commented on how the amazonian said the word oddly. Both could imagine how disconcerting it was to meet a version of yourself in such an unusual relationship as theirs. "It is why I wished to speak with him yesterday, to tender a formal invitation to Thymescria. I do not believe my mother or the rest of my people will begrudge a few more members of your family visiting as well. Despite our isolation, they are quite curious about the outside world."


    "You invited Mikael to your home," Robin asked in disbelief. "Your home filled with strong, opinionated, religious, women who have had barely any contact with the rest of the world for millennia. Our husband, the god killer in a polyamorous relationship with a dozen women, Mikael? "


    "Yes?" Diana squirmed in her seat at the intense look the other two gave her. "Should I not have? He promised his best behaviour, and my counterpart vouched for his conduct."


    "That will either end in a comedy or tragedy," Robin giggled behind her hand.


    "What my friend means," Artoria said with a slight glare at the former pirate. "Is that Sir Mikael will do his best to honour his word. But he is... opinionated. And his sense of humour is an acquired taste. He is also not one to suffer injustice against himself and his family without reprisals."


    "He is a petty man who likes to mess with people, is too fond of puns, cannot stand gods, and, in his words, ''is a firm believer in gender equality,''" Robin ''translated.''


    "You believe I should rescind the invitation?" Diana asked, her frown deepening. "My mother will not be happy. She was quite insistent on meeting with him and my counterpart. If he believes in gender equality, I fail to see how that would be a demerit."


    "The gender thing is a joke of his. Means he doesn''t look down on women. He treats them just like men."


    "And that is a bad thing?"


    "No," Artoria denied firmly.


    One of her favourite aspects of Sir Mikael was how he did not try and coddle any of them despite being of the opposite sex. Modern ''chivalry'' might mean particular courtly behaviour towards the fairer sex, but she had lived as a man for too long for her to be comfortable being on the receiving end of such actions.


    "If we take last night as an example," Robin elaborated. "If a ship is sinking, it wouldn''t be ''women and children first,'' it would be ''children and parents first.'' He just doesn''t care about gender. Mikael is apathetic about many things most people find a concern, and sometimes that clashes with people who do care about such subjects. That is why I said it would be a comedy or a tragedy."


    "I see," Diana idly ran her finger along the rim of her cup. "So I should not worry about him, but how my sisters would react to him."


    "If he promised to be on his best behaviour, he will be," Robin nodded. "He keeps his word as best as he can, even if he can twist it to his favour. He''ll still make jokes and be himself, but he won''t deliberately antagonize anyone, nor will he denigrate your beliefs so long as they are not thrown in his face. Just warn your mother and your people that he gives what he receives."


    "He will meet insult with insult, violence with violence," Artoria nodded. "But he will also repay hospitality, aide, advice, or support just a surely. No greater foe or trustworthy ally have I ever met." No matter how much he claimed to be a monster, Artoria only had to look at his actions to know who Sir Mikael really was.


    "I will keep it in mind," Diana said thoughtfully.


    "I thought men were not allowed on your island," Robin asked curiously as she finished her coffee.


    "That was the law until my mother left and saw how man''s world had changed. Since then, she has been more lenient. No man can live on the island or come uninvited, but in unique circumstances, they may spend a day or two as a guest. Superman, for example, has visited once before. Thanks to this policy, some of my more... extreme sisters have relaxed their harsh views. Please ensure your husband does not make my mother regret her leniency."


    "We''ll make sure he has a minder," Robin said with a smile as she stood from her seat and went to pay.


    "We''ll both be there, as will Diana and perhaps Lady Ranni," Artoria decided. "She is one of the best at navigating his moods and humour to ensure he maintains decorum."


    "I will have to consult with my mother and our oracle before I can say she will be allowed past the barrier. This is the first time a foreign deity will visit, so I am unsure of the procedure," Diana said as she thought of the blue goddess. Then another thought came to her. "Medea will not be with you, will she?"


    "She will not," Artoria declared. As much as she loved the Caster and respected her advice, she could think of no poorer idea than bringing the witch to a seat of power for the Greek gods.


    "Good," Diana let out a sigh. "I have nothing against her personally, as I do not know her. My people, on the other hand, have met my world''s version of her before Thymescria was founded as a haven. She was... cruel in their stories, and I do not wish to open old wounds."


    "Don''t worry about Medea," Robin said, returning to the pair and leading them out of the cafe. They passed a pair of early-morning joggers who stumbled to a stop at the sight of the trio. "She won''t be there. If I were you, I''d be more worried about Mikael seducing your mother."


    "What?" Diana blinked in confusion, wide-eyed at the thought. Then she turned to the blonde king. "He wouldn''t dare, would he?"


    Stolen content alert: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences.


    "There is nothing Sir Mikael doesn''t dare do," Artoria said with a tight smile. "But he will never cheat on us. Of that, I have complete confidence. So, no, he will not seduce your mother."


    Diana sighed in relief, only for that sigh to become a choke as the air caught in her throat.


    "Deliberately, at least," Artoria continued as her smile fell, her face neutrally blank. "Sir Mikael did manage to unintentionally seduce a dozen women. And he has expressed multiple times he prefers independent women, those in positions of power, and maturity in demeanour and age. He is quite like my knights in that manner. He may subconsciously do his best to worm his way into her heart and bed."


    "Please tell me you are joking," Diana almost begged, looking from the blank blonde to the smirking brunette. "There is no way that is going to happen. She will not fall for a man in a relationship with other women."


    "Funny you should say that," Artoria said blandly. "Our Diana said something similar to me once when I asked if she would ever fall in love with him."


    There was a beat of silence.


    "I-I have to go. I will see you later." Wonder Woman took off in a hurry, flying as fast as she could.


    Another beat of silence.


    Then Robin could hold it in no longer and had to cover her mouth as she started giggling. Artoria allowed her blank mask to fade into a slight smile and a few chuckles to escape.


    "That was cruel," Robin said, still laughing as they opened a Door to the Island and stepped through. "Funny, but cruel. She''s going to warn them now about his ''lechery.'' It''s going to make things worse when he visits."


    "You started it," Artoria defended with a smile. "And nothing I said was wrong. Technically."


    "I thought you''d deny it, not play along," Robin disagreed. "Mikael is a terrible influence on you."


    Artoria didn''t bother to deny that. The pair was silent momentarily before the King of Knights asked the question on her mind.


    "...You don''t think he will, right?"


    Just because Sir Mikael wouldn''t cheat doesn''t mean she wanted the drama. If something of that nature did happen, it would alienate their new allies fast. It was issues like this that led to the fall of Camelot.


    "As you said, she sounds like his type," Robin''s smile was sharklike. "A Greek comedy or a Greek tragedy? How exciting."


    Artoria was feeling decidedly less excited than her friend.


    ********


    This was it, Sinister thought as he stared down at the blood sample.


    His eyes panned over the small group of cages with mice in them. They all looked hale and healthy, though one was naturally larger than the others. Its beady eyes met his, its scaled tail waiving behind it in agitation, and he smiled.


    This was what he had been searching for all this time.


    Humanity''s next great leap forward.


    The next rung on the ladder of evolution.


    For so long, he had been focused on mutants. Those with the x-gene were so obviously superior to baseline humans that it was obvious they had been the next step. Unlike aliens, which went through entirely separate evolutionary lines or those whose powers derived from a random stroke of fate thanks to the presence of a brain tumour, mutants were consistent. Scientific.


    While their powers varied, it was in their genes that the future would be written. Occasionally, a mutant parent would produce a dud offspring, but with each year that passed, more Super powers appeared in this world. It was becoming increasingly clear that baseline humans would be bred out.


    A common misconception about evolution was that it was the strongest that survived.


    That was wrong. It was the most prolific breeders that passed on their DNA. That usually meant the stronger member of the species as they had the most advantages, but not always. Numbers, mating tactics, or even bad luck could see the most robust or most intelligent members of species fail to pass on their genes.


    It didn''t matter if an individual was born with opposable thumbs if that creature never had descendants to inherit the trait.


    But there came a tipping point. Where a particular gene was spread so wide and offered such a significant advantage that even if the new ''genus'' was outnumbered, it became impossible to stop the spread. Then nature would take its course, and the old species would be extinct.


    Nathaniel Essex didn''t even have to do anything but sit and watch as humanity died and their superiors took their place.


    Once he realized this, he ceased his focus on eliminating humanity and focused on his true goal.


    Pushing the species forward.


    Humanity would be gone in a generation or two, and mutants would be the baseline. Thus, he focused on producing the next step.


    It had taken hundreds of thousands of years for mutants to supplant homo sapiens.


    Sinister, as his dead wife once called him, was hoping that through his efforts, the next step in evolution would be in a few centuries. A millennium at most.


    To do that, his first step had been to create the perfect mutant.


    He had some initial success through selective breeding, focusing the most desirable traits into a few families he carefully monitored. The Summer-Grey lines were supposed to be the pinnacle of the coming generation. A mutant unlike any other before.


    Then Jean Grey died.


    A hitch in the plan, but not an insurmountable one. Madelyn Prior, a clone of Grey, had been able to take the original''s role quickly enough at his direction.


    Their child wouldn''t be the messianic figure Sinister had hoped and planned for, as children of clones were always slightly inferior to those produced naturally and tended to be infertile. Still, the scientist hoped he could learn from the children the couple produced. Enough to make up for the loss of Jean Grey.


    The first of such children would be born soon too.


    Which left Nathaniel Essex some time on his hands.


    Time he had used to check up on a few other genetic projects in the world.


    With all his money, investing in research and development had helped him in unexpected ways over the years. Other people''s work might be inferior to his, but it could give him some inspiration if nothing else.


    Cadmus had, initially, been only one of a dozen experiments he had helped fund. Their focus on cloning had been... cute. Behind his experiments by at least a decade, but novel. The knowledge they gained on Kryptonian DNA had been interesting, at least.


    Then they had managed to snag a few drops of the Elden Lord''s blood. After watching the Revival Video, as it was called, Sinister decided to kill a few months studying it while he waited for the next phase of his mutant messiah plans.


    And he had found the holy grail of genetics.


    Sure, he could not get any information from the sample itself, and it had proved immune to all cloning attempts, even from his own more advanced tech, but the effects it had on other organisms had been worth it.


    It made everything more than it was before. Better. No rejection, no exceptions.


    It was a universal donor in the greatest sense.


    And he needed more!


    So he had nudged the PRT head to get more samples, and the results were everything he had dreamed of.


    "What do you have for me, Essex?" Amanda Waller asked as she entered his lab.


    It always amused him how people thought positions equalled power. They could be useful, certainly, but it didn''t matter if you gave a monkey a title.


    It was still just a monkey.


    "It has been a complete success, Director," Sinister responded, not hiding his glee at his discoveries. "The samples we''ve received are exactly what we were looking for."


    "Explain," the head of the PRT ordered with a frown. "I was told the deliveries were not producing results."


    "They were fascinating and can produce results in the long run," the mutant defended. Sure, the creatures'' blood had been nowhere near the Elden Lords'' own in usefulness, but their genetics were worth the study. The director didn''t seem to think so as she frowned at him. "If we manage to breed the batch of lizard-like creatures, we can have a functionally infinite supply of crystal, but you are correct that the first two deliveries were not what we were searching for. "


    "And the most recent delivery?"


    "At first, another failure," Sinister admitted begrudgingly. "Five creatures, all from the Sus-genus based at first appearance." At her blank look, he rolled his eyes, dumbing down his language for his audience. "Pigs. Three small ones, the size of our domestic breed, one the size of a small SUV, and one large enough to pass for a train car. Despite the gigantism, testing on the first four yielded little of interest."


    "And the fifth?"


    "You can see it," Sinister pointed and led the woman to the armoured glass that looked out over a vast, barren room.


    The boar was massive, twice a man''s height and over fifteen yards long. It was equally as disgusting. Fat rolled its skin in bunches, and its bloated gut hung to the floor. The dozens of round pustules covered its face to the point that Sinister suspected it couldn''t see. No matter how much those boils looked like eyes.


    The animal was gorging itself bloody on its latest meal, four whole cows they had delivered to the pen through a secure containment tube.


    "That is your ''complete success?''" Waller said with barely disguised disgust. "A sick, fat pig."


    "Pigs are remarkably similar to humans on a genetic level," Sinister didn''t hide his derision at her ignorance. "To the point that insulin for treating diabetes was originally made from their pancreas and modern organs are grown from them for human transplantation."


    "How does this help us?" Waller pressed, not taking his tone lying down. "It has none of the traits of the mouse you showed me. No draconification."


    "While its blood lacks the reptile strands the Elden Lord''s contained, the ''dragon-trait,'' if you want to be crude, it does share one trait with it. Its blood is also a universal donor that enhances any organism that is injected with it."


    "Really," the woman said, staring at the eating boar with renewed interest. "So...?"


    "Early testing suggests that recipients of its blood grow stronger over continued injection. Not only that, the injection of blood heals wounds and diseases. All of them."


    "All of them?" Waller asked, a look of genuine shock overcoming her.


    "All of them," Sinister''s grin was wide and feral. "Cancerous cells. Amputation. Diabetes. Muscle atrophy. The common cold. It fixes it all. The amount of blood is proportional to the amount of tissue it needs to repair, but so long as we have enough blood, we can cure everything."


    "And the enhancement element?"


    "Lesser than the Elden Lord''s blood," Sinister admitted, nodding over to the group of cages with the lab rats. "But still present and noticeable. And with this creature''s vitality, we can extract tens of litters of blood a day without killing it." Of course, he didn''t say that most of that blood went to his own supply. Cadmus didn''t even notice the discrepancy. "Our current working hypothesis is a diversity of creatures is the basis for his strength and size. Beasts like this boar strengthen and empower him through continually ingesting their blood. Then he uses others, possibly draconic, to further that empowerment. Over millennia, he reached his current size and strength."


    "That would fit with what he described in his interview about being born weak. Assuming he wasn''t lying. Either way, do everything you can to keep that pig alive and healthy," Waller ordered. "We have no way of connecting with the team gathering samples, so we cannot count on receiving more."


    "We will progress to human testing within the week," Sinister informed her. It was way earlier than recommended, but he wasn''t bothered by potential losses. They were just humans, after all. "Will you send in another team now that we know what to look for?"


    Sinister briefly considered inserting some of his cloned forces before dismissing the thought. There was no need to risk attracting the Elden Lord''s attention when the PRT proved such a useful tool.


    "Possibly," Waller said with a frown. "But not for a few months, at least. The squad was chosen after careful deliberation. In the meantime, keep that pig alive and producing blood."


    "Very well," Sinister planned on doing so anyway, but making humans feel like they were in control was important to ensure they did as told. That, and it amused him. Like a small dog yipping at large ones.


    "I want to be updated on any other delivery," Waller ordered as she left. "Especially any discoveries of anything draconic. If we assume your idea is true, the wider our sample base, the better our results."


    "Of course," Sinister nodded, not bidding farewell to his ''boss.''


    As soon as she had left the room, he turned back to look at the draconic mouse in the cage. Its eyes had never left him.


    If a few drops of blood could turn an ordinary lab rat into such a creature, what would it do to the pinnacle of mutant kind?


    Nathaniel Essex''s original plan would have been to create the perfect mutant and then, from there, ensure they bred. Over centuries, regular mutants would be replaced by their superiors. Then he''d repeat the process, over and over, driving evolution higher with each successive species.


    Until it could go no higher. The pinnacle of evolution.


    It was a dream that would take thousands of years at a conservative estimate.


    Unless he could speed it up by taking the current population to a new height. By making them more. Greater.


    Essex would keep his plan regarding the next step for mutant kind as it was still the most reliable, but now he had another option. As far as he could tell, this blood did not change the underlying being. Just made them better. What would that mean if that was applied to the strongest mutants?


    Ascension.


    But first, more experiments. It would not do to waste this opportunity because he was rash.


    With one last look at the eating boar and a shake of his head, the geneticist returned to work.


    Those pustules really did look like eyes, now that he thought of it.


    ********


    "You know, I am usually fine with your plans," Clark said as he held up the small pill to the light. "But you''re going to need to walk me through this one. How is poisoning ourselves going to help?"


    "Mikael absorbs the blood of those he kills. That is how he grows stronger," Batman said, pulling up a short clip on his Batcomputer. Taken during the Trigon incident, it looped over and over, showing the subject they were talking about standing on a beach covered in blood. "It is not poison for us, but when mixed with blood and exposed to air, it combusts. Preventing him from absorbing any power from us. It will stay in your system for a month before you need to take another."


    "Dragon vampire, right," Clark nodded slowly before sighing and swallowing the pill. If nothing else, it would hopefully stop all those crazy scientists trying to get Kryptonian DNA.


    "Poisons do not work on Mikael or his retinue," Batman continued. "The ''Defences,'' according to Glory Girl, are extensive. Combined with his intangibility, it makes any potential conflict with him difficult."


    "But not impossible." Clark was familiar enough with his friend to understand the subtext. "You have a plan."


    "To strike, he needs to release his intangibility. It is why he did not confront Trigon with his dragon body. He can be dimensionally shifted and safe or physically present and attack. Not both. His speed is also nothing to worry about without a lead-up. He could not stop you from taking the jug of alcohol from his hand. It is why his speed slowed as he approached earth. He can travel faster than the speed of light if given enough time and momentum, but before then, you, Diana, the Flash, or a few others will be much faster."


    "So we can theoretically win if it came to a fight with him alone," the Kryptonian nodded, following his friend''s train of thought. "But if it comes to that, we have already lost. The earth will be gone. And he won''t fight alone."


    "I am still working on the contingencies for the other members of his family," Batman admitted grudgingly. "Too little is known about them. But you are correct. Confronting Mikael at this point would be foolish."


    Clark smiled to himself as he looked at his surly friend. He believed these little threat assessments and planning sessions were helpful and had saved their lives numerous times. Still, he did wish they didn''t include potential allies. It felt unfair to expect everyone to turn into an enemy, not giving them a chance to be forces for good.


    Still, Bruce had been... better since talking to his parents.


    He was still Batman, calculating, dour, paranoid, and cautious to a fault, but to those who knew him and truly understood the man under the cowl, it was obvious something had changed.


    Alfred had put it best; ''I glad to see you smile again, Master Wayne.''


    As Mikael predicted, the caped crusader still did not trust the dragon, but it was no longer an obsessive drive to uncover every secret and weakness. Batman, for the moment at least, was content to let things play out.


    The fact he had the basis of a contingency plan also helped, as he probably felt less helpless.


    "Will you be attending the gala?" Superman asked.


    "Bruce Wayne will be there with his donation," Batman nodded. "How are you going?"


    "As Superman," Clark said. "Lois won''t be attending. She''ll be with Jon. Might as well gather larger donations."


    While the Kryptonian preferred to help people directly, he understood that encouraging philanthropy from the wealthy went a long way to helping feed the poor and destitute who were left after an Endbringer attack. A night talking to wealthy guests was little sacrifice compared to the potential benefit it brought the victims.


    "Will you bring a date?"


    "No," Batman denied. "Bringing Selina would be too risky and tempting. Both for her and the guests'' valuables."


    Clark''s smile turned into a grin. It was stuff like this that showed the change. Bruce Wayne was a notorious playboy, and Batman usually maintained that cover with arm candy for the night. Going stag would set the rumour mills and tabloids running. The only reason he wouldn''t bring a date was if he was actually trying to make things work with the former burglar. Something Clark had been trying to get him to do for years.


    "How''s Dick?"


    "Training," Batman responded bruskly. "He is part of the PRT, not the League."


    As if that would stop him from keeping an eye on his former protegee and his teammates after the traumatic events at Diamond Heights. Or when he was being trained by Glynda Goodwitch.


    Batman might be playing ball with the Elden Lord, but he was a serial worrier. The fact that he was so terse on the subject meant there was nothing for him to criticize.


    "Anything else today?" Clark asked instead of continuing that line of dialogue.


    "Zatara got back to me," Batman reported. "All divine communication has been cut off. With Thor''s continued absence, some threat has likely necessitated his remaining on Asgard. Shazam is also awol. Many of his powers are divine based. I have a few other agents investigating, but be on your guard. We''ll alert the League when we know more."


    "Got it," Superman grimaced. Dealing with magic or divinity was always a pain. Hopefully, whatever the issue could be solved soon. Thor and Shazam were two of their greatest fighters against the Endbringers.


    "I also heard back from Captain Marvel. She is still looking to learn more about other civilizations Mikael has interacted with, but she has heard some disturbing rumours. The Pheonix is on a rampage which has the Shi''ar worried, and an unknown military force is active. They appear on a planet, ransack it looking for something, then disappear. That''s all I have for now, but she''ll keep her ears open for more."


    "It''s one thing after another," Clark sighed. Knowing about potential threats was always better than remaining ignorant, but it could be disheartening. The sheer size and population of the wider universe ensured there would never be a time when Batman would tell him ''everything is peaceful.'' "After the next Endbringer attack, I''ll try and find Lobo. He likes to know everything and everyone."


    All he could do was work hard to make it slightly better than the day before.


    "If they follow the pattern, the earliest time will be after Thanksgiving next week, and the latest will be mid-December."


    "And if they do, it will be Behemoth," Superman grimaced. The largest and first Endbringer was a sore spot for him. Its ability to manipulate energy meant it could replicate Kryptonite radiation as well. He''d be on rescue duty rather than help in the fight. "Whatever Mikael did to kill the Simurgh, let''s hope he can do it again."


    "Unlikly," Batman said grimly. "The only reason he could eat it was because it was outside earth''s atmosphere. If he tried to do the same to Behemoth or Leviathan, he would destroy more than they ever would. But their aid, if they choose to give it, will go a long way to reducing casualties. Especially their healer."


    "They''ll help," Clark said with surety.


    They might not be heroes, but they were good people.


    He was certain of that.

 SS (A) - Carnal Lessons

    Fair warning, this one is pure smut. I wanted to see if I could give up my foreshadowing addiction for at least one chapter.


    ********


    Oh yeah, t-t-teacher stop that screamin''


    Teacher don''t you see? Don''t wanna be no uptown fool


    Maybe I should go to hell but I am doing well


    Teacher needs to see me after school


    I think of all the education that I''ve missed


    But then my homework was never quite like this


    Ow! Got it bad, got it bad, got it bad


    I''m hot for teacher


    I''ve got it bad, so bad


    I''m hot for teacher


    ********


    "Are you ready for the last surprise of the night," I asked as I led her deeper into the cliffside rooms under the Mansion. "I promise it''s a good one."


    "With how smug you are being, I feel like I should say no," Glynda retorted. The smile on her face told a different story, small and content as it was.


    And why shouldn''t she smile?


    With Medea and Tsunade keeping an eye on the Faerie Queen and Swamp Thing and no new crisis on the horizon that I was aware of, I could finally dedicate my time to my Family. A moron thinks seduction ends when you''re married, but a true man of culture understands that is where the seduction really begins.


    In other words, my ego demanded I show the women I married that I was, hands down, the best thing to ever happen to them.


    Having seen every aspect of their lives for over a year, I naturally had insight into what an ideal ''date night'' looks like to each of them, and I had gone out of my way to ensure I exceeded their wildest dreams.


    Glynda, for all her sexual awakening with Scathach, was a romantic at heart.


    Our date had started with a picnic in the foothills of the Alps. From there, we meandered our way through a tiny Swiss town hand in hand, seeing the sights, talking to the people, and enjoying each other''s company.


    Then I teleported us to Florence to enjoy some history, architecture, and more intellectually stimulating conversations before finishing it all with a candlelit dinner in a small hole-in-the-wall restaurant.


    It was simple, intimate, and romantic.


    Everything Glynda Goodwitch once wished for in a partner before her summoning to the Island.


    Now, as I led her to the final surprise for the evening, I needed to address the woman she had become in a way that showed my acceptance of who she was now.


    The content smile on her face turned eager, hungry with lust as I led her down familiar hallways to a familiar door.


    "Hardly a surprise," the huntress chuckled throatily, her voice low and husky with desire. "We end up here a lot."


    "We do," I agreed with a smirk, turning my smug up to eleven as I opened the door. "But I promised you a surprise, and I intend to deliver."


    Glynda''s eyes widened as she gulped down her saliva.


    My sex dungeon was a thing of beauty.


    Despite its crude name, it was a room made with comfort and pleasure in mind. Every inch of wall and floor was enchanted with the same cushioning magic as in the Cuddle Pit to make it warm and comfortable. Various tools, toys, or hooks dotted the walls, ready for use. There was a bed, of course, and other furniture for more... exotic positions.


    Diana was strapped to a wooden X by her wrists and ankles in the center of the room, drawing the eye of anyone who would enter.


    Wonder Woman was a mess. Drool ran from her spread lips around her gag, and her hair was a mess of sweaty strands. Her thighs were just as slick, glistening in the room''s light with proof of her arousal. Ball bearings were clamped to her engorged nipples, and a vibrator, set to its lowest setting, was stuffed inside her cunt, held there by the sinfully tiny thong she wore.


    "MMMMMMM!" She screamed into her ball gag, her head lifting to face our direction as we entered. She couldn''t see us, the blindfold prevented it, but she knew we were there. Knew we could see her sorry state.


    As we watched, her body shuddered in pleasure.


    "What is this?" Glynda asked with wide, hungry eyes. Her tongue unconsciously darted out to lick her lips as she watched Diana''s small orgasm die.


    "Your surprise," I answered smugly. "Her safe word is Eggplant, by the way."


    "How..." Glynda swallowed dryly before continuing. "How long has she been here?"


    "About an hour before we left," I shrugged.


    Any regular person would be in severe pain and dehydrated, but Diana was a tough girl. That and I cheated with Sticky Fingers and magic. I had set everything up so she could only feel pleasure, and only just enough of it to experience the most minor and pitiful of orgasms that served to stoke her lusts higher and higher.


    "Mmmmfff," the Amazon moaned pitifully.


    Glynda''s breathing pace picked up, and her eyes looked at me for the first time since I had opened the door. Her hand raced up, grabbing the back of my head to drag me down into a blazing kiss. The huntress tried to suck my soul out through my mouth for a long moment, pawing and grasping to drag me closer, her hands desperately sliding through my hair in a frenetic hurry.


    Just as suddenly as it started, it stopped, and I was yanked backwards by telekinetic force.


    "You..." she panted, jade eyes hazy with lust. "Are about to get soo lucky."


    Then she rounded on Diana, The Disciplinarian appearing in her hand as she telekinetically shredded her clothes. Below the tasteful blouse and skirt combo had been a set of lacy purple lingerie. Stocking covered her long legs, held up by a garter belt. Her panties were the same colour, though it was hard to tell with how see-through they had become. The purple bra struggled to contain the absolute majesty that was her magnificent breasts.


    Her heels clicked on the hard floor as the blonde sauntered towards her prize, pale ass cheeks wobbling back and forth as Glynda added extra sway to her hips for my enjoyment.


    I watched it with pleasure, slowly disrobing to give Glynda time to enjoy her surprise. And to appreciate the view.


    I had hatched this little plan for a few reasons.


    The first and most apparent was: Threesome? Yes, please.


    The second and most important reason was giving Glynda something I usually could not.


    Most people into BDSM lean more toward the Dom or Sub route by preference but prefer to experience the other side occasionally. Switches are more common than those who are pure masochists or sadists. Most people would try the other side for variety, curiosity, to give their partners a chance, or to reaffirm their control over the situation.


    I wasn''t one of those people.


    The idea of being bound and submissive to someone else''s will killed any erection I could ever get. Which was kind of a problem for Glynda because the only other person she had ever been with was Scathach.


    Scathach, the one I literally had to beat into submission after she stabbed me. And that still didn''t make her any sort of proper ''sub,'' even with literal sex magic.


    I knew Glynda had been curious about experimenting with the other women of the Island but had held back. As I said, she was a romantic at heart. A romantic pervert.


    And so, I had killed three birds with one ball gag.


    This little get-together would be an excellent way for Glynda to try out being on the dominant side, serve as an ice breaker with Diana, the other bisexual BDSM enjoyer, and get me a threesome with two beautiful women.


    Win-win-win.


    "I had no idea," Glynda said as she idly toyed with the ball bearing attached to the Amazon''s right nipple.


    Crack!


    "MMMMMM!" Diana screamed as The Disciplinarian cracked against her breast, sending the titanic tit tumbling. The skin reddened, but the welt disappeared in moments.


    "That you were such slut," Glynda continued without breaking tone as she continued to circle Wonder Woman, inspecting her like a piece of prime meat. Her whip trailed along olive skin, a constant reminder to the blindfolded woman of the teacher''s presence.


    "I would have taught you better. Give you some discipline."


    Crack!


    This time, the weapon hit the left breast, sending the metal ball attached to an engorged nipple jingling as the massive mammary bounced and wobbled.


    "It''s all you naughty little whores need. A firm hand."


    Crack!


    Her right ass cheek rippled only once. Diana''s tight ass did not have as much give as her breasts.


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    "A proper teacher."


    Crack! Left ass cheek.


    "Someone who can turn thirsty sluts into decent human beings."


    Crack!


    "MMMMMMMMM!"


    Ooooh, that was a direct hit on her pubic mound. That had to hurt.


    Say what you will about Glynda. She was very good with her weapon.


    "But some things cannot be taught, no matter the teacher!"


    Crack!


    A red mark appeared along the Amazon''s amazing abs before it healed in a second.


    "Some students are just!"


    Crack!


    "Thirsty!"


    Crack!


    "Bitches!"


    Crack!


    "MMMMHHHHHMMMM!" Diana screamed her orgasm into her gag, body shuddering and twitching, hands desperately grasping at the air. Then she sagged in her bonds, exhausted from her release.


    "I am going to remove your gag," Glynda whispered huskily in Wonder Woman''s ear. "If the first words out of your mouth aren''t ''Thank you, Mistress, can I have some more?'' It will go right back on, and you will not get any dick tonight." With a flex of telekinetic skill, the gag fell from the Amazonian''s mouth to the floor.


    "Thank. You... Mistress..." Diana panted, blue eyes hazy and unfocused. "May I have some more?"


    "Hmm. No."


    Not giving the heroine time to respond, Glynda pressed the handle of The Disciplinarian against the pitiful thong that covered Wonder Woman''s pussy. She pushed and pushed, the tip of her whip passing the outer lips as the poor piece of fabric was stretched tighter and tighter, digging deeper into Diana''s ass.


    "First, I want to know, what was going through your filthy mind while we were gone?" Glynda leaned forward, nibbling on one of the ravenette''s earlobes as she toyed with the heroine''s cunt. "What were you thinking while you hung here naked? Helpless. A set of holes waiting for the next passerby to take advantage of. What if someone found you? The door was unlocked."


    "Someone, mm, someone did," Diana answered, and Glynda paused for a second before resuming her probing with renewed force. "Yoruichi found me. Ah. She just, ah, walked in. Saw, mmh, saw me. Didn''t even pause. Mmmmhhhm. Walked right up and stuck her fingers in me. Nnggggnnn. Then she left. Said I wasn''t ''ripe'' yet."


    "Not even the cat in heat wanted you," Glynda gloated, pulling on a nipple clamp painfully. "How did that make you feel?"


    "So good," Diana whispered pathetically. "Not worth her time. I came."


    "Because you are a desperate, needy slut," Glynda stepped back, admiring how Diana arched her hips forward, desperate for more stimulation.


    Until now, I had watched the show, content to let Glynda have her fun while I lamented the lack of gender equality in the world.


    With me, Diana had been a powerbottom. Submissive, but not vulnerable or desperate. Only when I tapped into her corruption fetish did I really get going with her. But the first Dommy Mommy that shoes up turns her into a mewling little sex pet? Completely sexism.


    Still hot, though.


    But voyeurism wasn''t my fetish, and I had been quiet too long.


    "What are you thinking?" I asked casually as I walked up beside the huntress, grabbing a fistful of bare ass while giving her a chaste peck on the cheek.


    "I''m thinking the needy slut has talked enough for now," Glynda smirked, raising her crop and using her semblance.


    "Mistress?" Diana asked, eyes still covered by the blindfold. She could still feel the wooden X she was bound to levitate into the air, flip until she was lying face up. The bound woman floated down till she hovered a little below our hip height. "Mis-?" Diana tried to ask but was cut off as Glynda sat on her face.


    "I said you''ve talked too much Slut!" Glynda growled, grinding her mound on the Amazon''s face for a few moments before reaching down and pulling her panties to the side. "Now eat!"


    "Mmm, mhhm!" I think that was supposed to be ''Yes, ma''am!'' but I couldn''t be sure.


    "Good girl," Glynda reached down to pat the top of the Amazon''s head. "Because you are such a good little student, your Master will use you. Not your holes. You still need to earn that. But if he decides he liked your tits enough, maybe he will decide to give you a pity fuck. Only if you do a good job for your Master and Mistress."


    "Mmm, mhhm!"


    Knowing an invitation when I heard one, I straddled the center of the floating X-cross, practically sitting on the woman''s spectacular abbs as I laid out my dick between Wonder Woman''s amazing breasts with a quick spell for lubrication.


    "Oooh," Glynda shuddered as I grasped the nipple clamps to pull her breasts tight, trapping my dick in a cavern of warm flesh. "The slut liked that. Pull tighter."


    I did, using more strength than most would handle as I thrust back and forth, the tip of my dick poking out of the tops of her tits.


    "That''s it, Slut," Glynda ground against Diana''s tongue. "Outside, you might be a bigshot hero, but tonight you are just our plaything. You''ve already cum enough. If you want more, you will have to prove you deserve it."


    I grinned, happy to see the huntress having fun. And I didn''t need Sticky Fingers to know Diana was also getting off on it.


    Glynda leaned forward, capturing my lips in a hungry kiss once more as we used the world''s greatest heroine for our pleasure.


    "How am I doing?" The huntress asked in a whisper as she pulled back from the kiss. Her face was flush, but her makeup, glasses, and hair were still in perfect order.


    "You are doing great," I smiled at her. My preferred method was more of a ramp-up, but diving into the deep end worked too. "She''s loving it."


    "Good, ah, I was worried."


    "Don''t be," I reassured her. "If there is any problem, I will let you know. Or she will when it is her turn."


    "Her turn?" Glynda gulped, eyes wide in realization.


    "You didn''t think the teacher couldn''t become a student, too, did you?" I asked smugly.


    As I said, most people were Switches to one degree or another.


    Diana included.


    "You are a terrible, wonderful bastard of a man," the former huntress shook her head with an exasperated smile.


    "I know."


    "I better make the most of the time I have then," Glynda said, grinding her cunt harder on the bound woman''s face as she leaned forward to kiss me.


    For a long minute, we were content to passionately as we used Themyscria''s princess as a sex tool. I didn''t know precisely what Diana was doing with her tongue, but judging by the way Glynda huffed, moaned, and shuddered against me, she clearly had more than enough experience eating pussy to drive the teacher wild.


    On the other hand, I had to do all the work myself. Wonder Woman''s breasts provided a wonderfully tight pressure on my dick as I thrust back and forth, but it was directly proportional to the strength I was using. And I was using a lot. Her tits were nowhere near the most sensitive of the Family, but Diana had to have felt the superhuman pressure as I abused her breasts, their tan skin flushing red as I pulled, pushed, stretched and used them for my pleasure.


    I wasn''t tit fucking Wonder Woman.


    I was masturbating using her breasts.


    And she loved it.


    This contrasted our time together, where she liked to be part of the experience, wielding her submission as a weapon to bring me pleasure. Adding a second woman to our dynamic gave Diana a sense of familiarity that allowed her to completely let go in a way she couldn''t have with just me alone.


    "MMMmmhhhhh!" It didn''t take long for Glynda to release her first orgasm of the night with a shuddering cry into my mouth. I grunted, signalling my own impending release, ready to paint Diana''s chest white.


    Glynda had her own plan.


    I felt her semblance try to grab hold of me, and I let it.


    Even as she shuddered atop Diana''s tongue, Glynda levitated me till my dick was levelled with her breasts. Pulling her bra down, the blonde pressed her massive breasts together to trap my dick in a vice of flesh.


    "The, umm, slut hasn''t, mmh, earned her Master''s seed, ahh, yet," she moaned. In a complete reversal of earlier, I did not move as she swayed her tits up and down along my length. "Now paint me! Cover me in cum!"


    With such a reasonable request, how could I say no?


    I let go, the first rope of thick ejaculate blasting up all the way to her golden hair, covering the left side of her face, glasses and all, in a long lance of cum. I aimed the second blast for her right side, just for the symmetry of it, but it only reached her glasses.


    The third and fourth spurts impacted her chin, covering her collarbone in a textbook definition of a pearl necklace. The rest covered her pale breasts in the glistening liquid, spread around as Glynda continued to pump my dick with her massive breasts, seeking to milk even one more drop from my tip.


    "That will do, Slut," Glynda purred as she lowered me to the ground. Righting the X-cross as she stepped off Diana''s face, Glynda took a moment to wipe off her glasses, licking her fingers clean after her vision was clear.


    "Did I do good, Mistress?" Diana asked, panting for breath, her chin glistening with leftover signs of Glynda''s arousal.


    "That was adequate."


    Damn. If that was she judged a carpet muncher with centuries of experience, I could see why her students thought she was a hardass.


    "Thank you, Mistress."


    Glynda waived her crop, removing the Amazon''s blindfold. Another swipe of her hand levitated a dildo and a string of anal beads from a nearby shelf. Neither was small.


    "HHHnnnnggggg!" Diana groaned as they were unceremoniously jammed into her lower orifices as her tiny thong was telekinetically torn to shreds.


    A final flex of her semblance freed Diana from the cross but bound her hands behind her back.


    "Now clean me up," the teacher ordered as he moved the toys inside the newly freed woman''s holes. "Your Master will jam his fat cock in my ass while you do. If I''m clean before he fills my guts, we''ll both fuck those sluty holes of yours. If you cum..." Glynda trailed off, leaving the threat unsaid.


    "Yes, Mistress!" Not that she needed to. Diana eagerly leaned forward, her tongue lapping at the tall woman''s pale breasts as she licked my release from the massive tits.


    "Ah, there''s a good slut," Glynda sighed, drawing Diana''s head tighter to her breasts.


    "You ready?" I asked softly as I pressed against her back, kneading her fat ass cheeks. Unlike Diana''s, which were bundles of tight muscles, these had an excellent layer of fat that bounced and wobbled in my hand.


    "Put it in," she said.


    "Hmm. No." I repeated her earlier words to Diana. I was compelled to follow her order, but it was a very specific one, now was it? Her eyes widened as smacked her ass, sending it clapping and rippling as I continued to play with it like dough. "Beg me."


    Seeing Glynda Dom Diana was incredibly hot, don''t get me wrong, but I was still me. I had followed her direction so far because this was her surprise, but I couldn''t have her getting too uppity.


    They were both Mine.


    "Please?" Glynda asked piteously.


    "You can do better," I admonished, though I stuck a finger in her butt as a reward anyway. While I did, I cast a few spells for cleaning and lubrication. Unsurprisingly, it had been Medea who taught me them.


    Those Greeks, man.


    "Ah," she gasped. "Please, Master, please fuck my virgin ass. I''ve been waiting for it all day."


    "Mistress?" Diana licked up Glynda''s neck as she spoke her question.


    "Really?" I asked conversationally as I stuck a second finger in her sphincter, my left hand grabbing the back of the Amazon''s head and pressing it back into the huntress''s heaving bosom. Diana got the message and resumed licking. "Why don''t you tell our little slut all about it."


    "It was, nnng, so romantic. You went through all that, hah, effort. Everything, mmnn, I, ah, ever wanted. NNNNGgggg. And all I could think about was, hah, how much I wanted you to fuck my ass! Haaa haaa. My last hole. I was such a thirsty bitch! I wanted you to throw me over the table and claim me in front of everyone there. So please, Master, please fuck my poor, empty ass. Take the last unspoiled part of me for yourself!"


    "That was adequate," I grinned as I withdrew my fingers, grabbed her hips, pulled her cheeks apart and pressed myself into her defenceless ass.


    Lacking the prostate gland, most women do not find the actual act of anal sex enjoyable. The ass lacks the nerves of the vagina, the self-lubrication that prevents damage, or the muscular control that kegel muscles can provide.


    So why do some women really like anal? Simple.


    "You''re such a nasty bitch," I snarled, teeth-gritting from the tightness of her sphincter as I pressed forward. "You''ve wanted this for years, haven''t you?"


    Because it is a perverse act.


    "I have," Glynda admitted with a squeak as I fully bottomed (ha) out in her. Her wonderfully plush cheeks pressed against my pelvis.


    A fetish that serves no purpose but sexual gratification.


    "How often have you imagined someone bending you over your teacher''s desk and taking your ass? Is it your students? Or do they just get to watch their bitch of a professor get sodomized?" I withdrew slowly, hands on her hips, holding her fast as Diana licked her face free of cum.


    "NO!" She denied it vehemently, but I felt her muscles contract at the thought.


    Wham! I slammed forward, her ass and tits jiggling with the force of the blow.


    A taboo.


    "Maybe your colleagues? You always complained they were a pain in your ass. I''m sure they wanted to fuck the bitch out of you!" I withdrew slowly once more, teasing her with deliberation.


    "As if!"


    Wham! I slammed forward again.


    Something so wrong that it felt so right.


    "Then who? Who did that dirty mind think of while you masturbated yourself stupid?" Though her hips tried to push back, to keep me inside her tight asshole, I was strong enough to keep her in place.


    "No one!" Wham! "Urk. There was no one! No one man enough to do to me what you do!" Wham! "No one to." Wham! "Fuck." Wham! "My." Wham! "Ass!"


    With my fragile male ego appropriately soothed (though I knew it had more to do with the absolute shitshow that was Remanant than any trait of mine), I really cut loose.


    Wham! Wham! Wham!


    "aaaaeeeEEEEIIII!" Glynda''s low moan rose in volume and octave as I fucked her ass harder and harder. Most of the cum had already been cleaned from her, so Diana just latched onto a bouncing nipple, riding out Glynda''s orgasm as best she could.


    I had other plans.


    "You were respectable once upon a time," I growled in her ear. "Now look at you. You have a cock up your ass while a pet slut eats cum off you. If any of your former friends saw you, would they recognize you? They wouldn''t. All they''d see is a horny sow. A lowly, filthy, disgusting, horny bitch!"


    "MMMMMNNNNNNNNN!"


    Wham! Wham! Wham!


    I kept pounding as Diana squirted over the toys, still moving in and out of her.


    My words, directed at Glynda, were targeted directly at the Amazon''s corruption fetish.


    She had failed the huntress'' little test.


    I grinned as I came in Glynda''s tight ass, pressing as deeply as possible. Now she had an excuse to punish the heroine.


    "Uuuuhhh," Glynda moaned pitifully, slumped against me as she shuddered.


    As soon as she was conscious, that is.

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 Obsession 1

    "Follow your most intense obsession mercilessly."


    -Frank Kafka


    ********


    The fire was beautiful.


    Only the size of her head, its edges burned a vivid orange, but at its core was a blinding white, so intense to look at, it would render a mortal blind.


    Pure.


    That''s what this fire was.


    It was pure.


    Untainted.


    Not good. Not bad. Just pure.


    All Melina could feel was rage when she looked at this flame.


    So much madness. So much death. So much pain.


    With her new senses, Melina could feel this fire. Feel its past.


    Psychometry.


    That was the word Medea used¡ªa lesser-known psychic ability. A byproduct of being the Phoenix Host. Melina could see, feel, and experience its past by looking at or touching something. It came in flashes, in uncontrolled waves. And only from items conceptually related to fire.


    Maybe a better host for the Phoenix Force would get clearer images or not be so limited.


    But Melina was not a host. She was a vessel. A carrier. An aid. She merely held the force of nature until its true host was ready to take it up.


    ... Until Mikael decided he wanted it, Melina corrected in her mind.


    That was the danger of the Phoenix Force.


    It didn''t speak to her. It was not a devil on her shoulder, whispering temptation or its agenda to her. There was no clear separation between the Phoenix and herself while they were joined. Her thoughts were the Phoenix''s, and its thoughts were hers. They bled into each other imperfectly, not like oil and water, but like two different types of paint. Some colours blended, but others were distinct and clearly their own.


    It empowered her. Melina had never felt stronger, felt more useful. All these new abilities and senses weren''t as overwhelming as the Phoenix had been. She was still learning, practicing and gaining control, but they fit her well.


    Too well.


    That was the trap.


    With power, there was nothing to stop her. Without boundaries, Melina could do as she wished with the world. If she let the Phoenix flare unchecked, her slightest whim could change the very fabric of reality.


    Like all its hosts, Melina had the possibility of becoming the Dark Phoenix.


    Because the Dark Phoenix was not a separate entity. It was simply a mass of power with a purpose so vast that it didn''t care about the little details.


    The Dark Phoenix was the psychic entity being influenced by its host and going along for the ride to devastating consequences.


    Melina could not allow that.


    The Phoenix Force could not allow it either. Not this time.


    It never wanted to become the Dark Phoenix. It simply wanted to fulfill its purpose. But to do that, it needed a host. A host held emotion, risking distortion of desire. Yet the Phoenix wanted to feel emotion as well.


    A vicious cycle. A catch-22.


    Until it could find a perfect host.


    It had found one in Jean Grey, Melina now understood. She had been the perfect host. But the Phoenix had already chosen a host that it thought was perfect and, more importantly, wanted.


    Even if it was rejected.


    Thoughts of Mikael helped center Melina. The Phoenix''s obsession with him matched well with Melina''s love for him, which was tempered by her decades with him. Melina knew him better than anyone else, and the Phoenix now understood that. It helped give the pair a common ground.


    If their goals diverged, if ever Melina really became the Dark Phoenix, Mikael would tear the Phoenix from Melina and leave this reality to burn.


    Neither wanted that.


    So they worked together to control their impulses, keeping each other in check so their power would not warp the world. Allies of convenience.


    Most of the time, the Phoenix did not care enough about what was going on to have its own thoughts on subjects and let Melina take the reins without influence. Mikael had been the sole exception before today.


    Then they had entered this accursed place, and their opinions diverged.


    Only by focusing on this flame, this fiery soul, could Melina stop herself from burning this place from existence.


    It only slightly helped.


    Melina could see it in the fire.


    Its first discovery within a world of grey crags.


    The... man who would claim it and use it to build civilization and become a god. He would bring light to the world. Through war, he brought hope to his people. Under his hand, his family grew and flourished.


    Yet even the White God''s might was not unending. His soul was but one of four, and they were but tiny sparks from the First Fire.


    Fuel was needed to keep the Fire burning, to keep his people safe, and to save his Age.


    And so he committed the First Sin.


    Purity is not good or bad. It is simply untainted.


    For the many, he fed the few to the pyre. To buy a few more years, a few more minutes of light as darkness crept in. He searched desperately for other solutions.


    None came.


    When even the bones and souls of so many proved too weak to keep the flame burning, he fed himself to the blaze.


    A martyr burned on his own pyre.


    He bought his kingdom thousands of years ago with his soul and flesh.


    He bought his order hundreds of thousands of years of light with the souls and flesh of the hundreds that came after.


    But it was not the paradise that came before.


    It was a flickering flame, rising and falling. Every time it was rekindled, it slowly died, fading to embers with each new vessel.


    Mikael claimed there was no way to know if things would have been better or worse if Gwyn hadn''t become the first Lord of Cinder.


    Melina found it hard to imagine a world worse than the one she saw in the White Soul.


    It had been born in the First Flame and existed till a man came along to finally extinguish its embers.


    Melina could see it in Gwyn''s soul.


    The first mortal to inherit the soul of the King of the Gods. The man who took up a burden that drove a god mad.


    The second, one hundred thirty-ninth, and last, Lord of Cinder.


    Staring at the Soul of Gwyn, Lord of Cinder, Melina could see the entire Age of Fire.


    Yet this was only one aspect of the First Flame.


    This was the Soul of Light. It represented order, civilization, and permanence. It was an aspect of fire Melina could respect, even if she saw what was committed in the name of those beliefs. It drove her to rage, not because she didn''t understand but because she did. She had done the same as Gwyn.


    It was all visible to her in the flickering flames. Just as the other aspects present were visible in the nearby flames.


    Three more souls floated within glass cases nearby. The enchanted glass protected all four from interference and protected the world from their influence, but Melina could feel them.


    Two of them, the Soul of Death and the Soul of Life looked the same as Gwyn''s. Three small bonfires. Pure white cores that flickered in red-orange flames that radiated heat. Staring at these two was also better than paying attention to her location. These, unlike the Soul of Light, just made her sad.


    Melina knew the necessity of death. Knew of the warmth of life. Fire brought both, and she could stare at them without pain but with a deep weariness.


    The last soul was also a flame floating in a glass case, but it was black and radiated nothing. It was a viscous, lukewarm lump of gentle humanity.


    The Dark Soul.


    Melina could not look at it.


    It was too deep, too welcoming and threatened to pull both her and the Phoenix into its dark depths.


    Still, she would rather fall into that murky pool than pay attention to what her psychometry told her.


    This wasn''t even the real Kiln. That had been lost with its world.


    This was just Mikael''s recreation based on his soul, and it was still enough to overcome Melina. Every second threatened tears.


    "Are you going to stare at them all day, or are you going to help me," Medea asked from behind the Kindling Maiden. She could not feel what Melina did. All she knew was the joy of learning. "I think I have it this time."


    "That is what you said last time," Melina answered, not taking her eyes from Gwyn''s soul.


    "It was the fans," Medea explained animatedly, always happy to talk about magic and her experiments. "While the Desert Sorceresses of Jugo were pyromancers, their fans and armour are enchanted with illusion magic. A lust spell! It helped lure people in. A pure pyromancy seed should avoid the magical and conceptual pollution problem. According to Mikael, they are passed from master to apprentice, all the way back to Witch of Izalith''s own Lord Soul."


    "It won''t work."


    "Not with that attitude," Medea denied. "And even if it doesn''t, I will learn something new, which is a net win. Now, come on. This is the last experiment for the day. Then you can leave."


    Only Melina''s all-consuming wish to leave this forsaken place had her turn from the Lord Souls.


    As soon as she was not focusing on the images of light and civilization, she could feel it.


    The Fire.


    She could feel it in the ash under her feet. She could see it in the melted frame of the giant Kiln. She could smell the long-dead flames in the air.


    And she could hear the screams as he burned.


    Melina could hear them all, every single one. Men and women. Old and young. Human. Giant. Pygmy. So many races, so many lives. So many souls. Trillions of souls.


    And they all burned here.


    This fire, for all the pain and suffering it caused, had been hope. The hope of people. Around its warmth, they were safe. With the light it provided, they spread and discovered a world.


    Without fire, without light, life could not flourish.


    Melina could sympathize with them all. She, too, had burned. She, too, had been consumed by flame to build a world upon her ashes. That was why she could look upon Gwyn''s soul without fear. In it, she saw the sacrifices, but she also saw what it bought.


    But here? All she could hear were the screams.


    She burned for a minute.


    They burned for years.


    Some did it out of duty, ignorance, or pride. Some did it to prolong their Age nobly, to save those they left behind. Family. Love. Honour. Duty. Some entered the flames willingly with reverent hearts.


    They all begged for it to end.


    Others had it imposed upon them. Sacrifices to keep the pyre going. Yet, with everybody consumed by the flames, every desperate attempt to keep the dark at bay, the Fire dwindled just a little quicker.


    She could trace it all back. From the last moment to the first


    Mikael''s smallest of grunts as he extinguished a usurped an ember, transforming it into something new.


    The Soul of Cinder throwing body after body upon the tiny flame to give it enough fuel to last just another day.


    Before then, the last Lord of Cinder had burned for months. Before that, years. Decades. Centuries.


    And, the first mortal to inherit the flame from the hollow body of a god had burned for millennia.


    "Melina!"


    "Pardon," the Kindling Maiden said, snapping her attention from the echoing screams of her Lord. Medea was right before her, with a hint of worry on her face. "What do you need me to do?"


    "Is it the Phoenix," the witch asked worriedly instead of answering. "Is it reacting to the Kiln?"


    The Phoenix was quiet. It had been since Melina had entered this place. It never directly talked to her; they were the same person at the moment, but its influence had receded.


    Melina took a moment to examine the boundary separating her mind from the Phoenix Force.


    Typically, it was hard to tell where one mind ended and the other began. Melina was no psychic, after all. And most often, the Phoenix didn''t care.


    Here, it was easy to tell them apart.


    Melina, since arriving, had been overcome by pain, rage, sympathy, and a visceral need to find her lover and assure herself that he was okay.


    The Phoenix Force was... in awe.


    Its power was calm, almost unnaturally so, as it spread around her. It mixed with every particle of ash. It saturated the charred remains of the buildings. It left Melina with every exhale and returned with every inhale.


    It looked at the world around Melina with the same senses but saw something completely different.


    It, which had seen greater atrocities, more pain, and more extraordinary waves of death, was not consumed by the tragedy of the Kiln.


    The Phoenix Force saw the Kiln of the First Flame; it felt the echo of the once great fire, and everything burned within it, and it knew awe.


    This feeling was new to it. It knew others felt awe when they looked upon the Phoenix Force, but this was the first time the cosmic entity felt it for itself.


    The Phoenix Force was almost reverent as it basked in the presence of the only Flame it ever knew that eclipsed it in any way.


    The Phoenix Force was Life. Past, present, and future. For this universe and all others it touched.


    The First Flame had been Life, Death, Light, and Dark. Its universe might have been smaller, and it might have been weaker, but it had been more complete.


    The Phoenix Force was reverent as it basked in the presence of the only Flame it knew that eclipsed it in scope, if not in power.


    No wonder she was so susceptible to the psychic echoes here. The Phoenix was actively pulling it in.


    "It is calm," Melina said, rather than go into depth about what the force of nature was feeling. "What do you wish me to do?"


    "The same as last time," Medea said after giving the other woman a long look. "Just light the Bonfire."


    Melina nodded and crouched beside the circle of stone. All four pillars and their corresponding Lord Souls were placed around. It was only a few feet around, designed more as a ritual circle than an actual fire pit. Within its center was a pile of human bones, and through that pile of ashed bones was pierced a coiled sword.


    Calling up the Phoenix Fire, barely a spark upon her finger, Melina set the Bonfire alight.


    The tiny flame passed through the bones, sparking fires along their edge. It burned bone as easily as tinder.


    Then it hit the coiled sword, and the metal glowed red hot. The heat travelled down its winding length and touched the Pyromancy seed at its base.


    The Bonfire exploded.


    Fire, bone and ash rained down around them in a loud conflagration.


    "Gah," Medea grunted more in consternation than pain or surprise. She had been protected by a shielding spell and didn''t feel the heat or impact as bone shards bounced away from her.


    Melina didn''t even bother, letting the flames wash over her without ruffling her clothes.


    "Was that supposed to happen?" Yoruichi asked as she appeared within the Kiln, standing atop the hilt of the still red coiled sword. It hadn''t budged from the explosion.


    "No," Medea sighed, rubbing the bridge of her nose. "It wasn''t. You here for Melina?"


    "Yep," the shinigami said casually as she looked around the area. The remnants of previous experiments still littered the area. "Why are you even doing this?"


    "Why am I trying to discover more about one of the fundamental forces of another world? One that fueled the power of an entire pantheon of gods was the power source of civilizations for thousands of years and spawned half a dozen different forms of magic?" Medea deadpanned. "Take a guess, cat."


    "Hey," Yoruichi grinned as she hopped down from the sword. "Curiosity is one thing, but you are working pretty hard for a casual experiment."


    "Even ignoring all the other reasons to run these experiments," Medea grumbled as she started to clean up. "If I can recreate the First Flame, I might be able to replicate its form of immortality without the pesky undead curse. I won''t even need a sacrifice to keep it alight. It didn''t before it started to fade, and Gwyn tried to prolong it. There is no natural order to push against it, no Age of Darkness to follow. We won''t need to worry about power with Mikael. Those who use it won''t need to worry about going hollow."


    "We''re already immortal with Warranty Plan," Yoruichi pointed out.


    "We think we are," Medea corrected. "And only so long as the Company doesn''t fuck us over again. And Mikael isn''t immortal. He''s nearly impossible to kill, but not completely. I was already experimenting with the material from that world, but I had the idea based on the lie he told during that interview. If we can get an actual source of immortality, one fueled by his unending power, he won''t need to be as cautious anymore. If we die, or his true body is destroyed, we can return at the Bonfire. And we could turn it off if we wanted to pass on. It would solve almost all our issues. If I could just recreate the damn thing."


    Melina blinked in surprise. Was that the reason? All Medea had told her was she needed her help lighting the fires, and it would be good practice for her.


    Melina sometimes wished the witch wouldn''t be so vague about what they were doing or why.


    The irony was completely lost on her.


    "I know how to keep it going," Medea grumbled as she put away the four Lord Souls. "I just don''t know how it first came to be. I even watched the first scene in the game it was based on, but it''s left so vague as to be unhelpful."


    "Tell me if you discover anything," Yorucihi said casually. "I, for one, am getting out of here. This place is hell on my spiritual senses. Too many souls."


    "Really," Medea asked eagerly, pen and paper suddenly in her hand. "Can you see them? Are they recognizable? Are they all Lords of Cinder, or are there others? Is it just humans? Do you see gods? Is Gwyn here? Can you ask him what it was like in the beginning?" The Caster spoke at incredible speeds as if afraid Yoruichi would leave before she got it all out.


    "There are no ghosts," the dark-skinned woman said with fond exasperation as she hopped down from the sword''s hilt. "It''s just a feeling that some places have. When enough power is located in one place long enough, the landscape becomes significant. Like the Juureichi."


    "Fascinating," Medea murmured, scribbling furiously on her notepad. "We had similar places in my world, usually along leylines or places of conceptual significance. You''ll have to tell me about it later."


    "Maybe," Yoruichi shrugged and looked at Melina. "Are you prepared?"


    Melina took a deep breath.


    A part of her, the Phoenix part, was reluctant to leave. It wanted to continue to bask in the echoes of flames.


    Unauthorized usage: this narrative is on Amazon without the author''s consent. Report any sightings.


    More than that, Melina was nervous, which also carried to the Phoenix.


    This would be her first time off the Island since merging with the Phoenix. She''d be around people who didn''t have the Defences and couldn''t protect their minds. Emma had cautioned it would be disorienting at first, but being thrown into the deep end was the best way to train with Psychic Talent.


    Mikael had wanted to push it back, insisting on giving her more time to practice, but Melina refused. She had been on the sidelines for too long already. Even if nothing happened today, which was likely, she wanted to be there in case something did go wrong.


    And Melina being there, and clearly the new host of the Phoenix, gave them another source of bait.


    They were taking precautions, but it was still nerve-racking. Priscilla must be feeling something similar.


    "I''m ready," Melina said lowly.


    "Gotcha," Yoruicihi said.


    Then she threw Melina over her shoulder like a sack of potatoes.


    "What are you doing," Melina deadpanned down at the shorter woman. "I can fly now."


    "This is quicker," Yoruichi said with a mischievous smile.


    "Then why are we not teleporting? Medea is right there."


    "This is also funnier."


    Melina didn''t have time to protest further, as they disappeared from the Kiln of the First Fame in a burst of speed.


    In less time than it took to blink, the pair were outside the Kiln and hovering over the Island. In another blink, they were over the continental US. In less than five seconds from their departure, Yoruichi was hovering over the convention center in New York, Melina still slung over her shoulder.


    The sound hit her.


    The honking of cars, the clamour of noises, the bustle of a city of millions of people clustered together. It was loud. It was clamorous. It was distracting.


    The life hit her.


    There was this myth humans told themselves about destroying natural life when they laid down roads and buildings.


    They were wrong. They changed the environment, usually to their own demerit, but life thrived everywhere. Yes, humans destroyed, but they also built. They built up, and they built down.


    For every tree cut down, a thousand rats. For every animal that lost its home, a billion little bugs crawled through buildings. For every patch of dirt turned into concrete, a quadrillion tiny fungal spores of mould, rot, and other microorganisms flourished.


    Melina sensed it all and ignored it as she did the noise. A backdrop that was acknowledged and forgotten about in day-to-day life.


    The Fires hit her harder.


    The smell of exhaust from a trillion tiny sparks within engines. The heat of wires thrummed with power as electricity flowed through. Humanity''s very existence was tied to fire and its boons, and nowhere was that more apparent than within the confines of one of humanity''s greatest cities. There was fire, or the potential for fire, all around, and people forgot about it.


    Melina didn''t. She couldn''t. Unlike Life, her ties to Fire did not let her ignore its presence. It did allow her to control it, so it didn''t debilitate her.


    Not so the minds. Those could not be controlled or ignored.


    A million minds hit her.


    ''She''s hot.''''I''m late.''''Not my colour.''''I need this. I need it.''''Does this cape make my butt look fat?''''Oh Elden Lord, Dragon of the Heavens.''''Yeah, you like that bitch? Suck it. Choke on it.''''Please no. Stop. It hurts. I don''t want to die.''''I could just... end it. Jump.''''He''s cheating. He has to be. I bet it''s Samantha, the skank.''''MOVE OVER ASSHOLE!''''Go go Godzilla, yeah. Oh no, there goes Tokyo.''''Wooo, beat my record.''''The same thing we do every day. Try and take over the world.''"Melina."''Three million. Where am I going to get that kind of money?''''Don''t kill her. Don''t kill her. Don''t kill her. It''s just a sandwich. Don''t kill her.''''A left of fourth, then a right on twenty second. Or was that also a left?''''I''m gonna do it, I''m gonna do it. I''m gonna ask him out.''''Blood. I need more blood. There has to be more.''''What do I have to do to feel that again? He''s already got twelve. Thirteen isn''t much more. It could be me.''"Melina!"''I''ll kill them all.''''I should have gone with the Captain Marvel costume. I don''t have the muscles for this one.''''Mm, lunch.''''One times one is one. One times two is two. One times three is three.''''Where''s mommy? Why isn''t she here? I want mommy!''''This is going to be great.''''I should quit. Become a writer.''"MELINA!!"''Man. If I was a Super, it''d be awesome. I''d get all the girls.''''Help me. Please. Anyone. Please.''''Hmmmhhmmmmhhhhmmmm.''''Heathens. All these heathens.''''Is that the super rare, limited edition, pre-Metropolise Superman card? Score!''''Carry the five, subtract expenses for food and... hmm that can''t be right.''''One two three. One two three. One two three.''''I''m sorry. I''m so, so sorry.''''So. Damn. Tired.''''His dick isn''t dirty this time.''''Damn, this Sanguine shit is the real deal. I can go all day.''


    Silence.


    It took a long moment for Melina to realize her eyes were closed, and she was still on Yoruichi''s shoulder.


    "Where are we," Melina asked. She could still sense life below them, but it wasn''t sapient and spread wider. Difused.


    "Over the ocean," Yourichi answered, and there was worry in her voice. "Do you want to go home? I''ll tell Mikael you''re not ready. We don''t have to do this today. Nobody really thinks this is going to work."


    "No," Melina said, opening her eyes to see the vast expanse of the sea below her. "I didn''t have time to prepare. Let''s try again."


    "I''ll bring you back after a few seconds," Yoruichi said. "Training is only effective if it is not debilitating."


    Melina simply nodded and closed her eyes again.


    She was prepared when the sensations hit her, yet could not do anything more than try and weather the tide of sounds and feelings.


    Another failure.


    Then another.


    And another.


    Over and over again, Melina failed. She froze, held fast as her mind was battered into inactivity by a bombardment of psychic noise.


    "You know," the shinigami said casually as they reappeared over the ocean, and Melina caught her breath. "There''s this theory Mikael once asked me about. He asked me if newer recruits to the squads were quicker learners than the older ones. I told him no. They learn at the same rate. Then he asked me if I had trained anyone while in the human world. I hadn''t."


    Melina knew the general gist of Yoruichi''s past. Mikael was good at keeping others'' secrets, but over the years, she had plucked certain stories from him. She had been curious about the women he knew and spoke to sometimes.


    Yoruichi was an immortal spirit, a guardian of the dead for centuries. She had been a leader before being framed and cast to the mortal world for a century. Melina thought she knew what theory Yoruichi was talking about, but that was not her focus.


    She was going to do this.


    "Again," Melina said instead of answering.


    Still flung over the dark-skinned woman''s shoulder, the pair appeared in the sky above New York.


    Melina tried to focus on one thing, staying centred, but the tide of distractions paralyzed her once more.


    They reappeared above the ocean again.


    "The basic idea is simple," Yorucihi continued as if Melina wasn''t dealing with the worst headache of her life. "If humans haven''t changed in hundreds of thousands of years, how come the modern man is able to accumulate knowledge so quickly. Previous generations learned math and writing and other subjects, but they spent years on subjects that are taught in months now. Why? They obviously weren''t dumber. I spent three decades learning all I needed to know to become a noble head of the house, and I was a genius. The same amount of time to learn to be a Shinigami. Yet a brat of fifteen learns almost everything in a few years? I never even thought about it, though Kisuke probably did."


    "Again."


    This time, Melina gave up trying to focus on herself. She focused entirely on keeping the voices out. Her defences, even when exposed to the Phoenix, should protect her from foreign influences.


    She failed. These were not foreign entities trying to control her or influence her. This was her power, reaching out. She could no more shut it off than she could stop breathing.


    ... That was a bad example. Melina didn''t actually need to breathe.


    "The theory goes like this," Yoruichi continued to talk. Melina appreciated it. Hearing the other woman talk gave Melina something to focus on, her voice guiding Melina back to her own thoughts. "Past generations aren''t dumber, and new generations aren''t smarter. But new generations are used to handling large volumes of information from the moment they are born. Visual, auditory, and olfactory. The average child in this day and age experiences so much more than the average child only a century ago. While they are young, their brains adapt. By the time they are fully grown, the differences are clear."


    "Again."


    Melina tried to give it all to the Phoenix. She tried to foist all these new sensations on the being that was responsible for these new senses.


    She failed again. She was the Phoenix, and the Phoenix was her. What she felt, it felt. Just because there was the slightest distinction in their minds, the thinnest veil separating them and marking her as an imperfect host, didn''t mean they did not share the same senses.


    "It''s a simple difference in speed," Yoruichi concluded. "They both have the same body. But one trains for sprints, and the other trains for marathons. Neither is better or worse."


    "You are saying I am too slow," Melina finally said, opening her eyes to stare at the woman. "My Lord explained this theory to me before. Because my world moved at a slower pace, I learned slower. That is not the case now. I, like you, have Psychic Talent. It should not be this difficult."


    "Just as I am sure he explained the reverse," Yoruichi poked Melina in the forehead. "The same people who learn quickly struggle with attention retention. The constant need for stimulation means they have a loss of focus. A sprinter cannot run a marathon."


    "I have to do this quickly. We have already missed the opening because of me," Melina insisted.


    "We''re not late. I told you. You don''t have to do anything. You could go back to the Island. You can train with Emma when she becomes available again. We can bait out Odin later. And nobody expects anything but the lightest move from the ''Oppressor.'' It''s too cautious. You are in no rush." Yoruich, in her own way, was trying to be considerate.


    "I refuse." Melina had not stubbornly insisted on coming today only to go home with her tail feathers between her legs. "I chose to become the Phoenix Host. Mikael is trusting to me to handle it. To make it useful. So I will handle it."


    "Then stop trying to sprint," Yoruichi sighed, giving up on trying to talk her back. "You learning how to use the power is not the problem. Your method of learning is."


    "What do you mean? I am doing as Emma suggested. She''s the psychic."


    "Exactly. I have Psychic Talent like you. Unlike you, I''ve had it for a year. Why am I not peeking at everyone''s naughty thoughts?"


    "Because you can''t. You have talent but no ability to exploit the talent."


    "That is my point," Yoruichi said. "You are trying to learn to use psychic powers like a psychic. No matter the talent one has that doesn''t change the fact that people are different. In Hakuda, it is a difference in size, weight, reach, or spiritual power. All that needs to be taken into account when I train my squad. That theory I just told you about? I didn''t care or grasp it until Mikael used the running metaphor. I don''t care about neuroplasticity or whatever. I''m not Mayuri. I''m Yoruichi Shihouin, the Flash Goddess. I care about speed. So, instead of learning to use the Phoenix like Emma, learn to use it like Melina. Do not be consumed by other people''s shadows."


    Melina didn''t say anything; she just closed her eyes again.


    Yoruichi sighed and brought them back over to the city.


    A few seconds later, they were back over the ocean.


    Melina slumped against Yoruichi''s shoulder.


    Another failure to block out the minds around her.


    It wasn''t that she didn''t want to take Yoruichi''s advice. She just didn''t know how.


    Who was Melina? Not the woman who burned pointlessly or the one who didn''t know her purpose. Who was she now?


    It took ten more tries for her to get the idea.


    In the end, Yoruichi had given her the answer.


    Of course, the Shinigami cared about speed. She was a Dragon of Speed.


    And Melina was a Dragon of Fire.


    "Again."


    This time, when the sounds, the life, and the minds hit Melina, she did not try to block them out or shunt them to the side.


    She fed them to the flames.


    That crackling core, that bundle of warmth and power within her.


    She took all she received from the world, every overwhelming bit of information, and turned it into coal.


    When Melina opened her eyes above New York, all she could hear was the crackling of the fire.


    Which was a problem because Yoruichi was trying to talk to her.


    It took a few seconds for Melina to release the tight grip she had on her senses to let actual sounds pass.


    She didn''t need to filter out sound, just her mind''s interpretation of psychic waves as sound waves.


    "-eaf are you?" Yoruichi asked worriedly. "Because I am not getting my collar if Mikael finds out I broke you."


    "I can hear you," Melina said, the whoosh of flames echoing in her mind.


    It was... odd. Like she was drowning and was getting lightheaded. Like her mind was working at full speed but wading through mud simultaneously.


    The world was approaching her from the other side of a glass wall. She could see it, but they were separate.


    "At least you''re talking," Yoruichi said as she looked Melina over. "We''ll need to work on that later."


    "Work on what?"


    "Your hair is on fire," the shinigami said, lifting a strand between her fingers. This wasn''t the vague heat haze that followed her everywhere. It looked like Yoruichi was holding a thread of liquid flame. "Not a concern for today since you''re going to be bait when we''re not hidden, but any time you aren''t in spiritual form, it will be really obvious. You''d make a terrible member of my squad."


    Melina felt a bit affronted at that. She was great at hiding... most of the time.


    "I''m going to bring us closer to the ground," the Shinigami said. "If it becomes overwhelming, let me know, and I''ll bring us back."


    "I have it now," Melina said. Despite her words, she closed her eyes to focus on the flame within once more as they appeared in an alleyway only a few blocks from the convention center.


    The press of minds against hers quintupled. The fire blazed brighter.


    Yet she was okay.


    "Good job," Yoruichi said, looking genuinely impressed when Melina opened her eyes to give her a nod. "I honestly didn''t expect you to get it under control today. Can you read their minds from here?"


    "I can''t read anyone''s minds," Melina said plainly. She was feeding everything to the fire in her mind. "I am not overwhelmed anymore, but I do not have full control."


    "Something to work on," Yoruichi hummed as she finally set the Kindling Maiden down beside her. Melina adjusted her clothes and nodded at the other woman. "We''re going in now, but I will pull you out again if it becomes too much."


    "It won''t." It would be a while before Melina could fully control her power, but at least it wouldn''t paralyze her anymore.


    "We''ll see."


    They both shifted from the material plane to the spiritual.


    It was odd for both of them. They''d done it before, of course. But how it operated in this reality differed from their home worlds.


    Both of them could pass through walls or even people, but anything with enough power, magic, or spiritual mass would be able to touch them. Some entities could still see them since they weren''t invisible. They were just living on a different layer of reality. Mikael, for example, could see them because of the abilities he received from being patronized by Death.


    Most could not. They were undetectable and untouchable to the masses except for the slightest hint of heat haze where Melina passed.


    Either way, both women passed from the alley and onto the street.


    The river of people was unending and wholly inconsequential to the pair as both women flowed through the crowd like air. Thousands stood in line to enter the Stark Convention Center, which covered three city blocks. A fortune of money had been paid for this location.


    As Melina''s spectral form passed through people, her abilities flared. From small murmurs of psychic sound to shouts that demanded attention, their minds became visible to her.


    She fed it all to fire, growing the blaze brighter and brighter.


    Yorucihi stayed with her, ready to evacuate the pair if something went wrong, but they passed through the entrance without issue.


    Then they were in.


    It was set up like a convention, for the most part. Stalls, booths, and various attractions hawked wares and superhero-themed products. Hundreds of people flowed by in groups, some in colourful costumes or intricate clothes.


    Melina saw three women and one man, all dressed up like Wonder Woman, congregate around a table filled with Greek-themed paraphernalia. An overweight Superman posed for a picture with a female Thor. A group of uncostumed people sat around a table, playing some sort of card game to the cheers and jeers of a gathered crowd.


    All around the venue, robots bustled to and fro, cleaning up messes and preventing people from entering locations they weren''t supposed to access. They were each painted in Iron Man''s distinctive red and gold colours.


    "Check it out," Yoruichi grinned as she pointed at one booth.


    Melina froze as she caught sight of one woman in a long green cloak. She was shorter than Melina and had painted a fake scar over her left eye. Most egregious, the woman had taken a very... liberal hand at recreating Melina''s clothes.


    "The costume is well done," Yoruichi teased. "I can tell it''s genuine leather.


    "It is terrible," Melina denied. "That much skin exposure would not work at all. She is asking to be disembowelled."


    "At least she''s dressed," Yoruichi chuckled. "Some of these other costumes are only underwear at best. "


    Melina blinked in surprise at the shorter woman.


    "I did not expect you to be concerned for modesty."


    "Modesty," Yoruichi''s grin turned salacious. "I was just impressed. I wonder where I can get some of these. They''ll drive Mikael wild. Like that one." Yoruichi pointed to a woman on one of the stages. A redhead with well-defined muscles and posing for pictures with a longsword. She was only wearing a chainmail bikini. "That is completely impracticable. I love it."


    "That is a real blade," Melina frowned as she looked over the woman. "It is sharp."


    "Yep," Yoruichi grinned. "That''s not a costume. That''s Red Sonja. A spirit possessing a human. Her host is a model. She can see us if she tries. I ran into her a few weeks ago. She''s great fun."


    "A spirit?" Melina asked. "Should you not exorcise her?"


    "Nah," Yoruichi shrugged, leading Melina further into the convention. "The spirit and the host get along pretty well, and they work as on-and-off heroes. Without hollows or a need to keep the balance, there is no reason to make a benevolent soul pass on. Now, come on, I want to see something before we meet up with the others, and I might not get the chance later."


    They passed through the central area, filled with booths and stages, and entered one of the side buildings.


    Statues lined this hall, large and imposing. This building was much quieter, though no less packed than the others, as people congregated around the base of the statues and looked up at them. It wasn''t silent, but there was an almost holy quiet to the area as people toured the statuary.


    To Melina''s left, a giant lizard-like creature was depicted. Humanoid in appearance, its body was a metallic gray that glistened under a fountain of water. It was stretched out, its neck and tail caught in loops of rope that held it taught as a familiar spear pierced its chest.


    To her right, a statue of Superman held a fake Tohu by the neck, ready to throw it at Eidolon. In the hero''s hand was a hologram display made to look like a swirling green portal.


    Other statues lined the hall, depicting the various forms of the known Endbringers and their killers.


    Yoruichi led Melina to a depiction of a massive, fat, snarling form surrounded by holographic grey circles. Half of its round chest was carved out by the claws of a cat-like dragon. The dragon was also lit in holographic light, shaped like crackling black lightning. Like all the other statues, a large plaque was at its base describing Khonsu, its abilities, attack targets, and notable victims, and how it died.


    "I look good," Yoruichi said with pride, hands on her hips as she looked up at the statue of her dragon form. "I had to pose for it, you know? I was worried they wouldn''t get the lightning right."


    "Is this not too," Melina searched for the right words as she stared at the depiction of Tsunade, in her Female Titan form, throwing punches at Behemoth as a massive spear fell from the sky. "Disrespectful? Inappropriate?"


    "Nah," Yoruichi denied as she circled the statue, then paused, looking up at a spot of her figure where her tail met her body. "Man, I have a great ass. They''re like... trophies. Points of triumph. Yes, they killed a lot of people, but we beat them in the end. We''re still here. And it''s not just these statues. There was a whole contest for art submissions from the public. ''Rebuilding: Commemorate Heartbreak.'' Those are in another building, as there were too many good ones they wanted to display. We can see it later if we have the time."


    "I do not understand it," Melina admired. "Memorializing momentous events with statuary is understandable. Celebrating such tragedy is not."


    "They''re not really celebrating," Yoruichi hedged. "It''s more like a reminder. This is not our world. In this world, apocalypses happen regularly. People die to villains daily. The Endbringers were kind of a representation of that. The monsters that would always come back, no matter what the heroes did. People have had to adapt. They''ve learned to try and find joy where they can. They celebrate the triumphs rather than dwell on the loss. It''s the only way civilization has survived so long."


    Melina held her tongue. She still did not understand this world and its people well. She had Grail Knowledge, which taught her what to know to live in a modern world, but it did not give her insights into societies. For all that Yoruichi was a playful cat, most of the time, the woman was also wise and well-traveled. She had spent the last few months amidst this world''s people while Melina mainly had kept to the Island.


    "There is also a memorial hall here," Yoruichi continued. "A place dedicated to remembering the people who died to the Endbringers and the damages they caused. Everything there, plus these statues, will eventually be moved to a museum dedicated to the subject. They aren''t trying to forget the cost of victory. They simply celebrate their heroes."


    In Melina''s home, the ''heroes'' had led the Sundering War. A hero was someone who climbed the mountain of corpses to claim the peak.


    Often, they went unrewarded and met tragic ends.


    The fire in her mind crackled. She remembered the Kiln and the ''Heroes'' it claimed.


    "Let''s go," Melina said, turning from the statues and making her way outside the hall of statues.


    "Do you even know where you are going," Yoruichi asked with a chuckle as she quickly caught up.


    Melina didn''t but felt no need to mention that as they ghosted through the crowd toward another building. This one was larger, and there were several organized lines of people waiting to get in. Signs indicating what they were for.


    Finding their destination was easy, even through the throng of people. Melina just had to find the appropriate sign.


    ''11 a.m. Live Interviews. Special Guest: Priscilla.''


    From there, it was easy to follow the long line of people to the large room with the stage. It was huge, one of two major venues usually reserved for large shows. The type of place reserved for concerts or famous performances.


    Frost had spared no expense on getting this set up.


    By the time Yoruichi and Melina arrived, over a thousand seats were filled, even as more people trickled in, getting their tickets checked by the robot guards at the door. The stage crew bustled, setting up the production. A desk was wheeled out with a chair behind it. Three couches were also brought onto the stage, facing the crowd and the desk. Massive screens and speakers covered the area so those further away could still see and hear everything.


    Melina ignored the activity around her, even as more people walked through her. The flame in her mind rose and fell as people touched her, and she felt their minds.


    Her focus, as well as the Phoenix''s, was searching the crowd for their Family.


    "There''s Robin," Yoruichi nodded toward one corner of the room. The section was dimly lit, and the former pirate was almost completely hidden.


    Both women flowed through the seats and the people in them as they approached the woman.


    They returned to the material realm, dropping into the seats beside her and startling a couple of young men in front of them. The pair started whispering furiously, recognizing both of them. Robin didn''t flinch, eyes closed and head bowed as she greeted them.


    "What happened?" She asked.


    "A bit of a delay for practice," Yoruichi shrugged.


    "I have it under control," Melina said, still searching the room. She didn''t want to remain in the physical realm for long. Just showing up once was enough to bait the hook. Her eyes and hair were attracting attention since they glowed with fiery power. "Where are the others?"


    "Backstage," Robin answered. "Priscilla''s nervous. They''re giving her some last-minute encouragement. And dealing with Frost. She is... intense."


    The fire crackled in Melina''s mind again, and her hold on the flame wavered.


    That... hadn''t been her. That had been the Phoenix.


    "Melina?" Yoruichi asked, and even Robin opened her eyes to look at the Phoenix Host.


    "Apologies," Melina said, taking a deep breath. "The Phoenix didn''t like that. Something to do with Frost. It''s... uneasy about her. Maybe jealous."


    "Hmmm," Robin hummed in thought.


    "Best you stay here for now," Yoruichi cautioned. "This thing will start soon, and we don''t need an incident."


    Melina wanted to protest. She wanted to be near Mikael right away. She hadn''t seen him in hours, and now he was near that... skank. Asking Melina to stay away now was stupid. They belonged together.


    Melina took a deep breath.


    That was the Phoenix''s influence. Melina was patient. Melina had waited for a Tarnished she could work with for centuries. She could wait an hour.


    "All right," she said and faded into spiritual form again. The two men before her gasped, and their whispering resumed with renewed vigour.


    "Anything of note," Yoruichi asked Robin lowly, looking around the room.


    "Batman''s here," Robin said simply as she nodded down the aisle.


    It took Melina and Yoruichi a long moment to identify who she was talking about.


    There, not at the front but near it and on the isle, was the man himself.


    With a long black cape, glistening body armour and a bat-shaped cowl, it was a passable costume.


    But that was all it was. Passable.


    One of the bat ears on the cowl was half torn and showed its threads. The body armour gleamed like metal but bent like plastic when the man moved. His ''utility belt'' had a prominent logo of a bat but also a small plastic tag displaying a costume shop logo poking out.


    Batman was dressed like Batman.


    And he wasn''t even the best-dressed Batman.


    Melina could see a half dozen other people dressed like the caped crusader in the room, and at least two had a better costume.


    Without Robin pointing him out, she never would have noticed.


    "Heh," Yoruichi chuckled. "He''s good. Without powers of his own, I would have missed his spirit ribbon. How''d you tag him?"


    "I saw him come in," Robin explained. "He was careful not to let anyone touch anything but his cloak. And as soon as you showed up, he noticed. He didn''t blink the entire time Melina was here."


    "Going to be a problem?" Yoruichi asked.


    "Maybe," Robin said but nodded in a different direction. "I''m more worried about him."


    "Who''s that?" Yoruichi asked as she looked at the man sitting right by the entrance everyone was walking through. Melina couldn''t get a good look at his costume, but it was black and white with a long cape.


    "That''s Giovanni Zatara," Robin explained as the doors were finally closed. "A powerful magician. There are a few other heroes around, too. Nobody else from the League, but a few street-level types. I saw a handful of X-men. The entire Teen Titan team is here. You can see their glow sticks."


    Yoruichi clicked her tongue in displeasure. More heroes meant more potential foes if things got dangerous. Diana would be happy to check on the local version of her sister, and Glynda would handle the young heroes if they became a problem.


    "What''s the pool at?" Robin asked casually.


    "If the interview ends without a fight, Tsunade gets a date day," Yoruichi answered. "That''s the lowest level buy-in. I win if fighting starts but ends without any death. I get a whole day''s threesome with her and Mikael. Glynda has odds on the show being completely shut down. She''s only betting with Diana. The loser is the other''s slave for a day. Scathach is all in for a complete breakdown. If she wins, she gets the first rejection on any fight for a month. If she loses, whoever has the closest prediction can get her to use her Primordial Runes as much as they want for a week."


    "Hmmm," Robin hummed as staff calmed the crowd till they quieted. "I''m in."


    "What are you putting forward?"


    "A spa day."


    "Damn," Yoruichi gave a low whistle. Even Melina felt tempted. With her Devil Fruit and Haki, Robin could was only beaten by Mikael when it came to getting someone to relax. And he cheated with Sticky Fingers. "And if you win?"


    "I get peaking rights for the month."


    By now, the cameras were rolling, and the pair talked in low whispers. A woman came out on stage and addressed the crowd with a friendly energy. Sally... something. Melina didn''t care.


    "No skin off my back," Yoruichi grinned. Melina was sure some might have issues with their private time with Mikael being... observed by the pirate, but they were the ones betting, not her. "What are you thinking?"


    "Nothing will happen," Robin said confidently. "A bit of panic initially, but nobody will take the bait. But, and here is the real bet: Frost will say or do something completely unexpected."


    "Deal," Yoruichi smirked as she shook hands with the pirate. "You gotta tell the others, though. I have to stay with Spicy-hot here."


    "I will," Robin shook with a smirk of her own.


    Melina chaffed a bit at needing a babysitter but didn''t deny that Yoruichi had been helpful today, so she kept silent.


    Instead, she focused on the stage, where the Sally woman was going through some greeting spiel about her show or something.


    Melina felt the Phoenix React as Emma Frost was called to the stage to the crowd''s cheers. The secret mutant wore a white dress that sparkled in the spotlights. She looked good, and the Phoenix hated her for it.


    Frost greeted the host with a friendly, if professional, attitude before sitting on one of the couches. The second one from the desk, not the closest.


    The crowd stilled as the next guest showed up.


    Completely unshrunk, Priscilla towered over everyone in the room by six feet, at least, as she walked on stage.


    Her head almost brushed the ceiling, and her tail swished behind her in nervous energy as she walked. She had forgone her usual outfit of layered furs in place of a tailored silver dress Medea had made that accentuated her figure subtly while also being modest. Her scythe was nowhere to be found.


    "Greeting," Priscilla gave a courtly curtsy towards the host and the crowd. "I am Priscilla. It is a pleasure to meet you all."


    The crowd exploded.


    People cheered, hollered and screamed as the crossbreed rose again, face slightly flush at the reception.


    One man held up a white flag with her image and waived it frantically. Melina saw Beast Boy and Winman stand to cheer Priscilla''s name, to the embarrassment of their teammates.


    The host kindly led her to the first couch. The dragon girl took up the entire seat, and Melina realized it had been placed further back than the others so that, from the angle of the audience and the cameras, everyone could see her and the rest of the stage without issue.


    "Finally," the woman said to the crowd once they quieted. It took a few minutes. "Our final guests are a surprise. They are part of Priscilla''s band, the drummer and the backup singer, respectively. I urge everyone to remain calm. Nobody is in danger. We have been very thorough in ensuring there is no risk and even received League approval for this."


    The crowd murmured to each other, tensions rising despite the hosts'' insistence.


    Melina, Yoruichi, and Robin all tensed as well. If the ''Oppressor'' took the bait, it would be soon. They didn''t think it would happen, but better to be ready just in case.


    "Please remain seated as we welcome Ciara and Cyrus Gold."


    Nobody commented on the quaver in the host''s voice.


    They were too busy staring at the pair of Spirit Ashes that walked up to the stage.


    "Better known as Solomon Grundy and... the Faerie Queen."


    The screaming started instantly.

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    "Time is the most valuable thing a man can spend."


    -Theophrastus


    ********


    "We need to do it," Carl told his partner.


    "No, we don''t," Ashley hissed quietly. "We very much don''t. We can leave. Right now. Pretend we didn''t see anything."


    "We can''t," Carl insisted. "Our bodycam footage caught him and the screams. When it''s reviewed, everyone will know we were here and left without trying to stop him."


    "So what," Ashley glared back. "Nobody will blame us. Even the chief won''t blame us."


    "A reputation for cowardice can last a lifetime in the force."


    "Not committing suicide is not cowardice."


    "We''ll live," Carl rolled his eyes.


    "I won''t," Ashley insisted. "I really will die. You know what happens. Do you want to put my mom through that? My sister? And there''s this guy I''ve been trying to hook up with. Do you think I''ll be able to face him? If I make it back at all?"


    Carl genuinely didn''t have an answer to that. He didn''t have anyone like that in his life.


    He''d been married to the job for so long, felt no desire for family or a romantic partner, and all his friends would do was raise a glass in his name.


    Ashley was young and pretty, had only a few years on the police force, and had her whole life ahead of her. She had much more to lose than Carl.


    Yet his answer didn''t change.


    "We need to," Carl repeated.


    "Why?" Ashely threw her hands in the air. "Why us? We''re beat cops. We''re not Supers. This is too big for us. If this goes wrong, we won''t even be a statistic. This isn''t our fight."


    How could Carl make her understand? They had already spent too much time arguing and risked losing the trail.


    "You weren''t infected, were you?"


    He knew the answer despite asking the question. Her eyes had never been flicked with pale blue starlight, unlike his.


    "No," Ashley shook her head. "But I was there when they came through the city the first time. I saw what that woman, Raven, could do. We can''t deal with something like that."


    "I was," Carl reminded. They both knew he had been among those who had fallen the Grace of the Moon when shadow flooded Edmonton the first time, but he hadn''t said a word of the experience, unlike some others in the precinct. "I saw the Elden Lord. Touched his scales."


    "...What was it like?"


    "Easy. Simple. Clean." Carl rambled, unsure how to put what he had seen and felt into words. He was never the most articulate of men. "Terrifying. Majestic. Sureal. Tens of thousands of us touched him, and we barely covered one of his scales. We were flying over the ocean on a cloud of shadow; the sun had already set over there, and we just had the Blue Moon. But when I touched him... It wasn''t like Heartbreak or when he healed my cancer. It was more than that. Like he said, all he promised was life. I have never felt more alive than I did in that moment. So, I promise. We''ll be fine."


    Ashley stared at her mentor and partner for a long second.


    "This really means that much to you," she asked.


    "It does," Carl answered immediately. "I am doing this whether you join me or not, but I really want my partner with me."


    "Fine," the younger woman sighed. It couldn''t cover how her voice shook. "But if we die, I am blaming you."


    "Thanks," Carl''s smile was almost lost under his bushy mustache, but his partner caught it and rolled her eyes.


    Together, the two cops exited the car into the cold night. They advanced down the narrow alleys, the snow thick around their feet and breath foging the night air.


    The night was bright from the distant light of the city, the nearby streetlights, and the Chill Moon above, yet the shadows of the buildings still played tricks on their vision.


    The screams and growls had cut off while they had been talking, but the silence was almost more oppressive, only the crunch of the snow under their feet giving away that nothing still lived in the half-abandoned warehousing district.


    A routine nightly patrol could instantly turn into a horror movie in a place like this.


    Which made the man waiting for the cops all the more disconcerting.


    "Hello there."


    The Elden Lord couldn''t look more out of place in his floral print shirt, shorts and sandals standing on the snow. The added height of nearly two feet of snow reinforced his towering frame, even leaning against a building. He was twiddling a blade dexterously between fingers and loomed over three feet taller than Ashley''s respectable five foot six and much higher than Carl''s five-four.


    Ashley, gun in hand but not pointing at the Dragon, answered back on instinct.


    "General Kenobi."


    Barely had the words left her mouth when Carl saw horror dawn on her face, realizing what she had just said to the most powerful being on the planet. Possibly the universe.


    Mikael beamed, his slight smirk turning into a wide smile as he stood straight with a laugh.


    "Ha," he bit out a bark of laughter, tossing the small dagger in his hand and catching it in the other. "I love it when people play along. You have no idea how hard it is to get most of my wives properly cultured. You just made my night."


    "Always happy to help," Ashley squeaked out, eyes darting around the alleyway before silently settling on Carl and begging for help.


    "You are Mikael?" Carl called for verification, keeping his gun at the ready. Not for the figure in front of him. A pistol, or even a tank, wouldn''t help him if the Dragon wanted them dead. "Elden Lord? Global Villain?"


    "Guilty as charged," Mikael''s smile turned back into a smirk, his orange draconic eyes bright in the night. The blade in his hand glinted in the moonlight as he tossed it and caught it by the handle. "What can I do for you, officers?"


    "You are under arrest," Carl said simply. Then, as an afterthought, he added: "Sir."


    Mikael looked even more amused.


    "Now I am genuinely curious," he said, approaching the pair. They flinched, but he paid them no regard. Carl noted he left no footprints in the snow. "Why are you here, officers? You know this will not end well for you."


    "Told you," Ashley hissed under her breath.


    "I took an oath, sir," Carl said, voice trembling. "Protect and serve. Just because the law is written by idiots doesn''t mean I can stop following it or upholding it."


    "You could have left," Mikael pointed out, gesturing with his small dagger in the direction of their car. "Driven off. I know you thought of it. I could hear you arguing."


    That did not surprise the cops in the least.


    "We received reports of a fight, some sort of wild animal," Carl responded. He was shivering. From excitement, fear, or the cold, he could not say for sure. "Just because you are here, Sir, doesn''t mean we can run away."


    "Conviction. Even if in only a formality. I can respect that," Mikael nodded. "Not what I''d do in your position, but I can respect it. Of course, since you are insisting on ''arresting'' me, you know what this means, don''t you?"


    "We do."


    "Please have mercy."


    Carl''s grim determination was completely contrasted by Ashley''s squeak of fear.


    Mikael looked at the pair, evaluating them, before letting out a chuckle.


    "Tell you what, I''m in a good mood, I like you, and it''s almost Christmas, so I can be a bit merciful."


    "Really," Ashley asked hopefully.


    "Depends on if you can do me a favour," Mikael shrugged casually, catching his dagger a final time. "Can you two hold your stomachs?"


    Worry overtook Carl at the possible implications, but he answered.


    "We were one of the first responders to Devastation''s massacre. We are not squeamish, Sir."


    Ashley looked pale but resolute as she nodded. If whatever the Elden Lord needed her to do would save her from his hands, she''d do it.


    "I don''t know that one," the Dragon admitted but turned to walk deeper into the alley. "But I''ll take your word for it. Follow me."


    They did, struggling to wade through the snow. These narrow alleys were not plowed like the main streets or those closer to the city center.


    It barely took them three turns before finding the scene.


    Carl''s thoughts about a horror movie flooded back as he stared at the mess.


    He''d some shit in his day, but this...


    Ashley gagged at the smell but managed to keep her dinner.


    At least they didn''t have to worry about the snow here. It was all melted or tossed everywhere. Instead, they just needed to worry about the blood.


    So much blood.


    "Stop there," the Elden Lord ordered casually, walking through the gore as the two police officers stopped outside the red-soaked alley. "Touch any of this stuff, and you''ll probably be infected. I can cure you, but better not need to."


    "What..." Carl asked, looking around in horror. "What is this?"


    There were bodies littering the alley. Men. Women... Children. They were torn to pieces, rent with claws and fangs. Some had clearly been eaten, while others were just tossed aside. Some bodies looked days or even weeks old, while others were clearly fresh.


    A nest. That''s what this was. A bloody, gore-covered nest.


    In the center of the alleyway, at the epicentre of the blood-soaked nest, some...thing was pinned to the wall by a sword. It was humanoid-ish in appearance but covered in coarse and bloody fur. Only its torso and head remained intact, all its clawed limbs separated and lying below the corpse.


    It was like some sort of horrific modern art exhibit.


    "This bastard," Mikael gestured to the macabre mural. "Had a minor Stranger ability. I bet you''ve had an uptick in disappearances recently, right?"


    The Elden Lord didn''t even give the cops a chance to nod before yanking the blade from the monster''s corpse, causing it to slide to the ground with a disgusting ''Splortch.''


    He flicked his blade, clearing it of blood. Then, with a move that screamed of a thousand repetitions, he attached the dagger to its hilt with a click.


    "What is it?" Ashley asked in horror.


    "It''s what happens when someone thinks they don''t need to be cured of the plague I was talking about," Mikael sighed. "Whoever this was either didn''t trust my Family to cure them, thought they could handle it, or just wanted the power. The cause doesn''t matter. You can see the result. They became a plaguebeast."


    "Why," Carl swallowed his bile. "Why are you showing us this?"


    Maybe Ashley had been right. Maybe this was too big for them. Carl had trusted the Elden Lord not to hurt them, but this... this was something else.


    "You got a camera on you? I have to destroy all of this or risk spreading the plague more, but when I heard you guys, I figured you could take some pictures. I might not bring them back, but you can at least give the families of the victims some closure."


    Mikael looked so at ease with the horror, so used to the bloody sight and smell, that the idea that he cared for faceless, helpless victims seemed... surreal to the two police officers.


    It was with almost numb fingers that the two police officers took what pictures they could of the bodies.


    It did enter Carl''s mind, the one that wanted to find fault, that this could all be a setup. That there was no plague and the Elden Lord was just manipulating things. That there was no risk of people turning into... this and committing this kind of horror.


    A part of him wanted that to be true. Even if it meant his personal saviour was humanity''s enemy.


    But Carl knew the truth. He had seen the blood fly from his body as he laid hands on a resplendent scale. He had felt Mikael''s power then.


    The Elden Lord did not need to trick them. If he wanted the Earth, he could have taken it.


    Instead, he was putting so much effort into saving Earth from a villain''s plot.


    All this? The Elden Lord didn''t need to do this. He chose to. Chose to save them. Chose to care.


    Chose to be human.


    Once they were done, Mikael conjured a spectral dragon head that bathed the alley in a fire hot enough to melt the stone and metal. Dissipating the construct, the Elden Lord sniffed the air like a dog, checking to see if any blood remained.


    "That takes care of that," he said, stretching languidly. "Now, just to deal with you two, and I can call it a night."


    "What?" Ashley asked in shock, shaking from the fugue the terrible sights and smells had put the pair in. "You said you''d be merciful."


    "And I will be," Mikael grinned smugly. "Unlike every other cop, soldier, or Super that tries to arrest or mess with me and my family, I will not humiliate you on television, put you in compromising positions and take pictures for the internet, or turn your clothes into outlandish costumes."


    For the briefest of moments, the officers felt a thread of hope.


    They didn''t understand that Mikael was a sadist.


    "But I can''t let you go scot-free," the Dragon revelled in their despair. "What would people think when they heard? I have a reputation to maintain."


    "What if I said pretty please?"


    "Hmm," Mikael pretended to give the woman''s plea some thought. Then the facade fell, and he grinned maliciously. "No."


    With a clap of his hands and a wild laugh, the Elden Lord disappeared from the dark alley.


    It took very little time for the two cops to discover what had been done to them.


    Their standard-issue handcuffs had all been replaced by ones covered in pink fuzz.


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    Not just the ones they had on their person either, but also those they had in the car.


    If that had been all, the pair could have laughed it off and requisitioned more without issue.


    It wasn''t.


    The fuzzy cuffs were enchanted to be tough enough to stand up to superstrength, making them too valuable to get rid of.


    And they only worked for Carl and Ashley.


    For the rest of their careers, the two of them would be ordered to use the pink handcuffs.


    The only good news of the entire mess was that the guy Ashley had her eyes on found out about her new equipment and was intrigued.


    The new couple put the cuffs to good use.


    ********


    "What happened here?"


    "Captain Marvel," Yoruichi greeted the woman, looking far more severe than the heroine had ever seen the Consort in all the videos she had been shown of what had happened during her absence from Earth.


    "What happened?" Carol Danvers asked again, fists tightening as she beheld what had once been a small Bialyan village.


    Not even rubble remained after the torrent of electricity that had blasted the area into glass.


    "The local militia thought the beast plague would help them overthrow the regime. I dealt with it already."


    Dealt with it.


    The woman had killed everyone. Destroyed the town till nothing remained but this craterous wasteland.


    She had been thorough enough that the repeated blasts of powerful lighting in the area had attracted Captain Marvel''s attention.


    "Why," the heroine bit out, impotent fury building in her chest.


    "I just told you," the dark-skinned woman raised a brow and smirked at the heroine. "They were planning on using the plague to kill Queen Bee, infecting the entire capitol with her in it."


    "Do you have any proof," Captain Marvel asked, fist curling. "And why kill everyone? You could have arrested them and cured them."


    "Oh," Yoruichi waved off her question airly. "Raven already came through the area. Everyone who wanted to be cured was and was dropped off somewhere safe. I only dealt with those that were left."


    "You didn''t answer my question. Do you have any proof?"


    "None beyond my word."


    This was wrong. This was all wrong.


    So long as they declared someone had the beast plague, these dragons had the right to kill and destroy whoever they wanted? What if someone wasn''t infected, and they just wanted them dead? Was the heroine just supposed to step aside and let the Elden Lord and its wives do whatever they wanted on ''their word?''


    Yet the heroine couldn''t even say there wasn''t a reason behind it. She, too, had been infected and not even realized it. She had seen those who became beasts and had felt a primal terror at the sight, a fear of becoming like that herself. She had taken the cure and touched the Elden Lord, all so she wouldn''t become a beast.


    She had seen it happen to others.


    The Punisher had made a great effort to hunt down criminals who sought to cause havoc with blood-enhanced strength.


    He had become a terrible beast, the very thing he had fought against. The disaster could have been devastating if Goodwitch hadn''t been in the area.


    Only the dragons were immune; they were the only ones who could wade through the blood and were able to entirely destroy the infection down to the last drop.


    Captain Marvel knew this. She understood this.


    It was still wrong.


    These had been people. Desperate people. What they had been planning was undoubtedly wrong, but they likely felt they had no choice. They were regular people who had been trying to overthrow a corrupt despot, a Master who had managed to secure UN approval and tied the Justice League''s hands.


    Was this to just be another compromise? Another of the lesser evils Carol had been forced to accept since she started her career as a heroine?


    When had the world become so complicated?


    Then Carol Danvers asked the question that needed to be asked.


    "Why were you in Bialya in the first place?"


    "Just dealing with the infected," Yoruichi said casually, but her cat-like eyes told the heroine to stop asking questions.


    Time to press on, maybe she''d let something slip.


    "Have you heard? Queen Bee is dead. Passed away only an hour ago."


    "Can''t say I''ll miss her," Yoruichi answered back plainly. She didn''t even blink, staring the heroine dead in the eyes. "Word on the vine was that she was a villain, Master, and serial rapist with her powers. Shame about these rebels. If they had waited a day, they might have made a different choice. But I doubt it. Anyone willing to use the Beastplague for their purposes will need to be hunted eventually."


    Captain Marvel''s knuckles popped from the force she clenched them.


    "Nobody knows how she died," Carol continued, cataloging every twitch the other woman made. "Just fell over dead."


    "How frightening."


    "I was called because there was some fear about what to do with her body. Despite seeing the Grace of the Moon, she never went to get cured. Imagine my surprise when I got there and found her body completely cured... If it really is her body."


    "Sounds like some sort of ghost story," the cat-woman smirked. "You''ll have to tell me if anything comes of it."


    Nothing. Absolutely nothing. Not even a twitch.


    Captain Marvel wasn''t a Thinker, nor was she anywhere near as good as Batman when it came to interrogating people, but she had plenty of experience.


    Yoruichi Shihouin was a stone-cold liar. She gave nothing away.


    But Carol knew.


    Yoruichi had killed these infected. She had killed Queen Bee. She had probably even killed some of the hundreds of public officials who were dying in drove around the world. Maybe all of them.


    The Elden Lord''s enemies were dropping like flies worldwide, all under mysterious circumstances, and the Justice League could do nothing.


    What heroes left were so busy dealing with the void caused by their comrade''s disappearance that they could barely spare a moment for anything else.


    Carol Danvers was staring at an unrepentant assassin and mass murderer, and if they fought, the heroine would be the one the public would decry.


    "We should get going," Yoruichi eventually said when Carol didn''t speak for a long moment. "I understand you are very busy these days. So am I."


    "You won''t get away with this." Carol didn''t even try to stop the words from coming out. They had been bottled for too long. "You. The Elden Lord. The rest of you. You won''t get away with this."


    "Get away with what?" Yoruichi asked guillessly.


    "You know what."


    Yoruichi sighed, and suddenly, the neutrality was gone. In its place was something else.


    "Listen, girl-"


    "Don''t call me that."


    "I''m older than your country," Yoruichi snapped back at the interruption. "I''ll call you whatever I spirits-damn want to. Now listen to what I am saying or else."


    Carol held her tongue, not out of fear, but in the hope that the dark-skinned woman would say something incriminating in her anger.


    "You and everyone in a too-bright costume seem to think we need to be either the good guys or the bad. With you or against you. We''ve played along so far, but do not mistake my Family''s complacence with compliance." Suddenly, the woman was right in front of Carol. She hadn''t even seen her move. "Good. Evil. Some of us care about that. Most don''t. We are maintaining a balance here, nothing more or less."


    Yoruichi was shorter than Captain Marvel, yet the heroine felt a shiver of apprehension as cat-like eyes narrowed at her. It was like she was being pressed down by the dragon''s will, and Carol felt her lungs seize slightly at the woman''s anger.


    No.


    Not anger.


    Annoyance.


    That''s all Captain Marvel was to Yoruichi. A momentary annoyance. A yipping dog with no clue of how tiny and powerless it really was.


    Anger replaced fear in Carol''s chest, but Yoruichi didn''t care for the woman''s fury.


    "This isn''t some grand conspiracy to take over the world, steal power, or get away with ''crimes.'' You all need to get over yourselves," Yoruichi gave the heroine a look of profound contempt. "If we wanted to destroy this world, we''d just leave. You''d do the work for us."


    "Then why don''t you," Carol snapped back. "This is not your planet. Leave!"


    The pressure on Captain Marvel doubled. Tripled.


    They were on the ground, Carol realized. They had ceased flying and were standing on the ground at some point.


    And she wasn''t imagining the pressure.


    The Earth was flattened around the two women like someone had taken a hydraulic press to the entire area.


    Carol could stand up to the pressure. She was one of the strongest heroines on the planet.


    The Earth under her feet couldn''t.


    The terrifying aspect wasn''t that the Earth caved under feet, lowering into the ground.


    It was that it only pressed her down exactly as much as it needed to put the two women precisely at eye level with each other.


    Carol Danvers had not been on Earth during Heartbreak, but she was suddenly very aware that she was staring down a woman who had soloed an Enbringer.


    "Because some of us still care," Yoruichi answered simply. "And when one of us cares, all of us care. That''s what it means to be Family."


    Then the pressure and the woman were gone.


    Captain Marvel was left in a destroyed town''s ruined, flattened remains.


    The heroine took a deep breath and let out her frustration through her nose.


    "You shouldn''t have done that," Batman''s voice called over the coms.


    "I wasn''t wrong," Carol called back. "This is exactly what I was warning you about! This plague! Look what it''s done. You know it''s their fault."


    "You weren''t," Batman acknowledged. "And they are partly to blame. Mikael fully admited that to me. But nore are they doing nothing to rectify it. Without giving anything we can use as proof, Yoruichi as good as admitted to being the one behind the assassinations. But you missed the message she was trying to send, that the Elden Lord was trying to send through her."


    "Enlighten me."


    "Despite being able to leave as soon as she was done with the rebels, she was waiting for you. She brought up the Queen before you, though her targets. ''Anyone willing to use the Beastplague for their purposes needs to be hunted eventually.'' She was telling us that Queen Bee was working with the blood plague."


    "So we''re just supposed to let her get away with the assassination of a world leader," Carol asked rhetorically. "I hated the bitch, but if we let them kill Queen Bee, why not let her kill the president of the US, the King of Britain, Magneto, Black Panther, or anyone else."


    "That is part of the message Yoruichi sent," Batman explained. "Anyone with a brain can guess Mikael and his family are behind the killings. She was promising us to keep it to only those who messed with the blood. Everyone else, even influential political figures or powerful Supers who are actively trying to antagonize them, are being spared. They''re not being indiscriminate."


    "They''re still killing whoever they want!"


    Carol was shouting. She was yelling at Batman because she was angry.


    Angry at the situation, the Elden Lord, at Yoruichi, at her inability to stop it all.


    Why wasn''t this simple? Punch the bad guys, save the day, go home. Rinse and repeat.


    That was how it was supposed to go.


    "...You''ve been in the field for days," Batman said slowly. "You need to rest."


    "I need the world to return to normal," Captain Marvel denied. "Too many villains think they have a chance with the rest of the League gone and heroes gone. I don''t have time to rest."


    "It''s not just sleep, I mean," Batman chided. "You need to get updated info before you snap and do something rash."


    Captain Marvel felt a shiver down her back.


    "...What happened?"


    "I''ll tell you when you get back."


    "Bruce."


    "...One of the warlords vying for power in China after the loss of Beijing was secretly being aided by a faction of the Japanese military. As far as we can tell, they were trying to replicate the ''lead from below'' technique Imperial Japanese soldiers used during WWII, hoping to lead Japan back to its colonial era by forcing a war with a divided mainland. They were trying to manufacture another Manchurian Incident."


    "What. Happened." She didn''t need background context. Carol needed answers.


    "A rogue Japanese general led his four divisions to ''pacify'' an area. The warlord found out and recruited everyone he could get his hands on, former soldiers and civilians. Both sides had Supers. Both sides spread the blood plague to their soldiers, who took it willingly. They hated the other side enough to turn into beasts."


    Carol was former air force. She knew the classifications.


    Four divisions were roughly ninety thousand soldiers.


    Assuming rough parity, if in numbers, if not actual power because of civilian volunteers involved...


    "Oh god."


    "We have no way of calculating the total dead," Batman said sombrely. "Raven''s shadow pulled those who wanted to be cured from the battle, but so many had turned to beasts by then. Ranni dealt with the rest. That Chill Moon spell Strange saved you from? It plateaued the area."


    "How did we miss this?" Carol hissed, rage and heartbreak filling her in equal measures. "We could have stopped this. Should have stopped this!"


    "We should have stopped a lot of things. I only learned about it because Wonder Woman, the one married to the Elden Lord, told me about it after it happened."


    Carol heard it. The weariness. The sadness.


    Bruce Wayne was willpower incarnate, but Carol knew it stemmed from a sense of responsibility just as potent.


    He blamed himself for not catching and stopping the tragedy.


    "With the infrastructure so damaged in that part of the world, the decentralizing of power, and the infighting," Batman continued reporting. "We''ve lost most sources of information. That''s why I want you to come back and rest up. As soon as you get some sleep and are briefed, that will be your jurisdiction until things stabilize. You are one of the only ones who are fast enough, can fly, know the language, and have Justice League permission to act before reporting. We need someone there."


    "Fine," Carol bit out. "What about the Elden Lord?"


    "...Despite their designation as ''Global Villain,'' they are not our priority. Our priority is to save human lives. Even if just from themselves."


    Despite the promise of rest, exhaustion filled Carol.


    They were addressing symptoms, not causes. They both knew it.


    Until something changed, they were just buying time.


    Sometimes, just sometimes, Carol wished a hero could save her.


    Where was Superman when you needed him?


    ********


    "Galatea is in Houston," Dragon reported. "I rerouted her to deal with Carnage."


    "Houston?" Batman clarified. "Where''s Eidolon?"


    "Peru. A Master 7 has taken over Callao."


    "Keep Supergirl in Star City then," Batman ordered, cataloguing the heroes'' movement and changing plans in an eyeblink. Best the clone and the heroine didn''t meet for the moment. No need to risk their continued ambivalence to each other. "Instead, contact the Protectorate in LA to send Kid Flash to Butte, Montana. He''ll cover the east of the Rockies well with his speed. Falcon still has the mountains for the moment."


    Anyone with a Mover rating above eight was to be separated by cities or states for maximum area coverage. With limited heroes to call on, force projections were important. To facilitate this, flyers or speedsters were placed in stratic areas to cover as wide a net as possible. Even if they couldn''t stop a threat themselves, they could delay it long enough for backup to arrive.


    A higher density of heroes was needed in populated and important locations, as those were most likely to be targeted by villains. Still, those usually had PRT and Protectorate teams in the area.


    "Myrridin is requesting backup."


    "Can you send a suit?"


    "No, I am dealing with a new Tinker villain in Abbotsford, British Columbia. Their specialty is self-replicating tech.


    "...Focus on that. We can''t allow a Tinker like that to remain at large. What''s happening with Myrridin?"


    "A cabal of rogue magic users. Some sort of ritual on Lake Michigan. They''ve started a massive winter storm over the lake, and it is reaching hurricane levels of force."


    "I''ll contact Zatarra."


    "And," Dragon''s voice fell, heavy with regret. "Azrael has turned."


    Turned.


    He had become a beast.


    Bruce closed his eyes for a moment.


    Jean-Paul had answered the call to justice, just as he always had, but hadn''t heeded his warnings about fighting the infected.


    Then, the moment of mourning was over.


    "Let Nico Robin know," Batman ordered. "Where is Raven?"


    "She''s on her second pass through Yemen," Dragon reported, one of her duties keeping track of the shadow as it moved back and forth over the world, ferrying the infected to the Elden Lord and back.


    "When you talk to Nico Robin, have her relay a request to have her cover Genosha again."


    "This will be the sixth time."


    "A hemokinetic decided to try and overthrow Magneto."


    "... Very well."


    "What''s the status of the satellites?"


    "Indonesia is all set, but it will be a few more days before I have enough in the air to cover Russia and China. I have half of India covered, but they aren''t powerful enough to make up for the lack of communication technology in that part of the world."


    "Anything else requiring immediate attention?"


    "No. The situation seems stable for the moment. Get some sleep. I''ll alert you if needed."


    Batman did just that.


    Even with all his tricks, medicines, and willpower, he still needed to sleep after almost a week of nonstop work, with only the barest of breaks for food.


    He set his alarm four hours from then and willed himself into darkness, trusting that he would be awoken in case of an emergency.


    Batman would be up before Captain Marvel and could direct her to where she was needed. He just hoped she took his words to heart about needing to not antagonize the Elden Lord.


    For now.


    Batman knew this day would come.


    Not necessarily in this exact fashion, but he had not ignored either Carol''s warning about the ''Sleeper Plague'' or his own belief that, eventually, Mikael would start disregarding Earth laws to do as he saw fit.


    So yes, Batman had known a day like this would come.


    It didn''t mean he was ready.


    It was too soon. So many of his plans relied on heroes that weren''t available.


    The goal had never been to kill the Elden Lord, just to provide enough of a deterrent that he left Earth rather than deal with those who opposed him.


    As it was now, the world was like an ironic joke on that plan.


    Mikael was the enemy of Earth, yet they could do nothing against him. More than that, any hero or law enforcement agent who tried to confront the man or his wives found themselves publicly humiliated in some fashion. ''Harmless pranks,'' Mikael called them.


    Batman knew it was partially Mikael''s sense of humour, but it was also an incredibly effective plot to alienate his enemies from the general populace.


    This was why Bruce respected and feared Mikael. His power was prodigious, but his mind had Batman wary.


    ''The blood plague originates from my Island,'' Mikael had told the Caped Crusader. ''Waller''s team took an animal with it and gave it to a villain who cloned and spread it. Mister Sinister was probably using the X-men as a distraction, hoping I wouldn''t catch on. He failed. We have the kid and the mom and will bring them to Xavier as soon as they are cured. As far as I know, I am the only one who can cure it. And I will. It''s partly my fault.''


    Ostensibly, Mikael was accepting responsibility, but there were three extra layers to those few sentences.


    First, he mentioned Amanda Waller specifically and laid the start of the plague at her feet. Waller was a central US figure and had broken international law to gain the blood. Waller was the first leader who became mysteriously ''incapacitated.''


    Second, Mikael was also telling Batman that the heroes had also, unwittingly, been part of the problem. It wasn''t blackmail but a reminder that if Batman tried to lay the whole blame at his feet, he could take them down with him.


    Third, the Elden Lord was making himself indispensable. Even if Batman had a perfect plan to fight him, which he didn''t, he couldn''t afford to antagonize the only source to provably able to cure the disease.


    Looking back, as soon as Mikael had briefed him about the Bloodplague, days before the declaration of war and the Family''s reply, the Elden Lord had probably expected that extra-legal measures, including assassination and mass killings, would be required.


    The poison and the cure.


    A reliable tactic, one Batman had used himself when dealing with some of the trickier criminals of his city.


    That was Mikael at his core. Simple strategies, not complex plans, taken to the extreme.


    The speech in the Chill Moon was another example of a tactic just as simple. Lowering emotion, inciting fear and hopelessness, then raising them up, then lowering, then raising them again. An interrogation/torture trick as common as good cop/bad cop that left people psychologically vulnerable to influence.


    The humiliation of heroes? It just proved the Elden Lord wasn''t the villain in the eyes of the public. If he was, he would have killed them. So clearly, the heroes trying to arrest him were the bad guys.


    With every day that passed, a simple PR campaign focused on humour and friendliness had spread belief in the Elden Lord as much as killing the Endbringers had.


    And Batman could do nothing but allow him to get away with it.


    If he spoke out now, he''d just be another of dozens of heroic figures to be dismissed. If he allowed Captain Marvel to fight Yoruichi or anyone to confront Ranni over the destruction of the armies, Batman would become not just a figure of mockery but part of the problem.


    It would be easier to swallow as the Dark Knight biding his time until he could confront a villain at the best moment, fully prepared.


    Only... even now, even after all the death and destruction Mikael and his family had caused, intentionally and not, Batman could not think of Mikael as a villain.


    Everything the dragon had warned him about had come true.


    From those who tried to fight the beasts, turning into beasts themselves, to using blood to cure wounds, to those trying to empower Supers and soldiers.


    Batman had no doubt that if the Elden Lord hadn''t healed everyone on the planet just a few weeks ago, countless people would turn to the blood to heal themselves from diseases or injuries.


    The Elden Lord also was focusing on peacekeeping, more than enemy elimination.


    If Mikael had asked people to rise against the governments calling him a villain, Bruce had no doubt that half the world would be consumed in civil wars.


    Also, as warned, nobody else was able to handle the plague. All healers, magicians, mutants, or scientists had failed to find a way to cure people. Most couldn''t even tell the infected from the clean. Only the Grace of the Moon in the eyes was a hundred percent indicator.


    Without Mikael, Earth would have just become one of the countless planets lost to the ''Sleeper Plague.''


    That was the issue.


    For every problem Mikael and his Family caused, in the end, it was better to have them than not.


    Even right now, the only reason Batman could spend days on end coordinating heroes all over the globe was because Nico Robin was a constant supervisor of Gotham in his absence. Without her, the city would have become a cesspool of beasts as soon as its terrible occupants learned of the potential of the blood.


    Doomsday, Trigon, the Endbringers, even the Phoenix Force, in a way. There were so many tragedies that could have been so much worse without the Elden Lord.


    Batman didn''t know if he was making the right decision to entrust his world''s fate to Mikael.


    He just knew it was the best of bad options.

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 Death

    "I. Am. The. New. God. All is one in Darkseid. This mighty body is my church. When I command your surrender, I speak with eight billion voices. When I make a fist to crush your resistance. It is with eight billion hands! When I stare into your eyes and shatter your dreams. And break your heart. It is with sixteen billion eyes! Nothing like Darkseid has ever come among you. Nothing will again. I will take you to a hell without exit or end. And there I will murder your souls! And make you crawl and beg! And die! Die! DIE FOR DARKSEID!"


    <main>


    <div>


    <div>


    ¡ªDarkseid, Final Crisis


    ********


    It was the end of the world, and I couldn''t help but laugh.


    The whole world was against me.


    Good.


    It wouldn''t be fair otherwise.


    I let another one of Lightray''s energy blasts pass through me to crash harmlessly against the Jewel, rematerializing to try and cut off his arm with the Godslaying blade.


    He dodged.


    Because, of course, he did.


    I swear, as soon as we were done with this world, I was finding a way to raise my speed in the next one we visited. It wasn''t too much of a problem when I could ambush people, set traps, or prepare countermeasures ahead of time.


    But when I couldn''t, Comic Bullshit became extra bullshit.


    The attack by the New Gods of Genesis had been a surprise, as had the revelation that Darkseid had been framing me as being him, but I honestly wasn''t too put out with it. It seemed to be his MO with his current plan, pitting people he couldn''t control against each other.


    More surprising was that Darkseid had completed the Anti-Life Equation.


    In that weird scooter thing that looked so silly in the comics, Orion was able to engage Lightray on a more even footing, speed-wise.


    I took the chance to ambush Big Barda with hundreds of Homing Crystal Soul Spears.


    It was a veritable ocean of pale blue light that drowned the woman.


    She shattered them all.


    Fucking comics, man.


    Still, I had expected it.


    I had spent the last few months working with Medea of Colchis, one of the greatest mages in all of history. My spells had evolved well beyond the limits of the original Soulsborne games.


    The blue tide of crystals shattered, releasing an eruption of Fia''s Mist that choked the sky with pale grey energy.


    I imagine the woman held her breath, but that didn''t really matter for this spell. It wasn''t poison.


    Big Barda never escaped the cloud.


    When it dispersed less than a second later, thanks to the shockwaves of the fight, her body was trapped in a macabre display. Black barbs of roots and vines had erupted from every inch of her body like a pin cushion, trapping her in place as maggots and flies were birthed and started to consume her body.


    Deathblight was one of the worst ways to die.


    I would know.


    The spell initially only worked on Tarnished like I had been, but I had adapted it with Medea and Priscilla''s aid to target all ''Life'' I wanted. It was as close to a conceptual attack as I could manage, its only weakness being that it acted like a gas, making it slow.


    Which made it useless unless I took opponents by surprise.


    "What did you do to her?" Scott Free, Mister Miracle himself, asked me as he fought another of his compatriots. I didn''t recognize this one off the top of my head.


    "She was a big bad barda. I put her in time out."


    And it still wasn''t enough to kill the New God.


    I could sense it like I did with all my kills. Just like I knew the Simurgh had died, I knew Big Barda was still alive, even trapped and being consumed by Deathblight.


    I guess it was for the best.


    While I wasn''t opposed to killing these people, they had attacked me before being controlled, I still preferred to Free them if I could.


    The problem was that I still had no idea how they had gotten infected by the Anti-Life Equation in the first place. As far as I knew, they had been on Earth for less than a minute and had not interacted with anything that could have transmitted it to them.


    So I either killed them or put them out of the fight until I could deal with Darkseid.


    All things considered, things were going well.


    Sure, the surprise attack wasn''t what we were expecting, but it was honestly for the better, in my opinion than the alien invasion alternative.


    By targeting my Family directly, we didn''t have to worry about civilian casualties for the most part, which had been the most significant limiting factor in the battle against the Endbringers.


    Sure, some battles were literally unwinnable. Artoria and Diana, despite being two of our strongest, had no way of beating Zion.


    We weren''t trying to win.


    We were trying to stall while keeping most of our opponents alive. Scathach could have slain her enemies pretty quickly if she wanted to, but we all knew they were little more than mindless victims. Slaves to the Anti-Life Equation.


    Perhaps the greatest example was Melina''s fight against the Fantastic Four, Doctor Doom, and Valeria. More than anything else, that proved that Darkseid no longer needed the emotional component of his plans.


    We might have already lost if the Phoenix Force hadn''t been actively counteracting Franklin Richard''s power.


    As it was, Melina was fighting them all with shocking efficiency after semi-separating herself from the psychic entity.


    They were one, and they were two. Different, yet the same.


    A way to maximize the use of the Phoenix Force while being a substandard host.


    Melina wasn''t winning, but she wasn''t losing either, showing how far she had come from initially becoming a Host of the Phoenix Force.


    I was increadibly proud of her. Of all of them.


    I couldn''t use my main body against most of our foes due to collateral, but I didn''t need to.


    By not losing, we were winning.


    Because some battles would be won eventually. My money was on Caster and Emma sealing Eden, Schatach trapping her foes in a rune, or Raven subduing literally everyone else.


    Darkseid even did us a favour by pitching the missing heroes against us. We had been genuinely helpless to find them, but they had delivered themselves to us on a welcome platter.


    A cascade would begin as soon as even one of our foes was dealt with, and the others could work together to take down the rest.


    Darkseid had to know this.


    He was throwing everything in the world against us and failing. If he wanted a chance at victory, at forcing my actual body out, he needed to step forward himself.


    We were trying to force a confrontation with Darkseid. He was the key to all this.


    Kill him, and we won.


    From there, I could Free everyone.


    He needed to kill me to win. Otherwise, his control would never be absolute. I would keep Freeing people and resurrecting those who died (In his mind, at least. I probably wouldn''t keep resurrecting people since that would involve Binding them.)


    I couldn''t deny a small pit of excitement at finally facing this shadowy opponent who had slipped my grasp time and time again.


    Who had manipulated me against his enemies.


    Who was practically my antithesis in every way.


    Death had chosen well.


    Darkseid would be my Wall.


    ''Scathach, are you almost done?'' I asked as I ducked underneath a blast from some sort of arrow construct. ''Can you back up, Melina? I''d rather not hurt Valeria if we can help it, creepy little girl or not. And I don''t want to give Doom or Reed Richards time to scale up.''


    I wanted to say the person attacking me was Antinoos? Maybe? I didn''t know much about the New Gods of Genesis since they weren''t a significant focus of the comics.


    ''Scathach?'' I asked again as Mister Miracle suplexed...Lonar? Probably Lonar.


    Despite it happening right over my Island, I was mainly on the fringes of this fight. New Gods were simply way ahead of my human form in specs, and I was reduced to an onlooker who took potshots when I could aid Orion or Scott Free.


    I wasn''t opposed to it, as it allowed me to be flexible.


    Case in point, I shifted myself almost completely Free of the dimension, letting attack after attack pass through me as I reached out to Scathach through Emma''s link to ensure everything was all right.


    And found nothing.


    Not just Scathach, I could reach nobody at all.


    I looked over at the Shadow Clone of Tsunade. She wouldn''t know if her original psychic link was also cut off unless another clone dispersed and shared the memory.


    And, as I watched, a New God released an electrical blast that popped it. The original would have just tanked it.


    I didn''t have any psychic powers at all, but I did have Psychic Talent that let me piggyback off of others'' abilities, specifically Emma''s and Melina''s.


    This is why, when I focused, I realized I could feel no psychic connection to anyone, I started to get a bit worried.


    How long had Emma been out of contact?


    Was she focusing on the fight with Eden, or was her ability somehow blocked? It wasn''t impossible. Psychic jammers were pretty standard in Marvel, given how widespread telepathy was in the setting.


    Emma was immensely powerful by psychic standards, almost ridiculously so, but she couldn''t bypass things without me touching her. She''d have to break them down by force, which could take time.


    Still, better safe than sorry.


    "Love," I called aloud, and the tiny form of Raven in a purple cloak appeared on my shoulder. Even when Raven and Pride fought almost every Super on this planet, they still left a version with me for safety''s sake. "Can you check on Emma and Medea for me? My connection is cut off."


    "Got it."


    I wasn''t too worried about the others, all things considered. Baring Ranni, all of them were fighting on Earth and Raven or Pride could intervene if things got dicey there.


    Besides, I had full confidence in my wives. Nothing Darkseid had thrown at them yet was enough to-


    Wrong.


    Love''s face scrunched up.


    Wrong.


    "I can''t reach Emma''s shadow."


    The world tilted.


    "I''m trying Medea''s."


    Everything was out of line.


    Everything was crooked.


    Everything was wrong.


    "Don''t bother."


    My voice was wrong.


    "Here she is."


    The swirl of a magical cloak was wrong.


    "Mikael-"


    The look of loss and pain on Medea''s face was wrong.


    "-Darkseid, he-"


    This world was wrong.


    "Darkseid killed Emma."


    My words, the proclamation of what I felt with soul-deep certainty, were right.


    And that was wrong.


    Emma was dead.


    My Emma was dead.


    A part of My Life was dead.


    My Emma was dead.


    Emma was dead.


    I felt it the moment it happened, and I felt it when that diamond-bright part of ''Me'' died.


    I had been holding Medea from the second she appeared, Freeing her from danger.


    Protecting her.


    "Tell everyone to retreat to the Island."


    "Mikael-"


    "He''s shown his face. Either he wins and enslaves everything, or I do, and I Free everything. Either way, I can do more damage when I am alone and don''t need to worry about others."


    "...Don''t you dare go hollow."


    Hollow.


    To have a hole or emptiness inside.


    A familiar order.


    "Don''t worry."


    A brief memory of waking up in a small stone gazebo in a wide field of tall grass. Of finally being Free of the Kiln. Of a kind woman listening to a broken man cry.


    That same woman now carried my children.


    That same woman''s clone gave the same order.


    To that same woman, I gave the same answer.


    Only this time, she heard it.


    "I can''t go hollow."


    I carved the returned memory into my mind with Life.


    It joined the others, making up ''Me.''


    Emma would be annoyed.


    She hated it when I reinforced ''Me.''


    But Emma was dead.


    And I was still Me.


    "I''ll bring you there."


    I nodded to Medea.


    Darkseid might have left already, but that wouldn''t change the fact that I needed to see it.


    To see her.


    And, even if he left, I could find him again by knowing where he had been once.


    Darkseid would not escape.


    With a swirl of a cloak, we left the New Gods and Earth behind.


    Darkseid hadn''t left.


    He stood, floating above the world with his arms behind his back as he waited for me.


    Diamond dust sparkled as it floated around him.


    That was all of Emma that remained.


    Her soul wasn''t there for me to bring back.


    I''d known I''d never be able to bring back any of my first ten wives with my abilities from Death''s patronage.


    After all, they had died tens of millions of years ago in long-dead worlds.


    Still, as I looked at the shattered remains of the woman I loved, I expected to feel heartbreak.


    Sadness.


    Rage.


    But I didn''t.


    "Go home, Medea."


    I never lost contact with my wife until she teleported away, unwilling to let Darkseid tear anything else from me.


    He didn''t even try.


    Darkseid was in no rush. He hadn''t been since the beginning. This was his game to win.


    I looked at the being that had killed Emma.


    And felt nothing.


    "Submit."


    I didn''t comment on the stupidity of asking someone whose wife he just killed to submit.


    "There is no freedom."


    I didn''t point out that the mere existence of tyranny, the removal of Freedom, means there has to be Freedom to remove.


    "There is no life."


    I didn''t say anything about the fact that his own existence proved there is Life, even if he ignored everything else.


    "There is only Darkseid!"


    I didn''t joke about him speaking in the third person.


    I didn''t say anything.


    I just looked at my enemy.


    He was taller than me. Bigger than me.


    That wasn''t rare. Most of my enemies had towered over me.


    What was unique was Darkseid''s simplicity.


    Despite his power in the comics, I had always considered him an almost silly character.


    Yes, he was responsible for countless deaths, dead-end worlds, and the torment of endless slaves, both physical and mental.


    But he was comic book evil.


    There were plans and complex schemes, but his motivations were as two-dimensional as they came. Darkseid was a quintessential comic villain of the worst type.


    He was simple. Boring.


    The human touch I so loved, the failings of mortals, the complications of life, motivation, internal struggles, or character growth were all absent from him.


    Darkseid simply was.


    From beginning to end, he might learn, but he''d never change. He might grow and shrink in power, but Darkseid would always be Darkseid.


    I never asked myself what his goal was because I knew it.


    Everyone who had ever heard of Darkseid knew it.


    Domination. Tyranny.


    The subjugation of all realities under Darkseid.


    I had admired his complex planning, the net he had weaved around this world, even as I subconsciously looked down on him.


    Because he would always be limited to ''Darkseid.''


    As he loomed in front of me, a figure of malevolence and evil, I realized something.


    That simplicity I had looked down on.


    It was the point.


    Even now, after everything I had done to stymy his plans, to act as his very antithesis, Darkseid still demanded submission from me. Because he always would. He demanded the submission of everyone and everything.


    He wasn''t offering mercy, a life free of pain.


    Just submission.


    I''d still be tortured, still be tormented even if I gave up now. All that would change was how much pain he desired to inflict. It would be proportional to the amount of opposition before submission.


    But there would always be pain, of that I had no doubt.


    Because that''s what tyranny was in its simplest form.


    Power over others.


    His slightest whim would lead to an eternity of torture.


    No complex motivations. No mess of conflicting feelings. No connections to others would hold him back.


    There is only Darkseid.


    I looked upon a path I could have taken. The simplicity of it.


    The power I could have held.


    The power that, even now, I could hold with but a thought.


    And felt nothing. Empty.


    Hollow.


    But no matter how empty I was, no matter how tired, I couldn''t go hollow.


    Because I was Me.


    Because I chose to be Me.


    No matter how much it hurt.


    "You talk too much."


    A black hole swallowed Darkseid.


    I had let the New God ramble on so long because I had been giving my Family time to retreat and to set up my own countermeasures.


    Darkseid would not have stood here waiting for me if he didn''t have a plan.


    I would just have to break whatever plan he had.


    My spell shattered under a punch that distorted space.


    "You cannot surprise Darkseid. I see with a trillion eyes."


    With his trillion eyes, Darkseid saw my actual Avatar, humanity discarded in place of an abomination beyond mortal minds.


    My trillion Eyes, litteral not figurative, Called from Beyond and stars rained.


    A supernova, powerful enough to burn the moon to ash, bloomed across the darkness of the void.


    Darkseid was not daunted by my display of enough firepower to make a pyromaniac orgasm.


    Two lines of red light erupted from his eyes, moving faster than I could follow.


    The first travelled straight, impacting my Call Beyond and halting the nova in its tracks.


    The second zigzagged around the blast and hit me.


    The Omega Effect was Darkseid''s most potent weapon, baring the Anti-Life Equation itself.


    His Omega Beams were faster than speedsters, never missed, and disintegrated the targets they touched. Anything destroyed in that way he could later bring back, only to repeat the process repeatedly.


    He could also inflict other cruelties, such as atomic dissociation or forcefully trapping people in a succession of fake lives, each more hopeless than the last.


    Darkseid used the Omega Beams to torture slaves that were too useful to kill outright, breaking them until they submitted.


    That was probably what he hoped to do to me.


    Tentacles, eyes, and blades burned under the Omega Beams.


    And... that was it.


    For the first time, I saw Darkseid surprised.


    Hundreds of mouths opened across the monstrosity that I had become.


    In a discordant rictus of mirth that transmitted sound through the void of space, I laughed at the monster who had taken Emma.


    "It''s NOT goIng to Be thaT eASy."


    It wasn''t arrogance that had me facing Darkseid one-on-one. I had a few tricks up my tentacles.


    The Company Defences, when taken to their full extent, operated best the more absolute the thing they were defending against was.


    A low-tech camera would see me well while the greatest mages'' spells could not.


    A simple punch could hurt me, but something meant to completely disintegrate me barely singed.


    "The Bat knew how to kill you months ago," Darkseid answered, eyes narrowed. "For Darkseid, it takes but a thought."


    "tHen THinK harDER."


    Wrathful spirits flew from me, a wave of pale skulls in the hundreds of thousands.


    Darkseid waved a hand, pulsing with red power, and they were consumed in a portal to who knows where.


    Space opened behind the New God, and thirteen eyes poured curses on him.


    He didn''t even flinch, flicking a hand, and my eyes burst in a squelch of pale blood.


    Meteorites, crystals, fire, lightning, or even Fia''s Mist.


    Darkseid dealt with it all with a wave of his hands or a blast of the Omega Beams.


    He wasn''t even trying.


    I knew he wasn''t because he was deliberately moving at a speed I could follow.


    That arrogance would be his undoing.


    A tiny hand opened near one of my eyes, a thumb raised.


    A shadow covered the planet, protecting it in a dark cocoon that blended it into the darkness of space.


    Raven was going all in on the defence.


    She needed to.


    My Terra Magica bloomed across the whole planet, a ritual circle larger than Earth that glowed a pale white.


    Darkseid couldn''t see it; he was drowned by the phantasmal dragon heads I had unleashed around him, trapping him in a cataclysm of destruction.


    Fire, lightning, rot, glintstone, ice, magma, and ruin.


    I unleashed it all on Darkseid.


    As a distraction.


    He shattered Dragon Communion Incantations with a punch to see my actual body.


    Six white wings and a tail, all wrapped around a body larger than most countries, as I curled into a ball.


    Rennala''s Full Moon was larger than Earth''s actual moon.


    It crashed into the New God''s face.


    The explosion of white light could have destroyed the sun.


    Darkseid''s skin was scuffed.


    "Useless. Useless. USELESS!"


    Darkseid moved.


    His hands grasped the space around me and squeezed.


    I Free''d myself from space, and his attack passed me harmlessly.


    "Resistance is useless!"


    Attack after attack passed through me harmlessly, whether it was my Avatar or when he tried to attack my true body.


    I was Free from everything he tried to throw at me.


    "Submit! Or I shall destroy everything you hold dear!"


    I received a brief image from Melina.


    I saw Wonder Woman, Superman, Eidolon, and dozens of other heroes. They were on my Island, trying to tear through the bounded field that kept my home separated from the rest. My wives held them off, the home-field advantage almost absolutely under Medea''s control.


    I understood what had happened when I saw Victoria among the attackers.


    I had kept my distance from Glory Girl, content to let her live her life at a distance for the most part so I wasn''t at risk of succumbing to her orders. Naturally, that also meant I hadn''t told her about Darkseid.


    The Defences only worked so long as you wanted them to. All Darkseid would have had to do was threaten Amelia, and Glory Girl could have lowered them and succumbed to the Anti-Life Equation.


    Still, Darkseid had made a mistake in having them invade my Island.


    My true body kept up the barrage on the New God as my Avatar teleported back.


    Dozens of tentacles reached out to everyone, attacking my home, wrapping around them and Freeing them from the Anti-Life Equation.


    My Avatar was torn apart.


    What?


    I was overcome with shock as, rather than be free of the control, the heroes pulled my body to shreds.


    "I know you, worm!" Darkseid laughed as my true body. "I know your limits! The weakness you live with! You are a coward who cannot enforce your will. These heroes, these slaves, chose servitude. They chose DARKSEID! And so will you, or I shall force you to watch as I kill and despoil your Family! All you love will be ashes!"


    Knowing what I did from meta knowledge didn''t even take me a second to understand what was happening.


    The premise of the Anti-Life Equation was that it was mathematical proof all life, hope, and freedom are pointless. It forcefully confronted those who saw it with this proof, ''killing'' them in the process as they were unable to deal with that kind of knowledge.


    I had thought my ability to Free people worked against it, a hard counter.


    Who would ever want to be a slave, after all?


    I had been asking myself the wrong question.


    Who would want to face all that pain? Who would choose suffering? Why not give up when confronted with the pointlessness of it all?


    I couldn''t even blame them. I had wanted to give up before.


    I hadn''t been able to, forced to suffer because of Diana''s order.


    The revelation shocked me, but not enough to stop me.


    I felt guilty for Victoria for bringing her back only to fail to adequately prepare her.


    But she was not Mine.


    I brought her back from the dead, and with a thought to the dead, she returned.


    Victoria''s body dissolved into nothing as I ceased keeping her bound.


    The rest of the attackers suddenly found they could not touch anything around them. I had Freed my pocket dimension of them, and now they were flying over Earth''s ocean, unable to interact with my home.


    The Jewel was a part of me; I was always touching it, even when I was far away.


    Once I killed Darkseid, I''d bring Victoria back and apologize.


    For now, I had a New God to kill.


    As much as I had been surprised by the revelation of being able to Free the heroes, Darkseid was just as surprised by how easily I handled the situation.


    Stolen content warning: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences.


    He had probably planned to grab another one of my wives and force us to lower our defences or watch them die like Emma.


    That would not be happening.


    The ritual was finished.


    The Terra Magica flashed.


    As a Dragon of Life and Freedom, I was much better suited towards defence and utility than offence.


    Still, I knew how to pack a punch.


    Every spell, every incantation, every pyromancy had been compacted into one little container of glintstone. If I hadn''t maintained constant magical contact with the spell, freeing it from the limits of space, it would have been bigger than my Island.


    As it was, it was smaller than an atom.


    The Comet Azure that erupted was almost invisible compared to the titanic draconic mouth that released it.


    Darkseid screamed as the pale white spell pierced through space and his chest.


    It was the most beautiful sound I had heard in years.


    It still wasn''t enough to kill the tyrant.


    So, I added another.


    "IF YOU WILL NOT SUBMIT!"


    And another.


    "YOU WILL DIE!"


    A dozen.


    A hundred.


    A thousand atom-wide Comet Azures, packed with every death I could think of, blasted toward the man who had taken Emma from me.


    Darkseid was more holes than body.


    Yet he still wouldn''t die.


    "SO DECLARES DARKSEID!!!"


    My burgeoning Haki tried to warn me.


    It was already too late.


    Localized invincibility.


    That was what this new power was called. He didn''t know how he knew, and he didn''t know how it worked.


    All Barry Alen knew was that he needed to run.


    And run.


    And run.


    He ran for weeks in which lifetimes passed.


    Time lost all meaning at this speed.


    He didn''t eat. He didn''t sleep.


    The Flash ran.


    Beyond time, space, and light.


    Yet the moment of truth came almost in slow motion to the hero.


    Batman had told him he was the best hope for stopping the Elden Lord.


    Batman had told him that there would be a moment when Mikael would have to be in real space when he attacked.


    Bruce told Barry that the Flash was their only hope to save the world from the dragon.


    So Barry ran as fast as he could with a laugh.


    He had always wanted to be a hero in a fairy tale.


    It looks like he would get to slay a dragon, after all.


    There was no pain.


    It was too fast for pain.


    One moment, I was.


    The next, I wasn''t.


    ********


    Darkseid looked upon the remains of what was once the ''Elden Lord'' and, with an errant thought, disintegrated the speedster with his Omega Beams; his purpose served.


    A useful slave. No point in letting him die due to not being able to breathe.


    No satisfaction or pride filled him as his body healed from the dragon''s final attack.


    Why would it?


    This was but a sideshow, an interlude to get rid of an annoyance, before he moved on to his primary target.


    The only emotion that crossed Darkseid''s mind as he flew off to confront his son, his nemesis, was a bit of pity.


    The Elden Lord''s death was a waste of a useful slave.


    His dealing with Trigon, the annoyance of the gods, and bringing that Blood to this world had all been boons he hadn''t been expecting but accelerated his plans by decades.


    Darkseid truly hoped, as much as a being like him could hope, that the Elden Lord was just as immortal as he was.


    Orion had done one thing right. His hunt of Darkseid through the multiverse had given the ruler of Apokoplips the perfect way to break foes.


    Whether it was Orion, his ungrateful ward Scott Free, or the Elden Lord, Darkseid would hunt them down, time and time again.


    Until they submitted.


    Untill all was Darkseid.


    ********


    While Darkseid went off to his dramatic confrontation with his son, both armed with the Anti-Life Equation, to hold a battle that would rock reality and determine the fate of this multiverse.


    While twelve women, in a home that seemed so empty now, tried to decode what had just happened. While grief, pain, and loss threatened to take them as it started to sink in that Mikael had lost.


    That Mikael had died.


    While the world ended.


    A fat cat with two tiny wings too small for its chubby body started to hack.


    Medea the cat coughed. She wheezed and hacked, back arching as she gasped and wretched at empty air.


    Even amidst the shock and loss, the grief and pain, the Family was not the type to lose themselves to the degree where they would allow one of their own to suffer when they could do anything about it.


    Within the first few seconds of Medea''s sudden inability to breathe, Robin had scooped the tubby floof in her arms and carried her to Tsuande, even as the cat continued to wheeze and hack.


    "The continued existence of the Jewel and this Island means that he is not-"


    Medea''s tear-filled explanation was cut off as eyes turned to the pain-filled coughing of the cat that bore her name.


    "What''s wrong with her?" Priscilla asked worriedly to the former Hokage.


    "I don''t know," Tsunade answered. "I''m not a vet. I can''t find anything wrong with her." Her voice, in contrast, was almost as dead as Mikael''s had been when he left to fight Darkseid.


    Once more, she had outlived someone she loved.


    "Hairball?" Yorucihi joked weakly.


    "She''s technically a familiar," Scathach answered grimly. "If Mikael..."


    Nobody said it.


    They just watched Medea''s body hack and wheeze pitifully.


    It almost looked like the cat was crying.


    Like she was wailing in grief for the man who had raized her and loved her and who wouldn''t be coming home.


    Medea slumped, all struggle and fight leaving her.


    "Mrow."


    One last pitiful mewl as the chubby cat gave up, hanging limply from Tsunade''s arms.


    From the chubby cat''s limp head, her mouth opened.


    And opened.


    And opened some more.


    From the hole in reality, roughly the size of a human fist, something fell to the ground with a wet ''Plop.''


    Even used to weirdness as the Family was, they stared at the object that had fallen from Medea''s mouth for a long second.


    It was a heart.


    A red, bloody, and all too human heart.


    And it was pumping blood.


    More than blood.


    With every beat of the heart, red ichor coagulated around it and grew. And grew. And grew.


    Within the first few seconds of falling out of Medea''s mouth, the human heart had been covered by layers of blood and flesh.


    "QUICKLY!" Medea, the witch, shouted. "Throw it in the ocean!"


    Diana didn''t hesitate, grabbing the still-growing pile of flesh and throwing it out a nearby window.


    "MROW!!!" Medea wailed in distress as the heart sailed out over the cliff edge and into the water, still growing.


    "That bastard," Tsunade hissed, smile wide even as tears flowed from her eyes. "That absolute bastard."


    "I wonder," Robin asked airily, but her voice was tinged with relief. "Did he hide this plan from us intentionally? As a backup? Or did he just forget?"


    "Knowing our Lord Husband, it could be either."


    "Irrelevant," Glynda said sternly as she adjusted her glasses, pretending she hadn''t subtly wiped her eyes. "He''s cut off for at least a week."


    "A month," Raven deadpanned.


    "Let''s not be hasty," Pride hurridly said to herself. "Don''t punish us all for Daddy''s idiocy."


    "We''ll start the count once he has a human body again," Melina agreed, looking out over the ocean where the heart had fallen. "He''ll try to weasel out of it, trust me. But he won''t learn if we don''t stand united."


    Already, it was starting to surge as Mikael began the long process of regrowing his sub-continent-sized actual body.


    "And what of her punishment?" Artoria asked, looking at the fat cat still held in Tsunade''s arms.


    Great big kitty tears beaded the cat''s eyes at seeing her meal disappear into the water. Every once in a while, pitiful mewls escaped her lips, and she tried to flap her tiny wings to escape the woman''s grasp to chase after it.


    Tsunade was having none of it and held on to the cat firmly.


    "Is she not suffering enough?" Priscilla, moved by pity, asked.


    """''No.""""


    "No leftovers for a week," Yoruichi said as she grabbed whiskered cheeks and kneaded them like dough.


    "MROW!" Medea yowled, sounding like she was actually dying. Not from Yoruichi''s face squishing, of course, but from the threat of losing her food. The tubby cat looked to her only hope for salvation. "Mew?"


    "You scared Mommy to death," Medea chastised. "You''re on dry food. For a week!"


    Medea began to cry.


    The Family wasn''t whole, there was a glaring hole in the room.


    But so long as Mikael was alive, there was hope for Emma to return.


    Three days.


    They had three days before the Warranty Plan was supposed to bring her back.


    Everything would depend on what happened in three days.


    ********


    She found him sitting in the ashes.


    "How long have you been here?" Diana asked softly.


    "A few hours. How''d you find me?"


    "Mo- Hippolyta saw you. She comes here regularly and let me know you were here."


    "I didn''t notice her. Do the others know?"


    "I haven''t told them yet. I wanted to see how you were first. Medea might find you, though. She''s looking for that one."


    "Why? What did she do?"


    "Scared us to death when she was hacking up your heart. She''s been on dry food for the last few days and been trying to sneak food every chance she can."


    "...I didn''t know. She appeared as soon as I built my Avatar."


    "You got better," Diana complimented, sitting beside Mikael. Her movement sent a swirl of grey ashes through the air.


    Mikael didn''t react. His only movement was the continual petting of the tubby cat sitting and purring on his lap with stubby tentacles.


    His hair was still a wriggling mass of blades and barbs, and his skin was still the pale, milky white of an infant Great One. The occasional tentacle, fin, blade, eye, or mouth sprouted here and there.


    But he was unmistakably Mikael now.


    No longer was he the deformed monstrosity, flickering in and out of reality as space bent over himself. Nor was he the admittedly cute miniature squid baby. He was human-shaped, roughly the size he was supposed to be, and had distinct facial features.


    Facial features as blank emotionally as Diana had ever seen them.


    "Thanks. Fourth time''s the charm. Another day or two, and I''ll look the same as before."


    Which was good because they didn''t have Panacea to fall back on.


    They didn''t have anyone but each other.


    "Why didn''t you tell us about your heart?"


    "Didn''t know it would work. I did it on a whim one day while feeding her. Basic lich-phylactery type thing, only better. It''s not a second Avatar, if that''s what you are wondering. It''s technically still part of my main body, still connected to the spot I removed it from. Like a quantum field. I simply ''Freed'' two points of space from regular space-time, like when I let things pass through me."


    "And fed one to Medea," Diana couldn''t help but shake her head.


    "A whim," Mikael repeated. "I was already feeding her parts of my Avatar, I figured it was worth the shot. I don''t know the smallest point I can regenerate from, but it should be anything that counts as ''Me.'' I define myself as my head and heart, more metaphysically than biologically, so it was good odds that I could regenerate from one or the other. I was right. There were much larger chunks of me left over from Flash''s attack, but I regenerated here."


    "And you didn''t tell us because you didn''t want to give us false hope?"


    "That''s one of the reasons. The other is Medea herself. She treats it like an endless source of food. Like one of those candies you hold in your mouth layer after layer. I constantly regenerated it within her stomach, so it wouldn''t be destroyed. That''s another reason it''s so small: regenerating it wouldn''t impact my other abilities."


    "...You forgot to tell us, didn''t you?"


    "..."


    "...And you''ve already given her another, haven''t you?"


    "So long as she lives, so too will I."


    "How strong is she by now?"


    "Who knows. Continuously eating my blood nonstop? I''m guessing she''s already Tier 10, but all she uses her power for is eating."


    Not once had Mikael spoken with even the slightest hint of emotion since Diana had found him here, even as he talked and petted the cat he loved, even as he spoke of his loss to Darkseid.


    "You don''t believe Emma will return, do you?"


    "...The best case scenario is that My¡ªour Emma returns. In that case, from this day forth, your lives and deaths will be determined by The Company. Every time you die, your return will be up to them. And even if you do come back every time, there will always be the possibility you will never be able to not return- To always be forced to Live."


    Mikael finally did something that wasn''t petting Medea.


    With a movement as simple as turning his head that seemed so impossibly inhuman, he looked at Diana.


    "To come back to Life is a blessing I am praying for. To be unable to die is a curse I would only wish on my worst enemy. That possibility will hang over us for the rest of our existence. We will always be at their whims."


    And that was the best outcome.


    Neither of them brought up the other possible outcomes.


    "If..." Diana hesitated but pushed forward. "If she does back, if she''s our Emma, you are planning on leaving, aren''t you?"


    "There''s no point sticking around. We''ll travel the multiverse, getting stronger and come back to kick Darkseid''s ass when we can. We are in no rush. We have eternity."


    "Just like that? Give up and run away?" Despite the words, there was no accusation in Diana''s voice.


    "I''ve lost countless times. I''ve run away countless more. Once more doesn''t matter. We can''t beat him now, so we''ll return when we can."


    "And all the people he''s controlling? All the pain he''s inflicting? We''ll just leave them to their fate for who knows how long?"


    "I can''t do anything about it."


    "Cities are becoming dens of pain and suffering. It''s a bloodbath out there. People are fighting and killing, and they feel all of it. They are forced to feel all of it. The suffering is triggering X-genes or shard awakenings. People are doing unspeakable things for power. Darkseid is creating an army of Supers to spread his reign of terror through the multiverse."


    "That was probably his plan all along. Using the Entities to turn this world into the new Apokolips for his endless conquest. I guess Earth will continue to live up to its reputation."


    "...Those who don''t become Supers are becoming Beasts from all the bloodletting. Those that do gain power are becoming closer to Kin."


    "What do you want me to do about it?" Mikael didn''t sound angry as he looked at her with helpless eyes.


    Just tired.


    "Nothing," Diana shook her head softly. "I am not asking you to do anything. You''ve done your best. The entire reason there is hope left is because of who you are. I am not asking you to do what you cannot do. I am simply explaining my reasoning."


    "...Diana?"


    The amazon looked down at the bracers on her wrist and the small strips of leather poking out. A silly little bit of sex play had come to mean so much more to her.


    Mikael really was an absurd existence to make her feel this way about simple leather cuffs.


    "If Emma comes back, we''ll have proof that the Warranty Plan works," the heroine said softly. "And I am also a Dragon of Freedom. Freedom for others."


    "Didn''t you hear? People don''t want to be free. They gave up."


    "You know that''s wrong. Just because someone can''t confront the futility of all Life doesn''t mean they want to be slaves to Darkseid," Diana denied with a glare. Then she softened her tone again. "But that''s not the point. So long as you live, I will always come back. I''ve fought Darkseid many times. I might not be able to beat him, but he will also not be able to completely stop me. I can buy time for you to grow."


    "Diana..."


    "I won''t be alone," Wonder Woman continued, looking away from his pleading eyes. "Hippolyta wants to help, as do the rest of the Amazons. Darkseid killed their gods and still had her daughters. If you Bind them, they won''t fall to the Anti-Life Equation unless they choose to and will also come back to life. And, since you are leaving, you won''t need to worry about them giving you orders."


    "You expect me to leave you to fight an eternal war without a hope of victory? Expect to let you die and die again? You expect me to be able to be happy with that? To be able to live while you die?"


    There was the anger. The rage.


    It was so much better than the emptiness.


    Diana looked her husband in the eyes, running a hand along his pale cheek as she spoke sadly.


    "We lived like that."


    It was like she had punched him.


    Mikael flinched from her touch, his entire body rippling as Diana''s words reminded him of a truth.


    They had been in that position, helpless to do anything but wait as someone they loved fought an eternal war.


    "I expect you will never force us to be someone we are not." Diana hated seeing him like this. Hated having to use his own words against him. "I expect you to honour the deal we made."


    Every word seemed to hurt him just a tiny bit more, and Diana closed her eyes, choking back her tears.


    "This is too much, Diana," Mikael croaked. "You can''t win. You might not even slow him down."


    "Heroes don''t fight because they''ll win," Wonder Woman said softly. "They fight because it''s the right thing to do. There''s always another fight, another life to save, and another injustice to be righted. You were right. Heroes don''t get happy endings. So, please. Honour your promise to support us. Trust me to be a hero. And I''ll trust you to find our happy ending."


    "I hate heroes."


    "And you love them."


    Diana knew she was hurting him. Knew she''d hurt the others with this choice.


    Either Emma returned, and they''d lose her, or she didn''t.


    No matter what, Mikael would lose someone.


    But it was Diana''s choice because she couldn''t live with herself if she didn''t fight.


    Even if she couldn''t save this world, even if another Earth, so similar to her original home, was forever lost to the Anti-Life Equation, delaying Darkseid''s expansion by even a few days before Mikael''s return could save countless lives and countless other worlds from bad ends.


    Too many times in her life had Wonder Woman seen the difference a few seconds could make between victory and tragedy.


    Diana would not be a hero, not the woman Mikael fell in love with, if she didn''t fight.


    "...Have you told the others?"


    "No," Diana denied. "I only had the idea when talking to Hippolyta just now when she asked me to let them fight Darkseid."


    "Artoria will probably join you," Mikael said sadly. "Maybe Raven or Scathach. They''re heroes too, after all."


    While Diana wouldn''t deny she did not want to be alone in this fight, there was an issue.


    "You and Melina are still our best chance to eventually stop him for good," Diana shook her head. "I am just buying time. I do not want to leave you without our heavy hitters."


    "I don''t think even Melina, with full control of the Phoenix Force, can stop Darkseid while he has merged with the Anti-Life Equation."


    "Then you need to find a way," Diana said, standing up. "I know you will. You always do. Besides, I-"


    "There you are!"


    Diana''s words were cut off as Medea appeared in a swirl of her cloak, sending the ashes around them spiralling into the air once again.


    "You are still in trouble, Mikael!" Medea''s tirade against the fat cat was interrupted when she saw the humanoid figure it sat on.


    Immediately, the witch rushed over and hugged the man tightly.


    The Caster did not say anything for a long moment, just holding the man in her arms.


    Diana understood. She might have acted the same if she hadn''t known to expect him here.


    "I''m sorry," Medea eventually said, pulling away from Mikael.


    "For what?"


    "For not saving Emma."


    "Not your fault. Darkseid killed her. He''s to blame. Me too."


    "You are-"


    Mikael held up a hand to stop Diana''s protests. His tentacle-fingers wiggled.


    "I am not fully blaming myself for her death, but there is no denying that my arrogance played a big part in it. In our lack of preparation. If I had Raven focusing on our own support rather than trying to save the world, she might have been able to teleport you two away in time."


    "None of us went against our plan," Medea pointed out with a frown.


    "No, but I was the one who made it. And I made it because I let my arrogance get the better of me."


    "What do you mean?" Diana asked.


    While Mikael made jokes and behaved in an egotistical manner most of the time, she knew it was primarily a facade for humour''s sake. He was an ''egotist'' in the sense that he saw the world through his own lens, but the person he was most strict on was himself.


    "I bought into my own myth," Mikael said, turning from them and looking around the ash-covered Kiln. "I saw Darkseid as a rival, in a way. A Wall to overcome for me to grow stronger. Death chose this world to force me to grow, knowing I couldn''t beat Darkseid unless I became Tier 11. I made the plan assuming he thought the same way, that I was his opposite he needed to get rid of. I was wrong. It was never about me. He spent more effort dealing with Orion and Mister Miracle than with me."


    Diana grimaced at the memory of that fight. She and a few others had seriously debated helping the New Gods, but with Mikael healing and Emma already dead, as well as their lack of a way to kill Darkseid, only Raven and Robin had helped since they could do it safely.


    In the end, it hadn''t mattered.


    After a climactic battle, Darkseid killed his son and adopted son, ushering in the current state of the world.


    "I was just a curiosity with power¡ªanother slave he would eventually break. I had wives I loved and people I cared about¡ªall points of weakness he could use, just like everyone else. Even if Darkseid didn''t believe he could kill me permanently, he just didn''t care. I wasn''t a rival, I wasn''t even a threat. I was just an annoyance."


    "You are thinking too lowly of yourself. There is no doubt that he was conscious of your moves," Medea shook her head. "He would not have had so many plans to use against you if he wasn''t. He would have attacked the New Gods and ignored us if we truly didn''t matter."


    "Maybe," Mikael allowed with a slow nod. "Still, it doesn''t change the fact that my plan indirectly allowed him to kill Emma."


    "Is that why you''re here? To punish yourself?"


    Almost in response to Diana''s question, a cold breeze blew through the Kiln of the First Flame, sending more ash swirling in the air.


    "Nothing so dramatic," Mikael denied, his voice completely empty once more. "This place... I hate it. I hate it so much. But it is a part of me. Except for the Dream, I''ve spent more time in this Kiln than I have out of it. I am using those memories to recenter myself before meeting everyone again. A reminder that I am not some sort of destined protagonist. I am only me."


    Mikael looked out over the dunes of ash, the burned rubble once was the Kild of the First Flame.


    "That is enough for us."


    Mikael didn''t respond for a long second, eyes transfixed on the Kiln.


    Diana wondered what he saw.


    "I''ll be back at the mansion before Emma is supposed to return," Mikael said, expecting them to leave him. He wanted to be alone.


    Diana would give him that time to think and be alone while telling the others of his return, knowing that sometimes he needed his space.


    Medea, however, had something to ask.


    "Emma... She said something to me before I left."


    "Hm?" Mikael made a sound of acknowledgement, still staring out over the Kiln.


    "I was trying to convince her to stall for time so you could Free her. She wouldn''t allow me to. She said she refused to be a chain around your neck."


    "Huh."


    "I don''t think she was talking about our ability to order your Avatar. I think about something else. Something you know about."


    Mikael didn''t say anything, just scratching his cat as his flesh wiggled and rearranged itself to be closer to human form.


    "It''s not how I would put it. Less of ''chains around the neck,'' and more of a cage, though. Or maybe a cast? I guess the metaphor doesn''t really matter. But yes, Emma is right."


    "In what way," Diana asked warily, walking around to look Mikael in his eyes.


    He paused, staring off beyond her as his pale lips pursed.


    Weirdly enough, despite the inhuman features of his face, Diana recognized the look. Mikael sometimes got like that when he was thinking about how to convey his thoughts in a way that would make sense to others.


    "Can you love the wind?" He eventually asked out of nowhere.


    "What?" Diana responded.


    "More importantly, can the wind love you?"


    Medea, however, seemed to understand something from his absurd questions.


    "You can love the wind," she nodded. "But the wind will never love you. Inherent in its nature, in its existence, is the phenomenon of transience. Of always moving, never being fully contained."


    "Exactly," Mikael nodded. "Diana, you''re a hero, through and through. But that is because you choose to be. There are countless universes where you are not, where you either retired, never left your home, or made some other choice and hung up the lasso. The wind can''t choose to be anything else than the wind. It simply is."


    "What are you trying to say with this," Wonder Woman asked.


    "That''s the difference between Tier 10 and 11," Mikael said softly. "Both can have infinite power. Some Tier 10s might even have more than some Tier 11s. It is a difference in quality. One is a being, the other is a part of the universe, a piece of nature."


    "Like the Phoenix Force," Diana understood that much, at least. "Are you saying we are holding you back from becoming Tier 11?"


    "Yes," Mikael said plainly, not sugarcoating his words. "I know two ways to reach that threshold, one for each of my Elements. You know the second one already. The Phoenix Force. It is already the embodiment of Life in this universe. I am a perfect host for it. Merging with it would elevate me, but it also wouldn''t. Because the being that emerged from that union wouldn''t be me; it would be something else. Closer to a child between me and the Phoenix. I am not really becoming Tier 11. I am creating something that will be Tier 11 with my memories."


    "But you have another way," Diana said. "One to become an embodiment of Freedom. And we are holding you back from it."


    "I had this thought."


    Diana realized Mikael was smiling. The inhuman nature of his face had made it harder to notice, but he was definitely smiling.


    "It was a thought that came to me the moment I was free, the moment Emma woke me up. I had served my sentence and had all of eternity to look forward to with you all the benefits the Catalogue had provided. I had my happily ever after. But I had this thought; Why limit myself?"


    Diana had seen countless smiles on Mikael''s face before. Most of his life was spent smiling, laughing and joking. But this was not a smile of joy or mirth.


    "I was Free, wasn''t I? Why limit myself to just this? Just this body, just this universe. I could do it. I just had to Free myself of everything. Why limit myself to all these painful memories? Hadn''t I earned it? Hadn''t I suffered enough? Why couldn''t I live out that wish-fulfillment fantasy anyone who filled out that Catalogue has? Why not travel the multiverse, seeing what I wanted, doing what I wanted? Why care? Why not enjoy myself, as Free as the wind?"


    It was a smile of relief. The smile of a man coming home from work, exhausted and worn down, and finally being able to sleep.


    Mikael was tired, and rest called him.


    "That is what it would mean to be a Tier 11 embodiment of Freedom. I''d be free of my past and future. I''d be free of sorrow and joy. I''d be free of all consequences. Love and hatred. I''d be free of the phantom of the First Flame burning my soul. I''d be free of the pain of losing people. I''d be free of loneliness. I''d be free of the Company, Death, or anything. I''d be free of the chains that were ''Mikael.''"


    The smile faded.


    Shoulders hunched as exhaustion returned.


    "If all of you weren''t here, I''d have taken that option. I''d become Freedom. And I''d have died for it. I would have discarded everything that made me ''Me,'' all for Freedom. It is the opposite of everything I hate about mind control, but the end result is indistinguishable. I wouldn''t be Me. Because I am my pain, my memories, my love and hatred. I am the consequences of my actions. My plans gone wrong, my terrible jokes, my connections. It makes up ''Me.''"


    Mikael looked up at Diana, meeting her eyes, draconic and alien blending together in a rictus of a kaleidoscope of reds, oranges, and black.


    "I am obsessed with this thing called ''Self.'' The loss of self, the erasure of self, the replacement of self. It all stems from fear of that. You all are part of it. Every memory with you, I carve into myself using my Life Element. Every second with you all reminds me why I choose to be Me. You are Mine. By having things be Mine, I confirm that ''I'' exist. That the Mikael trapped in a cell, the Mikael burning in this Kiln, the Mikael discarding his humanity as he faced his fear, and the Mikael here and now are all the same person."


    "And Emma knew about this?"


    "She was in my mind when I had the thought," Mikael answered Medea with a sigh. "Just another way I hurt her. But I couldn''t help it. She might see nothing wrong with discarding everything for me, but I do. That''s not what I want."


    "What do you want, Mikael?" Diana asked.


    "I want to fly," he answered immediately. "I never wanted to be an overpowered protagonist with a harem of women at my beck and call. I took the Deal to fly through the multiverse, see impossible sights and do impossible things. All I ever wanted was to be me."


    Unlike everyone else, Mikael''s elements did not come from himself. He chose them while filling out a form for a short story. He never wanted to be an embodiment of Freedom or Life.


    He had been a simple man, similar to everyone else, placed in an extraordinary situation.


    "Everything else, despite the pain and loss, has been much more than I ever hoped for. My life is fantastic. I have a Family that loves me, and I love in return. Despite my caution, I am powerful enough that most things can''t hurt me. I have met and had drinks with some of my favourite characters, fought villains and gods, saved lives, and traded jokes with the devil. And all that? That wouldn''t have been possible if I did not choose to be ''Me.''"


    It was exhausting, painful, and filled with loss and mistakes, but Mikael chose to face that battle every second of every day¡ªto not give up.


    Despite herself, despite the recent loss of a woman she considered a friend, despite the imminence of a never-ending battle she had no hope of winning, Diana couldn''t help but smile.


    Falling in love with a man like this had been the right thing to do.


    ********


    We sat in the living room in silence.


    It was almost time.


    So much rode on what would happen in the next few seconds.


    Would My Emma come back?


    And, if so, what then?


    Diana hadn''t yet mentioned her plan to the others, wanting to know if Warranty Plan actually worked before doing so.


    On the one hand, I appreciated her effort to communicate with me, like I had asked her to.


    On the other suction cup, I had no idea what to do.


    It seemed like no matter what happened, I would lose someone.


    Sure, Diana''s plan would only be temporary until we found a way to deal with Darkseid. We would, I knew that. The multiverse was vast, and nobody was unbeatable, but that didn''t change the fact that if I got Emma back, I''d lose Diana for who knows how many years as she fought and died.


    Maybe not just her, either.


    I distracted myself with my continued attempts to return to human form. Without Panacea, it was slow going. My skin tone was a more human colour now, but my hair still looked more like the Moon Presence than anything else.


    At least Medea was happy, munching away on one of my tentacles.


    Nobody had the heart to tell the cat off for breaking her diet.


    "How long left," Tsunade asked from beside me.


    "Any second," I answered. "There were some clauses about quicker returns based on the number of ''amazons'' bound, but I don''t think that applies with Black Mark."


    "Maybe you should go grab Wonder Mom," Yoruichi joked, trying to lighten the mood. "You did say she had a thing for you."


    "I don''t think I am in any state to ''grab'' anyone."


    The mood fell again.


    "Sorry," I sighed, rubbing my face with a hand that only had a few blades and mouths poking out. "I''m just... tired, is all. The waiting is the worst."


    "I think we all are," Medea said, getting affirmative nods around the room. "We''ve been in limbo for three days now. I trust everyone has given thought to how we need to proceed." More nods. "Once Emma is back, we have a few options to discuss¡ªworlds that might give us the tools to deal with Darkseid."


    "I don''t think any of our home worlds, or those similar to them at least, have what we need," Tsunade shook her head. "We need to be thinking in terms of more out-of-context solutions. That has been our greatest advantage so far."


    "I have been going through the library," Robin nodded. "There are a few worlds with potential. Particularly those based on Eastern Daoist or similar principles. They might offer a way to reach Tier 11 without sacrificing our individuality."


    It took me to realize what Robin was talking about, on top of realizing that she had been watching me while I spoke to Medea and Diana in the Kiln.


    "Cultivation worlds?" I asked incredulously.


    "Exactly," Robin nodded. "We need to find worlds where any power we can gain is not limited to those with inherent traits, like chakra. On top of that, we all possess Martial Talent, Soul Talent, and Psychic Talent, which generally covers the three common aspects of cultivation, as I understand it. We also have our Elements, which I believe will give us the direction for growth."


    "That is..." I shuddered. "We''ll put that on the maybe pile, and only if we find the right kind of world. Besides, any sort of cultivation that would allow us to deal with Darkseid will take time, even with talent¡ªcenturies or millennia."


    I had read more than a few Xianxia stories in my day, as well as similar genres, both Western and Eastern-based. I wasn''t unaware of their potential for power, with our advantages from the Catalogue, but I hadn''t intended to go anywhere near that part of the multiverse.


    If comics were insane, then those universes were downright bat-shit.


    How else do you describe worlds where egotistical maniacs could sneeze and erase trillions of lives? Or casually rearrange entire universes on a whim?


    "If t''would take so long, I shall have mastered mine Order by then," Ranni joined in. "Counteracting the Oppressor in this world would be possible."


    "The problem is that Darkseid isn''t limited to this world," Diana pointed out. "He''s expanding his power every second. Any plan we devise needs to consider that he is not stagnant. He will spread to others once he fully conquers this universe, and his control will grow exponentially."


    I grimaced at the reminder. Dragon Blood wasn''t the only way to grow in Tiers. Raven had reached Tier 10 by absorbing her father. Darkseid certainly should have been stronger than Trigon, but not to the degree he was now.


    Merging with the Anti-Life Equation had pushed him to Tier 11, and even if I eventually find some way to reach that same level without losing ''Myself,'' he might have already assimilated every part of this multiverse under his control.


    While I don''t think he could reach Tier 12 with Death around, he would still be at the limit of his Tier. That was one of the reasons I hadn''t been able to argue against Diana''s plan to slow him down.


    "Should we give up?" Melina asked the room. "Take our survival as a win and leave? We are not confined to the same limits as Darkseid. We can go where he will never reach. And there are countless other universes in just as dire straights as this one. This will simply be another bad end."


    I could see everyone giving the kindling maiden''s word genuine thought.


    "From a tactical standpoint, you are correct," Artoria nodded imperiously. "We have already fought and done our best for this world. It would not be wrong to say that without us, there would have been no hope at all. There are other worlds out there. Other battles to fight. Choosing to retreat in front of a superior enemy is not cowardice."


    I closed my eyes, a helpless smile tugging up at my lips.


    "But I refuse to do so. I refuse to only fight battles that I know I can win. I refuse to allow this grand injustice to continue while I still have hope. And there is hope. So long as we live, so long as we fight, there is hope. I refuse to accept this ''bad end.'' I will keep fighting for a good end. In every world we find, I will keep fighting for that promised utopia."


    I hated heroes. Never wanted to be one. Every hero''s life is a tragedy waiting to happen, and I wanted a happy ending.


    "I know not all of you hold my beliefs. I know not all of you fight for justice or an ever-distant utopia. But I do know all of you! And I know not one of you is content to let Darkseid win!"


    But man, did I love heroes.


    Their charisma, their passion, their larger-than-life nature.


    The way they inspired everyone, whether that was a young boy reading a book, a little girl opening her first comic, or a jaded old man listening to his wife give a speech.


    Humans needed heroes.


    I needed heroes.


    I guess that''s why I fell in love with so many of them.


    "Well said," Diana nodded at her friend in pride.


    "Some revenge doesn''t sound too bad," Medea allowed with a smile.


    "We might be a bunch of losers," Yoruichi said with a laugh. "But nobody can kick our ass and not expect us to get even."


    "If nothing else," Scathach laughed lightly. "It will be a fun fight."


    I doubt I was the only one who saw Melina conceal a smile. But I was definitely the one who understood her best.


    This was hardly the first time she had provoked me to cheer me up.


    Love welled up within me as I looked around this room, this Family.


    It was a Mad Love, but it was Mine.


    The exhaustion, the loss, the pain, the heartbreak, it was all for small moments like this.


    Once more, I didn''t Free myself.


    I chose to live.


    But life doesn''t always go the way you want.


    A portal opened up in front of me, white-grey and rectangular.


    Emma stepped through it, no different than how she usually teleported back to the Island.


    She was wearing the same clothes as when she died, and she looked at me with the same love and understanding.


    Joyeuse smiles lit up the faces of my wives at the sight. They hurried to greet her, to hug her.


    I closed my eyes, unable to watch.


    I should have known.


    "Mikael?" Raven asked, sensing my emotions.


    "She''s not My Emma."


    One last fuck you from The Company.


    And I doubt it was even maliciousness.


    A Warranty Plan does not provide a repair service. It provides a replacement.


    It was obvious in retrospect.


    They were an interdimensional slaving organization. They probably had trillions of ''Emma Frosts'' waiting to be handed out to contractors. I''m sure it was more cost-effective to simply copy/paste My Emma''s memories into this one than trying to resurrect My Emma.


    This Emma didn''t know the difference. Most contractors wouldn''t either.


    But I built ''Myself'' using my wives and my memories.


    She might look the same, have the same memories, same feelings, and with an identical soul, but she was not Mine. Her point of origin in the multiverse was different, even if now she was indistinguishable.


    I opened my eyes to see Emma Frost looking at me tearfully as she read my thoughts.


    She was more of a victim than we were, knowing that her memories were not her own and that she had been manipulated to feel like this.


    She loved me madly, just as My Emma had, but I didn''t love her back. Because she wasn''t Mine.


    And she knew it.


    I hated mind control.


    It always led to tragedies like this.


    It seemed like ''Mikael'' and ''Emma Frost'' were forever doomed to hurt each other.


    I closed my eyes in grief and pain.


    ...


    ...


    ...


    ... And rage.


    Fuck this.


    Fuck this bullshit.


    Fuck The Company for pulling this shit.


    Fuck Death for not warning me better.


    Fuck Darkseid for killing the woman I loved.


    More than anything, fuck myself for being such an absolute cowardly piece of shit.


    From rage came action.


    "Mikael!" Melina shouted in surprise.


    She wasn''t the only one to shout, but I was already in front of my maiden.


    My hand reached through her chest.


    I knew I wouldn''t hurt her. I never hurt those who chose Freedom.


    And the Phoenix Force wanted nothing more than to be free to join me.


    In that second of communication between me and the sapient force of nature, I made one demand.


    ''You have to promise that, whatever we become, you will bring her back and burn Darkseid to cinders.''


    The Phoenix trilled a cry of pure joy as we became one.


    White.


    Everything was white.


    I was the white, the pure being of thought and life. I was the Phoenix, and it was me.


    Joy. Overwhelming joy engulfed me.


    Finally.


    Finally, we were one.


    Finally, ''I'' was born.


    Together, I would do extraordinary things.


    Together, Life would never end.


    Together, I would-


    "GAH!!" A yell tore from my throat as I fell to the floor.


    Besides me, the Phoenix Force cried in shock and loss.


    ""''"Mikael!""""


    My Family reached me, so many faces so much love surrounding me.


    And it was all drowned by the rage.


    "Why?" I cried, tears blurring my eyes as I pounded the floor with alien limbs. "Why, damnit!? Why can''t I do it?"


    I knew why.


    I knew that the second I felt ''Myself'' dissolve, felt the White Phoenix of the Crown come into being, I knew I couldn''t do it.


    It would have saved Emma. It would have killed Darkseid. It would have accomplished my every wish.


    It wouldn''t have been me.


    And I hated ''Myself'' more than anything else at that moment.


    I hated ''Mikael,'' I hated this obsession, this fear, this immaterial and useless thing called ''self.''


    Yet I chose it over everything else.


    I was not a hero.


    I was not a monster.


    I was not a human.


    I was me.


    And I hated myself for it.


    "We''ll find another way," Melina whispered in my ear as I cried.


    "We''ll bring her back," Medea promised.


    "We''ll bring her back," Emma repeated.


    Ah, why?


    Why?


    Why did a simple man with dreams of flying get so lucky?


    "I know thirteen ways to bring back the dead," Raven said over my shoulder. "One of them has to work."


    "The Lazurus pit," Diana offered. "If we can gather her pieces, it might work. You can Free her from the side effects."


    "We can try the heroic spirit summoning ritual," Artoria joined in. "A counterpart of mine made a deal to be summoned while still alive. With all this help, it''s not impossible to summon Emma from right before she died."


    "Perhaps the Black might bring Lady Emma back to us?" Priscilla whispered kindly.


    Something niggled in my mind as I cried, surrounded by women I loved and grieving the one I lost.


    "Should we find her original dimension, mine Order might return her," Ranni said.


    The niggling grew. A familiar sensation.


    "A few of the worlds I reviewed had abilities related to time," Robin joined in. "It''s not impossible to grow strong enough to pull her from before she died. Paradox Defence would protect us."


    A sensation that reminded me of a destroyed clinic, of rage and pain. Of realization, then fear.


    "If we can find enough of her DNA and find a world similar to mine, Edo Tensei might work."


    "The Green."


    "Mikael?" Melina asked as I whispered.


    "The Green," I repeated louder. "Why could I Free The Green?"


    "What?" Yoruichi asked. "What does that have to do with Emma?"


    "Not Emma," I shook my head, standing up. "You all are right. We have options. I am not giving up on saving her. But I just realized something. My powers worked on The Green." I paused. "No, not just The Green. The Amazons, too."


    "What about them," Diana asked with a frown.


    "We know for a fact I Freed The Green. We saw it in action. Every other time, there was no change when I tried to Free someone because I really wasn''t Freeing them. But why have the Amazons not tried anything? They must have been exposed to the Anti-Life Equation, either when facing Leviathan or when we went to watch Priscilla. Both times, I Freed them before returning to the Island, but why did it work with them and nobody else?"


    "You think they are infected?"


    "Just the opposite," I denied. "Darkseid would have had them attack with Victoria. He didn''t know I''d dismiss her and boot the others out. If they joined the attack against the bounded field, it would have fallen quicker in his mind. He''d have hostages to break me. So he''d have used them if he could. But he didn''t. They definitely were exposed but aren''t infected anymore. Why?"


    "You think there''s a way to slow him down," Diana said, eyes lighting up. "A way to free those infected, even if only a few."


    "We lost," I nodded. "We got our ass kicked. No two ways about it. But if we are leaving this world, we''re leaving with a laugh, a pun, and a big fuck you to him. Now help me think of a way to screw him over."


    I was a tired, pathetic, heartbroken, beaten and bloody fuck-up of a coward, too obsessed with ''Myself'' to change.


    But I was alive.


    And so long as I was alive, I''d find a way to get My Emma back.


    Until then, I''d have to think of a way to screw her killer over, even if only a little bit.


    I was petty like that.


    "That''s what I like to hear," Yoruichi laughed.


    "We should reach out to the Green again," Emma said.


    I knew she was dealing with some of the pain I was, though from the opposite end. She might not be My Emma, but I still appreciated her ability to compartmentalize to work towards our goal. She wasn''t a replacement, same memories or not; she was someone else and had forever to decide who she wanted to be.


    Say what you will about Emma Frost, but I had never met a version of her who I considered weak-willed.


    The absurdity that I now had met three versions was not lost on me.


    "I gathered all I could from it," Tsunade denied. "We''d have better luck with the Amazons or the other Parliaments."


    "The Clear," I said instantly. "Why was it broken instead of subverted?"


    "Because Darkseid was using an incomplete Equation?" Robin offered.


    "Yet he managed to subjugate both the Metal and the Divided," Melina pointed out.


    "In my world, both realms were some of the newest ones, baring the Grey, which came from a different planet," Diana pointed out. "The Divided doesn''t even have a Parliament."


    "Ciara targeted Solomon Grundy because he was of the Grey," Priscilla added. "The Black believed he was at risk of falling."


    There was something here, something I was missing.


    A unifying thread, a common point of connection.


    What was I missing?


    The Anti-Life Equation worked by mathematically proving the futility of all life and forcing a being to confront that truth. A mortal mind cannot handle something like that. They gave up. They chose to ''die,'' I.E., submit to Darkseid, rather than continue to live.


    I understood that pain, that surrender.


    Once, I had chosen to give up, to ''die'' and go hollow instead of feeling the pain of existence.


    But that had been a choice I had only made after years of suffering. If I had the option, any other option, I would have taken it.


    I offered that option, but people weren''t taking it.


    Why?


    Why did some choose to be Free while others chose to surrender?


    My powers only worked when people chose Freedom.


    By their very definition, you can force tyranny on people but not Freedom. You have to choose Freedom.


    No... wait.


    You can''t choose Freedom.


    That''s not how it works.


    You have to fight for Freedom.


    No matter what sort of form Freedom takes for you, you have to fight for it.


    Not only can Freedom not be forced on you, but it also can''t be given.


    Whatever form it takes, whether it is freedom from oppression, freedom to live as yourself, or the freedom to die, you have to fight for it.


    If you are not fighting for your freedom in your own way, if you are allowing others to dictate your choices, you aren''t free.


    Freedom cannot be given.


    It has to be taken.


    "Raven!" I called quickly, interrupting the ongoing debate. "Valeria! Find her!"


    Credit to my big-tidy, goth wife. She didn''t even question me.


    Shadows spread.


    It only took a few seconds.


    "Found her."


    "Bring her here."


    There were some noises of protest since Valeria was firmly under Darkseid''s control, but Raven didn''t hesitate to do what I asked.


    A powerless little girl with a too-wide smile appeared in the living room.


    I was already holding her.


    Freeing her.


    "Wah-"


    I held the little girl as she looked at me.


    The smile fell with the tears.


    "What, why?" She asked me as I Freed her from the Anti-Life Equation and from the self-inflicted brain damage.


    "You were fighting this entire time," I told her, looking into her eyes and seeing years of pain and loss. "You''ve been fighting a war alone."


    "I lost," Valeria cried, wrapping tiny arms around me in a hug. "Uncle Ben. Uncle Johnny. Uncle Doom. Mom. Dad. Franklin. They were counting on me, and I lost."


    "No," I shook my head. "You didn''t lose. You lasted just long enough."


    "How did you know Freeing her would work?" Melina asked.


    "I didn''t Free her," I denied. "I gave her the means to Free herself."


    I looked around the room, seeing thirteen pairs of eyes looking at me with renewed hope.


    "I still need to touch people," I informed them. "If they''re reexposed to the equation, they''ll still fall under his control again."


    "What do we need to do?" Diana asked.


    "Nothing," I repeated her words. "This next part is all on me. Just take care of her until you can call me back."


    The Phoenix Force gave a trill of acknowledgment as it heard my mental request.


    "Mikael," Medea asked as my body dissolved.


    "I am a petty, possessive, egotistical, cowardly idiot," I smiled at them all. "Always have been, always will be. Even if I wanted to change, I can''t change who I am."


    "What are you doing?" This Emma wasn''t My Emma, but I let her see my mind all the same. "Stop it!" She ordered.


    But they could only control my Avatar, not ''Me.''


    "Isn''t this what you wanted," I laughed.


    "You''re not ascending!" Emma tried to hold on to me. "You''re not becoming ''Freedom.''"


    Her hands passed through me.


    "No," I agreed. "I''m not."


    "What have you done, Mikael?"


    I gave my Family my widest smile at Diana''s question.


    "I''m doing what I always do," I laughed. "Making everything about ''Me.''"


    They seemed to realize they couldn''t stop me then.


    "That sounds just like you," Melina sighed as she placed a hand over her face.


    "Our Lord Husband is truly a tyrant of the worst sort."


    "I guess we''re all idiots for falling in love with him," Robin laughed.


    "I trust you''ll be back in time for dinner," Medea said, looking away.


    "You better be back before the kids are born," Tsunade glared. "Or I''m punching you into the next universe."


    "Sir Mikael is only doing what he believes is right," Artoira nodded imperiously. "He saw an opportunity and took it. I have full confidence in whatever he has planned." Nobody commented on the way she bit her lips in worry.


    "If nothing else, he still owes me a fight," Scathach said, poking a spear through me in jest.


    "We will sing together again, right? Sir Bard?"


    "If nothing else, trust this lug to be too stubborn to die," Yoruichi reassured Priscilla.


    "Or stay dead," Glynda sighed before giving me her best teacher glare. "This better not be another one of your stupid pranks."


    "It''s not," Raven assured the huntress. "Though he is dragging it out."


    "A laugh, a pun, and a fuck you," Pride laughed. "That''s how the world ends, right, Daddy?"


    "That''s right," I laughed back. "And you all are going love this next prank. It''s a real screwball."


    I ''Free''d myself of my body as my Family groaned at my terrible pun.


    The titanic body of a great white dragon dissolved into the ocean.


    It hadn''t even fully regenerated yet.


    Death had chosen the moment to give me my Defences based on when I''d have enough power to support myself without a body. She''d hoped I''d either become an embodiment of Freedom or Life.


    I chose to be me.


    I hadn''t done this before because I had no way of getting a body back.


    Speaking from experience, having thirteen hot wives and not being able to do anything with them kind of sucks.


    Still, I trusted my wives to find a way of containing my Free''d soul.


    I had no intention of dying, of becoming Free of myself or ascending to become something I didn''t want to be.


    I''d always be Me.


    Petty, possessive Me.


    This was about reassuring my heroic wives that we would have time to grow before returning, and they didn''t have to fight in an endless war.


    This was about fucking over Darkseid for all the shit he put me through.


    This was about Emma.


    Free of the limits of flesh, I reached out to the Parliaments of the Earth.


    All of them.


    They roared back, each in their own way, in their own tongue. Each vying to have me as their Avatar.


    <u>Trees swayed.</u>


    <u>Waves rose.</u>


    All right, you useless bastards, this is how things will work.


    <u>Limbs extended.</u>


    <u>Decay spread.</u>


    We all lost. We got our ass kicked.


    <u>Vapors swirled.</u>


    <u>Fungai flourished.</u>


    But we''re going to keep living and keep fucking this guy over.


    <u>Stones rumbled.</u>


    <u>Flames grew.</u>


    You want Life? You have to become Life!


    <u>The Divided were united.</u>


    You want Freedom? You have to fight for Freedom!


    <u>A metal heart beat to a new Rithm.</u>


    You want to fuck this guy over? You have to be Me!


    </main>

 Epilogue - Life and Freedom

Stolen from Royal Road, this story should be reported if encountered on Amazon.


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 Readingdangerouslys random ramblings on Rapturous Rhapsody

Unauthorized use: this story is on Amazon without permission from the author. Report any sightings.


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 SS - Two Terrible Twins Travel Through Troubled Times I

    Xiao Tian remained vigilant as he drove the carriage through the rough roads that wound through the Lung Mountain Range.


    Unlike his fellow Sect Brothers, he had grown up with nothing and spent years in this wilderness after his family was exterminated. He knew very well that even the roads were not safe.


    Bandits. Beasts. Wandering Cultivators.


    One wrong move, or simple bad luck, could spell death.


    The other three disciples who had joined this mission weren''t so vigilant as they walked beside the carriage.


    It was an easy mission.


    Escort the Second Elder''s youngest daughter toward Wulin City for an inspection. They were there more for formality and appearance''s sake than for protection, as the area was all well within the Twin Heavens Sect''s influence.


    Even the beasts of the Lung Mountain Range, this close to the strongest sect in the empire, knew to bow their heads when the tiger descended the mountain.


    Xiao Tian wished they would be more alert but knew that his warnings would fall on deaf ears as, technically, they were all above him in the sect rankings.


    His true cultivation, middle Spirit Building, was well concealed and everyone thought he was in the late Foundation Laying realm. A talented disciple, based on his speed, but not a noteworthy one.


    The only reason he had even joined this mission was to have his ''breakthrough'' to Spirit Building in Wulin, really the late stage of the realm, well away from any curious eyes in the sect.


    It wouldn''t do for any of the higher ups noticing his real cultivation, or worse, his unique Bloodline.


    "Junior Disciple Xiao Tian," a delicate voice echoed from the inside of the carriage, as melodious as a bird''s song. "You are tense. Have you discovered anything?"


    "Replying to the Young Miss," Xiao Tian answered dutifully, keeping his eyes on the road even as he felt the other disciples'' eye bore into the back of his skull. "The Lung Mountain Range is full of dangers and disasters. There have even been rumors of demonic cultivators recently. Until we are beyond the mountains, this Xiao Tian will remain on guard for any eventuality."


    His tone was formal and humble, keeping a strict distance between him and the occupant as propriety demanded.


    It wasn''t enough.


    "There is nothing to worry about Junior Brother," one of the other disciples, Mu Bang, ''reassured'' Xiao Tian with a condescending look as he led the way. "Any beast that nears will taste my saber. You need only to stay on the carriage."


    "Much appreciated Senior Brother." Xiao Tian, despite knowing he was being mocked, simply nodded in acceptance.


    And didn''t lower his guard.


    "You should follow Xiao Tian''s example," the delicate voice chimed in again. "Caution and wariness are virtues to cultivate, as much as power."


    "Young Miss is wise," Mu Bang bowed toward the carriage, his words repeated by the other two disciples who walked on the flanks.


    Despite so, Xiao Tian didn''t miss the fact that the young man was grimacing in glaring at him.


    The carriage driver sighed internally, pretending not to have noticed.


    ''The favor of a beauty is not something to lament.''


    ''It is not that I am unhappy with it, master,'' Xiao Tian told the spirit in his ring. ''Merely that the troubles it brings is not worth the meager benefits.''


    ''And you have your sights set higher,'' the old man chuckled.


    Xiao Tian didn''t respond.


    Yes, Ling Mei was a beauty every sect disciple longed for.


    Not only was she the Second Elder''s youngest daughter, but she was also the most talented member of the Twin Heavens Sect of the younger generation.


    With the Pure Spring Divine Body, she was widely regarded as the next in line to inherit the Sect Master position. Despite being only a few years older than Xiao Tian, she had stepped into the Golden Core realm. By the time she was thirty, she would likely be a Profound Sky cultivator, able to fly through the air with just a thought.


    Since even Elders were only Nascent Soul cultivators, one step higher than the Profound Sky, one could imagine how strong she would be in a century.


    Not only was she dedicated to cultivation, but her personality was admired throughout the sect. Just, kind to other disciples, and wise, Ling Mei was a figure every woman wanted to be, and every man wanted to be with.


    It was thanks to her that he was here. As a reward for saving her maid, she had assigned him as the carriage driver for this mission despite him ''only'' being in the Foundation realm.


    In a way, it was a way to reward him without seeming to play favorites. The rewards for this mission, despite the task being so simple and easy, were enormous and it gave one the chance to interact not only with Ling Mei, but also with the higher ups of Wulin, which could pave the way for a smooth life in the sect.


    All in all, having Ling Mei''s favor, even if it was only lightly, was a good thing now and could blossom into a great thing later.


    Xiao Tian, despite keeping secrets from the sect, was handsome, talented, and undefeated in his realm. Already, his meteoric rise to Outer Disciple in the year with the sect had been noted and, once he ''broke through'' in Wulin, he''d be promoted to Inner Disciple.


    Of the younger generation in the Twin Heavens Sect, Xiao Tian knew himself to be the best match for Ling Mei, though she didn''t know it yet due to his secrets. Trying to secure himself as her cultivation partner wouldn''t be too hard, in his mind.


    If Xiao Tian wished to stay with the Twin Heavens Sect that is.


    But he had no wish to remain a frog in this small well.


    ''Telling you about the larger world was a mistake,'' his master, the old war god Wang Xiang, sighed when Xiao Tian didn''t reply. ''A carp in a pond is just as happy as a dragon in the sea.''


    ''I will not be a carp.''


    For revenge against whoever had killed his family.


    For the power to never have that happen again.


    Xiao Tian would not remain a fish in a small pond, knowing that the Twin Heavens Sect was only the most powerful sect when considering their province at the corner of the continent.


    Thus, the darling of the sect everyone else lusted over could not enter his eyes.


    Not when he had seen true beauty.


    ''Do not let ambition cloud reason,'' his master warned. ''Those two would be the pride of any clan on the central continent. Something from the Wu province on the Eastern continent should not be worth the anything to them. The Twin Heavens Sect must have used all its luck for them to wish to learn its techniques. Once they are done, they will leave.''


    ''Then I must find a way to interact with them more,'' Xiao Tian replied stubbornly. ''Heavens have given me this chance and I will not waste it.''


    ''Your eyes have grown larger than your stomach.''


    ''The tournament is in a month. When I win, I''ll get the chance to spend a few hours learning from them. That is my chance. What happens after that¡­''


    The rest went unsaid, but Wang Xiang knew his disciple to be a man with unwavering belief in himself in his heart.


    But as much as confidence and daring were needed to progress, self-awareness was even more important.


    ''In all my life, I have never known of the Diamond Dragon Body. Nor have I heard of this ''Long Island'' Sect, yet it managed to nurture twins with such a domineering physique. They are not simple.''


    ''If I can get their primordial Yin, my Void God Bloodline will certainly evolve,'' Xiao Tian stubbornly insisted. ''Even the Sect Leader wishes for them to be seduced into the sect, that''s why he set up this tournament. Once I win, I will have the full support of the Elders.''


    Ostensibly this tournament was to show the honored guests the ''most promising youths of the Twin Heavens Sect.'' The winner, on top of Spirit Stones and a treasure from the sect, would be allowed to ''exchange knowledge with the guests.''


    Really, it was the Twin Heavens Sect Master setting up an excuse to deepen ties. Specifically, he hoped someone in his sect would catch their eyes. Why else would his chosen successor, Ling Mei, not participate?


    ''... I did not tell you, but I believe they knew we were there when they met the Sect Leader.''


    ''What!?'' Xiao Tian was so socked by his master''s words that he almost spoke aloud and jerked the reins on the tiger-horses. ''That''s impossible!''


    ''There is nothing impossible with enough strength.'' The old war god said grimly. ''It was only for a moment, faster than you could see, but one looked directly at you.''


    ''Impossible!'' Xiao Tian repeated, this time in disbelief rather than rejection.


    The Void God bloodline, at the second tier, allowed one to separate their consciousness from their body for short periods. During this time, they were undetectable and unblock able.


    Not useful for a fight, as in that state Xiao Tian could not interact with anything, but it was a key to his success. It was what allowed him to search the sect library for techniques, travel through hidden realms and discover their traps, and hunt beasts in the Lung Mountain Range.


    And what had allowed him to discover the goal he must strive for.


    When the higher ups of the sect suddenly started forcing every disciple to be on their best behavior, dress in their best robes, and for the most talented to attend a welcoming event, Xiao Tian had to be there.


    The fact he, a lowly outer disciple, hadn''t been invited was irrelevant to the young man who treated the Twin Heavens Sect like his back yard thanks to his Void God Bloodline.


    So, when the two most beautiful women in the world descended from the heavens where the Sect Master and Elders waited to receive them, Xiao Tian had been in the background.


    Even the old war god in his ring had his breath stolen by the twin women and their exotic and enchanting appearance.


    With hair that shone so golden it glowed like the richest spirit dew, skin so clear and pure that it glittered like diamond, and eyes the blue of eternal frost, none had been able to resist the charm of these goddesses.


    Not only had their demeanor been impeccable, a cool pride and elegance in them, but their bodies were amazingly framed by the tight robes they wore. What should be thin was thin and what should be plump was... extra plump.


    After the greetings and formalities were out of the way, Xiao Tian had followed the pair and the sect master into a private room, unwilling to stop looking at them.Stolen content warning: this tale belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences elsewhere.


    He desperately wanted to know who these two goddesses were and why they had come.


    Eavesdropping on that meeting, he learned that not only were they from a high-level holy land, the Long Island Sect, but that they were here to request the Twin Heavens'' core cultivation manuals due to its unique comparability with their rare physiques.


    Normally such a request would be absurd.


    A sect''s core cultivation technique was its pillar and base. While treasures were what allowed a sect to defend itself, the central cultivation manuals were what allowed it to exist in the first place.


    To be a sect was to have a unique cultivation manual and a spiritual land on which to practice it. Without either, one was no different than any other cultivator.


    As expected, the Sect Leader was firmly against that request. He remained polite at Shuang Ai''s insistence, likely fearing the power behind them, but refused to yield.


    And yet, when Shuang Aima started pulling out treasures that even Wang Xiang salivated over, his firm stance started to waiver.


    By the third treasure that could elevate the sect by a level, the Sect Master proposed that the twins could learn the manuals if they joined the sect.


    Another treasure. A Spirit Blade that glowed with radiant light.


    Even if they only joined the sect in name, it would be acceptable.


    Another treasure. A beautiful bloodflower with meaty petals.


    If they recognized the Sect Master as their master and became his disciples, it would be acceptable.


    Another treasure. A beast horn suffused with spirituality.


    If they simply chose a partner with whom to dual cultivate among the Twin Heavens, it would be acceptable.


    Both Shuang Ai and Shuang Aima froze, neither so much as twitching as they looked at the Sect Master of the Twin Heavens Sect.


    For that moment, they looked like the most beautiful statues of white jade ever conceived under heaven and Xiao Tian had felt his heart thunder in his chest.


    They were considering it!


    And if they were considering it, it meant he might have a chance!


    Their beauty, their physique, their connections... It would all be Xiao Tian''s!


    Certainly, he''d need to start standing out in the sect if he wanted to fight for this opportunity, but Xiao Tian knew felt that even if he was starting from behind, nobody would be able to stop him from rising.


    Heavens had provided exactly what he needed for his future.


    Unfortunately, they still had one more treasure to offer.


    And, with a great reluctance, the pair pulled out an object that radiated power throughout the room.


    "This is a treasure created by the greatest witch in the world. A being descended from gods." Shuang Ai held up the small figure of a white dragon with six wings in her hands. "Created in image of her husband."


    "Wh- hum." The Sect Master, his demeanor completely broken by the power of the object, hurried to regain his composure. "What is it?"


    "A sect defining treasure," Shuang Ai Mu said gravely. "Our Master gave us permission to offer it if negotiations went a certain way. Should you connect it to Dragon Veins of your sect and activate it with the chant, it will increase the fate of the entire sect and draw in the ambient Qi from thousands of Li, increasing its density."


    Greed shone in the Sect Master''s eyes. A mad greed.


    The difference in ambient Qi was what made the difference in the quality of Sects. Twin Heavens was already the hegemon of the region. If the ambient Qi rose higher, they could even grow to dominate the entire province in a century... or even the continent in a few millennia.


    More importantly, higher ambient Qi would allow the Sect Master to breakthrough his bottleneck, growing his power and extending his lifespan.


    Good for the sect and good for himself.


    A sect defining treasure indeed.


    But the Sect Master, for all his greed was not a young fool.


    "Were it so valuable, why has the Long Island Sect not used it?"


    "Because it only works on below a certain threshold of Qi. Were we to use it, it would be destroyed by the power it absorbed."


    There was a grim certainty in Shuang Aima''s words as she stared down the Sect Master.


    ''Either he takes the deal, respectfully rejects it, or they take what they want,'' his master had sighed as the Sect Master''s face went grim. ''They have been overly generous already. Were he to require more for the cultivation technique of a measly Twin Heavens sect he would be inviting doom.''


    ''Why offer so much if they could just seize it?''


    ''Because what they offer is nothing to them,'' the old war god explained mater-of-factly. ''To everyone on this continent, or even the Central Continent, it is an object worth fighting a war over. But these two? This Long Island Sect? They probably have more. Or have used so many that this one is worthless to them. Maybe they even have a refiner who knows how to create these treasures.''


    Even Xiao Tian felt a mad greed welling up inside him at the idea of being able to create such a treasure.


    The Sect Master, recognizing when he was beat yet still needing to save face, finally spoke up.


    "I can agree on the condition that while learning our Twin Mind Spirit technique you remain as honored guests of our sect and make a vow on the heavens that you shall not spread it around," he said seriously, even as he reached out to grasp the small statue. "In exchange, I will have a few of our more talented disciples will attend you and aid you in learning it during your stay."


    "Very well," Shuang Ai nodded easily, handing over the white dragon. "We shall graciously accept your hospitality."


    "In the spirit of such hospitality, I shall give you a warning," Shuang Aima said, standing with her sister. "The greatest power of that item is not its ability to gather Qi, but to affect fate. Those deemed... unfit by fate will suffer and those who are beloved by it will rise. Do not be surprised if opportunities grow more frequent for your sect. But all opportunities carry risk."


    "I understand," the Sect Master nodded gravely.


    ''Greed. Ah, greed,'' Xiao Tian''s master intoned. ''Great changes will come to the Twin Heavens Sect. You better hope it is not too weak to grasp such a fate as that treasure will bring or it will become a disaster.''


    Xiao Tian didn''t say anything at the regret that tinged the old war god''s words, listening intently to the Sect Master''s final question and Shuang Aima''s answer.


    "What is the method to activate it?"


    "One only needs to place their hands on it and repeat thirteen times the word ''Muda.''"


    ''It was when she said that strange world that Shuang Aima looked right at you,'' Xiao Tian''s master explained. ''It is possible that the Diamond Dragon Body either counteracts your Void God bloodline or provides a sensing ability.''


    ''If they know about me, all the more reason I need to win the tournament.'' Xiao Tian, far from being dissuaded, doubled down. ''To convince them to keep the secret, if nothing else. If we are compatible, then I must become their attendant. From there, I refuse to believe I will not be able to secure a position with them.'' Feeling that he hadn''t convinced the old man, the carriage driver hurried to add another point. ''Besides, aren''t you curious about their sect and it''s leader?''


    Wang Xiang didn''t respond.


    He really was curious about this Mai Keer and this ''Long Island Sect.''


    What were they doing in this remote corner of the world?


    Were they from the central continent? If so, they might know what had happened after his fall.


    ''For now, be careful,'' the spirit gave up after a bit more nagging. ''Once you return to the sect, don''t use your bloodline recklessly.''


    ''I understand.''


    The carriage continued to trundle along without issues for another few hours without incident, and as they drew closer to the base of the mountain range even Xiao Tian felt that this trip would pass quietly.


    He might even have been right.


    Had this been a story about Xiao Tian, he very well might have reached Wulin without incident.


    While there, he would have encountered some conspiracy or opportunity that not only gave him the chance to ''breakthrough'' but would also help him raise his reputation before returning to the sect.


    In the process, it was almost inevitable that the vague fondness Ling Mei felt for this Junior Brother would transform into a fascination or even affection.


    After returning to the sect, winning the tournament and shocking everyone, Xiao Tian would naturally interact more with the Shuang twins, slowly getting involved with their mysterious background. They would discover his own uniqueness and, in the process also become helpers in his inevitable rise towards the heavens.


    Because that was what it was about for Xiao Tian and everyone else in this world.


    Rising to the heavens.


    Every cultivator, from the lowliest sect servant to the greatest Holy Lord.


    Every. Single. One.


    Thought it would be them.


    That they were the ones destined to reach the top.


    Everyone had opportunities, conflicts, losses, and expanded enormous efforts. After all, they were the protagonist.


    Everyone can only live their own life and cultivators, with their long lives and myopic views, were certain that they were the special ones. The world''s protagonist.


    The universe, in all its Qi and treasures, existed solely for them to plunder and grow strong off of.


    Some, those wiser or more downtrodden, understood the folly of that thought. Understood the mountain of corpses piled to reach the ever-distant peak.


    They understood the odds that they would be the singular victor in the end was minuscule.


    Yet, despite those odds... It was going to be them.


    Nobody else.


    A cultivator needed to have that mentality.


    Those that didn''t, or who lost it along life''s tribulations, were not cultivators.


    And Xiao Tian had better reason to believe that the most.


    Despite the hardship of life, he was practically favored by fortune. A mentor beyond any other. Talent beyond any other. Luck beyond any other.


    The path to the top was practically paved for him, lined with flowers and cheers, and all he needed was to walk it.


    With the focus only on his own hardships, blind to those who suffered just as much, more, or differently than him, Xiao Tian had the motivation to walk that blood-soaked road, using any tool to reach that ever distant peak of heaven.


    Were this a xianxia or xuanhuan novel, Xiao Tian would be the true protagonist.


    But this wasn''t a xuanhuan web novel.


    It did not begin when a young boy began his ascension to the heavens.


    No.


    This was a children''s story.


    It really began something like this:


    Once upon a time, a long time ago, a luxurious carriage was traveling through a magical wood.


    Pulled by magnificent horses and guarded by righteous swordsmen, this carriage came from a mystical land to carry its princess to a far-off kingdom.


    Alas, as the carriage neared the edge of the magical forest, it was stopped.


    "Halt!" A male voice cried as figures emerged from the trees to block the carriage. "This mountain was built by us!"


    "These trees were planted by us!" A second male voice added.


    "This road was opened by us!" The first continued.


    "If you want to use this road, you have to pay the toll."  The second forged ahead.


    ""Break this rule at your own peril!"" The pair finished as one.


    Indeed, the carriage and its guards had been walleyed by bandits!


    Before reaching safety, these magical swordsmen must overcome the perilous trial!


    Dumbfounded by their profound misfortune, the Sect Disciples could only stare in shocked silence.


    ""Yes!"" The two bandits cheered gleefully as they high fived each other in excitement. ""Nailed it!""


    The guards, given a moment to compose themselves, finally responded to this grave threat to their wellbeing and that of their charge.


    "Do not mess around!" Mu Bang growled, vein throbbing on his temple at the sight in front of him. H felt like he was being mocked in front of his dream woman, which would not stand. "Step aside or don''t blame us for being impolite!"


    The evil bandits were extremely daring, however, and were not intimidated even when facing this magic swordsman.


    Facing the disciples of a righteous sect, the bandits remained arrogant as the first one stepped forward, followed by the second.


    "Men, raise your hands! We came here to snatch money, not to snatch women!"


    "Women, raise your legs! We came here to snatch women, not to snatch money!"


    Dumbfounded by this, Mu Bang gaped at the pair for a second, as they celebrated again.


    ""Two out of three!"" The evil robbers declared in triumph, jumping around in excitement.


    ""Two out of three!"" They repeated, their no doubt malicious joy at some perfidious idea unable to be abated by the shock of their innocent victims.


    Eventually, that shock transformed into rage at the injustice being levied against them.


    For what heroes would they be if they allowed this injustice to continue in front of them?


    "We are disciples of the Twin Heavens Sect on an important mission!" Mu Bang shouted amidst the cheering. The vein on his temple was a blazing purple against his clear skin. "If you do not leave right now you and your entire families will be implicated!"


    Right away, Mu Bang realized he said something wrong.


    Not only were these bandits not scared away by the implications, but their smiles grew even wider, and their eyes shone with a mad joy that hinted at the pure evil that must lurk in their hearts.


    "Hmpf!" The first bandit huffed in disdain, hurrying to cover his smile and crossing his arms imperiously as he raised his nose to look down at Mu Bang. "What Twin Heavens Sect? You have eyes but do not see Mt. Tai. Do you know who my ancestor is?"


    "We, your daddies, don''t care about your background!" The second assumed the same pose, his nose practically pointed at the sky so great was his arrogance. "You better listen to us peacefully or you''re courting death!"


    The two agents of chaos and despair held their arrogant poses for a long heartbeat, basking in the terror they inspired, before it collapsed, and they began cheering once more.


    "Three. For. Three. Three. For. Three!" The first pumped his fists in excitement.


    "New high score!" The second shouted, raising his hands in the air and looking at Mu Bang as if he was a great treasure.


    Then they bandits began to dance.


    A dance of EVIL!!


    What else could it be based on the uncoordinated wiggling of hips and hands?


    Truly, this must be some heretical ritual to imbibe these ne''er-do-wells with the power of their dark patron.


    Knowing that diplomacy was no longer possible, the righteous guard Mu Gang could not stand this disrespect anymore and charged at the bandits with his saber drawn.


    He was ready to fight to the death in the name of justice!


    "Junior Disciple Mu Bang!" A fair voice called out. The princess was such a kind, gentle soul that she could not stand to see blood being shed. "They''re just children!"


    Indeed, evil takes on a many a form.


    The two bandits, eviler than almost all others, had taken on the form of two young boys, no older than six years old.


    The first child''s long blond hair didn''t move in the wind even as Mu Bang rushed toward him. His green eyes tracked the cultivator attacking him.


    Or maybe he couldn''t follow the blinding speed and just got lucky. Either way, it didn''t matter.


    Perhaps heeding his princess'' kind nature, the righteous disciple Mu Bang turned his sword so he would only teach this evildoer a lesson.


    A few broken bones would set them on the right path, certainly.


    Unfortunately, though evil was small, it was not weak.


    The second bandit''s fist planted on Mu Bang''s cheek before he could strike.


    BANG!


    The righteous knight went flying from the force of the blow, skidding along the dirt and crashing into a tree on the side of the road.


    The carriage and its guards looked at the bandit, his tiny fists planted on his hips heroically as he stared back, in shock.


    "Don''t try and fight us."


    "We''re too awesome for that. So..."


    ""Give us treasure!""


    If the righteous heroes and their benevolent princess wished to reach the far-off kingdom, they would need to prove themselves against the world''s many trials.


    The first of which were two terrifying evil bandits shaped like little boys.


    But what else should one expect out of the Jiraiya and Sarig Senju, eldest sons of Mikael?


    Evil begets evil.


    A tiger will not give birth to a dog.


    And a monster will create more monsters.

 SS - Two Terrible Twins Travel Through Troubled Times II

    ''Xiao Tian!'' The old war god shouted in excitement. ''I can''t sense any cultivation in them.''


    That shook the driver out of his surprise at the sight of a six year old boy knocking out a Spirit Building cultivator in one blow.


    ''What sort of body lets a mortal child fight a Spirit Building Cultivator?'' Xiao Tian asked. That was a bit too domineering, wasn''t it? Were the heavens even fair? ''Are you sure it isn''t a transformation technique?''


    ''Look at their eyes!''


    Xiao Tian did and, after a bit of focusing, noticed what his mentor had as well.


    Both of the young boys'' eyes were a deep green and, ever so slightly, slited like a snake.


    ''Dragons!'' Xiao Tian exclaimed internally.


    A dragon''s entire body was a treasure. Their skin and bones could become weapons and armor, its blood could be used for pills and every organ was a delicious tonic that could increase one''s talent.


    Basically, they were the dream of every cultivator.


    ''Infant dragons that haven''t begun cultivating,'' the war god explained. ''Or at least they have the bloodline of dragons. Their odd hair and eyes are probably caused by this.''


    Which means that they were weak.


    ''That doesn''t make sense,'' Xiao Tian argued. ''Beasts need to cultivate before assuming human form.''


    ''Not if their bloodline is strong enough,'' the war god lectured. ''If both of the parents are already strong enough to have human forms, they can give birth to beasts with that form right away.''


    ''Then...'' Xiao Tian hesitated, sensing a crisis. ''Wouldn''t their parents come cause trouble?''


    The clothes the pair wore, while odd, was in no way low quality. They weren''t holding any weapons or jewelry, but their chubby faces and strong bodies spoke of diligent and indulgent raising.


    Even if he wanted to catch the treasures right in front of him, Xiao Tian needed to be able to live long enough to use it.


    ''If they are around and know its you,'' the war god said. ''These two are definitely not from around here. Based on how they acted, they probably ran away from home to cause trouble. If you can get them before their family finds them, your Bloodline can wipe away all traces.''


    Xiao Tian''s eyes shone as he realized that the heavens were favoring him once again.


    ''For now, you need to make sure nobody else realized what they are,'' the spirit cautioned. ''If you can leave without incidents, you can return alone and catch them.''


    Xiao Tian understood immediately. If these two boys were discovered by the big sects, would there even be a drop of blood left for him?


    All this was passed between master and student by spiritual transmission in a heartbeat.


    Xiao Tian, watching Mu Bang spit out a mouthful of blood, decided he needed to do something quick.


    The longer they remained here, the greater the chance someone would catch on.


    "The day is short and the road is long," Xiao Tian said, hoping down from the carriage. The others looked at him in surprise, unsure what to do given the shocking strength of the ''children.'' "I hope the two Young Masters can let us go and we can make it worth your while."


    ''What are you doing?'' One of the other disciples sent to his ear quietly by voice transmission.


    "What''u got?" The curly haired one asked casually, also putting his hands on his hips to imitate the other.


    ''To be able to beat Senior Brother Mu Bang so young, these two must not be simple,'' Xiao Tian answered, sending his words to not only the disciple''s ears, but to the others as well. ''They must be the two Young Masters of some sect out to experience the world. It is better not to antagonize such a force as we don''t know if they have a hidden protector.''


    Even if they did, Xiao Tian had confidence in his ability to find and kill them later with his Void God Bloodline.


    After all, what were the odds that someone like Shuang Ai would be around them?


    "We''re only simple outer sect disciples on a short mission to Wulin," Xiao Tian said aloud and threw a storage ring to the blonde. "I hope this is enough for the Young Masters to let us go?"


    The blond caught the ring and looked at it curiously.


    Xiao Tian was even confident in fighting them right now. Mu Bang had been careless and the boy had taken him by surprise. They were strong, but if the other two disciples acted as one, plus Xiao Tian, they could take these two on.


    If the other boy was as strong, they might be in a bit trouble but that was only if the Young Miss Ling Mei, the Golden Core Cultivator, wasn''t there with them.


    ''Listen to Junior Brother Xiao Tian,'' Ling Mei ordered. ''Once we settle this, we can investigate them in Wulin.''


    "A ring?" The curly one scowled and crossed his arms. The blond bit the piece of metal and also frowned. "We have a bunch of rings. Why would we want another ring? We want stuff! Yah, know..." The boy seemed to struggle to find the words, then shrugged. "Give us all your stuff!"


    Xiao Tian blinked, not understanding.


    Yes, it was only a side ring and not his main one, but it still had a enough spirit stones and herbs to be considered a fortune for outer sect disciple like him. It should be more than these two boys expected.


    "We can''t give this to mom," the blond finally shook his head and dropped the ring to the ground. "Her punches will hurt way more if she wears rings during training. Give us shiny stuff..."


    "Or plants. Mom likes cool plants," the curly boy interjected. "She''ll definitely forgive us if we get her flowers. You guys are from that sect, you have poisonous flowers right? Or maybe plants with teeth? Or medicine that is supper rare?"


    It was Ling Mei who caught on first.


    "You..." Her voice was as beautiful as ever, but the disbelieve in it robbed it of some of its elegance. "Don''t know know what a storage ring is?"


    "What''s that, miss?" The blond asked, looking at the carriage with interest. "And why aren''t you raising your legs like we told you? We''re robbing you!"


    "You!" One of the other disciples shouted, face red in shame and anger as he almost lunged at the boy.


    Ling Mei, though, spoke before he could attack, her voice more exasperated than angry.


    "Do you know what that means?"


    ""Of course."" Both six year olds answered as one, puffing their chest in pride.


    "We read a lot," the curly one added, this time it was his nose pointed at the sky. "Raising your legs means walking out and giving us your money! So come out and give us stuff!"


    "It''s part of the second line Daddy told us to say when robbing people," the blond explained. "You guys are really cool! We got to use all three. Nobody else gave us the chance to brag about Daddy."


    Xiao Tian didn''t know if he should laugh or cry.


    These two dragons sure were unique.


    "How about I give you a bag of plants and you let us go," Ling Mei said teasingly, a note of laughter in her voice.


    Mu Bang spat out another mouthful of blood as he realized that the Young Miss wasn''t going to do anything against these ''bandits'' and even found them funny.


    Shame and humiliation filled his chest, but there was nothing he could do. It was his fault for being weak and careless.


    "And medicine," the blond said.


    "Food too," the curly one said in a hurry. When the blond looked at him, he just said one word. "Boss."


    "Yes, food." The blond hurried to nod, his face slightly pale. "Definitely food or we won''t be able to go home."


    "Alright," Ling Mei laughed lightly as she descended the carriage, quite charmed by these little ''robbers.''


    ""Woah.""


    The two boys looked at the young miss with wide eyes as she approached and held out a small pouch. Less useful than spatial rings, Qian Kun pouches still held a lot more than they should. This could be considered a small trick on the little bandits who couldn''t understand that the ring on the ground was more valuable.


    "So pretty," the blond muttered. "Are you a Mom?"


    Ling Mei stumbled and almost tripped at the sudden and rude question.


    She didn''t answer before the other boy smacked the first on the back of the head.


    "Don''t be dumb. She''s clearly not a Mom. She''s like Aunt Val, Aunt Em, or Aunt ''Lyta."


    "I''m not dumb, if she''s not a Mom, then she''s also not an Aunt. That means she''s a threat. Mommy Artoria said all pretty women who aren''t Moms or Aunts are threats." The blond pushed the other boy back. "You''re dumb."


    "Nuh uh. Mom said I was a genius."


    "Mommy Medea told me I was a genius."


    "I am."


    "No, I am."


    "Me."


    "Me."


    Within moments, the two young boys had dissolved into a childish argument over who was dumb and ended up wrestling on the ground, completely ignoring their ''victims.''


    Truly, even heroes fall victim to beauties... Cough cough... I mean villains.


    Truly, even villains fall victim to beauties.


    Unsure what to do in front the wrestling boys pulling each other''s cheeks and hair, Ling Mei looked back at Xiao Tian for help.


    The young man was almost ready to just leave them to it. The sooner they left, the sooner Xiao Tian could come back for these little treasure troves.


    "May I ask your names," Ling Mei finally decided to interrupt the childish fight.


    Both boys sprung to their feet instantly, their fight completely forgotten. Both were strong enough to break trees if they wanted and hadn''t been damaged at all by a bit of wrestling.


    "Right," the curly one nodded. "Its important to say your name when robbing. I am Sarig Senju, the older brother!"


    "And I am Jiraiya Senju, the oldest brother!"


    Even the introduction was almost enough to start another fight.


    "We were born at the same time," Sarig growled at his brother.


    "Nuh uh," Jiraiya shook his head strongly which sent his wild hair flying into his face, which he hurried to wipe off. "I''m older by a whole fifty eight seconds! Daddy said so."


    "That''s not even a minute!"Support creative writers by reading their stories on Royal Road, not stolen versions.


    "That sounds like something the second born would say," Jiraiya said with a smug smile, uncaring by his brother''s reddening face as he taunted. "Number 2."


    "Rargh!"


    As the pair returned to their wrestling, Mu Bang finally managed to return to his feet, head still ringing from the blow and with a fist print on his face.


    "Then we shall take our leave Young Masters," Ling Mei finally said, deciding that as amusing as the boys were, they had been stopped long enough.


    None of the other sect disciples looked please to just leave, but they didn''t say anything, know that the Young Miss'' words were law on this mission.


    Sarig and Jiraiya kept fighting.


    There was no loyalty among thieves.


    Ling Mei left the bag in front of them but picked up the spatial ring and gave it back to Xiao Tian with a smile.


    This children''s tale could have ended here.


    Though the heroes had been hurt and delayed, the villains had been outwitted and fallen into infighting, leaving our dear protagonists to go free.


    Unfortunately, the perils facing our heroes were not over yet.


    Right before Ling Mei could re-enter her carriage and continue her voyage, a sinister voice called out.


    "There you are!"


    An oppressive force exerted on the small section of road where the heroes had been waylayed, pushing all to the ground. The carriage was crushed and the blood-sweating horse turned to paste. Ling Mei, not yet in the vehicle, was able to keep her feet, though even the Golden Core Cultivator''s back was bent. The others, even Xian Tian, were not so lucky and were crushed directly into the ground, unable to stand up.


    "I heard the Twin Heavens Sect had a promising young genius, but Miss Ling Mei is also a beauty." The man who descended from the sky, radiating power, looked over the group appreciatively. "Tsk, tsk. Your sect sure is lucky to have you."


    His robes were embroided in black and red, a skull without eyes proudly displayed. This was a demonic cultivator from the Peace Pavilion, no doubt here for no good.


    One just had to look at his evil mustache to know his vile heart.


    ''A Profound Sky cultivator! One near the peak.'' The war god warned, ignoring Mu Bang who spat out another mouthful of blood from being crushed like everyone else. ''You cannot fight him, you must escape!''


    Unwillingness filled Xiao Tian''s heart as his pride battled with his reason.


    It was not that he had a grudge against whoever this was or even felt particularly loyal to Ling Mei and the Twin Heavens Sect, but being oppressed like this, unable to do anything due to differences in cultivation, was humiliating.


    Greed for the two young dragons also held him firm.


    "Ling Mei greets Senior," the young genius said through gritted teeth as she bowed her head, cupping her hands in respect. "May this one know what has attracted Senior''s attention and how the Twin Heavens Sect can help?"


    There was also the fact that Xiao Tian wouldn''t be able to return to the Twin Heavens Sect without Ling Mei, who he was technically supposed to protect, even if he was ''only'' a Foundation Laying cultivator.


    "Hmm," the Profound Sky realm expert rubbed his evil mustache of evil... evily as he scanned her body from top to bottom. "I just heard my old friend had a wonderful daughter and decided to come invite you to tea at my pavilion to get to know the genius of the younger generation."


    Without the Twin Heavens Sect, there would be no way Xiao Tian could get close to the Shuang Twins and the Long Island Sect.


    "This Ling Mei would be glad to talk to Senior," the young lady, despite going a bit pale at the idea, maintained her respectful posture. "Unfortunately, this Ling Mei has been tasked by the Sect Master with a mission. Once it is finished, she will of course visit the Peace Pavilion."


    ''There''s no way the Twin Heavens Sect would take this laying down,'' the old war god urged his disciple. ''The demonic sects are trying to start a war. You must flee. Do not be-''


    Before Xiao Tian could come to a decision, or even begin channeling his bloodline to disappear, a slightly squeaky voice shouted.


    "HEY YOU!!" Sarig Senju, covered in dirt from wrestling his brother, pointed his finger angrily at the flying demonic cultivator. "You can''t rob them! We''re robbing them!"


    "Yeah!" Jiraiya agreed. "Only we can rob pretty women!"


    (At this point in our children''s book, it should be noted that cultivators, as a rule of thumb, didn''t even consider mortals to be the same type of creatures as them.


    Even those from the righteous sects wouldn''t care if they accidentally destroyed a city of millions in a fight. The only difference between the righteous and demonic factions were in their cultivation methods.


    This led to certain internal cultural differences in how they treated mortals.


    Righteous, or more accurately orthodox, sects simply didn''t care about them. Demonic, or more accurately unorthodox, sects would use mortals as materials for cultivation resources, just as all cultivators used beasts.


    There were exceptions, of course. Some, like the lovely princess of our story Ling Mei, were kinder than most. Others were extra evil, like our mustache twirling villain.


    But those two were the predominant cultures of the cultivation world.


    So, when a mortal blocks the way of cultivators, righteous or demonic, they are often simply killed. No attention paid to jobs that went unfinished without workers, the families that lost loved ones or the children who would starve without parents.


    When these mortals went so far as to shout and point at a Profound Sky Sect Elder?


    It was like being slapped in the face by a fly.


    Then the fly shat in your food, slept with your mother, and shaved your dog bald.


    Truly, it was hard to tell who was more evil between the old man and the two boys... I mean... two bandits.)


    With narrowed eyes, the demonic cultivator turned from Ling Mei looked at these two ''mortals'' for the first time.


    Despite his spell, they were unbowed under the pressure he was using to cover the area and block the signals.


    More than that, they seemed wholly unaffected as they glared up at him.


    Special physiques, perhaps? If so, he''d turn them into living pills for angering him.


    Then he noticed.


    Incomparable to even the old war god''s fingernail in his prime, the demonic cultivator was still a Profound Sky expert and could notice the faint slitting of their eyes.


    For a moment, he considered that they were transformed beasts, but that wouldn''t explain their lack of cultivation and still being able to stand his pressure.


    Unless?


    "...Dragons?"


    The word was muttered under his breath in shock as he looked at the boys in a new light.


    Everyone heard it though.


    "Yeah," Sarig yelled back. "So hands off our stuff or we''ll beat you up!"


    All eyes locked onto the children, the Twin Heavens Sect disciples openly gaping the ''bandit Young Masters'' who had accosted them.


    Greed overtook the demonic cultivator but he was not rookie. He knew that safety was best, even in front of these two small treasures.


    Thankfully, the pair didn''t seem that smart, based on how they were acting despite their weakness.


    "I hadn''t realized you were amazing dragons," the demonic cultivator said, all smiles now as he cupped his hands in respect. "I''m sorry for trying to interfere. How about I make it up to you? Where are your parents? I''d like to tell them what splendid sons they have."


    "Yeah we''re awesome," Jiraiya puffed out his chest in pride. "You can''t tell our Mom though. She''ll beat us up in training if she learns we snuck out again. If you want to make it up to us, you don''t have to do much. Just give us all your treasure... and food. We gotta make sure Boss doesn''t tattle."


    "Wonderful," the sect elder said, practically vibrating in joy. "Then why don''t you and Young Miss Ling Mei come with me? I have plenty of food."


    "No way!" Sarig said, crossing his arms. "Daddy said if a creepy old man tells us to go somewhere with him, we should kick him in between the legs as hard as we can and steal his wallet! Then we take his body to-"


    "WAIT!" Jiraiya suddenly shouted, even as everyone stared at the curly haired boy in horror. The blond''s eyes, however, were only for Ling Mei. "Pretty Threat... You are a Young Miss?"


    Ling Mei, seeing an opportunity for survival here, hurried to speak before the demonic cultivator could interrupt.


    "Yes, I am the daughter of the Second Elder of the Twin Heaven''s Sect. If you can tell call your fami-"


    Despite her mouth continuing to move, no sound escaped as the demonic sect elder cast another spell.


    Neither boy noticed though.


    "Little Bro!" Jiraiya pulled his brother''s sleeve to get his attention, his eyes shinning with excitement and joy.


    "Who are you calling little!" Sarig fumed, but the first born didn''t even bother repelling. He just said a simple sentence that dispersed the younger boy''s anger in a heartbeat.


    "Young Miss is what they call Princesses here!"


    Sarig, about to get into another wrestling match, suddenly stopped. His eyes also went wide.


    "...Really? You''re not lying like that time you said Boss was behind me when we stole cupcakes are you?"


    "No way!" Jiraiya said, practically vibrating in place. "Mommy Ichi was complaining to Mom the yesterday day about form... forma... about rules and stuff here. She said Young Misses were just like all the other clan princesses she knew."


    "A Princess..." Sarig said, now looking at Ling Mei in awe.


    Ling Mei had given up subtlety as was desperately trying to get the boys to call their family by use of hand gestures.


    "Hey you!" Jiraiya suddenly said, pointing at the old cultivator. "That''s our Princess! You can''t have her."


    Mo Xi, a venerable cultivator in the Profound Sky realm and Elder of the Peace Pavilion, was being careful. The entire time the boys had been conferring, he''d been scanning the area. Even if these two dragons thought they had snuck away from home, it wasn''t rare for powerful families to assign secret protectors to their children without them being aware.


    It would be a tragedy if there was a Nascent Soul, or worse, hiding nearby.


    Yet, even caution had its limits.


    Not only had he not discovered anything, but the old cultivator had been insulted and pointed at again.


    If he let this stand, would he still have face left?


    "You''re courting death child." Mo Xi¡¯s began to twitch.


    ¡°No. Daddy is.¡±


    Fully giving up the pretense of a kind elder, Mo Xi decided speed was his best bet at the moment and swept his hand in a grand gesture.


    He intended for this one move to be enough to not only crush the extraneous Twin Heavens sect disciples so they couldn¡¯t report anything, but also to capture Ling Mei and the little boys.


    There was only one small problem with his plan and it wasn''t the bandits'' ''hidden protector.''


    See, despite being only six years old, these two boys were still dragons.


    Specifically, they were the eldest sons of Tsunade Senju and Mikael.


    While they were nowhere near the strength of their parents yet and the cultivation world was a deep ocean filled with monsters, a Profound Sky cultivator wasn''t the oppressive force Mo Xi thought it was, limited as he was to a small corner of a small continent in a small world in a small universe.


    So, when Mo Xi swept his hand to hurry and finish things as quickly as possible, lest he be caught this close to the Twin Heavens sect or by wandering dragons, he didn''t even consider the fact that resistance was possible.


    After all, these were just children to the centuries old cultivator, who had a much higher realm.


    Only... nothing happened.


    There was a beat of silence as the disciples of the Twin Heavens sect waited for death, yet it never came.


    "You just tried to take our Princess, didn''t you!" Sarig shouted, not in question, but in accusation.


    "He did!" Jiraiya nodded fiercely, suddenly right beside Ling Mei.


    He barely came up to her thigh.


    "Rargh!" Sarig launched himself into the sky with a scream of primal (squeaky) rage, jettisoning himself toward Mo Xi.


    Unsure what had just happened, but assuming the pair had some sort of defensive treasures, Mo Xi hurried to extend his full power to try and smack the boy from the sky.


    Even if the young dragon died, it would only be a small loss. The body was valuable enough on its own.


    The boy wasn''t traveling fast, like a Profound Sky cultivator, but had just jumped with the force of, perhaps, an initial Golden Core realm.


    Only... nothing happened again.


    Sarig crashed into Mo Xi''s chest head first.


    The demonic cultivator, right before he was hit, felt his power fluctuate around his body.


    BANG!


    Both fell from the sky and crashed into the ground.


    Sarig landed beside his brother, his soft, curly hair not even ruffled by the impact.


    Mo Xi crashed into the forest, his body breaking through three trees before finally coming to a stop.


    "Blegh!" Sarig said in the direction of the fallen cultivator, sticking out his tongue after high-fiving his brother.


    Mo Xi spent a moment trying to understand what had just happened.


    The boy had been strong for a ''mortal,'' equal to an early stage Golden Core, but it was the weakness right before the impact that had ensured Mo Xi had lost this exchange. What had caused it?


    In a world where the strength of cultivation was paramount, nobody really knew how to prepare for when a fight wasn''t decided on brute force, or at least they were unprepared for a battle of ''concepts'' at this low a level.


    Perhaps if Mo Xi had transcended the Nascent Soul realm and achieved the fabled Dao Hall stage, coming into contact with a Dao to study, he might have gotten a basic sense of what just happened.


    It didn''t matter how strong was, if one wasn''t exposed to a wide range of ideas, one would simply lack the context to understand when the ''rules'' of the world changed.


    So Mo Xi had no way of knowing that his power had simply ceased to exist for a moment while his attempt to use it only empowered the attack coming his way.


    Had he arrived earlier, he might have had a clue.


    Why was it that when the two boys were fighting, there was no damage to the road?


    Why, with the strength equivalent to a Golden Core, had the wrestling of the two brothers looked just like the actions of mortal boys their age?


    Was it because Tsunade Senju, their mother, was famed for her control and passed it onto her sons?


    Impossible.


    Anyone knows that little boys, no matter their training, have zero control without a history of abuse that Mikael and Tsunade would never allow?


    So why had the pair been as week as six year olds on moment and strong enough to hurt Mo Xi the next?


    Why had Mikael and the Family let these two boys ''sneak out'' in the first place?


    Mo Xi couldn''t know this, but he did know that even with that weird weakening of his Qi, he hadn''t been really injured and the dragon had not been faster than him.


    Which meant he could win.


    From the forest where he''d fallen, Mo Xi rose to his feet and dashed back toward the road.


    In less than a heartbeat, the demonic cultivator appeared behind Jiraiya like a ghost, blade set to decapitate both children in one move. He wouldn''t give them a chance to use whatever technique it was again.


    But it wasn''t a technique.


    Jiraiya and Sarig Senju were, surprisingly, not Life Dragons like their parents.


    Their Elements, instead, could be said to be the two halves of what makes ''Life''.


    So, when the spiritual blade, a treasure from a hidden realm, fell upon Jiraiya''s neck no blood flowed.


    Instead the blade rusted over and disintegrated as if it had spent countless years without use or upkeep.


    A weapon of War could never hurt a Dragon of Peace.


    Sarig, surprised by the appearance of the ''Princess Thief,'' quickly launched himself at Mo Xi once more.


    Despite his shock at loosing his treasured weapon, Mo Xi had been ready to retreat at a moment''s notice.


    Only... his Qi was sluggish to respond, his mind was slow, and he nearly tripped over his own feat as he turned.


    A man at Peace is never prepared for a Dragon of War.


    Sarig''s foot landed squarely in the old man''s groin.


    The scream was heard for miles.


    If one were to say that the eldest children of Mikael were weak, one wouldn''t be wrong. They were barely Tier 4 as the Family didn''t want to give too much power to children until they matured more.


    Yet, despite being children, one also wouldn''t be wrong to call them strong.


    When the Dragon of Peace and the Dragon of War worked together, even if they couldn''t beat someone, they would never lose to anyone under Tier 7... or Dao Hall stage, as this world would call it.


    Truly, evil was a strong and omnipresent force, taking the most unexpected of shapes.


    Ling Mei, who had watched this entire scenario from start to end and been able to follow along, still couldn''t believe her eyes at seeing a venerable Profound Sky Elder rolling on the ground screaming in pain.


    Not only for the fact he had ''lost'' to children so decisively, but because... Well, the pain shouldn''t be that bad, comparatively.


    Certainly, getting hit there would hurt, and it was generally considered uncouth to do so, but cultivators regularly dealt with pain much worse.


    Whether it was broken bones from fights, poisonous concoctions, rampant Qi, or even just day to day pain of opening meridians at the Foundation Laying realm, it should all be worse than a kick to the groin. There were even some cultivation methods where castration was the barrier to entry.


    Yet here was a demonic sect Elder screaming like he was a mortal who''d never been in a fight before suddenly losing his... manhood.


    Sarig kicked him again.


    "W.h...y" Mo Xi rasped, tears streaming down his face at the pain.


    "Daddy said if someone touches themselves between the legs near us, we should kick there," Jiraiya answered ''helpfully'' with a cheerful, boyish smile on his face.


    Then he also kicked Mo Xi in the groin.


    Mo Xi spat a mouthful of blood and passed out in anger and pain.

 SS - Two Terrible Twins Travel Through Troubled Times III

    ''What... just happened?'' Xiao Tian asked his teacher, trying to make sense of the last minute of his life.


    He hadn''t even had time to use his bloodline''s first level feature to flee before a Profound Sky realm expert was beaten by a pair of children.


    ''That child, Sarig, has touched upon the Dao of War,'' the old war god said gravely. ''I... can''t tell how much, but it is no less than my own attainments.''


    ''A Dao! Is he-?''


    ''No.'' Wang Xiang cut off his pupil. ''He still hasn''t cultivated.''


    ''That isn''t possible.''


    ''It shouldn''t be possible,'' the teacher corrected. ''One needs their Nascent Soul to even be able to feel Dao, let alone understand it. Yet it is his brother that frightens me.''


    ''Master!?''


    ''Jiraiya Senju completely suppressed my own Dao.'' It was a frightening thing for the old war god. His Dao was all that was keeping his soul anchored to this world. ''If he had used it for more than a moment, I would have disappeared for good.''


    Murderous impulse sired within Xiao Tian.


    He refused to lose his teacher after he already lost everyone else in his life.


    ''Do not!'' Wang Xiang ordered instantly. ''You are not their match. No one under the Dao Hall realm is. You will be as helpless as that demonic sect elder, even if you surprise them.''


    ''But-''


    ''But nothing. Take from this a lesson. There is always a taller mountain. There is always a greater talent.''


    Xiao Tian felt bitterness well up at the words. Reluctance when confronted by the truth of them.


    He, with his Bloodline and heaven defying luck, had risen too quickly.


    Less than a year ago, he''d been a mortal and now he was a Spirit Building realm cultivator, an unheard of feat. He''d nursed within his heart an arrogance that had gone unchecked all this time.


    Were those who were stronger than him? Certainly, but Xiao Tian had always believed it was solely due to the advantage in time and recourses they had over him. His talent and dedication would make it so that, eventually, he''d be the one standing on top.


    Even if he started the race late, he''d finish first.


    Yet now...


    ''This is a blessing,'' Wang Xiang sensed the fluctuations in his disciple''s soul and directed his mind in another direction. ''Without this demon sect elder, we would have tried to attack them ourselves. Even if the heavens themselves descended to help us escape, we would not be able hide from a Dao Hall cultivator, even with your bloodline. Even the weakest has unfathomable means. And whatever faction these dragons are from are certainly not weak.''


    That did make Xiao Tian feel slightly better. If nothing else, his luck held strong.


    The aforementioned dragons were, during this discussion, engaging in the second greatest tradition of fighting.


    Looting!


    (It should be noted that the third greatest tradition of fighting is the silent respect held between worthy foes.


    The greatest tradition of a fight is, without a doubt, the trash talk.


    This list was, of course, made by Mikael and posted over the entrance to the training yard so every child saw it before and after their daily practice.)


    "Why is he so poor?" Sarig complained, holding up the robe that was too big for him and trying to find pockets he had missed.


    "Because he was weak?" Jiraiya guessed with a shrug, still standing next to Ling Mei.


    "That can''t be right," Sarig disagreed. "Daddy said weak bandits don''t last long and this guy''s really old."


    "Young Masters," Ling Mei, who had remained quiet until now decided to take a chance to escape these terrifying little boys. "Perhaps this one might be able to help? This one suspects Mo Xi has quite a bit of wealth."


    "Yeah?" Sarig asked eagerly. "Where is it?"


    "If this one is able to find enough treasure to satisfy the Young Masters, would you permit this one and her Junior Disciples to return to their mission with our own meager possessions?"


    Ling Mei, though she was acting very humble in front of the little dragons, actually had a pretty descent impression of the two boys. They were terrifyingly strong for their age but, despite that, they hadn''t really hurt her or he companions when they had the chance.


    (Mu Bang''s injuries were ignored as minor wounds taken from a senior cultivator teaching a junior their place.


    What a sad world this was for those without power.)


    Jiraiya and Sarig had even defended them from an ambush from a demonic sect elder. If not for them being here, Ling Mei shuddered to think what would have happened to her.


    So, if she could convince them to let her leave without further issues, this would be a profit within disaster. Now, how to convince them that she didn''t-


    "Ok.""Sure."


    ... Never mind.


    "Then allow this one."


    Still accompanied by Jiraiya, Ling Mei approached the old cultivator.


    Averting her eyes so she didn''t have to see his wrinkled nude form, the darling of the Twin Heavens sect retrieved the plain ring from the small pile of looted goods.


    Normally it would be impossible for a Golden Core cultivator to break the spirit seal on a Profound Sky cultivator''s storage ring but since the man was unconscious, he could not resist.


    In less than a minute, Ling Mei had removed everything of value from the ring, pilling it up on the road.


    Dozens of mystical and esoteric weapons. Piles of raw materials, each rarer than the last. Hundreds of refined pills of all sorts. A small mountain of High Grade Spirit Stones.


    The most precious contents were the handful of precious plants and fruits that even gave Ling Mei a flicker of greed at the sight.


    That was a thousand year old Ginseng! And Bloodbark Willow Fruit! And there was a Beastmarrow Pellet!


    Not even her father, the Second Elder of the greatest sect in the province was this wealthy.


    So why did those boys look disappointed?


    "So, it''s like a bottomless box," Jiraiya looked at the ring with more interest than the treasures. "Are the others like that?"


    "Where is the rest?" Sarig asked, looking at Ling Mei suspiciously.


    "This- This one has emptied it completely," Ling Mei hurried to answer, her heart skipping a beat. "This is everything and not even a petal is left."


    "Hmmm." Sarig said suspiciously.


    "Aha!" Jiraiya cried out in triumph, holding up the ring to his brother.


    Then he wilted.


    "Darn it!"


    "What?"


    "This thing works on Aura," Jiraiya explained. "If you poke it with a bit of it, you can see inside. But its so small. There''s not even enough room for Andromeda!"


    Sarig pouted but eventually sighed and patted Ling Mei on the lower back. (The highest he could reach on her.)


    "Sorry for not believing you Princess," he said consolingly. "I guess he really was poor. Thanks for trying to help though."


    Ling Mei didn''t know whether to laugh or cry.


    "With everything else it... might be enough?" Jiraiya said hesitantly. "Maybe the Boss hasn''t tried some of this stuff? Anything new counts as double, right?" There was a note of hope in his voice, but it was small.This book''s true home is on another platform. Check it out there for the real experience.


    "Right," Sarig sighed again.


    One would be forgiven for having pity on these two little boys who looked like they were going to cry... If one forgot they were looking at enough treasure to found a small sect and considering it poor.


    Such was the nature of evil, unable to be satisfied.


    "Does this not satisfy the Young Masters?" Ling Mei asked with a bow. "If so, this one can provide more should we arrive in Wulin, in thanks for your aid."


    "Nah," Jiraiya joined his brother on patting Ling Mei on the back consolingly, looking up at her kindly. "Daddy said we should always keep our promises so, even though the baddie was poor, we won''t rob you anymore."


    Ling Mei''s eye twitched, but she swallowed the retort in her heart.


    Why were these boys so close to her!? And touching her!


    Didn''t their parents teach them about decorum!?


    Instead she just bowed again.


    "Many thanks to the Young Masters. Will this one have-"


    Whatever Ling Mei was going to ask was cut off by another voice.


    "There you are!"


    The disciples of the Twin Heavens sect felt their heart fall at the familiar call out.


    Only... That voice was surprisingly squeaky for a demonic cultivator, wasn''t it?


    Barely had the voice called out that the sky darkened.


    Ling Mei, with dread in her heart, looked up to see a terrifying sight.


    A red... beast of some sort flew above them.


    An enormous monstrosity larger than the greatest pavilion. Its skull was shaped like a dragon and it was covered in scales but that was where the similarities ended. A long sinuous neck connected to a thick body. It''s arms were large leathery wings and its legs were thick before ending in three sharp talons. Great spikes ran from its horned head, along its back, and down a long pointed tail.


    ''What sort of beast is that?'' Xiao Tian asked his teacher, almost in awe at the elegant yet brutal form. And its size!


    ''I... do not know.'' Wang Xiang faltered slightly. ''A dragon-bird of some sort? Look at the base of its neck!''


    It was only thanks to his cultivation that Xiao Tian was able to notice the small form nestled between two spikes.


    A... little girl?


    "Jiraiya! Sarig!" She called down.


    "Olivia! Andromeda!" Jiraiya called out, waiving up at the girl. "Check it out! We''re bandits!"


    He said it with such innocent joy that one could forget that he was speaking as an agent of evil.


    Unfortunately, even chaos gremlins have fears and both brothers paled as their younger sister yelled back the most dreaded words in their Family.


    "You''re gonna be late for dinner!"


    A beat of silence.


    ""Shit!""


    Sarig and Jiraiya moved fast, grabbing handfuls of their loot and shoving it quickly into fist sized boxed that hung from their belts.


    "Hurry hurry hurry."


    "Get the food first!" Jiraiya told his younger brother. "If we can get it and get home befo-"


    "Mrow."


    Both boys froze.


    It was here!


    The one they fear!


    ""Boss!"" The twins greeted, pale faced and sweating.


    Ling Mei, already looking toward the sky and the red beast, had seen the other three approaching from the distant skies at terrifying speed.


    It was with despair that Ling Mei realized the one carrying the girl was the smallest of the four.


    The largest, a good twenty percent larger than the others, was the source of the sound that froze the bandits in place.


    ...No. It wasn''t the massive beast.


    It wasn''t even the little girl, barely older than four, that trundled down the creature''s neck as it lowered its head near the ground.


    The sound had come from the fat cat in the little girls arms.


    "Mrow!"


    The sound was distinctly displeased as the tubby creature rose from the small child''s arms on tiny wings.


    It flapped toward the little boys, a displeased rumbling coming from its thoat.


    ""Sorry Boss."" Jiraiya and Sarig both lowered their heads at the chastisement.


    "We lost track of time robbing people," Sarig tried to defend themselves sheepishly.


    "Mom said the food''s getting cold. She made Aunt Circe''s Kykeon."


    The little girl looked like she was ready to cry at the thought, which seemed to incense the chubby cat more.


    "MROW!"


    ""Sorry Ismene.""


    Both boys knew how much their littlest sister loved Mommy Medea''s Kykeon and nobody, not even the Boss, liked seeing the baby of the Family sad.


    They were in deep trouble.


    The Family only had one absolute rule: No matter how busy one was, everybody was to be back for dinner together.


    They were in for a chewing out when they got home.


    Yet even in the darkest of nights, there is light.


    "I forgive you." The smile on Ismene''s face was positively angelic, her cheeks laden with baby fat dimpling as her little hands gave her older brother gentle ''pat pats'' on their head.


    Now both boys looked like they were ready to cry as well.


    The tubby feline did not look so forgiving though, the rumbling coming from its tummy exacerbating its displeasure at having its meal delayed.


    All four of the great red beasts shifted slightly further away from the cat and the children all flinched.


    Olivia, since her little sister had already forgiven them, decided to give her older brothers a lifeline.


    "Did you get any good stuff?" She said, looking suggestively at the pile of treasures.


    "We did. We did." Let it not be said that Mikael''s oldest was unable to recognize an opportunity when given, even if he wasn''t a Dragon of Knowledge like Olivia.


    "Mrow?"


    Both Sarig and Jiraiya hurried to empty their bottomless boxes on the ground.


    Items and treasures began pouring from the small boxes as if flowing from a river.


    Ling Mei lost all decorum as her mouth gaped and her eyes nearly popped out of her head as the more wealth than she could imagined poured forth.


    No wonder they thought Mo Xi was poor! Did these boy rob a dozen sects or something?!


    Suddenly, Ling Mei realized a horrifying implication.


    If they didn''t understand how to use storage rings, then all this loot was simply what was loose.


    Forget sects, they must have looted an entire province!


    And all before dinner?!


    Ling Mei felt feint.


    "We got stuff for everyone," Sarig said, pointing at enough jade manuals to fill an imperial library. "These are books... I think? Anyway, Mommy Robin will like them." Olivia''s eyes shone with childish greed. "These are medicines for Mom. Some weapons for Daddy and Mommy Diana. Some clothes and toys for you and Mommy Medea." Ismene''s face lit up with joy and she clapped with a childish squeal of delight. "And food for you Boss!"


    The ''food'' the little boy pointed at was... a mixed pile. Some of it was understandable, like a small mountain of bloody corpses of various beasts and an assortment of mystical plants.


    Some of it was... less understandable.


    Why was the treasure trove of spiritual stones counted among the food?


    "Mrow."


    The cat sniffed haughtily, its tiny wings carrying its floofy magnificence closer.


    Faster than Ling Mei could follow, a round paw reached into the pile of bodies and withdrew a heart, still covered in fresh blood. A heart as big as the cat itself.


    Everyone present seemed to hold their breath as small, pink, sandpaper-like tongue licked the heart once.


    The cat paused as if in consideration. Its tiny wings flapped quickly to keep it hovering in place, as its tongue poked out of its mouth, like Daddy did when he was concentrating really hard.


    With a dismissive "Mrow," the fat feline threw the heart over its shoulder.


    Hengeron II''s long neck darted forward, swallowing the heart in a happy gulp.


    That seemed to be a signal for the other three drakes, as all four descended on the pile of bodies like a flock of crows, their draconic heads descending to take a big mouthful of meat before backing away to let the others get a bite.


    In only a few seconds, under the horrified eyes of the sect disciples, the mountain of beast corpses become naught but bloody remains.


    While her followers fed themselves, Medea the Boss Cat moved over to the rest of the food pile.


    Jiraiya and Sarig clenched their fists.


    This was it.


    If the Boss liked what they got enough, she''d help them sneak out again.


    If not, then she''d tattle on them whenever they tried until they pleased her.


    Nobody got on or off the Island without the Boss'' knowledge.


    Medea landed on the mountain of spirit stones, batted one around with her little paw, and knocked another tumbling from the pile.


    It was drawing it''s decision out to tease the boys, Ling Mei realized. This... beast, despite not being in human form or speaking the human language, was just as smart as everyone here.


    And, if the those terrifying dragon children called this thing ''Boss,'' Ling Mei could only shudder in horror to imagine its power.


    Finally, the cat opened its mouth to deliver its verdict.


    "Mrow."


    "Yes!"


    "Woohoo."


    "Good job!"


    Unlike her sister, who celebrated their older brothers'' achievement by cheering with them, Olivia just clapped lightly.


    Then she ruined their fun.


    "We are officially late for dinner."


    ""Crap!""


    "Bad word!" Ismene immediately gasped and pointed at her brothers in accusation.


    "Sorry," Sarig said without any repentance, shoving the stuff back into his box as he shot a look to his older brother. "I''ll grab the stuff. You grab her."


    A bad feeling arose in the sect disciples.


    "Wha-" Ling Mei didn''t even have time to ask her question before Jiraiya had grabbed her, thrown her over his shoulder, and jumped onto Cassandra''s scaly neck.


    For some reason, no matter what she tried, Ling Mei couldn''t escape his grasp.


    "This one doesn''t understand!" She called out. "You said you wouldn''t rob us?"


    "We''re not going to rob you," the blond ''reassured'' her with a kind smile. "This is a kidnapping."


    Dumbfounded by the shamelessness of the statement, Ling Mei stuttered in a most unladylike fashion at the rogue''s audacity.


    Thankfully, someone here had some morals-


    "Kidnapping is wrong," Ismene declared with a fierce glare (adorable pout) at her older brother as she placed her hands on her hips.


    "She''s a Princess."


    "Oh." Ismene blinked, both her and Olivia looking at Ling Mei in a new light. "That''s okay then."


    -...unfortunately, ''some morals'' wasn''t saying much. She was still Mikael and Medea''s daughter.


    "This one is not a Princess." Ling Mei, seeing no rescue coming, hurried to explain. "This one has no relation to the Imperial Court. This one is simply the daughter of a Sect Elder. Not even the Sect Master."


    "Do you think we are bad people?" Olivia asked Ling Mei with a frown and the Young Miss didn''t know what to say for a moment. Thankfully, Nico Robin''s daughter was more than happy to explain her thoughts. "It''s wrong to judge others because they aren''t as lucky as us. Just because you are a poor Princess doesn''t mean we''ll look down on you."


    Ling Mei gaped at the girl.


    On the one hand, that was a very admirable stance to take. Especially for one as privileged as Nico Olivia, Mikael''s eldest daughter. Forget a silver or gold spoon, being a child of Existence was being born with a divinely crafted mythril spoon. To have some sort of guiding principles this young, despite her separation from day to day life, spoke to a moral code, despite only being five years old.


    On the other hand...


    Ling Mei was still being kidnapped!


    "All done!" Sarig called, jumping on Llamrei II''s head. "Go! Go! Go!"


    Ismene, who had already retaken her place on Hengeron II''s neck, held out her hands and Medea landed in her arms with a tiny cat burp.


    Ling Mei turned her head to see the road was completely clear of anything except a few splotches of blood and her Junior Brothers, who watched the occurrence silently with wide eyes, helpless to do anything in face of beings capable of defeating Sky Striding cultivator.


    The Young Miss'' heart froze.


    Where was Mo Xi''s unconscious body?


    Medea the Floofiest Boss Cat stuck her tongue out in a little blep as she opened a grey door in the sky toward the Island, one large enough for all four drakes to fly through.


    The last thing Xiao Tian heard before everyone disappeared was Jiraiya Senju''s voice yelling loud enough to hear.


    "Daddy look! We kidnapped our first princess!"


    Then the sky was clear.


    ...


    "Should... Should we tell the sect?" Mu Bang asked hesitantly, blood dribbling from his lips.


    Nobody had an answer.


    How were they supposed to return to the sect when their Young Miss, the darling of the Second Elder and chosen disciple of the Sect Master, who they were supposed to protect, had been taken?


    Wasn''t that just asking for death?


    And what were they supposed to say?


    ''Help! My Senior Sister, the Sect Princess, was kidnapped by Dragons!... But they were children!''


    ¡­That sounded like a children''s tale, did it not?


    Or perhaps, looking at it from another''s perspective it could be called something like this:


    ''Kidnapping Princesses 101: How I met your mother.''

 SS – Two Terrible Twins Travel Through Troubled Times IV

    "Daddy look! We kidnapped our first princess!"


    Those were the words that sealed Ling Mei''s fate...


    "You boys are in so much trouble."


    ...Not that she heard them.


    ""But moooom.""


    No sooner had she passed through the grey portal than she began to choke on air.


    "No buts. Sit down. We''ll discuss your punishment after dinner."


    More specifically, Ling Mei was choking on the Qi in the air.


    ""...Yes mom.""


    It was so... thick. Thick enough it covered her vision like fog and filled her throat like water.


    "And you two! Why did you help them kidnap someone? You should know better than that."


    This was a Holy Land the likes of which didn''t even exist in stories.


    "She''s a Princess! Daddy says we need to kidnap every princess we can if we want to get married in the future."


    Forget twice the result for half the effort, cultivating here would be a hundred times more effective than anywhere else.


    "Daddy said that''s how he met you and the other Mommies!"


    Just staying here passively would turn any cultivator into a Profound Sky expert in five- No! Three years!


    "...Your father and I will be having a long talk later. For now, hand her over. Something''s clearly wrong with her."


    Only if they could survive though.


    "Don''t bother. I recognize her. She can sit next to me. Right now, she needs to process the Qi in the air, or she''ll explode."


    Ling Mei''s eyes were closed, and she didn''t hear a word. She was completely oblivious to the world around her.


    "AH! Don''t let her explode Aunty Em!"


    The genius of the Twin Heavens Sect was desperately circling her cultivation technique, trying to process Qi faster than it could accumulate.


    "She''ll be fine once she eats something."


    And she was failing.


    "Phew. That''s good. She shouldn''t die just because she''s a weak poor princess."


    It wasn''t even a slow process. More and more Qi poured into her from her meridians, filling her Golden Core to bursting.


    "...One of those cultivators? Is that where you ran off to?"


    Desperately, Ling Mei cycled and cycled, but her dantian continued to swell to a painful level.


    "We were bandits! We got a bunch of presents for everyone."


    If this continued, she''d die.


    "We have plants, and books, and medicine, and clothes, and please don''t be mad."


    ...There was a solution, but one that would be just as painful than death. Or even worse.


    "...We''ll talk about it later. For now, go sit down. You two as well."


    It would be a betrayal of her father, her sect, her struggles, and would potentially doom her to a fate worse than death.


    ""Yes mom."" "Yes, Mommy Tsu.""


    With a decisive will, Ling Mei directed her Qi to shatter her meridians, making her a cripple for life.


    ...


    It didn''t work! Ling Mei found she couldn''t control her Qi at all!


    "...Why did he allow this?"


    It was like trying to direct a leaf to the center of a hurricane, only to be blown away in every direction the wind willed.


    "They were safe, got a lot of material, and will also learn that actions can have consequences."


    No. It was closer to a river trying to direct the sea. Her minuscule power was simply another drop of water in the current.


    "And because he found it funny."


    There was an irony there that Ling Mei would never be able to appreciate.


    A cultivator was the ultimate selfish being. They seized the power of the world for their own, uncaring of the results. Now, a woman dying of thirst was surrounded by water and it was drowning her.


    "That as well. But there was a real goal. He doesn''t want them to be trapped on the Island. They need to experience the world beyond the Family."


    Ling Mei had a sudden epiphany there, as the pain mounted. A moment of clarity and Insight at the boundary of life and death.


    "... I know. But unlike him, I''m not omniscient."


    This place, this Qi, this WORLD... It was Alive.


    "He knows that and tries to limit himself as well. But it wasn''t just for them. He also wants you to be ready when they need to leave for real. And your reaction wouldn''t have been genuine if he t


    Alive and aware. Powerful beyond all reckoning, beyond the greatest cultivator she had ever heard of, but it was not passive.


    "I''ll talk to him myself later. But... Thanks Em. Getting into his mind is much easier when we have someone to translate for us."


    No. This place. This World Island... It was alive, aware, and malicious.


    "I am simply doing my duty."


    Just as Ling Mei could absorb its Qi, so too could it absorb her.


    "Then you should get her to the table soon. I might not know anything about cultivation, but she''s going to die in twenty-seven seconds if nothing is done."


    Drowning in Qi, the desire of every cultivator, she was helpless to do anything as she was consumed by the Island.


    Ling Mei, a genius cultivator, had tried to seize the heavens and been seized in turn.


    Then a warm burst of flavor filled her mouth.


    The pain faded, her meridians ceased aching, and her Golden Core no longer felt as if it would explode her dantian.


    And Ling Mei could breathe!


    As the food dissolved on her tongue, Ling Mei let out a sound that was a mix of a sigh and a moan.


    The Qi remained just as thick as before, still omnipresent and thick enough to liquefy if given the chance, but it now seemed as if it was trying to devour her whole.


    It was as if the heavens themselves had granted Ling Mei a stay of execution.


    More than that, with the Qi density still so thick, Ling Mei felt her cultivation advancing at a blinding speed.


    The pain she endured, and the Insight she had gained, was enough to propel her to the middle of the Golden Core realm, something she hadn''t expected to achieve for another decade. Spending a few months here would get her to the edge of the Profound Sky realm!


    Almost without conscious thought, Ling Mei''s mouth opened to accept another mouthful of food.


    Like the first, a burst of delicious flavor dissolved on her tongue and her overstuffed channels relaxed further.


    ... Enough so that Ling Mei became conscious of the sounds around her for the first time since her arrival.


    Opening her eyes, the Young Miss of the Twin Heavens sect found herself face to face with a laughing young woman no older than her.


    "You were right Mikael," she snickered, staring at Ling Mei. "Cultivators are hilarious. Her bodily response to the influx of energy is no less than a druggie getting her fix."


    "I''m always right~" A man singsonged.


    """"""No, you''re not.""""""


    The man ignored the combined voices interrupting him to continue speaking.


    "Don''t be hard be too hard on our little vic- Princess. She just went from the worst trash basuco cut with baking soda to the purest Columbian powder that would even make Snowflame overdose."


    "Please do not mention that man while we are eating," a familiar voice spoke, and the kidnapped princess blinked slowly as she stared at the beautiful woman. One of... many. But this one was... familiar, somehow.


    Ling Mei, uncomprehending what was happening, obediently opened her mouth and a third bit of food was placed on her tongue.


    "What''s Columbian powder daddy?"


    "It''s slang for a drug that causes momentary pleasure at the cost of long-term health."


    "Why would someone use that kind of drug? Why not use a better one?"


    "Access and escapism. Some people are less fortunate and seek what pleasure they can get, even if it hurts them in the long run. Don''t forget that we are very lucky to have Mommy Tsu for any health issues."


    "But why don''t they make better drugs then?"


    "Because not everybody is as smart as you are dear."


    "Oh... Should I make better drugs?"


    "While that can be a project for the future, you should only do so when you''re older and understand the socioeconomic consequences of your actions. For now, continue to learn about the world and, only when you have formed your own opinion should you commit to a plan like that... Unless you just want to create them for fun and don''t plan on releasing them. Then go ahead so long as me or one of your moms are with you."


    "Okay Daddy."


    "Good girl. Now finish your dinner. Mommy Medea worked hard on it and the sooner you all finish the sooner we can get to movie time."


    "Can we watch a documentary tonight?"


    "It''s Ismene''s turn to choose."


    "I guess Jojo''s good too."


    It was by the fifth bite that Ling Mei was aware enough to be able to recognize the face of the woman she''d been staring at while the man spoke to the little girl seated beside him at the table.


    (Her mind absently noted her as Olivia, the little girl who found Sarig and Jiraiya Senju accosting her and her fellow sect disciples.)


    When she could finally put a name to the face and voice, Ling Mei couldn''t help but blurt it out.


    "Shuang Aima!?"


    It was as if a spell was broken, and a torrent of sound and images suddenly became clear to Ling Mei.


    She was seated at a long rectangular table positively bursting with beautiful women. No including her, there were sixteen women eating and talking amongst each other. Interspersed between them were a few young children, but none older than the two boys who had kidnapped her.


    "Wonderful of you to join us," the sole man, seated at the head of the table, gave her a mischievous smile. "I was worried we''d have to keep you locked in a tower until you got better."


    The man''s eyes were a burning orange with obviously slit pupils.


    A fully grown dragon!


    "The Mansion does not possess a tower, Sir Bard. Perhaps we should recreate mine home in Ariamis?" A pale woman with long white hair, slightly scaly skin and spikes for eyebrows over slit green eyes said, and Ling Mei''s head snapped to her.


    Dragons. A table full of dragons!


    She''d been taken to a dragon''s den!


    "You know, that''s not a bad idea," the Dragon King, for that was what he must be, rubbed his chin in thought. "What do you say kids? What to make a clubhouse with Daddy?"


    ""Yes!""


    "You two are still in trouble," a... voluptuous blonde dragon said, glaring at Sarig and Jiraiya who wilted under her look.


    "It''s alright boys," the Dragon King laughed, getting a glare as well, to which he winked back. "So am I. We''ll do it when we''re out of the drake-house."


    Both boys looked noticeably happier at that and started eating again.


    Ling Mei seized the brief lull to increase her chance of survival.


    She descended from her chair to kneel toward the table full of creatures more powerful than even the Sect Master.


    "A hundred thousand pardons to the Dragon King. This humble one is Ling Mei, a lowly disciple of the Twin Heavens Sect and failed to greet the Esteemed Ones properly. The Long Island sect is more wondrous than imagined and this lowly one was overcome in its splendor. The name of Mai Keer is as thunder in this humble one''s ears and this one begs your benevolence in sparing my sect for any offense this humble one might have caused Your Eminence"


    Everyone had watched her entreaty in silence, some in surprise, but her plea was met with an unexpected response.


    Laughter.


    Not from the Dragon King, who watched her with a neutral face, but from the young woman sitting across from Ling Mei. She was the youngest here by far excepting the actual children. Perhaps not even in out of her teen years and into full womanhood.


    "Hahahaha," she howled, pounding her fist on the table. "''Mai Keer!'' ''Long Island Sect!'' Oh god, she''s great! Can we keep her? Can we?"


    "Hey," Sarig stood up in his chair, pointing a finger at the laughing woman. "Don''t bully our Princess! She''s ours!"


    The blonde woman who sat between him and Jiraiya placed a firm hand on his shoulder and forced him back into his seat.


    "Sorry little guy," the laughing woman said, not sounding regretful in the least as she reached over to ruffle his curly hair. He batted her hand away with a pout.


    "Val. Don''t laugh."


    The room fell into complete silence, not even the clinking of silverware continuing after the Dragon King''s order.


    Ling Mei, who remained bowed, couldn''t see his face as he spoke.


    "Ling Mei comes from a world where strength is the be all, end all. Where any old man on the road can kill millions. Where cities are regularly destroyed overnight. Where you never know if one wrong word to someone stronger than you can result in your entire family being wiped out. As a woman in such a world, particularly one with a unique body like hers, you can imagine her fate were she to displease someone above her. I hate formality, just as much as you, but to people like her it was a shield. Her only shield in a world where justice is just a concept used by the weak to make themselves feel better about their terrible lives in the hope that the immortal, all powerful monsters shaped like them will one day feel a fraction of pain they inflict on people just trying to live their lives."


    "...Sorry."


    "It''s all right. You''re still adjusting to your Element. Just remember that something funny to us might be a source of trauma to others. She genuinely thinks that we will kill, eat, or... defile her because of her Pure Spring Divine Bod, which is a resource many wouldn''t pass up on. Maybe we''ll do all three. Yet rather than ask to be spared, she''s begging for her sect''s safety. Why is that, Ling Mei? Why not beg for your life?"


    Ling Mei responded without hesitation.


    "This humble one''s life is yours to do with as you please, Esteemed Dragon King. This humble one merely wished for benevolence to be carried to the Twin Heavens Sect. This humble one''s father, teacher, and sect brothers and sisters are blameless for this humble one''s failure to respect the illustrious Long Island Sect."


    "Family, huh."


    There was a beat of silence as Mikael met the eyes of not only Valeria, but also of his kids who were watching this event with distressed looks. Sarig and Jiraiya looked angry, Olivia was frowning, and Ismene was openly crying.


    "If I were to kill this woman right here and now-"


    """"Daddy don''t-""""


    "Shh. Let your father speak."


    "If I were to kill this woman right here and now, she''d consider it a mercy. If I told her Sect, they''d have to thank me and apologize for the inconvenience she caused me. Do you all know why?"


    "...Because they''re scared." Olivia answered quietly.


    "They, and Ling Mei, are scared." Mikael nodded at his eldest daughter. "Scared of my power. Of what I could do to them and what they cherish. There is no greater fear in a cultivation world than the fear of death. Their entire lives revolve around running from death. In doing so, in fear of an End that will inevitably come, they make Life cheap. Fear is good. It keeps us alive. But it isn''t all there is. So do not laugh when someone begs for their lives or those of those they love. Just as I once did. Instead, help them to their feet and teach them that Life is more than a fear of Death, even if that fear is all they''ve ever known."


    A hand, rough and calloused from years of hard struggle, gently pulled Ling Mei from her kneeling position and she found herself looking up at the gentle eyes of the Dragon King.


    He was smiling. Gentle at first, but once she was standing on her own feet, his smile turned mischievous again.


    He pulled out the chair she had been seated in and gently guided her back to her seat beside Shuang Ai, who had been the one feeding her the lifesaving food.


    The Dragon King''s smile was gentle at first, but once she was seated, his smile turned mischievous again.


    CLAP!


    "Since we do not plan on hurting you and will return you home after dinner if you wish, let''s get introductions out of the way," the Dragon King, as if the grave mood never existed, simply retook his seat with a smile. "I''m Mikael. Dragon Dad. You know Em and Emma Frost." He gestured to Shuang Ai and Shuang Aima respectively. "We''re the only ones to really interact with your world so, like me, they used iterations on our names to fit in better."


    There he went using ''your world'' again. Even without his strength, it was clear the Dragon King came from a higher realm of sorts by his words and actions.


    "Use whichever name works best for you," Shua- Emma Frost said casually, sipping a red drink from a clear glass.


    "Beside Emma, is Nico Robin. You met our daughter Olivia." A more traditionally beautiful woman, with long dark hair and clear skin, seated next to Olivia. The resemblance between the pair was clear, only differing in the younger girl''s curlier hair and darker eyes.


    "Beside her is Melina-"


    "And?" It was a woman with one regular eye one made of flame that raised a brow and interrupted the man.


    Wasn''t she worried about displeasing the Dragon King?


    "I was getting there. And the Phoenix."


    Ling Mei''s heart skipped a beat. A phoenix?!


    At least a few beasts could claim to have the bloodline of dragons, extremely diluted as it might be, but a Phoenix was another story entirely!If you discover this narrative on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the violation.


    "They''re kind of a two-for-one special and the bird brain doesn''t like to be ignored. You''d think it was used to it by now. Anyway, next is Scathach." A woman who''d taken one look at Ling Mei, gave a nod, then went back to speaking to the blonde next to her. "Then Glynda Goodwitch."


    "Greetings."


    "Artoria Pendragon."


    "Your courage and integrity does you credit." Another fair-haired woman, just as... bodacious as Tsunade gave Ling Mei a respectful nod.


    Ling Mei wondered why there were more plates in front of this ''Artoria'' than any other four people combined but knew better than to ask. Besides, if there were dragons and phoenixes here, perhaps she was a Tao Tie?


    "Priscilla is our floofy dragon." The woman with scales blushed and ducked her head shyly at the Dragon King''s introduction. "And the woman on her other side is Hippolyta."


    Hippolyta gave Ling Mei a long, intense look that she didn''t have the context to understand. Evaluating, perhaps? Or commiserating? Either way, the Dragon King moved on the young woman who had laughed earlier.


    "You''ll have to forgive Valeria for her insensitivity earlier. She''s run away from home for a dashing older man, and he''s brought changes to her life. It''s left her... emotional."


    If the way Mikael''s mouth was twitching from a barely repressed smile didn''t clue Ling Mei into the fact that there was secret in his words, then the chorus of ""Booo!"" and groans from women around the table would have clued her in.


    Some even went so far as to throw food at the Dragon King!


    Ling Mei was prepared to grovel again at the serious breach of etiquette and the loss of face it brought, but Mikael just laughed and held up... the Boss? between him and the food.


    Faster than Ling Mei could follow, all the food in the air disappeared and the fat cat let out a tiny purr of satisfaction before Mikael set it back on his lap.


    "Ignore his jokes," Valeria said, but she was laughing as she addressed Ling Mei. "I really am sorry for laughing at you like that. I just became a Paradox Dragon, and my first manifestation was Logic/Emotion. It makes me a sociopath if I don''t reign it in."


    "That is quite alright Young Miss," Ling Mei clasped her hands and bowed deeply, not understanding half of what was said. "This humble one would never dare to question a lady of your stature."


    "...Your world is kinda messed up." Valeria was no longer laughing as she looked over Ling Mei as if she were a particularly interesting alchemical ingredient.


    "Perhaps we should not toss rocks in our particular glass house," Hippolyta told the younger woman.


    "Our world was pretty normal though," Valeria shook her head and her smile returned. "Tell you what, I''ll bring you back to your home after dinner and help you for a bit to make up for you."


    "But we just caught her," Jiraiya pouted and crossed his arms. "I don''t want to give up our first Princess. I won''t."


    "Jiraiya." Mikael''s tone was warning, but not harsh.


    "...sorry."


    "What are you sorry for?"


    "..."


    "Kidnapping Princesses is fine," Mikael lectured. "But keeping them against their will is wrong. If they want to stay, they can but you should never force anyone. Understand?"


    "...I understand."


    Mikael kept an eye on his eldest child for second, to make sure he really did, then he gave a grin and leaned forward over the table, covering his mouth as if he was trying to tell the boy a secret.


    "Psst." He hissed loud enough for everyone to hear. "That just means you need to get your Princesses to want to stay."


    That cheered the children up and Ling Mei felt distinctly uncomfortable as all four kids looked at her with shining eyes.


    "Anyway, got distracted a bit," Mikael sat back in his seat and continued with his introduction beginning where he left off at the end of the table. "You know Em, but on your other side is Medea. She''s the one who made this delicious meal and saved your life."


    Ling Mei gave the woman a bow.


    "A thousand years of gratitude. This humble one is ashamed that she could not handle the Long Island Sect Qi, for it is as bright as the sun and as deep as the ocean. If there is anything you wish, please speak and this humble one will go to any lengths to accomplish it."


    Rather than waive her off or dismiss her offer as useless, for what could Ling Mei do that this dragon couldn''t achieve, Medea instead perked right up.


    "Perfect. I''ve been meaning to get a better grasp of Qi. It technically falls under ''Magic'' so I can interfere with it, but I need a practitioner''s perspective if I want to get holistic grasp of it."


    "No dissections on this one. I''ll get you others," Mikael said plainly and then, ignoring Ling Mei''s look of fear, continued. "You''ve met Sarig, this is his mother, Tsunade and on her other side is Jiraiya. They''re our oldest and little troublemakers. I don''t know where they got it from."


    """""""""From you."""""""""


    """"From Daddy!""""


    It was almost disconcerting how half the women present answered as one, but the children joining in at the same time made it cute, with how Sarig and Jiraiya high-fived behind their mother''s back as they laughed at the unified response.


    "It''s a complete mystery."


    "I apologize for any trouble they caused," Tsunade gave Ling Mei a tight smile as she side-eyed her boys and her husband, whose face was completely expressionless... Which lasted until Ismene poked him in the cheek and he squished hers in turn, much to her delight. "I''ll be having a... talk with them later."


    "Please do not be too harsh. The Young Masters did not harm us and saved this humble one''s life from a demonic sect elder."


    Ling Mei, despite her situation, did have a pretty good impression of the children. She hadn''t been hurt, or even really inconvenienced by them (baring the current kidnapping, which was turning out surprisingly well.)


    Without Jiraiya and Sarig there, Ling Mei would probably be dead, or worse, at the hands of the Mo Xi. Even her junior brothers had been left alive to report what had happened to the sect.


    (Mu Bang''s injuries were, of course, forgotten about. Such was the cruel fate of Mook A in a cultivation world.


    But don''t give up Mook A!


    I believe that with hard work, perseverance, and enough luck, you will get promoted to full Henchman status!


    Fight on Mook Bang!)


    "They did?" Tsunade asked, seeming to be genuinely surprised as she gave her boys a more evaluating look.


    "He was trying to take our Princess!" Sarig ''explained,'' throwing a fist in the air as if punching someone. "So, we beat him up. He was very poor though. The Boss ate most of his stuff, but we got some pills and plants for you Mommy. And books. And clothes. And-"


    "Awweee," the dark-skinned woman seated on Sarig''s other side reached over ruffled his curly hair. He growled, but she just did it again. "You can''t stay mad at these little guys when they''re helping people, can you Tits?"


    "I can. They still snuck out and need to be punished for that." Both boys wilted but Tsunade''s voice softened as she continued. "But, since some good came of it, I suppose you can help with the clubhouse."


    "Yay."


    "Thanks mommy."


    "What about me?" Mikael asked.


    "You''re still in trouble," Tsunade responded with narrowed eyes, but her lip was twitching.


    "I guess I am sleeping on the couch tonight," Mikael muttered, seeming to wilt...


    No, he really was wilting! Ling Mei noticed that the color had drained not only from his skin, but also from his hair and clothes. A small storm cloud formed over his head. And was that... music? It was. A dirge from an instrument Ling Mei didn''t recognize.


    She was going to say something, but Ling Mei noticed how none of the women at the table seemed concerned. Some were even rolling their eyes. They all knew that Mikael would never actually ''sleep on the couch'' as it were. He''d just ''make it up'' to Tsunade in a more... intimate way once the kids were in bed. That didn''t stop him from milking the drama for all it was worth.


    Unfortunately, some people were just too pure for this world.


    "Don''t worry Daddy," Ismene smiled, her cheeks dimpling as she stood in her chair to pat him on the shoulder. "You can sleep with me tonight."


    Overcome with cuteness, Mikael dissipated the illusion to cuddle his little girl.


    "Since he''s busy," the dark-skinned woman said to Ling Mei, leaning forward to see past Tsunade''s... Tsunades. "I''m Yoruichi. This little blueberry, who''s pretending to be dignified, is Ranni." "Cat!" "Then Diana, who is and is not Hippolyta''s daughter, and Raven."


    Ling Mei opened her mouth to ask about ''Raven'' when she realized there was a woman she hadn''t even noticed, despite her white cloak.


    "I was getting there," Mikael pouted, Ismene still seated on his lap.


    "If we waited for you, we''d be here for hours," Diana told him, before looking at Yoruichi in exasperation. "Why did you introduce me like that?"


    "Because it was funny."


    "Anyway," Mikael returned his attention Ling Mei. "That just leaves this little bean, Ismene, mine and Medea''s daughter. Not to be confused with Medea, the Floofiest of Floofs."


    "Mrow."


    Ling Mei jumped in surprise from the sound that came from right below her feet.


    "That means you should feed her," Mikael said, cracking a grin at Ling Mei''s surprise. "She''ll eat anything, but the best food is what comes off of someone else''s plate."


    "Mrow."


    Hesitantly, and under the encouraging eyes of everyone else, Ling Mei picked up her bowl and, slowly, put it on the ground in front of the cat.


    It disappeared, food and bowl, before she could blink.


    "Mrow."


    "Good job." Jiraiya gave Ling Mei a thumbs up as she sat back up. There was a new bowl, freshly filled, right in front of her.


    "It was this humble one''s... pleasure..." Ling Mei was still very, very confused. It didn''t help that she was still slightly high from the Qi influx. She''d been keeping admirably steady despite that, taking everything in as best as she could, but even she had limits. "Will... Medea not be... sitting to dine with us?" It just seemed so odd that a table of beasts like this would force one to eat on the floor.


    That got her some odd looks, which had her shifting uncomfortably.


    "Why would she?" Mikael asked, as if Ling Mei was the crazy one here. "She''s a cat."


    "But..." Ling Mei looked from the Medea next to her to the cat, who had migrated over to sit on Ismene''s lap, who was sitting on Mikael''s lap.


    "Oh." Ismene seemed to realize the source confusion. "Mommy is not a cat. The Boss was just named after her."


    "MROW!"


    "I think you mean," Mikael calmed down his pet with grin. "That your mom was named after my cat."


    "Mrow."


    "No treats for two days," Medea told her ''namesake'' with a devilish grin.


    "MROW!?"


    Suddenly the tubby feline was on the witch''s lap, flapping her tiny wings pitifully as her eyes started to water.


    "...mrow?..."


    Medea sighed and started to scratch the cat''s jowls, much to her delight.


    Yoruichi, seeing an opportunity for more chaos, decided to ''help'' Ling Mei.


    "A cat sitting down for dinner? That''d be..." In the place of the dark-skinned woman was now a black cat. A black cat that spoke with a deep, male, voice. "...Insane, wouldn''t you agree?"


    Ling Mei opened her mouth.


    Ling Mei closed her mouth.


    Open.


    Close.


    Open.


    A spoon of food was shoved into it.


    "Ignore them and eat some more," Em Frost told Ling Mei as she set her spoon down. "It will help you process."


    Obediently Ling Mei began to eat, trying to ignore the laughter and talking filled the room as the meal progressed.


    With every bite, clarity began to return to her and Ling Mei''s heart rate was starting to pick up as the euphoric feeling of the Qi influx faded to the background.


    What was she doing?!


    AHHHHHH!


    She was seated at a table with dragons, phoenixes and who knew what other monsters. She''d been taken to a sect so much stronger than the Twin Heavens and was who knew how far from home.


    Looking around, they didn''t seem like demonic cultivators. In fact, they were utterly foreign, both in appearance and behavior. Their clothes were odd. Their names were odd. Their comportment was even odder.


    They talked openly on subjects that went way above Ling Mei''s head-


    ("I prefer Stands to Hamon or Spin," Olivia told her sister and father. "The breadth of creativity in their uses and powers make for engaging plots."


    "Spin spin spin spin spin spin," was Ismene''s response, spinning in place.


    "I''d have thought you''d appreciate the mathematical applications of The Spin," Mikael said, spinning his youngest above his head with one hand.


    "It interesting," Olivia conceded but shook her head. "But I like the breadth of creativity in Stands uses and powers make for engaging plots. Each is a puzzle to be solved as much as a weapon to be used.")


    -No doubt the secrets of higher realms of cultivation.


    More disconcerting was their lack of any sort of propriety!


    Yoruichi, turning back into her human form, had been completely nude! And nobody seemed to care! Certainly, she redressed quickly enough, but her clothes barely covered anything.


    The Dragon King even kissed a few of his wives!


    In front of others!


    These were obviously inhuman creatures with a complete lack of understanding of proper decorum.


    But the most important question was simple.


    What were they going to do with Ling Mei?


    They said they''d return her, but they could be lying.


    Maybe the Dragon King would take her as a concubine. Or possibly for his sons? They were young certainly, but Ling Mei was only twenty-five years old at the moment. That age difference wouldn''t matter in a century or two.


    It was possible, especially when one considered that Valeria couldn''t be older than seventeen. Who knew what age was acceptable to dragons? Ling Mei doubted she''d be taken as the main wife, even with her Pure Spring Divine Body.


    Compared to the women around her, she was more than a few steps behind in qualification, so the best she could hope for would be a valued concubine.


    Ling Mei was... uncertain about how she felt about that.


    No doubt the resources of the Long Island Sect would help her cultivation in ways that were impossible to imagine. Even the scraps from this table had been enough to raise ''The Boss'' to who knew what realm. Thousands of women would kill to be in the position she found herself in.


    Yet Ling Mei was reluctant. It wasn''t that she was unwilling to take a cultivation partner or that she wouldn''t aid her sect if her marriage was what was required.


    It was that it had been against her will.


    When Ling Mei reached the peak, it wouldn''t be because of her own efforts and dedication. A lucky encounter was not to be spurned but nor should one''s fate be determined by another.


    "How are you feeling," Medea asked as Ling Mei finished her... soup? It was as if it were a congee but with odd grains and more liquid. "Any side effects?"


    "This humble one thanks Senior Medea." Despite being surprised by the interruption to her thoughts, Ling Mei did not forget that she was very much in a den of dragons. "This humble one is feeling much better, a testament to Senior Medea''s alchemy."


    "It''s actually my aunt''s recipe," Medea explained with a kind smile. "It was practically all she fed us while I studied with her."


    "I much prefer your version to the poison Circe used on me," Hippolyta nodded in agreement.


    "''Kykeon can be medicine or poison. It''s practically ambrosia. Teehee.''" Medea quoted, even giving a slightly silly smile at the end.


    "Was there any truth to the theory that it contained psychedelics that caused hallucinations?" Valeria asked, finishing her own meal.


    "A few recipes can do so, either with magecraft or simple herbcraft," Medea nodded. "My aunt usually didn''t though. Either she was giving her all to feed a guest or was using it as a base to conceal a potion''s taste. There was no point in giving the pigs hallucinations."


    Suddenly Ling Mei was much more worried about what she just ate.


    "Do not worry." As if Em could read Ling Mei''s mind, she answered the question before it could be asked. "Her aunt was famous for turning men who invaded her home into pigs but there was nothing wrong with the food. You are safe here and will be returned to the sect just as you are."


    Ling Mei, fearing she had shown something she should have, schooled her expression as best she could.


    It must not have been enough, because Hippolyta spoke up to reassure her further.


    "Do you know why Mikael taught his children it was alright to kidnap Princesses even if he won''t allow them to ''keep'' one?"


    Ling Mei didn''t know what she should say that wouldn''t risk offense, but not speaking when spoken to directly was also rude, so she hesitantly answered.


    "Should this humble one guess, would it not be how the Dragon King has... met one of his partners in the past?"


    "Not technically wrong," Medea conceded. "In fact, of his wives, only Robin and Glynda are not princesses, queens, a king, or heirs to a clan of wealth or prestige. And we did meet by him kidnapping us, all be it unintentionally."


    Ling Mei wanted to ask how one ''unintentionally'' kidnapped a dozen women of royalty but knew that would be a step too far.


    "But why princesses specifically?" Hippolyta pressed.


    "Because he''s a dragon and thinks it''s funny," Valeria answered confidently.


    "Also not wrong," Em said with a smile, but she answered Hippolyta''s actual question. "Because ''Princesses'' is an often-overlooked insight into a society. Most societies use the young women of upper classes as bargaining chips, to forge alliances, or as capital to be used to further a ruling class''s aims. Their personalities and experiences also speak a lot. Are they drowning in luxury and completely disconnected from the common people? Are they educated and loved or forced to focus on just being a good bride? Societies mirror their rulers and rulers mirror their societies."


    Ling Mei felt her heart skip a beat as she was forced to reevaluate Mikael.


    Was the Dragon King so devious? Had he planned something like this just to get information? Had she given something away without realizing it? And using his children in his plans?


    "Also not wrong," Hippolyta repeated Em''s words. "But if Mikael truly wished for information, he''d just know it or look for himself. Nobody would be able to stop him. No. The reason Mikael encouraged the children to kidnap ''princesses'' is because he is being kind."


    Ling Mei wanted to ask why kidnapping princesses was being kind but, judging by the way the other women around her were nodding in understanding, she feared speaking up. Thankfully, the Amazon explained in a way Ling Mei could understand.


    "They are all right, of course. Mikael does it because he finds it funny, gets him information, and because you never know if someone picked up might be a future friend or lover for one of his children. There is also the aspect that it gives his children practical experience in the world and getting them invested in someone outside of the Family. But for the same reason that a princess can give information, they might be in need of help. If they don''t, Mikael sends them on their way. No harm done, maybe even benefiting a little."


    The way Hippolyta eyed Ling Mei let her know the woman was speaking of her, which Ling Mei couldn''t deny. Even if she ignored all the information she gained, just returning to the sect with her advanced cultivation was already an incalculable blessing.


    "But if the ''Princess'' needs help? If she''s in a situation where she doesn''t want to return? Then he can use his children''s kidnapping of them as an excuse to apologize. Do a favor to someone who needs it. After all, he''s just correcting a ''wrong'' he committed and helping his kids." Hippolyta gave Ling Mei a tight smile. "If you stick around long enough, you will learn that Mikael will always advance his own agenda and ''coincidentally'' help others along the way."


    "Many thanks Senior Hippolyta for your wisdom," Ling Mei bowed in gratitude for the explication. She''d believe it once she was safely gone from this den of beasts, but the attempt to alleviate her worries deserved thanks for what it was. "The Dragon King is truly blessed to have a woman such as you."


    Right away, Ling Mei was conscious of the fact that she had something wrong by the tightening of the woman''s eyes.


    Thankfully, she didn''t lash out and kill Ling Mei for whatever it was.


    "I am afraid you have made a mistake," Hippolyta''s smile was a little less sincere. "I am not Mikael''s woman. Nor do I wish to be. I am simply traveling with him to grow stronger to better defend my people."


    Ling Mei was opening her mouth to apologize when Valeria cut her off.


    "Don''t worry about her," the teenager waived at the woman beside her. Hippolyta studiously ignored the younger girl. "She''s just in denial about what she wants. Unlike me. I''m gonna get that scaly ass for myself."


    "You''re sixteen," Medea rolled her eyes. "He''s not interested."


    "I know, but that''s part of my plan," Valeria replied with a confident smile. "I''m on step twenty-seven. I''ll be thirty by step forty-eight. By step one hundred and five I''ll be one of his wives."


    "Or," Em drawled. "Like all teenage girls, you will grow out of your crush when it remains unrequited."


    "Nope. There''s only one Monster for this girl. You''ll see."


    "Uhuh," Em teased. Looking at Ling Mei, who was very confused, she explained. "Mikael doesn''t... engage with anyone except his wives. Think of it as core to his Dao Heart, if you wish. So do not worry about your Primordial Yin or your Pure Spring Divine Body. He''s completely uninterested."


    Ling Mei let out some of the tension she''d been holding. A cultivator as strong as the Dragon King would not violate their Dao Heart lest they gain a Heart Demon that prevented them from advancing.


    Then, looking at the seating of the table, Ling Mei had another realization.


    "You''re wrong." Em said sharply as soon as the thought appeared in Ling Mei''s mind. "Yes, I am not one of his wives either, but there are no arranged seats. It is first come first served. The only reason we are at the tail end is because I will be the one to bring you back, Val wanted to talk with you, Medea needed to make sure you didn''t explode, and Hippolyta was talking to her."


    Ling Mei realized she had accidently hit a sore spot for all three women, Em especially. One that left their corner in an awkward silence.


    Thankfully, Medea was able to alleviate the tension by asking Ling Mei about her cultivation. Specifically, about her experience with Qi, the nature of each realm and what distinguished them.


    It was such common knowledge that Ling Mei had no trouble speaking about it without fear of leaking the sect''s secrets.


    That, thankfully, carried the conversation until Artoria, despite eating the fastest, was done with her food.


    "I think it''s time we say goodbye to our Princess," Mikael finally said, waving his hand and cleaning the table.


    ""Awwww."" Sarig and Jiraiya pouted, and the younger brother continued. "You didn''t give us time to convince her to stay."


    "You''ll just have to try harder next time," Mikael teased and the boys perked up, obviously getting the idea he was hinting at.


    "Don''t worry Princess," Jiraiya ''reassured'' Ling Mei. "You might be poor and weak, but we''ll kidnap you next time as well. And we''ll do it even better!"


    Unsure whether to laugh or cry, Ling Mei just thanked the ''Young Masters'' for their ''consideration.''


    "Bye bye."


    "Bye Princess."


    "See you next time!"


    Mikael shuffled the children over to a nearby room as they waved goodbye. The women of the house began to split up, some in groups to return to their own activities, not forgetting to wish farewell to Ling Mei either.


    As Em guided Ling Mei towards the entrance of the mansion, the Young Miss couldn''t help but notice something odd.


    The Dragon King was seated with his children facing a screen of some sort... Yet another ''Mikael'' was being pulled by Tsunade to another room.


    And, as Ling Mei exited the building, she saw another ''Mikael'' brushing a horned horse.


    "The best way to think of him," Em said, once more seeming to predict her thoughts. "Is to imagine the highest cultivation realm possible. Then imagine ten realms higher than that. Only then will you have the barest hint of Mikael."


    Ling Mei shuddered in fear at the idea. For some reason, she did not believe Shuang Ai was exaggerating.


    "May this humble one ask a question?"


    "Go ahead."


    "Why are you letting this one go? Are you not afraid this humble one will speak of what she has learned?"


    Em gave Ling Mei a flat look.


    "Will you?"


    "This humble one would not dare."


    "Even if you did, it wouldn''t matter." Em shrugged, conjuring one of those grey portals. "Your entire continent could throw themselves at me and wouldn''t scuff one of my scales."


    "If..." Ling Mei hesitated before deciding to take the risk. "If you are so strong, why haven''t you simply taken what you wished for from the Twin Heavens sect? We could not stop you."


    Em, halfway through the portal, looked back at Ling Mei.


    "When you''ve reached the peak. When there''s nowhere left to climb, what will you do then?"


    Ling Mei didn''t have an answer, and Em didn''t seem to expect one.


    To a cultivator, there was only the climb.


    Nobody ever thought of the summit itself or what followed after.


    "If you ever reach that point, you''ll realize that there are some things worth more than power."


    The way Em''s eyes were locked on the mansion behind them, a look of deep yearning in those icy pools.


    Then the moment was gone, and Ling Mei was through the grey portal and standing outside the gates of the Twin Heavens sect.


    "You will win the upcoming ''tournament'' your sect set up." Em commanded. "We have no wish to deal with whatever simpleton your master wants to use to seduce us. Once you do, we''ll help you in exchange for knowledge of cultivation and other matters. It will be mutually beneficial and will not betray your sect."


    Ling Mei gave an awkward smile at the Sect Master being caught but bowed in respect. She was feeling much more comfortable now that she was back on familiar territory and knew these crazy dragons had held up their promise.


    "This one will do her best. If this one may-"


    "Why you?" Shuang Ai cut her off and Ling Mei was really starting to wonder if the woman couldn''t really read her thoughts. "It''s not because the boys kidnaped you. It''s because Ismene let them."


    Ling Mei blinked in surprise, not understanding.


    "If you are around us long enough, you''ll get it," Em shook her head. "Just remember this. You can argue, disagree, or even fight anyone and it won''t be held against you. Me. Mikael. Medea. It doesn''t matter. Except for Ismene. If she doesn''t like you, you won''t even realize you''ve died."


    Ling Mei gulped, not realizing that the cute little girl was such a terrifying being.


    Em nodded, glad the girl was taking her warning seriously. Knowing her hus- Knowing Mikeal, he wouldn''t have set her up to be his son''s ''first princess'' if she wouldn''t stick around for at least a little while.


    Ling Mei returned to her sect, safe and sound, even a bit stronger than before and with the greatest opportunity one could dream of laid out before her. So much happened in such a short time that, even as she warned her father and master of the threat of the demonic sects, and the importance of keeping the Long Island sect pleased, that Ling Mei couldn''t help but fear she was forgetting something important.


    (Xiao Tian, Mu Bang, and sect brothers B and C would go on to flee the province, afraid of the retaliation of the Twin Heavens Sect for failing their mission and losing the Young Miss.


    ''Hunted'' as they were, they''d form bonds of brotherhood and friendship stronger than steel and go on hundreds of adventures. By the time they learned Ling Mei had been safe, and they weren''t being hunted, it would be centuries later.


    Mu Bang would spit out a mouthful of blood and pass out.)


    It probably wasn''t important anyway.


    When Jiraiya and Sarig snuck out again, they''d show up in the middle of a battle between the sects. After beating up the demonic cultivators and ''kidnaping'' Ling Mei once more, they''d try to convince her to stay with their ''awesome clubhouse'' (read: magical fortress).


    Even in the years to come, and dozens of kidnappings later, Ling Mei would never forget Em''s warning and slowly learn how true it was.


    All of Mikael''s children were little monsters in the making.


    But even with siblings with Elements like Peace, War, Knowledge, or even future children, Ismene would still be the most dangerous. It was lucky she was so kind and loving.


    Then again, she probably wouldn''t have gained her Element if she wasn''t that way.


    If the Dragon of Family disapproves of you... You probably never existed in the first place.


    "And that is how your older brothers kidnapped their first Princess," Mikael closed the book quietly, smiling at the sight of his newest group of children trying in vain to stay awake.


    So cute!


    Conjuring two more bodies, Mikael picked up the babies and was about to bring them to bed, despite their cries for more stories.


    On the way, he ran into Ling Mei who bowed.


    He never really managed to get her to cut out with the formalities.


    With a hint of Qi, Ling Mei transmitted her voice to his ear to not wake up the infants.


    "Dragon King, can you please tell me where Jiraiya is?"


    "He and Sarig are out being bandits again."


    Ling Mei pressed her lips together, bowed once more, and made to leave to find the teenager.


    He was supposed to kidnap her last week!


    Then Ling Mei paused, looking at Mikael in hesitation.


    "Yes?"


    "I have a question, if I may?"


    "Sure."


    "Why the Twin Heavens sect? There are better cultivation manuals out there. Stronger ones. So why did you choose us?"


    "The Twin Mind Spirit technique was originally called the Dual Body Mind Spirit technique," Mikael explained quietly, a teasing smile on his face. "Your founder discovered it in a ruin and changed it. We simply wanted to get the newer version to recreate the original."


    "Would it be possible for me to learn the original?" Ling Mei asked, always eager to expand her knowledge of cultivation.


    "Sure," Mikael grinned, conjuring a book and putting it in the young woman''s hands.


    She quickly opened it and flipped through it, her face turning redder with every word read.


    Mikael laughed loudly at seeing her face, carefully ensuring the sound didn''t reach the babies.


    "The Dual Body Mind Spirit technique is the only dual cultivation method that has no practical requirements for the practitioners while still allowing one party to transfer Qi from one party to the other. Or at least it''s the only one that requires such a fun method. My wives don''t want to cultivate," Mikael shrugged with a teasing smile. "I, on the other hand, am dedicated to the Dao and retain a firm heart. They are just helping me with my cultivation, which also makes them stronger."


    Ling Mei stood there, a lewd book in hand, as Mikael walked away laughing.


    The Heavens were sometimes cruel, sometimes kind, sometimes fair, and sometimes unjust.


    And sometimes...


    Just sometimes...


    The Heavens will completely upend your life because it wants to have kinky sex with its wives.

 SS (A) - Diamonds Are Forever

    Em arranged the files on her desk, making sure that everything was in order from when Mikael would need them. Then she checked the weekly schedule, set up a reminder to reschedule a lunch with Richards, and shot off an email to cancel a meeting with Worthington Industries-


    -then froze.


    ...What was happening?


    Slowly, Em scanned the waiting room, panning from her desk to luxurious chairs and tasteful decor.


    It was a familiar room. One she had seen thousands of times as she passed through it on the way to her office in Frost Pharmaceuticals.


    Sometimes, she''d even stop and talk to whichever secretary she had at the time to keep up the illusion that she couldn''t just pull any answers she needed from their head.


    A secretary whose desk she now sat behind, facing a waiting room with notable businessmen and women, well known figures, or celebrities forced to sit patiently until her boss decided they were worthy of his time.


    Her boss...


    Em''s heartbeat quickened into a frenzied pace as she realized what was going on.


    What it meant...


    Mikael had rewritten reality... or at least her reality.


    Em had memories of waking up in her luxurious apartment, having her chauffeur drive her to the Frost headquarters, and beginning another day on the job. The same job as the day before.


    The same job she¡¯d had for years.


    Em had memories of years of schooling, of clawing her way of up the political and business world. Decades of effort, all to get this position as Mikael''s secretary.


    Yet... none of it had actually happened, had it?


    It was all Mikael''s creation.


    Done on a whim.


    Was it an illusion? A pocket world? Another dimension? Or was this all a wholesale creation that Mikael had made from scratch, just for her?


    Because Mikael, even with all his power, wouldn''t control her.


    Yes, this was all fake, as were her memories, but he had done it in such a way to ensure she knew it was fake.


    She hadn''t been in this... illusion, for lack of clarification, for more than a few seconds.


    If Em wanted to, she could purge these fake memories from her mind in heartbeat. They were clearly separate and untethered from what had really happened.


    A mental snip, and it would all come falling apart.


    But Em wouldn''t cut this world from her mind even if Darkseid were here and tried to force her too.


    Yes, the memories were fake, but they meant something real.


    No, she hadn''t spent years aspiring to be Mikael''s secretary.


    Instead, she had spent much longer than that trying to be something much greater.


    His.


    Em had the memories of His Emma. She had the Element, the feelings, even the semblance of Emma Frost.


    When she had first stepped through that portal, fresh from ''her'' death at Darkseid''s hands, she had thought of herself as His Emma.


    But she wasn''t.


    The look on his face, when he had gazed at her at that moment, at once loving and completely heartbroken, had told Emma what she was.


    She was just another Company clone.


    Em was just one of countless ''Emma Frosts'' from the multiverse stored for the multidimensional sex slavery ring, ready to be shipped out to the next purchaser.


    Warranty did not fix the broken ''product.''


    It simply replaced it with one so identical that only a being so beyond common sense in both insight and madness would be able to tell the difference.


    And Em had to live with that knowledge.


    Live with the knowledge that even though her very soul had been molded into the shape of a women, she was not His Emma Frost.


    He brought back His Emma with his Ascendance, but where did that leave Em?


    He had offered to free her of their influence, from the memories of Emma let her redefine herself without the Company¡¯s control.


    Em had vehemently refused.


    To do so would be to kill the ''her'' now and replace her with whatever ''Emma Frost'' had been first shipped to the Company.


    Even though Mikael accepted her decision, Em knew it reminded him too much of His Emma.


    After all, hadn''t he done the same thing to her? Sure, it was accidental, but there was no denying that the Emma Frost first summoned to the Island had died in the mind of a Mad Dragon, reborn as His Emma.


    And that was the crux of the issue.


    Em still remembered that Madness, that Love.


    She knew what it meant to be His.


    And she wasn''t anymore.


    Maybe one of the others, like Scathach or Robin would be able to move on from that. Take Mikael''s offer of a fresh start on any world, even with the memories, and move beyond what they remembered but never really existed.


    But not Em.


    Say what you will about Emma Frost, but she wouldn''t be broken by something like this.


    So, she had set out to do what Frost had failed to achieve.


    Become His.


    The first step was to separate herself from His Emma. Only slightly though.


    Only enough to matter.


    Her platinum blonde hair was done up in a tight bun instead of hanging loose. Her blue eyes were framed with glasses. Her wardrobe became more functional, even if still flattering.


    And, most importantly, Em gave up all plans, any at all, that had anything to do with Mikael and the Family. Or perhaps it would be better to say that she had dedicated herself fully to exactly one plan and nothing else was left.


    Become someone Mikael would wholly see as His.


    A mad plan, concocted by a mad woman in search of a Mad Love.


    For years, through countless worlds, Em served as Mikael''s absolute right hand.


    In a way, her existence was superfluous.


    Mikael was Existence.


    Any dimension he touched became part of him, just as Em was. He was powerful enough that nothing she provided he couldn''t do himself, faster and better.


    But there in lay the key to Em''s plan.


    Even if she wasn''t His anymore, Emma Frost knew Mikael.


    Mikael hated boredom, loneliness, and forcing others to get what he wanted.


    Could he find a cultivation world and suddenly know everything there was to know about it?


    Sure, but he wouldn''t for the same reason he lived his life separate from all the knowledge seeing the future would bring.


    Because otherwise it would be boring.


    Mikael would exist forever, there was no need to rush.


    So, if he wanted a sect''s secret manuals, and didn''t want to start acting like an omnipotent god (even though he was one) he would do things the fun way.


    Fun, like setting up a fake sect and start trolling everyone else in the world.


    And Em would be there, by his side, every step of the way.


    For years, Em had steadily continued her plan. Not to become indispensable, for Mikael was too powerful for that, but to be as ubiquitous as his own hands.


    As ubiquitous as everything else that was His.


    With memories of his Love burning her mind like a prod...


    With the phantom touches from nights that never were searing across her skin...


    With the certainty of her own existence being nothing more than a forgery reflected in his eyes...


    Em endured for years.


    If she just wanted sex, Em could have had it in that first year. Emma made no secret of her desire to have her... clone, for lack of better term, join them in bed. Even the rest of the Family, as jealous as some could be, probably wouldn''t have stopped it. They understood her situation and, with Mikael''s ability to be anywhere he wished to be, early concerns of lack of attention were things of the past.


    But Em didn''t want sex... or at least not just sex.


    (It had been years since she got any, after all. A woman had needs. Just because Em was laying the groundwork for eternity, didn''t mean that she didn''t get horny.)


    No, Em wanted what she remembered having.


    That Mad Love from a man, a monster, and a god.


    And she wouldn''t settle for anything less.


    Mikael had been understanding and laid out their ''deal'' in as plain terms as he could.


    ''You are not Mine.'' His eyes hadn''t been unkind, but they had been firm. ''Just as the countless other Emma Frosts through the multiverse that I can see, speak to, and seduce if I wished are not Mine. My love, crazy as it sounds, is born from the women who helped me at my lowest throughout a century a hell, compounded by the pulling them into my Dream for millions of years. I cannot even promise that you can be Mine. Or if it is possible, it will happen any time soon. Are you sure this is what you want?''


    As always, Mikael let people make their own decisions.


    And as always, Em didn''t see any other choice.


    Even if it meant millions of years, or billions...


    Even if she had to wait till universes died and Mikael and what remained of the Family were the last beings that existed...


    Emma Frost, the one born in the mind of a Mad Dragon''s Mad Love, and the one created in her image, was just as broken as the man she fell in love with.


    Only it hadn''t taken millions of years.


    It hadn''t even taken two decades.


    As she looked around this fake recreation of her office, as she reviewed the fake memories planted in her head, Em didn''t need Mikael to say a single word to understand everything.


    So, rather than react in any way to indicate that she was slightly different than the fake memories depicted her as Em continued her secretarial duties without a pause.


    Even as her heart beat a stampede through her chest and her panties flooded with her arousal.


    It was... easy.


    These fake memories came with everything she needed to know.


    In them, this day was not special. A regular Wednesday spent working as the secretary for the CEO of Frost Pharmaceuticals.


    (Of course it was a Wednesday. Mikael hated Mondays but he hated Tuesdays more. Even as Existence, he still griped about the first two days of the week.


    He probably would until the End.)


    One after another, guests came and went as Em worked another day away.


    She answered the phone, created appointments, canceled others, and passed messages through a dozen sub-divisions of the company. She even took a lunch break.


    Hours passed.


    ...Did they?


    For the second time, Em froze.


    What... what was happening?


    She thought she knew. She could separate the fake memories easily. But... It was so easy to fall into them.


    Or had she?


    Had only a moment passed and it only felt like hours because HE willed her to feel like that?


    What was real? What was fake?


    Where did her mind end and HIS creation begin?


    NO!


    That was the trick!


    It was all HIM!


    He was Existence!


    Time. Space. Fake. Real.


    None of it mattered!


    He could trap her in this little mirage in her own mind for an eternity, yet only a second would pass!


    The only reason she, pitifully weak and insignificant in comparison to Him, had even a chance of being more than a spec in that vast infinity of power and Love was because of who she was.


    Because of whom He was! He was Free. He was Life. He was Existence.


    But more than that, He was Mikael!


    He would never do something like that to her because she was....


    ...It was all Em could do not to start furiously masturbating at her desk at the idea.


    The bastard was teasing her!


    Playing on both her fetishes and her deepest desire!


    He was letting her stew in her juices, winding her up and up and up and up until Em was ready to burst.


    And it was working!


    The bastard.


    As if to prove her point, Em watched the office door open.


    She knew who was leaving. She''d been the one to let them in.


    Yet Em couldn''t help that her eye began to twitch as she watched the redhead stumble on wobbly legs, keeping her hand on the door for support.


    "Sorry," Jean Grey mumbled in shame, her face flushed in embarrassment as she caught Em''s eyes.


    "Don''t worry." Em plastered on her best Secretary Smile as she rose to her feet. "It happens all the time."


    Like the other four women today, Emma escorted the mutant to the nearby bathroom, pointing out the various supplies provided to help clean herself up.


    She then returned to her desk, grabbed the cleaning supplies and set out to wipe the floor from the trail Jean had left under the eyes of the others waiting to be called to Mikael''s office.


    Shame, arousal, humiliation and pride burned in Em''s chest.


    This was hardly the first time she''d helped clean up after one of Mikael''s lovers. She''d been by his side for years.


    Em always felt a surge of pride whenever her love demonstrated his superiority, whether as a lover, a man, a god, a fighter or in any other way.


    The difference was the fact that ''Jean Grey'' was not a member of the Family.


    Mikael could of course grab a Jean Grey from any universe if he wanted to but even after his ascension, he''d remained fastidiously loyal to his wives.


    (Much to many a woman''s consternation Mikael didn''t really do ''flings.''


    If some truly wished to join the Family, they''d have to make a genuine effort over years to establish a relationship with everyone before any sort of sex was possible. So far only Em and Valeria were the only ones who''d remained for longer than a few years.


    Well, them and Hippolyta. But she always claimed, ''Even if I travel with you, I have no desire to join with Lord Mikael in such a manner.''


    Nobody was buying that line of self-delusion, but Mikael was fastidious in not forcing anything on anyone not an enemy.


    Even if Em knew Emma had a week of Date Days placed on the woman caving in the next century.)


    Which meant that this wasn''t a real person, but rather an illusion or a solidified image that Mikael created just to mess with Em.


    And of Jean Grey of all people!


    It didn''t matter that the fake memories in her head told her there was hardly a day gone by where some woman didn''t come out of his office in such a disheveled state.


    What mattered was that Mikael had chosen the fake Jean Grey to be the one Em saw with cum dripping down her well used snatch and forced to clean up after!


    Even if she held no love for Scott Summers anymore, Em still had her pride. She had the memories of ''Emma Frost'' losing to the redhead in almost any way that mattered. To see her reduced to such a state validated Em on a deep level yet caused her to burn with intense jealousy.


    The two emotions, and others, wared within her and just stoked her arousal even higher.


    One way or the other, Mikael better make good on what he was doing to her, or Em was liable to explode.


    Finally, Em finished cleaning the floor and rose to put away the cleaning supplies. She straightened out her too tight, too short skirt, well aware everyone in the room had gotten an eyeful of her sodden panties.


    She then double checked her white blazer, ensuring that its sole button hadn''t popped from its tightness and that her breasts were pressing against it in such a way that it was clear she had nothing underneath yet still barely covered her areola to maintain the pretense of decency.


    Not that it fooled anyone.


    Em Frost was the picture of a slutty secretary, more at home in a porn film than any sort of professional setting.


    It was as she was retaking a seat at her desk that her phone rang.


    Em''s heartbeat picked up as she noticed the number displayed.


    "Yes Sir?"


    "Come to my office."


    That was it.


    No explanation.


    Four words.


    A simple command in a tone that allowed no argument, said loud enough that everyone in the waiting room heard it.


    All eyes were on Em Frost.


    What would happen next was perfectly clear to everyone. If she went in there, they knew exactly what would happen to her.


    There was only one thing she could say to that.


    "Yes Sir."


    With the grace of a queen, Em rose to her feet and went to meet her fate.


    Her high heels clicked across the wood floor as she entered the office, making sure to close the door behind her.


    For a second, Em just stood there.


    Everything, from the furniture to the art and lighting, was exactly as she remembered from her home world.


    With one difference.


    Mikael was in her... his seat, reclining in the high back chair behind his desk. He was turned perpendicular to the door and his desk, allowing him to look out over the window that made up the back wall with an overview of New York.


    Mikael didn''t look at her as she entered.


    Em approached with measured strides. Not fast, but not slow either.


    Click. "Ack." Clack. "Gluck." Click. "Slurp." Clack. "Ack."


    Em arrived in front of the desk, standing far enough away that she wasn''t looming over it, yet close enough that she could watch the head of platinum blonde hair rise and fall as it skull-fucked itself into Mikael''s crotch.


    "You wanted to see me, Sir?"


    "Gulp gulp gulp."


    "How long have you been with me Em?"


    Mikael was still looking out the window, even as his hand reaching down to hold Emma Frost''s head down as he came down her throat.


    Em could have given the answer from the fake memories he had implanted.


    Yet...


    She couldn''t read his mind. Nor Emma''s. They weren''t blocked so much it was as if they weren''t there.


    Unsure whether to continue the role play or not, she decided to give the answer in her heart.


    "It has been thirteen years, forty-eight days, six hours, and twenty-seven minutes since I stepped out of that portal."


    Every second a hell. Having the memories of being His yet knowing she truly had never been.


    A torment that might end soon.


    Finally, Mikael looked Em in the eyes.


    Even without reading his mind, Em understood.


    She had chosen to break the fantasy to be sincere and he would respond in kind.


    "I will be honest," he said gravely. "I hated you."


    "I know."


    For there to be hope of your love to come back to life, only for a clone to appear?


    To be strong enough to tell the difference yet weak enough to be unable to do anything about it?


    Em hadn''t needed to see into his mind to know what Mikael had felt at that moment. She had seen it in his eyes.


    "When I got Emma back," Mikael continued, running his hand gently through his wife''s hair. She had swallowed everything and was now licking him clean. "I... didn''t know what to do with you. I don''t look into the future so I had no idea what relationship we would or even could have."


    Everyone knew Mikael heavily limited himself in day-to-day life. It would be easy for him to act as an omniscient, omnipresent being but he chose to remain largely as he was.


    Not only would knowing what was to come ruin the fun of Life, but he never wanted to become something or someone he wasn''t.


    The greater ''Existence-Mikael'' was as powerful as one could expect, and would stop anything truly catastrophic, but the ''Mikael'' that they knew was what he chose to be.


    And, in so doing, he could make mistakes.


    Mess up, miscommunication, misunderstand, or even accidentally hurt those he loved. Such was the price Mikael chose to pay to engage the Family not as a deity, but as an equal.


    "I decided to leave it up to you," Mikael continued. Emma, her job done, tucked his dick back into his pants and redid his belt. "I can''t undo what had been done to you without killing the ''you'' now, but I could give you that one freedom. You chose to stay, even knowing it might not lead anywhere."


    "Because it was worth it."


    "...I don''t think it is," Mikael sighed. "You already have every benefit I have given to my Family. If it had been me, I would have left. No doubt I''d spend years, perhaps decades, getting over the heartbreak, but that would be better than waiting for a future that might never come. For something that might be impossible."


    "I am not you."


    "No. You''re not." Mikael rose to his feet to tower over the two Emma Frosts. "And you aren''t My Emma. You never will be."


    Even now, even after all these years of knowing it to be true, even with that fact so seared into her soul that she wouldn¡¯t forget it in death, it still hurt Em to hear that on a level most could never understand.The story has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation.


    Emma remained kneeling beside the desk as Mikael stepped around until he was within arm¡¯s reach of Em.


    "I watched over My Family for millions of years as a Great One. Before that, I spent years trapped in my own personal hell where they were the sole light in that darkness. I will never be in the same mindset as that again. Even if I wanted to, which I do not, I will never be able to replicate that unique position that led to loving them in the way I do."


    That was the bare truth and why Em''s wish might be impossible.


    Mikael might be the same man, but the situation had changed.


    There were an infinite number of ''Emma Frosts'' throughout the multiverse, just the same as his other wives, but only one version of them had been with Mikael through his lowest moments.


    Only one Emma existed that had hurt Mikael and been hurt in turn. Only one Emma who he had made his confidant and served as a pivotal instrument on the Island in bringing the Family together.


    There was only one Emma Frost who had been born from the Mad Love of an eldritch god.


    And Em was not her.


    She could never be her.


    "I never thought loving someone else was impossible," Mikael continued, his hands rising to cup her pale cheeks. His thumb rubbed the tear from her eyes. "Eternity is a long time, after all. Statistically, it is almost certain. So, I gave myself rules. Rule to make sure I never betrayed myself and My Family. One, they had to be part of the Family, not just my lover. Everyone had to agree. We''d be together forever, after all."


    To become someone, he thought of as a ''wife'' was to be part of the Family in its entirety. Even if he could get away with it, easily too, Mikael would never cheat. To marry him, was to marry the entire Family.


    You didn''t have to have sex with anyone else, become their best friends, bend over backward to please them, or even be super close.


    You just had to be willing to be part of their lives for the rest of Existence and have them willing to reciprocate the feeling.


    "Two, I''d never seduce someone directly. If they wanted this, they had to know everything going in. No lies. Not even the slightest pretense to be someone and something I''m not."


    Mikael was happy.


    Why would he go out of his way to seduce someone? If anyone wanted to join, they''d be the ones who needed to carve out a niche for themselves to see if they fit.


    "Finally, I set the hardest rule. The one I thought might never be achieved. I can''t make an absurd claim to ''love everyone equally.'' Everyone I love, I love in a different way because they are different people. I love my sons just as much as I love my daughters just as much as I love my wives, but each love is different. From Ismene¡¯s innocence to Scathach¡¯s bloodthirst. So, I gave myself the rule that, no matter what I felt for someone, I''d never even bring it up to the Family unless I was certain that those feelings were just as intense as those I felt for the others."


    Em was openly weeping, her mascara running down her face in dark rivulets in a mirror of Emma''s but without the intense sex as an excuse.


    "You cleared all three rules seven years ago."


    Em''s heart stopped.


    "Despite your best efforts, you are still based on My Emma. You look like her. You think like her. You act like her. You talk like her. The only difference was that you weren''t Mine," Mikael''s voice was gentle and sad, his eyes not wavering from hers. "For you alone, I created a fourth rule. When I look at you, I should only see you. Not My Emma. My Em."


    Mikael opened his mind to Em...


    ...No.


    As he leaned down to kiss her, Mikael opened his soul to Em, conveyed through his mind.


    She was back.


    For the very first time, Em was bathed in that Mad Love and knew it was for her.


    It was everything she remembered it being and so much more.


    Emma Frost had been Chosen and, in her hubris, threw herself into the mind of Great One in a desperate bid for some sort of control over her situation. She''d wanted freedom and saw Mikael as her jailer, instead of a fellow prisoner.


    Emma Frost had died from the incomprehensible Mad Love and Emma had been born from that union.


    Em remembered that moment, even years later.


    What she didn''t remember, couldn''t remember because it never happened, was falling into that same mind after it had ascended.


    The mind of a Tier 10 had killed Emma Frost.


    The mind of a Tier 12 was so much more.


    Mikael gave her just a peek at who- WHAT he was.


    He was everywhere, everywhen, and everything.


    Completely Free, he continued to spread and spread without limits. New multiverses became just a part of him faster than her mind could comprehend. He became their past, present and future.


    Mikael was everything that was, had been, would be, could be, or would never be.


    The End was there, another part of Existence, because The End existed.


    The End wasn''t there, because even Existence had an End.


    Completely separate, yet intertwined, the two raced freely, encompassing all in their ''selves.''


    An enumerable infinity within infinities within infinities that continued to expand to infinities were all ''Mikael.''


    And it loved her.


    Em felt Existence''s love for her.


    Felt every moment that would ever exist, every being that could ever exist, and every thing that had ever existed before, all united as ''Mikael.''


    A man who refused to yield his madness until all of existence yielded to him instead.


    And that will, that Existence, that madness, was all focused on what he Loved.


    And Em was now counted among them.


    ... To call what happened to Em at that moment a climax would be wrong.


    An orgasm was a physical experience brought on by arousal, mental and physical, brought to the point where the body reached a crescendo and flooded the brain with all sorts of pleasure chemicals.


    Em did not experience a climax.


    Em experienced rapture.


    A transcendental experience that elevated her entire being.


    Love, pleasure, certainty, pride, joy, safety, and so much more.


    To be His was to be fundamentally different than everything Not-His.


    And, finally, after all these years, Em was His again.


    When she opened her eyes, Em wasn''t the slightest bit different physically than she had been a moment before.


    Yet... The best way to put it into words someone could understand was that Em Frost was now a fundamental part of Existence, as eternal and sacrosanct as He was.


    No more powerful than before, but the quality of her very being was so much greater, even if the quantity remained the same.


    If one considered the Family each a part of Him, then Em had taken up one nineteenth of Existence. The rest remained undiminished, even as she joined them, for one could not divide infinity and expect the result to be lesser than infinity.


    Mikael''s eyes were all on her in this moment and Em knew that, even now, he couldn''t really grasp what he had just done.


    Well, no. That wasn''t true. He literally could grasp it. He was Existence and she was as much part of Him as everything else. If he wished he could know exactly what this meant to her.


    Yet even if he chose to live her life, he still wouldn''t get it. It would be no different than reading a book to him. An incredibly intimate book that went into excruciating detail, but just... words.


    To Mikeal, the act of loving someone was just a matter of emotions, no different than every other human out there. Because he chose to remain ''Mikael.''


    To Em, the act of being Loved was a religious experience.


    No matter how they tried, a god could not understand his priestess.


    But that was alright.


    All the god needed to do was to Love, for that was the greatest blessing the priestess could ever wish for.


    "Welcome back," Mikael said, his lips quirked up in that teasing smirk of his. He was fully capable of being sincere, caring, and taking important moments seriously. But when those moments were over, he went back to his natural state. "Enjoy your trip?"


    Em let out a content hum.


    For the first time in over a decade, everything was right in the world.


    Now, there was just one thing left to do.


    Em stepped back, readjusted her blazer for the second time in as many minutes, enjoying the way his eyes focused on her exposed cleavage.


    Her ice blue eyes met his through her rectangular glasses.


    "You called for me Sir?"


    His eyebrow quirked and laughter shone through his slit pupils at how quickly she had returned to their little role play.


    Em felt no shame.


    She had a decade long dry spell to break, and Mikael had set things up to push every one of her buttons. Now that she was His again, he had better be willing to give her the payoff she desperately needed.


    "Yes," Mikael eventually said after chuckling lightly. He retook his seat behind her... his desk. "How long have you been working for me Em?"


    "Years, Sir."


    "In all that time, you''ve been the perfect secretary a man could ask for." Mikael nodded gravely. "Competent. Dutiful. Loyal. There has not been a task I''ve given you that you''ve failed at carrying out. You''ve gone above and beyond what could be expected."


    "Thank you, Sir."


    "Yet, in all the years since I''ve taken over this company, one can''t deny the one task at which you''ve failed."


    "Sir?"


    "Do you need me to spell it out for you?" Mikael raised a brow imperiously at Em in disapproval. He waived his hand dismissively at the still kneeling Emma. "Even this useless whore understands without being told."


    "You''ve succeeded as a secretary," Emma spoke for the first time in this little fantasy. Emma was playing the role of ''Emma Frost,'' the previous CEO who''d been put in her place for her arrogance. Little more than a sex slave kept around as a prize to be paraded around and denigrated. "But you''ve failed your duty as his woman."


    It was a wonderfully cathartic sight for Em, not even ruined by the fact that she would probably be playing the same role in future plays. It was only fair, after all.


    Besides, with Emma''s memories, Em had also dearly wished to see Mikael fuck another version of herself. The fact that it took over a decade to get the threesome with herself was a travesty that needed to be corrected... Vigorously.


    (It does bear pointing out that, for all Emma, and Em by extension, hated the ''Emma Frost'' first summoned to the Island and other versions of herself, they were also still ''Emma Frost.'' That came with a certain ego, a belief that ''she'' was the best fit for Mikael.


    With as much as a kinky woman as she was even before Mikael, it bore little surprise that one of her greatest fantasies was to see another version of herself get absolutely mindbroken by her husband. It was the perfect ego booster, both because she saw ''herself'' as the most attractive woman and as an ego boost.


    ''Her'' man was obviously better and any other ''Emma Frost''s'' man.)


    Still, it wouldn''t do to give the game away too soon. Mikael did enjoy the chase a bit.


    "...Sir?" Em made sure her voice was just a touch hesitant, as if not understanding.


    In the fake memories, Em had never been a target of sexual advances from Mikael. That was partly the reason she wore such slutty clothes, because she was trying to entice him to act.


    After years of cleaning up the mess of all his other conquests, Em''s fake memories told her he''d only need to wink at her, and she''d bend over her desk and spread her legs to be railed in front of everyone.


    Yet nothing had happened until now.


    Mikael sighed, as if in disappointment.


    "I had such high hopes for you. Yet, even after all these years, you still don''t understand."


    "Understand what, Sir?"


    Mikael shook his head and lightly waved his hand.


    Emma rose to her feet.


    Unlike Em, who had at least the pretense of modesty, Emma was ''dressed'' to represent exactly what she was.


    A sex slave.


    If one squinted, one could almost imagine it was her outfit as the White Queen. The long white gloves and thick heeled boots that reached her knees were the same as was the white choker. She still wore the white corset... but that was where any resemblance ended.


    The corset''s lase ties still displayed her slim was completely open at the top to push up the pair of perfect tits. Not a stitch of fabric covered her breasts, and her pale nipples were on full display so everyone could see the metal piercings with tiny white dragons dangling with every twitch. Another of those little marks of servitude were fastened to the choker, making it resemble a collar.


    Emma''s groin was technically(?) covered. She wore the tiniest white panties, something to make even a G-string seem conservative, but not only were they white lace, but her arousal had turned them so sodden as to be see through.


    Despite being dressed like the worst kind of slut, she carried herself with every ounce of pride and grace she did in the boardroom.


    Even if she was a whore, Emma Frost was still the highest class of whore and you''d better respect that.


    (It also helped that this wasn''t even in the top 10 sluttiest things she''d ever worn. Even before Mikael and his... creativity in their sex lives, Emma Frost had a long history of being in an assortment of a-typical sexual situations, not the least of which was when she worked as a stripper for the Hellfire Club.


    It also helped that she was, and Em by extension, extremely kinky.


    Let me rephrase that:


    In a Family which included: Yoruichi Shihouin, Wonder Woman, Glynda Goodwitch, Raven/Pride/Literally Satan, and MIKAEL!... Emma Frost was still the kinkiest one of the Family.


    And now there were two of them.)


    Emma didn''t waste any time once she was near Em and the secretary didn''t even try to resist as she was slammed forward, crashing into the sturdy desk and being forced to bend over it at a ninety-degree angle.


    "You were waiting for him to fuck you, weren''t you?" Emma snarled, forcing Em''s head down onto the desk, her breasts spilling from her jacket and crushed flat against the hardwood. "Weren''t you?!"


    SMACK!


    Em''s entire body trembled as Emma''s palm came down on her ass, her breasts pushed forward and now dangling off the edge of the desk within arm¡¯s reach of Mikael, who sat and watched apathetically.


    It was as she stared into his eyes that Em answered.


    "Yes." SMACK. "YES! I''ve been waiting for so long for you to fuck me." SMACK. "For you to bend me over my desk and ruin me with your big dick." SMACK. "Every morning, I woke up hoping you''d shove your cock down my throat." SMACK. "I''ve kept my ass clean and lubed every second just in case you wanted to bugger me in front of everyone." SMACK. "I''ve never touched a condom or a pill, hoping you''d want to creampie my desperate, needy pussy raw and fuck your bastard into me." SMACK. "But you never diiiiiIIIIIIIDDDDDD!"


    Em was wailing by the end of her rant, her face red and eyes tearing slightly from the pain. Emma was not gentle with her spanks, and Em had to use her Aura to ensure she wasn''t injured.


    SMACK!


    "This is why you''re a failure," Emma spat out. "You kept waiting to be used. You should have begged." SMACK. "You should greet him every day by going to your knees under his desk." SMACK. "Every presentation you made should have been with his cock in you." SMACK. "Every time you answer the phone; it should be while bouncing on his lap." SMACK. "A good secretary does her job. A good woman does it while making sure her man doesn''t need to do anything." SMACK! "Not even ask for her holes!"


    Every word that came out of Emma''s mouth seemed a revelation to Em, and her eyes were wide with understanding and regret by the end, as if the absurd statements were common sense she should have known all along.


    Mikael just sat back and watched this one woman, two body play. Despite the impassive facade he kept up for the role play, he was terribly amused. He was certain that even if he didn''t do anything but sit there, the two women in front of him would keep at it for hours, riling each other up further and further.


    But Mikael wasn''t the type to sit back, even if this was their fantasy.


    ...Largely their fantasy. He would admit to having a thing for women in uniform of all sorts, even slutty. Something about it demonstrating competence and his aversion to ''damsels'' perhaps?


    Either way, Secretary Em and White Queen Emma were definitely a feast for his eyes.


    Besides, today was more about Em. Emma was being entirely too uppity for the play they were doing for her.


    "Slut."


    With one word and a look, Emma immediately ceased spanking Em, released her hold, and fell to her knees with a solid THUNK.


    "She''s right Sir," Em remained on his desk, the look of deepest regret on her face contrasting with the way her breasts dangled over the edge. She even wiggled a bit to make them sway in front of his eyes. "I''ve been a failure as your woman. Please punish me."


    "I will," Mikael assured her but deepened his tone in displeasure. "But the slave overstepped her authority. You''re my secretary. When you fail, it¡¯s up to me to deal with you. She''s just a tool. A useful hole. You have control of her, not the other way around."


    Mikael almost wanted to sigh at how clearly denigrating ''Emma Frost'' was getting Em off. Even Emma was practically vibrating, and he was sure he''d have to repeat this exact scenario later with the roles reversed.


    Just because he saw the hatred they held towards ''herself'' as absurd, didn''t mean she agreed and therapists were, ironically, the worst when it came to dealing with their own issues.


    All he could do was hope the years would help them forgive, or at least forget, their ''self-hatred.''


    That and use it as fodder for debauched sex play.


    Hey, if it worked, it worked.


    Most fetishes came from repressed issues anyway.


    "Slut." Mikael repeated. "Pay your mistress back."


    Emma wasted no time lifting Em''s skirt, clearly laying bare her white stockings and garter belt framing her toned legs and amazing ass. With an experienced hand, Emma pulled down the transparent panties and dove in.


    Em let out a lewd moan as Emma''s experienced tongue went to work on her. The excitement and foreplay already had her on a razor''s edge and she came immediately, spasming and shuddering on his desk.


    Emma didn''t let up and Em had no intention of stopping either. In fact, she decided to take the next step.


    "Please use me to your heart''s content, Sir." Em lowered her head as far as it would go over the desk¡¯s edge and opened her mouth wide.


    Mikael easily wheeled his chair forward, raised it slightly, and pulled down his pants to let his dick free.


    As soon as it was within reach, Em was on it as if it was the last drop of water in the desert.


    Em slammed herself onto his turgid cock hard enough that it would have seriously hurt a mortal woman. There wasn''t even a beat of delay as she used her hands to pull his chair forward so she could swallow it down to the root. Her mouth formed a tight seal at his base, her throat slightly distended by his girth.


    And she came again.


    She wasn''t usually this...excitable. This was the type of response he usually got from Ranni, who was still the most sensitive of his wives.


    ...Maybe he''d underestimated how horny Em was after no sex for over a decade. She had Emma''s memories of the few months between his release and his Ascension, so it wasn''t like ''she'' hadn''t had sex with him before.


    To make up for the delay, Mikael decided to give her exactly what she wanted.


    With one hand, he grabbed Em by her tightly bound hair and yanked her off his dick. She gasped for air, eyes unfocused as her chest heaved up and down, much to his delight.


    Then Mikael slammed it back down, re-hilting himself in her throat.


    GLRK GLRK GLRK.


    Over and over, he skull fucked her, Em''s glasses crashing into his hips but remaining both intact and in-place. It was the only part remained pristine.


    The rest of her slowly deteriorated as he continued to use her mouth like a sex toy. Her make up was already smeared from her earlier tears now ran like a river and copious drool flowed from her lips. Her hair retained its bun, but its neatness was absolutely lost as his hold on her head and control of her skull''s movements forced it out of its careful styling.


    Slurp. GARK! Slurp. GAK! Slurp. URK!


    Every withdrawal was accompanied by a wet slurp as Em desperately tried to retain his dick in her mouth. Every thrust was accompanied by some form of chocking sound depending on the angle.


    For a few minutes, Mikael kept his eyes on Em''s. His face carefully neutral as hers looked up at him through her tears. There was a question in those blue eyes. A desperate need for validation.


    To that pleading, Mikael just said:


    "You''ll do."


    Then he went back to ''work,'' pretending not to notice the way Em shuddered again at his word and Emma''s continued her ministrations.


    They remained like that for a while. Emma continued to please Em''s desperate pussy with her mouth and fingers while Mikael continued to fuck her throat roughly with one hand, pretending to not pay any attention to the pleasure he was feeling or the arousing sights and sounds.


    Then, as he continued his ''work,'' the episode he was watching on his computer ended and moved onto the next.


    (What? Did you expect him to do actual work in this sex fantasy?


    Of course not!


    He might be the ego of the being that assimilated everything into himself, but he was still Mikael. Of course he took the opportunity for a joke.


    That''s why, while having a threesome with Emma Frost and Emma Frost, he was watching an animated X-men show.)


    Suddenly, as a familiar face appeared on the screen, Mikael had an idea.


    Careful not to let either of the psychics see this thought, even as he let them read the rest of his mind, Mikael changed the relative time of this illusionary world.


    Slurp.


    In the second between having it and the next, Mikael had a series of long, serious discussions with every one of his wives, and even talked to the kids about it. This was not something that would happen just because of a sexually charged fantasy. This necessitated consideration, contemplation, and thorough discussion.


    ACK!


    Nobody was opposed, and most were even excited at the prospect, so he proceeded.


    Slurp.


    If this worked out, it could go a long way toward helping Emma and Em if not recover, then at least reconcile with her irrational hatred toward ''herself.''


    URK!


    After all, for all that she hated much about what ''Emma Frost'' had done and who she was, there were a few aspects of her home world that she genuinely missed and still longed for.


    Slurp.


    So, Mikael let his idea slip through his mind as if it was an errant thought to evaluate their response.


    -


    Both women froze as they read his thoughts.


    Even his continued use of Em''s mouth did not draw a sound from her, showing how much of the sounds she put out were an exaggeration for effect.


    Mikael pretended not to notice, though he did smile as he finally looked from his ''work'' to the two of them.


    "I believe I have the perfect punishment for your failure, Em."


    That got her moving again.


    *Pop*


    "Of course, Sir," Em''s throat was a bit hoarse, but it couldn''t conceal the way her breath had picked up, knowing what was coming. "I am yours to use as you see fit. My mouth. My breasts. My ass. My womb."


    Even if he couldn''t read her like a book, the way she emphasized the last word made it perfectly clear how she felt on the subject.


    Just as clear were Emma''s own feelings as she stood from her crouch, face smeared with her twin''s juices.


    "What would you have me do, Sir?" There was a... yearning in her voice. It carried her arousal, of course, but also a hint of regret and loss.


    If Em was ridding the high of sex after a decade of abstinence and wouldn''t realize what this meant until later, then Emma was perfectly aware of the implications despite the haze of lust.


    Mikael met her eyes and privately shared a conversation in a heartbeat.


    Emma closed her eyes and responded with a simple sentence.


    ''I''ll call my daughters Sophie and Irma.''


    It was proof positive of His Emma and Em''s hypocrisy.


    Emma Frost was a stone-cold bitch. His Emma Frosts hated her. They hated her ex-husband. They hated Jean Grey. They hated Xavier. They hated so much of their old lives because it all led to the ¡®Emma Frost¡¯ that appeared on the Island and then in his Cell.


    Yet, despite it all, despite ''dying'' in the mind of a Great One and being reborn in its Mad Love, so much of what made her ''her'' remained.


    Including the love Emma Frost had for her Cuckoos, the clones created in her image to hold the Phoenix Force in her original world.


    She''d buried both Esme and Sophie while alive and mourned the other three when she realized her world was destroyed, despite the fact she shouldn¡¯t care because they had been ¡®Emma Frost¡¯s¡¯ clones, not hers.


    Mikael was still expanding endlessly, yet hadn''t reached a limit. He hadn''t even reached another ''Company'' run section of the Multiverse. Despite finding various versions of their ''story'' worlds, he still hadn''t found any of his wives¡¯ original home worlds.


    But so long as he was Free and Alive, he''d keep looking. It cost him nothing and would give his Family some much needed closure.


    Until then, he''d have to settle for giving them a simple fraction of what they had lost and hoping it helped them in the long run.


    Even if the idea came in the middle of a debauched sexual role play.


    Then again, most of his best ideas did.


    "Prepare her," Mikael ordered Emma. "When I''m done with her, you''re next. Punishment for overstepping."


    "Yes Sir. Thank you, Sir."


    Without a pause, Emma picked Em up by her waist and spun her until the secretary was lying on her back, legs spread and facing him on his desk.


    Mikael stood from his chair, not bothering to disrobe in the slightest as he knew how much they like seeing him in a suit, and lined up with Em''s absolutely drenched sex.


    "Ready to be mine?"


    Both women tensed, eyes locked where his tip hovered less than an inch from her hole. Em didn''t look away as she answered.


    "I''ve always been."


    With a grin, Mikael thrust.


    Em... passed out.


    Mikael paused for a heartbeat.


    Of all responses, that wasn¡¯t the one he expected.


    Em was a Diamond Dragon, like Emma. Even ignoring other aspects, like aura, her mutations, affinity with both forms of Haki, and general life experiences, she was still a Tier 10, like the rest of his Family from imbibing his blood for years.


    To pass out from one thrust...


    Mikael grinned evilly.


    He''d be holding this over her head for the rest of time.


    With the most delicate of movements, he slowly withdrew himself until his tip was all that remained within his most recent wife.


    Then he slammed himself forward.


    "AAAAAAAHHHHhhhhhhhnnnnnn~"


    Em scream turned into a loud and wanton moan as she was awoken by his thrust. She was so loud that all the ''clients'' in the waiting room no doubt heard as Mikael began to absolutely rail his slutty secretary.


    "What a useless hole," Mikael resumed his act as he gave Em a disparaging look, hips continuing to move with his full force. "Passed out right away. You''re tight and wet, so I guess it¡¯s not a total loss. But how am I supposed to use you in the future?"


    "Ah''m sorry, nnnnn, Sir," Em'' moaned out her words loudly to be overheard over the wet smack of flesh on flesh. With her white skirt bunched around her waist and her blazer buttoned under her breasts, not a part of her was concealed from his devouring eyes. She went so far as to thrust her chest higher from his desk, enormous tits bouncing with every slam of his hips against hers. "Use, mmmmmhhhhhhhhhhh. Use me however you want. Even if... Even if I pass out. Or''m asleeeeep. Or working. HNNG. Or doing anyTHINGGGGGG!"


    "If I wanted a sex slave to just lay there, I use any woman off the street. As my secretary, you need to be able to handle everything I have. Even if I want to get rough."


    To prove his point, Mikael gave the woman a harsh slap across her breasts, making sure to hit her sensitive nipples with full force. Em spasmed in another orgasm at the sudden burst of sensation, accompanied by his dick''s continual battering at her womb.


    "Sorry. Sorry. Sorry. Sorry. Sorry. Sorry. Sorry. Sorry." Em babbled through her orgasm.


    Mikael let himself savor the sight of seeing her come undone like this, knowing it would be a rare event. Usually, Emma was much more composed in bed and Em probably would be too once she was off this dry spell.


    Speaking of his other wife...


    "What are you doing!?" Mikael barked in displeasure at Emma.


    "Ah?" For the first time since Mikael had penetrated her clone, Emma blinked.


    Just because Em had been waiting years for this didn''t mean Emma hadn''t been waiting even longer to see her husband fuck another version of herself. The entire time she''d had her eyes locked on where his dick dissipated into Em''s pussy, her breath heaving deeply and a flush covering her pale skin.


    "Why is every Emma Frost so useless," Mikael ''muttered'' under his breath, loud enough to be heard by both of them.


    In a move that seriously made Mikael consider if the pair had rehearsed it, both Em and Emma responded instantly.


    ""Because she''s a power-hungry whore with delusions of adequacy.""


    So surprised was Mikael by the unified and quick answer that Mikael paused his rough pounding of Em''s abused snatch.


    Externally, in a world beyond this little fantasy, Mikael created another iteration of himself that roared with laughter for a solid minute before dissipating.


    That was one ice cold burn.


    Internally, Mikael continued to play his role.


    "Just. Because. You. Know." With every word forced from his grit teeth, Mikael slammed himself back in, enjoying the way Em gripped the desk for support to keep from sliding away. "Doesn''t mean I''ll forgive you."


    To demonstrate his ''displeasure'' Mikael gave Em''s tits another harsh smack and let the momentum carry his hand to do the same to Emma''s exposed breasts.


    With the same hand, he reached over and grabbed a fistful of Emma''s blonde locks, jerking her head down over the desk until it was pressed against Em''s mound is his pounding dick.


    "Get to work," he ordered.


    Emma started licking Em''s clit, occasionally giving his dick a sloppy kiss when the opportunity presented itself. One hand rose to roughly grasp Em''s right breast, brutally twisting her nipple, while the other gently cupped his balls.


    Speaking to both of them, he let his voice lower to his most dominating growl, knowing that it made his chest rumble in a way they loved. ''Dragon-like'' his wives called it.


    "I was going to make you each carry a child for your failures. Nine months internalizing your lesson. But since you two are ¡®power hungry whores with delusions of adequacy¡¯ then I need to make sure it goes through your thick heads." Mikael picked up the pace even more as he saw both women tense below him. "I''m giving you each twins. I hope you enjoy being huge and unable to move because of my children."


    The logic of the punishment being somehow worse with two kids didn''t really hold up, but it had been the plan anyway and Mikael was just creating a justification after the fact. Besides, fetishes and dirty talk didn''t have to make sense for it to be hot.


    And, for the two women, it was incredibly hot.


    Even as Mikael began to cum deep into Em''s waiting womb, the secretary was already babbling ''thank you, sir'' and ''yes, sir'' as she had her biggest orgasm yet.


    But she wasn''t idle either.


    In a display that showed that her earlier unconsciousness was a one-time event, Em still managed to keep the wherewithal to use one hand to force Emma down on her clit while her other hand tore Emma''s panties aside and cruelly thrust three fingers deep into her twin''s cunt. That, plus Mikael''s words, pushed Emma over the edge into her own climax.


    For a moment, the trio just luxuriated in the feeling of release.


    But Mikael was nowhere near done, and he wasn''t alone in the feeling. All three had been waiting for this for far too long to stop after one round.


    In a display of coordination without words only a telepath could achieve, Mikael and Em moved as one. With one hand harshly tugging her air and another half in her pussy, Emma was bodily lifted from the ground in a move that would have been excruciatingly painful for a regular woman.


    Emma just moaned loudly as she was turned placed face down on her clone. Their breasts squished into each other and the little metal dragons rubbing against their nipples as Mikael withdrew himself from Em''s creampied pussy and thrust his still engorged cock in between both mounds.


    All three enjoyed the friction of his dick rubbing their clits as he pushed Emma''s waist down to seal his dick between them at the angle of best coverage.


    With his other hand, Mikael gave Emma''s ass a harsh swat, enjoying the way it jiggled and reddened in response.


    Stepping back slightly to get a good view of both his wives¡¯ legs, hips, asses, and weeping cunts, Mikael let a smile of pride and satisfaction come over him.


    Then he was ''The CEO'' again and lining himself up with Emma''s unfertilized pussy.


    "Your turn."


    That was all the warning he gave before he slammed forward just as hard as he had with Em.


    Emma didn''t pass out, but that didn''t mean she was unaffected. Fresh off an orgasm and knowing what was coming (pun intended) she was way more sensitive than usual, and her insides clamped down on him tightly, determined not to let him go until he gave her what she wanted.


    Mikael slowly, tortuously slowly, and with enough strength to haul an iceberg, pulled himself out.


    "No~" Emma moaned at the loss and began to beg to be filled once more. "Please. Please. I need it. Please, Sir. Please give this worthless slut your child. I''ll be good. The best mom. The best. Please."


    Her words, at once self-defeating and egotistical, were a mix of the roleplay and her genuine feelings. Ones Mikael couldn''t not respond to in a similar fashion.


    As he thrust forward, he pressed her head down.


    Catching the hint, Emma stopped babbling and locked lips with Em. Both women started to enthusiastically make out as he began to pick up the pace, their hands roaming each other''s bodies, pinching, petting and slapping in an erotic battle to get the other off first.


    As they played with each other, Mikael leaned forward without slowing his pace, his arms braced on both sides of their heads to trap them in place. His larger body pressed them both down with his weight, practically wrapping around them both as he fucked Emma against Em.


    To his most loyal, most treacherous, and most damaged wives, Mikael began to talk.


    "Every day, for the rest of time," he began in a low voice and both women froze, lips still locked. "You''re going to look your daughters in the eyes and you''re going to love them." The CEO spoke, then Mikael whispered the rest gently. "You¡¯re going to know every part of you, body, mind and soul belong to me. You¡¯re going to love them because they''re proof that I love you. Until the End of Existence."


    They broke.


    A low, keening wail echoed from their sealed lips and Mikael forced his own orgasm forward. He''d barely started with Emma, but the moment felt right.


    Besides, it wasn''t like he would ever go soft if he didn''t want to. He still had hours before this little fantasy was finished.


    Just as he had with Em, he ensured she''d be pregnant with twin daughters, each identical in appearance to the other three and their mothers. He also ensured they''d be born at the same times as the twins from the other women.


    He stopped there, even though he could have molded them in a hundred other ways if he really wanted to recreate the Cuckoos.


    Mikael was willing to help Emma and Em pay respect to the lost Stepford Cuckoos and hopefully heal the tiniest bit from the personality death he inflicted in The Cell, but he wouldn''t force his children to be anything else than what they wanted to be.


    Their Elements, personalities, and desires would all be up to the girls themselves as they grew up. Even if they wanted to change their appearance in the future, to not be one of four ¡®mini-me¡¯s¡¯ of their mothers, he''d help them do so.


    Mikael loved his wives, but he loved his children just as much.


    But they, like the children Artoria and Glynda asked for, were nine months away. Things had gone well with the Family¡¯s first four and, even with his oldest still being in their teens, the Family was ready for six more.


    If nothing else, Medea would appreciate having more minions/pets/siblings/kittens to boss around.


    Mikael took a moment to appreciate the fact that the second wave of children the Family would receive would all be blondes, before he refocused on the women below him.


    Emma and Em had recovered in the brief break and returned to their physical exploration of each other''s body.


    ...Did this count as incest? Mikael didn''t know, but damned if it wasn''t hot.


    "You''re having fun," he said with an exasperated shake of his head. Both froze and withdrew from the lip lock. Before either could start with ''Sorry Sir''s¡¯ again, he withdrew from Emma and retook his seat behind the desk. "Come here, both of you. I''m not done."


    Both versions of Emma Frost got off the desk, uncaring for their nudity or that they were... dripping, and rested on their knees beside him.


    "Get me slicker," Mikael ordered with a gesture to his still erect dick. "I have two more holes to use. Then I''ll need to get some actual work done. You¡¯ll remain here but if I have to pay attention to you, you¡¯ve failed."


    ""Yes, Sir.""


    Emma and Em pressed their enormous breasts together around his dick, trapping it in a wonderfully tight embrace. Both opened their mouths, drooling on his tip, before they began to move their tits up and down.


    Mikael noticed the way they bit their lips and realized that the little nipple piercings with stylized dragons he''d created for this play were making their nipples, already delicate and responsive, way more sensitive. Perhaps something to consider in the long term, or to try with his other wives.


    Still, as the twins alternated between making out over his dick and giving it more saliva, Em finally had a moment of clarity to send a psychic message.


    ''Thank you.'' Her mental voice was subdued despite her lewd tit-job. ''For waiting. For this... dream. For Phoebe and Celeste. For Choosing me.''


    Mikael didn''t need to be a psychic to know that, if either woman had another daughter, they''d name her Esme after the last Cuckoo.


    Nor did he need to read Em''s mind to know she''d battled with her identity as a copy of Emma for the last decade. So, he simply answered the best way he could.


    ''Of course I''d do everything for you. You''re my wife. In all of Existence, there are countless ''Emma Frosts.'' Only two are Mine. And only one is you.''


    Em''s eyes closed, even as she kept smearing saliva along his dick, and Mikael swore he saw a weight lift from her soul.


    A Greater part of him, Existence, passed on the information that Em''s Semblance had changed.


    No longer was her soul just a copy of Emma''s delivered by The Company as a replacement.


    Mikael let himself enjoy the physical pleasure and Love of the moment.


    Em, of course, had to push the envelope though.


    ''I can''t believe you made me clean up after an illusion of Jean Grey of all people,'' she bitched good naturally. ''You know I hate her. You''re a complete bastard.''


    ''That wasn''t an illusion,'' Mikael responded with a smirk. Em froze, mouth half lolling open. ''That was the Phoenix. Melina finally managed to create a separate body for it.''


    ''...A complete bastard!'' Em responded, forcing an image of watching Jean Grey/Phoenix getting absolutely demolished in his sex dungeon.


    Mikael laughed. Fulfill one of her fantasies and she immediately focuses on another one. Emma Frost was such a high maintenance woman.


    But he wouldn¡¯t have her any other way.


    It was hours later that Em emerged from his office.


    "Miss Braddock?" She said, adjusting her glasses and dabbing a bit of cum from her lips. "The boss will see you now."


    The other ''woman'' (this one an actual illusion) just stared at Em in shock as she retook her seat at her desk.


    With her tits out, her skirt gone, and her wobbly steps on her heels, it was clear that Em had been absolutely destroyed. Not an inch of her wasn''t covered in cum and more oozed out of her well used cunt and ass with every step.


    Em wore it like a crown as she retook her seat behind her desk and resumed her delayed work.


    Even if these weren''t just illusions created for the express purpose of turning her on, Em wouldn''t have cared. She would have walked through the original Frost Pharmaceuticals just as she was with her head held high.


    Why should she be ashamed?


    This all came from Mikael, from Existence. Her god.


    Her husband.


    Her state was just proof Em was His.