Part 5
Lucky for us, our shiny new base continued to impress. Not only did it have a magitech lab for me. It also had a full on, jumbo-sized sparring arena.
A very suspiciously familiar arena. One with a large, circular pit full of yellow sand (it was always fucking sand). With a short trench around it, surrounded by decorative dark gray brickwork in a vaguely classical roman style. The cut stone was visibly aged, and not in the way you got with only a handful of decades of wear.
In short, it was the 'arena' from A2's own home setting. Or at least the challenge simulations from the game based off of it. Even then, it'd be a close match for the very real flooded city arena where androids had set up a number of recreational bloodsports. Most of a highly morally dubious nature with largely less than voluntary participants.
Because that's just the sort of worldbuilding Yoko Taro does. Honestly, it was even arguably one of the tamer segments in that.
Still, better than being back in the fucking blood pits of Kaon. This one I only had to clean up after I made a mess of it. I wouldn't have to hand out any 'mercy' either. Which had easily been the roughest part of the job. Even compared to the occasional spontaneous 'bonus round' with audience (and personal) participation.
"Nice place," I mused. "Hey, do you rec-" I turned my face towards A2, only to be sent flying with a blow directly to the face.
Okay that was an exaggeration, I was knocked off balance enough to need to take a step. Which was… interesting, given I knew full well she could have sent me literally flying. Heck, 2B and her had been known to launch Medium Bipeds flying a dozen plus feet barehanded, and those particular 'Machine Lifeforms' probably weighed about half a car, minimum.
And yet that blow probably wouldn't have broken anything even if I didn't have Toughness up. With it hardening my already supernaturally tough flesh and bone? It might leave a bruise, but really it was more the speed that had made me stagger.
"Shut up and fight." she commented, launching a much heavier, but clearly telegraphed punch for my stomach.
I 'jumped' back in Featherfall evading the first blow… but not the follow up high kick, not entirely. Still in the air, I easily rolled with the hit.
"Go harder!" I said, diving in after her hit to launch an attack of my own- only to abort as she landed on her kicking leg, spinning into another telegraphed but lightning fast blow.
Fast!
"I can take it!" I grinned, she was amazingly fast. My perception was three times the speed of a normal person's. Magic infused my muscles, not just making me tougher but stronger and faster and I could barely keep up. I'd need to use haste to match her, much less overtake her. And to top it all off? She was skilled!
It was amazing. How many times had I met some monster, human shaped or not, that outpaced me, but moved either like a freight train with limbs, or just a human on fast forward? So few could make the most of what they had.
I drank her in like water in a desert. A dozen blows, some quick some hard, her body flicking in and out as she used her Near Field Control System to puppet her body like a puppet on strings.
Then, once she realized she really wasn't hurting me, her swords appeared on her in a flash, and things got… interesting.
Fist coated my limbs in protective force, stealing energy from each hit, as I parried two dozen more blows in the time she'd previously launch six. The pair of us sliding across the sand like figure skaters rehearsing on a rink, as we clashed. My form adapting to hers, learning her tricks and moves just as she was adapting to mine.
Surprisingly, I was outpacing her. She was good, impossibly so, but I had the very concept of unarmed combat engraved into my being. In pure skill, I was her better.
Right up until she finally went Beast Mode on me (literally), and no amount of skill could save me as she became a red blur of speed and pain.
I laughed, flat on my ass, A2 standing above me, the blunt side of that slab of steel she called a sword to the side of my neck, my hand remained painfully pinned under the sharp heel of her stiletto 'shoes'. My cheek stinging from where it'd been sliced deep enough to bleed. "You're amazing."
"You need to shut up!" The android complained, and though I might have been imagining it, I believed her face was a bit red despite the visible crimson haze of her Berserk state having faded once she was sure she had me pinned.
"Sorry, yeah you got me, just… wow," I couldn't stop smiling. "You're just… Wow."
She grumbled then took her foot off my hand, walking back to let me get up. Which I did, sitting without bothering to stand just yet touching at my cut cheek, before reluctantly casting a Blessing over the area to help heal it.
"What do I need for this date thing?" A2 asked. "Outside of the outfit."
"Just you," I said, looking up at her, eyes following down her wintery mane of hair, as she spoke to me with her back turned. "There's lots of optional stuff, but you don't really need much for a date. Just each other's company. Everything else is just gravy. And I'm the one who asked you to join anyway."
"If you say so," she grumbled. "I'll be ready when it's time to go."
"Wait," I said.
She turned to look at me, shooting me a warning glare.
"Berserk mode takes a toll on your systems, right?" I asked. "Wait around a little and my healing spell will help with that. It'll last for a couple days after I leave," I explained.
She grunted an acknowledgement.
I closed my eyes and then let myself laid back in the sand. I healed faster that way.
After a few seconds I heard footsteps approaching, and opened my eyes back up to see A2 standing above me.
"The thread thing," she said. "Are you holding off on that for some reason?"
'It… kinda sticks us together forever you know," I reminded her.
"We're already stuck together until one of us dies," she reminded me in an annoyed tone. "Just do it already," she said, extending a hand, leaning down enough to help me up.
I took it, letting her do so. "You sure?" I asked
"You gonna make a habit of making me repeat myself, forever?" she asked, shooting me an annoyed look.
"For the big stuff? Yep, always," I replied, reaching to the back of my gripped hand and 'pulling loose' the glowing red string, watching her carefully as I looped it around her 'gloved' hand once, twice… then feeling it fuse together.
She didn't flinch, even as it sunk in, and a new sense of Connection bloomed between us.
At the same time her eyes finally dropped to her hand, staring for a moment where she continued to hold my hand, slowly pulling it free while continuing to exert just enough pressure that our fingers were touching right up until they slipped past one another.
"...Well… My repairs are done. Your magic's good for that at least," she said. "You done healing up?"
"Well enough," I confirmed, reaching up and brushing off the already crumbling scab. "You didn't do that much damage," I teased.
She snorted, "It was a spar and you don't have any backups."
"We might have to fix that," I agreed.
She let out an uncommitted grunt at that, then started out of the colosseum styled 'practice ring', only to pause for a moment letting me catch up with her.
I grinned as I did, and in a moment of daring, darted my hand back out to grab hers.
That startled her, and for a moment I wondered if I'd gone too far too fast… then she went ahead and gripped my hand back.
I grinned wide as we started back up to the stairway… Before remembering just how many stairs we'd moved past.
Right. Definitely using a flight spell for that.
-----
About twenty eight minutes after we left, we rejoined the group, and both Lisas immediately picked up on the change of atmosphere.
"What was that about needing a date before you put out huh?" One asked.
"Whaaaat?" I drew out, realizing that my smile was probably making me seem more sarcastic than I was, and actively forcing myself to drop it. "We sparred. Seriously, that's it."
"Ahuh?" both said in synch.
"It was a really good spar," I argued. Then I realized that, again, probably wasn't defending my position. "But, seriously. It was only that. Just some fully clothed physical activity between two combatants. It was fun, admittedly," I said looking over at A2.
"Hard, fast, and a little bit bloody," A2 chimed in. "Exactly the way I like it."
I shot her a look. "You probably like soft vanilla stuff in bed, with lots of cuddling, and handholding."
A2 blushed "S-shut up! I've never even done that kind of thing."
"Preaching to the choir," one of the Lisa's muttered.
"She totally does, though," the other Lisa said. "It's actually kind of cute- I said it's cute!" she exclaimed as A2 was suddenly pointing a sword at her.
"Please don't draw steel while we're actually on the date," I sighed. "We're trying to keep a low profile- speaking off, everyone got dress ideas ready? Because for all I make a lot of outfits I am not a professional tailor."
"Oh! I've got one!" Penny said as she enthusiastically held up a magazine that she had appropriated from…
Actually, "Where did you get this from?"
"We have a three dimensional printer!" she explained eagerly. "But that doesn't matter, what matters is I want to know if you can do… this! she pointed."
I blinked, "...this is a burger joint by the docks. Not a fancy restaurant."
"Figured it was worth a shot," Kara replied shamelessly.
"It's fine! I have backups!" The red haired girl said, beaming unabashedly.
I… this was probably going to take longer than actually making the dress cards for their rider belts, wasn't it?
Oh gods. What if they wanted refits!?
And there were five of them!
Okay, no. Now was not the time to panic. After all, A2 wouldn't care. Kara would probably be at least somewhat generous. And while Penny was a bit… eager, she would be manageable, and at least one of the Lisas had already suggested I make up my own design, so that was…
Both Lisas were smirking at me.
…Fuck, I was screwed. Why did I volunteer for this again? What the fuck was I on at the time!?
Carefully suppressing my internal reactions, I put on a wide smile at Penny. "Backups? Great. Why don't you lead me through them…"
Okay, this…. This was fine. I could handle this. It was just one small date… with five girls. Including two differently socially awkward androids, a woman from a comic book setting, and two versions of Lisa Willborn who didn't know if they wanted to act in synchronization or in complete opposition.
I could handle this.
Hahaha… oh gods why couldn't I just go another round with Lung? Or the Butcher. Or Lung as The Butcher.
Part 6
Despite my… misgivings, things actually went pretty smoothly from the design phase. Once my initial panic ended, I didn't have that much issue with everything. Mostly because I realized, I could just 'preview' the outfits by casting Mage Armor on each individual girl at reduced duration, before locking the outfit to an enchantment.
Actually, technically speaking, I didn't even need to do that. Mage Armor could last half a day if I cast it at full power… but that'd mean designing each outfit to the point that it could be manually removed, and that was hard. Form hugging outfits made it really hard. Adding in functional armor layers on top of that which, by nature, would have to be skin tight, but able to flex and breath-
Nope. Not worth the bother. Not when I could just make some magical gizmos in less than an hour. I might have osmosed in some stuff researching how to use Mage Armor to better effect, but I was no tailor. Making magic artifacts was way easier than making stylish yet functional clothing.
Well, at least for me. And for Cantrips I'd actually mastered. Things got a lot tricker when it was something less practiced.
Kind of like dating.
Haha… Why did I let Steven talk me into taking on a dedicated waifu budget again? Oh right, it'd give me better contract options, and I was used to working as part of a team. Even if normally I just had to be an occasionally insightful fight monkey.
Fuck.
I felt a weird sort of nervous jitteriness as the six of us entered Fugly Bob's. As Lisa had expected, even with our 'cape' status masked, we'd drawn quite a few eyes on the trip, though it wasn't just because of A2 that we did so. All the girls didn't just look good, they looked good.
But not, importantly, immediately recognizable.
Heeding Lisa's words, I'd built a Disguise Self function into A2's light blue Mage Armor 'Dress'. It couldn't do a lot, not as a subfunction, but it was enough to turn her rather distinctive white hair black. I'd debated doubling down with another one to either change her eye color or hide her mole, but opted instead for an easy interface, much like I had with Lisa's 'Watson' mode. The design of the 'armor' was similarly simple, a light blue, spaghetti strap 'empire' dress, with a short skirt for easy mobility and darker blue layer over her built-in heels. All worn over a black sleeveless bodysuit that visually looked like a leotard and stockings combo, but would, if push came to shove, stop most anti-personnel rounds.
I'd almost given her something with more elaborate sleeves, but, after a moment's reconsideration, decided that might bring up too many bad memories.
Kara, after a quick conversation, hadn't opted for a dress, but a more eclectic mix of a white shirt, brown jacket, and tan slacks with somewhat fancy boots, looking very… business casual. She also got a hair dye job via Disguise Self and was currently a brunette with glasses, which, like her cousin, did a shockingly good job of making her look like an entirely different person.
It was a… surprisingly appealing look, to be honest. Strong tomboy energy, only added by the body language she chose to wear it all with.
Both of the Lisas likewise managed to pull off some rather impressive transformations.
Elisa's outfit was a short sleeve 'spring' dress, jade green as she'd requested, but with dark green paisley print patterning, and a neckline just low enough to hint at cleavage to make it stand out just a little more. Again with a black undersuit, though in this case modified with a dipping neckline that wouldn't be visible in her dress. To complement it, she'd done her hair up in a bun, and applied considerably more makeup than I normally expected of her.
I suspected she was channeling Sarah, though I kind of hoped she wasn't. That was not a fun time for her life, and I wasn't sure I wanted it in her head for this.
Alisa on the flipside decided to lean into a more postmodern look, a simple white tube dress black stocking arm warmers, and choker, with her hair altered into a vibrant blue and left loose in an almost Tattletale-like manner. A look that was almost cyberpunk in its aesthetic… which was probably the idea, since she was the 'Clone Lisa from the future, made by a shady corporation'.
To highlight this fact, she'd also taken the time to manually apply some black lipstick and nailpolish.
Penny on the flipside… yeah, her costume was threadbare as it came. I'd managed to talk her out of wearing green, leading to her being dressed up in a somewhat fancy, puff sleeved purple outfit that was only at the barest range of what could be considered 'casual'. Which was funny, because if I remember right, back in her series, her prom dress had actually been amazingly simple. Unfortunately, we couldn't use Disguise Self to change her hair color since that had to go into helping cover up her more blatant robotic components, which were a lot less subtle than A2's.
She still looked nice, and that was only amplified by her enthusiasm.
"We're going on a date! Actually going on a date!" she cheered as we entered the infamous 'Fugly Bobs'..
"Not much of a dating restaurant," Kara commented.
"It's not bad," I said. "My first date was actually at a pizza chain," I noted.
And despite not being part of a franchise, Fugly bobs did have a vague hint of that chain restaurant vibe. I mean it also seemed equal parts dive bar, and refitted shack, but that was actually a charming element in its own way. "At least the view is good," I noted looking out into the bay.
"The food's not bad either, so long as you don't mind eating a couple years worth of grease in one go," One of the Lisas commented. "They always overdo the sides though."
"Sounds perfect," my stomach was already complaining and I'd even popped a Goodberry earlier while working. Just a tiny one admittedly but still.
"What kind of grease?" A2 asked, looking at the other diners, or rather their meals warily.
"We can ask after we're seated," I suggested.
Pretty soon a pimple-faced guy in their late teens or early twenties came up. "Hello!" they said eyes flicking from one of the girls to the other. "Table for six?" the said, voice cracking slightly.
"If you've got one," Elisa said with a smirk.
"That one," Alisa said, pointing quickly at a table just off one of the corners by the window.
"No problem!" the nametag-less server said, leading us over the short distance to the table in question.
The restaurant was decently busy, with about a third of the visible tables were empty, but the patio looked a bit more full. Also more rowdy. Was a game on or something?
"So what now?" A2 asked, sliding into her seat, as I set up a minor illusion to muffle our conversation. The YoRHa combat prototype was looking around… Not really warily but still clearly uneasily… nervous. Wait. A2 could get nervous!?
"Now we pic-" Both Lisa's started before turning on each other. "Stop that-" Elisa, the local version then cut in. "You got to do this already with your friends," she argued.
Alisa raised a finger, then paused.
And Penny jumped in. "First we order food!" She explained cheerfully.
"Well, first we read the menu," Kara helpfully corrected. Picking up said menus from where they were standing by the napkin holders, and distributing them out that there was at least one for every two of us.
"Check the allergies section for fish," I said. "Mackerel actually shouldn't be an issue for you anymore, but just in case."
A2 huffed, "I don't need to eat."
"Right, you run on water insead correct?" Penny asked. "But you can eat now! We've both been upgraded to facilitate all basic human functions!" she explained sagely.
"If you can eat, you should," Kara suggested. "Technically I can get by on just sunlight, but food can be fun. It's also a way to bond with others."
"Bacon cheeseburger," both Lisas said at once, then glanced at each other. "Split the- Fuck." they started.
"E is closer to F than A. You get the fries, I get the onion rings?" Alisa suggested to her local counterpart.
"Deal," Elisa agreed to her mentally older clone. "We'll have extras left over," they reminded the group.
"I'll go with the side Salad then," Kara offered. "That way everyone can try everything."
"I think I'll take on the Challenger," I said.after a moment's consideration.
"Seriously," Alisa asked, giving me a look.
"What, you got a magic spell for that too?" Elisa asked, raising an eyebrow, assuming I actually had some plan for this.
"Nope," I denied. "Probably going to take half of it home in a doggy bag, even with my Doctor's prescription for as much protein as I can fit," I was a big guy, who could eat a lot, but not that big, and able to eat that much. "It's just… sort of the thing to do?" I said. "I mean, it's a Fugly Bob's Challenger," I stressed.
"Fair," Kara said at once.
"What, really?" Both Lisas asked, shooting each other another look, before Alisa visibly leaned back a bit rolling her eyes. "Don't you have time control?" Elisa asked continuing on.
"Well… yeah, but that doesn't actually help me digest more efficiently… it's also not exactly subtle," I reminded her. "I do have spells that would let me physically do it. But eating that much isn't exactly fun to begin with."
"It isn't?" Penny asked. "I thought food competitions were common?" she asked.
"Depends where you are," Kara commented.
A2 leaned back a bit further, idly listening, but not giving it a lot of focus.
But Penny's question was still mostly hanging.
"They are, but that's still a competition, physical exertion," I reminded her. "Pushing a body to its limits. Just not its muscular limits," I noted. "It's still physically painful to eat that much. It also triggers things like your nausea reflex- It's just not a fun time in a vacuum. Some people just feel that the accomplishment makes up for it."
"Sounds stupid," A2 said bluntly.
"As much as everything else people do," I agreed with a grin. "But it's also the mostly harmless kind. Hey, when I order, do you wanna see if they'll let us split it? If you don't know what you want to eat that is," I suggested to the Android, who, I suspected might not have ever actually eaten.
That caught her by surprise, for a moment… before she settled back into her sort of casual halfhearted manner, "Sounds like a plan."
The Lisas jointly shot her a look of annoyance.
"I think I've got my order," Kara said, looking over at our last woman standing, or rather setting. "Penny?"
"Yes?" The redheaded gynoid said, before it finally clicked "Oh food!"
Her face then scrunched up in thought, "What, should I get?"
"Well, most of us are getting or sharing burgers," Kara noted. "This is a port town, so I was going to try the fish."
"Bad idea," Both Lisas interjected at once.
"So instead I think I'm just going to get an order of sweet potato fries along with the salad, and steal some of everyone else's side," Kara commented.
"That sounds like a great idea!" Penny agreed at once, then blinked, "But… what kind? There seem to be several types."
"Go with the sticks," Elisa suggested. "No point going to a grease joint if you're going to eat healthy."
"Close your menu once you're done and put it to the side," Alisa instructed. "That'll tell the server's were ready to order. It's game night, so they shuffled staff to the kitchens, the server's arn't going to bother with people who aren't ready for more than breadsticks and water."
"How about drinks?" I asked. "I'd suggest a dry night, since you want me to do a lesson after this… but I don't think they'd actually do anything to some of you."
A2 frowned, "What do you mean dry? They're drinks right?"
"No Alcohol," Kara explained to the android. Which was actually important, as despite being mechanical by nature, A2 actually was able to get drunk. Probably part of her magitech nature.
"No one here has an ID anyway," I said. "People under a certain age can't buy alcohol legally in this country," I elaborated to A2 and Penny. "There's a few reasons for it. The human nervous system is one of the slowest parts of the body to mature and exposure to toxic substances, like alcohol, before the protective sheathing for it fully grows in can damage that, if rarely to a crippling level. Kids and even teenagers are also a lot more vulnerable to serious alcohol poisoning. Both, because, again, their body's defenses aren't fully developed, and because well…"
"Booze makes dumb teenagers, even dumber," Elisa said with a smirk. "Present company excluded, of course."
"Of course," I said dryly. "It's not a problem in low doses. The issue is keeping it low, not that making it illegal actually discourages underage drinking… you'd think prohibition would have taught them," I grumbled.
"So no booze, strange place, and the only fight I'm probably going to get was a sparring match" A2 said in an ironically dry voice. "Real fun party you got here," she added.
"What sort of parties have you gone to before A2?" Penny asked, lighting up over the chance to share stories.
Which.. Caught A2 somewhat off balance. "You don't get out much, do you?"
"Nope!" Penny admitted without a hint of shame.
The normally white haired android blew a breath at that. "I've been to a couple. Me and the Twins had a 'party' once. I got them some rare flowers to make booze with. That killed a day or two. I also went to a 'Birthday Party' at Pascal's village once."
"You went to a birthday party?" I asked, both eyebrows shooting up, before I reconsidered it. "I shouldn't be surprised. Pascal was pretty charismatic," for someone who looked like an overly complex cappuccino machine. "-or is it 'is'? What happens to them is kind of up in the air."
"He…" A2 hesitated, and part of me wanted to retract my question. At the same time I also knew she probably wouldn't appreciate that.
"-He ended up infected, and dying" The YoRHa android said after a short delay. "I'm not sure if you know what happened or not, but we ended up backed into a corner with a bunch of his villagers. We didn't know it at the time, but one of them contracted the logic virus, and turned while we were fighting off the other Machines. Pascal, blew himself up to take out the rest."
"Leaving you the only survivor… Again," I said with a grimace. That… was actually not as bad as what happened in the game. Where 'the Children' had instead killed themselves out of fear in the same attack. Assuming it was the same attack, and not something that happened at the village. There were a lot of variants to most universal timelines.
"Left you with some good memories though." Alisa interjected. "That party you mentioned? You act annoyed, but you liked it."
"It was annoying," A2 argued. "I was pulling confetti out of my hair for weeks."
"But you had fun," Alisa pressed. "It's a good memory you have of them."
A2 Scowled at her, then looked away for a moment, then sighed. "I guess it was," she admitted whimsically.
"Huh," Kara asked, looking at me. "Does anyone here have a happy history?" She asked me.
I considered it. "Probably Penny," I admitted. "Everyone got out, by the way," I said to the ginger-haired gynoid.
"I heard," Penny said with a smile. "I asked around while you were undergoing your procedure."
"Waiter's coming," Elisa warned everyone.
I raised my hand and twisted it a little, adjusting the minor illusion currently muffling our conversation.
The order was a bit tricky. Apparently people did not just order the Challenger without the goal of taking the Challenge often, they also typically booked any order for the giant in advance. But, it wasn't a busy day, and if we were willing to wait a bit longer they could throw one together.
I decided to tip generously in gratitude. It wasn't like I was short on money at the moment either. Well, not at a petty cash level. Strategic funds were another, future matter. Which could wait, because I had more immediate concerns.
Namely socialization. Though that actually seemed to be going well. While things had started heavy, they'd gradually moved into related, but apparently more enjoyable topics.
Namely, neat fights they'd been in..
"The real problem wasn't the size of the thing, it was the dirty reactor," Supergirl explained, talking about the time she'd thrown down with a huge, apparently fission driven autonomous war robot. "I could have just punched through it if I didn't care about the fallout, but the entire thing was so unstable, I was worried it'd blow if it fell over the wrong way."
"Now that just sounds like sloppy design," Penny said, sounding personally offended. "It's understandable that an engine's going to be energetic, but you should at least put in basic failsafes… unless that was deliberate?"
"Ugh… Self destructing enemies are the worst," A2 commiserated. "If you wanna die, at least have the decency to go do it in a corner."
"Honestly? Given who made it, it was probably just shoddy construction," she said. "Cut corners were the least of their problems."
"Speaking of corners, I don't like how that girl's looking at us," Elisa said, looking over at another table.
That got all of us to turn to the corner in question, where it was obvious just who Lisa was talking about. It was a group of five women, most laughing or chatting, but with one particular one, with a near signature straight blond 'karen' inverted bob, though that wasn't what caught our attention.
It was that she was glaring at us like a judge at a competition panel. A glare that intensified as she caught us looking back at her.
"Food's here!" Alisa chimed in, as the Waiter came in, with two burgers, a salad, and a stack of chicken fingers on another salad came in.
Again I tweaked the Illusion to let audio flow out normally.
"Two bacon cheeseburgers, one chicken caesar, one caesar with bacon. Fries, onion rings, and the Challenger are coming right up!" the pimply faced teen said, setting everything out.
"Thank you," I said politely, along with Kara. Penny added a "Thank you for the delicious food!" moments after. While both Lisas simply grabbed at their food, Alisa with notably more gusto.
The server left and I popped the illusion back up, eyeing the woman who was eyeing us, but not seeing her making any moves.
"Ooooh… I missed these," she said in explanation, not hesitating to raise it up and take a bite.
"Do I even want to know?" Elisa asked her mentally older twin.
"Leviathan," Alisa said in explanation,
Which… made sense. I honestly would have been more surprised if a beachfront restaurant had managed to survive that particular Endbringer.
"Fuck," The local Lisa said.
"Owners actually survive and try to rebuild," her pseudo time traveling clone said. "But it's not the same. It didn't help that we were getting serious supply issues."
"I'd imagine," Kara said. "I saw the statistics of post-Endbringer cities. They seem to get worse each time."
"There are good days," I argued. "But yeah, the funding's kind of run dry for recovery in most cases."
"Don't suppose you've got an easy fix for that?" Elisa asked between bites.
"I've got Repair magic," I confirmed. "But it's not mastered enough to teach yet, and it's finicky enchanting it into something. I can probably help with things, but not solve the problem," yet.
"Are we not waiting for the rest of the food to arrive before eating?" Penny interjected
"They can munch on sides," Elisa suggested. "The plan's already to take most of the things home."
That was a fair point.
"Oh, in which case… here!" Penny said, holding up a chicken strip up to me, blushing adorably. "Say Aaaaah!"
Was she… right, her only experience with dating was cheesy comics, tv shows, and possibly novels.
Eh, what was the harm? I opened my mouth, and let her pop it into place.
"Hey," Kara suddenly interjected. "When the local junior heroes run patrol, do they pop into shops or just walk on a route?"
I caught the implication immediately, head snapping towards the front of the shop.
Gleaming, silver-colored, knight-like armor, with a glowing blue visor and neon blue highlights. No exposed skin even on their face, and no visible weapon.
That description only fit one character in Worm who'd be in the area; the Ward, Gallant. A Blaster/Thinker who could read people's emotions and influence them with blasts they projected from their hands. Normally also a pretty good guy, despite their considerable personal, political and financial power (for their age).
Unfortunately, also someone who trusted their super senses a little too much. With the six of us currently giving him a whole bunch of false readings that made our apparent emotions completely fail to match our current behavior.
…Well, fuck.
Part 7
"We need to go," I said, pulling out the stack of cash I'd conjured out of Blood Money earlier.
"Don't," Lisa- Elisa suggested. "He's poking around, but he can't poke that hard."
"You'd be surprised," Alisa argued. "But you're right, he's not going to try something unless there's a clear danger. He shouldn't even be here. Of course, someone tipped him off."
"Three guesses who," Elisa said, looking over at the previously glaring woman who was now grinning like a cat in the middle of toying with a mouse.
"Tipped him off?" Penny blinked. "Are we doing something illegal?"
"No, we're not," Kara interjected.
"Explain later," I ordered, before looking at Alisa, "How hard is he going to poke?"
The mentally older Lisa considered it for half a second, before turning to Kara. "You should get Penny and A2 out of here. He'll focus on Tarn, but we can handle him."
Kara looked to me.
I gave the nod.
A2 tsked, and I realized she'd been preparing for things to get a lot more violent than might have been warranted, even if Gallant had come here looking for a fight.
Which just went to show that all the memes about Lisa always making the wrong call were just a little bit exaggerated.
Well, at least once her conflict drive was shut off.
Gallant for his part looked… Well, he wasn't quite 'deer in headlights', but that was, I think, mostly due to extensive PR training.
No, instead he'd defaulted to 'customer service mode', "Hello Citizens!" he greeted in a tone equal parts boisterous, friendly and cheerful, AKA the iconic 'heroic' tone. "Anything disturbing to report?" he added in a joking tone.
Except he wasn't joking, and was looking if not directly at us, then out of the corner of his visor, which, I noted quite helpfully, prevented his eyes from tracking us.
"Oh hey, it's Gallant!" someone noticed. "Hey Gallant!"
That gave me an idea, and I slapped cash down on the table. "A2? The thread should let you summon a copy of my key. Use it in the bathroom to get back to base. Alisa and I will run interference. Elisa, you stay with the table to keep up appearances. Ready?" I waited a half second for someone to call out, "-Go."
Most of us got up, and I could see the Ward shift his posture. He wasn't blatant about it, no change above the hips, but he shifted his footing to something akin to a shooter's stance, as we, (along with several others) got up to approach the hero.
Including Ms. Karen.
It goes without saying that that move was probably her biggest mistake of the night.
Gallant for his part broke his act momentarily as he saw our group splitting up, first tracking Kara, Penny and A2 as they started off to the washroom, before locking onto Alisa and I, as we approached him directly.
Before he could make any sort of approach however, the living Bob-cut decided to interject, pointing accusingly in our direction, "There! That's the villain! What are you waiting for shoot them already
To which I promptly hit the dirt, while Lisa actually did something constructive… Namely, she snapped her head back, looking behind her for a moment, before turning back to our accuser, and opening up on her in return. "Really? You see someone with hair dye and alternative fashion and go 'that's a villain! Kill her now!'"
"Not her y-," The belligerent woman began, before being cut off.
"How drunk are you?" Lisa accused.
Seeing Gallant, not fire at us, I started to get back to my feet, doing so manually this time, instead of by flying, because I wasn't an idiot.
"I'm not drunk!" the woman shouted, which I noted, also came out just slightly slurred. "I'm not- fucking shoot them already you useless 'Hero'," she snapped at Gallant.
Who, naturally at this point, now was in full deer in headlights mode, but still seemed to be functioning via training. "Okay everyone, let's calm down."
"Hey!" Elisa called back from the table. "What's going on?" she asked.
"The bitch who's been glaring at us all night called the cops!" Alisa called back to her native 'twin'.
"I have no idea what's going on," I said, hands still up.
"The drunk one!?" She yelled back
"I'm not fucking drunk!" The woman yelled, yanking on Gallent's arm.
"You can lower your hands," The armored cape said to me.
"No he fucking can't!" The woman yelled.
"She's totally drunk," Alisa said to Gallant. "Wait, is that a tan line on your finger?" she asked the woman. "Man no wonder you have trust issues. What, husband leave you for the younger model? Oh, maybe you're the cheater, but you can't get any, and that's why you-"
"YOU BITCH!" the woman let go of Gallant and swung an open hand at Alisa.
I immediately shifted my footing stepping between them and interjecting my arm against her elbow, leaving her arm out in the air.
Gallant had enough and grabbed the woman's arms, suddenly.
"What!? Wha-What-WHAT!?" The woman yelled. "Police! I'm being assaulted! I'm BEING ASSAULTED!" she yelled out.
"Fucking hell Mila!" one of her friends said, staggering over. "The fuck are you doing!?"
"Hah! Mila being arrested by a ward!" Another laughed.
"Let's just go," I said to Alisa.
"Money's on the table!" Elisa said as she stepped up to us.
"No one's going anywhere," Gallant interjected. "Anyone," he added forcefully.
"HELP! HEEEELP! I'M BEING ASSAULTED BY A WARD! HELP!" the apparently drunk lady yelled, while her 'friends' laughed at her.
I internally winced at that. Yeah, this… was not how I'd expected the night to end.
Not that it was actually over. Thankfully, the lady ran out of steam after only a couple of minutes, though she at no point seemed to actually properly grasp the situation.
"Someone's banned from Fugly for life," Elisa said in a whimsical voice as 'Mila' was dropped into a squad car, heading straight off to the drunk tank. Doggy bag in hand.
Well, one of them. I was holding the rest, while we waited out front with Gallant.
"So… Do you need a statement or something?" I asked. "Do we go down to the office, or the rig, or whatever?"
Gallant looked at us hard. "-We'd like it if you could stop by the rig for an interview, at some point," he said in a serious tone.
"That a legal obligation?" Elisa teased.
"...Not officially," he said.
"I'll see if we can," I said. "I'll admit, I'd love to talk shop with Kid Win and Armsmaster, even if it'd probably go entirely over my head, being a normal, non-tinker person." I added as a bit of a teasing hint.
He visibly sighed at that. "Yeah Tinkertech can be very… Confusing, at times."
"Great! Nice meeting you Gallent!" Alisa said. "Now if you'll excuse us, I'm going to go drag my boyfriend and 'sister' home, and use him as a stress toy."
I choked on my own spit.
"Good luck with that," Gallant said, waving us off. "I'm going to go off and write a very long report."
"G-ood luc-k," I coughed out.
The Ward gave us one last look… then, quite deliberately turned his back on us and left.
I shot Alisa a look, as I finished getting my breathing back under control
"Dibs," Elisa said suddenly.
My head snapped to Elisa in confusion.
"What?" the local Lisa asked. "She's got the right idea, you've been wined and dined, and I need to pick up stuff at my apartment anyway."
Oh right, Coil was out of the picture now, and she just got access to a secure, extra-dimensional base. There were probably a lot of limited time opportunities she wanted to make good on, and as the person who'd 'dragged her into' events, I'd functionally volunteered myself to help with that. Or at least I suspected that was her view of things.
And honestly, I wasn't really against that either. More resources was always good, and she had a much better view of the situation than I did.
"I suppose magic practice can be delayed, but it does need to get done," I reminded them. "Also I got more stuff to make, so don't work me outright to the bone." I hadn't put much into mastering the Cantrip that helped with that yet.
Both Lisa's shared a look, popping mischievous grins at each other as she moved over to loop their arms around mine. "Right this way then," they said in perfect synchronization, this time definitely doing it on purpose.
I felt a shiver shoot down my spine at that. I'd actually run into people who could do that before. The Company made a lot of clones, even before factoring in things like psychics, multibody individuals, 'normal' twins from realities where that sort of behavior was common, and of course, the most terrifying of all, Cheerleaders.
That one time, with the squad of Barbies… Brrrrr… Never again
Also that one time Noob Saibot broke more of my bones than I knew you could survive having shattered! That was mildly traumatic.
"Right, so… now that our observer isn't here… What the fuck was that?" I asked them once we'd gotten a decent distance from Fugly Bob's, and I was pretty sure we'd lost any trails.
"You mean why did Gallant just let us go?" Alisa asked.
"Or do you mean how he spotted us before that dumb witch opened her mouth?" Elisa clarified.
"First one, I could guess the second. I did program your Masking artifacts," I reminded her.
Elisa pouted while Alisa grinned. "Well," the Clone Lisa began, "to put it bluntly? He walked in expecting a hostage situation. Instead, he walked into one of the few taboos the Protectorate actually cares about."
"Protectorate, not PRT," Elisa interjected quickly.
"And even they are massive hypocrites about it a lot of the time," Alisa continued shooting her local version a look as she did. Starting to get competitive again.
"Yeah, I remember a scene about them recruiting someone. They monitored part sales and thefts to ID new tinkers?" I said.
"Of course they do," both said at once, and again looked at each other in a short, unspoken but intense argument. Before seeming to settle somehow.
"Like I said, Gallant walked into there expecting a supervillain doing supervillain things," Alisa said, retaking the lead. "He didn't expect to run into what was probably a bunch of capes just living their normal lives."
"He was still suspicious as hell at first, of course," Elisa said. "But there wasn't anything obvious going on. No solid evidence, and the only thing weird to his super senses was us. Even Ms. False-Police-Report wasn't influenced by anything but alcohol, a bitter divorce on the horizon, and a subconscious terror over the crows feet she started to notice last week."
"It's bad PR, to start stuff on the civilian side of cape life" Alisa continued. "Worse in a powder keg like Brockton Bay. And even worse with unknowns. Standard operating procedure at this point is to back off, try and observe, and wait for us to slip up, and then try and play hardball," she explained.
"Well, locally anyway," Elisa added. "It works differently in different cities."
"They're still not sure you're actually 'that new tinker', by the way," Alisa interjected. "It's the best fit. You don't match any other cape in town, but for all they know you're just some guy with tinkertech, or under a power effect. If it was PRT Troopers they might take us in, but a Ward? Armsmaster might listen to Piggot's orders, but he's not PRT. The Protectorate does play the game, even if they're fast and loose with the rules."
"So, slap on the wrist, but they're watching us," I noted. "That's annoying. I'm going to have to work out actually elaborate disguises for all of us aren't I?" I asked her.
"We could just party somewhere else," Elisa suggested. "California beaches. New York Ice cream shops?" she added with a slight leading edge.
"I did want to try one of those," I mused, recalling my short trip with Kara. "Alright. That's tomorrow's problem then."
"My apartment's a few blocks out," Elisa said. "We walking the whole way or taking a cab?" she asked.
Alisa narrowed her eyes at her original for a moment, then sighed. "You two take a cab. I'll go drop this off at the base," she offered, taking the take away bags from both of us. "Open the door from your apartment once you get there. I will get Kara to fly me over if you don't," she said in a warning tone.
"Fiiine," Local Lisa said, rolling her eyes. "Thanks for doing that," she added in a more thankful tone.
Alisa smirked, "What are sisters for?"
Elisa snorted. "Ask Panacea, apparently."
"Calling a cab," I said, waving my hand out as I stepped out to the side of the street. Alisa walked off towards a nearby building, takeout bags in hand.
"Well, now," Elisa smiled. "Looks like I finally have you all to myself."
"How terrifying," I replied dryly.
And then the cab pulled up.
Lisa gave the cab a glance, and I could all but see her checking it for hidden allegiances or traps, before she walked up to the window and listed off an address. Her hand moved back, giving me the green light to join her as she opened the rear passenger door and climbed in.
I slid in beside her, and we were off.
I'd actually expected her to chat my ear off on the trip, but instead it was surprisingly silent for the most part. For all her flirting, she also didn't try to get handsy at all, or try to bait me into anything. We just sat, traveled, then arrived.
I couldn't help but wonder if maybe, just maybe, the flirtatious side she'd been showing lately was a form of 'relationship chicken', as I suspected… but instead of with the general group (or myself) it was with her clone.
Which would actually make a degree of sense if you thought about it. Lisa was originally squicked by sex stuff. Mostly due to her power apparently, but that likely left some conditioning in place, and certainly left her inexperienced. That meant it was a weak point, and if there was one thing Lisa did it was hammer at social weak points, even when it left her vulnerable. Actually make that especially when it left her vulnerable. It'd even fit with her greater hesitation (if willingness) when we were 'alone' back at Coil's base.
I was tempted to try and confirm that… but didn't. More likely than not, it'd just bait a challenging reaction out of her regardless of her current actual mood, and right now things were surprisingly relaxed. So I wasn't about to wreck that.
Entering into the building complex, we made our way up to her specific apartment.
"Well, this is it," Elisa said as she opened up the door, revealing a… mostly normal looking, if rather nicely furnished, flat.
"Huh," I said looking it over. It actually wasn't quite as 'neat freak' as I'd expected, even if it was a lot better kept than most bachelorette housing. Well, for someone in Lisa's age group, at least.
"I'm going to use the bathroom, and open the door for other me. You get comfortable. Feel free to raid the fridge. I got some chinese take out from yesterday," she offered.
"Thanks," I replied. "Tap water okay here?"
"Ugh, no. I got bottled," she explained, already halfway off to the door to what was presumably her bathroom.
"Gotcha." I replied, making my line to her fridge, though at a much slower, more cautious pace. Something I tended to do in new, unfamiliar living spaces like this.
Opening the fridge I found it… mostly empty. Cold take out, bottled water, energy drinks, a six pack of beer, surprisingly well stocked veggie drawer.
Eyeing the Chinese food, I looked over my options. Fried rice of some kind, wontons, spring rolls, and… ooooh, nice. Battered chicken balls.
Avoiding the temptation to be greedy, I grabbed only two along with the rice. I took about half of that, after a quick search through shelves finding a bowl and some cutlery to shovel it into.
Well half of what was left. It was leftovers after all. But I wasn't that hungry. If I was, I would have just popped a Goodberry. I was a bit peckish though, and one of the rudest things you could do was refuse hospitality when offered. So a light snack was due.
I got about halfway through the water and rice when Lisa called out. "Hey Tarn? Can you help me with something?"
"Coming!" I responded, setting the food back into the fridge, as I walked over, finding a door, presumably the bathroom one, open with the portal to our base left open, with another door beside it open, revealing what was clearly a bedroom, probably Lisa's own.
"Over here!" Lisa called out from the bedroom door. And I obligingly stepped through.
Only for Lisa to step out from where she was standing beside it, and pull it shut. Which is something I would have asked about if not for another pertinent question. Namely, why was Lisa standing there naked?
Oh.
"Okay… not playing chicken then," I said in outward realization.
Part 8
"Nope!" Lisa replied, her blush drawing interesting attention to her freckles… and not the ones on her face. "Now you've wined, and dined as demanded. So off with the pants!" she ordered. "I've got a five, maybe ten minute head start before the other me comes through, and I am not wasting it," she said firmly.
"Okay, but-"
"No buts! Not until our third date minimum," she… well, it was probably a joke? "Look, I get it. You think it's fast, and it is, but I've been backed up for years, I'm a feeling neurotic about my place in this whole thing, and it'd be really reassuring to me if you validated my place in this… whatever it is. With your dick. Validate my position with your dick," she said, tugging at my shirt.
"And you're sure this isn't just some sort of chicken thing with your clone?" I asked her.
"Oh it totally is, I just said that," she admitted, and I'll admit, I felt a little bit of satisfaction at that confirmation.
"You know you don't need validation from me right? I picked you for a reason," I said to her firmly.
She shivered at that, "Well… okay, that's something new I just learned about myself- Beside the point. Look… if you really want this to stop? I'll stop," she said, though it looked like it pained her to say it.
I opened my mouth to do just that, for a moment then… hesitated. "You know this wouldn't be healthy, for either of us," I said.
"Would it?" she asked, and she sat up a bit, taking a slightly less flirty, and more casual posture "I mean it's not going to be some special moment but… Is there ever really going to be a special moment?" she asked me. "You wanna get to know us, I get it but we're already committed, right? Can't this be part of getting to know me?" she asked. "And I mean Me me, not just 'Lisa Willborne, or Sarah Livsey, or whoever you read about."
"The Lisa I read about, would not be this horny of a goblin," I said, and I couldn't help but move my eyes over her as I did.
Long blonde hair, pale, sunkissed skin, she wasn't outright toned, but she was definitely fitter than the American average. 'Hollywood homely', was the expression I think. Soft but distinct curves, more on her hips than her chest, but more than enough to notice on both. Her freckles weren't just in the center of her face, but in a number of patches on her, in the small stretch between her neck and breasts on her chest, highlighting the valley of her cleavage, her forearms, thighs, shoulders. She painted her toes, I noted
Her nipples, a pair of cute little pebbles hardened further under my gaze. "No, she'd be a sexually frustrated goblin in denial," said self-admitted goblin argued.
I raised an eyebrow at that, eyes snapping back up to hers.
"Besides," she continued. "That's kind of the point isn't it? I want this. You want this, right? Maybe I don't exactly have the best of reasons to want this but… This isn't going to hurt me, it's definitely not going to hurt you, and it isn't going to hurt anything between us. I think. Maybe? No definitely. This will help. Trust me," she said hesitating for a moment, before pushing through in her distinctly Lisa-like way.
"It's not about-" I started, then stopped. It kind of was about trust wasn't it? Not entirely, but she'd outright stated it was partially for her peace of mind, a way to show her my trust in her. Or at least my value of her.
"You really are worth more than a warm body in a bed you know?" I said to her.
"And you really need to stop flirting if you don't want this to happen. So, are you in or out? Because… it's kind of awkward being the only one naked here," she admitted.
I looked at her again, rolled my eye, "Alright, I'm willing to fool around a little I said," as an olive branch.
She grinned. "See I knew you couldn't resist me."
"That remains to be seen," I said while unbuttoning my shirt, tossing it off to the side.
Lisa quickly leaned back, enjoying the show, her eye trailing to my bad leg as I undid my belt and shifted my weight to my good one so I could slide my pants off easier. A flash of concern crossed her face, "Do you need some help with-"
"I'm fine," I said hovering just a bit as I got the fabric over where the healthy part of my flesh ended.
I couldn't help but look up to see her reaction as she took all of me in. Well, all of what was left of me.
She sucked in a breath at the sight of the bandage embedded flesh. "That…"
"Not pretty huh?" I asked. "Still sure about this?" I asked her.
Her eyes flicked up to mine, brow furrowing in challenge. "More than anything," she said, sitting back up then flopping forward to crawl over.
"What-" I started.
"Let me help you," she said to me. "Please?" she asked, looking up, and despite having been naked for over a minute now, this was the first time she seemed well and truly vulnerable.
And fuck it, that actually did something to me. Sending a twinge, not through my goin, but another organ. "Okay," I exhaled. "But let me direct you. Thinker powers or not, you don't know how this stuff works."
"No kidding," she said, looking at the bandaged mess. "You did these?" she asked, looking at the fabric embedded into my skin.
"Curse dispelling wards," I confirmed. "The vampire I dealt with was a really nasty kind. Each strand of Their DNA is basically a curse, and they're infectious. I got caught in a partial timestop bubble while dealing with one, and they got my leg as a result. I had friends who contained the infection but… without these it'd progress."
"It hurts?" she asked me.
"Like being dipped in acid," I admitted, exhaling as the reminder brought said pain to the fore of my mind. "I'm used to it though, and it's getting better."
"Right, you mentioned that," she said, focusing on my leg. "This part comes off?" she asked me, gesturing to the actual prosthetic under the bandages, already aware it'd be for the best if it did. I wasn't sure if that was her power letting her know that, or she'd actually done the research.
"Yeah, straps first, then you loosen these parts-" I started
Her fingers were already moving, and after a few seconds… a familiar pressure released.
I let out a soft exhale as my false leg disconnected. Always a weird sensation. That was basically the one part I hadn't gotten used to.
"And you said your eye was worse?" Lisa said, looking up at me.
"Not the same way," I replied, touching the patch. Then after a moment's hesitation, "If you want."
"Show me," she confirmed.
It was funny, normally I didn't actually mind showing off my fake eye, and yet… This felt like something different, as pulled the patch loose, revealing the complex, clockwork looking orb underneath.
She blinked, "That's… not a style choice is it?"
"Another prosthetic," I confirmed. "But this one doesn't just do the same job the old one did. It's more like a radar gun, projects and picks up higher EM bands than the light spectrum, then processes it into something I can understand. Helps make up for the lack of depth perception," I explained.
Because I couldn't just replace it with something that saw light normally. That capacity wasn't mine anymore. Not for my right eye specifically.
"You make that one too?" she asked me, curious.
"No, a friend did," I said. "I modified it a little. Enchanted in a Cantrip. That's the gold part," I explained, pointing at the rune-work over the 'white' of my eye, around the more visible electronic blue clockwork 'iris'.
As she did, my eyes trailed over her back, looking for her own 'road map of life' instinctively, only to recall that all her precious scaring was gone now. I'd wiped that particular slate clean with my magic back when I saved her in Coil's base.
There was something… oddly tragic to that. A lost opportunity to see more of her, to find the little markers and hints of her story. Not just of the story I'd read about her in, but her story.
Lisa looked up at me, and quirked her lips, "Like what you see?" she asked, arching her back a little and wiggling her butt.
I smirked, "I thought that was waiting for the third date?" I asked.
Her eyes widened slightly, before narrowing, "You're bluffing," she said. "Besides, I happen to be in a very interesting position right now," she noted, pushing herself up just a bit higher, and grabbing at my underwear. "You're stable like that right? You're not going to fall over?" she asked.
I immediately realized what she intended to do. "I am but-" I reached down and cupped her chin, right as she started tugging my boxer down to my knee.
"Eh?" she blinked looking up at me.
I pulled her up as I leaned down, and catching on, she shifted around a little to lean back up to meet me.
And her lips tasted like blackcurrant cherry.
She was smiling now as she pulled back. Confident this was going the way she wanted it to, and damn me if she wasn't right that it was. Whatever hesitation I still had was vanishing fast, and I was finding it harder and harder to remember why I hesitated so much in the first place.
Well, outside of little things like the end of the world.
She leaned in and pecked me again, shifting her position a but further so she could properly reach up to me, and in moments I felt the touch of her chest against mine, as she leaned in further to kiss me a third time.
I didn't resist, hooking an arm around her middle instead, pulling her closer, feeling her soft skin against my own, the testing touch of her flesh against the head of my rapidly hardening erection.
She pulled back a little, "You know I was going to give you a blowjob right?" she asked.
"There's an order to things," I argued.
"Mhmm?" she asked doubtfully. "Does that mean you want one now… or do you wanna shove that thing up into me," she asked, her hand reaching down to touch my hip. "I'll let you, you know. Whatever you want. Fuck my throat. Eat me out. Slow sensual lovemaking in the missionary position, with handholding, if you wanna be real kinky."
I nearly snorted, "Who told you?" It was almost a running gag that 'handholding' was considered one of the most degenerate forms of affection back in Company society.
"Penny," she said. "She's going to want a ride after this," she informed me. "Maybe not right away, but she does want you too."
I raised an eyebrow, "Talking about another woman, now?"
"She's a cinnamon roll," she reminded me, echoing my own term. "And you know the best Cinnamon rolls are filled and glazed with cream," she teased, as she leaned in for another kiss.
I didn't object, slipping my tongue along her lips again, curious how she resisted the urge to just lick off lipstick, that delicious. Probably practice.
As I did her hand moved from my hips to between us, taking hold of my length, and guiding it up between her legs, startling me again.
I broke the kiss, but didn't pull away, instead I bucked forward pressing my length against her lower lips, making her start in place.
"What's that make you then?" I asked her, pulling back just enough to see her reaction.
Her smile was almost giddy, eager, her eyes flicking up and down my face, trying to get any hints of what might coax me to continue, "A horny little goblin?" she tried.
"My horny little goblin, apparently," I corrected.
She leaned in and kissed the tip of my nose, "and don't you forget it… Now fuck me hard before the other Me shows up, please," she said a tone that was half eager and half worried.
I snorted, then pushed her back onto the bed.
"A!" she squealed out, before glaring up at me for a second, before switching to a smirk as she crawled back a little before angling herself back into that flirty clumsily seductive pose she'd been in earlier… or rather it had started clumsy, but was rapidly changing into something a bit more effective.
Right, leaving the thinker time to adapt was dangerous. Time to go on the offensive.
I climbed my way up her, running a hand along her thigh once I reached halfway, rubbing at her entrance with my hand, finding it pliable enough to immediately begin sinking a finger into her depth, first shallow, then progressively deeper as I pushed in, and withdrew, hooking lightly once I got a joint in to apply pressure along the 'roof'.
Normally I'd go with a bit more elaborate foreplay, maybe kiss my way up her legs, tease her some more, nibble, taste, enjoy each other's company a bit more before the main event, but unfortunately we were on a timer.
Luckily, she was already completely and utterly drenched, so in this case the bare minimum would do.
Though even that was taking too long from Lisa's perspective. "You don't need to… Just get up here and jam it in already!"
"Patience," I scolded. "Too fast hurts; you're not just new to this, you haven't had much time to practice," I slipped in a second finger, feeling around with my thumb until I found a spot that made her jump.
"Like that?" I asked her, making sure she knew exactly what was happening , before proceeding to mash the button.
"F-fu-uuuck!" she squealed out, her hips jerking once, as I went to work, before pressing against me, as I continued to massage her canal "That's… good…mmm… F-UcK," she let out as I pushed at her.
I almost snarked about that being the plan, but instead just focused on trying to get her ready. Speed wasn't actually needed with this, pressure was. Two years of no attention had left her very stiff in ways neither of us would enjoy if I jumped right into it.
Gradually tension began to melt out of her as I kept working, pressing deeper, probing, not trying to overly stimulate as much as prepare… yet still give her more stimulation than she'd had in far too long.
Her breath didn't quicken, it deepened, long, deep shuddering breaths wracking through her, as she alternated between watching me play with her body, and simply closing her eyes to lean back and experience it.
Soon enough she was ready. "You want me to keep going, or are you ready for the main event?" I asked her, honestly curious. This might be enough for her, and while I'd be downspirited at this point if she did… I was also very much not going to push her in this position.
Her eyes snapped open, blinking a few times as she registered what I said, before leaning back again. "Get up in me already," she said in a dangerous, surprisingly husky tone.
I obliged, crawling up the rest of the way, lining up, as she somehow spread her shaky legs a little wider, the head of my penis lining right up with her now gaping slit, before I shifted my hips forward and entered her.
Lisa let out a sound halfway between a moan and a gasp, a long "Oooooooh,,," As I sunk into her, further and further, inch by inch, painfully slowly until she started to grow too tight to easily push further.
"You're inside me," she observed, cleverly.
I didn't comment; I did however smirk for a moment, before focusing more on her. "Let me know when you're ready-"
"You can… slowly?" she tried.
I pulled back, and that drew a sharp breath from her, but no look of discomfort, just surprise.
I withdrew only a few inches, then eased back in, slow, steady smooth, giving her lots of time to adjust to the unfamiliar situation.
Her eyes closed again, arching her back up and out towards me for a moment. "I… I didn't… this is nice," she said, in a tone that was almost… guilty, or maybe just disappointed.
"You're wonderful," I praised her, guessing at any number of things that could cause that. "Just relax."
"Fuck," she said eloquently, reaching up and digging her hands into my back. "You can go a bit faster."
I obliged, picking up my pace a little as I slowly worked my way deeper into her depths.
"I'mm… Not made of glass you bastard," she hissed out. "Fuck… Fuck me already."
I sped up.
"Fuck!" she repeated. "Yes… like that… Just… Like that," she groaned. "Fucking enjoy it when I fucking offer myself to you," she groaned, her fingers clenching around me. "I'm not some innocent… Fucking use me," she moaned a moment later.
I was tempted.
Her eyes opened and she met mine, "I want you, you… You," she said, unable to come up with a better insult or title. "Rail me hard, use me like a toy, blow your load in my fertile teenage pussy. Cover me in cum. Just- Fuck… Fuuuck… FUUUUCK!" she spat out, only to lose coherence as I did exactly that.
"Fu-Aaah AAAH… AAAAAAA!" she cried out as I started thrusting into her with abandon. "Do it!" she grasped out. "Fucking do it! Fucking cum. I'm close. Just… Fuck! Oh god, please just! OH GOD!"
And with that cry she finally came, her tight wet vice of a pussy clenching down on me in discoordinated spasms as I thrust two more times before finally hitting my own edge.
White took my vision, I lost all sense of hearing, and my body fucking disappeared from my senses for a moment as I was overcome by my own considerable backlog.
Molten iron shot through me in a way that was almost painful, once, twice, three times, five times, more. I came so hard I could feel a tingle in my teeth.
And then… I was falling back into the world, my skin on fire. The smell of sweat and sex in the air, barely able to hear Lisa's painting breaths over my own.
I collapsed, barely controlling my fall to keep most of my weight from dropping directly onto Lisa, but still leaving my hips utterly entwined with hers.
For several seconds, no words passed.
"Well… fuck," Lisa said.
"Yep," I said, mind gradually booting back up, as the logic based parts of it started reminding me of several things I'd been ignoring for the last few minutes.
"So that's… sex," the (former) supervillainess said, licking her lips. "We're doing that again," she said in a way that brook no arguments.
"Mmm," I hummed non-committedly, more focused on one particular thing she said near the end of that. "When you said 'your teenage fertile-"
"Medbay's got that covered," Lisa said… from off to the side.
I blinked looking over as Alisa, the clone Lisa, was in the middle of stripping off her more elaborate outfit. As in she was already halfway through it, having apparently arrived at some point earlier, and had started getting 'ready' with me not noticing because Mask was bullshit like that.
Her dress was already a pile in the floor along with her boots, and the upper half of her body suit, leaving her in her gloves, bra, stockings and whatever she might be wearing under those.
"Of course, I can help," the mentally older Lisa said as she looked over… herself, pulling one long glove loose and dropping it onto the floor.
Elisa, the Lisa I'd just fucked into a puddle, blushed, "Ah… okay?" she said. "Yeah um… I'm fine with that, but-"
"You're sore," Alisa smirked. "That's fine, I can be gentle… but you," she directed to me. "Loverboy, better not be, since apparently, I like it a little rough." she said as she stripped off the other glove and threw it just hard enough to slap my side.
"Ah," I blinked as she unhooked and tossed her bra, tossing it, catching sight of her lovely shaped, if not especially large breasts, identical to the ones right beside me.
One of which was promptly put into my hand by Elisa in a clear flash of jealousy.
"Need a break first?" Alisa asked. "Maybe a warm up," she said in a deliberately hummed tone as she stretched out her neck in a way that had to be deliberate.
"I uh… got a spell for that," I said.
"Then get casting," she said, licking her lips, fingers tracing the edge of her stockings for a moment, before biting at her lower lip and instead reaching between them. "Also help me rip these. They're too tough for me to rip."
"I don't know," Elisa said from beside me, reaching down and touching at my still over sensitive length. "It could be more fun doing things manually."
"Hmm… that does sound better," Alisa agreed.
Ah… I might have made a tactical mistake after all.
Part 9
Elisa pushed at my chest to try and get me onto my back and, despite my concerns, I wasn't exactly about to argue or fight back either.
Right, threesomes. Been a while since I was in one of those. With mentally identical twins. Never been in one of those… At least I had the edge in general experience?
Unless Alisa had shown up earlier or could pull knowledge from her 'twin' somehow, to help make up for that. Something that I had to acknowledge was very possible.
Oh dear. I really was in danger wasn't I?
"Whatever you're thinking? It's so much worse!" Elisa said with an absolutely shit-eating grin.
Before I could offer acknowledgement or argument, Alisa leaned in from the side of the bed grasping at my chin, "My turn!" she asserted. Then leaned in and tried to shove her tongue down my throat.
Clumsy. Very clumsy, she basically just pressed her lips to mine, opened up, then stuck her tongue in as far as I let her with no idea what to do with it.
I quickly tried to show her.
As I did Elisa shifted at my side, trying to worm downward-
Alisa pulled back, "Hey, no one of that! Get back up there," she said, crawling over me.
"I'm just getting him 'warmed up'" Elisa said in a tone as innocent as dark chocolate.
"I think you'll take more than that," Her company produced clone, said. "Besides… didn't you wanna experiment with a few other things? I think a little 'Advanced Masturbation' might fix both of your readiness issues."
Elisa's face went red, "I… uh…" I had never seen her tongue tied before.
Alisa grinned, as she got back up and darted around to the front. "In any case… You got more than enough of the firsts for this stuff. So I'm at least grabbing the first taste, she said as she quickly crawled back onto the bed… right up between her 'twin's legs.
"Um!" Elisa said, eyes wide as she looked down at Alisa, then back to me, then back to Alisa, then back again to me.
I… was very much okay with this still? And not just for the tactical situation of turning their attentions against one another.
"Perv," Elisa said, blushing deeper, even as she opened her legs a little wider. "Go take care of her pants already," she said, gesturing down towards the bed.
Sure, why not make the guy with one leg do the standing part-
Alisa glanced up at me, arched her back like a cat and wiggled her surprisingly well-toned butt, still clad in a skin tight pseudo-stocking, further into the air, giving it a little wiggle.
-On the other hand… These sort of situations were what magic was invented for.
Elisa let out a sudden breath, as her 'twin' gave her an experimental lick. While I slipped off the side of the bed and made my way, half stepping half floating behind the now occupied Lisa as quickly as I could.
Which was not quick enough to beat out Alisa getting over her hesitation of eating out 'herself' and staring into Elisa's pussy like it was the only source of water in a desert.
"F-fuck!," Something Elisa very much did not seem to mind.
Getting into position behind Alisa, the mentally older clone paused for a half second as I grabbed onto her hips, half for leverage, half because well… she had offered them up clearly, before continuing her ministrations.
Something I mimicked with her twin, rubbing at Alisa right through her 'stockings', while trying to think of a way to deal with them. I couldn't rip them. Appearances aside, they were functionally body armor. I could give myself the strength to do it, but I'd probably hurt her if I did.
Pull them down? No way, armor or not they were tight. Tight enough I could feel Alisa's camel-toe through them, even press my finger in a little.
Alisa let out a small moan into Elisa's lap, while said twin looked at me with a smug little smirk stuffed full of schadenfreude at my frustrations.
Maybe I should just keep playing with her? Convince her to drop the spell.
Elisa's smirk grew. "Can't get through? Oh poor girl," she said looking down at her twin. "It seems all you'll be getting is the hands on treatment"
Fuck it. Counterspell. Not my best Cantrip, but I could only disrupt magic of this level.
I started chanting.
"What are you- Eep" Elisa started, before glaring down at her clone. "What do you- oh, fuck y- I know you're litterally fuc- oh, fuck it, just keep doing that!"
Alisa hummed upward smugly and rocked her hips back toward me, bouncing them a little.
In response I drew my finger between the lines of her plump and eager sex, before I finished my cantrip and slapped her right on the cooch, disintegrating a palm's worth of the skin hugging fabric.
"MUUUFF!" Alisa approved, vocally.
Fuck, she was dripping now that she was uncovered. Her pretty pink pussy flushed a near red even before I started. I stroked a hand firmly over her now bare little snatch, then slipped a finger in, to no serious resistance.
Yeah, she was already full and ready to go alright.
Alisa bounced her hips again and started jiggling it the moment my finger slipped free, eager to get to the main event after what was clearly a long build up for her, as I did my best to line myself up with her in spite of her movements, dipping the tip of my length against her dripping lips.
"Yeah, that's it…" Elisa moaned out. "Just fucking… slide right into her," she said to me as she slid her fingers through her clone's hair. "Take that huge cock of yours and brutalize her needy little pussy."