I've got a bad feeling about this

"I'm happy with you decision, QB. Really." Vic announced suddenly. "You are aware of course, that my primary matrix is located on your person and your **** will inevitably terminate me as well?"

"You want to drive for a while, Vic? Is that it?" Quarterback asked as he crept to the edge of the roof.

"I want to know why we aren't safely aboard the Kalais ordering an orbital bombardment. The Tomians are all running or dead. We've achieved local superiority. We should make use of that."

"Because we're hunters, Vic."

"I'm afraid I don't follow."

"We need to confirm the kill."

"Because a six hundred meter, smoking crater isn't confirmation enough..." Vic replied archly.

"You said Crisis-2 got into the sewers."

"That was days ago." They'd that time to return to their shuttle and resupply. "With this level of Typhon activity, he's dead."

"Then show me his body."

Quarterback peeked over the lip into the streets below. It looked so different from before. Most of the Rabies Babies had been reduced to ash, almost all the buildings were completely rubble by now, courtesy of the Invader's main drive lighting up in atmosphere. That was damn near a war crime, but he couldn't argue with the results.

"The Tomians will return, and in greater numbers." Vic said finally.

As if he needed reminding. Where was that ship? Where were the black armored men he'd been hunting for years? Murphy was dead, the galaxy was already a better place for it. That was the most good he could put forth. Addition by subtraction. And there were none he wanted to subtract more than these. Tomians. Typhons. Whatever nightmares Ya Fen still held, the Quarterback wasn't leaving until he counted five dead bodies.

---

Crisis-2 shouldered another boulder aside. Their ship had nearly been buried under the rubble. That was a problem. His problem. And none of his usual solutions would solve it. He pulled the manual release and dragged the airlock doors open.

"Honey. I'm home!" He called into the darkness. Silence answered back. Crisis-4 had better still be alive. Slippery little fuck had been designated pilot since 1 died. It had made him temporarily indispensable. A fact that had frustrated him considerably. But with the ship now ruined....

A faint light slowly approached, along with the ponderous footfalls of a giant. Crisis-5. He had taken his helmet off and was holding a brick covered in glowstrips as a lantern. Crisis-5 raked his eyes over him, taking in every wound, as always, weakness meant ****, the pack could only be lead by someone strong. Crisis-2 refused to try and push himself higher or puff out his chest, such pathetic displays would only communicate fear. But there was no fear in him. At long last, the giant nodded his head in submission.

"You look like shit, Crisis-Leader."

"I found a Scaleskin in the sewers."

"You beat him?"

"I ate him."

They walked in silence after that. Crisis-5 leading the way. Their were more glowing bricks inside the cargo bay where the others waited. Crisis-3 was on a table, armor off and groaning in his sleep. Which left only Crisis-4 and- to his complete shock -Doctor Murphy seemingly fine, and in the middle of a pointed discussion.

There is more to him, than meets the eye. The Voice cautioned. It had been growing more talkative, since Crisis-2 had kept the serum flowing constantly. It's insight had proven invaluable, just another advantage he couldn't afford to lose. Crisis-2 caught the end of their conversation as he came closer.

"You can't leave this stuff here." Crisis-4 pointed to the freaky webbing, Dr. Murphy had insisted they bring along.

"By all means, remove it." Dr. Murphy nodded in towards the Strand. It had only become more and more active since they crashed.

Crisis-4 took a step towards the flowing tendrils, then froze as they rippled and swayed at his approach. He lept back with a cry. "Make it stop doing that!" He whined.

Dr. Murphy ignored him, instead his eyes bored into Crisis-2 with an disturbing intensity. "Welcome back, Crisis-Leader. Or should I say, congratulations?"

"Everything was turned on, when the EMP hit." Crisis-4 dropped into a submissive pose almost immediately. Pathetic. "It's all dead. The ship, the weapons, all our tech." He snapped his fingers. "Gone."

"Then I guess I don't need you anymore." Crisis-2 replied, enjoying the the full bodied squirm that followed. "Medbay?"

"Crushed." Crisis-5 confirmed. "The Doc did what he could for Crisis-3 though. He's gonna pull through."

"Speaking of, I saw you get shot, Doctor. Are you-"

"Do you have a plan to get us off this world?" The Doctor asked. "Before the Enemy, finds us again?"

"I don't." Crisis-2 admitted. "But-"

"The comms are down as well."

"I don't like it when you interrupt me." Crisis-2 said softly. Beside him, he felt Crisis-5 move to his side. Murphy was trapped on a hostile world, with monsters of his own making. Curiously, he couldn't sense any fear from the man. "I don't have a plan, yet. We'll need more serum, to continue operations."

"I gave you all that I had. If you have used your entire supply in this brief time..."

He didn't care for the man's tone. "Make. More."

"With what equipment? Or base materials?" Doctor Murphy spread his hands wide. "This planet may be littered with specimens, but they are hardly likely to volunteer for donation. I'm afraid whatever supply you've found yourself with, is all that remains."

Don't trust him. The Voice announced.

"There's something you're not telling me." Crisis-2 let his hand slide down to the stolen revolver in his belt. "I don't like secrets, either."

Before the Doctor could offer his last words, Crisis-2 felt a hand grip his shoulder. He turned to Crisis-5, who took one look at his face and yanked his hand free like it had been burned. Weak.

They are all weak. This pack. The serum. Weak. The Voice murmured. You.

Weak.

It was so obvious coming back from the tunnels. The serum didn't make them strong. It made them dependent. Slaves. The juice was a tool that someone with actual strength used to control those weaker, and stupider, than themselves. Someone like Doctor Murphy. He stared down at the tiny little man who had secretly ruled his life for years. The man had nearly ruined him, he'd taken a naive young boy, broken and forgotten by those who claimed to love him and slipped a leash around his neck. He hadn't been honed into a weapon, he'd been made into someone's dog. It was monstrous. Barbaric. Evil.

He couldn't help it. He laughed. First a giggle, then a deep heavy chuckle that shook his entire body. All this time, all this effort. How silly his desperation for more juice must have seemed. Here he was begging this man to tighten the lease around his neck as if it were a crown on his head. Even the boy he'd once been hadn't begged, and that boy was a coward. That boy would have been afraid of what Crisis-2 had seen in those tunnels. That boy was dead. And all the better, because what he'd seen down there was power. True power. The kind that once taken, was kept. And it was going to be his.

"Leave us." Crisis-2 commanded. And his followers scurried out the door. The Doctor, never looked away though. He knew. "You never gave Adam a serum, did you?"

"I did not."

"But he's like them."

"I believe so."

"How?"

Dr. Murphy looked uncomfortable for the first time, since they'd landed. He shook his head. "I do not know. Previous attempts to graft Typhon DNA onto human subjects have failed. The Typhon genes are too strong, too pure. They purge the human DNA, even if vastly outnumbered, they spread like a cancer, hijacking cells until the samples become non-viable. Somehow, Carter is able to withstand the superior alleles, and they have been incorporated into his genome."

"And that?" He pointed to the Strand. It almost felt like it was calling to him.

"That is the key to their unique evolution. Whatever it is that allows them to purify their bodies, happens in there."

Crisis-2 held out his arm. As if by magic, the nearest strands gently embraced it. He felt the barest stirring of light and sound. A hint of memory. A trace of thought.

"Fascinating." Dr. Murphy said, his eyes alight with curiosity. "The mycovirus that allows the Typhon to reproduce, is actually found in the Strand as well. It is what binds them together as a single lifeform. 'Like bonds to like'. How...?"

"I'm covered in their blood, Doc. And I ate a couple of them."

Dr. Murphy just stared at him. "Your DNA is too damaged by overuse of the serum. Even if it were healthy, a g r a f t w o u l d..."

The Doctor's words faded farther and farther away. In their place came the whispers, a handful of voices, too distant to be heard, one for each filament of Strand wrapped around his arm.

More. The Voice in his head commanded.

Crisis-2 plunged another arm into the Strand. The voices grew louder, their hums sharpened into words and promises. They showed him the past, Gorgo, Adam and a dead Typhon wrapped in a silver embrace. The present, the sleepers of a thousand worlds, waiting for him. And the future, lights burning out one by one, worlds turning dark, until even the stars themselves were consumed. They offered him power.

And he accepted.

Crisis-2 pulled out of the Strand, pushing past the silent but curious Doctor. He stood over the **** body of Crisis-3. His teammate was handsome, or he had been once. Dark and perpetually brooding, he had the face of a man with closely guarded secrets and deep inner thoughts. Now he was waxy and pale, as hairless as the rest of them. It didn't matter, Crisis-2 wasn't really seeing him. He saw himself, younger, face still round with baby fat, laying on table like this. Crying. Begging. Thrashing in his restraints until he passed out from exhaustion. Murphy or some other uncaring monster standing above him, giving him his very first dose.

That had been the last time he'd felt fear, he realized. Once he tasted serum, his life became fire. Became fury. But that boy hadn't wanted to be powerful. He was alone. Scared. He just wanted someone to stroke his hair; to hold his hand and take away the pain.

Crisis-2 lifted his auto injector and gave Crisis-3 the last of his serum. The man woke with a start, his eyes wild and afraid.

"Shhh. Shhhh." He gently stroked his teammates empty scalp and **** himself to meet the man's eyes. He reached down and squeezed his teammate's hand.

"I only need one voice in my head."

He blew Crisis-3's head to silvery mush with the stolen revolver and lifted the body into his arms, uncaring that the silver had begun to eat him too. The tendrils reached out for him. Touched, soothed, welcomed into their embrace. It was nothing like the serum after all. There was no fire. No fury.

There was rapture. And power.

---

Adam peeked out of engineering. There was only one hall leading to the reactor room, and it was long as hell. "Sam!" He called out. His voice echoed off the walls, with no reply.

Knew it. She was in the gym. She'd been training non stop since Ya Fen. Worrisome, but helpful. It meant she was out of the way. Kat and Cindi were off the ship already, which is why he had to do this now, before they got back and his window closed.

They'd made it all the way to the Constantine system without being detected. Courtesy of Cindi's gifted piloting. A few close calls, but what else was new? Kat had known the right people to bribe, and the right ones to bully for them to get landing clearance in one of the seedier parts of the planet. No beaches on this trip, just a half rotted industrial park and a slab of concrete for a landing pad. Still, they'd snuck on to the Capital world of a hostile superpower. Not bad.

Adam made it to the reactor and he did what he came to do. Now he just had to wait. He wandered away from his science project without much destination in mind. Not surprising, he found himself outside the room Sam had rigged up to train with. Fitness hadn't been Jdics highest priority, so most of the equipment was makeshift; rebar and broken chunks of armor welded together to make freeweights, a length of heavy cable tied to a pair of fuel cells for squats. At moment Sam was venting her frustration in a series of kicks against a homemade heavy punching bag, made of giant water bladders stolen from the cargo bay, held together by god knows how many meters of tape and chained to the ceiling. The blood seeping through the wrapping on her knuckles suggested she'd been at it a while.

"I'm starting to think that bag did you dirty, Sam." He ought to have played it safe. Ought to have started with an apology, but that wasn't who he was. And it wasn't what they did.

"You offering to stand in?" Another kick, this one hard enough to knock the bag send it spinning away on the chain.

"Nah. I wanna fall back on my looks after this."

Sam grunted and switches to punches, shaking off little droplets of blood after each hit. "Cindi and my mom won't be back for hours. Maybe you should work off that gut."

Adam looked down by reflex, then snapped his gaze back quickly enough to catch the smile Sam tried to hide. She threw another combo, added a spinning roundhouse at the end. "You make all this yourself?"

"Yeah." She grunted. Another combo, faster this time. "It's impressive." Adam added as he watched her try and destroy her creation. Sam didn't respond, beyond a throwing a haymaker that made the bag spin. Okay, time to try a direct approach.

"I'm sorry about what I said before."

"Don't be."

"I didn't mean that you failed." Her only reply was more punches. "Sam, I can't beat those guys either."

"I know."

"So then why are you killing yourself in here? I'm trying to say what happened on Ya Fen was my fuck up, ok? Not yours."

Sam dropped her fists and turned to face him. Her eyes were flat, almost contemptuous. "Cindi flies the ship."

"Yeah."

"Mom's the doctor and does the science stuff."

"Ok."

"So what do I do?"

"I dunno, Sam. What do I do for that matter?"

"I'm not asking about you." She searched his eyes. "What. Do I. Do?"

Adam knew the answer. He even knew the point she was trying to make, as much as he hated to admit it. He tried a different tactic, instead. "You really helped Cindi, you know that?" Another grunt. "How 'bout you stop avoiding me and we actually talk?"

"I can compartmentalize." Sam kneed bag repeatedly in the midsection, then another flurry of punches. "Besides, I haven't been avoiding you. You've been avoiding me."

That was a very generous interpretation of their last week. Adam had a feeling if he played back the internal cameras he's see a lot of tape showing him 'avoiding Sam' by arriving just when she coincidentally decided leave. Probably wouldn't help to point that out though. 'With a woman, you can be right or you can be happy.' That was something his father had said, so very long ago. Funny, these last few weeks, as terrible and brutal as they'd been, it was the first time Adam hadn't missed Francis in years. 'If it matters, put in the time.' That was another thing he said.

Adam rolled his eyes and grabbed the heavy bad, steadying it as Sam wordlessly beat out her frustrations for the next ten minutes.

"What are you doing?" She finally demanded. Her kicks and punches had been getting slower as she burned through her energy. She was barely moving the bag now, much less Adam.

"Taking care of you. That's what I do." Adam answered, daring her to send him away. She didn't. In fact, he could have sworn he saw a bit of tension ease out of her shoulders. She rained down combos non stop, until she was soaked in sweat and fighting to catch her breath. When she paused, Adam spoke up. "You still drop your guard on that left hook, I see."

She cocked and eyebrow at him and smirked. "I'm not sure the guys who's ass I kicked left, right and center should be offering me advice."

"What if he offered you dinner, instead?"

Sam shrugged with a tilt of her head, she didn't go down easy, this girl. "Some people like to eat after a work out."

"Maybe there would even be some drinks...Flowers....Chocolates?" Adam smiled. He knew he had her, whether she could admit it or not.

"That sounds like a date?" Sam suggested.

"It's gonna feel like one too." He didn't push. He didn't need to.

"Pick me up at my quarters at twenty hundred hours? Now get out of here." She sent a kick his way. "You distract me."

---

By 2200 hours they were both pleasantly drunk and had stumbled back into Sam's room. It was neat and simple, but he could see the tiny bits of warmth if you knew where to look, much like its owner. They'd been making out on the bed, clothes already coming off when Sam sprang up suddenly.

"Don't peek, ok?"

"I'm gonna see it all anyway." Adam growled. He'd had enough of her teasing. She'd gotten worse than Cindi ever was. He had a pretty good idea who came up with that abbreviated threesome plan a few weeks ago too.

"Well, I deserve a gentleman." Sam replied, more than a little tipsy.

"That's fine. Can't promise, I'll be gentle though."

"You." Sam poked him in the chest before dragging her finger southward. She fiddled with his belt, then shoved him onto the bed. "Are too good with that mouth of yours." She bit his ear, then whispered. "Now close your eyes."

There was a ruffling of clothing hitting the floor, then silence. "Adam?"

He opened his eyes and was richly rewarded with the sight of Sam in a thong and a push-up bra. She looked over her shoulder at him. If the sight of her made him weak in the knees, what she said next made his heart stop.

"I want you to use me, Adam."

---

"Fuck me like you did Cindi her first time." Sam was looking at the ground now. She never thought she'd be the type who got nervous over words, but here she was.

"Sam, I..." Adam trailed off. She shot a glance at his face, hoping against hope that this wasn't the beginning of a painful rejection.

"You what? Can't? Won't?" Sam said softly. She took his hand and placed in on her pounding heart. "I'm yours, Adam. There's no one else, I could ask for this. No one I want to ask. Take me. Own me."

Sam moved his hand on top of her head. She wanted him to have this, to have her, completely at his mercy. Utterly his. "Put your mark on me." She begged.

Adam growled and pulled her hair into a handlebar, the other gripped her decolletage and shoved her to her knees. Sam never looked away. Her mouth was open and tongue out, ready to take whatever he decided to give her.

Adam pushed his magnum rod into her mouth slowly, but inexorably. She **** herself to let go, to give him absolute control, even or when or IF he let her breath. Only when she felt the thick head of his cock, pushing down her throat, did she start to tense, gagging as her air was cut off. Adam smiled down at her.

"We'll need a safe word." He mused. "How about 'verbose'?" She nodded, then closed her eyes as her cousin began to work her mouth along his thick cock. She licked and suckled as best she cock, as she was slowly dragged back and forth, breathes coming in **** gasps as Adam took his satisfaction from her body. When he finally pulled back, she nearly collapsed, coughing and **** for air.

"Are you sure, Sam?" Adam asked softly.

She ignored him, climbing onto the bed on her hands and knees. She looked back at him. "Fuck me to ****, you pussy." She growled.

Adam grabbed a handful off her ass and lined up the blunt head, nudged at her entrance. Sam was suddenly struck by the memory of the first- and only -time they'd fucked. It had barely fit then, and she'd been on top, able to control the pace. "Wait!" She cried.

Adam tugged back hard at her words, the crown of his cock, smashing open her vulva like a battering ram. Sam's cries choked in her throat as she was impaled. Another tug and another inch **** inside. Only the fact that she was wetter than she'd ever been in her life, kept her vagina from tearing. She found her voice just in time to scream as she was **** to take another inch.

She was babbling now. "Stopppppppp. Please, Adam. Stop. Stop. Don't hurt my little pussy. Please!" She begged. Adam ignored her, yanking her onto his shaft tug by sharp tug. He was buried nearly halfway, when Sam remembered they hadn't even gotten him all the way in last time. She squirmed and tried desperately to wriggle free. Adam groaned as her insides writhed around him, muscles clenched trying to expel this invader. She clutched at the sheets and slowly dragged herself free, inch by stubborn inch, she pulled herself off Adam's weapon. She was nearly empty, when she felt Adam's hands tighten around her hips and she was stopped dead. Oh no. "Adam? Adam! No! Don't-

Her words trailed off into incoherent screams as Adam drove himself to the hilt. Every inch taken for his own selfish pleasure, from clit to cervix, he claimed her, grinding painfully against the door of her womb. He ignored her pathetic whimpers, her pained yelps and lust fill moans, even her pleas to stop were met with only laughter and a swat on the ass as he slaked his thirst for her body.

What had begun as a vicious bit of curiosity on her part was teetering on the edge of full blown ****, and yet, Sam felt the unmistakable stirrings of a powerful climax radiating out from her depths. She clenched fiercely around his ever thrusting manhood. Was this how other girls felt in bed? Powerless. Submissive. Taken. Her head was down, her womanhood wet and clenching as she came like a whore for Adam; who groaned his approval while he gripping her shoulders tight to keep her from escaping.

Her pussy would be destroyed. Ruined. Uselessly stretched for anyone else but her hung-like-an-elephant cousin. She came again at the thought, her nipples aching, pussy gripping Adam fiercely as he railed her. How long had they been fucking? Minutes? Days? Time stretched away in sea of pleasure and pain and she was awash in the sensations, lost in the fury of her cousin's lust-filled ravishment. She had to end it, before it ended her.

"You're killing me!" She cried out, to no avail. "Please, Adam!"

Her cousin pushed her face into the mattress and dragged her hips into the air. Face down, ass up, the favorite position of fratboys and fuckboys across the galaxy. If she had the energy, Sam's face would have burned with shame. Instead, she felt a shock go through her as the new position wrapped fresh, unbruised walls around Adam's cock. His pace slowed, becoming deep, circular thrusts, as he tried to find every unused portion of her womanhood, every secret her body ever kept, and claim them too. She came again, unwillingly and groaning with exhaustion.

In her heart of hearts, she knew what she had to do. Something she had never done, in any of her previous erotic liaisons, and certainly never in a battle of the wills with Adam. She would surrender. She felt the certainty, the bliss of powerlessness overcome her. In truth, she'd never felt like more of a woman than this moment, when she accepted her place beneath her man.

"Verbose!" Sam begged, admitting defeat. To her shock, Adam's pace never even slowed.

Instead Adam hauled her back up and bent her nearly in half, his hands wrapped around her throat and covering her mouth. His hips beat her ass in sharp little strokes. "Scream all you want, you little slut. We don't stop until you make me cum. So move that fat ass of yours or I really will fuck you to ****!"

She came again. The world was fading to distant lights and colors, her senses dulled by the beautiful agony Adam was inflicting; pleasure that was pain, pain that was pleasure, feelings and friction, all the while she was rubbed raw by Adam's relentless pounding. Wasn't this what she had asked for? Nay, demanded? To be taken. Used. Her cousin would never stop, not until he had everything he wanted from Sam, her pleasure, her consent, even her life, were forfeit the moment she uttered those words. Adam would take everything from her. She would be his, utterly and forever.

Another orgasm, weaker this time, her poor little pussy was tired, it could only flutter tightly for a moment before giving up and letting Adam have his way. Just like the rest of her. The blackness threatened to swallow her whole. Sam knew nothing. Was nothing. Her world had been replaced by only the feeling of her lover's ever pounding hips and iron hard cock.

She was babbling again, teetering on the edge of unconsciousness when she heard her lover/****/soulmate growl. "Are you my good girl?"

"Yes." She whimpered mindlessly, her will subsumed under his.

"Then beg for my cum."

"Please Daddy, please let me have your cum, please-please-please, I've been a good girl for you!"

Adam roared and crammed himself as deep as he could, his cock twitching and swelling as he held himself pressed against her cervix, his thrusts reduced to grinding and twisting as he sought to invade even her womb.

"Daddy, huh? I like that." Adam groaned, his eyes squeezed tight, fighting his own release. Sam could feel his cock thicken even more inside her poor abused tunnel. "Daddy's gonna cum right up in this pussy. Be a good girl and-

"Take!"

"It!"

"All!"

"What?" Sam cried helplessly. But if Adam replied, she didn't, couldn't hear it. She was gone, her thoughts careening deep into herself, until in her minds eyes, she saw it. Her womb, gently opening to accept her lover's gift. The sperm racing to be the first to reach her egg and quicken inside her belly.

Strangely the visions didn't end there. She saw the gentle swell of her belly at five months. Adam was behind her, eyes bright with love, gently touching what they'd made together.

She saw further down. She was bulging now, stomach nearly touching the counter she was working over, the abs forged by 100 sit ups a day, long gone. But Adam stuck around. His hands wrapped around her, she was nearly as heavy as him now, he still wanted her. He burned for her.

He reached around and cupped her sensitive, heavy breasts, nipping at her neck, hips pressed meaningfully into her backside. She rode him, each of them with a hand clasped to her swollen belly, obsessed with the life they had created together.

As the visions began to fade, Sam almost thought she saw a face, with bright blue eyes and tangled dark hair before her final orgasm slid through her like a knife.

Sam screamed. Pictures flashing, body clenched, spasming, clutching; hands clawing desperately to drag the visions into reality. The next thing she knew, Adam was planting butterfly kisses in her hair. Her pussy felt like someone had lit it on fire. She reached down and touched it. Every aftershock made her clench, and sent a gentle gush of Adam's cum oozing out her stretched hole. And there was so much still in there.

"You came in me." Sam managed to whimper around her swollen throat.

Her cousin's eyes went distant, as if he were listening to something that she couldn't hear. At last, he focused back on her and simply shrugged. "It should be fine. I didn't bite you."

"I never let... anyone cum in me before." Sam thought out loud. And she wasn't sure quite how to feel about it. Scared? Surprised?.....excited?

"Better get used to it, cause that's where my cum is going from now on." Adam promised. He hadn't asked. He saw what he wanted and he took it. Took her. Used her. She'd asked for it, but still, Sam had thought she knew the limits of Adam's lust and yet... Was she... afraid of him? "If you're that worried, I can give you a shot of my Halcyon."

But it wasn't fear or worry that was racing through Sam's thoughts, a sort of nervous excitement was a steadily growing undercurrent amidst it all. She'd had her handful of fucks the past few years. A few to get over Adam, most just for fun. She'd NEVER felt like this. Did she want to be a parent? She was only twenty one for god's sake! 'Three years older than Mom, when she gave birth', a voice inside her head countered. And Sam? Pregnant? She'd worked her whole life, 100 sit ups every fucking day! A baby would change everything, upend her career, put a ceiling on her dreams. But still, that moment, the sheer thought of Adam's cum pouring into her. It was intoxicating. It made the highs of combat seem like a petty, pathetic thing. Only, at the end, she'd be left with a baby.

Her and Adam's baby.

She shivered.

Her and Adam's baby.

Every time she thought of it, it drifted farther from the negative pile and closer to the positive. 'What exactly was so bad about having a little piece of herself and the man she loved?' Sam **** the idea out of her head before it could become it could infect any more of her mind. She realized Adam was propped over her, a look of concern writ large on his face.

"Sam, are you okay? Did I go too far?"

"No." She gave him the tiniest peck on the lips. "You were perfect." As she lay there, her cousin gently cleaning cum and sweat off of her, before pressing a cool damp cloth on her bruised vagina, she was struck by another insight.

"Adam. I love you." Sam blurted out. "I just realized I never said it before. I mean I said it, but- I'm in love with you and its ok if you don't say it ba-

"I'm in love with you too, Sam." Adam smiled when he said it. That damn smile. "I think maybe, a part of me has always been in love with you."

"Well don't be dork about it." Sam said, turning away to hide the blush that was spreading over her whole body. "Cuddling is mandatory, after."

He snuggled in behind her, one hand gently resting on her flat stomach. "Oorah, Sergeant."

---

They'd been walking for hours. Kat had insisted on it. Bribing a few traffic control officers to look the other way when you landed was one thing. This was something very different. They weren't going to ask questions. They weren't going to go looking. They were going to walk, and keep their eyes and ears open. It had been decades since she'd been here with Francis, but she hadn't forgotten her lessons. Even a criminal underworld had rules, and Francis had drilled them into her head since her very first smuggling run. Most of them were simple, though with dire consequences for being broken. All the more reason to never get caught, Francis had always said. And they hadn't. They'd had a few tricks up their sleeves soon enough. Quite the paring, him the dashing smuggler, and her, the little lost street girl from a formerly wealthy family. It all seemed so harmless.

"Look at that one, Aunt Kat!" Cindi had her head craned up to stare at a housing tower, who's highest levels were hidden in the clouds. "That must take forever to reach the top!"

"It's an aviary, hun. The top third isn't accessible from the lower levels. You fly in to a private landing pad." Kat recalled her own girlhood wonder at seeing one for the first time. Nothing on Sirius Prime had seemed particularly large after that.

Much though she wished she could play mentor to her wide-eyed niece, they had a mission to attend to. And clock that was always ticking. Kat through she might have found a bit of luck. She kept her eyes on the locals, the little people and the loiterers. She watched where they were and just as important, where they avoided. Her observations led her to a salvage yard deep in the sort of neighborhood they wouldn't be comfortable in during the day, much less at night.

She leaned into her niece and told her in a low voice. "Remember. Touch nothing. Say nothing. Don't leave my side."

The dull eyed fellow behind the counter, looked her up and down with open hunger as they exchanged pleasantries. Cindi too. Kat sighed. Sometimes you had to use the weapons god gave you. And be thankful he gave you any at all. She leaned forward, putting her cleavage on display.

"What do you want?" His voice was piggish grunt. Squealing and greedy. Behind him stood a mountain of a man, as large as Adam and probably close to the same weight, but the kindness and intelligence she found so impossibly charming in her nephew were missing from this man's eyes. He was the muscle, used for **** and probably good at it.

"My husband's ship is ..." Kat paused, as if searching for the words, though she made sure her eyes never left his. "Too flashy. It attracts all the wrong sort of attention. I've heard your the kind of man who could help with that."

"Heard from who?" Piggy grunted.

"I can't recall." Kat said, her voice turned to steel.

"And I don't work with strangers."

"Then lets not remain estranged. I am Kathan." Kat's voice was firm. 'When its time to push, push with all your might, Kitty Kat'. Francis voice reminded her.

"Cage." He replied.

"Well then. Cage." Kat took as deep a breath as she could, letting her bosom heave at the jacket she wore half zipped. "Could you help out a friend with a problem?"

Cage's eyes narrowed, he wasn't drooling over her breasts now. Finally he spoke. "I could give you a new coat of paint. Something to make your ship...unrecognizable."

"What?" Cindi squawked. "We don't need a paintjob. We need-

"Quiet." Kat silenced her niece with a word and a glare. Then turned back to the pig. "Could we have an estimate?"

He sighed and leaned back, his arms resting on a ponderous belly. The figure he came up with was enough to make her eyebrows pop, but she kept her face carefully neutral. Cindi, the little fool, actually laughed.

"Really? We could buy our own ship for that!"

The mood in the room turned a few degrees colder, for anyone who was paying attention. Kat cuffed her niece on the side of the head. "Candy, darling. Wait for me outside." When Cindi looked up at her with shock and indignation warring on her face, she caught sight of her Aunt. Kat's face and tone were perfectly pleasant, but her eyes were practically screaming. "I'll be right out, darling. Don't wander."

When Cindi was gone, she turned back to Piggy. "My niece is right, of course. The price is perhaps a bit ... inflated for two friends such as we are?"

'Always negotiate, they won't take you serious if you don't.' Francis again.

"The price is the price." Piggy growled back, as intimidating as fat slug on your door frame. Probably less attractive.

"I see. I had no idea it was such a profitable commission, to repaint a whole ship." Kat mused, as if in thought. "I suppose I'll have to see if there are any others who might be willing to take on such a job. Good day, Mr. Cage." She rose to leave and was nearly to the door when he spoke.

"Wait." He grunted and named a figure ten percent lower.

'Better to walk away with something, than run away with everything.' They must have broken that particular rule a hundred times over.

"What a generous offer. Thank you Mr. Cage." Kat smiled. "I will require one more thing from you. I'd like to do some shopping while I'm here."

"Try the mall." Piggy drawled.

"I'm afraid my patronage, depends on it. But I'm sure you have a friend or two you might put me in contact with."

He didn't give her a name, not that she expected him to. Just a time and a place and a warning not to be late. Kat put more stacks of credits than she made in a year on the table, then cut the pile in half. She pushed the closer stack back into her back and walked out the door, trying not to shudder at the feel of his eyes on her as she went.

Cindi was fuming outside. Dodging pairs of eyes as well, her cheek still red. She marched up to her aunt, eyes blazing. "What the-

Kat very nearly slapped her again. Instead she drew her into a crushing hug and whispered. "Stop talking or you'll get us killed. Walk with me, don't run."

Only when they were in a crowded street, many blocks distant from the salvage yard did Kat wheel on her niece in a fury. "I gave you simple instructions, Cindi."

"You're the one who sent me outside." She whined.

"I sent you outside, because if you spooked that pig, he may have just decided to kill us on the spot. That's if he and his friends don't **** us first. He seems like the type."

"And these are the people you want changing the Invader's registry?" Cindi's incriminating shouts were swallowed by the crowd.

Kat almost laughed at her niece's naivety. "They're criminals, Cindi. Did you really think they'd be like your brother?" Her niece huffed and rolled her eyes. Kat grabbed her chin. "Your father showed this side of society when I was a little younger than you. Only I knew how to shut up and hold my tongue. These men will hurt us and rob us and kill us for any reason or none at all." Cindi jerked her head to get free, but Kat held her firm. "And if you want to help your brother find a cure for his condition, you had better do what I say. Or it won't just be Adam who needs his life saved."

---

He hated waiting. He'd spent hours stuffed in that cramped little box, they called a ship. Fucking go already. There were only two more people in front of him in line, but they seemed determined to make their inspections into marathons.

Maybe it was his own fault. He'd been reckless. Agitated. Of late. It was like something in his blood, just wouldn't come out. A burning. A hatred. Truthfully, he felt better than he had in years. Looked better too. He'd have to buy some new clothes first chance he got. Well, second chance. The local red light district was legendary for its ability to cater to any tastes, any desires. He felt himself harden inside his pants at the thought of wrapping his hands around some cute little blondes neck while he pounded her. Rumor was if you paid the necro fee, nobody cared if your brought your hooker back alive...

Only one to go now. Time to focus. He wasn't here to relax. He'd chased Adam across half of Humanities' expanse. He was going to find him. And when he did-

"Step forward sir." The automatic shotguns level at his chest, gave a bit more weight to the custom agent's words. "Please place your hand on the scanner."

She was an exotic one. All dark skin and buzzed hair, electric blue eyes to match. Too bad she wasn't walking the streets tonight. He'd pay a lot to hear her scream. She pointed to the DNA scanner. Cons didn't mess around with security. He slid his palm over the sensor.

"Length of stay?"

"A couple weeks, maybe less."

"Purpose of visit?"

'To kill that little shit and take back what's mine'. He thought. Images of blood pouring from both Carter siblings **** a low pleasurable groan from his throat.

"mmmmm. Pleasure."

"Welcome to Constantine, Mr. Martell."