Interested

Lad's face was fully flushed. “I am interested.”

Kai threw her head back and giggled impishly. “Of course! I don't blame you at all.” She turned to lay on her belly facing him with her hands folded under her chin and her legs kicking up in the air as her bushy red tail swished back and forth.

“But, have you ever even had sex before?”

Lad pursed his lips uncomfortably. He glanced off to the side as he nodded and said. “Yes.”

“Huh?” Kai sat up and leaned in to stare at him inquisitively.

“You're... More experienced than I am, then.” She admitted reluctantly.

Lad shook his head. “It isn't experience, and it isn't even fun. I don't-” He sighed.

“I don't want sex if that's all it is I want be held and stuff, too. Like you said.”

Kai's lips parted in shock and a look of guilt washed over her. She slid her legs over the side of the bed and leaned in to pat him on the shoulder. Then, as he continued to look down awkwardly she pulled him into a hug. Lad gasped. He wasn't sure what to do with his hands, so he simply held them out under her arms without touching her as she hugged him tightly. As if realizing what she was doing, Kai released him and let him fall back into the computer chair limply.

“Fuck... You're actually just so precious. That's dangerous. Can I get you... Anything? Sorry for asking about all that stuff.” The implications sunk in about why Lad was not a virgin and how it was not at all fun, according to him.

He inhaled slowly. “Can we... Try that again?”

Kai cocked her head to one side. Her ears perked straight up. “Yeah. You sure?”

“Yeah, I froze but I'd like to try hugging you like I hug my sister this time.” He offered innocently. It was Kai's turn to freeze. All of the fur on her ears stood up and she felt goosebumps all along her arms. After a short pause she leaned most of the way and glomped onto him tightly. In turn, his arms wrapped around her and rubbed her back. She melted a little in his arms and fell over his knee a bit, since she was leaning on him. She felt herself wanting to rub on him, to fuck him. It was unmistakable and she could not help it.

“I wanna...” She huffed.

“I wanna really- wanna...” She wiped her salivating mouth and realized what she was doing quickly.

“Respect your boundaries.” It took almost all of her strength to resist.

“Thank you.” Lad hugged her tighter and more snugly out of cluelessness for what she was going for.

“This is so nice...”

“Yeah...” Kai breathed. Behind the wholesomeness her cunt and asshole ached for any kind of stimulation.

The door slid open suddenly and they both looked over in shock to see Kara standing in the frame proudly, her hands on her hips.

“Heya, kids!”

“Knock! Knock!” Kai screeched, bouncing back with her hands covering her beet-red face. She kicked her legs in frustration and continued to mutter.

“Knock... Knock... A million times fucking knock!”

Lad was frozen in place, unsure of what to do. Kara wagged her finger. “Your Papa wanted me to check up on you to make sure no funny business was happening and honestly... I'm impressed.” She shrugged. “But I will let it slide. It's time for tr-” An alarm with red lights flashing blared, interrupting Kara before she could finish what she was about to say.

“Mission. It's time for a mission. Get suited up, kids!”

Lad panicked. He held up his hands. “I just got here! I don't know how to fight or anything... What should I do?”

Kara rolled her eyes. “We don't expect you to get it right away. Just do whatever you can. I know you didn't just brainwash me into picking you...” She narrowed her eyes on him.

“I am pretty sure... so please prove me right about you.”

“A lot of pressure.” Lad breathed heavily, almost hyperventilating.

“Yep!” Kara agreed.

-

For some reason Lad was seated between the twins on the dropship. The Yellow-suited janna and Green-Suited Joseph were bumping into him shoulder to shoulder continuously, almost purposefully.

“I actually want to keep this one alive. Is that not kind of overpowered, Joseph?” Janna asked.

“Sh-shouldn't you want to keep everyone alive?” Lad stammered nervously, holding the straps to his belt tightly. His Black suit rode up on every part of his body, but not in an uncomfortable way. More in an ever present kind of way. They wore aesthetic visors over their eyes that masked their identities.

“Also... Why am I sitting here? Do either of you want to swap?”

“We both like the window.” Joseph stated.

“Besides, that's where Raithe sat.”

“She was basically our maid.” Janna claimed.

“Do you think you are going to be able to pick up the slack she left?”

He was speechless. Luckily Kai poked her head out from the front. “Ignore them, Lad. Raithe wasn't their maid and you aren't either.” Yeong crossed her arms tightly.

“What're you pouting about?” She asked him forwardly.

“If he can't handle the twins, how's he gonna handle that?” Yeong pointed out the window towards the city.

All of the air left Lad's lungs as he regarded a giant jelly-like creature floating over the city. It was pink, with pink tendrils dragging down over buildings and across streets.

“That... That is big...” He whimpered.

“How do we fight that?”

“You don't.” Yeong stuck her tongue out at him.

Kai shook her head lightly. “Three of us are going to try to bring it down by getting dropped on top of it. The suits should protect us, based off Mom's readings. You and one other member are gonna be on the ground helping people. Got it?”

“G-got it.” Lad nodded.

Yeong grinned. “Janna goes with Lad. Joseph goes with us.”

“What?” Janna uttered between gritted teeth.

Kai leaned over and whispered. “We don't split the twins... It doesn't make sense.” The elves ears twitched, but Lad could just barely hear over the sound of the ship dropping through the wind towards the jellyfish.

“You also don't question the leader, right? I've actually got a pretty good idea of how all this is gonna work.”

“Fine...” Kai relented. She smiled at Lad.

“Good luck.”

Joseph leaned over and whispered menacingly in Lad's ear. “Good luck...” The three of them unbuckled and were deployed abruptly through hatches onto the top of the giant Core Beast.

“Why does she hate me so much that she'd make a plan out of spite like that?” Lad questioned.

“It is not spite.” Janna admitted with a groan.

“Jo and I are nerfed when we are apart, but Kai and Yeong are both hard physical hitters and that is probably what they need. What we need on the ground is utility to babysit you while you are learning.” There was a short pause.

“I will admit, she probably enjoyed sending me with you instead of Joseph a bit too much...” She sighed.

“And you will pay for it later. Apologies in advance.” She smiled admirably and patted him on the top of the head as their buckles released and they were dropped suddenly.

Lad screamed loudly “No no n-” His legs shook as they touched ground a second later. The dropship was feet above and immediately took off again to fly up towards the body of the thing. The boy breathed slowly to calm himself.

“You are not going to die from falling with that suit on.” She laughed.

“Relax. Deep, calm, breaths.” She breathed as she spoke. Lad breathed and began to feel more tranquil thanks to her. Then he looked up.

“Seriously, though, we do need to do something.”

His heart thumped as the huge jellyfish loomed towards them. “Yeah...” He whimpered.

They could see it approaching down the street with magnified vision through their visors. The tendrils were surprisingly small, there were just a great many of them. A huge crowd of people that were stuck in their cars began running in the opposite direction, but it was gaining slowly. One touched a human briefly and stuck to them. It sunk into them and completely melded with their skin where it touched. Slowly their entire body turned pink and melted into the tendril abruptly. Looking closely, he could see the tendrils easily changing shape to get inside structures and through vehicle doors and windows. Those that tried to hide, those that were indoors; they were not safe.

“N-no...” Lad whined.

“You want to fight it from here?”

“No, I want to save the people.”

Janna lifted her thin brows. “Hoh?”

Lad took a few quick, short breaths and stepped forward determinedly. “We can't shelter people in doors, look. Those tendrils are already going through every building and structure it passes over to get inside and absorb people.”

Janna shielded her eyes as she looked up in acknowledgment. “That seems to be the case. What are you thinking?”

Lad stopped to observe some more. Unfortunately a few more stragglers were absorbed, and who knows how many people in buildings that could not be seen, as well. He bit his lip hard, then noticed something while looking up. The large crowd that was running had a large number break off somewhat wisely to step out of it's path down a side street. To his surprise, the thing began listing and moving to follow the bigger crowd.

“Can you make a barrier?”

“Of course. It's strength will be very low without Joseph, however.”

“Don't ask my how I know this, but it seems like it is resilient, not strong. I think that it's tendrils can only get into things, so if there is a good enough seal we should be safe. Trust me!” It was just an assumption. The tendrils only got into spaces and it felt like if it could break glass it would, but nothing was harmed, not one window. Lad took off running through buildings to get ahead of the group. Doing so, he had to cut through the Jelly's path. True to his assumption he saw tendrils slipping in through cracks from the roof, already having absorbed a number of people. Lad cringed as one touched him. He assumed he was a goner and stopped.

Lacie's voice rang out in his ear. “The suit inoculates you against assimilation. There'd be no reliable way to fight these things otherwise. A genius solution by me. Just be careful. Some things can break the suits defenses and get through, okay?”

“O-Okay...” Lad panted. He powered through and got out in front of a crowd of fifty or so people as the tendrils were about to float over them. They were not going to escape if they kept running, but they would have no other choice and would not know better, he figured. Not without him, he decided. The Ranger took a deep breath.

“Everyone!” They looked at him but did not stop.

“Please trust me and group up around me! I will protect you and keep you safe, just stop running!” He breathed a sigh of relief as they seemed trusting of him. Lad's ability to coerce was not perfect. He could not bypass someone's self-preservation or their deeply held beliefs or desires. However... The authority and position he held did give him some sway of a crowd during a disaster. He was glad it worked but then realized he had gotten away from Janna as the people bundled up around him. A small girl tugged on his arm as the Jellyfish was right on them almost.

“S-sir?” She begged fearfully.

He could have tried to have them scatter out of fear since Janna was not around. It was what a weaker person would have done. Instead he held his ground and held them together as well.

“It'll be fine.” He shut his eyes tightly and waited. Nothing. When he opened them he saw Janna floating over the crowd effortlessly. She was creating a bubble with a seal tight to the ground. The tendrils were stupidly just wrapping around it uselessly, failing to get in, but still detecting the concentration of being beneath.

“It is actually not moving... We have effectively stopped it and mitigated the damage while protecting these people.” She smiled softly and respectfully down at him as she held her concentration.

“Good job.”

“We can't do anything from in here, thought. What if-”

“Have faith. We are a team, remember?” A few seconds later there was a loud bang. The tendrils disintegrated first into sparkling dust while everyone was treated to the sigh of the massive Jelly bulb listing and crashing as it to disintegrated.

-

“You showed a lot of ingenuity there for your first time, Lad.” Kara complimented. They were in the debrief, sitting around a long oval table with a holo in the center for display and presentation purposes. She rested her plump rear on the table, crossing one leg over the other.

“But... I think Stephan has some bad new. He's just running a bit late.”

“A lot of people died, still...” Lad admitted.

“I could've been faster.”

“Sometimes it's unavoidable.” Kara offered sympathetically.

“We got it as fast as we could on our end.” Yeong stated confidently.

“Agree.” Kai shrugged.

“They did better than we could've thought on the ground, too.” She added.

“Too true.” Kara nodded, killing time until the double doors to the room were flown open. A tall, hansom Fox man with dark hair and long dark ears strode into the room with a thin Com device under his arm. Lad was a bit starstruck.

“Sephan Briggs...” Lad muttered quietly to himself in awe. His face turned red when the man's ears swiveled towards him. The Fox smiled down benevolently.

“Very nice to meet you stay away from my daughter.” He slid in casually on his way up to the head of the table while straightening his tie. Lad was stunned frozen. He glanced over at Kai. She was smiling innocently at him. It felt as though he was the only one that heard the last part. He sunk down nervously in his chair.

Stephan began as Kara turned to view the Holo. “While we were handling the threat, one of our secure Museum locations was robbed by an unknown organization. They made off with several artifacts relating to you-know-who.” He clicked his Com. The Holo lit up with a few images as he spoke.

“The Patriarch's comb, though most don't really know it as that...” A comb with long pegs designed for a Fox was flashed.

“The Seal of the Demonkine Royal family.”

“Like an imperial seal?” Yeong questioned.

“Kind of.” Janna explained.

“They symbolize the same thing. That is why I said we should keep it safe here.”

“It's just a symbol.” Stephan shrugged.

“The last item was a painting of the Patriarch and Jeane dated back to their wedding day.”

“So what? Some thugs take advantage of the commotion to steal some mementos?” Kara thought out loud, bristling a bit at the specificity of the items. She stared with a faint bitterness at the painting, as if it was the first time she saw it.

“That's the thing, though. This was planned, and you know I don't believe in coincidences, Kara.”

“I know.” She nodded sagely.

“But... If it was planned they did not take anything that was worth much... No offense. All of these things are pretty specific.” Stephan explained, rubbing his chin.

“I'm guessing you have more... Can we cut to it?” Kara asked impatiently.

Stephan smiled and clicked through. A symbol appeared. A down-turned wi-fi-looking symbol with lines turning and bouncing back around it in a semi-circle to the opposite direction.

“We found this on a medallion at the scene of the crime. We aren't sure what it means. It looks like a signal, but then it has all of those other lines bouncing back like... Like-”

“Like an Echo.” Kai observed.

Stephan looked at her. “An Echo? Is this supposed to be a clue? I have no idea what they are getting at.”

“That's just what it's like.” Kai shrugged.

“A signal that's bouncing back in the opposite direction, mirroring the first.” She leaned over the table and traced it with her finger.

“That's what it looks like.”

Stephan and Kara exchanged a look and shrugged.

-

“How's the progress, dear?” The Dryder asked.

Dri watched as a large masked Gnoll with a red E displayed prominently on the front Held Raithe with her legs up. He had her in a perfect lock with his large hands on either side of her head. He pumped his cock up into her cunt, causing the fox to Groan as her tail hung down and twitched gently with each tiny movement of his cock inside her.

“We got through the suit. We can absorb her or use her at any point. Just give the-”

“Our Lord wants this one. Continue working on her, Love. We'll expect results soon.” The woman cooed.

Driana furrowed her brow. The new, dark suit was uncomfortably tight and just a bit more erotic than if she were naked, somehow. It came with heels, a thong, some stockings and a chest-piece with an E emblazoned on the front. She knew two things about the Lord. He loved women, and he loved branding.

“Why are we following someone, now? Ever since we escaped that facility we've always been acting alone...”

“I know, dear.” The Dryder clicked her tongue.

“I'm a solo-hunter by preference, but we simply are not going to win this one if we fight him. Believe me, I've thought about it.”

Drian's dark eyes widened. The fact that her 'Mother' was fearful enough to not even try said loads.

“I see...”

The woman caressed Dri's cheek from behind, running one finger up her long, slender ears. “Try to make me look good. I am angling for a seat at the head of the table, so to speak.” She smiled sweetly and slowly clacked away. Dri relaxed as the woman left. She continued to watch Raithe getting her brains fucked out by the large Gnoll.

“Had enough?” Driana grinned. Her expression turned as Raithe became lucid enough in the moment to look down and spit at the woman. It landed on her freshly polished shoes.

“Apparently not...”