Gone from Brockton

Gil didn’t bother immediately swapping into Charlotte again. He didn’t have another capture method lined up, so what was the point? Let the Dallon family stew in that foolish decision, eh?

Brockton Bay was a distinct hot zone, with a ton of dangerous individuals and multiple factions that had clocked him by his second visit. He wasn’t going to get a ton of new mundane resources in the picked over city, that was for sure. He was inclined to sit back and consider what the rest of his week was going to look like.

Glory Girl, or Victoria Dallon as her character sheet identified her, was no one for him to get upset about. Tier 5 big name implied both power and narrative prominence, which usually meant an individual was a solid bet. New Wave as the team to back solidified just that little bit more. He’d need to track down a fix for Flashbang, but having something or someone in his back pocket capable of fixing brain damage seemed like a good idea regardless.

Keilnei actually got back after Nessa, which was a bit of a mixed blessing. He didn’t need to go hunting for the symbiote empowered blonde, but in her desire to get “home” quickly Menja didn’t bother covering her tracks much. A catlike stone creature had rushed through a large tent community and vanished suddenly, and Gil had little doubt that Menja’s identity would get around sooner or later. He held up a hand, forestalling any questions while Snow fussed over and cried upon Menja’s broken arm.

As a general rule, Gil played fast and loose. It tended to result in more back and forth, especially in a test like this where he had a legitimately viable escape hatch in the form of “grab everyone in the retinue willing to leave and never come back.” There were plenty of people who preferred to go for an “optimal” playstyle, being meticulous to avoid negative experiences, but… well, anyone who had ever done a tour of duty or two as a game facilitator knew better than to expect that from customers.

Gil had actually sworn off any project where he had to deal with an actual paying customer long ago. Too many rules, too many limits on acceptable topics of conversation, and he would always be on the clock. Not to mention that it was more dangerous, even if people like his ex-wife Kayklee wouldn’t describe her fate as a hazard.

Finally, the customers themselves were a problem. The ones being rewarded with a good afterlife were often pretty decent, as one might expect, but the gods themselves were usually dicks.

It takes a certain sort of mindset to have near absolute power and decide that the right thing was to fuck off and live in a power fantasy created by someone else. Bunch of entitled twats, and usually not the kind that could maintain healthy relationships or self imposed boundaries without cheating or being **** to behave.

Why not incarnate in your own world, or a friend’s, if you want to be a Chosen One, and they always wanted to be a chosen one? Why would someone buy an experience like that, especially when the only coins the Company accepted were service and souls?

Anyway, he busied himself and was ready when Menja finished healing, presenting her with a set of Hunter Clothes from the armory. The clothes she’d been wearing when she entered her fugue state days ago were now moderately filthy sweats; functional but neither alluring nor comfortable. The only change since Gil had met her other than that was that she’d tied her hair up into a ponytail.

She didn’t really need actual armor given how quickly she could manifest her symbiote, so several pieces were omitted. Basically everything that would make it into functional armor instead of a vaguely medieval themed costume. That seemed perfectly fine to Gil.

The fact that he had a perfectly tailored outfit for her reinforced the idea that she was returning home instead of arriving in a new place, which was important given that he was welcoming her onto a patchwork rock floating in the void.

She stared around for several long moments, and eventually broke through her embarrassment.

“I… don’t remember this place.” She said, “I’m sorry. I don’t even remember your real name. I must have known it at some point, but…”

“You can call me Gil. Don’t worry. You’ve been with the Empire for years, then the Chosen. It would have been weird if you’d been pining for other worlds that whole time.”

Snow looked between them.

“Oh! You know each other from before?” Snow said, eyes lighting up. “Was this from another life?”

“Something like that.” Gil said.

“I don’t remember him, but I’m essentially his wife.” Nessa said, furrowing her brow. “I know that much.”

“Really?” Snow said, “Me too! I’m also his maid, but anyone who he uses his magic on basically ends up married to him. That’s just how this works.”

“So wife isn’t enough…” Nessa said thoughtfully.

“Well we aren’t just a polycule.” Gil said, and noted that Nessa’s face screwed up at the term.

He’d been in post-millennial America so it seemed like the correct word, but he supposed that to someone with her background it would have some additional connotations. With a shrug, he said her code phrase. Keilnei was disguised as a white woman, but who knew what baseline Nessa would think of the blue skinned alien woman. Better to have her in a receptive mood.

“Badger, spiffy, kaleidoscope.” Gil said, and Nessa relaxed, like a soldier put at ease. “So, I’m going to be telling you several fairly surprising things and I hope you won’t freak out.”

“Of course I won’t.” Nessa said, suddenly chipper, “I’m always eager to learn about other peoples’ life experiences!”

After Gil poked his head out and checked his compass to see Keilnei’s progress, he gave Nessa a general overview of the Skyblock and their regular routine. That went pretty normally until they got to the stored food, at which point Nessa looked at the meat and claimed that she was vegan. Gil blinked several times at that, looking at her deceptively strong build.

“I just can’t imagine hurting an animal just for me to be able to eat it.” She said, stricken at the thought.

“But Nessa… you were in a paramilitary organization.” Gil said tactfully. “It seems a bit odd you’d be that worried about hurting other living things.”

“Well yes, but I wasn’t really myself at the time.” She said confidently, “Also, those were humans. They don’t deserve as much protection as poor, innocent animals. Eating meat is basically the same as murdering a child.”

That was the first line that Keilnei heard when she walked in through the yellow portal, and her mouth fell open at the thought. Given her age, occupation, and her people’s history, it struck Gil as entirely possible she had personal experience with both child **** and hunting for food, with a very obvious and reasonable preference for the latter.

“What?” She said, her voice cold.

Gil put his forehead into his palm, and sighed deeply. That wasn’t a good first impression.

“Well it’s true!” Nessa said, doubling down, “Imagine you were one of these poor deer. You wouldn’t want to die and be turned into jerky.”

“And I do not wish to starve.” Keilnei said with a roll of the eyes. “Hunting is part of nature, and many animals are raised specifically to be harvested.”

“But… but… that’s unfair. You’re stronger than they are.”

“And I want to survive as much as they do.” Keilnei said coolly, “I can only attempt to be respectful and make full use of the entire body.”

She gestured broadly at the tanning racks next to the money changer, kept far from where they normally slept and lived.

Nessa’s eyes grew distant and distressed, and Gil belatedly realized what was wrong. Absolute Gullibility wasn’t meant for bone-deep personality rewrites. Nessa probably wasn’t a real vegan, or she’d have an entire playbook memorized for moments like this. She was just adopting the persona she thought she should have.

She was a militant racial supremacist who’d been convinced she was secretly an open minded liberal double agent, a type of person her original self likely held in as much contempt as everyone else held her. Her best guess at the motives and worldview of her opposition wasn’t particularly close to reality, nor was it well thought out or deep. If she could meaningfully model others’ worldviews, she probably wouldn’t be a militant extremist, now would she?

Nessa locked eyes with Keilnei, and she wanted to agree with her even though her incoherent persona wouldn’t. The self styled Valkyrie liked the cool, confident strength of this towering warrior woman. The parasite recognized a fellow retinue member as part of the hive, and thus family. Even the paper thin persona contributed a xenophilic fascination with a woman who so clearly came from a culture that wasn’t her own. That last part lost all resistance when the portals closed and Keilnei’s true face revealed herself, proving her to be categorically foreign and thus a subject of (shallow) fascination.

“I… suppose I shouldn’t be so judgmental.” Nessa said, like her teeth were being pulled.

Gil watched with a smile forming on his lips. Whatever the reason, no matter how compromised she currently was, this genuinely might be the first time in a long while that Nessa had listened to a point of view that she didn’t hold herself and concluded she was in the wrong. The fact that it was probably a concept her original mindset held to be so obvious as to be unworthy of comment didn’t even matter; the fact that she could manage to admit fault at all was a good sign. If she kept it up, she might eventually become something more than a genetically enhanced meat shield and bed warmer.

To reinforce the point, Gil walked over, reached up, and stroked Keilnei’s cheek affectionately. He would have preferred to kiss her, but with Gil at only 6’1 she’d need to bend over for any such activities. Nessa’s 5’11” was quite a bit more optimal for such activities, but he wanted to subtly reinforce that she’d been in the wrong to help establish a pattern.

“Thank you for being patient with her.” He said, “Nessa is likely to feel very confused about a lot of things right now, so expect a lot of arguments to feel like that.”

He turned back to his new bodyguard/wife and smiled affectionately, which turned into a leer very quickly. She blushed, more embarrassed by the argument than anything else, but in her current worldview he was her patriarchal husband, supreme leader, and king of her hive. Ironically, that meant Gil would need to rely on the other girls if any deprogramming was going to actually happen.

She’d just go along with anything he commanded and suppress any cognitive dissonance. He made a note to try to keep her in whatever persona would cause more friction any time they were safely on the skyblock… or just to swap her if one side or the other got annoying. There was a real chance the two personas would collapse into one another sooner or later.

“Everyone, rest up.” Gil said. “I’m afraid we don’t have as much to do this week, so I’ll be spacing out the fun stuff, eh?”

One of the fun things he had as an option, of course, was an opportunity he hadn’t had in quite some time. He was on the skyblock accompanied by nothing but beautiful women who were completely open to sexual advances from him. Keilnei might need a bit more seduction to get up to it than the other two, but she seemed willing to accept that Gil fucked women to pass the time.

He stepped in close to Nessa, and whispered in her ear. His hands wrapped around her waist, then quested downwards. As nice as her breasts were, her ass was also quite the specimen.

“A side effect of that symbiote you should be aware of.” He said playfully, “It can put your libido into overdrive. Have you noticed anything like that?”

She leaned against him, so receptive that she started whimpering. A single orgasm had been enough to return her to a more professional mindset, and on the whole Nessa Bierman had never been a particularly sexual being despite her appearance. She’d kept herself beautiful because perfection was worth pursuing in all things; nothing more.

She prided herself on emotional regulation and self control, so when she was dealing with crises and new information, she focused upon them with ruthless efficiency. When her new husband let her know, even obliquely, that he desired her? Days of edging resurfaced, demanding that she offer up a tribute far greater than a few moments of fingering.

“Yes.” She said, “It definitely has.”

Gil kissed her again, fingers inching under the fabric of her clothes, and then did one of the least romantic things a man could do in this situation. He pulled away and consulted his tablet. Nessa whined needily while Gil quickly tapped away for a few moments. He had no intention of spending another week sleeping on the ground in a tent if he had another reasonable option available, and he’d apparently unlocked “living quarters” for purchase sometime in the last day. The cheapest option available was only 1 credit, an absolute steal, so he pressed the button and felt the whole world shake as the Barracks skyblock extension came into being.

Keilnei didn’t seem terribly bothered and Snow barely registered that the skyblock was shaking, but Gil was mildly surprised by how quickly and completely Nessa responded. Less than a second passed between the enticingly dressed woman grinding against him and a stone-clad huntress in a feral crouch casting her gaze about for enemies.

Gil was faintly taken aback. He’d almost decoupled the vaguely confused, borderline dim seeming woman he’d been talking to with the brutally efficient killing machine he’d seen only hints of at the Chosen base. Probably, he imagined, because he’d attributed those kills to Rose. That would be a foolish mistake to repeat in the field. No matter how… softened… he had rendered her cognition, Nessa was quite possibly the most deadly member of his retinue at the moment.

Rose had an absolute plethora of abilities, but most of them erred toward soft expressions of power. Zena’s full capabilities were unknown after the Lerasium incident, but she likely didn't know them either so it was partially a moot point. Nessa could, at a moment’s notice, transform into a building sized, heavily armored quadroped, had training in at least a few medieval weapons, and she seemed to have little if any psychological barrier against ****.

Even so, she calmed quickly when Gil stroked her hair and whispered reassurances, smiling the entire time. Once she realized she was the only one upset, Nessa adopted the stance of the rest of the hive. She stood and shook her arms and legs like they’d fallen asleep. As she did, the stone seemed to melt and retract towards a point upon her back, revealing that her clothes had been compressed onto her body by the stone sheath.

Gil resumed his earlier plan, taking her hand and kissing it like a gentleman. He pulled her close, smiling like a cat.

“Sorry about that.” He said into her ear, “I just wanted to have somewhere to bring you.”

The barracks wasn’t anything terribly nice, but it was the largest skyblock extension Gil had seen thus far. Basically a large vaulted room lined with simple white beds on metal bed frames, hammocks slung between support pillars, and sleeping mats rolled out in neat rows that ate much of the spare space. There was space and accommodations for fifty people, though it was unlikely a safety inspector would agree with that number. Neither Gil nor Nessa had the slightest regard for the decor, as the front door provided all the privacy they needed.

They were only a few feet beyond the front door when Nessa dragged Gil to the floor, her mouth pressed hungrily against his. They rolled over one another, Nessa’s tiara clattering across the stone floor. Gil’s cloak came off easily as he pawed at it one handed, and his magical bodysuit was so thin that she could have nearly fucked him through it if he was hard enough. He preferred to unzip himself, and while he did Nessa quickly tugged down her pants to reveal a pussy already swollen with need. She shuddered when Gil touched it, nearly cumming again on the spot.

When she saw his cock, her mind nearly went blank for a moment as a few final touches were made. The parasite knew that Gil was its hive king, the absolutely most desirable male companion. This cock was now the only acceptable example of its kind, a perfect, ideal shape. She needed it inside of her. She needed what was inside of it. Thankfully, Gil knew what was going through her mind and felt generous; this would probably be the only time she was quite this ****. He pushed her back to lay perpendicular across two sleeping mats and plunged his cock inside of her.

Her entire mind blazed with lights, and Gil felt her muscles clamp down to milk a cock that had not yet begun to fuck her. He started with a fairly vanilla missionary position, and she reveled in the sheer, simple joy of her mate laying atop her. The parasite whispered affirmations, reminders that this meant she was worthy. That she was chosen from among all possible mates to please him. That she had earned this pleasure which was only Gil’s to bestow.

The thoughts drilled deep, and they weren’t as alien as one might expect. She hadn’t been quite so slavish with her former boss, but the man called Kaiser had indeed slept with her and her sister many times, sometimes both together. She’d felt a certain measure of pride in that fact. He had been a ruler among men, a brilliant strategist, a visionary, and a man who possessed power. Catnip for Nessa and her sister both, though they’d had no illusions about their position in his eyes, even in their false personas. He saw them as useful employees that happened to be quite fuckable, probably because of how closely they resembled his first wife: Nessa’s own cousin, a woman his own age who’d helped raise the twins and shared nearly identical powers.

Nessa and Jessica had found nearly everything about Kaiser attractive… in their false personas, of course. It had helped them get in close. It would have eventually given them an opportunity to decapitate Empire 88 if Leviathan hadn’t beaten them to it. Obviously that’s why they’d found him so hot, and didn’t anymore.

Gil? Gil was so much better. He wasn’t a racist monster. He was well traveled and clever. He didn’t have a daughter only a handful of years younger than Nessa, or a son that obviously hated him.

Her vision went white again when she felt Gil cum deep inside of her, her body responding with a quaking orgasm. He needed a moment to rest after that, while she shuddered with a series of aftershocks. She was still ready for another go if he asked, but not to near the same extent. She felt nearly sated… nearly.

••••••••••

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