Chapter 3: Hiroshi is Kidnapped

The shopping cart rattled as I pushed it down the aisle at Target, the fluorescent lights glinting off the linoleum. Our cramped little apartment was lacking in some basic necessities, and thanks to a generous donation from Alicia and Rio, we were looking to get some items to personalize the place. Joy walked alongside me, beaming with a bright smile as her eyes scanned the items.

"Ooh, look at these!" she exclaimed, grabbing a set of plush teal bath towels. "They would go perfectly with the shower curtain we picked out."

“Is that a thing? Making the towels match the bathroom?”

“It’s a thing. Trust me, the last thing we need is gaudy towels,” Joy assured me with faux seriousness. "Besides, a little pop of color never hurt anyone."

As we turned the corner into the kitchenware section, I stepped back to watch Joy take a look at the various spatulas on display. Never knew that buying knick-knacks could be so fun, but she was positively brimming with delight. And even after all I knew she’d done, I couldn’t help but think she looked adorable in that wide-brimmed straw hat and blue sundress that went down to her knees.

"What about these bowls?" I asked.

Joy wrinkled her nose. "Too boring. We need something with personality!" Her eyes lit up as she grabbed some bright yellow bowls emblazoned with smiley faces. "Like these!"

“Those aren’t microwave safe though.” I pointed out.

“If you think we need a microwave and I’m not going to cook you a fresh meal morning, noon, and night, you’re really underestimating me, hun.”

“Alright, alright.” I could get more bowls later.

With an exaggerated sigh, I added the bowls to their growing pile of housewares. As we browsed the aisles, debating over dish towels and arguing the merits of different coffeemakers, I couldn't help but marvel at the oddness of the situation. A week ago I was just an aimless twenty-something, bouncing between odd jobs. Now here I was, shopping for home goods with my pet serial killer Hypnotist.

But looking over at Joy, her eyes crinkling with laughter as she plopped a wildly oversize soup ladle into the cart, I found I didn't mind the strangeness one bit.

As we approached the checkout lines, I took a moment to appreciate the towering pile of housewares filling their cart to the brim. Bath towels, kitchen gadgets, matching dish sets, curtains, rugs - it was like we'd grabbed a little piece of every aisle in the store.

"I think we might have gone a bit overboard," I remarked as I eyed the haul.

Joy just waved a hand dismissively. "Nonsense! A new home deserves some new things. Besides, I’ve not had the chance to do some home decor in ages!”

They began unloading their treasures onto the conveyor belt, the cashier's eyes widening slightly at the sheer volume of items. As the total climbed higher and higher on the register display, I felt a pang of anxiety. I had some savings and funds, but I’d never been one for this kind of spending.

When I swiped the debit card, it went through and the receipt started printing out. I’d need to check the balance later. And start thinking of how we were going to start earning money. We couldn’t mooch off the lesbians forever.

Bags in hand, we made our way out to the parking lot, the sun beating down on the asphalt. I lifted the bags up and into the truck bed, but rather than leave them there, I made them all vanish with my new Item Box skill. I’d unlocked it all the way back when I’d first tamed Joy, but was only recently seeing just how useful it was, especially with how high the storage space was. As I started packing things into the back of the truck, Joy stood beside me, her face turned up to the sky.

“Can’t remember the last time I went on a date with a handsome young man. Really does make the sun shine that much brighter,” Joy said, flashing her pearly smile at me.

“I wouldn’t really call this a date.”

"Oh come on, don't be such a spoilsport!" Joy playfully swatted my arm as she helped load the last of the bags into the truck bed. "We're out together, enjoying each other's company, buying things for our new home... if that's not a date, I don't know what is!"

“No, no. I mean… we can try going on a real date later. Catch a movie. Picnic at the park. Something like that.”

“Well, aren’t you romantic? There’s a park by the river just an hour’s drive out of town I’ve not been to in… lord, forty years? How about we have lunch there tomorrow?” Joy clapped her hands together. “I’ll make us up a whole spread!”

“Tomorrow it is then.”

<You really don’t have time to be wasting on this. You should be going after the next target>

Holly had given me a list of the next three targets I should go after. None of them seemed particularly dangerous, but they all had a useful class of one sort or another. Trixie Miller, a Psychokinetic thief. According to Holly, at this point in the timeline her telekinesis was weak, only good for delicate work like picking locks and pockets. Jasmine Jacobs, a Shapeshifter that worked as an escort, stealing from her clients and then moving on, impossible to track down since no one knew her real face. And Diane Wilson. According to Holly, Diane was over one hundred years old and had the class of Vampire, but none of her abilities were useful in a fight. Still, just looking at her picture gave me chills.

I needed to pick one of them to go after next, and the sooner the better. If nothing else, with all three being active criminals, they had funds to spare, and unlike Joy, they wouldn’t need to abandon their identities thanks to a full body makeover. Probably.

But that could wait a few days. I was still enjoying the honeymoon phase with Joy. And Holly told me I had years to get this sorted out. The more I rushed, the more mistakes I’d probably make. For now, we’d put up the new shower curtains, enjoy a homecooked meal, and it was Joy’s turn to pick the movie tonight. 80s action schlock, a tossup between Terminator 2 and the original Alien. And then…

A loud CRUNCH brought me out of my musing, followed by a loud POP, followed a half-second by another POP as the truck started lurching, letting out an ear-piercing screech as the rims scraped the pavement.

“Shit! Joy, you okay?”

Joy was bracing both her hands on the glove box, gasping, “Hah… wow, good thing we were wearing our seatbelts, or that might have—”

BANG!

Blood splattered the inside of the windshield as Joy’s head jerked forward, flopped. That’s when it sunk in that I was in real trouble. I reached for my phone, the door, and the buckle of my seatbelt all at once. Or I thought about doing that, but my hands were stuck to the steering wheel. The real thing was nothing like the drills.

“Extra disabled, securing target now.” A woman’s muffled voice, a stab in my neck, something ice cold getting injected…

<Oh, this is

Whatever they got me with worked too fast for me to hear what else Holly was going to say. I was out like a light.

I didn’t feel any gap between getting knocked out and waking up. One second, Holly was talking, and then I was lying facedown on a mattress. I rolled to my side to take a look around and squinted against the dim light filtering through dirty, lace curtains.

I pushed myself up from the creaky, old bed, every movement sending another wave of pain through my skull. The room around me looked like it hadn’t seen life in years: peeling wallpaper, cobwebs in the corners, and a thick layer of dust covering everything.

I stumbled to the window, my legs weak and unsteady. Pushing aside the yellowed curtains, I peered outside. My breath caught in my throat. The street below was lined with houses, each one as decrepit and lifeless as the one I found myself in. Broken windows, overgrown lawns, and rusted-out cars.

“Where the hell am I?”

“I wouldn’t worry too much about that,” I spun around, my back slamming against the old window as I faced my kidnapper. “Long as you stay inside, there won’t be any problems.”

I recognized her voice from the truck. My kidnapper was unarmed, wearing nothing but a too-small sports bra and a pair of painted-on yoga pants. In other words, extremely dangerous. These days, combat gear was relatively inexpensive and lightweight, usually taking the form of a form-fitting bodysuit for full-body protection. The fact that she wasn’t wearing any almost certainly meant that whatever protection her Class gave her was better. The lack of any weapons or equipment meant that she must have an item box too. She could bring out a gun, knife… rocket launcher, whatever, and train it on me any second.

At least, that’s what I was assuming. Maybe her Class wasn’t trained and she was only as dangerous as she looked. But I figured that anyone who’d go to all this trouble to get their hands on me would be a professional.

“Could you at least explain the situation to me?” I asked, still not moving from the window.

“We’ll be keeping you here for the next week. If all goes well, you’ll be back outside after that. All you need to do is keep put and stay quiet.” She wasn’t menacing as she said it, nor overly friendly. All business.

“And why are you keeping me here?”

She shrugged, “Because I was paid to.”

Her face was unreadable, and no way to tell if she was lying to me. But it did make sense that she’d be kept in the dark as to why she was holding me hostage. Whoever hired her wouldn’t want things traced back to them if things went south.

I had a good idea of why though, but it wasn’t like I could spill it. My mother was Silver Star, the state’s top superhero. Paladin class, she’d made national news a few years ago after single-handedly taking down the Los Dragones crime family. The fact that she had two children was, I thought, an extremely closely guarded secret, but here we were. Someone wanted to hurt her, and they were using me to do it.

“Food is in there. Water there.” She pointed to a zipped up duffel bag near the bed, then cardboard pallets of bottled water stacked on top of each other. “Bathroom doesn’t have any plumbing, but there’s plastic bags and kitty litter, so make do. Don’t go downstairs, and don’t make noise.” With that, she shut the door and left.

I had the whole top floor to myself? Well, if they thought I didn’t have a Class, that made sense. Still, rather lax for security.

I checked the window. It was old, cracked, and rusted. As I was trying to get it open, Holly interrupted.

<You should listen to the lady and sit tight>

“Afraid I’ll break my neck jumping from the second story?” I whispered back.

<No. Afraid the zombies will eat your brains. Look>

A glowing arrow appeared in my vision, then flew out the window, getting bigger as it floated over a lawn, pointing straight down. It was near sunset, so I had to focus for a few seconds before it became clear that the arrow was pointing at a corpse. The arrow then split off into a dozen more, all of them floating over and pointing at more perfectly still corpses.

Zombies.

“Which means…”

I looked at the horizon, where the setting sun should be. It wasn’t. Now that I was expecting it, I could see that there was a wall instead, painted in twilight colors. One kilometer high, five kilometers wide, connecting to the other three walls and holding up the false sky ceiling.

I’d been dragged into a Dungeon, with a capital D.

Like Classes, Dungeons were just a part of the way the world worked, but I’d never come near one. I’d seen plenty of movies and documentaries, sure, the idea of a Dungeoncrawler was almost as ingrained into the world’s imagination as Secret Agent or Rockstar.

I knew the basics. Each floor was five by five kilometers in area and had four exits. One that went “up” and three that went “down”. Up and down were relative though, because like this post-apoc neighborhood, dungeon environments didn’t tend to look like they were underground, and they didn’t obey the laws of physics.

You could find two exits leading down in a dungeon that were standing side by side. Down one, you could find yourself into a damp crypt full of everburning torches and living skeletons, and the exit right next to it could lead you to an underwater kingdom full of bloodthirsty frog people.

That meant that the second floor of a dungeon had three different biomes. Each of those led to three new biomes, for a total of nine on the third floor. Twenty-seven on the fourth floor, and so on. By the time you descended down to the tenth floor, there were just under twenty thousand different biomes.

So even if I got out of the house, I’d have to deal with the walking undead chasing after me. I’d need to find the Exit, which could be in any one of those houses. I’d then need to venture into the dungeon floors above me and repeat that process over and over until I finally made it out.

Impossible.

At least, it’d be impossible on my own. Joy had been shot back on the surface, but she wasn’t exactly human anymore. For a Beast Tamer, their animal dying wasn’t permanent, but I obviously couldn’t test that on Joy. So now was the time to see.

I opened up the item box and Joy was still there. She wasn’t gone. But… she was Dead. Her portrait was grayed out and there was a large 6D:21H:32M timer right underneath it.

I blew out through my cheeks, leaning against the wall. Joy was safe. Immortal, it looked like. Though if I kicked the bucket, she’d be gone for good. I laid down on the bed, stared up at the ceiling.

“Did you see this coming, or is this something new because of your meddling?”

No answer.

“Holly?”

<The details weren’t specific. The record doesn’t have any details about you being involved in this incident. You should make it through the week safely as long as you refrain from doing anything stupid>

Something about her voice sounded more detached than usual. Like she really was a robotic assistant.

“Yeah. Alright.”

A week in isolation. No internet, stuck in this ruin, a killer merc the only company I had. At least I had Holly to talk with.

I closed my eyes. Might as well try and sleep.

<BUT!!!>

I bolted upright as Holly shouted so loud my eye was itching.

<But… you should… I don’t know…>

And now she was whispering so quiet I could barely hear her.

“Holly?”

No answer. Was this some kind of malfunction? Maybe she’d been damaged while the mercenary was dragging me over here. Or maybe as a one of a kind device, they just didn’t know what kind of bugs would pop up after a few weeks. From the sound of it, they didn’t do much testing.

With nothing left to do, I laid back down and closed my eyes again. A few minutes later, Holly didn’t start speaking, but a message did float in front of my face, visible even with my eyes closed. A floating white page with black text on it, as simple as it got.

<Right now, you are the most important person in the world. The fate of everyone depends on your safety. So telling you this, I’m risking the safety of the world. And if you do anything, you’ll be doing the same. It’s stupid to tell you this, but I need you to know>

<The record shows that in four days, Silver Star goes missing>

<I don’t know what happened to her>

I put a hand over my eyes, letting out a long breath.

“Okay. Let’s figure this out.”

If I was to escape this Dungeon, there were two choices. Plan A, I’d need to tame that mercenary. Since she’d tried to kill Joy without any hesitation, I was sure she was enough of a villain for my abilities to work on her. The problem was that I stood zero chance.

<Her class is Ninja. On the trip down here, she had a top speed of 64.4km/h. She has stealth techniques that make her almost invisible, but only while keeping still. She’s got the Item Box skill, but the only thing I saw her bring out were a silenced pistol and firecrackers. She was able to avoid almost all the monsters on her way down to this level, using the firecrackers to lure them away or in the case of floor six’s kobolds, she finished off a pack of three with five shots, two of them headshots.>

I was not thrilled about Plan A.

Plan B wasn’t much better though. Holly had been recording the route that the mercenary ninja had taken, and with her help, I could retrace it. We were on floor nine though. Even with the fancy tricks Holly could pull off like giving me infrared vision or a literal minimap, I doubted I could make it all the way through without dying a hundred times over.

The problem with both plans boiled down to one thing: I was too weak. So before I could try either plan, I needed to train my class.

There were three proven methods to train a class. First, and most obviously, there was doing what the class was meant to do. Taming villains would raise the level of my villain tamer class. Baking bread would boost the level of a baker class. And so on. Not really an option right now.

The next method was being famous. Back in the old days, that kind of technique was reserved for “gods” and nobles, but these days where anyone could upload to social media, anyone had a chance of popping off and raising their level massively. That’d been one of the reasons I’d started a youtube channel, thinking I could figure out my class if I gained a few levels in it. But I doubted my channel would start going viral with me down here.

The last option then. Monster hunting. The most dangerous option, because the universal rule for all monsters is “they want to kill you”. But I had some luck there. My kidnapper had brought me to this section of the dungeon because zombies were relatively easy to deal with. Keep quiet and keep your distance and they’d keep playing dead. They also weren’t the strongest, relying on strength in numbers to overwhelm people. The more you fought, the more would be drawn in by the sounds and smells of smashed zombies. Kill enough and you’d summon more dangerous undead, but according to Dungeon Survival with Red Granger, you needed to kill at least a hundred of the basic shamblers before anything more dangerous would show up.

So theoretically, I could use stealth kills until I leveled up, and as long as I didn’t alert my kidnapper or go over that limit, there’d be no problems.

Simple, right?

Time to see what I had at my disposal. As far as skills went, I had Tame Villain, Store/Retrieve Villain, and Item Box. Item Box was full of a week’s worth of groceries, my yardworking equipment, the knick knacks I’d bought with Joy right before being kidnapped, and the surprisingly little personal items I had cluttering up my closet back at home. As far as weapons went, I at least had the crowbar.

I opened up the duffel bag to see what food I’d been left with.

“Oi.”

Candy bars. The woman had bought a dozen variety pack bags of fun-sized candy bars and stuffed them in the duffel bag. One more reason to try and get out of here as soon as possible.

<There’s a camera in the corner, but I don’t think she’s watching right now. Can pick up the electromagnetic radiation of two more in the house>

Trying to act normal, I laid face down on the bed, whispered into the mattress, “Can you hack them? Make a dummy version of me to keep her from noticing I’ve gone out?”

<That’s not really how cameras work.>

“You’re a future spider robot thing.”

<Who needs an interface to work with. I can’t hack them, but I can show you the blindspots>

I rolled over, and through my prosthetic eye, I could see what she meant. There was a holographic green cone shining down from the corner and bathing me, the only blindspot in the corner below it. Leaving the room, I saw another cone traveling the length of the hallway, and there was one more downstairs, covering both the stairs and the front door leading outside.

I explored the rest of the upstairs. There was another bedroom and an office, both of them looking already looted and torn up, but I added anything that might be useful to the Item Box. After that, there was nothing to do but sleep.

“Wake me up half an hour after she goes to sleep.”

<You got it>

It felt like I’d just started resting my eyes before Holly was buzzing in my ear for me to get up.

<Coast is clear>

I sat up and rubbed my organic eye while the robot one looked out the window and across the street. It zoomed in on the other house, then glitched before switching to infrared, where I could then see the fuzzy red prone body of the kidnapper, sprawled out on her own bed.

Good. Now as for the cameras…

I had a theory that while the two cameras upstairs were designed to just keep an eye on me, I’d been specifically told not to go downstairs. If I came in range of that camera, I bet it’d raise an alarm and wake the mercenary up. Likewise if zombies busted the door, she’d want to get over to protect me. So while I couldn’t disable the upstairs camera, I just had to make sure she wasn’t watching for this.

Using my Item Box, I pulled out an extra t-shirt, jeans, some smelly pillows from that bedroom, a soccer ball, and my mop. The clothing stuffed with the pillows, the head of the mop over the soccer ball, all of it hidden by the blanket.

Not the most convincing dummy, but hopefully the resolution on that camera’s night vision wouldn’t be able to tell the difference.

Next was getting out.

The front door was out and I wagered that making too much noise in that room could trigger an alarm as well. So I quietly padded to the office and went to work there, squirting some WD-40 on the window to loosen it up and keep it quiet.

Opening the window, I stepped out onto the slanted roof, shivering at the cold air.

<Watch your step>

“Good idea. I’ll do that.”

<Ha ha>

I climbed up the slanted roof to the other side, looking down at the backyard. Carefully made my way to the edge, then pulled out my ladder from the item box. It came out parallel to the ground, then swung down to crash into the grass with what sounded like an ear piercing clatter, making me freeze.

Ten seconds later, <You’re good. Nothing is moving>

The mercenary was across the street and she’d already weeded out any nearby zombies, so I should have known that, but I’d been listening to my heart pound against my ears ever since I set up that fake dummy. I was nervous, okay?

I climbed down the ladder and slipped it back into the Item Box, then walked through the set of backyards, going two houses down before bringing the ladder out one more time and clambering up to this other roof. Holly had marked the positions of every zombie she could pick up on her sensors. In theory, I could probably kill one with my crowbar. But I doubted I could do it in one swing, and it could always bite me, which would be game over. So I was going to use a different strategy.

There was a zombie on the other side of this house, lying fast down in the grass so long that weeds had grown up around it. Close enough to the roof I could drop down right on top of it. I wiped the sweat off my palm on my shirt, then summoned my toothbrush to my hand. Perfectly upright in my palm. Lying flat on the hand, then rotated ninety degrees. I did it a few more times, summoning the tooth brush in different positions in angles. The ladder had been a mistake, and I couldn’t afford that here. When I was ready, I stretched my hand out as far as I could without losing balance.

Item Box Retrieval: Riding Lawn Mower

It came out above my palm, the nose pointing straight down, and gravity yanked it right to the zombie, striking it squarely on the head and shoulders with a visceral CRUNCH. I winced as the lawnmower then tipped over onto its side with a loud thud, revealing the messy remains of the zombie's crushed skull smeared all over the grass, and froze as I waited for the stumbling horde to descend on me.

Nothing.

“Did we get it?”

<We got it! And YOU got a new Skill!>

I balled my fists up, resisting the urge to shout.

“Let’s hope it’s a good one.”

I didn’t have time to waste, so after retrieving the lawnmower, I skulked towards the house the ninja was staying at. Creeping through a zombie-infested neighborhood normally would have made me puke from terror, but with Holly pointing out where everything was, it was easy to take a long, winding path.

When we got to the house, Holly pointed out that there were more cameras set up. That meant going in through the second-floor window, which meant bringing out the ladder again. Up top, I looped some duct tape over the glass so that I could stick it to the blanket from my item box. Honestly, the Item Box was so useful, I was having a hard time figuring out how I’d gone so long without it. A few swings of the hammer and the pane shattered, letting me reach in to unlock the window.

Well, that’s what I would have done, but the window was already unlocked. Damn it.

Inside, the floorplan was similar to the house she’d dropped me off in, but this place looked cleaner. The faded pink wall-paper made me think that there must have been a little girl who lived in this home at some point, but now it’d been repurposed into the kidnapper’s supply closet. There was tactical gear lying out on the bed. Gas masks, ammo clips, and a rifle as tall as a broomstick, and more of that junk was scattered throughout. I took a few minutes adding whatever looked useful to the item box, then peeked out into the hallway.

All clear.

Well, I could see the rise and fall of the merc’s chest in the room two doors down, so of course it was. But my heartbeat was still pounding in my ears.

<Stay frosty, Roshi. You just need a touch.>

Roshi. How long had it been since anyone had called me that? College? My mind wandered as I stepped barefoot through the hallway, doing my best to remember to breathe.

The door had been left open, so I could see her legs from the hallway as I made it closer.

<You’re doing great. Almost there>

Deep breath; I could breathe again after it was over. Step into the room… and I looked at her. Sleeping, it really kicked in just how pretty she was. Young too. Lips slightly parted, swelling and deflating with every slow breath, uncovered and topless. Oh wow. Topless. Couldn’t blame here, with the simulated muggy summer weather of the dungeon floor with no working A/C to combat it. But those breasts were so much bigger than Joy’s. Bigger than Alicia and Rio too. Perky, but still sagging and separating as she lied on her back.How long had she been doing this? The storage room I’d come in through told me that this wasn’t her first time down this deep in the dungeon. Did she live here?

<Hey! Don’t freeze!>

I swallowed. Right. My mother’s life was on the line. I kept reminding myself of that as I leaned forward and brushed my fingertips across her neck.

But as I leaned over her, there was a creak in the floorboard I stood on. Her brilliant blue eyes popped open.

“Really?” It took her less than a second to feel insulted that I’d come into her room to attack her. Less than a second after that before we were both on the floor, one of her hands shoving my face into the floor while the other was bending my arm further than it should go. “I need you alive. Not healthy.”

“Wait wait wai—” She clamped a hand over my mouth, pinched my nose, and I couldn’t breathe. Some detached part of me was thinking she was keeping me quiet so I didn’t rouse the zombie horde. And it was a good thing she did it took, because when pulled on my arm again, I howled with the pain.

She didn’t unpinch my nose until I quieted down, and then she whispered into my ear, “I heard you had no Class, so good job sneaking up on me. Now, do I need to keep hurting you?”

I shook my head frantically no, and I heard her laugh softly at my distress. “Good.”

She pinched my nose again, then dislocated my arm out of its socket.

“But you were a stupid man, so you need to learn to do better.” She rose back up to her feet, flipped on a battery-powered lamp, dressed in a loose off-shoulder t-shirt, and started rummaging around for something.

My eyes were watering from the pain—is that the same as crying?--and I did my best to ignore it as I laid there, not sure what to do. The adrenaline was surging through me though, and I had to suppress a laugh. Hide my smile.

Because the plan had worked. One touch really had been enough. There on my heads up display was the simple little message.

Collar Villain Active

I’d gotten the skill after the zombie skill, and it read

Collar Villain: Touch the neck of a villain to trigger the skill. While active, a symbolic collar appears on the neck of the Villain. While Collared, a Villain’s Affection Points increase based on proximity and rapport. At maximum Affection Points, the Villain is Tamed and Affection resets to 0. Skill deactivates when villain is out of range.

“Isn’t this way too lucky? It’s like, the one skill that could possibly let me beat her.”

<It’s not luck. It’s a phenomenon called Adaptive Leveling. When people gain a new skill while under **** stress, better than even odds it’ll be related to the situation. Haven’t you ever heard of someone gaining Survival skills after being stranded after a plane crash? It’s the same principle.>

Well, I wasn’t going to complain.

Looking up, I could see that the “collar” had formed on my kidnapper. It hadn’t manifested physically, but instead looked like she had a simple black line tattoo encircling her neck. She didn’t seem to notice it, and with no one else or any mirrors around, hopefully she wouldn’t.

It didn’t take long before she turned her attention back to me, kneeling down to grab my arm—my shoulder was in agony already, and just moving it a little made it so much worse—then with a sudden jerking motion, she popped it back into place. I clenched my teeth to keep my voice down, but there was only so much I could do.

“There we go. It’ll take a few weeks for that to heal. Try something stupid again and the other arm goes next.” Not that she was going to give me a chance. The mercenary hauled me towards a rusted space heat attached to the wall, gathered my wrists together and latched on a pair of handcuffs, trapping me in place.

“Not going to risk taking you back to your room till morning, so looks like you’ll be keeping me company tonight. I’m sure you’ll behave, right?” She asked as she stood up and looked down at her handiwork.

I took a look at her and saw that the center of the ‘collar’ had a glowing pink vertical stripe. As well, the HUD showed an empty bar, labeled ‘AP’ and reading 1/100. Well, it was a start.

“You’ve got to let me go.”

“I’ve got to?” There was a hint of warning in her tone, but already there was a difference from before. Right now, she was acting like she was annoyed by me. When I first woken up in the Dungeon, she hadn’t even talked to me like I was a human.

Still, with my shoulder still burning with pain, I really didn’t want to annoy her any further.

“...please let me go. I didn’t want to say anything, but my mother is Silver Star. They’re using me to lure her into a trap, and if you go through with it, they’ll kill her.”

“Hmm.” She sat at the edge of the bed, reached under her loose shirt to scratch at her belly.

I watched her, searching for any sign of empathy. "You can’t let them do this. She’s a hero. Remember last year when that Viral monster took a school hostage? Or the year before that, after the Plague Doctor got so many people sick, she didn’t sleep for days helping at the hospital. Or the Los Dragones family, what if scum like that came back and we didn’t have her?"

Her eyes flickered, but her voice remained steely. "I’ll be fine."

"You’ll be responsible," I pressed, hoping to find a crack in her resolve. "And… and I will too. She doesn’t deserve to die because of me."

She gave a short, humorless laugh. "Deserve’s got nothing to do with it. I took the contract. I see it through."

I winced, shifting my weight to ease the pain in my shoulder. "Is that all that matters to you?"

Her eyes narrowed, and for a moment, I thought she might actually answer. But instead, she shook her head. "I don’t question the job. I complete it. That’s why I’m hired for sensitive jobs like this. I don’t get friendly with the client or the target. Makes things easier that way."

I purposely tried to move my arm just to get the pain to flare up. Better to grimace than let her see me smile. She wasn’t agreeable, but she was talking to me at least. The skill was working. Even if the AP was still stuck at 1.

“I’m Hiroshi, by the way. Hiroshi Jones.”

“I know.” She clicked off the portable lamp, plunging the room back into darkness.

“So what’s your name?” I was pushing my luck, but I couldn’t afford to waste a minute.

“Keep talking and I will break your jaw next.”

On second thought, I should get some rest. The skill did say it was based on rapport and proximity. A few hours near each other ought to make her much more agreeable.

Figuring out how to fall asleep with a sore shoulder while handcuffed to a radiator took a while, but I managed it in less than an hour. Go me.

When I woke up, the flaring pain in my shoulder had receded to a dull throb. The rest of me didn’t feel too good either, but I tried to ignore it as I looked around for the kidnapper, stifling out a yawn.

<Morning, sunshine> Holly greeted me, and then the eye switched to x-ray mode, and I spotted her in the next room, sitting still, legs pulled up, a hand in front of her face. It looked like she was reading something off of her phone.

The affection meter had gone up too.

Affection Points: 8/100

From 1 to 8.

“So one point an hour?” I whispered.

<Looks like it. Which means it’d take four days to finish>

And by then it’d be too late. I needed to speed things along.

“Hello? Anyone there?” I raised my voice to call out to her.

She ignored me for a few seconds, then I saw her put the phone away before walking into the room. She was still wearing the long t-shirt from last night, and I wondered what kind of panties she had on underneath. From the way her nipples were poking at the shirt and how they spread apart, definitely no bra under there. “Don’t make so much noise.”

“You think you could undo these cuffs? It’s not like I’m a threat to you when you’re awake, right?”

She folded her arms. “No.”

“Alright. But I need to use the bathroom, so…”

“...fine.”

She retrieved the key and knelt down beside me, yanking on the chain of the handcuffs sharp enough to make me hiss as my shoulder reminded me of how little I should be moving my arm right now. Even with the handcuffs off, my right arm was going to be mostly useless for at least a week.

“Great. Thank you. I appreciate that,” Best behavior, Hiroshi. Come on, you needed to build ‘Rapport’, whatever that was. The bathroom situation was a good deal more hygienic in her “home”, and after I’d finished my business, I came back to find her reading from her phone again.

“What do you want for breakfast?” I asked.

“What?” She looked at me as though she hadn’t understood what I just said.

“Breakfast. Pancakes, toast, bacon, I’ve got some frosted flakes if you want it.” I drew the cereal from my Item Box, gave it a shake to demonstrate.

“So that’s how you managed to sneak in here last night. You never registered your Class.”

“I didn’t figure it out until just recently. But yeah. I’ve got the Handyman class.” I could do basic plumbing, gardening, and home maintenance work. Not at the level of someone who actually had the Class, but enough to fake it, hopefully. “And it came with an Item Box.”

“You’ve got an Item Box? Shit. You could have stored those handcuffs any time last night. Shit.” She grit her teeth, shook her head. “Idiot move keeping you close. Should have known better.”

I could have stowed the handcuffs? Goddamnit, she was right.

“If it makes you feel better, I’m an idiot for not realizing I could have done that too.”

She looked at me like she fully believed the bit about me being an idiot, “I don’t need you to cheer me up.”

Affection Points: 10/100

Did that really work? No reaction on her face, but the glowing pink stripe on her collar tattoo looked more like a square now. If I could fill it up… well, I’d worry about that after. For now…

“So what do you normally eat for breakfast?” I asked.

“The same thing I put into your duffel bag.” The look I gave her must have flustered her a little, because she continued hurriedly, “Candy bars are calorie dense. You don’t need to cook them either, and they don’t go bad.”

“Yeah, but won’t you rot your teeth? Or get sick?”

“I’ve got Minor Regeneration, so no.” Minor Regeneration. An uncommon Skill and one many trained their classes just to acquire it alone. A slow, passive healing effect. It could heal a bullet wound overnight, but its combat application was the last of the benefits. The perk meant that the body was always balancing itself out to 100% health. It could take care of cavities like she’d said, while also trimming excess fat and keeping muscles toned. Acne, split ends, sunburns, it’d take care of them before it was ever an issue. Not to mention it’d keep someone looking young well into their old age, with people regularly living past a hundred years old.

“And you, you’ll be gone one way or another in a week. It takes longer than that to get scurvy or whatever.”

“Okay. But, would you like some actual breakfast?” I pressed.

Her mouth twisted. Yesterday, she wouldn’t have even considered it. She’d left me stuck across the street while barely even saying a word to me. But now, she was giving it some serious thought. “Can you make… a McGriddle?”

“I’ll see what I can do.”

We went downstairs to the kitchen. She had a portable generator, and I had an induction stovetop, still in the box. I laughed, remembering how after I explained to Joy that it used electromagnetic radiation to heat up the pan, she’d knit her eyebrows together and with complete seriousness asked me if that meant it was radioactive and dangerous.

Right, Joy. Still stuck in limbo, recovering from actual ****. I needed to be more careful around this woman. Whether she liked me or not, if she figured out what I was up to I had no doubt she wouldn’t hesitate to take care of me the same way.

“What kind of capacity does that Item Box of yours even have?” She asked as she unboxed the induction stovetop for me. Doing it myself would have taken forever with one arm out of commission.

“Not sure. Haven’t had any problems so far, so it must be big.” Fifteen thousand pounds. Up from ten thousand before I’d killed that zombie. I took out a stick of butter and began gliding it over the hot pan, then a loaf of sandwich bread, placing down two slices to start toasting. “Oh damn, no spatula.”

Without even thinking about it, I checked through some of the old kitchen drawers. Dishrags in here, plastic wrap and aluminum foil in here, and on the third one, jackpot. A drawer stuffed full of spatulas, tongs, ladles, and the like. I lifted out black plastic spatula and examined it.

“This is probably still clean, right?”

“What?” She was leaning over the island, inhaling the smell of melting butter, looking ready to start drooling. “Oh. Yeah. It should be fine.”

She watched me like a hawk as I cooked. Buttered toast. Crispy bacon. Beaten eggs folded into an omelet. Assemble it together with some pre-shredded cheese melted on top, and it might not be a McGriddle, but I think it was up to her standards.

I placed the sandwiches down on two plates and she snatched hers up, taking a bite so fast that the bacon fat dribbled down her chin.

“Wow…”

“Here, take mine too.” I slid the plate over to her. She wasn’t taking any time at all to savor it and was already half-finished with her own. “I’ll make some more.”

“...I’ll help.” I wonder how much of that was skill-induced kindness and how much was just her being impatient; I only had one arm for cooking, after all.

It wasn’t really rocket science, so I took a seat on the stool and let her take over. She ate two more after that, leaving me the last one for myself. An appetite like that, plus the regen skill… no wonder her chest was so big. But more importantly.

Affection Points: 20/100

I was making progress!

“So what’s your name?” I asked as she licked the juices off her plate.

“Ahhh…” she let out a satisfied sigh, and barely even hesitated before answering, “Astra.”

“Astra.” I tried the name out. “I like it. It’s a pretty name. You can call me Jones if you want.”

“I’m not taking you back to the surface,” she pointed out bluntly.

“I figured. But the only other people around here don’t make for much conversation.”

“What other people?” She grabbed me by the shirt and pulled me in close, before blinking. “Oh. You were making a joke.”

“A bad one, admittedly,” I said as I smoothed my shirt down once she let me go.

“Sorry, I do not normally hear jokes. Or talk to people.”

“It’s fine.” I stowed the dishes and equipment back into the item box, got as comfortable as I could on a kitchen stool. “Just curious, and you don’t need to answer, but do you always live down here, or do you have a nicer place topside?”

“What’s wrong with this place?” She asked, confused, then blushed. “...right. It might not be perfect, but it’s private. No one would find this place in a thousand years.”

“And…” She pursed her lips, hesitating, then continued, “I don’t spend all my time here. There’s somewhere else. But if I told you about it, I’d have to kill you.”

“Keep it to yourself then.”

“Rude,” she snapped back.

I held up my one good hand, “You just said you’d kill me if you told me.”

“Oh. I did, didn’t I?” She laughed softly. “Sorry. Again. I am rusty.”

Affection Points: 22/100

She’d gone from bloodthirsty killer to awkward host. I wondered what she’d look like when the gauge was mostly full.

“Hey, with all of these abandoned houses, there’s got to be some boardgames stuffed in a closet somewhere, right? Have any favorites?”

“I don’t play boardgames.”

Undeterred, I pressed her, “Okay, then how about you see what you find and I’ll pick the game.”

“You do not give me orders.” Astra met me with an icy stare, then sighed. “Wait upstairs. Do not do anything stupid or I’ll break your other arm.”

I winced. I’d never had my shoulder dislocated before this and with how useless my right arm was, I couldn’t imagine how miserable it’d be if she took out the other one. “I won’t, I won’t.”

“Ugh… Sorry. I mean… I will break it if you do anything stupid but… I don’t…” She was scratching fiercely, unable to get her words straight. “Stand still, don’t move!”

She rushed away, leaving me standing there confused, and a few seconds later came back holding a large pink t-shirt in her hands. “Here.”

“Uh…? Is there something wrong with my shirt? Am I starting to smell?”

“No. You smell fine. I mean… gah!” She bunched the shirt up into her hands, shaping it into a loop that she put over my head like an infinity scarf, then pulled down one side of it and held open the left arm hole, “Use it like a sling.”

“Oh.” This close, I noticed that she didn’t have any smell at all. Probably a Ninja stealth Skill. Slowly, slowly, I lifted my arm and maneuvered it through the hole, and when I relaxed, I was surprised to find that it really was a sling. Not perfect, but miles ahead of just letting it flop around. “Thanks.”

“I… yeah. Wait upstairs and don’t do anything stupid, or I will break the other arm, okay?” She ran off before I could answer, and so I did as she asked, heading upstairs. I found her bed again and laid down, closed my eyes. I’d been up late last night and what sleep I’d gotten had been horrible. I was beat.

I didn’t have long before she came back though, arms loaded down with a half-dozen boxes.

“Here. This is what I could find.”

It wasn’t a bad haul. We started off with Connect 4, then switched to reversi, then chess. She’d been serious when she said she didn’t play board games, and I had a feeling she flat out didn’t play games at all, because even though she picked up on the rules fast, she kept making plenty of mistakes, sometimes after sweating a move for minutes at a time.

“If you try for a second to take it easy on me, Jones, I’ll break your other arm.”

“W-wouldn’t dream of it, Astra.”

Around noon, I suggested we try Life. No real strategy, just spinning the wheel. She seemed oddly fascinated by it, reading each part out loud and delighting in the novelty of it.

“Hah! I’m married now, Jones. So watch your eyes.”

“This is ridiculous. Why must I pay taxes? I’ve never paid taxes before!”

“Jones! I have children now! Do you want to name one of them?”

Affection Points: 35/100

“Is there anything you want for lunch?”

Affection Points: 36/100

Just making her think about food seemed to shoot the point up.

“The sandwiches from before were good. Can we have those again?” Barely a third of the gauge filled and she was this polite.

I shook my head. “We’ve still got some bread, eggs, and cheese, but that was it for the bacon.”

“Ah…”

I looked through the groceries I still had frozen in stasis within my item box, trying to think of what I could make, “Is there anything you don’t like to eat? Mushrooms, green vegetables, onions?”

“Food is food.”

“How about spaghetti bolognese then?” When she gave me a blank look, I clarified, “Spaghetti pasta noodles, tomato sauce, meat, and seasoning.”

Her eyes lit up. “Jones, Jones… do you think the meat can be meatballs?”

“Well, we’ve only got the induction cooker here, and I’d want an oven for those so…” Astra’s slumping shoulders and downcast eyes worked devastatingly as puppy dog eyes. Come to think of it, the transformation as her affection level was going up reminded me of a wild wolf that was planning on eating me slowly turning into a domesticated dog. She was getting increasingly cute.

“...so it’ll take a little longer, and I’ll need your help with everything, if you’re okay with waiting?” I finished, and her face immediately brightened up.

“It’s been so long. I used to eat spaghetti and meatballs when I was a little girl.”

Did her mother make them? The school she went to? I was curious, but not curious enough to ask. Any attempts at prying into her past were met with reminders that I had one more arm to break.

But that broken arm really was a blessing in disguise.

“Careful with the knife. We don’t need the onions to be diced too finely.”

“Yes, yes. I can do it.”

Affection Points: 37/100

“How much is one cup?”

“Just keep shaking the breadcrumbs out into the bowl and I’ll tell you when to stop.”

“Fine, fine.”

Affection Points: 38/100

“Take about this much, and roll it into a ball between your palms.”

“Okay.”

Affection Points: 39/100

After browning the meatballs, we cooked them in the sauce, letting it simmer along with the noodles. I didn’t have a spice cabinet, so I substituted the salt with some soy sauce at the end. Plated up, then time to eat. I twirled the noodles around on my forking, stabbed a meatball, and took a bite.

Thoroughly mediocre. It didn’t taste bad, but there wasn’t any black pepper, no red pepper, no oregano. Not even any garlic. I doubted this would move the needle for Astra like breakfast had.

Well, I doubted it until I glanced over at her slurping the noodles down, red sauce already staining her chin.

“Hey, slow down or you're going to **** on it!”

Astra pounded on her chest to help get the last swallow down, then turned to me, “It’s fine. I know how to give myself the heimlich maneuver.”

“Can you at least savor it then? It’s not like you’ve got somewhere else to be after lunch, right?”

“...oh. You’re right. I don’t, do I?” She wiped her mouth with her forearm, looked down at her half empty plate. “Sorry. It was good. Better than the one I had before.”

She took a bite, slurped up the noodles noisily. “Thank you, Jones.”

And after I’d cleaned up after lunch…

Affection Points: 51/100

51 points. More than halfway. The entire right side of her collar tattoo was glowing pink now.

“Hey, Astra. Can I ask you for a favor?”

She pulled her plain white t-shirt up, using it like a napkin to clean her face, staining the whole thing while she also gave me a view of the boyshorts she had on underneath, “You can ask.”

“Will you take me back out of here? Help me save my mom?”

Immediately, no hesitation, she shook her head, “No. I will help you leave after the week is over.”

She growled, scratched at her hair, slammed her fist on the kitchen island, “Mm. That’s what we’ll do. Sorry, Jones.”

So much for that.

“No, no. It’s okay. You’ve got a job to do. You want to try another round of that Life board game? Honestly, I’m up for anything as long as it’s not Monopoly.”

“Really?” Astra’s voice cracked as she looked at me with wet eyes. “Is it really okay? You’re not mad?”

“I’m not mad. It’s fine. Look, I told you, right? My mom is Silver Star. Even if you do keep me here, there’s no way she’d lose to a bunch of thugs. I know that she’ll be fine, so I’m not worried.”

“But what if she isn’t?” Astra insisted.

“Then I’ll just have to figure it out from there. But hey. You really want to help me, right?”

“Yeah…” Astra rubbed at her eye with the back of her hand. “But I can’t. Like, I really can’t, okay?”

<Oh. Oh! Ohhh! Roshi! It’s a Skill! She can’t tell you because of a Skill!”

I’d assumed as much. For a job as illegal as hers, the clients would want insurance. I just hoped that whatever skill it was, it wouldn’t be an issue once she was Tamed. And now that I had her past the halfway point, there were other things I could try.

“Then, can you do something else for me?”

“Maybe?” She was quiet, afraid she’d disappoint me again. The Collar Skill was forcing her to feel empathy, and having a friend whose mother you were responsible for killing, it was wreaking havoc on her. Lucky me.

“Astra, take off your shirt.”

“What…?” She answered with a tight throat, unbelieving. “What?” Confused this time.

“You’re really cute, Astra.”

“I’m cute!?” she squeaked.

“Super cute. So it’d make me feel a lot better if I could see you in just your panties.”

“Wait, you said you were feeling fine, that you weren’t worried about your mother?” Astra took a step back away from me.

“Ah… I do. But still. My arm hurts, a lot—” I touched it through the makeshift sling, winced.

“Sorry. I’m sorry. But taking off my shirt won’t help, would it?”

“But what if it did?”

“Mmm…” She danced in place for a few seconds, then grabbed the collar of her stained t-shirt and pulled it up over her head, shucking it off to the floor. “Does it help?”

Affection Points: 52/100

“Definitely. Thanks, Astra. You know, deep down I think you’re a good girl.”

“What did you call me!?” I jumped back out of fright, but the expression on Astra’s face read more as shock than fury. “I’m not, I mean, I’m really not! I killed your girlfriend, you know?”

“Okay, but that was…” Not a long time ago. Less than twenty-four hours, come to think of it. “Not your fault, right?”

“Huh?”

“You can’t tell me who hired you. You can’t go against your contract to help capture my mom. You can’t help me escape. And you can’t tell me why you can’t do those things, right?”

She rubbed at her arm shyly, even though she seemed to have forgotten she was currently topless. “I can’t. I wish I could do all that, but I can’t.”

“Hey,” I put my hand on her shoulder, and her skin felt pleasantly cool to the touch. “It’s okay. That’s all stuff that you can’t do anything about. But you played some games with me. You enjoyed eating together. Made me this sling, which really helps—”

“Ahhh…” She stepped away this time, covering her face with both hands, “I didn’t have to break your arm, I did that on my own, I’m the worst…!”

“Hey hey hey…! And! And, you took off your shirt for me, so I could take a look at your super cute body.”

“Gahhh… not cute, not cute…!” Astra whined, shaking her head side to side. It was very cute.

“My point is, you do the things that you have to do, and everyone has to do what they have to do. Otherwise, they wouldn’t have to do it. That makes sense, right?”

“Yeah… I guess?” She hesitantly agreed.

“But you’re doing nice things for me, and you don’t have to do those things. And should you judge someone on the things they do when they have to do it, or on the things they do even when they don’t have to? Which makes more sense?”

She cringed, not liking where this line of reasoning was leading, “But I’m not…”

“You are. You’re a good girl, Astra. Come on, say it for me.”

“Nnnn…” She whined in the back of her throat, her cheeks blushing pink. “I don’t wanna…”

“I want you to say it.” Since she was covering her cheeks with both hands, I put my hand on her waist this time, stepped closer to her than before, “I really want to hear you say it. Tell me you’re a good girl.”

“I… I…” She lowered her arms, looked up at me with wet eyes. “I’m a good girl?”

Affection Points: 75/100

The look of confusion melted from her face, and the wet eyes burst into full tears, sliding down her cheeks, “Am I really a good girl?”

“Mhm. Say it again, like you mean it.”

“I’m a good girl.”

Affection Points: 76/100

“Thank you… no one has ever told me that before, it’s… thank you!” Astra wrapped her arms around my neck and hugged me tight, her naked breasts pushing up against me as she let her tears pour down, staining my shirt.

I managed to last a full three seconds before screaming, “Gyaahhhh!!! Stop stop!”

Astra immediately jumped back after realizing just how much pressure she’d been putting on my shoulder, “Ahh! Nooo, I’m a bad girl after all! Jones, I’m sorry, I’m sorry!”

The fresh pain was a good wake up call to just how surreal the situation was. Yesterday the woman was an emotionless, coldblooded killer, and now she was freaking out over hugging me too hard, dancing around in her panties.

Forget domesticating her from a wolf to a dog. She was looking more like a puppy than anything else right now.

I sucked in a long breath through my teeth, the pain still flaring, “It’s fine, it’s fine. Hey, you mind coming upstairs with me?”

She nodded, wiping her eyes, “Yes, sir.”

Affection Points: 77/100

I froze, not expecting that kind of a response, but Astra didn’t seem to notice anything wrong with it. But if she did realize she was being manipulated…

“A-actually, you don’t mind if I use the bathroom first? You can wait for me in the bedroom.”

“Do you need help going with one arm?” Astra asked.

“Nope. I’ll be just fine, it’s not a big deal, I could do it with both hands behind my back.”

Astra covered her mouth to hide a smile, “Okay. Take your time.”

Inside the bathroom, I looked to check and make sure that Astra was waiting in her room like she’d told me with the x-ray vision, then whispered to Holly, “Hey, is there any chance she’ll realize what’s going on?”

“I don’t think so, but there’s not a lot of information on Collar Beast, so it's impossible to say.”

“What? Is it like a super rare Beast Tamer skill or something?”

<No, it’s super common, it’s just not really useful for Beast Tamers>

“Huh?”

<You need proximity and rapport for the skill to work. If it’s a wild, dangerous beast, then even if you stick it in a cage and use the skill… well, they’re stuck in a cage. The AP gauge won’t fill up no matter how much time passes. And if you’ve already got them in a cage, a beast tamer can inflict damage instead at their leisure to tame them anyways. If the beast isn’t dangerous… then again, just inflict damage. It’d be one thing if the affection lasted after the taming, but it resets to 0 once you make the capture. Who would have thought such a useless skill would be so clutch here, eh?>

“No kidding.”

I was charting unknown territory. The more obvious the changes I was making to her, the more likely she was to notice something was off. She probably wouldn’t kill me—I was sure now her orders were to keep me alive to use against my mother—but she might just break my other arm and my legs and my jaw just to be on the safe side. Worse, she’d keep me here until it was too late.

I needed to slow things down. Just keep things friendly. She was already more friendly than plausible, but was enough of a social recluse to not notice just how weird her changes were. Even if I let things increase passively at one point an hour, that would still leave me more than a day to warn my mother.

Settled on the plan, I left the bathroom and headed back into Astra’s bedroom.

“H-hey, Jones.”

I then realized that Astra had other plans.

She’d lost the boyshorts underwear and was now completely naked, kneeling on the floor, legs together, hands on her thighs, her head tilted down to avoid my gaze.

“Uh… Astra? What… what are you doing?”

“You liked it when I took my shirt off. It… it made you get an erection. I thought…?”

“Uh, you noticed, uh…”

She looked up at me and nodded, “I have a Detect Hidden Weapon Skill.”

“Does that really count as a weapon!?”

A smile cracked her lips before bursting into a single “Hah!”

“No, but you are very…” Astra’s voice went small, “...big.”

Her eyes lowered, and when I followed her gaze to see the tent in my pants, I felt stupid. The tent pole I was sporting could have been spotted from across a football field.

“There are things I want to do for you, but I can’t. I don’t want to hurt you, but I have to. S-so, please. I know it’s not enough to make it up to you, Sir, but please use me.”

“And when you say you want me to use you, you mean…?”

“As a sextoy, Sir!” Astra said, eyes shining bright.

Well, it’s not like I wanted to take advantage of her. But this was the only way to escape this dungeon and save my mother, right? As I sat down on the bed, I considered that maybe it was strange that I was feeling guilty here. The woman had kidnapped me, (temporarily) killed Joy, and was doing it all as a plot to kill my own mother.

Despite all of that, I couldn’t bring myself to hate her.

“Get my pants off.”

“Yes, Sir.”

Affection Points: 78/100

Maybe it had something to do with the fact that she was about to suck my cock?

I sat on the edge of the bed, my heart pounding as Astra knelt before me. Her delicate fingers undid my belt buckle, the metallic clink seeming deafeningly loud in the tense silence. With a deep breath, she tugged my pants down over my hips, exposing my tented boxers

"Wow…" Astra breathed, her eyes fixed on the bulge. She hooked her fingers under the waistband and I lifted my hips, allowing her to peel them off. There was already a bead of precum, and Astra instinctively swiped it off with her thumb before sucking it into her mouth.

"You taste so good, Sir..." she murmured, her voice dripping with wanton desire. Astra shifted onto her knees, positioning her face level with my crotch. She flicked her tongue against the underside, “Sorry, I’ve never done this before.”

I exhaled slowly, trying to calm my nerves as Astra settled between my legs. "Just...take it slow," I murmured.

Astra wet her lips, then leaned in closer, hot breath washing over me. Tentatively, she flicked out her tongue to lap at the bead of moisture seeping from the tip. A shudder ran through me at the electrifying sensation. Emboldened, she dragged her tongue along the underside before finally wrapping her lips around the head.

"Mmm..." she hummed, and her cheeks hollowed out as she tried sucking for the first time.

"Ohh...yeah, like that..." I groaned, resisting the urge to buck my hips.

“Mmph, mmrr…”

Affection Points: 79/100

Astra's eyes flicked up to meet mine, searching for approval and moaning around my cock when she saw it on my face. Slowly, carefully, she inched her way down, taking more of my rigid length into her hot, wet mouth. I could feel the tight ring of her lips stretching wider and wider.

When she'd taken me as deep as she could manage, Astra paused for a steadying breath through her nose. Then she began bobbing her head in a gentle rhythm, slick saliva easing the glide of her lips along my shaft.

“Are you sure this is your first time?”

She pulled off my cock with a pop, “I’ve ah… read about it before. A lot.”

I wondered if she’d been reading trashy romance on her phone when I spied on her earlier.

My fingers ran through her soft blonde hair, petting her as I enjoyed the sensation of her mouth working me over. Astra responded by increasing her pace, her cheeks hollowing with each hungry pull backwards. Quiet slurps and wet smacking sounds filled the room as she drove me closer to the edge.

I groaned in pleasure as Astra's mouth worked my shaft with increasing fervor. Her inexperienced technique was sloppy but enthusiastic, each messy slurp and hungry suck driving me closer to the edge.

"Astra...I'm gonna cum soon," I warned breathlessly.

Rather than pull away, she simply redoubled her efforts, sucking me with renewed vigor. Her eyes shone with determination to milk every last drop from me. But I had other plans.

"Don't swallow it," I gasped out. "Open your mouth and show me first."

Astra's brow furrowed in confusion but she didn't stop. Just a few seconds later, I fisted my hands in her hair, holding her in place. With a guttural groan, I erupted, thick ropes of hot seed spurting across her tongue.

Obediently, Astra opened wide, revealing the pearly strands pooling in her mouth. She looked up at me with those big, innocent eyes, awaiting further instruction.

Affection Points: 85/100

"Good girl," I panted, rubbed the top of her head affectionately. “Swallow.”

Her mouth closed and she swallowed it down with a single gulp, her tongue working to wipe away the last traces as she smacked her lips.

Affection Points: 86/100

“Hoo… I needed that, thank you.” I said before swinging my legs up the bed and lying down. I scooted over on the small twin-sized bed, “Come here.”

“Yes, Master,”

Affection Points: 87/100

The collar had almost turned fully pink. I had a feeling a second round would be enough. And with Astra laying with me, her body turned to the side so she could cuddle against me, those full breasts flattening against my uninjured shoulder, I didn’t think it’d take long to recover.

“You’re very warm,” Astra said as she ran her hand to pull my shirt up and hug me. “Master.”

“Is this your first time cuddling?” I asked.

“Mmm… no. I used to crawl into my mother’s bed when I was little. Five or six? I think it felt a little like this.”

I looked around the spartan room. Anyone who had to live in a Dungeon couldn’t have had an easy life.

“Do you want to talk about it? Your life?”

“Mmm, I do, Master,” Astra sighed, cuddling closer. “But your mind control only makes me want things. It won’t let me do things I can’t.”

I froze, cold sweat on the back of my neck. “Ah… I don’t know… what you mean, I’m not…”

“It’s okay, Master,” Astra gave me a kiss on the cheek. “It’s a really gentle control. Like you planted a seed of love in my heart, and it keeps blossoming more and more, and the way that you water that seed is by showering me in your own love. I like it.”

“How long have you known?”

Astra’s wandering arm went below my waist and started to idly stroke my flaccid length. “I knew you did something last night, but it wasn’t until this morning that I started to realize what it was.”

“Why didn’t you do anything?”

“I did, Master,” Astra pouted. “I dislocated your shoulder and restrained you to a radiator.”

“Oh yeah,” I said, looking down at my arm still in its improvised sling. “But why not do anything after that?”

“Because right now, I can’t kill you and I don’t want to hurt you. And…” Her voice went down to a whisper. “This is more than a monster like me deserves. I just… it’s selfish, Master, but I wish you had more control over me. I’ve hurt you so much, and this is all I can do.”

I stroked her hair with my good arm, “Hey, hey… it’s alright. I don’t blame you. You want to help however you can, right? And well, whatever compulsion you’re under, I think there’s a good chance my Skill can override it.”

“It won’t.I just know it. Nothing can…”

“It’s a bet then. So why don’t you hurry up and climb on top of me. You know the cowgirl position, right?”

She languidly stretched her leg over my body, then pulled herself up, my cock stranding rigid again between her thighs. “Yes, Master.”

Affection Points: 88/100

“But… this is still my first time.”

"It's okay, take it at your own pace," I murmured,

Astra shivered, eyes fluttering closed as she shifted her hips. Her breaths came slower, deeper, chest rising and falling with each intake of air.

Slowly, she began lifting her hips until I could feel the slick heat of her slit brushing against my cock. Astra whimpered, biting her lip in anticipation. Then a roll of her hips, she enveloped me inside her hesitating while she’d taken just the crown for a few seconds before hilting it completely.

“Hah… it hurts… more than I thought… Master…” Astra panted, her voice tight.

“Don’t rush. Wait till you’re used to it.”

“Yes, Master.”

Affection Points: 89/100

Slowly, Astra’s ragged breathing started to calm down, only to become twice as ragged when she began slowly rocking her hips. Soft mewls of pleasure squeaked out.

“Don’t cover your mouth. I like hearing the noises you make.”

“Yes, Master,” Astra whimpered, lowering her hand back to my stomach.

Affection Points: 90/100

"It’s not hurting any more, Master," she moaned, her hips moving faster and faster, "Even though your cock is stretching me so wide..."

“Does it feel good?”

“Yes, Master! It feels… amazing!” Astra cried out, her voice rising up loud.

“Do you want to cum?”

“So much!” Astra tilted her head back, jackhammering her hips down, the bed squeaking and threatening to collapse.

“Not yet.”

“Yes, Master…!”

Affection Points: 91/100

“You can cum when you feel my cum shooting inside of you.”

Astra's movements became increasingly frantic, her inner walls fluttering and clenching around my throbbing length. "Oh Master, please!" she cried out, voice thick with desperation. "I need to feel you cum inside me!"

Her hips bucked wildly, slamming down to bury me to the hilt over and over. She was aggressive! If her body wasn’t so soft I think she might have crushed my pelvis already.

"Please Master, I'm so close!" she begged, hands playing with her own breasts, pulling her nipples taut while she whined. "I'll be a good girl, I swear! Just let me cum on your big, hard cock!"

"Master, I need it!" she wailed, voice cracking with desperation. "I need to feel your hot seed flooding my pussy! Please, please let me cum!"

She was definitely reading smut in her free time.

Her movements became erratic, hips stuttering as she teetered on the edge. Astra's eyes were glazed over with lust, cheeks flushed and mouth agape with the intensity of her pleasure. Every fiber of her being was focused solely on cumming.

"I'll do anything, Master!" she panted frantically. "Just let me feel your cum painting my insides! Please...I'm begging you!"

With a guttural moan, Astra slammed her hips down one final time, inner walls convulsing around my shaft as she teetered on the precipice. Her entire body was trembling, holding her breath in agonizing anticipation for my release to trigger her own explosive climax.

She was squeezing down so tight, I couldn’t hold out a second more. Teeth clenched, I growled out. “I’m cumming… cum with me, Astra!”

“Yes, Master!”

Affection Points: 92/100

Astra howled like a wild animal, her whole body shaking violently as the orgasm tore through her, mouth opened wide and her tongue sticking out as she kept bouncing, kept cumming on my cock.

"Yes! Oh wow...thank you, thank you!" Astra wailed, “Master..!”

Finally, she collapsed forward, draping herself over my chest in a sweaty, panting heap. My softening length slipped free, a trickle of our mingled fluids leaking out to streak her thighs.

Astra went boneless, guiding her fall so that she landed to the side of me careful to avoid my injured arm. “I love you, Master.”

Affection Points: 100/100

“I love—” Astra’s warm body vanished in a shimmer of golden light, leaving me alone in the room. “...you too?”

I took a moment to rest. Even with her doing all the work, I needed a minute. But there wasn’t time to waste, and the sooner I could get out of this zombie infested Dungeon, the better.

Sitting at the edge of the bed, I focused, and summoned Astra.

According to the skill, her Affection score would have reset to 0, but after we’d gotten to know each other so intimately, how grateful she was, I was sure she’d be happy to help me. The real question was how she was going to carry me with my broken shoulder. It might be safer to let her jostle me around as much as she wanted just so we could leave the dungeon as soon as possible, screw any long term damage.

But well, I could ask her. I’m sure she had some prior experience with this kind of thing.

Astra formed in front of me, and unlike Joy, she looked completely unchanged, standing there naked without so much as a ponytail scrunchie. “Astra, how are you feeling?”

She pursed her lips as she looked at me intensely. Almost like she was glaring at me. Her eyes then scanned the room silently, and without responding, she bent over to flip open a chest,retrieving some clothes, a fresh pair of panties, yoga pants, and a too-small sports bra.

“Astra…?”

“You were right. I can feel it. Whatever your Skill is, it severed the Negotiator’s contract.” She gave me a sinister smile. “Hah. I said it. Like it was nothing.”

“My contract is to keep you here for five days. On the fourth day, we broadcast a message topside giving proof of life. Then if I get the signal, I was to bring you up back to the surface alive and not in critical condition.” She barked a laugh. “I said everything. The contract is nullified, and so are the others. I’m free!”

“Astra, that’s wonderful! And I’d love to hear all about that and more, but for now, can we focus on getting out of here? I’m worried about my mother, and besides, I want to show you what I can do with access to a whole kitchen.”

“Hahhh?” She sneered at me. “Jones.” She was saying my name almost like she loathed me. “I just gained my freedom. The last thing I want is to lose it again. Especially to someone soft and weak like you.”

She gave a backhand to the glass window, striking in the center of the frame and blowing everything out in a rain of old wood and dirty glass. “I need you to die here.”

Astra hurled herself out the window, and when I rushed over to look outside, she was already out of sight.

Well.

That wasn’t good.

But then, a few seconds later, I could hear footsteps down the hall, and I sighed with relief. She’d been acting rashly, acted impulsively, but she was a good girl deep down. She wouldn’t just abandon me down here.

“Astra, let’s talk—” I opened the door, looked down the hall… and saw a rotting corpse shuffling towards me.

"I need to feel your hot seed flooding my pussy! Please, please let me cum!"

"I'll do anything, Master!"

"Just let me feel your cum painting my insides! Please...I'm begging you!"

I remembered Astra screaming her lungs out just minutes ago. I remembered the warnings not to make too much noise. I slammed the door shut and started piling up furniture as best I could.

“Ah crap!”