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A Mage's Guide to the Multiverse by Abdursmailbox1
Books » Worm Rated: M, English, Adventure & Humor, Words: 395k+, Favs: 116, Follows: 127, Published: Jul 23, 2025 Updated: Jul 25, 2025
13chapter 35
"-plannin' to blow the whole-"
"... not blaming you, Avalon. The PRT-"
"-body? Did you see-"
"- 'sploded. Everywhere. I'm-"
"-we can handle-"
The voices trickled through the shut door in quiet, disjointed bursts, a mixture of Jason's, Aunt Sarah's, Crystal's, and Vicky's. She hadn't been necessarilyinvitedto the field AAR, but she wasn't necessarily biting at the bit to deal with the sociopolitics of heroing at damn near four AM either, so that suited her just fine. She didn't wantanythingto spoil her mood right now.
Amy was feeling… floaty, for lack of a better word.
Like she was miles above the sky like Vicky often was, lightly stepping over clouds and staring down at the dilapidated humdrum of reality from a point of view that few non-fliers could. Over a dozen scantily-clad women, damn near naked and malnourished buthealthy, huddled and grouped cautiously around the draping lapels of her robes like a twisted, modern-day rendition of a Michelangelo painting. They murmured to themselves in Japanese and Chinese, their hoarse and quiet voices muffled with uncertainty and fear, but they were looking toherfor security.
Her.
The mousy, horriblyplain-looking girl whose only lot in life seemed to waffle between beingthequintessential healer of the Bay andtheworst sister in the world.
It was a heady feeling. Even knowing that she'd only taken outonehigh old man whilst Vicky and Jason fought gun-toting thugs and motherfuckingOni Lee, Amy, in spite of herself, found her shoulders squared and her chestfullwith a myriad of emotions, the strongest of which was… pride? Confidence?
Gratefulness to the man whose very existence and presence seemed to push her to do better? Tofight, as much as breathing chemically-altered smoke into a man's face counted as such. Regardless, she feltsatisfiedin a way that she'd never had healing people in hospitals and counting down the hours until she could go home and feel the same sense ofemptiness.
The hallway outside of the office became quiet, and Amy flinched as the doorknob began to jiggle. Despitelogicallyknowing that Jason and her family had just been on the other side, an unfamiliar sense of protectiveness and focus had her palming the old man's Zippo lighter in one hand, one of her new chemically-modified cigs clenched between her teeth and ready to light up at a moment's notice. The creep had multiple packs in the nightstand, some cheap Dollar Store brand that smelled like shit, and Amy had looted them all.
There had also been a gun in the drawer, but she'd steeredwayclear of that. Fighting assholes off with knockout smoke was one thing. Getting her fingerprints on a potential murder weapon was another. God knows what he'd done with that thing.
"Knock knock," Jason's low, smooth baritone practicallyfilledthe room in spite of its quiet tone. He slid through the crack in the door, contorting his broad shoulders in a way that didn't seemcomfortable, and closed the door softly behind him.
Seeing him, even with his costume covered with a fine layer of ash and dried blood staining his gauntlets, calmed the wary 'fight or flight' alight in her chest. Amy sighed, sliding the Zippo lighter back into the oversized pocket of her robes.
'Are you okay? Are the others pissed at you? Thank you for helping me, even if you don't know just how much you did.'Were all things that flitted through her mind, things that shewantedto say to him - amidst more gross physical actions likehuggingandhandholding, but all that came out was a hoarse…
"What's the damage?"
He smiled that ridiculously charming half-smile, as if aware of something that shewas not, and took his sweet time glancing over the forced sex workers hovering and murmuring to themselves. "They 'ight?"
"I've healed every single one of them," Amy frowned,not pouting whatsoever, and crossed her arms over her chest. "They'll need nutrient-rich food, saline drips - things we can get them when the PRT gets here, but-"
Jason faded out of existence with a'whomp', and one of the girls - a teenager she dully remember calling herself 'Aki' - let out a startled, choked-off gasp. One heartbeat later, he sat languidly atop the large desk at the back of the office, leaning forward with his elbows resting on his thighs, his back towards them.
"... you still haven't answer my question," Amy finished lamely, brain laggingjust a bitat the sudden teleportation. Once again, she wonderedhowhis powers worked. What was the combining factor between genetic, alien-likeperfection, glowing golden spears, flight,teleportation, and the other shit he was capable of - like summoning miniaturehurricanesand laserbeams the size of condos?
"You made a good call, combing the rest of the joint. Vicky and I double-backed, made sure no one was bein' skeevy and hiding away, but nah…" Jason gestured with a finger to something that she couldn't see from her position, and the sound of metal groaning and woodsplinteringtore through the room. "No 'damage', other than the fuckers I nailed to the wall. And the late Oni Lee, I guess. Lady P thinks I should dip before the suits get here, let her run interference."
Amy ignored the distracting sight of him casually grabbing a whole miniaturesafeout of the air, more concerned with his laidback words.
"So Oni Lee's dead," she muttered, not too surprised at howlittleshe felt at the confirmation. Maybe before tonight she would have been more disturbed at the utter casualness of Jason's delivery, especially considering the fact that he'd been the one tokillthe psychopathic ninja, but after seeing everything that had been done here…
Seeing the effects the ABB had on these women, many of whom wereminors…
She couldn't force any sort of empathy. Not tonight, and definitely not amongst the trafficked and the abused, some of whom understood their words and were visibly tearing up and hugging each other at the news.
"Yep," Jason twisted around on the desk, the chest-sized safe placed firmly on his lap, and pressed his golden gauntlet against the front. "Fucker got blown up by his own pipe bombs like the brainlet he was. It was eitherheate 'em or this entire building did, and honestly, if I had to choose between the murderous terrorist and a bunch of innocent women…" He trailed off, a dispassionate smirk forming on his lips.
"I get it. You chose the lesser of two evils. After tonight, you won't see me biting your head off about it… " Amy snorted derisively in spite of herself, watching him murmur words beneath his breath - something he'd also done just before blessing her with the courage tofight. Her ears twitched, curiosity forcing her to take a couple steps closer to the enigmatic man, but he'd already finished his… what,incantation?
The front of the safe became pitted, corroded, and Jason's golden claws sank into the metal like a knife through butter. Amy stared, transfixed, alongside the suddenly quiet women. Muttered words, glowing eyes, dramatic and flashy hand movements… what the fuck evenwashe, awizard?
The thought was as amusing as it was thought-provoking. Myrddin, after all, was a man convinced that he consorted with magical forces. Whether or not hegenuinelybelieved it was a well-visited topic on PHO, but the fact that he even existed was evidence enough that some powers fashioned themselves after the arcane. Or, at least, some Capes did.
If anything, it was fuel for another conversation.
"Sweet," Jason winked at her, even as he brushed away chunks of rusted metal and revealed stacks on top of stacks of crisp green and blue bills. "Woulda hated to end our patrol date with a lover's quarrel."
And there it was again - the subtle little flirty jabs that she nowknewwere genuine. How the hell was she even supposed toreact?! Here she was, attempting to look and act all serious and unperturbed in front of the civilians they saved, and he was ruining it by making her annoyingly pale skin burn crimson. If he hadn't so bluntly confessed his attraction to her, flesh on flesh so that she couldfeelthe truth in his body, then it would've been a nonissue. She would've been a bit flustered or embarrassed, sure, but it wouldn't have feltreal.
But now? Now, it felt alltooreal and exciting and validating andlovelyand Amy was starting to realize just how absolutelyfuckedshe was. It simply wasn't fuckingfair.
"I- I-We,uh, that is,you-"
Fucking spit it out,retard!
"I," Jason grinned, crookedly, and Amy justknewby the glint in his eyes thatheknew what he was doing to her. "Have a lil' going away present before I leave." His gaze drifted away from her, slowly, and some sort of invisiblepressurelifted off of her chest, allowing her to inhale a full breath of air.
She hadn't even realized that she'd been holding her breath.
"Sir?" An older-looking woman - older than everyone else in the room, which wasn't saying much considering she looked to only be in her late 20s - quietly spoke up once Jason's gaze lingered and intensified on her in particular. There was familiarity there, Amy noticed. She was probably someone he'd personally assisted before the fight with Oni Lee took off.
Jason scratched his cheek, hesitantly, with the same golden claw he tore metal asunder with. "... Shit, shoulda asked you this before. What's your name, ma'am?"
The woman tittered, a flush of red dusting her cheeks, and Amy practicallysuplexedthe tiniest worm ofjealousythat dared to wriggle into her chest. She was almost ashamed of the instinctive feeling.
"Aah, sir does not call this one, um, 'ma'am'. Too much respect!" She bowed her head low, hands clasped together, and the girls who'd been attached to her at the hip hurriedly did the same thing. The woman made the gesture look graceful, despite wearing nothing more than dirtied, stained white sheets. "But this one name isLu Ming, sir."
"Oh God. Yo, you can relax, Lu Ming." Jason coughed awkwardly, running that same hand through the tangled mess of dreadlocks that fell to his shoulders. "You know these women, right? Can watch out for 'em after the PRT shows up and gets you all situated?"
There was a moment of silence as the other girls looked up to the older woman, whose face turned impassive and cool. She offered a simple nod. "Shì de."
A grin broke through. "Cool. Then this," he slid off the desk, but the safe didn't fall - it simply floated in place. Jason gestured with a casual tilt of his hand, and it hovered closer to Lu Ming, multiple pairs of wide eyes watching as it floated by. "Is my farewell gift. Divvy that up however you see fit, Lu Ming - give these girls a fair shot out there, so they don't end up back in shithouses like this. You get me?"
The safe tilted, emptying out its contents on a shocked Lu Ming's lap, and silence pervaded the room. Amy could see it in the eyes of each girl and woman, as they gaped and turned towards the quiet and graceful figure of Lu Ming. Appreciation. Shock. Respect. There was greed, too, she was sure - even if she couldn't necessarilyreadit in their 'auras' like Dean, but no one made a move to take anything preemptively, maybe because Jason was still there. Even after he left,shewouldn't let it happen anyway.
The silence was broken by the sound of sirens - distant, but approaching quickly. The shrill noise knocked Lu Ming out of whatever mental reverie she'd been sucked into.
"... Thank you. Thank you so much." Her words were slow and heavily accented, the woman clearly not used to speaking in English, but where pronunciation failed, emotions more than succeeded. She didn'tcry, but the sheerforceof adoration in her beautifully dark eyes spoke volumes. "You arehero, Avalon.Truehero."
And then Lu Ming's soulful eyes turned towards her, and for some reason, Amy wanted to shy away. To hide. She knew what she was going to say before she said it, and every fiber of her beinginstinctivelywanted to deny such heartfelt words.
There was a shimmer in the corner of her eye, and suddenly, Amy smelledhim. Ash, and sweat that held a heady, primal, subtle musk. It smelled of the earth, of heat and warmth, of dusk and chocolate andpower.
As his arm wrapped around her shoulder, forcing her head straight and her body forward to accept Lu Ming's appreciation, a distant part of Amy's inner subconscious only had oneseriously embarrassingquestion to ask.
'... W-why thefuckis hissweatmaking me wet…?'
It went unanswered, and later forgotten, but Jason'sscentstayed on her mind through the rest of the night.
Even as he the sirens got closer, and he took his 'magical' mirror out and 'boomf'd' out of existence, leaving her with teary-eyed women cradling stacks of cash to their chests.
Even as her family came back up to the office in order to lead everyone downstairs and out into the streets, where ambulances were waiting and PRT vehicles combed the street for signs of Oni Lee's body.
Even as Sarah professionally fielded Battery's polite inquiries, explaining how Oni Lee ended up scattered across the Docks due to his own suicidal bombing strategy quite literally blowing up in his own face.
Even as she, herself, avoided both her family's and Battery's questions on how she knocked the man out (I can knock anybody out if I touch them, you guys know this) and why she was carrying around cigarettes out of nowhere (you try to save a bunch of sex-trafficked girlsyour ageand tell me you don't feel the urge to smoke!).
And, a full hour and a half later, as she laid in bed after a steaming hot shower, studiously ignoring Vicky's annoying attempts to 'gossip' about the morning's activities, Amy found herself hovering over a certain man's DM window in her phone. Her finger hesitated, wanting to hit send, but despite all thebreakthroughsshe'd made… the fear of rejection still burned dimly in her chest.
(4:04 AM) Amy:Remember the whole 'you owe me' thing? Well… I know what I want now. If you really meant all the bullshit you said, then… take me out. On an actual date, like the cheesy shit you see in the movies. And you better actually reply to this Jason or I swe
She paused, cringing, her thumb trailing down to the little 'x' key on her keyboard.
…
So fucking corny!
Delete, delete, delete!
Amy groaned, dropping her phone on her nightstand and burying her burning, freckled face into her pillow. Her heart hammered wildly in her chest, embarrassment and anxiety and foolish, naivehopesetting her entire stomach ablaze with butterflies.
There was no way she was sleepinganytimesoon.
"Ughhhhh. I'm so fucked! Fuck you, Jason!"
Undersiders Base
February 4th, Late Afternoon
The warehouse was blissfully quiet, save for the occasional shout or snicker from the 'living room' - Alec and Brian playing some sort of video game that she couldn't bring herself to care much about. Lisa ignored them in favor of keeping all of her mental focus on the conversation at hand. Divvying up her attention too much often caused her power to confuse itself in a warped attempt to multitask when multitasking wasn't needed, and that was the last thing she needed while on the phone with her murderous, psychopathic supervillain boss.
Him clearing his throat - again - forced her tired eyes to shoot towards her phone.
"Ahem…"Coil's quiet voice was deep and foreboding as it filtered through her headset like a particularly annoying snake, all overly-pronounced syllables and dramatically timed pauses."You've had more than enough time to review the PRT's updated dossier on Avalon, Tattletale - several hours of time, to be precise. I would be… disappointed to hear of no new information on our newest player. Who is he? What are his limitations? Who are his… associates?"
Her eyebrows twitched, powers wrapping around his oil-slicked words and digging straight to the pit. With only his voice to go off of, she had to be a little more creative with what she looked out for; intonation, word choice, and the overall context of his sudden phone call. Coil rarely hit her updirectlylike this, which was already nerve wracking in and of itself. That would imply that this wasn't a throwaway for him; he was willing to spend some of his 'precious' time actually questioning her over the phone in his 'main' reality instead of pumping her dry of info and dropping it right after.
The revelation didn't exactly help her anxiety.
'Thinly-veiled impatience; Worried that he's running out of time to properly handle Avalon. Plans could easily be disrupted by a hero of Avalon's caliber and unpredictability staying in the Bay. Wants information that can be used to harm and/or blackmail Avalon.'
About what she'd already expected, then. Lisa resisted the urge to sigh loudly and piss the supervillain off even more than he already was. Shehadbeen using her powers all morning to evaluate the information given to her, but not for Coil's sake.
Lisa's head was killing her.
"Like I told you already, there's not too much I can glean about this guy on such short notice, boss. You probably know more about him than I do right now. High tier Trump with several powerful abilities, has a small team he runs ops with; some sort of hacker, a Tinker with a vehicle specialization, and the ugly guy in power armor." Lisa rattled off the most benign, surface-level observations that she could as she purveyed the much more detailed document labeled 'Team Invictus' on her laptop.
'Invictus; Latin word, meaning 'Unconquerable'. Purposefully meant to come off as arrogant and powerful. Chosen to warn away both heroes and villains alike.'
What shewasn'trevealing, amongst countless other little written tidbits and observations, was the fact that she was about ninety five percent sure that she had run into him about a week ago in his civilian identity. Jason with the Sunglasses, the guy from the pawn shop with the charmingly flippant personality and a supposed immunity to her Thinker powers. He was the same guy that she'd been trying, in vain, to dig up more information on whenever shewasn'tdoing her 'mysterious' benefactor's menial dirty work.
The keywords there, of course, were 'in' and 'vain' - Jason had literallynothingbeholding him to the city! No family, no registered identification that she could find in both publicandprivate channels, hell, she couldn't even figure out his fucking birthday!
For all intents and purposes, 'Jason with the Sunglasses' was a complete and utter mysterious - a fuckingghost, with no trail leading him to or from Brockton Bay.
One that just so happened to be the cape that was putting the entirety of the city into a tizzy with his bold and fearless plays. Suspiciously blank slate or not, Lisa was just happy to know that her initial hunch was correct - that Jason was someone who could potentially assist with Coil's downfall. Whether his immunity to her powers meant that he was immune to Thinkers in general or not, the raw power he'd displayed on multiple occasions as 'Avalon' left her feeling fairly secure in his ability to brute-force his way to victory if the chips fell that way.
Of course, she existed, so there was no reasonnotto formulate a more efficient strategy than 'slam your head against an army of Tinkertech-carrying mercenaries', buteverythinghinged entirely on getting her acquaintance to play ball.
For that, she needed something he would want - an offering, or, better yet, an equivalent exchange of goods and services. Lisa wassurethat Jason/Avalon enjoyed the finer things in life. His costume was expensive, and cursory proddings into Parian's pricings revealed that her workstartedin the several thousands at minimum. Her prices were rising due to the sudden influx of commissions she was starting to getdueto her rumored connection to Avalon, but not at such a speed to where Lisa couldn't accurately estimate the value of her commissioned work for her mystery man.
He would appreciate money, then. And information, for his unofficial-officialsanctionedwarpath against the Empire. These were all things she could get for him given a little bit of time, assuming he'd even want to work with her in the first place.
She simply needed to establish an actual line of contact, one that went much deeper than an awkward 'hello' message on PHO. The question was, what could she - or the Undersiders in general - do to gain his attention without tipping Coil off-
"You will be granted more time, Tattletale, because I strive to show patience and leniency to those who do good work beneath my care, and your team's recent job was performed admirably."Coil's voice was measured and silky once again, but there wassomethingthere - an almost unnoticeable threat that she could hear loud and clear behind the unfeeling compliment."The Undersiders will be pulled off of any job for the next week, Tattletale - consider it a well-needed break and an incentive. Youwillget me the information I require. Perhaps by looking further into these supposed 'teammates' of his."
'A warning, low subtlety; Feels threatened by Avalon's existence, needs him out of the picture before he feels secure continuing his plans. Thinks Avalon is too dangerous to handle with current assets. Hopes to draw him out by harming his teammates instead.'
Lisa crossed her arms over her chest and propped her feet up on the desk, chewing on her bottom lip as her green eyes distractedly roamed the ceiling above her. 'Harming his teammates' would be stupid, so that part of her analysis was faulty information. Coil was horribly paranoid and exceedingly smart with the resources that he did have - killing a powerful Trump's support base, the weaker links, wouldn't make any sense.
'Hopes to draw Avalon out by threatening his teammates.'
No, too shallow.
'Hopes to draw Avalon out by torturing his teammates.'
Close? She already knew that he was a freakazoid who got off on releasing his stress through sadism, torture, and… other activities through the means of his alternate realities, but torturing them would imply…
'Hopes to draw Avalon out by kidnapping his teammates out of costume. Plans to use them as a bargaining chip to either forcibly recruit Avalon or eliminate him under the guise of parlay.'
There it was. Lisa narrowed her eyes, ideas already starting to chug along through her sore and abused brain.
"I'll work on it, boss," she muttered distractedly, glancing back over to her laptop's dimmed screen. "Give me a little bit to work my magic, alright? This Avalon guy won't know what hit him."
A pause, before Coil responded, bemused."I look forward to hearing back from you, Tattletale. I expect updates daily withallinformation you manage to acquire during your… 'magic'."
"Gotcha. Leave-"
CLICK.
"It to me…"
Fucking rude.
Lisa allowed her feet to fall off of the desk, scooching forward in her swivelling desk chair to get closer to her laptop. Bullshitting Coil wasn't the most difficult thing in the world, but it always left her feeling jittery and exhausted afterwards - probably because the asshole, quite literally, held her life in his greasy ass palms. Just the merethoughtof it burned her chest something fierce, but now wasn't the time to lose herself in the daydreams of escaping Coil's clutches, shooting him in the temple, and taking his entire empire from underneath him.
Now was the time to further her own plans. She'd find out everything she could about Avalon and the rest of Invictus, for sure, butnotso that Coil could kidnap the team and use them to subjugate or assassinate the hero.
No, she would do it in order to gain an ally in the man that was quickly proving himself to be one of the strongest, if notthestrongest cape in the entirety of Brockton Bay. With him helping out the Undersiders, spending her days working beneath Coil would quickly become nothing more than a shitty memory. With the megalomaniac out of the way and his assets beneath her control, she'd be able to getallof her teammates everything they could ever want andmore.
A large, successful dog shelter for Rachel.
Full custody over his sister for Brian.
… Hookers and blow for Regent?
She snickered to herself, scrolling down the document and searching for her most recently updated entry about Team Invictus. After just a few strokes of the finger, Lisa's tired eyes found the roughshod overhead map of the Docks and the Trainyard that she'd copied over from Brockton Bay's wikipedia. Red lines traced up and down multiple streets and avenues, each stroke of color a route that either he or members of his team has been seen frequenting at some point over the last couple of nights.
So close to their own base. She was both excited and nervous.
"I'm going to find you, Avalon, or Jason, or 'Cute Guy in Sunglasses'... whatever the hell your name is," Lisa murmured, a vulpine-like smile forming on her thin lips. "And we're gonna have us a nice, long chat."
The Sanctum
"Ahhhhnnn~..."
Cassie came to a jaw-cracking, barely cognizant wakefulness with a very noticeable lack of hot, toastyboyfriendoccupying the space beside her. For a moment, she simply sat in their ridiculously comfortable bed with a blank expression on her face, blinking her dark eyes slowly to clear them of the previous night's blurriness. Surely that was the only reason she couldn't perceive Jason, right? Her face-blinkers weren't properly prepped for the day ahead!
Blink. Blink.
…
Still no boyfriend.
"Brave man, forgetting to give me my morning smooch…" She wrinkled her nose in mock frustration, less annoyed and moreconcerned, but ample online research forewarned her of being too clingy and needy early on in a relationship so Cass buried her instinctive desire to shoot Jason a text message. The last couple of days had been extremely stressful and action-packed, and if anyone deserved some time to themselves it was her boyfriend.
Her boyfriend. Just being able to say such a thing even in her own brain made her face heat up and stomach fill with fluttering butterflies. Intheirbedroom, hidden from any judgemental or mocking eyes - ahem, literally theentiretyof Invictus - Cassie allowed herself a moment of immature, girlish glee and fell forward into the thick black blankets, burying her hot face into her hands. All of her dopey, lovesick elation and excitement exploded through her chest like a geyser as she kicked her feet happily behind her, letting out a high-pitched squeal.
"Eeeeeeeee!"
It definitely did not sound like a pig being tortured.
BANG!
"This Pod was alerted by the sound of an omnivorous, hoofed mammal being sadistically maltreated. Query: Where are the interlopers?"
Cassie abruptly quietened, her cheeks turning crimson as Pod 084burstthrough the door and hovered menacingly. The bulb on his 'head' flickered between yellow and red as he silently scanned the room, uncaring of the fact that he just turned their bedroom door intosplinters.
She stared, feet frozen mid-kick. Surprise and embarrassment almost immediately shifted into indignant anger.
"What are you, a friggin' bulldozer?! Knock next time, tin-can!"
084's bulb flashed green, and it rocked its little body back and forth. "Order acknowledged; this Pod will endeavor to 'knock' next time it hears high-pitched squealing."
Cassie jutted out her lower lip, wiggling back so that she was sitting flat on her butt instead of lying on her stomach. Her white t shirt - one of Jason's apparently, considering the way it dwarfed her body and hung loose over her slim, pale shoulders - rode up on her stomach, and she smoothed it back down so that it fell over the milky thickness of her thighs. "I don't sound like a pig…"
"Embarrassment detected. This Pod will not respond."
"Urk- screw you."
With a long-suffering sigh, Cassie eased her way out of bed and snagged her phone off of the nightstand. A quick retina scan later and she was scrolling through several different windows of notifications and information with quick, decisive flicks of her slender thumb. Even before becoming a Tinker, she'd always been good at multitasking and absorbing information quickly - obtaining the status of 'World's Coolest Hacker' only accelerated the speed in which she was able to comb through data.
An avalanche of random DMs on PHO, multiple taggings in different threads - ooh, she even got a speculation thread made about her!, a text from Sabah asking to meet and have tea tomorrow morning, and an assortment of pings from her VI Daycare program letting Cassie know that Athena, her 'head' VI that was practically being groomed into substituting as the OS for her tech, was finished parsing its nightly training data.
God, she loved programming. Angelic coding made creating VIs infinitely easier on both her brainandher fingers. Each character in the script was practically worth hours of coding in any other human-made language.
It was only a matter of time before Athena was able to create VIs to assist with specific tasks that it couldn't spare memory and power to do itself. Commanding 084 to do everything would have worked just as well, perhaps even better, but her pride rankled at the thought of asking another person - anotherprogrammerto do her work for her. She appreciated him as a teacher and a fellow coder, but Cass also saw him as a rival and a whetstone - to be sharpenedagainst, not to use as a replacement for her own abilities.
Padding over to the dresser, she slipped her CodeLink - in its sleek, earbud-like form - into her ears and spoke confidently into the air, "Athena, go through my DMs on PHO and write me a consolidated list of any important messages that require our immediate attention."
A woman's voice, quiet and robotic, whispered a simple,'Yes ma'am'in her ear.
Cassie's serious facade cracked, and she grinned happily. "Hehe, sweet!"
It was a simple directive, but even the simplest of things had the potential to skyrocket with enough elbow grease and brainpower! Right now it was scanning her online DMs, later it could potentially be controlling entire suits of power armor for her like Dragon! … Well, maybe notthat, but baby steps, right? Even more excitingly, she had gotten another idea while hacking into Armsmaster's visor back during the ambush - something that would hopefully please Jason, too.
"84," Cass turned from the dresser and directly addressed the silently hovering Pod, "Where's Jay? And don't tell me he's out patrolling again- Mr. Busy Body needs to take a freakin' breather."
They had enough time to hunt down the rest of the Empire, and he had been out patrolling with New Wave earlier that morning. She was honestly worried that he'd end up getting burnt out at the rate he was going.
"This Pod is pleased that you've asked that question. Master is waiting for Mistress down in the Training Hall. He mentioned needing to talk to you as soon as you regained consciousness." 084's voice was as droll as ever as it casually delivered the news, little mechanical fingers clenching and unclenching.
Cass blinked. "Wha- why didn't you lead with that? And why the heck did you rush in here and break down our door if you were coming to me anyway?!"
No response, save for that blank, silent hover and a red blink of the bulb.
The silence was telling.
With a loud, exaggerated sigh, Cass quickly made for the attached bathroom. "I'll be down there in, like, ten minutes, so tell him to wait up!"
…
15 Minutes Later~
…
Now dressed, rather comfortably, in one of her favorite black AC/DC hoodies that reached past her knees, bubblegum pink panties, and mismatched thigh-high socks (because she couldn't find the matching pair), Cassie shuffled obediently down the hallway to what was unofficially labeled the 'Training Hall'. It still struck her as otherworldly and unbelievable, the speed and depth in whicheverythingin her life so suddenly changed, but she honestly wouldn't trade it for the world. Sometimes, like last night when the truck almost flipped, the change was scary, but Cass genuinely believed that the goodfaroutweighed the bad in almost every way.
Sure, she was probably now on multiple government watchlists and could die at any second whenever she went outside her home without protection, but… she had an amazing lover, an amazing - read,annoying- 'son', an awesome and unfairly attractive bestie, and a house that was quickly feeling like it was made from actual Magic, with a capital M. Heck, Sherrel and Trainwreck were both pretty cool too, even if the latter was a bit of a grumpy, sexist asshole with a stick up his ass.
Her life was made up of pure chaos now, and although it took some adjusting, Cassie could honestly say that she loved it.
At this point, she hadnoidea what to expect when she finally pushed open the door to the Training Hall. Pot-bellied aliens with waxy green skin, magical runes straight from freaking Dungeons and Dragons, possibly even mutated insects fighting to the death on top of a homemade skating rink? Whatever he wanted to show her, Cassie doubted it would surprise her too much-
"MMMFFF! MMMMMFFFF!"
"I already told you, chick - call me out my name one more time and you're gettin' gagged. I keep my promises."
She froze in the doorway.
Jason, as tall and striking as ever, stood in the middle of the cavernous room, staring directly into what appeared to be amassivegolden cage vaguely shaped like an orb, its 'bars' reminiscent to gnarled, gilded tree branches. It stretched all the way up to the ceiling, only barely skimming the dark, smooth stone that acted as the roof.
The cage wasn't what surprised her, however. Neither did the sight of Jason's shirtless, tattooed, and perfectly sculpted body - even though shereallywanted to lick her way up the curvature of his spinegod damn it. No, what caused her to freeze up like a deer in headlights was the sight of Rune the Teenage Neo-Nazi bound in the middle of the ostentatious cage. Limbs of ornate gold extended from the bars, wrapping around her wrists and ankles and leaving her suspended, spread eagle, in mid-air.
Her hood was pushed back, revealing a pale, sweaty face flushed with what appeared to be all-encompassing anger. It was clear in the clenching of her jaw and the pure vitriol in the smoldering glare that she was aiming at Jason.
This… was probably the last thing she had been expecting. Cassie wasn't sure what she wassupposedto feel at the sight, so she studiously ignored the burst of anticipation and excitement that shot through her stomach.
'This isn't one of your novels, girl - calm down!'
"Cass," Jason suddenly called out, his deep voice filling the silence of the Hall in an instant. Rune immediately began making muffled noises again, noactualwords escaping her throat in spite of her clearly doing her best to speak, but Jason casually ignored her in favor of looking back at Cassie. His cool, intense gaze was free of their usual shaded cover, the sight nearly enough to cause her to choke on her next words.
"J-Jay, fancy meeting you here…"
She almost smacked herself in the face.
Jason blinked, eyes narrowing, before an amused grin split his lips. Cassie knew that he was probably reading her emotions right now, the same way he allowed her to do to him on the night that they confessed their love to one another. The realization didn't spook her, but it did make her more self-conscious of her feelings, both conscious and subconscious.'Damn it, heart, stop beating so frickin' fast!'
"Don't be silly. C'mere," he gestured with a tilt of his head, turning back towards the now-silent Rune, and Cassie found herself padding quickly across the Hall on mismatched socks to stand beside him. Normally she'd act a bit more bratty and stubborn, make him grab her and toss her around a little before she turned obedient, but it was clear that now wasn't the right time.
She couldn't help a little grumbling, however.
"First I don't get a morning kiss, now you're making me complicit to kidnapping and torture…" One eye closed, Cassie glared up at her quietly amused boyfriend and crossed her arms over her reasonably-sized chest. "The doghouse. Immediately."
"Right. The ever-important 'mornin' kiss'. My bad, babe."
Cassie's eyes abruptly opened, cheeks flushing as Jason roughly gripped her chin in his calloused grasp. Embarrassed and panicked, she shot a quick, furtive glance at the wide-eyed Rune staring from the Gilded Cage. "Wait, y-you don't have to-mmmf!"
Molten lava encased her lips, heat traversing from her tingling mouth all the way down to the tips of her toes, and Cassie did her best to hold back the loud, slutty moan ofpleasureandneedthat wanted to leave her chest so freakingdesperately. She'd kissed Jason plenty of times before, and she knew that he kissed withpassion, but this… this was something different.
As he tilted her head back, dominating her mouth so forcefully as he so often did, Cassie tasted… chocolate? Milk chocolate, creamy and sweet and delicious, to the point where she found herself actively fighting through a haze of pleasure and delight to lick and suckle on his tongue in a desperate effort to taste even more ofhim.
It was only when Jason's hand gripped the back of her hair firmly, tugging her back and separating their mouths with a wet 'pop' and a thick trail of clear, glimmering drool, did Cassie come back to herself. Her entire body felt tingly and electric, like her very nerves were being stimulated, and Cassie didn't have to look down in order to know just how much of a sticky mess she had made in her panties. Her body was too slow to keep up with her brain, and with her head tilted back and her eyes staring dully into Jason's, the only thing Cassie could do was try to catch her breath.
"Haa… haa…"
"Good morning to you too, sweetheart. You've got a lil' somethin' riiiiight here…"
Jason's rough thumb slid across her swollen bottom lip, wiping away the vestige of saliva that lingered from their smoldering kiss, and Cassie's eyes widened as a shock of pleasure and arousal shot through her system like a bolt of lightning, nearly causing her legs to give out from beneath her. They buckled weakly, but his left arm was wrapped firmly around her waist, keeping her attached to his side with seemingly no effort.
Dully, as she slowly came back to her senses, Cassie noticed Rune's flushed face pointing as far away from them as possible, her eyes squeezed firmly shut. She was breathing heavier now, her robed chest rapidly moving up and down in synchronicity with her breaths.
In spite of herself, Cassie found it hard to tear her gaze away. Maybe it was the suddenness of her own arousal, or the punch drunk-like feeling of pleasure that was still making its way through her body, but the thought of being seen like this by a pretty girl - dominated and used by her sexy hunk of a boyfriend… it was invigorating in a different way than the kiss had been. Exciting.
"You alright?" Jason's voice, low and rumbly deep in his chest, brought her out of her one-sided staring contest with the bound girl. Cassie swallowed thickly, still tastinghimon the tip of her tongue.
"What-" she started, only to hiccup and bite back a moan as her teeth dragged across the abnormally warm flesh of her lips. "What the heck did you d-do to me?"
His chuckle was warm, comforting, andfamiliar. "New power," he responded coolly, grabbing a large, juicy handful of her thigh and squeezing. As his fingertips dug into her skin, forming imprints in the supple flesh, her nerves lit up like a Christmas tree, sending pleasurable crackles of electricity through her entire body.
"Mmmph-Jason! Behave!"
"Heh, sorry. 'Bodily fluids' - gross terminology, by the way - makes the recipient more aroused and sensitive. Gives 'em pleasure too, judgin' by how you responded. It's not too much, is it?" Beyond his usual casual, unconcerned drawl, there was a genuine note of worry. He was staring down at her, watching her for any sign of genuine uncomfortableness or pain, and that naked earnestness on his face was enough to squash any sense of unease at how easily he was able to manipulate her body.
Now Cassie was just horny. And a little embarrassed. But mostly horny.
"Right," she breathed shakingly, wiggling her hips to adjust her verywetpanties that were beginning to grow uncomfortable to wear. "Ignoring just how ridiculous of a power that is to gain, 'cause your whole powerset is just frickin' stupid at this point…"
"Uh-huh. Cope."
"Do you want to explain the elephant in the room? Or, I guess- the nazi?"
Rather than answering her himself, Jason simply gestured with his index finger, making a 'come here' gesture, and the flustered neo-nazi abruptly strained forward against the golden branches that bound her limbs, her mouth opening wide as a hoarse, painful-sounding inhale wracked her body. Immediately after, Rune began greedily sucking in lungfuls of air, her blue eyes wide and wild as she did so.
He eyed the girl with a cold, dispassionate gaze, and Cassie felt the atmosphere in the room settle. Turn cooler. "She's-"
"Fuck-" Rune hacked out a cough again, spitting a wad of spit at Jason's feet. It burned mid-air, bubbling into nothing, but the blonde girl didn't miss a beat. "Fuckyou,Avalon. You're a fucking coward, locking me up in your creepy ass sex dungeon, trapping me in a fucking cage. I swear I'll fucking kill you!"
Jason glanced over at Cassie, his lips twitching up into an emotionless smirk. "Notice how she didn't say anything racist?"
Taken aback by the pure animosity in the air, she only gave him a hesitant nod. Rune snarled at the sight, opening her mouth to spit out more expletives, but Jason's darkly amused voice cut her words off at the root before they could even begin.
"It's 'cause she knows I'llkillher. The same way I killed Crusader and Stormtiger. The same way I'm gonna kill Kaiser and Purity and the rest of their little delusional cult. Ain't that right, Tammi?" His gaze turned back to the livid neo-nazi, back to 'Tammi', and Cassie watched as the blonde girl's splotchy-red face abruptly turned pale white with fear and confusion.
"H-How do you know my name?" Though the words were practically spat out like a hissing bobcat, the stutter in her voice betrayed the impact Jason's casual usage of her name had on her. She tried to move again, straining fruitlessly against the gilded metal that restrained her, and a desperate growl escaped her throat. "You're screwing you and your girlfriend over! The Empire-wehave connections all across Americaandoverseas. You- you-"
"I- I- I don't give a shit. I'm not afraid of the Clans, of your European Overlords, and I'm especially not afraid of the remnants of your quickly dying Empire. As far as I'm aware, they're all livin' on borrowed time anyway," Jason unwrapped his arm from around her waist, patting her gently on the hip, and Cass obediently took a step to the side in order to allow him the full 'stage'.
She didn't know how to feel about what was going on in front of her - it was surreal, like almost everything surrounding Jason. It was like watching some sort of action-thriller movie, where the gritty vigilante interrogates the criminal, except this wasreal. She held no empathy for the girl, but she did find herself curious about where he was going with this.
"You don't know what you're talking about!" Rune shook her head violently, sending long tresses of blonde hair whipping over her shoulders. "They'll come looking for me. They'll come looking for me and find this shitheap of a 'secret lair' and burn it, you, and your fucking chiii-A-AGHHH!"
Cassie nearly jumped out of her skin as a ragged scream of pain ripped itself free from Rune's throat, as if coaxed out entirely by Jason's cold, shining glare. It only lasted for a brief moment - immediately after, she sagged against her restraints, sweat trailing down her face and falling to the floor of the cage. "F-fuuuck…"
He tilted his head, frowning. "I'm gonna layallof your options out for you, so no one can ever say that I'm a disingenuous man. You get me?"
"... What are they?"
"You remember what I had you scream before trapping you in the Arch?" Jason approached the cage, hands resting in the pockets of his slim-fitting sweatpants, and Rune eyed him warily as he got closer.
"... Yeah."
"Repeat it."
Silence. Cassie's head was moving back and forth like she was watching a national tennis match, oddly absorbed in the dramatic play by play.
"Fuck-... ugh. B-black power, fuck nazis."
Jason nodded, looking moderately pleased. "Good. So here's your options - One, I just kill you and send you to hell with the rest of your trash racist teammates. I captured you to avoid having to end a young lady's life before it even really started, but I can be convinced to do otherwise. You nearly callin' my girl a 'chink' almost did it for me."
Her face turned bone white once again, but Rune didn't say anything. Jason continued, unperturbed.
"Two, I toss your ass in prison and let the ethnically-diverse populace there do what they do to racist white bitches with blonde hair and blue eyes. 'Cept, I'm murdering the rest of your gang, so no one will be alive to bust you out."
"Th- that's barely any better than-"
He held up one finger to the bars, face deathly serious, and Rune snapped her mouth closed with a loud 'click'.
"Third and final option - you spill everything you know about Kaiser's operations. Betray your former comrades completely and utterly, turn your back on the racist ideology that you've grown up with, and, at the end of it all," Jason leaned against the cage, eyeing Rune up and down with a half-lidded gaze, and smirked. "Fight for the good guys. Show that you've actually changed. Personally, I'm biased towards this one."
Cassie's eyes widened, but she resisted the urge to speak up and question him in front of the 'prisoner'. It wasn't that she wasagainstrehabilitation, to a certain degree, but Rune… Rune was clearly a toxic and unrepentant bitch, hiked up on rebellious bad girl energy. Even now, she was glaring at Jason with a baleful, withering venom in her frigid blue eyes, her pink lips unsure of whether they want to scowl in disgust or part with open shock and confusion.
Jason was charming and persuasive, Cassie would be thefirstto admit, but he wasn't charming enough to just erase years of neo-nazism rhetoric and deeply-entrenched racism. She wasn't surewhatpower he had that made him confident in this path, but… for better or for worse, shetrustedJason Black.
He hadn't led her astray yet.
"N-no," Rune shook her head stubbornly, clenching her jaw. Her breath came out harshly through her flared nostrils, betraying her nervousness. "I'd rather die than be a fucking traitor. Go ahead and kill me! I'd die before betraying my race! The- the superior race!"
"Hah!"
A sudden bark of laughter escaped Jason's chest, taking everyone - including him - off guard. He held back another chuckle, rubbing his hands across his chiseled jaw as he stared at the bound girl. "If it wasn't so sad, it'd be funny…"
"What? I'm serious!" Rune snarled like a trapped animal, not even bothering to shake her hair out of her eyes. "We-"
"You," Jason cut her off, an amused levity clear in his smirk, "Are not 'superior' anything. None of you are. But I guess I can show you better than I can tell you, right?"
He pushed off of the cage, turning his back to it, and glanced over to Cassie. All she needed to witness was the cut of his eyes to pitter patter her way back to his side, her movements slightly awkward and stilted due to the little mess she'd made in her panties earlier. She had questions, a lot of them - almost too much to count, and definitely enough to annoy her endlessly mysterious boyfriend - but they'd have to wait.
His arm wrapped around her waist, the heat of his body warming her skin like a toasty blanket, and Cassie leaned into his side. As they made their way towards the exit, she peeked up at Jason from the corner of her eye. "You've got aloootto explain, mister."
He sighed tiredly. "Trust me, I know."
"Wait!" Rune shouted, a desperate anger turning the low rasp of her 'cool girl' voice high and shrill. "I-I said that I choose option one! I don't give a shit what sort of bullshit torture you put me through, I won't betray the Empire!"
Jason glanced upwards, not even bothering to look over his shoulder.
"Guess I lied about givin' you a choice, 'cause youwillchange your ways - whether you want to or not." he said quietly. The tone of his voice was confident, amused, and slightly bitter, all in the same breath. "... Yeah, you definitely will. Get some rest, Tammi."
His gaze turned forward once again. "You'll need it."
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A Mage's Guide to the Multiverse by Abdursmailbox1
Books » Worm Rated: M, English, Adventure & Humor, Words: 395k+, Favs: 116, Follows: 127, Published: Jul 23, 2025 Updated: Jul 25, 2025
13chapter 36
""So… Jason…"
"Yo."
"Don't just 'yo' me, jerk. Are you going to explain the girl tressed up like a frickin' Thanksgiving turkey in our basement? Keeping her here wasn't discussed in the Plan!"
I couldn't even blame her for the volume. Cassie had already done a remarkable job keeping her cool and not fucking up the whole 'scary jailer' act I'd been putting on with Rune - it was unrealistic to expect that same ambivalence after the initial 'introduction' was over and done with.
"'Training Hall', not the basement, but I feel you," I murmured, keeping my voice calm and understanding as I maneuvered around the loveseat and placed a hot cup of coffee on the table in front of the incensed girl. Her nose twitched at the tantalizing scent - two sugars and a dash of chocolate syrup, just 'cause I knew that sugar helped her mellow out - and Cass begrudgingly reached for the steaming mug.
I stopped her with one finger against the forehead, and her dark eyes flipped inwards like a dead chicken's as she glared at the offending digit. "What? I can't even drink my cup o' joe now?"
"Call it coffee. You sound like a Boston office worker when you call it 'joe'," I responded drolly, smirking at her unrepentant attitude, "And you're gonna burn yourself if you drink it now. Be patient and wait for it to cool."
"Hmph, fine. Guess that's two things I'm waiting on." Cassie rolled her eyes, but she retracted her hands from the piping hot porcelain and placed them neatly in her lap. Already, without her even taking a sip of the coffee, I could see her frayed nerves calming down, replaced by that subtle, passive little happiness that girls like her received when being taken care of by their significant other.
She was actively fighting down a small smile now, wiggling a little in the seat as she waited for me to talk.
The sight was absolutely fucking adorable. It truly wasn't fair.
With a sigh, I faded out of existence, my Conveyance sorcery transposing me from standing to reclining back beside my girlfriend, bunny slippers propped up on the coffee table and one arm slung over the back of the couch cushion. She jolted at the casual display of magic, and I acted like I didn't notice.
"I wasn't plannin' on keeping it a secret, Cass… it just didn't register to mention it. I do most of my decision making in my head, 'specially when a lot of important shit is happening at once. I've kinda been running myself ragged these past few days." I was being truthful, even if I found myself still procrastinating on getting to the actual meat of the discussion. The past week had been pretty rough.
Cassie turned her head to watch me, her face turning pensive and thoughtful. When she spoke, it was without her usual lighthearted brattiness - one of the rare moments where the playful attitude peeled back and a modicum of seriousness made itself apparent.
"You do that a lot," she said, smiling dryly and leaning her inconsiderable weight against my bare chest. "Thinking in your head, putting everything we're dealing with solely on your shoulders. You can let me carry some of that stuff too. That's… that's my job, right? As the best super cool hacker-ninja girlfriend ever."
My hand found its way into her hair, long digits combing through the silken strands and untangling knots made from her recent shower, and she let out a pleased murmur that sounded suspiciously like a cat's purr. Her head pressed softly against my hand, as if asking for more scritches, and I acquiesced without complaint.
"It's 'prolly part of being in a healthy relationship, yeah. Open communication and all that." I smiled crookedly, closing my eyes to recenter my thoughts. "I don't have the greatest track records with those, so I'm playing keep-up a lil' bit. Forgive me."
I couldn't see her face, but I could hear the pout in her voice. "No apologies, mister - just tell it to me straight. What's going on?"
When I didn't respond immediately, my hands stilling in her hair, Cassie's tone of voice became meeker, more nervous. "Is… is everything okay? I thought we were doing good work. Taking the fight to the Empire, like in your shittily thought-through plan that's been working for some frickin' reason. The PRT's a little sanctimonious, sure, but-"
My eyes opened slowly, languidly, and I resumed the head scritches. "Sanctimonious, huh? That big word for small lady." Fondness brightened my gaze, and I chuckled deep in my chest, the vibrations shaking the slim slip of a woman lying against my body. "Worry less, babe."
Her fist slammed into my gut with the total combined force of a particularly soft teddy bear. "Well, I would if you'd talk to me! And don't even start with the spelling BS, I'm smarter than you!"
"Uh-huh."
"You and Sabah were just saying random shit that sounded intelligent! And- and I was distracted by you spanking me! That kinda stuff tends to send your brain elsewhere, Jay."
"For sure. Here, sip some of your diabetes water - you're not you when you're thirsty." I grinned, gesturing to her cooling cup of sugary coffee with a casual flick of my hand. The mug floated off of the table, smoother and more in control than my previous telekinetic attempts, and she grabbed it by the handle as it hovered towards us.
"Whatever, you ass. Wouldn't be thirsty if you hadn't blindsided me with your stupid pheromone saliva mind-fuck hentai crap," Cassie huffed, cradling the warm porcelain in her small hands. Not even a moment passed by before she peeked up at me, a small smile curling at the corner of her soft pink lips. "... But thank you."
"Mm."
Tap, tap, tap.
As the sound of quiet sipping and the dull thud of my finger tapping on the couch filled the living room, I went silent, turning my thoughts inwards. I was hesitating, and it was starting to piss me off - because I knew exactly why I was hesitant. I didn't consider myself a coward or a weakling, especially not now… Heroic Aptitude made that impossible. I wasn't the peak of what I could be, and it was unlikely that I ever reached that summit as long as I continued to fight against hardships and calamity, but I was a Hero. Brave, courageous, fearless to a fault - those traits were intrinsically a part of me now, just as they were a part of Link, the Legendary Hero of Hyrule.
But even with all that smoke blown up my ass, my Heroic soul didn't do much to shield me from the fear of rejection and loss. I felt like I could stare Scion down right now, powerless to erase him from existence at this point in my life, and flip him the bird without flinching, but the thought of Cassie looking at me with disgust and fear instead of love and admiration and that little bit of annoyance at my cheekiness… it chilled me to my core.
I didn't want to just kill motherfuckers for the sake of killing them. I wasn't a fucking sadist psychopath with a murderhobo boner. I would if I had to, don't get me wrong, but I saw it when I was fighting Rune - the fear at the mere thought of dying, the naive trust and infatuation she held for her racist, white supremacist ideology.
The bitch was fourteen.
You could call it hypocrisy all you want, my desire to purge her mind of its retarded, ignorant ways, but if I could save a girl from death or fates worse than by just blowing her back out… why the fuck wouldn't I? Assholes like Kaiser, or Stormtiger, or, hell, even Purity - they murdered people for their ideology, got off on it, and they were more than old and experienced enough to be aware of just how fucked up what they were doing was.
Maybe it would've been different if she was a killer. Maybe if I saw that cold intent to murder me in her eyes, I would've treated her the same way I treated Stormtiger and Crusader. But I hadn't seen any of that. 'Till the very end, as I dismantled her defenses and brutalized her body, I saw the terrified gaze of a racist teenage girl way too in over her head.
I didn't empathize with her. I didn't like her. Hell, maybe I did get a little jolt of satisfaction when I broke her arms and dangled her a hundred feet over the blacktop, putting fear in her heart the same way she did to minorities for no fucking reason. But I had the power to magically change her ways, to make it so that she was truly good at heart and willing to atone for her sins, and I'd taken the ability because I knew that I was eventually going to use it.
My mind was already made up, and now I just had to make sure that the love of my life was fine with me fucking the literal nazism out of the chick I had shackled in our home.
No pressure.
Cassie's quiet voice eased me out of my stormy, chaotic thoughts.
"Hey, Jason…" Her coffee mug was empty, even the creamy dregs at the bottom of the cup drained dry, and she stared down at it as she spoke to me. "If you really don't wanna tell me, I… I'd understand. Well, not really, and I'd be kinda upset about it for a while and pout a lot and feel like you don't trust me, but you seem really out of it and it's making me worry-"
The shakiness in her voice triggered something in my chest - something primal and protective. 'Stop being a wishy-washy pussy, Jay.'
"I have a new power." I cut her off, my mind made up. "It- they have names, my powers do - when they come to me, they come at me sorta like… perks, in a video game."
Cassie paused. Even with Hidden Intuition turned low, because I wasn't the biggest fan of prying into my girlfriend's emotional state 24/7, I could see the cogs turning in her head. Despite my jokes about her spelling prowess, I knew that Cassie was, by most means, smarter than me. Less quick to adapt and take things in stride, maybe, but definitely more booksmart.
"... Odd, but a lot of different powers have weird side-effects or ways that they affect the cape's mind and body," she murmured, leaning off of my body in order to set her coffee mug down on the table. When she straightened, Cassie's eyes were sharp and focused solely on me, her hands bunched up in the hem of her oversized hoodie. "You've never told me anything like this. I'm guessing it has something to do with the girl tied up in our basement?"
"Training Hall."
"Whatever, you friggin' nerd! Explain."
I inclined my head, holding back the small smirk that wanted to form on my face. "Guess I didn't feel the need to share the specifics. Dick move, but I'm tryna be more open now - new year new me type shit. There's still some stuff I don't wanna share just yet-"
"Riiight. Like why you lied to me about your dad kicking you out all those weeks ago," Cassie tilted her head, a dry smile on her lips. "Or why you seem to know so much about the gangs here despite being absolutely clueless when we first met. Or why I've searched high and low on every streaming website for 'Lil' Wayne' and 'Drake' and couldn't find a single artist other than some old man who plays the banjo on Earth Aleph-"
I couldn't school my expression fast enough to avoid widening my eyes, and the flash that went through hers was evident enough that she caught it. Instead of pushing forward, however, Cass leaned back on her ass, wrapped her arms around her knees, and sent me an amused glare. "I'm not stupid, Jay."
I sighed, running a hand through my hair. "I know you aren't," I said quietly, narrowing my eyes at her. "Don't ever believe that I think anything less than the world of you, Cassie. For real. Things just aren't the… safest to talk about right now. Trust me on that."
Pink tinging her cheeks, Cass rolled her eyes and nudged me with her stocking-clad toe. "Okay, okay - I trust you. Now tell me about your new power."
Right.
My left index finger instinctively went to go tapping on the back of the couch again, but Cassie's hand reached out, without her pulling her eyes away from my face, and wrapped around mine. Her little smile softened, and I definitely did not blush.
Absolutely not.
"Well," I began, trying my damndest to not sound awkward, "The newest perk's called 'Fuck the Darkness', and it is… aptly named."
She tilted her head. "Like, 'I cast Light!' and your powers say 'fuck the darkness' by illuminating everything around you? Or, or, can you literally turn the shadows into some sort of huge, writhing black fleshlight and breed it?"
… What the fuck?
"W-why are you looking at me like that?!"
"The fuck is wrong with you?" I deadpanned, going to pull my hand away. Cassie's face turned even redder, but she refused to let my hand go..
"You said that the 'perk' is 'aptly named'! What else am I supposed to assume other than 'human flashlight' and 'darkness fleshlight'?!"
"It-" I shook my head, a disbelieving snicker sneaking out. "Brainrot. Hentai brainrot out the ass, woman. The name's metaphorical."
"Big words don't make you sound smart, jerk." She turned her nose up, looking down at me through long black eyelashes, and whispered, "Cào nǐ mā."
I was almost certain that she'd spat out an insult, but she also had never said anything to me in Chinese before, so I was of two separate minds. I wasn't sure if I wanted to throw a barb back at her, or smile, happy that she was apparently comfortable enough to slip in a couple words of her native language. The insult, whatever it was, sounded adorable coming out of her mouth - higher than her usual voice, with a clear, ringing accent that sounded like bells.
I couldn't let it distract me, however.
"'Fuck the Darkness'," I bullishly continued, not reacting to the muttered cào nǐ mā outside of a raised eyebrow, "Is a power, or perk, I guess… that allows me to literally fuck the, uh, darkness out of someone. Like, the evil, or the bad, or the… the racism." The last part came out in a somewhat quieter voice, but I didn't look away from Cassie, refusing to show weakness or hesitance during such a tumultuous moment.
"…"
Cassie was frozen, eyes wide and mouth opened in shock. I was able to read her emotions easily, even as they slipped across her face at breakneck speeds. Shock, confusion, uncertainty - she cut my insight off prematurely by slamming both her eyes and mouth shut, withdrawing her pale hand away from mine in order to rub her temple with slow, circular motions.
She wasn't freaking out, though - that was good, right?
"... I'm not gonna say that I didn't know what-"
"Wait," she interrupted me, raising the hand not massaging her temple in a 'halt' gesture. "Just… hold on, Jay. Give me a minute."
I shut my trap.
Cassie slipped off of the couch, landing gently on her feet, and immediately made a bee-line towards the staircase. Her movements were stiff, almost robotic in how awkward and stilted they were, and a familiar feeling of anxiety began to worm its way back into my heart. I leaned my head back over the couch and watched as she quickly disappeared into our master bedroom, shutting the door quietly behind her.
'The ball's in her court now...'
I readjusted my sitting position on the loveseat, straightening up so that I could give her my undivided attention when she inevitably came back down to give me a piece of her mind. Fortunately, it didn't take long for Cass to come back downstairs - maybe two, three minutes at the most.
The scent of pot, Sour Diesel if my memory serves me right - and it always did, accompanied her like a particularly toxic old friend. I raised a sharp eyebrow, staring bemusedly as Cassie ambled around the loveseat and sat on the edge of the velvety cushion, a small pink bong gripped firmly in her left hand. Ground-up weed was shoved neatly into the bowl, which still smoldered with remnants of fading embers.
Cassie slid a Zippo lighter out of her hoodie's pocket, pressed her lips firmly against the slim mouthpiece of the bong, and flicked the spark wheel until it lit up with a light blue flame that she pressed against the bowl.
Water bubbled and popped as she inhaled deeply, filling her chest and the living room with the loud scent of pot.
I wasn't a stranger to weed in the slightest, but I wasn't the biggest fan of drugs myself - a byproduct of my mom being a recovered addict, and the many days of watching her fall deeper and deeper into the pit of addiction. Plus, it smelled like hot ass. I didn't mind people doing it around me, and neither did I mind the occasional spliff, but right now… The smoke dissipated as soon as it got close to me, Azyr blowing the cloud up and away with only minor prodding from my will.
"Ah, nothing like the good stuff to mellow you out," she hiccuped, dropping the bong on the coffee table and desperately waving the smoke out of her face. When the gray cloud finally dissipated, the hacker fixed me with an inscrutable stare, her eyes slightly watery from the long toke. "Especially after being told that your boyfriend's living on fucking hentai logic. Frickin' unfair, Jay!"
I blinked owlishly. "Wha-"
"No, hush. It's my turn now!" Cassie's eyes flashed dangerously, and though I had all the time in the world to lean back and dodge her comparatively turtle-like lunge, I allowed her the satisfaction of leaning forward and 'brutally' flicking my nipple with her pink fingernail. "Hiyah! That's for keeping this a secret, dickhead. When did you get that perk?"
"A few nights ago, when we had our super romantic confession and I made you cum like fifteen times-"
"O-okay, I understand, you could've stopped at 'a few nights ago'!" Now misty-eyed, flustered, and pouting, Cassie crossed her arms over her chest and glowered. "I guess a better question is; why didn't you tell me?"
… This conversation wasn't going in the direction I'd thought it would've. At all. And it was getting hard for my brain to properly keep up. I raised Hidden Intuition up ever so slightly to make up for it.
"I didn't tell you because I thought- wait, hold on. Cass, are you not freaked out? Disturbed?" I leaned forward, my normally half-lidded gaze turning sharp with a seriousness that I didn't often show around her. "Ignorin' the fact that it involves fucking evil bitches, I'm basically imprinting my own morality over theirs. 'With each thrust'. That's, like - borderline brainwashing. Mastering, even."
Cass clicked her teeth loudly, staring at me like I'd just said the stupidest thing ever.
"Two things. One," she uncrossed her arms to raise her index finger in the air, the blush on her cheeks growing stronger. "We've already discussed our relationship, Jason. As long as you come back to me, and love me, a-and treat me like a princess, I don't care if you fuck other women."
Her voice shifted down into a nigh-silent whisper. "God knows I can't handle you by myself all the time."
"What was that?"
I definitely heard that last part.
Cassie blanched and wagged her raised finger. "Nothing! Just- keep me, and, um… our future girlfriends in the loop. That's it. Because I trust you." Oof, throwing shade. Not like I didn't deserve it, though.
"And two - the perk's called 'Fuck the Darkness', right? As in, screwing the evil out of a bad person?"
She is being genuine. She is speaking from the heart.
Although my brain was still grappling with the realization that Cass truly and earnestly had no real issue with me having casual sex with other women, I was still able to lock in and properly formulate a response to her question - one that I was fairly certain was rhetorical.
"Yeah."
Such a verbose and well-structured response. I was practically a modern-day Edgar Allen Poe.
"'Yeah'," Cassie lowered her voice into a deepened drawl, rolling her eyes. "Babe, who gives a shit if it's considered 'mastering'? We've already murdered members of the Empire, super brutally at that. Sherrel had brain stuck in her windshield wipers! Mind-fucking the white supremacy out of one of them is a light punishment in comparison. I'm just bothered you didn't tell me about any of it first."
Cassie is disappointed. Cassie is disappointed because she thinks you don't trust her love for you.
Great. And now I'm starting to feel guilty for a completely different reaso-
Cassie is embarrassed.
Oh?
Cassie is embarrassed because she finds the thought of you purifying evil with your penis arousing and hot.
… Oh. My girl was an actual freak.
"Anyways," she continued, hesitantly, when I didn't immediately respond, "I won't think of you any differently. If you, y'know… decided to, um, turn bad girls good. Via sex. Yeah. Thanks for coming to my TED Talk." Adorably awkward embarrassment practically oozed from the previously spunky girl as she leaned back into the love seat, grabbed her Hello Kitty-themed bong, and moved to reach for the Zippo lighter.
I stopped her with a pointed finger.
"Sorfäk."
Aqshy beckoned at my purred magic word, and the bud suddenly began to smolder in the bowl. Cassie gasped, shot me a small smile of gratitude, and pressed her lips against the mouthpiece in order to get her toke in.
I played with a loc as I watched her hit the bong, my gaze distant and wistful. It was relieving, her trust in both me and my intentions. Maybe I had been worrying for nothing, so stuck on the morality and attitudes of the previous women in my life that I'd disregarded how my Cass would feel about everything. She was unique and crazy and fucking awesome in all the right ways, and I really needed to stop underestimating her ability to stunlock me with her spontaneity and ability to adapt.
I needed to trust her and our bond more.
"I'm sorry," I spoke up as she was breathing smoke rings up towards the ceiling.
Cassie jolted at the suddenness of my voice, letting out a series of violent coughs that sounded painful, and I narrowed my eyes. Evil Eyes reacted to my glare, channeling Hysh through my glowing golden gaze and diffusing the purifying Wind through Cassie's body in the form of Healing Light. The hacking stopped immediately, and she gasped as she held her chest.
"Damn girl, breathe." I murmured, leaning forward to rub her back.
"... Heck. That feels nice…" A small, dopey smile formed on her lips, and Cassie leaned up to steal a soft kiss on the underside of my jaw, leaving the smooth skin there all warm and tingly. "Thank you."
"No problem-"
"But you don't have to say sorry." She poked me in the chest with a pointed fingernail to accentuate her statement, and I blinked down at her. She stared back, all stubborn earnesty and determined glare, and the sight was enough to make my heart skip a beat. I was truly fortunate.
"... Still, let me-"
"No. It's fine babe, I understand why you didn't say anything. Just… share more with me from now on, 'kay?" Cassie withdrew her finger and patted me lightly on the same pectoral she'd just poked. "You've gotten crazy strong crazy fast, and I'm not expecting you to tell me about every perk you get. Just the super important ones!"
"Like the ones that let me fuck goodness and chivalry into evil women." I smirked, amused in spite of myself.
"Exactly," she nodded twice, resolute and utterly serious. The severe demeanor cracked almost immediately, though, as her smile grew into a grin and her face suddenly lit up with renewed interest. "And speaking of topics of the 'super important' variety… How was the patrol with New Wave?! I was gonna ask you to get me Glory Girl's autograph, but then I was like 'nah, that's super frickin' uncool', asking your boyfriend to do something like that. She was hella hot though, right?"
I'd almost forgotten about her former puppy crush on Glory Girl. And, it was kind of weird to be discussing how 'hot' a chick was with my romantic partner, but it wasn't necessarily a bad sort of weird. I could get used to it.
"Vicky's pretty fuckin' smoking, I can't lie," I shrugged, leaning back into the loveseat and pulling Cassie with me. She let out a little yelp and a giggle, but didn't fight the tug. "But you have a fatter ass, and that blows goldilocks outta the water any day of the week." I cupped one such juicy ass cheeks to prove my point, and she snorted.
"Perv, and a filthy liar! … But thank you," Cass smiled bashfully, nuzzling into my arms, and I pinched her butt in response. "Ee!"
"I like 'em overall. Vicky's a lil' in your face, but she's mature where it counts. Strong as hell, too. Laserdream was chill, and so was Lady Photon. Amy's…" My voice lowered as I trailed off, trying to think of the best way to describe that particular bundle of familial issues and grumpy raccoon energy, and Cassie gasped.
Loudly.
"Holy shit," she mumbled, her head pressed flush against my chest.
"Wha? What happened?"
"Shhh." Cassie shushed me, before loudly declaring, "Amy Dallon! Panacea, the White Cleric!" The heat of her breath tickled my skin, and I stared down at the crown of her head with pure befuddlement in my eyes.
"You good?"
"Ugh, it's not- hold on," She pushed herself off of my chest, twisting around in my lap so that she was sitting directly on top of my thighs. Both me and not so little me twitched at the sudden change, but before I could adjust myself and properly place my bottom-heavy little hacker in a more pleasing position, Cassie booped my nose and gestured for me to look her in the eyes. "How do you feel about Panacea?"
Cassie is curious.
I tilted my head. "She-"
"And please don't bullshit me," she cut me off, frowning. "Be honest. Trust in me."
Cassie is curious because she heard your heartbeat speed up at the mention of Amy.
…
"... She has a lot of personal issues," I began, looking Cassie dead in the eyes. "Grumpy, shit home life, depressed, overworked and overstressed. But she's witty and funny. Has strong beliefs. A little withdrawn, but I can see your bubbliness and spontaneity bringing her out her shell."
"You like her." It was a statement through and through - only an idiot would mistake her words for a question.
Cassie is curious. Cassie is intrigued. Cassie is nervous. Cassie is excited.
I raised an eyebrow, watching as a smile slowly spread across my girlfriend's face. "... Yeah, I guess I do. She's kinda like a red panda, or a honey badger. Feisty, but in a fuzzy, frizzy-haired way. You'd like her."
"Mm," Cass hummed, wiggling in my lap as she looked up towards the ceiling. "I'd frickin' hope so."
"You-"
"Especially if she's going to be our first girlfriend."
Cassie is resolute.
The abruptness of the declaration took me by surprise. I paused, jaw working up and down to formulate intelligible words, but nothing came out.
"Hehe, don't look so surprised," she snickered, patting my cheek softly. "We've already talked about this, mister! Together forever, all of us. Obviously I'll need to meet her myself, feel everything out personally, but I've seen Panacea before… online. She's hella cute." A distant glint appeared in her eyes, and her smile turned smarmy. Dirty.
The sight was enough for me to finally find my words. "Uh-huh. And what else?"
Cassie's cheeks darkened. "... Andshehasbigbooba."
"And you called me a harlot before." I deadpanned, pinching her left ass cheek again.
She nearly jumped off of my lap. "Ow! That was weeks ago! And you are a harlot, Mister Two-Timer!"
"You're the one who hopped on the 'she's going to be our girlfriend' bandwagon immediately. I don't even know if that's the play!"
"W-what do you mean? Why not? She's cute, she has big boobs, and she can help me tame this frickin' black mamba that's already waking up! What are you even getting horny from?!"
I snorted, though my relaxed expression was starting to become strained. "Your ass is literally on my dick, Cass. Like, straddlin' it. And I'm almost always horny - you should know this by now."
She wiggled her thick butt against the quickly growing hardness swelling within my gray sweatpants, and her eyes glinted victoriously at the ragged burst of air that escaped my nostrils. "Heh, you're only proving my point," Cassie grinned, slowly reaching down beneath the swell of her ass in order to palm my bulge. Her own breathing picked up, an unconscious gasp escaping her mouth as her small hand failed to fully grip my thick shaft through the thin fabric. Her tongue peeked out to moisten her lips.
Through my own aroused haze, I gave the dazed girl a lopsided grin. "How 'bout we discuss Amy a bit later, eh? We can plan something then." My right hand brushed her hair back as I spoke, and Cassie whimpered as her hips began to move back and forth.
"... O-okay," she said shakily, all bravado gone and buried. "Fuck. Frick. Thi- this isn't over, Jay. I'm just-"
"A harlot. We been knew," I chuckled, gripping the handful of hair in my grasp and forcing her head down towards my face. She didn't fight back, closing her eyes and parting her lips eagerly midway through the motion.
"Mmmpfff…"
Fortunately for us, Sherrel had already left earlier in the morning to go work on the truck with Trainwreck.
We christened the couch, the kitchen counter, and the staircase railing with our passionate lovemaking.
Because Cassie ended up passing out, we didn't end up talking more about Amy.
I was significantly less stressed afterwards, though.
Two Hours Later…
I left Cassie naked and unconscious in our king-sized bed, her body freshly cleaned and healed from the after-effects of our latest fuck session. I was, admittedly, fairly tired, and while it was tempting as all fuck to crawl back in bed, slip my dick back inside my girlfriend, and pass out with my arms wrapped around her waist… I also had other priorities that I needed to take care of. Almost too many to count, honestly. Since when did my new life get so fucking busy?
Hitting the Empire with the coup de grace was probably the most important 'priority' on my list. If I was a nerd, and I absolutely was, then I'd consider killing off Kaiser and the rest of his ilk as one of my 'main quests', up there with 'Finding A Way Off Earth Bet' and 'Murderizing the Fuck Outta Jack Slash'. Thinking about my goals like the hero in some shitty, grim-dark roleplaying game actually made the weight of responsibility stemming from said priorities feel just a little bit lighter.
At the same time, though, I couldn't ignore the ramifications of what I'd done this morning. Lung was a territorial and easily angered gang leader, and although I was pretty damn sure no one had managed to move fast enough to record me blowing Oni Lee the fuck up, cape deaths didn't stay a secret in this city for very long.
It wasn't like I'd gone around and collected his body parts, either. After making sure Amy and the trafficked women were okay, I'd left pretty fast, not bothering to stay and give a statement to whatever PRT hero was on the way to check out the massive explosion. If they did their investigative job right, and they would if the responding hero had been Armsmaster, then Oni Lee's death would have already been made known to those 'in charge'.
And what the PRT knew, the gangs probably knew as well.
"One thing at a time, Jay…" I groused to myself, pulling the refrigerator door open and grabbing one of my ice cold sodas from the top rack. I bumped the door closed with my hip as I cracked the can open with the sharp, crisp hiss of carbonation.
The first sip was absolutely heavenly, the electric taste of oranges cold and flavorful on my tongue.
The second was merely so-so, and my thoughts inevitably wandered back to my 'quests' as I sipped on the fizzy drink.
Lung, the Empire, the mystery of magical omniversal travel, the Slaughterhouse Nine…
"… Fuck it." I downed the rest of the soda in one long, deep gulp. "One thing at a time."
084 was tasked with keeping watch on Rune; I'd slip in, ease some information out of her, and then go trawling through Downtown to see if I could-
My Soul shuddered.
Without even realizing it, I crushed the soda can in my hand, turning the aluminum to warped scrap as the Celestial Grimoire shoved an enormous mote of light into my sea of magic. It was by far the largest perk I'd ever been offered, trumping even my foundational 'rocks' such as Heroic Aptitude and Immutable Form, and the suddenness of its appearance and the heat it brought into my chest took me by surprise. I exhaled softly, flicking the crunched up can towards the trashcan and cautiously peeking at the proffered perk. With enough luck, it was something that I could actually use…-
"Holy. Shit."
Spoiler: Reality Marble (Fate/Stay Night - 800 CP)
The understanding of what this perk granted me, the awareness of just what a Reality Marble was and the pure scope and breadth of its potential filled my mind. I was unfamiliar with the world of Fate; I'd never gotten pulled into the setting, and not even my perfect memory could drudge up late nights or early mornings of me idly browsing its wiki page like I'd done with countless other anime. If I purchased this, used the bulk of my consolidated charge to gain my own Inner World, I would be going into it all veritably blind outside of what the perk granted me.
The closest thing I was able to compare it to was a 'Domain Expansion' from Jujutsu Kaisen, and that I knew was a worthy technique. If this 'Reality Marble' granted roughly the same thing, the ability to pull others into a 'domain' that I had ultimate control and power over… then it seemed pretty fucking worth it to me.
Adrenaline flooded my veins, my skin growing warm from anticipation and excitement. A powerful, brand new magical technique, powered solely by my own magical power instead of the Winds…
"I need me some of that."
Yoink.
And as I yanked the mote of light into my soul, securing the purchase and establishing myself as the owner of my very own Reality Marble…
Words came to me, unbidden. Powerful. Reverberating through my skull, sending chills of existential familiarity through my spine.
Words relating to my immortal soul, to my mystical prowess, to the cosmos and stars and the infinite potential of the Celestial Grimoire.
But I didn't repeat them aloud, because to do so meant invoking the power of the World that now existed deep within my very being.
… The kitchen wasn't the place to do that.
"Huh," I breathed, feeling something new yawning just beneath my skin - a tingly feeling of power that simply wasn't there before. "Heh, guess I'm stayin' in today."
Kaiser could wait for his ass kicking - him, Lung, Coil, and anyone else liable to get their shit pushed in.
Right now, I just wanted to practice magic.
Perks Accepted:
Reality Marble (Fate/Stay Night - 800 CP)
600 CP remaining."
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