by H D Forth
I was baffled. Back when Val had been born people didn't know about electricity, now it was the ruling factor in most of our lives. When she had been a child, the world hadn’t yet stopped believing in magic.
"When you've been alive for that long, you inevitably meet someone, often a bunch of someones. These someones make life great and enjoyable, you learn to dedicate yourself to this new family. Then you outlive them. All your friends, your lovers, even your rivals die. Either of old age or from other sources. It doesn't matter, one way or another they all die, and you're alone, again."
She swallowed, and I could see tears well up in her eyes. I scrambled across the floor to hug her. “Then you try to fill that hole they leave behind. I’ve tried with dedicating myself to a skill.” She mumbled into my chest. “I’ve tried by buying stuff. Often times the only thing that really worked to get me out of the slump was my power.”
She didn't wrap her arms around me as she talked, but she did lean into me. "I told you before that my power can make me unstable. It sort of has its own will, its own wants. Always we want the same things, rather I know that I can't have them, and the power doesn't care. In the throes of my power, I will do what I please, not what is right."
I was feeling a little worried, I had seen her eyes flare with power. What if she does something that she might regret?
“Are you in the hold of your powers?” I asked.
She let out a harsh laugh. "No, thank the gods. I've been using it sparingly and with only on a trickle at a time."
I thought back to her easily forcing me back to her crotch. She had easily overpowered even my robotic power. I didn't shiver, I stopped my body before it could go that far. Instead, I picked her up in my arms.
"Tell you what," I said, getting to my feet. "Why don't we take a break and watch some of those reruns you favor so much."
I walked over to the couch, with her still in my arms. It was hard to imagine that the woman I held in my arms, was capable to physically outmatching me. I had the TV turned on and set to reruns before I even reached the couch.
“Thank you.” She said, turning in my arms to see the TV.
"It's no big deal if you promise to be there when I start getting the ups and downs." I tried to sound casual, but I knew I failed. I saw the look in her eyes when she realized that it was likely I too would outlive all but her.
Chapter Sixty-Two
After a delicious hour on my knees in the kitchen, that Val could suddenly remember some other things that she also wanted to get set up in head quarters.
Soon enough we were in the car, after having carried out some pots and pans.
I had gotten in the car, entering the destination while she was putting away the pans. She was likely the one that would use them the most, so they should be how she liked it. At least that’s what she said after shooing me away from them.
When she entered the car, she didn't go to the other seat, instead she just sat in my lap, letting me wrap my arms around her.
“You really like food don’t you?” I asked. She leaned back into me, and we both enjoyed the sensation of being close. It was a powerful thing, closeness. It was a similar though also wholly different thing than sex. It was one I’d often found myself missing more than sex too.
“Of course I do.” She said softly. There was no hint at sex or teasing of things to come in her voice, only a sense of satisfaction and languid pleasure. “When you’ve been alive for as long as I have, there are a few things that you come to enjoy. Food is one of them.”
I desperately wanted to know what that meant. To live as long as she has? I knew that she was from the before this tower city was built, some odd 70 years ago. So she was older than most normal people alive. I had heard of some supers that had the ability to survive for extended periods of time.
“What’s another thing you get to appreciate?” I asked, instead of pushing on the age thing. I’d heard that was a bad idea about women.
She leaned even further back into me, stretching and yawning. “The quiet.” She said, though I could see the smile on her lips. “When I was a kid there was almost always quiet. Twenty out of twenty-three hours a day was quiet. Now there’s only silence when you block out all other noise.” She mumbled.
I let out a little groan of frustration. “Just how old are you?” I asked. “You keep hinting about when you were a child, or when you get to my age, or whatever.”
She giggled and turned in my lap, lying on her side on me. “When you get to my age, you learn about the virtue of patience.” She said, yawning again. “For now you’ve worn me out and I desire to fall asleep in my lover’s arms.” With that she curled up on my lap, setting her forehead against the nape of my neck.
I wrapped one arm around her back, using the other to keep her legs from slipping down. It was a longer drive to her place than I had expected. I rarely rented a car, preferring to walk. Normally, I could curtail any unpleasant emotions of being trapped, by using my Foundation. However I feared I wasn’t able to manage even that much with the current state it was in
I hadn't considered that it was about the time for people to get home from work, and there was a ton of people who either leased a car or rented one of the regular. This meant that most of the stop lights we at least had to hold for a while. Our travel time went form fifteen minutes to twenty-five minutes.
Those twenty-five minutes was some of the most pleasant time I’ve ever spent in a car. The car that had rolled up was one of the kinds with windows all around, giving me a clear view into the outer world, which alleviated some of the anxiety. I doubt that hadn’t Val being reclining in my arms, it would’ve gone from uncomfortable, to mildly terrifying.
But the sensation of sitting slightly reclined in the backseat of a car, with a beautiful woman who trusted me enough to sleep in my lap.
Val started to stir not long before we arrived at her apartment. “Thank you,” she told me quietly. “That was nice.” She gave me a peck on lips and stretched before opening the door and getting off my lap. I followed behind her.
Inside her apartment we spent a good amount of time rummaging through her messy floor. I struck me just how different the apartment was from headquarters. I had noticed it before, but now sitting in the apartment, rummaging through her junk for things that mighty be useful, it struck me on another level than before.
“How come your apartment is so different from HQ?” I asked.
She stopped looking through the junk turning to me. “This.” She gestured in a way that suggested her entire apartment. “Is caused by my ups and downs, let me tell you after five centuries you have a lot of them.” She said, sounding mostly casual, though I detected a hint of tension in her voice.
That struck me. Back when she was born people didn't know about electricity, now it was the ruling factor in most of our lives. When she had been a child, the world hadn’t yet stopped believing in magic.
“When you’ve been alive for that long, you inevitably meet someone, often a bunch of someones. These someones make life great and enjoyable, you learn to dedicate yourself to this new family. Then you outlive them. All your friends, your lovers, even your rivals die. Either of old age or from other sources. It doesn't matter, one way or another they all die and you’re alone, again.”
She swallowed, and I could see tears well up in her eyes. I scrambled across the floor to hug her. “Then you try to fill that hole they leave behind. I’ve tried with dedicating myself to a skill.” She mumbled into my chest. “I’ve tried by buying stuff. Often times the only thing that really worked to get me out of the slump was my power.”
She didn't wrap her arms around em as she talked, but she did lean into me. “I told you before that my power can make me unstable. It sort of has its own will, its own wants. Always we want the same things, rather I know that I cant have them and the power doesn't care. In the throes of my power I will do what I please, not what is right.”
I was feeling a little worried, I ha
d seen her eyes flare with power. What if she does something that she might regret?
“Are you in the hold of your powers?” I asked.
She let out a harsh laugh. “No thank the gods. I’ve been using it sparingly and with only on very low power.”
I thought back to her easily forcing me back to her crotch. She had easily overpowered even my robotic power. I didn't shiver, I stopped my body before it could go that far. Instead I picked her up in my arms.
“Tell you what.” I said, getting to my feet. “Why don’t we take a break and watch some of those reruns you favor so much.”
I walked over to the couch, with her still in my arms. It was hard to imagine that the woman I held in my arms, was capable to physically out matching me. I had the TV turned on and set to reruns before I even reached the couch.
“Thank you.” She said, turning in my arms to see the TV.
“It’s no big deal, if you promise to be there when I start getting the ups and downs.” I tried to sound casual, but I knew I failed. I saw the look in her eyes when she realized that it was likely I too would outlive all but her.
Chapter Sixty-Three
He was almost ready. Leric was sitting in his chair. It was clearly still too small, and he hadn't bothered finding one that really fit. It showed off his massive size that even a recliner was too small for him.
His legs were too long, his shoulders too wide and his upper body slightly too tall for the back so the top of his bald head stuck up. He had often heard himself described as having a granite hewn brow and he was making good use of it now as he scowled at the gathered gang members.
They all wanted something from him. Right now it was acknowledgment. They had all mostly accepted him as their leader at this point, there were still a few hold outs fueled by Trace’s whispered words, but he was going to fix that today.
"We need to stop him soon!" Someone from the crowd yelled. They were all gathered in a semi-circle around him. "We need to kill him before he gains too much momentum and comes to stop us!" whoever the voice belonged to, he obviously wasn't too bright. Kill a hero? Not if you're smart, that'll only bring more, and they come down harder.
Not even he at his prime would've been able to withstand the force of someone like Galenor if he came for him with full force. Leric only barely managed to stop the scoff from leaving his mouth. The voice's words seemed to hit a chord with the gang members though, and there were slightly panicked murmurs going around the crowd.
He had spoked of momentum, like the hero was some kind of snowball, rolling down the hill gaining mass and speed with every second? Hardly.
He really wasn't as dangerous as they all thought he was. If he had been any sort of real danger, then he would've come for them already. To Leric it was apparent, but these young fools had never felt the sudden onset of massive powers. Not like him.
When that first happened, the first reaction was often to test the limits. There weren't many ways one could test such limits and until they were genuinely put to the test, then that gifted, that super would continue to get cockier and cockier.
At least until they met their superior, very few that had met Leric as their superior had ever recovered. That was one aspect he was very excellent at, beating them down, dominating them hard enough that they wouldn't dare get back up again.
Now was not yet the time for the hero though. Now was the time for young Trace. He leaned down grabbing a backpack that he had placed against his chair before the meeting had started.
"You are right." He grumbled, "this fool of a hero is a menace to our society." They were young people, they like using words like society in exchange for terms like gangs. They were still a little idealistic, they couldn't help it. "We need to stop him. For that cause, I have chosen Trace to handle him. Trace you have ever been the loyal subject, always the first to come when I call, risking even my worst of fits of anger to give me reports. It is only right that you get the honors."
A circle of space cleared around the wide-eyed young man. Leric threw the backpack to him. The man’s spindly arms reflexively catching the bag when it hit him in the chest. “You will be given free options of the armory, and I have managed to procure these explosives for your use, should they be necessary. But. Only if they’re necessary.”
He hadn't actually given him real explosives, he was no fool. He wasn't going to hand his enemy the single most useful weapon a human could have when fighting someone who regenerates.
It seemed for a moment that his declaration had taken the young man so much by surprise that he was just going to go for it, but Leric was not to be that lucky. "I would like some members along with me." He got out, gaining a little strength as the words came to him. "I am not certain that I would be able to handle someone like him alone. I would like to request friends to come along with me."
"Of course," Leric replied. No matter how little he liked it, he couldn't just deny him and send him on his way. If he won, then he would gain too much notoriety, and if Trace lost, then he had basically been sent to prison by Leric, which was only a little better than Leric himself killing someone that had publicly shown loyalty to Leric. It didn't help that Trace had been very careful about who he drew into his circle of allies.
Leric named a few other people that would join him. A few that he knew to be members of his group and some that were not. "You have only a few days to plan and take down the hero, after which I will require a full report, that outlines how you managed to defeat him, and how you went about it." Leric explained, turning back to his ‘throne'. "Dismissed."
He settled on the too small chair as he watched everyone file out of the room. There was of course very little chance that they would be able to take down the hero. He had read Trace's reports, another sign of his inexperience. He had seen some of the things that he had done and falsely assumed that the hero to be telekinetic, due to how he stopped the car in particular.
Leric doubted it, not much else he did fit the average telekinetic's way of solving issues, too much hand-to-hand for that. Personally, Leric thought he was some sort of MagAI, which would likely make him even more dangerous that one would first assume.
Their danger wasn't in their slightly enhanced everyday strength or their surprising amount of stamina. It was what happened to their increased strength when that stamina that usually could last for days were burned in minutes.
He had once seen a video of one MagAI disassembling an entire enemy army in a matter of minutes. Near upon a thousand men, broken, battered, hurt and shattered, in just a few minutes.
They rarely used the guns, since at that point they're as liable to hit themselves with them as they were to hit their enemies with them. Luckily, MagAI in such powerful frames were rare and very expensive.
The one he had seen a video of, had allegedly cost more Credits, than the price of raising and populating an entire Tower with industry, yet there were very few things in the world that could compete with creatures on that power scale, not even incursions from the wild got that powerful. Or at least the ones that did didn't bother hunting humans.
He doubted this hero was a particularly powerful MagAI since he seemed to have trouble running down a car. The only problem he would have to worry about now was Trace pulling a tactical miracle out of his ass.
That was the hard part about the situation. Leric would have to give him enough material, that Leric himself could've pulled it off, even without the use of his powers, but not so much that Trace could quickly figure it out.
Chapter Sixty-Four
He was almost ready. Leric was sitting in his chair. It was clearly still too small, and he hadn't bothered finding one that really fit. It showed off his massive size that even a recliner was too small for him. His legs were too long, his shoulders too wide and his upper body slightly too tall for the back so the top of his bald head stuck up. He had often heard himself described as having a granite hewn brow and he was making good use of it now as he scowled at the gathered gang mem
bers.
They all wanted something from him. Right now it was acknowledgment. They had all mostly accepted him as their leader at this point, there were still a few hold outs fueled by Trace’s whispered words, but he was going to fix that today.
“We need to stop him soon!” Someone from the crowd yelled. They were all gathered in a semi circle around him. “We need to kill him before he gains too much momentum and comes to stop us!” whoever the voice belonged to, he obviously wasn't too clever. Kill a hero? Not if you’re smart, that’ll only bring more and they come down harder.
Not even he at his prime, would’ve been able to with stand the force of someone like Galenor, if he came for him with full force. Leric only barely manged to stop the scoff from leaving his mouth. The voice’s words seemed to hit a chord with the gang members though, and there were slightly panicked murmurs going around the crowd.
