by Wyatt Kane
But the deerkin had other things on her mind.
“Maybe we should take one of the unused bedrooms out of mothballs,” she said, as if to herself. “Give you a space of your own. Until then, think of my room as yours.”
Ty wanted to protest that he already had an apartment that he shared with Brad, but he was too tired. And anyway, Dinah had already turned away.
“You just relax and rest up for a bit,” she said. “You’ve been working hard all day. I’ll help Tempest keep watch on our guest until the cryo chamber turns up.”
With that, she left Ty to his own devices.
Ty looked around at the deerkin’s room. He was comfortable there, and really needed a rest. But before he did, out of no more than curiosity, he brought up his character sheet to see what impact his hangover was actually having.
General
Name: Ty Wilcox
Modifications: None
Unique Skill: Technological Enhancement
Secondary Skill: Cyber Assimilation
Alignment: Neutral Good
Baseline
Strength: 4
Durability: 3
Healing: 5
Stamina: 4
Agility: 4
Intelligence: 7
Wisdom: 5
Skill: N/A
Secondary Skill: N/A
Post enhancement
Strength: 7 (-1)
Durability: 6 (-1)
Healing: 7 (-2)
Stamina: 6 (-2)
Agility: 7 (-2)
Intelligence: 8 (-2)
Wisdom: 6 (-2)
Skill: 3 (-1)
Secondary Skill: 1 (-1)
Ty nodded to himself. The de-buff next to his attributes was pretty much as he’d expected.
17: Pleasant Dreams
Ty was asleep from the moment his head hit the pillow. At first, it was the deep, empty sleep of exhaustion. But it wasn’t long before images began appearing in his AZT-407 impacted mind.
When Ty had first put on the device, his dreams had been full of hope for the future. One in particular he held onto as a guiding beacon. The details of the dream had started to fade, but one central image remained strong.
That image was of himself flying through the sky, a blue nimbus of power all around him, with a legion of superheroes by his side. Below them was a world filled with peace and harmony. A world no longer twisted according to the whim of the mega-corporations that currently defined everyone’s daily lives. A world where those who worked hard could rise, and those who sought to cause pain to others did not.
How Ty might bring such a future into being, he didn’t know. Yet there were possibilities he was starting to sense. Fragments of a larger plan were beginning to form.
First, he had to take power away from the mega-corporations. That was a given. The question was whether or not that could even be done. And if so, how?
Since that utopian image had appeared in his mind, Ty’s dreams had become darker. Sometimes he saw the faces of men he’d killed. Sometimes he heard their screams as they died, and even smelled the ozone of blaster fire tinged with a metallic hint of their blood.
Sometimes he dreamed of flying with Tempest, of dancing naked in the sky with the blonde superhero, or of the glorious moments of pleasure which had become an integral part of his life.
And sometimes he dreamed instead of Dinah, wracked with the pain of withdrawal from the device that gave her the skills that defined her, or of Tempest, slumped on the floor of an industrial plant, the villain known as Massive standing above her in triumph.
But this time, in the dark of Dinah’s cozy, comfortable room, Ty dreamed mostly of Bain.
Massively strong and durable beyond measure, Bain was the first superpowered villain Ty had met. With high stats for strength, durability, and likely for healing as well, the massive man had killed Ty’s predecessor, Zach Kennedy, in a battle that had literally changed Ty’s very life.
Bain was a minion of the Master, and had been a perpetual thorn in Ty’s side – and that of Tempest and Dinah as well. The monstrous villain had been the tool the Master had used to coerce Lilith into acting according to their will. Again and again, Ty and the others had been forced into battle against the huge man.
The last encounter had been decisive. Lilith had got her revenge, hurling the huge man into the earth from a great height, and then stripping him of both his device and a good chunk of the arm that had worn it at the same time.
Yet, as Ty lay in Dinah’s bed, it was Bain who haunted his mind.
Bain, laughing hugely as Ty tried and failed to fire his blaster. Bain, who lunged to attack as Ty’s shield flickered and died. Bain, who appeared in the apartment Ty shared with Brad, only this time Tempest didn’t show. Bain, who pounded away at the support of the amusement park ride, laughing at Ty as the structure came down.
And Bain, staring at Ty through the glass at Clinic 104 as Ty received his dose of AZT-407.
As he dreamed, Ty flinched and moaned and tried to fight, but his arms and legs wouldn’t work. He tried to shout warnings to Tempest and the rest, but his voice refused to engage. He tried to do something, anything at all, to protect himself and those he loved against Bain’s ongoing intrusions.
But there was nothing he could do. Everywhere he turned, Bain was there. Everywhere he ran, the monstrous man had somehow beaten him there. And all the tech he tried to bring to bear failed to work.
Ty was caught in a nightmare called Bain, and he couldn’t escape.
For how long Ty suffered in his dreams, he didn’t know. He just kept tossing and turning and trying to escape, but there was nowhere to run, nowhere to hide where Bain couldn’t find him.
Finally, with the monstrous man reaching toward him, it seemed he was done. Ty felt the man’s hands touch his shoulder and tried to flinch away. Bain laughed at him once again, then said something surprising.
“Ty,” he said, his voice surprisingly high and gentle. “Ty, you’re having a bad dream,” he said, and Ty thought it a weirdly incongruous thing for the monster to say.
Bain shook him, not so hard as he might have expected, but gently, with his touch full of concern.
“Ty, wake up.”
And that was enough. Ty opened his eyes, and just for a moment, he didn’t know where he was. It was dark, but he could still see a little. He was in a larger bed than his own, with each of the posts at the corners carved to resemble trees.
Dinah’s room, his growing consciousness provided. Yet, when he drew a deep breath, he saw that it wasn’t the deerkin who had woken him, but Lilith.
Ty’s first coherent thought as he woke was one of disappointment. Not that Lilith was there – the demon woman’s simple presence was a delight that brought a smile to his lips.
His disappointment was more personal than that. He had leveled up, or at least thought he had. No longer was he a loser stuck in a dead-end job with no hope for the future. In just a couple of weeks, he had become something more. He was stronger than he had been. Braver. More confident. No longer was he a noob in the game of life.
He had taken on villains that might have squashed him without even thinking about it before, and come out on top.
Yet, in the darkest recesses of his mind, maybe he hadn’t changed that much at all. In his dreams, he’d cowered away from Bain’s attack. He had run and tried to hide.
It was beyond disappointing. Even though it was no more than a dream, he felt he’d let himself and the women in his life down.
Then he shook his head. A dream was no more than that, he decided. It was his real-world actions that mattered more, and he was done with running from danger.
Ty drew a deep breath and noted that the cold pressure behind his eyes was still there. Perhaps he was less exhausted, but the hangover from the AZT-407 drug still remained.
He looked at Lilith, who had climbed up on the bed beside him. “Thank you,” he said hoarsely. “That was a doozy.” He reached out in a subconscious ge
sture just to touch her beautiful face.
Then he wondered why the demon woman was there. “Has something happened?” he asked. “Has the Master done something else?”
Surprisingly, Lilith blushed. She shook her head. “Nothing like that,” she said. “I just wanted to check in on you. You seemed so exhausted. And that boy from the ruins…” Her expression became serious for a moment. “I just wanted to make sure you were okay, and when I saw you thrashing about…” The demon woman shrugged as well as she could with her weight supported by her elbows.
Ty sensed there was something else as well. For him, because of the drug in his system, their rescue efforts had been draining. But for Lilith, they had the opposite effect. Beneath her concern for Ty, and her embarrassment that she had come to check on him, Ty thought he sensed real pride at what she had been able to do.
And something else. An excitement that she didn’t quite know what to do with.
Ty recognized the feelings. He’d felt much the same when Tempest had first shown him the benefits of wearing his device. The freedom of flying through the air. The sense that he finally mattered. It was euphoric, an awakening of sorts, and all at once Ty understood the reason Lilith had blushed.
She hadn’t come just to check up on him. She was looking for some way to share that sense of euphoria.
In the darkness of Dinah’s bedroom, Ty gave the demon woman a smile. He reached for her, pulled her close, and kissed her on the lips.
Lilith returned the kiss with unexpected passion, melting into him and exploring with her tongue. Then she pulled away. She colored again.
“Is this really okay?” she asked, her uncertainty apparent.
Ty didn’t really have to ask what she meant, but he did anyway. “You mean, without Dinah?” Of himself, Dinah, and Tempest, the demon woman had first opened herself to Dinah’s affections. Like Ty with Tempest, there was a sense of loyalty there. And the relationship between all four of them was still new.
Lilith nodded. “Yes. That’s what I mean.”
Ty smiled again. The demon woman had asked the question before, when they’d been getting ready to head to the destruction zone caused by Concussion. It seemed his answer then hadn’t been quite sufficient.
“I had the same worries when this was new for me,” Ty said. “When I mentioned it to Dinah, she just laughed and said she wouldn’t deny me or Tempest pleasure, and nor would Tempest.” Still smiling, he ran his fingers over one of the demon woman’s horns. It was hard and unyielding, and the tip was surprisingly sharp. The perfectly formed appendage was so well integrated that it might have been natural.
“I see no reason why the same rules shouldn’t apply to you. But we don’t have to do anything if you’re not certain.”
The demon woman considered Ty’s words for a moment. Then she nodded. “If you’re sure?” she said.
“Do you think I would risk what we have together?” Ty asked.
That was the clincher. Or perhaps Lilith’s need simply outweighed her natural caution. Either way, she hesitated no longer. Instead, she moved so she was kneeling on the bed, blushed a deep pink, and pushed the shoulder straps of her top from her shoulders before climbing out of the costume.
In moments, she was naked, and Ty couldn’t help but stare.
All three of the women in his world were spectacular in their own way, but of them all, Lilith was the most voluptuous. Yet even then, she was balanced as well, her breasts full, tipped with pink, and a marvelous match for the width of her hips.
Despite the pressure behind his eyes, Ty’s body still responded to the sight of Lilith’s glory in the time-honored way.
This was the first time they had been naked together without Tempest and Dinah being present. It seemed to make her even shyer than normal, and at first she couldn’t meet his eyes.
“You are beautiful,” he said simply, and that was enough. Still blushing, she looked at him, and smiled as well.
“Come here,” Ty said, and she did.
It started with a kiss, a brush of Lilith’s lips against Ty’s, but that was never going to be enough. The demon woman straddled him with the bedding between them and kissed him again, this time with more urgency, her tongue seeking his own. Then Lilith pulled away, smiled shyly and blushed yet again. She worked her way all the way up until her thighs were on either side of Ty’s head, giving him a delightful view as she gripped the headboard.
Ty buried his face in pink fuzz at the same time as he grasped the soft but firm flesh of her buttocks with both hands, and was surprised when the demon woman wrapped her tail around one of his wrists. In just a few minutes, she let out a gasp and shuddered against him, and Ty took that as his cue. He squirmed his way upward to give himself leverage and tipped the demon woman onto her back.
She squealed and laughed as Ty bit her gently where her neck joined her shoulder, then the laugh turned into a gasp as he entered her, just the tip, before plunging in all the way.
18: A Chance at Redemption
“Ahem,” Dinah said, clearing her throat from the doorway.
By then, Lilith was straddling Ty, her wings beating in subconscious rhythm to their movements, and Ty had his hands on her hips. The interruption startled them both, but where Ty simply looked over and gave the deerkin a grin, Lilith flinched. Her hands moved to cover her breasts and she might have moved off him completely if Ty hadn’t held onto her more tightly.
Dinah saw the demon woman’s reaction and laughed. “Relax,” she said. “And please, don’t cover yourself. I’m enjoying the view.”
Lilith blushed a deep pink, then sat up straight and proud, dropping her hands to her sides.
“Would you like to join in?” Ty asked.
Dinah gave him a broad grin, but slowly shook her head. “I’d like to,” she said. “But, sadly, duty calls. There’s been another event.”
Instantly, Ty grew more serious. This time, when Lilith tried to climb off, he let her. Yet the demon woman had gotten over her modesty. She didn’t immediately climb into her clothes or even duck beneath the bed covering. Instead, she sat next to Ty, supporting herself with one arm, all her glory out on display.
“What’s happened?” the demon woman asked.
Dinah eyed both Lilith and Ty up and down with an expression akin to hunger. She drew a deep breath, swallowed, and shook her head. “If only,” she said. Then she returned to the business at hand. “There’s another of those superpowered villains causing havoc. This one is like a human dynamo. He is on a major intersection, casting energy about like bolts of electricity.”
At her description, Ty thought he knew who it was that they faced. The third of the Master’s minions, Ty thought of him as ‘Sparkles’. Just like the other two, he and Tempest had put him out of commission once before.
Dinah hadn’t finished. “Are you up to it?” she asked, quirking half a grin as she glanced down to his waist.
Despite the lascivious tone in her voice, Ty knew she was asking a legitimate question. And despite his ongoing headache and lethargy, he felt better now than he had before beginning his nap.
He nodded. “Tempest and I have met this one before as well. An EMP grenade should be enough to sort him out,” he said. It was Dinah’s turn to nod. She looked at Lilith, but didn’t need to repeat her question.
The demon woman seemed less sure of herself. She bit her lip, then started to speak. “I can help,” she said.
But the answer didn’t satisfy Dinah at all. “But?” the deerkin asked.
Lilith shook her head. “I don’t know,” she said. “This one feels like it will be more of a fight. I have no issue with him, whoever he is. Not really. He isn’t Bain or the Master.” Despite her words, Lilith seemed to except what Dinah was asking of her. “But, yes. I can help.”
Ty understood. The demon woman really was finding her place in their team, and her place wasn’t that of a fighter.
“You don’t have to.”
This time, it wasn’t Dinah
who spoke, but Tempest, who had appeared behind the deerkin at the doorway. She took in Ty’s and Lilith’s nakedness without batting an eye, and continued as if it was the most normal conversation in the world.
“I heard the alert and came looking for you,” she said to Dinah. Then she returned her attention to Ty. “I messed up,” she said, sounding regretful. “Before, I mean. I let my emotions get the best of me, and I shouldn’t have. But stopping bad guys is what I do. I can do this.”
To Ty, it almost sounded as if she was asking either for his forgiveness or permission, and he didn’t know quite what to say. He gave her a nod, and that seemed to suffice.
“Besides,” the blonde superhero continued. “There’s only so much time I can spend looking at my father.”
To Ty, she sounded sad as she spoke, but that sadness was a far cry from the incandescent rage she’d displayed before. She seemed much calmer, much more like her usual self.
Tempest then addressed Lilith directly. “You can stay here, if you like,” she said. “Sit this one out. You’ve already done more than your share today.”
It was decided. Dinah made sure Tempest knew where to go, and, with a last, regretful look at Lilith’s spectacular form, Ty climbed into his clothes. As he did, he thought of something.
“How many of those cryo chambers do you think you can get your hands on?” he asked Dinah.
The deerkin raised an eyebrow.
“I’m just thinking we might need to have a few on hand,” Ty said.
Dinah nodded, understanding his intent. “Good idea,” she said. Then she cast a glance at Lilith on the bed and licked her lips. “I’ll add it to my list of things to do. But first, I see something else that requires my attention.” She shot a knowing glance at Ty and grinned mischievously.
Despite the ongoing pain in his head, Ty couldn’t help it. He laughed out loud as he realized what the deerkin intended.
◆◆◆
As Ty stepped out of the mansion into a dark and moody late evening with Tempest at his side, he was surprised to learn that the last of the daylight had faded while he’d been sleeping. As was typical for a city perpetually shrouded in clouds, there were no stars, and the moon couldn’t shine brightly enough to show Ty its position.
