Chimera Time 12 (Patreon)

Chapter 12:

“So how was it?” Kori asked the next morning as I sat down with a mug of coffee and a pair of sweatpants.

“You want details, you’ll have to get those from Brit,” I chided as I started gulping down the morning dose of caffeine.

“From the lingering scent, I’d say they both had a good time,” Greer chimed in as she sat down with a… was that a quart jar of coffee?

A pitiable groan from the living room drew our attention, letting all of us see the bow-legged and very naked Britanny slowly and very gingerly limp down the stairs. I felt an odd mix of embarrassment and pride as I realized that she was still too out of it to realize that my, ah… “discharges” were still leaking out of her. Maybe let her get some caffeine then have Kori take her through the shower?

“Have fun last night?” Kori asked with a grin as Britanny slid into a chair with a hiss.

“Caffeine. Now,” the sexy cheetah growled. Biting back a chuckle, I slid my mug over to her, which was promptly snapped up and what little was left quickly vanished. Blinking in confusion, Britanny held the mug upside down and shook it.

The morning was calm, mostly just us relaxing, cuddling together on the couch while watching some brainless TV movies. Kori did take Britanny up to shower after she was some semblance of living, and from the noises that drifted down, I’m pretty sure that Kori did more than just wash Britanny’s back. I bit back a smirk of amusement, letting Kori have her fun while Greer rubbed her head against my hand like an oversized house cat. Kori was just floating down the stairs in her usual “dress” when there was a knock on the front door.

“I’ll get it,” I said before Kori could make her way over. Opening the front door, I was surprised to see the blushing, nervous face of Vicky. We hadn’t spoken since that date with Britanny on the Boardwalk, when she, Crystal, and Amy had bumped into Britanny and I.

“Everything okay?” I asked.

“Yeah, yeah, it’s just…” Vicky said before trailing off, looking off to the side as she tried to figure out how to say what she wanted. “Mom and Aunt Sarah were having an argument, and… can I step inside? I don’t want to ask this on your doorstep.”

“Of course, come on in. Forewarning, Kori’s not one for clothes when at home, so you might get an eyeful before she heads up to get dressed.”

Vicky didn’t say anything, but her face turned an even brighter red as she stepped past me inside. Shutting the door behind her, I called out, “Kori, Greer, we have a guest. That means clothes!”

There was the sound of feet pounding on the stairs, and I walked into the living room behind Vicky just in time to catch a flash of two orange asses (albeit one covered in fur) racing up the stairs out of sight. Were I paying less attention, I would have missed Vicky muttering under her breath, “I’m straight, I’m straight, I’m straight.”

I didn’t bother holding in the chuckles that bubbled up, while motioning for Vicky to have a seat on the couch. Sitting down across from her in one of the chairs, I leaned forward, elbows resting on my knees and asked, “So, your mother and your aunt were arguing, what about?”

Vicky took a deep breath before blurting out, “Mom thinks you’re a villain because Aunt Sarah mentioned that she hadn’t seen you heading to work each morning, but Crystal recognized the woman you were with at the Boardwalk from the Toybox fight club so Aunt Sarah thinks you’re also part of the fight club and now the two of them are shouting past each other and…”

I held up a hand to get Vicky to stop babbling, before sighing and rubbing my forehead. This was some BS drama I didn’t want to deal with, fucking Shards and conflict drives.

“Right, that’s some interpersonal drama I don’t need. Is your mother at your aunt’s and were they arguing when you came over here?” I asked, wanting to get this dealt with immediately.

“No, they’re arguing at home, I can give directions or…”

“Is something the matter?” Kori asked as she came down, a light blue tee-shirt and pair of daisy dukes coupled with some flipflops being the entirety of her dress. I took a moment to explain the situation to Kori, who was soon absolutely pissed. I admit, being carried through the air was a new experience, but with the mood that Kori was in I certainly wasn’t going to argue with her.

Vicky led the way, and Kori dropped down with me in their backyard. Even from here, I could hear Sarah arguing with another woman, though I couldn’t make out the words being used. Not as a human, anyway. Kori and I followed Vicky as she opened the sliding glass door and the voices became more distinct.

“Mom!” Vicky shouted, her aura briefly flaring to get her mother’s attention.

“What, Vicky?” the short, blonde woman that I hadn’t met yet snapped, turning to face her daughter, seeing both Kori and I at the same time.

“Felix, Kori, I didn’t realize that Vicky had gone to your place,” Sarah said with a pointed tone towards her niece.

“Don’t you start too,” I snapped as I walked past the nervous teen, positioning myself in front of her and keeping Carol from doing anything to her if she lost her temper. “Victoria was considerate enough to tell me that I was being accused of being a villain, without any evidence or having even met the person accusing me. That hardly seems just, appropriate, or ‘heroic’,” I used finger quotes, just to drive the point home, “so my wife and I are here to get the matter settled.”

“Get out of my house,” Carol snarled, her fingers curling as she glared at me with a frankly disturbing amount of hatred in her eyes.

“As soon as I get an answer. Like I said just a moment ago, we have never met. Why are you so certain that I’m a villain?”

“Carol, I’ve met Felix, you haven’t. You have no reason to think he’s a villain,” Sarah tried to reason with her sister. “You don’t even know if he’s a cape.”

“I see where all the brains in the family went,” I quipped, making both siblings glare at me. “Still waiting on an answer by the way.”

By this point, Kori had pulled Vicky aside, and both were standing well away from me. I didn’t move any closer, anything that starts, I wouldn’t be the one to start it.

“You know exactly why you’re a villain,” Carol finally spoke up.

“Whether I am or am not is irrelevant to the question I asked. Why do you think I’m a villain. That’s what I asked. Saying that I know why doesn’t answer my question. It just deflects, tries to put the burden of proof on me. But I suppose I should have expected something like that from a lawyer,” I spat, saying the word lawyer like a jew would say Hitler. That last one might have been a bit much, but the snickers I heard off to the side told me that at least someone appreciated my joke.

Carol whipped around to face the snickering observer, but I wasn’t having any of that. Stepping in front of Carol, I glowered down at her, “No, this conversation isn’t over. Why do you think I’m a villain? It’s not that hard a question.”

My accuser growled and stomped up to me. Which would have been more intimidating if she weren’t scraping five foot in heels. Poking me in the chest, just below my sternum, she hissed, “Listen well, stay away from my family you piece of shit.”

“Dodging the question, again. Throwing names too. How the hell do you manage to win any cases with behavior like that? What’s next, you treat any kids I eventually have as gangsters just because you think, without evidence mind you, that their father’s bad?”

There was a cough behind me, and I finally glanced over my shoulder to see that the one who’d been snickering was Amy, who’d apparently either already been here and I’d missed her or come into the room at some point. A cold chill shot down my spine, remembering the entire ordeal regarding Amy’s adoption and how she was treated by Carol in the source material. Based on what I’d seen thus far, I don’t expect it to have been any different here.

“Carol,” her sister tried to intervene. “You haven’t even told me why you think he’s a villain. You’re acting like you did around Marquis…”

Carol’s reaction did a good enough job at drawing attention that I’m fairly sure no one noticed my wince. Said reaction being going still and leveling a glare at me that made her previous ones look downright pouty.

“Get out of my house,” she said in a combination of growl and hiss, her fists tightly clenched.

“Mom?” Vicky asked, worry and concern in her voice.

“OUT!!!” Carol shouted as white energy coalesced in her hands, her feet pushing off the ground to leap towards me. Everyone else in the room froze, not having expected her to use her powers.

Me? I couldn’t move, not just from my shock but also because if I did then Amy’d be the one getting hit. I had enough time to transform, but none of the different aliens I’d found were exactly suitable for dealing with a pissed off Brandish while indoors. Still, I triggered a shift, feeling my power pick out a form as my body warped. My now metal clad fingers wrapped around the energy axes Carol was swinging, the energy that made them being readily devoured into my new body.

“You need to ca… fuck this sounds weird,” I said as I blinking the single eye in the middle of my face. My voice in this new form sounded like someone took a turian from Mass Effect and pulled the weird double flange sound effect apart.

“See!” the crazy woman screeched.

“I’m part of Toybox’s fight club you dumb broad, that doesn’t make me a villain. But on an actually important note, the fuck is wrong with you?! If I’d dodged you would have hit your daughter!”

“She’s not my daughter! She’s that bastard’s child!”

My eye narrowed, even as I kept a firm grip on the woman, and I growled out, “You raised her, you took care of her when she was sick, you put a roof over her head, clothed her, fed her, got her an educati…”

“Don’t you fucking start,” Carol snapped, trying to kick at me, but her legs were much too short. “I didn’t want to take in that bastard’s spawn! Knowing him, it would have been better if my ax hadn’t missed the closet!”

It took a moment, but everyone, even Carol herself, froze as what she snapped out was processed. The next thing I knew, Carol was ripped from my hands as she went flying back, crashing into a couch, a red faced, furious Sarah standing behind where Carol’d been.

“Amy, pack a bag,” Sarah said in a flat voice, barely hiding the sheer amount of rage she was feeling. “Felix, Kori, would you be willing to spare a room for Amy while I… have words with my sister?”

“There’s any doubt?” I asked while glaring at the still stunned Carol. I could feel the energy I’d devoured from her crackling and popping from the metal plugs at my fingertips. Kori walked behind me and gently guided Amy to her room, the younger girl definitely needing the support.

“S…” Carol began, only for her sister to cut her off.

“Not a word out of you, Carol. I don’t want to hear a single word from your mouth until after Amy’s gone,” Sarah all but snarled.

A few minutes later, Amy and Kori came down, Kori easily carrying the suitcase full of Amy’s stuff. After a hug from both Sarah and an utterly shocked and horrified Vicky, Amy was lifted up into Kori’s arms and I shifted to the brainy, diminutive form of Cerebrum and rode along. Amy was quiet during the trip, save for the sniffles and gasping breath as she pushed back her tears.

“We’re here,” Kori said quietly, as she came down for a landing.

“I’ll let Brittany and Greer know we’ll have company staying for a while,” I said, pushing down Cerebrum as I hopped onto the ground. Mental note: get a flying form for myself, because that’s a very useful ability to have. Entering the house, I see Greer sitting at the couch, naked as usual. She looks up as I enter, and I ask, “Is Brittany still here?”

Greer shook her head as she stood, “Said she needed to check with her doctor about something. Is everything okay?”

I sighed, running a hand through my hair, “Not really, we’re going to be having someone stay with us for a bit, and she’s not going to be comfortable with casual nudity. So for the time being you’ll need to be wearing something outside your room.”

Her face twisted into an annoyed scowl, but as I gave an overview of what had happened, that scowl faded. By the time I was finished, there was a sympathetic expression on her face as she made her way upstairs to get dressed. Good timing, because the front door opened to admit Amy and Kori just as Greer was high enough on the stairs that only her calves and feet were visible.

Turning to face them, I said, “Brittany headed out, and Greer’s going to put on something a bit more modest than her usual, so let’s start with a tour of the house.”

The tour was fairly straightforward, Greer joining us partway through and giving Amy a hug. From the furrowed expression on Amy’s face, her power was feeding her some interesting information on Greer’s physiology, but she didn’t say anything about it and instead stayed quiet. Amy eventually picked a guest room down the hall from the master bedroom, and asked to be given time to unpack.

Suspecting that what she was really going to do was collapse on the bed and cry until she ran out of tears, I nevertheless agreed, with a reminder that if she needed anything she could come to any of us. Heading downstairs, Kori, Greer, and I sat around the dining table in silence for a few minutes.

I broke the quiet with a sigh as I ran both hands through my hair, “Well… that was a complete and utter shit show.”

“Indeed,” Kori mused.

“So will she be joining your pride?” Greer asked, making me choke on my spit.

“What?” I asked as I got my coughing under control.

“She’s already living here, she looks like she could bear several children, and from what you said her power would all but ensure the health and wellbeing of the rest of the pride, it just makes sense.”

Kori came to my rescue, “Greer sweety, this is hardly the proper time for such a decision to be made. She’s just had a very traumatic day, that should be approached with a clear head.”

Dammit Kori, that’s not the resounding no I was hoping for.