Wyrm Lord of Brockton Bay 12 (Patreon)

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-VB-

Lisa
June 10, 2011

It’s been more than two weeks since Alan went to Boston and fought Leviathan, forcing the Endbringer to retreat. Of course, she noticed some discrepancies when the low quality of the video was released. Her power immediately noticed how he tried to move forward but something was stopping him.

Alan didn’t talk about it, though. Just said that he got snagged.

Well, Lisa saw a big opportunity with the Endbringer’s retreat. Considering that her fate was more or less connected with Alan, she took matters into her own hands.

That coalition she told Alan about? Gaining access to their “secret” website was all too easy. She also made sure to sow some fear among them. Made them question whether they really had the necessary firepower to fight Wyrm, who sent Leviathan packing.

And when she was done with her little intrigue, she made sure to collect the names of the more important members and then presented them to Alan for good measure.

As much as she wanted to sucker punch Alan repeatedly, she knew that she was tied to him. 

‘What am I doing?’ she thought to herself, sitting in her own “office” in the Lair’s underground base. ‘I’m helping my warden. Is this Stockholm Syndrome?’ she sighed. ‘It has to be some kind of a power-’

[There are no powers involved in our relationship. Alan has no Master-related power.”

‘But that just means that I’m willingly helping the guy who fucks-!’

[Specifically, you traded away your own freedom for safety, and you knew that sexual service would be a part of the deal. You are unhappy with how you ended up in this situation, not the details of it.]

She opened her mouth and closed her mouth before sighing. 

“Whatever,” she muttered. “I’m stuck here. I’m someone’s fuck toy. I’m fucking pregnant,” she hissed out towards the end. She sighed again, having finished a mini-rant, leaned back into her comfy leather office chair and then looked down.

Her belly swelled. It almost made her feel bloated, but unlike any fat she’d felt before, there was a firmness to her stomach that she’d never felt before. She caressed her belly and sighed.

Yes, she was pregnant, and if her power was correct…

[It is a girl.]

Ugh. There was going to be another of her coming out. Lisa didn’t know whether or not she would be able to handle that. She just hoped that she wouldn’t be as shitty of a parent as her parents, the kind that uses their children for profit without even thinking about whether or not their children were okay with that.

If being fucked by Alan taught her a lesson, then it was that there was a clear line of choice; she ultimately submitted herself to Alan. That and her need for revenge wasn’t stronger than her survival instinct.

‘… Would I name my baby or would Alan?’

Her hands slid slowly over her belly again, covered as it was with her t-shirt, and she pondered on that thought. 

‘Would Alan even care about the baby?’ It was a bit of a scary thought. She didn’t doubt for a fact that since she was “his,” he wouldn’t abuse her unless she did something stupid like steal from him. It just involved a lot of moaning as he pounded into her and put more babies. 

He’d probably care for the baby, right?

She was going to have to 

Sighing, Lisa stood up from her office chair and left the office, walking across the polished marble floor - [work done by one of Dockworkers Union members] - and walked out into the corridors. She closed the door to her office - [Sapele Mahogany, imported directly from an African warlord seeking to establish good ties with Wyrm, and then processed right here within the bay] - and walked forward. She nodded to the people she passed by, who were now a mix of Dragonteeth soldiers, some of their families, and more than a few soldier hopefuls. 

She wasn’t happy with any of them, though. Most of them regarded her less of herself and more of the fact that she was Wyrm’s woman.

But was she being harsh on them by being irritated by those thoughts and the actions that came from them? 

… Yeah, she was petty enough to be irritated and angry over them. 

She continued to walk, noting that the Lair had furthered its remodeling. There was a metallic sleekness in the base that had been absent before Wyrm’s victory at Boston. 

And speaking of Boston, she was consolidating power over there by acting as an unseen employer of many new capes. Kind of like what Coil did but she made sure that she would never point a gun at anyone’s head. 

She was above that. Yes, she was... 

So lost in her thoughts, she reached Alan’s bedroom at the bottommost layer of the Lair, completely missing the fact that she had autopilot herself through the maze like Lair and the elevator ride. 

[You are becoming much more familiar with the Lair.]

Thanks for that, Power Obvious.

She didn’t need to knock; knocking was reserved only for the minions. So she just walked in…

“Y-YES YES Y-yes-!”

Taylor’s climactic screams greeted her.

She sighed. 

To Lisa’s surprise, when she asked Alan to stop fucking her so much, he actually complied. Taylor, however, was very willing to take over the “time slots” that Lisa gave up. As a result, despite being further in her pregnancy than her, Lisa always seemed to find Taylor being fucked by Alan.

Lisa wondered if this was going to be her life now. Fucked in-between cape-related organizational work, Taylor subbing for her as Alan’s endless sex partner, and giving birth to babies.

[Alan is in love with pregnant Taylor. Unlikely to say it out loud. He already discussed with Taylor name of her baby. Realized that he hasn’t discussed with you about your baby’s name.]

And without having to ask Alan, she got her answer. It … made her happy, at least.

She was not happy when Alan noticed her and dragged her to bed.

-VB-

Alan
June 11, 2011

“As of right now, we are in control over 15% of the Brockton Bay, my lord,” Steward Bao reported with that ever present snake smile - or was it fox grin? - on his face. 

I sat in a meeting with Bao, Lisa, and few other close advisors of the Dragonteeth. The purpose of this meeting was to get a clear read of our situation in Brockton Bay and New England as a whole. I had to get this clear read because over the last two weeks, I have been recklessly expanding the Dragonteeth.

The purpose of such recklessness?

Despite Lisa’s work in driving a wedge between the Coalition members - the capes and their followers who wanted to kill me - and their allies, my stunt at Boston had only pushed them further into gathering more members.

In short, I was expecting war. 

“Territorially or economically?”

“On average, my lord. Territorially, we control less than 5% of the city,” Bao amended. “It is still a large portion of the city, considering that I am adding the Brockton Bay metropolitan area as part of the calculation, but it’s nothing compared to PRT’s 40%, E88’s 29%, and the ABB’s 15%. However, we have accepted the contract from Dockworker’s Union to protect them at a low rate, though we get some skilled laborers in exchange. This makes up less than 5% of our income. Your own mining operation makes up the majority of our income, my lord, at 74%. With Boston gone, however, the nearest refineries we dealt with were within Brockton Bay itself, though of much smaller size. We invested heavily into them, and they have expanded greatly since.”

“In only two weeks?”

“The law of the land only states that capes cannot start their own business, which is why we are considered a criminal organization. But if someone else hires capes, whose power can be used to speed up construction, that just want to work for a normal business, then it’s all fair game.”

“I asked about the speed, not about the entire dilemma, Bao,” I said irritably, clicking my tongue at him. 

Bao chuckled, always so blatantly fearless. “Of course, of course,” he assured me. “I merely thought that you would want the whole explanation.”

“The proper explanation should have been ‘we hired a cape to speed up construction,’” I replied. 

He stopped for a second. “Huh, you are right, my lord.” He cleared his throat, suddenly embarrassed by being called out on his lengthiness. “Moving on, economically, we make up 42% of the total GDP of the city, even though we only hire ten thousand people at max within the city.”

“How does that calculate to 15%?”

“Because surprisingly, the PRT ENE makes about as much money as we do.”

“They do?” more than one voice around the table spoke up in surprise and in sync.

“Very technically speaking, the lands around the PRT ENE headquarters belongs to the government, which gives PRT ENE the rights to administer.”

Lisa frowned from my left. “That’s some parahuman feudalism right there…” she mumbled. “Shouldn’t the government do something opposite-.” She stopped, and her eyes widened, no doubt listening to her power whisper secrets she’s not meant to know. Her head whipped to me, which caused noticeable confusion from the others.

“Yeah,” I replied, knowing what her power must have concluded from that obscure piece of information. I was actually surprised that such a policy existed. “No doubt PRT ENE collects rent from the businesses around it, and push out anyone who shows unfavorable views of the PRT ENE.” Was Piggot aware of this?

“I’m … surprised you managed to deduce that much, sir,” Bao said, his eyes blinking. “Yes, it is true that while PRT ENE’s more overt income source is government’s budgeting and souvenir sales, they do make a significant amount of money - 13% of their income, in fact - from the leasing of land and buildings.”

“And if you combine their souvenir sales, their land leases, and fed’s deposit of money…”

“They ‘make’ as much of the city’s GDP as we do, yes sir.”

“... Alright. Thank you, Bao, for giving us that picture of the city’s balance of power.”

He bowed. “I live to serve, my lord.” Then he sat down.

“Lisa?” I asked, knowing that she must have something to present.

Lisa sighed.

“The Coalition I told you about?” she asked. “That I asked you to prepare for?”

“Yes…?”

“They intend to attack within the month. The braindead idiots.”