The Good Life: Setting the Final Stage (ch. 29) (Patreon)

“Your bluff worked exceptionally well,” Robin remarked, seated at a table before she took a small sip from a steaming tea cup. We had ended up relocating to Queens since the island of Manhattan had essentially become a lawless state. After the fight, the military was arranging for a full on evacuation of the island, but it wasn't that easy to move a couple million people. Especially when quite a few of them were currently deaf.  It also didn't help that just as many people were entering the island to loot everything that wasn't nailed down.

As a result, Manhattan wasn't just a lawless state. It was a straight up war zone.

“It should buy us a couple of weeks. I've already burned what we don't need and relocated what we do,” I answered, leaning against a window as I looked out at the island, a lip curling slightly when I saw a blackhawk helicopter swing around one of the skyscrapers before unloading it dual machine guns into one of the floors and polishing it off by sending a missile into what was left.

“How proactive of you. Are you sure you haven't been brainwashed?” Robin remarked lightly, a teasing note in her voice.

“I resent that implication. I'm perfectly capable of running a shadow organization,” I replied, watching as the helicopter continued on, vanishing behind a building. The truth of the matter was that Robin hadn't been in any condition to pull any triggers on the necessary moves. Once the adrenalin left her system, she had been out like a light. She’d passed out for a solid eighteen hours, and in the two days since, she had been checking my work and monitoring the situation. “I just prefer not to.”

“I've noticed,” Robin replied. “They're using the military to impose order. Martial law is no longer just applicable to New York, but has ensnared all of America. Which does make commerce more difficult, but ultimately unimportant.'' That's more or less what the news was reporting. The rest of the world didn't really have the chance to point and laugh at America shitting the bed when they pulled back on every single military base outside of the US to turtle up. As a result, a good dozen power kegs that had been itching to go off raced towards a fire and set themselves ablaze.

I just chuckled, darkly amused with it all. “Victoria sure knows her stuff,” I decided. Or, rather, President Neumann. The first female president after the three guys ahead of her in line stepped back. The very first thing she did was establish martial law and a state of emergency nation wide, along with appointing interim governors and the like to keep the administrative side of things moving along. Naturally, there were plenty calling her a dictator online as a result, but given the mess that she had been handed, she was doing an admirable job of juggling hand grenades.

Good enough of a job that it convinced me that a government takeover had been a card in Vought's back pocket this entire time, which was all kinds of amusing.

“We're almost ready for the finale,” I said, taking in a deep breath. “Assuming Asami is prepared.”

Robin chuckled darkly, “I'm quite certain that she regrets her choice in allies, but she is rational enough to gain what she can from the arrangement.” Asami had essentially ghosted me after I let the heroes loose. Somehow, she had convinced herself that it was my fault what they got up to -- and some of them got into some pretty sick shit. I just opened the door for them. They're the ones that chose to go through it. “By all accounts, she is nearly ready to activate the Dias.”

And the whole multiverse would open up to me.

“Thinking about using it?” Youruichi joined in on the conversation, and it was the first time I had seen her fully clothed. If I had to describe her style in a single word, the word I would go with was… Virgin-killer. The hyphen made it one word. A black turtleneck that clung to her body, a pair of tight leggings, and she was currently wearing a pair of glasses that she didn't need.

Robin was silent for a moment and I glanced back at them both, finding Yoruichi lounging on the couch as if she were still in her cat form. Her gaze flickered to me, and I realized that Yoruichi was right. “So, you're like Rumi and Asami?” I questioned, and Robin bought herself a moment to think by taking a sip of her tea.

Yoruichi pouted at me, “You aren't going to ask me?”

“You not being a Supe couldn't be more obvious if you wore a sign,” I pointed out, smiling at the playful glare she sent me. Honestly, I should have put the pieces together sooner. Shape-changers weren't common, but they generally had a few rules in common. Yoruichi being able to transform between a cat and a human? Within the realms of possibility. But, also being able to throw down with a squad of Apache helicopters and Mirko? Unless she was some kind of biokinetic, I wasn't buying it.

“No,” Robin answered, looking down at her tea. I thought she might be a little more expressive given her habit of hiding behind a phone screen, but her expression was unreadable. “I have no intentions of ever returning to my world. There is simply nothing for me there.” That sounded like a story. A rather sad one at that. Then her gaze flickered to me, “Though, I believe you'd rather enjoy yourself there. A struggle between a world government and a horde of pirates. The Grand Line is a place of madness and chaos where the rules of reality itself are treated as a polite suggestion.”

She was testing me, I knew. Up until this point, there had been a wall between us. A degree of separation. Robin had one foot out the door, and if she decided to simply step through it, I wouldn't have had any recourse. I wouldn't have ever been able to find her. Now, we were sitting in the same room together and she was testing this new change in our relationship. The issue was that I wasn't entirely sure what she was testing it for.

“Sounds like a party, but if that's the case, why wouldn't you want to go back?” I asked, and I saw her expression tightening ever so slightly.

“My home was an island called Ohara. It was a place of learning, with the greatest library in the world -- yet, in our history, there is something known as the Void Century. A span of time that was simply erased from all record and attempting to even learn why was worthy of a death sentence.” I saw where this was going, and she saw it on my face based on the humorless smile she gave me. “Indeed. My home tried to learn about the Void Century with the efforts being led by my mother. Their efforts were discovered, ultimately, and Ohara… everyone was massacred. To the very last man, woman, and child. I alone escaped the slaughter, and since then, I have been hounded by the World Government.”

She spoke about it like it had happened to someone else. Like how I did when I spoke about my own childhood. Detaching yourself from the event -- not sure what that was called in therapist speak, but I was familiar with it.

I hummed, tilting my head to the side a bit. “Sounds like an interesting place, but are you sure you don't want to go back?” I asked her, making Robin pause. She stilled ever so slightly, her gaze turning to her tea.

“... The Void Century has been something of… an obsession of mine. My home was burned, my family slaughtered… I was driven to learn what secret could be so great that the World Government would go so far,” Robin admitted in a soft voice. “That obsession kept me going when I had very little reason to.”

Yeah, I thought it'd be something like that. However, a second later, she continued by leveling a sharp look at me. “However, my curiosity isn't worth the risk.”

“It is,” I argued easily. Wanting something was all the reason you needed to take something. Just so long as you understood the consequences that would come.

Robin seemed to realize her mistake only after it had been made. She offered a thin smile to me, “The world I'm from… Homelander wouldn't even be on the map in terms of strength.” Oh? “I appreciate the thought, but realistically speaking, it's unnecessary. I've escaped the World Government's grasp, and that is enough for me.”

Hm. “No, it's not,” I said, my tone unyielding. Her lips thinned further and I offered her a lopsided smile. “I'll take your word for it that I'd get steamrolled. I'm not surprised that Homelander isn't the strongest in every universe, or whatever. So, we wait a bit. Crack open a few other universes and see what they have for us. Then, when you think we're strong enough… we find your home. We help you learn about the Void Century and we kill those World Government guys.” Easy peasy.

For the briefest of moments, Robin seemed to be caught off guard. I guess the misunderstanding ran a little deeper than I thought -- I did whatever I wanted to do. My every desire would be fulfilled. I would be the idealized version of myself that I imagined myself being if given the chance. Robin seemed to be under the impression that only applied to me. If the Void Century thing had kept her going, then you’re damn right I'm going to help her figure it out.

Because that's what I wanted to do.

“Ohhh -- you're unexpectedly pretty charming, huh?” Yoruichi marveled at me, sticking her tongue out when I sent her a smug look. Both of our attention shifted to Robin when she set her cup of tea down, her expression….

Peaceful. “I'll be sure to let you know, in that case,” she replied, her tone warm. “But before we set out to fulfill my dream, I believe we should focus on finishing yours.” She shifted the conversation, probably a little embarrassed. My attention was brought back to the skyline, seeing another helicopter flying by, only for its side to be struck by an RPG, sending it crashing into the ground.

Yeah. It was time for the final act. I just needed to do a few more touches before the curtain could rise. “Suppose so,” I agreed, getting up. Robin joined me and I took a minute to admire her -- Robin was sex on legs, and what a pair of legs they were. She was wearing what was either a dress with long sleeves, or an over ambitious jacket. A black leather jacket worn over a dress shirt, both unbuttoned to expose a generous amount of cleavage while both hems ended about an inch below her ass. The outfit hugged her body tightly, leaving very little to the imagination, and based on the faint curling of her smile, she knew exactly the effect the outfit had on me.

But, now wasn't the time for mindless pleasure.

“Room,” I uttered, the Room expanding outward. My range had grown larger again. Before, I was hovering around the combined area of about two blocks -- which had been fairly sizable. At some point during the fight, I had managed to eclipse around three blocks. I'm not sure if I had a range limit, but I definitely needed to find out one of these days. The point being was that with a single Room, I was able to bring the three of us to a certain coffee shop by swapping places with some gravel left on the floor.

The clerk behind the counter flinched before he realized who we were. “L-let me get the door for you, Boss,” the ex-convict stuttered out. The guy was built like a brick shit house, covered in gang tats, and he looked like a kid caught with his hand in the cookie jar the moment I was in the same room with him.

“You could have just taken us down below,” Robin pointed out as the door down into the basement was opened for us, letting us head down.

“Where is the fun in that?” I asked with a teasing smile. The best part of having power was using it. The door closed behind us, and reaching the bottom of the stairs, I saw what could best be described as a mancave. A massive flat screen TV, a large couch, there were even some arcade games set up.

It was a familiar place. After all, it was where the Eight had been formed. The table even still had the bloodstain from… um… hm… whatshisface, where I stabbed his heart. Felt like a good place to end things, so to speak.

“What exactly are we doing here?” Yoruichi questioned as I made another Room, this one eclipsing someone that was on the very edge of my range. Rather than answering with words, I brought her forth.

Popclaw appeared, swapping places with a chair. She was face down, ass up, and glazed like a fucking donut. As far as I was aware, the guys that had been using her took a hose to her once a day, but she still reeked of semen. Honestly, if she wasn't a Supe, she'd probably have been fucked to death by this point.

“Interesting tactic,” Yoruichi remarked with a cooked eyebrow, not seeing where I was going with this.

“We have a little time to kill and I wanted to experiment with something,” I answered, taking a seat as I looked down at Popclaw. I had ended up breaking her by accident when I got her. Personally speaking, I wasn't really into rape rape and vastly preferred the hentai version of it where if you fucked hearts into their eyes, then it didn't count. Add that to the fact I was feeling inspired after Cinder, and I had played with the pleasure setting a bit and…

Popclaw was pretty out of it. That could be because she had been getting railed all hours of the day for a few weeks now, but it was mostly because I, quite literally, mind broke her. I was hardly a brain surgeon, but even now, Popclaw was expressing the same level of pleasure I felt coming from Robin and Cinder during sex. That was her new baseline -- a constant orgasmic high.

“When I was fighting Homelander, I got an idea. I've been able to manipulate extreme emotions to some degree, but what I can't do is inflict them. Can't turn frustration into anger, but I can turn anger into rage. So, I was thinking that I’d harvest an emotion from someone else to inject it into another person,” I explained, reaching into my jacket pocket to take out a case of syringes.

“So, you're going to make Homelander cream his tights?” Yoruichi asked, a laugh in her voice. The idea had her full approval, while Robin was far more interested in how the ability could be exploited. If it worked at all.

I had played with the idea for a few days now, trying to think of a way to both harvest the ‘feeling’ and to implement a delivery system. I was still less sure about the delivery system, but I figured it would be best to see if it's even possible.

“Orgasms are a lot easier to harvest than fear or anger,” I reasoned. Plus, I had the perfect test subject right in front of me. Reaching out with a needle, I jabbed it into her ass. She didn't even twitch. Then, with my power, I began to touch the ‘pleasure’ she was feeling, before I began to draw back the stopper. I had to feed it into the syringe, pushing it in a way that wasn't exactly easy.

All the same, instead of blood, the syringe began to fill with a pink substance. As it did, I felt the orgasmic bliss that clouded Popclaw’s mind begin to recede. I slowed my drawing of the substance, and over the course of a good minute and a half, I had a full syringe while Popclaw was still in her orgasmic unaware state. Holding it up for inspection, I felt ‘Pleasure’ in the syringe. An extreme concentration of it.

“So, what happens if you shoot something like that up?” Yoruichi questioned, and that was the question. I gave a pointed look at Popclaw and felt like she was a solid example of the likely outcome. “Eh, probably not worth it.”

“What is it, exactly?” Robin asked, curious and I frowned ever so slightly.

“It's… one part orgasam… one part arousal… and one part… something else? It's blurry and hard to divide,” I answered. Meaning that whoever I jabbed with this would receive an earth shattering orgasm, become hyper aroused, and something else. In theory. I'm pretty sure I could divide it further -- separate the orgasm from ‘horny’, but it felt fuzzy. Kinda like I was grabbing a cloud.

When I was manipulating stuff like atoms, the difficulty came from how small they were. It was like trying to grab a single grain of sand on a beach with an industrial crane. It was easier when there was a lot of something -- something like the carbon in the sword I had made -- because it made it large enough for me to grab. This, however, wasn't exactly tangible. It was a lot harder to manipulate as a result, because it was a feeling. I didn't have a syringe full of dopamine, I had a syringe full of orgasmic bliss.

“Perhaps we should watch a horror movie to see if you could harvest fear in the same way?” Robin ventured and I gave her a cheeky smile.

“Asking me out on a date?” I questioned, and Robin simply rolled her eyes but there was a slight smile playing at the corners of her lips.

“Popcorn and the tormenting of others -- I thought it might be appropriate,” Robin ventured, confirming as much without actually saying the words. The idea was appealing -- mostly because of the date with Robin. But, I was interested in the potential of using my power like this. A needle wouldn't do a damn thing to Homelander, but to other people…

As if to agree with me, an emergency broadcast played on the TV, drawing our attention to it. I found myself grinning when I saw Victoria Neumann sitting behind her desk in the Oval Office. She wore a practiced smile, her hands clasped before her, wearing black and white business attire with a little American flag pin in her lapel. She looked good. Very presidential.

I spun the syringe between my fingers as I kicked my feet up on Popclaw's slumped over form. As I did, President Neumann began to speak. “Good morning America. I understand that we live in uncertain times. I understand if you feel that the ground is shifting below your feet, but I am here to reassure you that you are standing on solid ground,” she began, offering a friendly and reassuring smile as the camera panned out to reveal two people by her sides.

Asami Sato, who wore a business dress with a wine red blouse underneath it. Standing on the President's right side was Stan Edgar, looking as dignified as he ever did. Both looked happy to be there, but I suspected they were anything but.

“Before me today is an executive order for the nationalization of Vought Industries. The world has witnessed what unmatched freedom for the superabled can mean for those without powers. Heartless has terrorized America with the aid of other superabled, including heroes -- and while they were under duress when they committed a number of crimes, some more grave than others, it can no longer be denied the inherent dangers they pose, regardless of their intentions.” She began, holding up the sheet of paper on a black plaque thing. “It is my sincerest hope that this is merely the first step in a long road to normalizing the relationship and disparity of power between the superabled and normals.”

My smile grew a fraction upon seeing Stan stand a little straighter. Oh, he was hopeful. He saw the light at the end of the tunnel. And he was completely unaware that light wasn’t heaven.

It was hell.

“With this signature, I announce to join efforts. Both to address the security concerns of the American people, and to put an end to the villain Heartless,” Victoria continued, turning the plague around before signing it. Usually, the president put a little more fanfare to it, but I’m guessing she was going for the prudent down to earth vibe. “Working in conjunction with Asami Sato, her Securitrons will police every city in America alongside the police and government-controlled heroes.” Hm. I could use that… provided that she let me.

“In addition, I have created a dedicated task force -- Task Force X, whose mission is the elimination of Heartless and his known associates. They will be given access to all resources at America’s disposal to fulfill this mission in a prompt and timely manner so that you, the American people, can return to your lives without fear.” She continued, the camera angle switching to-

“Ha…” I laughed, seeing the face of William Butcher, Frenchie, MM, along with some of the few remaining members of the Seven. Cinder, Starlight, Black Noir, and Queen Maeve. The Deep hadn’t been seen since the bomb went off, so I might have killed him on accident. I had no way of knowing since they were even suppressing information on A-Train’s death.

Interestingly, there was no Homelander. Did they have something special in mind for him?

“That worked out pretty well for us,” I mused. William Butcher. There was a smile on his face as he stood before the cameras, and I’m pretty sure that only those who had met him knew just how nasty that smile really was. The team… honestly, the team really didn’t mean much to me. I had a plan for Cinder. Starlight was up in the air, and I didn’t really care one way or another. Black Noir and Queen Maeve could live or die in the ensuing finale, which was up to them. I had a plan for both Victoria and Stan…

In short, this didn’t change anything for me. If anything this worked to my favor.

It was a perfect way to get everything exactly where I wanted it to be. All the loose ends in one place to be tied off in an explosive finish.

I couldn’t wait for it all to end.