Supervillains 2 Chapter 21 (Patreon)

As we approached the manor, I saw an Obsidian standing outside. 

But this time, instead of being bound and written on with lipstick, she was standing with her hip cocked and arms crossed. Alarm bells went off in my head like a bell choir.

That wasn't the Obsidian that had been dropped off at his doorstep the last several times. It looked like I might have succeeded in getting one of the higher up Obsidians to my home.

But then I cursed, remembering that Doctor Wells would be over soon.

"Hey, you aren't tied up." Stella commented as she landed and placed me on the ground. "Can’t do it as well as Miles? I’m not surprised. He’s the best at so many things." Stella gave me a kiss on the cheek and then proceeded to ignore Obsidian and march inside, leaving the door open.

That left the Obsidian blinking in surprise.

"Come on. I have a guest coming soon. We need to talk." I waved to her to follow me as Melody and Mona landed with Angelina.

Obsidian walked into my home, clearly knowing the way to the kitchen, but little else.

Mona had marched ahead of us, already undressing and putting on a new outfit.

"Where the hell did you get that?" I frowned, looking at the french maid outfit she was pulling out of a plastic bag.

"I ordered it." She sat down naked on one chair and pulled on long white socks, wiggling her toes at me. "I know you like the idea."

It had crossed my mind maybe once, but apparently that was all it took.

Stella turned around slowly with wide eyes as she stared at Mona. "There are other outfits he'd like to see. I know it! I'll trade for some of them? Tell me!"

Mona dove back into my mind, and I could feel her rifling through my thoughts and daydreams.

I rolled my eyes, thinking about fighting her for a moment just for the invasiveness. But it was hard when I knew it would lead to some of my fantasies coming to life.

Deciding to allow it, I started a new fantasy. I served up an image of Stella as a full succubus in my mind.

Mona gasped. "I didn't expect your cooperation. Stella, how do you feel about tattoos?"

"They don't work. The needles can't puncture me. Even a really high end one would have to be replaced every few seconds as it would dull quickly." Stella sighed, and I knew there was some sort of story behind that statement.

Sounded like she had given it a serious try once upon a time.

"This is a very interesting household you have." Obsidian observed calmly.

This Obsidian was definitely not one of the clones that I'd seen before. She was too calm and collected. And she seemed smarter.

"If you want, I could break you Obby." Stella broke from her stare at Mona and bounced over to the goth super. 

"Obby." Obsidian tried out the nickname for herself. "Strange, but not unpleasant."

She sure was taking all this in stride.

Stella opened her mouth to say something else, but I grabbed Obsidian’s arm and tugged on her.

"Come on, we need to talk in private." I shooed Obsidian through the house, up to Angelina's therapy office. 

Unfortunately, Mona and Stella seemed to have found a topic they both enjoyed. After the succubus idea, Mona started dropping new ideas into my head even as I entered Angelina’s office, seeing how I reacted.

And I could tell the moment Stella got involved in the conversation, because the ideas started to have her in the outfits.

I sighed. It was going to be more difficult to have the conversation with Obsidian, as ideas of my ladies in many strange outfits floated through my head.

But I managed to close the door behind Obsidian without missing a beat as a picture of the two of them in a compromising pose filled my mind. "So, why the visit from you?"

Obsidian was staring at the destroyed couch. "Do you often destroy things in fits of anger?"

"I'm in therapy." I said, as a non-answer.

"Clearly needed." Obsidian perched herself on the part of the couch that wasn't destroyed. "As to your question, you've created a disturbance in my clones."

I noted that instead of being a collective, like the prior clone, this one seemed to think they were all hers. I wondered if I’d gotten the big fish in the first go.

"They are your clones. Fix them." I shrugged and sat down on the wheeled office chair that Angelina normally used. Then I put my feet up on the arm of the couch as I leaned back. "You can fix them, can't you?"

She sighed. "You have offered them comforts they are not accustomed to. My clones got into an argument yesterday over which one got to go to your place, and I had to prevent all of them."

"Just kill them all and make more. You speak as if you are the original." I wanted to understand more about how she made everything function. She was speaking with more separation than I expected.

"It isn't that easy." She glared at me.

"Then explain how you organize everything, or fix it. What does coming here accomplish for you? Unless, of course, you would like some of the comforts they fought over?" I grinned. "Wait, are you lonely?"

Obsidian stood over me in an instant. "You do not want to test me."

"I think I do." Pushing her power away and out of her, I essentially removed her immortality. "Now, if you die, your shadow won't return. Your memories will die with this body."

Her dark pupils grew in alarm, and I could see as she tried to use her power. "What have you done?"

"Did you not already realize this? I did it to one of your clones in the robbery last week." When I had intervened to help Stella during the robbery spree, I hadn’t held back.

But by the surprise on her face, she either didn't know or hadn't put it together.

"That was you? The muta with you was draining powers. I thought she was..."

The Obsidian before me was suddenly reassessing a number of things, her eyes searching me. "I see. You are far more than a telekinetic. If you thought that I already knew this secret, your objective differs from my expectations."

"Just like that?" I asked.

Obsidian's black lips curled up in what almost looked like a smile. "Just like that. I have spent a great deal of time trying to understand as much as I can."

I raised an eyebrow and suddenly realized what she meant. "With the clones and the memory transfer... Shit, you could read a ton of books."

"Yes, and I have. Though you'd be surprised how hard it is to apply textbook knowledge to real life. And that is why I created some of my clone systems."

I leaned back and reappraised her. "Your other clones aren't that smart. Candidly, you are more put together than I expected." I tapped my lips. "You have a way of preventing them from getting some memories?"

She only smiled, refusing to go down that path.

"So, you are the head Obsidian." I stood, keeping her power suppressed, and put my hand around her throat. "And completely in my grasp."

I didn't squeeze, but I applied enough pressure that she knew I could kill her, and she was powerless to stop me.

Her eyes dilated, and her nostrils flared for a moment. "Break me." She whispered.

"Won't I ruin your whole setup?" I squeezed a little harder and lifted her off the couch with the aid of my power.

"It can be reset." She wheezed as she pushed her throat harder into my hand, applying more pressure than I had intended.

"You know what I plan to do?"

Obsidian smiled. This time it was genuine as her black painted lips stretched and caught a little of the light. "You wish to break me, twist me around your little finger and use me."

This one was smart, still broken, but smart. She had all the collective knowledge of the rest of her clones.

I stroked her cheek with my thumb. Even though she knew what I wanted, she wasn't resisting. She was letting me do it. "You didn't come here to set me straight; you came to be bent.

"But there must be rules." I cautioned her.

She pouted, but nodded. "No relationship can be built without rules."

"You will tell me the truth at all times, and that includes when something is too much." I warned her.

"A safe word?" She licked her lips. "I don't need those."

"Humor me. What if something happens, and this is your last clone?" I asked.

Obsidian sighed. "Red light. Let's stick with the easiest option."

"You will not betray me."

Her little nose wrinkled. "I do have my own mind and needs, but I will not purposefully work against you." There was a little smirk lingering on her face.

But the last thing I needed was for her to play games.

"You won't receive some playful punishment for that; don't try it. This is built on trust and, like trust, it is easy to lose, very hard to regain." I bent her over my lap and slapped her ass. The black super suit she wore made a nice sharp noise.

I enjoyed the sound enough that I did it again, smiling at the crisp slap.

Obsidian groaned. "Stop teasing me."

Her arms jerked back under my power as if she was hogtied and dangled above me.

"I'll do as I please, and you will accept that." Tightening my hold on her, I asserted my dominance.

But I wanted to add in some pleasure. My thumb stroked her cheek as I stared into her dark eyes.

She turned her head to catch my thumb in her lips and lick it, sucking on it gently.

I raised an eyebrow. "You are a little--"

"My lower order clones lack the self-awareness that I have. I am more than understanding of my... condition and how to satisfy it."

"Yet you came here, to me." I frowned. She could seek this elsewhere, or even with her own clones.

"Not many people can make me actually feel helpless. Powerless and tied up by bindings, I have no hope of breaking." She shivered and inhaled deeply through her nose.

I smirked. "Now that we have that covered, I'm going to give you back your powers, and we are going to trade this out for real rope. Do not break my rope, or I'll have to intervene again."

Even as I said it, I knew she would test me at least once. She enjoyed acting out and being punished.

The second I released her, shadows bled out from the corners of the room and attacked me.

With a negligent wave of my hand, I banished her power from the shadows again and bound her tightly. "Bad." I slapped her on the ass.

Obviously, she enjoyed it, but it was part of the game.

Heading back down to the kitchen, the girls were sitting around the table. Mona, in her new frenchmaid uniform, was happily serving dinner.

I used the rope I'd ordered the day before and looped it deftly through Obsidian before hanging her over the table like an ornamental light fixture. "So, how was your day, Angelina?" I sat down as if there wasn't someone hanging over the table.

Angelina stared up at the Obsidian, then looked back down at her food before nodding to herself and jumping back into the conversation. "Good. I was hoping we could get in another therapy session for you tonight. But it seems you are getting increasingly busy. This wasn't the guest you were expecting, so I'm guessing we have another coming?"

As if to prove her right, the doorbell rang.

"I'll get it." Mona danced over, fluffing her skirt up and showing me she was wearing nothing underneath it.

The satisfaction at getting me to look at her was clear in the way she curled around the thought it sparked in my mind.

"You know, being able to tell what I'm thinking is sort of cheating." I called after her as she bounced away to grab the door.

"Not if my whole goal is to make you happy." She shot back before I heard the door open.

It was only a few moments later that Doctor Wells walked into the room and blinked owlishly at the gathering. She spent the longest staring at the Obsidian chandelier, who did a very small wave with the few fingers she could wiggle.

Doctor Wells was still staring at Obsidian as she spoke. "Am I interrupting something?"

"Don't mind her." I went to sit down in a chair so that she could administer the injection.

Stella bounced over and, with a single finger, pushed the Obsidian to make her sway back and forth, the bindings rubbing just ever so slightly. Obsidian groaned in pleasure.

I had to clear my throat to break Doctor Wells’ focus as she continued to stare.

Doctor Wells shook herself, returning to her task as she pulled a cart into the kitchen with her. "Want me to do it here?"

I looked down at the food that I hadn't gotten a chance to eat yet. "Would this be better on a full or empty stomach?"

"Full. You'll need the calories. But if I have a few moments, I think I should go set up in the bedroom. You should probably do it somewhere comfortable. I anticipate that this will be extremely painful." Doctor Wells warned me.

Obsidian perked up from her spot, dangling over the table.

"This is for me, not you." I warned her.

She sulked a little until Stella started making her sway again. "Master, eat up. Then we can pump you full of drugs."

I chuckled and started eating quickly. I wasn’t sure I wanted a mad scientist bored in my home. She’d end up rigging up something or other out of parts of my bedroom furniture.

Angelina bent low and frowned at me after the doctor was gone. "Are you sure this is a good idea? Won't this expose you?"

I shrugged. "She's going to try to take a normal reading on me, and I'm going to fool her scanner. Afterwards, she gets to scan me again. I’ll let it be stronger and come up with some sort of basic power."

"That would mean that everyone is going to think you have a power after that." Melody pointed out.

Having already considered that, I nodded. I thought this might be a good excuse to be able to use a bit of my power more freely. I also had to admit I was probably acting a bit in reaction to Victor trying to bully me. I wanted a little more firepower I could actually use.

I hadn’t figured out yet what power I’d try to fake, though. I could copy a lot, but there were limits. And anything I did that was extremely elaborate would be a pain.

Thinking about my comfort when I’m cooking, I came to a simple answer. I could mimic telekinesis.

"Low grade telekinesis seems like the easiest. I’ll keep the level of power at simply floating things around." I nodded to myself. It seemed like a decent plan.

"Is it worth it?" Angelina continued to push.

"Yes. I've seen the reports on Antiope and how much her power improved. Not only is it for my own strength, but so I can protect all my heroes in the field." I gestured at the three heroes.

Angelina clearly didn't like it, but she nodded her agreement.

I was surprised that Angelina was the most vocal, not Melody. Melody was sitting nearby, staying quiet. "What about you?"

"Remember how I asked you to risk testing your power on me to improve my own? After that, how can I look at this and argue against it?" Melody shrugged. "I actually completely understand this. Though I wish you didn't have to steal to get here."

I nodded, accepting her perspective. I didn’t agree with where she drew the line. I’d lived enough in the world to know it wasn’t as clear as she liked to believe it could be. But when it mattered, she had my back and accepted my choices, and that was enough.

Although I did have two vials now, the one I stole and the one Doctor Wells had surprisingly offered to me. Now the one I stole would need to be kept hidden for a rainy day.

But as I looked at Angelina, I paused.

"Angelina, what do you need to mimic, a chemical?"

"A sample is helpful, or an understanding of it chemically. Other than that, I need to consume the required elements." Her eyes opened wide as she thought about what I had asked. "Oh, I don't know if I want to make this drug."

"But you could." I pushed.

She sighed. "I could. But I won't let myself be turned into a chemical factory. Someone already tried to get me to make LSD once, and that turned out very poorly for him."

Obsidian looked at Angelina, seemingly far more interested in her. I did not know what kind of chemical she wanted, and I didn’t think I wanted to know.

"Alright then, let's get this over with." I shoved the last of the food in my mouth and swallowed loudly as I pushed away from the table.

It was time to go get myself a power upgrade.