SSV3 Chapter 11 (Patreon)

After we finished a long patrol, we dropped the trainees at the bureau and flew home to change and shower off.

Mona was filling my head with ideas of what we could do in the shower as we landed, and Stella refused to let me go, pushing my head back into her chest. “You have therapy tonight! Do you remember what that means?”

“Are you really going to reward me with sex after every session?” I asked.

“Yes!” Stella squealed. “It’s the best way to incentivise you, and give me a treat! But no sex for either of us until after your next session.”

“The carrot and the stick.” I teased, even though I was pretty sure I could convince her otherwise.

Stella planted a kiss on my cheek, draining ki off of me and leaving a pleasurable tingling sensation before she let me go. “It’s hard on both of us if you skip therapy.”

Mona’s mental images changed to bouncing on me after the sessions.

Apparently, she was on board with Stella’s determination of no sex until therapy was done.

She’s right. It’s best for you to have therapy. We all want you to be as healthy as you can be, and that means mental health as well.

Not going to add yourself to that? I responded.

I attend my own sessions, thank you. Mona rolled her eyes at me and moved in through the doorway, taking off her mask and setting it on a hook before she continued upstairs, swinging her hips for me to watch, but not touch.

She knew she had my attention and was reveling in teasing me. 

“Hussy, don’t tempt him before therapy.” Stella jumped up the stairs and grabbed Mona, hauling her into the master bedroom and no doubt into the shower.

Emma leaned in and kissed me. “Thank you for letting me coach the kittens. They need a different approach than you have to offer.”

“What’s that?” I raised an eyebrow at her.

“Sometimes you are a hammer, and everything around you is a nail. It’s wonderful for some things, dear, but not everything.” Emma’s smoldering eyes met mine as she leaned into me. “Plus, you are too grown up to be my kitten. I need some new ones.”

With that, she laughed and sauntered off to go find her own shower and maybe take a catnap before dinner.

Melody poked her head around the corner, likely hearing us. “Welcome back.”

“Bored without us?” I loosened my tie and came around to the kitchen, where I could tell that she had been working on dinner.

She hurried back to the stove where something was boiling. “Actually, yeah. After the meeting with the general, I came back here and helped Obsidian a little, but she said my power was a bit too destructive down there.” Melody stuck out her tongue.

“Well, you wanted a power upgrade.” I reminded her.

“Oh, I love the changes to my power, just not used to having this much time on my hands. So, I started dinner.” She swung her hips to a tune as she kept working on dinner.

“It smells amazing.” I walked over to her and wrapped my arms around her from behind, breathing in her scent. It hadn’t changed even after the monster fruit mutation.

“Just a little rice and curry.” She said distractedly as she stirred what was on the stove, but then a larger pause filled the space and I wanted to hear what was on her mind.

“Miles, what do you think about killing people? I was shocked this morning when Pratt said I had a budget for it. That was just so cold. We are supposed to be the good guys.”

I snorted. “Yeah. Just goes to show that the ‘good’ guys can be even colder than villains. I wasn’t surprised that he was prepared for it, but to assign a budget was cruel and surprised me as well.” I held her just a little tighter.

“We will try to avoid any loss of life, but you should still prepare for it.” I sighed, trying to find a way to prepare Melody for what might come.

When she was stopping villains, everything was predictable. The choices were quite clear to her. But as she became a villain, it was about to get less clear.

“You think I’ll end up killing someone?” Melody asked, vulnerability in her voice.

“Yes. There’s a high chance someone will end up dying as we continue with project Velody. But we’ll do our best to limit the loss of life. And if possible, we’ll try to make sure it’s somebody who was already going down the wrong path.” I had to be honest with her, to prepare her to kill, but I also didn’t want to spook her.

Melody was quiet in my hug, but continued to stir her dishes on the stove.

“Do you think you’ll still accept me if I’m a killer?” Melody finally spoke, putting words to her thoughts. 

I squeezed her hard. “Remember when I flew off on yours and Stella’s date to kill Omnigirl?”

She nodded meekly. “We fought.”

“But you accepted not just what I’d done but who I was.” I reminded her. “I accept who you are, underneath the recent mutations, without the new powers, and before whatever happens with Velody. You are my precious purple elf, and I’ll be damned if anything gets between us.”

Melody suddenly leaned back into me with all her weight. Not that it was much.

I pulled her away from the stove, picking up the stirring with my power, and held her for a moment.

“I’m so scared Miles.” She finally admitted. “That this is going to change me.”

“I think that might happen as well.” I agreed. “But I’ll be here for the ride. And Obsidian is going to make a tunnel network so you can come home every night, and we can go through the change together.”

Melody turned around and buried her face in my chest. “Thank you.”

I held her, even as Angelina walked in about to talk, and snapped her mouth shut, nodding and slipping off.

She was probably reminding me of the therapy session after dinner, but knew that Melody needed that moment.

The food started to overcook, so I picked it up off the stove, making plates up for the household, even as Melody continued to relax in my arms.

“Master!” Stella bounded into the kitchen before skidding to a stop and covering her mouth.

Melody pushed herself out of my arms. “Dinner is ready.” She looked over at the made up plates and smiled at me. “It was a joint effort.”

“I just finished them.” I tried not to take any of the credit. “Stella, want to go pull Obsidian from her evil machinations in her lair?” I wasn’t sure what she was doing, but being so deep down in a lair fit.

“Yup.” Stella bounded down the basement stairs, yelling. “Obby, oh Obby, where is the main Obby? You aren’t Obby.”

“She really doesn’t do anything subtly.” Melody sighed and grabbed the plates to place around the table. “Can you get the two from upstairs?”

Giving her a moment to be alone, I headed upstairs to the master bedroom.

It was an enormous room, filled by the 20+ person bed that Stella had ordered us.

With harems being more common, the bed size selection had expanded, even though it was really a sequence of king mattresses. Otherwise they were impossible to get upstairs.

That’s where I found Emma, her hair still wet from the shower, curled up on the bed, wrapped in a towel.

I sat down next to her and she only stirred a little, but the way that her ear twitched told me she was already awake, just trying to see if she could get away with napping a bit longer.

Running my hands over her head of ruby red hair, I lifted her up with my power and let her use my thigh as a pillow. “Got enough of a catnap?”

“Never enough.” She grumbled and nuzzled into my leg. “You're stuck now until I finish another nap.”

“Okay.” I continued to run my hand through her hair and rub her ears even as they involuntarily twitched in my hand. Eventually my hand became a little naughty, running down her back and teasing the towel around her.

“Don’t. I can’t do anything until after therapy or Stella might rip my head off.” Emma whined as she arched her rear into my hand and wiggled it.

Her statement didn’t deter me in the least. “Thank you for helping with the trainees. I know I might be a little harsh.”

“Mmm.” she purred as I found a spot on her back and continued to rub it. “The kittens need both a firm hand in the execution and a softer touch after. Besides, you need to firmly plant yourself as an authority figure if you want to tame the two kittens.”

“We aren’t taming any kittens.” I grumbled.

“I don’t know. They seem pretty eager for you.” Emma opened one eye and watched me. “Those girls would make wonderful additions to your family and your power. Not to mention Ivanna has blue hair. What a wonderful thing to add to your collection.”

I glared at Emma until she stopped. “I’m not collecting girls.”

“Of course not.” She shot back a little too quickly. “You're collecting women.”

My tone became more warning. “Emma. We aren’t talking about that part of it.”

“Why do you think we all come to you?” She rolled over, and the towel was tucked in between her chest, straining as she looked up at me.

“Because men are a rarity and there just aren’t enough to go around.”

Emma chuckled. “No silly. Even if you hide it, there’s this darkness and this power that you put out. Those of us with our own darkness are drawn to you, only yours is greater. It swallows us all and makes us yours.”

She toyed with the top of her towel as she looked up at me. “Even if you refuse to see it, those kittens have their own darkness, and they’ll be drawn to you. All you have to do is swallow them up and make them yours as you prepare for the day you decide to start your conquest for world domination.”

She gave a soft, maniacal laugh to punctuate her statement.

I rolled my eyes at her games. “Careful, your towel is about to slip. And if it does, my darkness will consume me and I’ll take you right here. Rules around therapy be damned.”

Emma grabbed at her towel to hold it in place, squinting her eyes at me. “Kiss, and then I’ll be down in a moment. Can’t tempt your darkness or you’ll swallow me all night.”

My mind was swirling with what Emma had said. I decided I probably did need a therapy session.

And I needed to grab Angelina for dinner.

Since she hadn’t been in the master bedroom, I checked her therapy office, knocking as I entered. “Melody has dinner finished. We’ll do therapy after.” I told her.

“Good. I was feeling a little hungry. Looked like you and Melody needed a little time.” She observed.

“And Emma too, apparently. It’s hard to hold a harem together. Thank you for everything you do to that end.” I smiled at her, stepping over and taking her hand, lifting her out of her office chair.

She blushed. “Not a problem. It’s selfish in the end. I like all of you and want this to work.”

“Dinner?” I held out my arm for her.

“That would be nice.” She put her arm through mine. “Though brace yourself, we have an additional guest today.”

I paused, curious and about to ask, but decided just to handle the surprise. Angelina didn’t seem concerned. 

I went downstairs with Angelina on my arm and Emma trailing behind us, in t-shirt and yoga pants.

“You two are so cute. Darkness.” Emma said, causing Angelina to frown. But based on our earlier conversation, I knew what she was saying.

“She thinks I attract women with some darkness in them and my own darkness swallows them up.” I explained to Angelina, not leaving her out of the loop.

“Ah.” Angelina looked back at Emma over her shoulder. “You aren’t wrong.”

I grumbled. Angelina wasn’t supposed to agree.

She was supposed to pick it apart and tell Emma why she was wrong.

I sighed and turned the corner of the kitchen.

There, seated at an extra spot, was Doctor Wells.

“I thought I’d invite her.” Melody said with a blush. “That and I have a favor I wanted to ask of her.”

“What do you need?” Wells asked.

Before Melody could speak up, I had my own request. “A private communicator between Melody and I. You might not be aware, but she’s starting a special project that is a joint initiative between the BSH and the military. I want to help her quietly.”

Melody’s eyes nearly glowed with excitement. “Yes. That. I want that.”

“I’ll be with you the whole way. Even if I can’t be there officially, I’ll just be invisible and watch over you. Especially for the start.”

Wells took in my words about invisibility with a look of interest before she nodded at the request. “Simple enough to modify one of the bureau’s communicators and pair it between the two of you.”

“It can’t be visible or detectable if she gets swept by other villains.” I reminded Wells.

“Not a problem.” The doctor nodded along, waving it away like it was a simple request. “Well, let’s taste this food, and then I’ll talk about why I wanted to visit you all.” Her eyes shifted slightly to Obsidian, and I immediately knew why she had come. She wanted to pitch her latest project.

Rather than play around, I sat down and went straight to the point. “Obsidian, Dr. Wells is here to see what you think about some of your clones helping us with testing monster fruit. We are trying to work out a way to predictably control what powers come out of it.”

“Oh. Interesting.” Obsidian paused, thanking Melody for the food with a nod. “What kind of clones do you need?”

“Ideally, they’ll be sedated for the procedure.” Wells explained.

“And killed after.” I added. “Sorry, Obsidian, but I think giving each of your clones a different power could get messy.”

Obsidian pouted a little. “Fine. Then I think I know what I would use for this experiment, but then I need help from the doctor for something else.” She then turned to me. “From you, I’ll take a little help with the lair.”

I shrugged; that was an easy request. “Consider it done.” I bet it is a bondage room.

She had a wicked smile before she dipped into her rice and curry. “Oh, this is lovely, Melody. You really outdid yourself.”

There was a murmur of agreement from the rest of the table, and I dug in as well.

The second the bite entered my mouth, the flavor exploded, and I moaned with its richness.

We all settled into generic conversation at the dinner table, talking about our days and various facets of progress for both ourselves and the family.

Emma was particularly trying to shine a light on the two new trainees, earning herself more than a few glares from me.

But Emma was stubborn, and my glares seemed to only make her preen as she continued to work the new recruits and their assets into conversation.