SSV3 Chapter 21 (Patreon)

“You’re going on a da~te” Stella sang and danced around me as I got ready.

“Yes, with Obsidian and Beatrix.” I glared at her as she held out several ties. “No ties for this.”

Stella pouted. “But ties would make a good impression with Beatrix’s family.”

That really wasn’t my concern. Whether or not her family liked me made no difference; this was just to throw her off the scent of my identity and reinforce the work I’d done with Kim the night before.

“You look good.” An Obsidian clone popped into the bedroom. I knew it wasn’t Prime, but a clone of Prime. Don’t ask me how I knew, you just start to understand after living with someone who can replicate themselves.

I did a double take as I glanced over at her. It was the first time I’d seen her out of her super suit, or the bodysuit she liked to be tied up in.

Obsidian was dressed somewhat normally, with a pair of black skintight jeans and a loose white shirt. But she had kept her signature black lipstick. Her hair was pulled back tight against her head in a ponytail.

“You look fantastic.” I smiled back. She was the 3rd clone that we’d given Candice’s power. The first two had drastic mutations that Obsidian refused to allow to walk around in public.

Somehow, this one had worked out better and was relatively normal. Based on what we’d observed, she had Candice’s power and an alteration of her clones. Her manipulation over shadows was gone in favor of Candice’s power.

Wells wasn’t satisfied with the result, but it was progress.

Wells believed she could introduce a new power to users of monster fruit, not alter their existing powers.

She was now working on the material itself, trying to understand it, using the research she’d gotten on project Cerberus and knowledge from our work so far with the clones to help her drive new findings.

My ability to manipulate powers was speeding up her understanding, and she was settling into the lair’s lab. Somewhere along the line, a bed had been brought in for her.

I had a feeling Dr. Wells was going to be staying at least through the weekend.

“Thank you.” Obsidian grinned and pulled my attention away from my thoughts of the mad scientist. “You don’t look half bad yourself.” Obsidian came around behind me and let her hand glide over my shoulder, smoothing out some wrinkles.

She had this confidence grace to her every movement.

“Shall we?” I held out my arm.

She took it and we headed out. “So, what’s the plan today?”

“We have a barbecue at Point Park. Beatrix’s whole family is supposed to be there, so expect to learn a lot of names. Your goal is to use your new power and push her off, investigating me for being Void.” I replied.

Obsidian hummed in acknowledgment. “Feels easy enough. I’m also tasked by Stella to make sure you have a good time.”

I rolled my eyes. Stella loved to get involved in my other dates. But she did it for me; her way of making an effort. “Well, it is a date. I hope you have a good time too.”

“Of course, but that’s your job to make sure I have a nice time. My task is to make sure your time is lovely. That’s how a date works.” Obsidian’s eyes pinched nearly closed with her wide smile. “Now, I want to feel this invisible carriage that Stella won’t stop talking about.”

I looked around, wondering where Stella was at the moment.

But then I heard her pestering Mona to sing a song.

I am not some caged bird to sing for people’s amusement. Mona huffed in my mind now that I was part of the topic.

No, you are not, but you used to love singing. I prodded her for more as I made an invisible seat for Obsidian and I as we took off towards the park. Mona had once been a famous singer, but she’d been used by her manager for her free will stripped by a power she didn’t understand. It had left her with a sour past and no desire to sing.

That was before, when I was the hapless sap, tethered to that slimy manager. Now I’m my own woman and I refused to be a caged song bird. Mona peeled back my mind to see how I felt about that.

I let her see my honest reaction. She was a singer, and I had felt how much she enjoyed it in the past. I was sad that what her manager had done to her robbed her of the joy she used to know with singing.

There was a long moment of silence as she worked it out herself.

Maybe. Maybe I’ll sing you a song another time. Let me practice a little and see how it feels.

Just sing for yourself, alone, without Stella bothering you. Please? Just do it for yourself once.

She was quiet long enough that I dipped into her own mind, a confusing tangle of emotions gripped her. While a piece of her craved to sing, it was so heavily tinted by the part of her life that she looked back on with overwhelmingly negative emotions.

In the end, she relented.

I’ll sing, but don’t listen in.

Never. I wouldn’t without your permission.

That settled, I relaxed a little more.

“How’s Mona?” Obsidian asked.

I frowned. “You can tell?”

“You get this little contemplative wrinkle in your forehead when you are talking to her.” Obsidian poked the center of my forehead.

I didn’t realize I had a tell, or that Obsidian could pick it out. So far, none of the other women had mentioned it.

“Huh. I wasn’t aware. But I think Mona has some things to think about. She’s struggling with singing. It is something she loves, but it’s tainted by her past.” I decided to tell Obsidian; I was sure it would spread around the manor soon, anyway.

Obsidian leaned back and crossed her arms. “That’s a tough one, but her trying to rediscover why she loved singing in the first place is probably the easiest way to go about this.”

I agreed. “Thanks. So are you ready to use your new power?”

Obsidian wiggled her nose. “I just have to beat around the bush and use it to get her to spill that she’s looking into you. And then try to get her to stop?”

“If you go right at it, she’ll balk and realize that you have something influencing her. This is an exercise in subtlety.” I reminded her as Point Park came into view below my invisible carriage.

Obsidian gave me a dour expression at my mention of subtlety. “You really aren’t the person to comment on being subtle.”

Ignoring her jab, I focused on the space below us.

The park was one of the largest in the city. It took up a square of a dozen city blocks, with winding paths throughout. The setting was complete with pagodas and plain iron grills.

Beatrix’s family was set up in one of the structures.

We landed down on the other end of the park and walked to the pagoda where her large family was sprawling out of the structure as girls ran in circles around their parents, and an older man handled the grill expertly as a younger assistant ran plates filled with hotdogs and burgers over to the picnic table.

“Miles!” Beatrix waved excitedly and her shout drew a few stares that went from bored gazes to interest as they spotted me.

Beatrix had her dark hair pulled back in a ponytail matching Obsidian a little too well.

It made me suddenly feel like I had a type.

Rather than the button down and skirt she always wore in the office, she had on a green flower patterned sundress that made her eyes pop.

I gave her a warm smile and stepped up with Obsidian, keeping pace with me. The deal was for me to pretend to be a date, so I laid it on thick, pulling her close and giving her a kiss on the cheek.

It was enough to make the analyst blush.

“And this is?” Beatrix asked, looking Obsidian over.

“Call me Obby. That’s what Stella does and I kind of like it.” Obsidian pulled Beatrix into a hug full of comradery, and I could sense her new power pouring out with her words.

Beatrix relaxed. “Of course. How many ladies are you up to now, Miles?” She hedged.

I had to count off on my fingers to make sure I wasn’t forgetting anyone. “Six.”

“So what’s one more?” Obby gave Beatrix a firm side hug.

I had to stop myself from frowning.

We were supposed to be pretending to be on a date, not adding another lady to my harem.

“Ah! My baby girl!” A larger woman, who shared a striking resemblance with Beatrix, cried out, garnering me even more attention. “You must be Miles.” The woman came and ignored all signs of me not wanting to be hugged, wrapping her arms around me.

Meanwhile, another five women that all had the same straight black hair, jaw line but various skin shades between their mother and father, crowded around, some even with children running between their legs.

“Mom. This is Miles and Obby.” Beatrix introduced me.

“Oh. You are precious.” Beatrix’s mom turned and smothered Obsidian in that same hug that lacked personal boundaries. “I love the black lipstick.”

“Thanks.” Obsidian sounded awkward.

“New trends are always so much fun.” Beatrix’s mom tried to make conversation. “Girls, this is Beet’s new boyfriend.” Her mother dropped Obsidian and grabbed my shoulder, introducing me to what I assumed were Beatrix’s five sisters.

“Mom, don’t call me Beet.” The analyst had a furious red blush spreading down her face.

“But you turn as red as one when I do! It’s so cute.” Her mother knew exactly what buttons to push. “Besides, you are too smart for me now, Beet. Let your mother have this?”

Beatrix remained red, but she didn’t say anything further.

I went to break the silence, but her mother got to work. I was shoved into a whirlwind of meeting her sisters, along with their families. All the families had at least had one other woman in their marriage, which made it less awkward to introduce Obsidian.

Around the second sister, Obsidian was pulled away and brought through separately along with Beatrix, both of us being swarmed by people.

“Unca!” A little girl latched onto my leg. As much as I wanted to shake her off, that wasn’t something I could do. “Are you going to marry Beet?” She looked up at me.

“Who put you up to ask that?” I looked at the girl, who only blushed and darted off through the sea of adults.

There had to be well over fifty people at the family gathering. She had a huge family.

“Don’t mind them. They are just children with silly thoughts.” Beatrix’s mom continued to introduce me until we reached the grill, who I assumed was Beatrix’s dad, manned the tiny grill churning out burgers six at a time. “This is Henry.” With that, her mother slipped away, leaving me for what I assumed was a man-to-man moment with her husband.

He was a short man, with thick black hair starting to go gray and a skin tone that spoke of at least some latin descent.

“Hey. Is it always so chaotic?” I awkwardly tried to start a conversation.

“Big family.” Henry grunted. “Not that you are a part of it. Make sure to let the girls get food first. My family eats before strangers.”

I tried not to smile. Clearly, he was going to be a bit tough, but I appreciated his candor.

“Did I do something wrong?” I joked, trying to break the ice.

But the man turned away from the grill and closed the lid, meeting my eyes and holding them. “My little Beet is wary of you. Bless my wife’s heart, she wants her to find someone, but I see right through everything. And I know my little girl. Beat isn’t comfortable around you, so you aren’t welcome here.”

It was like someone had just punched the wind out of my sails. I hadn’t picked up on it, but if her father saw it, then I trusted his ability to read his daughter. “Look, I haven’t done—“

“Don’t want to hear your lies. You’ve done something to make her afraid, and I won’t have any of mine mistreated.” He waved the big grill spatula at me in a threat.

“Maybe she’s just nervous.” I smiled and looked for an exit from the conversation.

And I tried to keep my mind from swirling too much. I’d tried to make her scared just a little so she wouldn’t dig deeper, but if she was so afraid her father could tell, I wondered what more she knew.

As I went to step away, I got a spatula waved in my face. “Don’t you walk away. Are you a coward, too? Probably are, if you hit women. Just because you are a man, it is still wrong to hit a woman.” He tried to circle and wave the spatula so that I couldn’t get away.

I held up my hands.

The man was like a little fly buzzing around me, and part of me wanted to paste him and not deal with it. But he was only trying to defend his daughter, and I understood.

“There it is again. You are a violent man.” He shook the spatula at me again.

“Papa. What are you doing?” Beatrix freed herself from one of her teasing sisters to come to my aid.

“Beet, why did you bring this boy here? You are afraid of him. I want him gone.” Henry didn’t budge an inch.

He wasn’t a particularly strong man, but I could tell he would do whatever he needed to for his daughter.

“Beatrix. You have a wonderful father, and I agreed to help you, but I don’t want to disrespect him.” I turned to her.

“Papa.” Beatrix whined, suddenly becoming his little girl. “Please don’t tell mom, but Miles came because he owes me a favor from work.” She whispered to avoid any of her sisters or mother hearing.

Henry stopped waving his spatula at me and narrowed his eyes, looking back to the burgers for a moment. He eyed us again, but seemed less fired up. “So what do you do, Miles?”

“I’m the deputy director at the Bureau, and I manage a hero team.” I said.

Beatrix was fretting nearby, and I wasn’t sure if his perceptiveness of me was because he was a concerned father or he had an actual power.

“So you are her boss? Are you forcing yourself on her?”

“God. No, Papa!” Beatrix said a little too loudly and clamped a hand over her mouth as some of her sisters started paying attention. “Why would you say something like that?”

“You are scared of him, Mija. I see it, and I won’t let him stay here until I understand why you are scared of him.” Henry had the burgers flipped and stood with a straight spine, waiting for her answer.

Beatrix shook her head, but she clearly knew better than to refute his intuition. “Papa, Miles is a powerful man with a lot of authority at work and several powerful superheroes in his harem.”

Her father still wasn’t having it. “I don’t like him or the woman he brought with him. But if you want to have him stay here and convince your mother, so be it.” He looked at me. “You do not deserve my Mija. She is wonderful. You will see this as you pretend whatever this is with her.”

He went back to his grill, seeming to have ended the conversation.

“Thank you, Papa.” Beatrix grabbed my arm and pulled me away from her father. “Sorry. He’s just protective of me. I’m the youngest, and I never really stopped being his baby girl.”

“Intuitive too. You are scared of me. Why is that?” I tried to be as relaxed as possible.

Beatrix swallowed around a lump in her throat while Obsidian came up on her other side. “Everything alright over here?” Ki oozed into Obsidian’s voice as she used her new power.

It was smooth, and it eased Beatrix into the conversation.

“Yeah, everything is fine.” Beatrix relaxed under Obsidian’s power. “Miles was just asking me why I’m scared of him.”

“You are scared of him?” Obsidian asked, and Beatrix had trouble meeting her eyes.

“Yes. I saw what he did to the Giantesses. Or, I think I did. It was only a few pixels on the recording.” Beatrix fumbled a little as she answered.

I smiled, eager to ask more questions. Obsidian’s influence was helping coax out some of the bits she might want to share. We just needed some more alone time to talk more, which was easier said than done with the large group buzzing around us.

“Let’s take a walk.” I put my arms around both of them and diverted us from the gathering to pry a little deeper into what Beatrix had done.