SSV3 Chapter 32 (Patreon)

Kim kicked at the ashes left behind from the fire. “Find them yet?”

“We are still searching. But we had people stationed all around the forest from the moment they entered until it burnt itself out. No one left.” Pratt had a smug grin on his face. “We’ll find the bones, though; it was hot, but not that hot.”

The old man must have gotten some sleep, because his normal bags were missing from underneath his eyes.

Pratt seemed in good spirits, but Hendricks was nowhere to be found. That was typical, though. She didn’t like to be anywhere near the dirty work.

Kim knew she was going to be covered in soot by the end of the search.

“We found something!” One of the new trainees turned heroes shouted. Kim recognized her as Amelia.

Amelia shot up into the air spraying fog to get our attention.

“Great work.” Angelina, who was currently posing as Miles, shouted from somewhere.

It bothered Kim that her body unconsciously jerked to attention every time the slime woman spoke, ready to put her best foot forward. But then a moment later she’d remember it wasn’t really Miles.

Miles was gone, and she’d missed her chance.

“Hands off, don’t contaminate the specimens.” Doctor Wells shooed away the heroes that had descended upon the area.

Pratt strode purposefully over to the area, eager to see it for himself. “What do we have, doctor?”

Wells used a hand brush and removed layers of soot from two skeletons. “Looks like a male and female skeleton. Not much flesh left on them, not that we can get a positive ID on the male. Besides some basic information, we know nothing about Void.”

“Make sure the woman is Melody and then preserve the male skeleton before sending it to my scientists.” Kim could tell that Pratt was nearly salivating at the idea of having Void’s bones.

“Sir. I thought the BSH was handling all the genetic research now?” Doctor Wells frowned at the general.

Pratt scoffed. “Who says this has anything to do with the gender ratios? This is purely military research. A power as potent as Void’s needs to be researched.”

Kim stood by quietly and didn’t fight him. He would not be able to find anything meaningful off the bones in front of them.

Kim glanced to the side towards Mona, who seemed calm. During Miles’ fight, she’d looked like she was about to kill everybody in The Spine.

The light controlling hero had been beside herself, and Kim now knew that she had some connection to Miles that went beyond emotional. Mona had known when things were going wrong before she should have been able to know.

Kim admitted to herself that it made her jealous, but it also meant she could lean on Mona for any indication that Miles was in trouble while he was away. And she’d continue to help Angelina as well.

They were important to Miles, and maybe she could find where she fit among his harem if she got to know them better.

She’d spent quite a bit of effort making sure that she didn’t spook him, and now it was time to work her way into his inner circle. Then… she was nearly salivating at the chance to have him, to get his attention. And ultimately, to help him become the world's greatest hero. The hero he could have been if she hadn’t made her mistake.

“Director?” Not-Miles got her attention, and her spine stiffened at his voice once again.

“Yeah?” Kim shook herself out of her daydreaming. “What is it, deputy?”

“The search is called off?” Not-Miles wanted to confirm it from her.

“Of course.” Kim nodded, still wondering what exactly happened in that forest while the flames burned that had made Mona go so ballistic.

***

Pix stood over me amid the burning forest with a smirk on her face. “Did you know? My power doesn’t displace what my body comes into conflict with during the teleport. Just like every other teleporter, my body fights for the space that I enter. I’m just tough as nails, nearly indestructible, so I win every time.” Her eyes flickered to Melody in warning. “Don’t even think about it.” Pix bragged about how durable she was.

If I could focus, I’d paste her.

“Bitch.” Melody spat.

Pix wrinkled her nose. “Takes one to know one.”

Dear god. I was going to bleed out while two women bickered like children.

And my power was weakening. The bubble I was holding around us to keep the fire’s heat out was flickering as darkness encroached on the edge of my vision.

I almost missed it when a body rocketed through the air, nearly taking Pix’s head off.

“What have you fucking done?!” Stella’s scream woke me up as she came hurtling into the clearing, spinning and throwing the second body at Pix, who dodge again, blinking away.

“Whoa. Aren’t you a spitfire?” Pix taunted Stella, whose chest was heaving as she clutched a little first aid kit.

Stella shook the kit as she screamed at Pix. “I was supposed to patch up a few cuts and bruises! I was ready to be a good little succubus and tend to her master, not come here to find half his body missing!” Her voice rising above the roar of the fire.

Stella’s anger continued to escalate as she took in my current state, looking between my body and her wimpy medkit.

Taking the moment, I tried to focus and pour more ki into myself, trying to speed up the healing. I’d healed Melody from a pretty severe injury; I hoped I could do the same for myself.

I could feel my body straining to try to make repairs, but there was just so much missing, it was struggling. From my chest down to my hips, it was like someone had blown half of it off. My leg was dangling from a few tendons.

Yet somehow, I was still alive. That appeared to be the limit of my regeneration.

Stella cupped her hands around her mouth and yelled. “Kitty Cat! We need you! Master needs you!”

Pix disappeared, and Stella bobbed to the side like she’d been expecting it.

The pint-sized super reappeared with shock on her face as Stella threw a wild haymaker into her face. “That’s what you fucking get for hurting him, you little twirp. I’m going to fucking tear you apart.”

Stella’s wings appeared, and a cloud of ash lingered in the air as she chased after Pix.

There was an enormous thud as an angry Stella crashed through the burning forest.

Emma appeared, winking into existence on her amethyst throne. The lazy look on her face evaporated as she took in my current state. “Shit! Miles.” She launched herself out of her throne and slid on her knees to my side. As soon as she reached me, she cupped the back of my head. “You can recover, Miles. I’ve seen you do it before with bullet wounds.”

“Trying. It isn’t working well enough.” I coughed up blood.

Melody was standing awkwardly nearby, unsure of what to do. She looked back and forth between the thumping sounds of Stella bashing her way through the forest after Pix and my wounded body.

I grimaced. Fate was screwing with me. This was supposed to be a fake death.

The ground shuddered again as Stella continued to chase Pix.

“What was that?” Emma asked.

“Stella is trying to kill the one who did this, but she’s incredibly durable.” I sighed. “Stella needs to drain her ki if she has a hope of killing her.”

Emma snorted a small giggle. “I don’t think you understand how pissed Stella is if she saw you like this. Even if it was Fortress himself, she’d find a way to beat him black and blue, and then she’d probably grab his own hands and make him hit himself until he died.”

I laughed and my body screamed in agony at the jostling, causing my laugh to turn into a fit of coughing up blood.

“Okay. Don’t make the dying man laugh. Got it. But you aren’t dead yet. Even after…” Her eyes trailed down to the mess.

I nodded, not needing any more kind words or pity.

She didn’t need more than her emerald studded Nine Lives. I’d seen her use it to come back from death on multiple occasions.

Even as I thought it, an idea occurred to me.

“Emma. Your power, it isn’t just for you.” I coughed, my body straining as I tried to speak. My body was clearly on a slow decline.

“I can’t heal Miles.” She shook her head, and a few tears leaked out of the corners of her eyes. “You have no idea how much I wish I could heal.”

“No. Enchant.” I struggled to form a sentence, my mind growing foggy.

“Enchant?” Emma frowned.

Melody stepped in. “How do you heal?” She asked Emma.

“Emeralds empower me. I wear this.” Emma pulled her suit off her shoulder to show The Nine Lives, nine emeralds set in a twisted gold braid.

“Take it off.” Melody grabbed at it, trying to find the catch.

Emma brushed her hand aside and twisted part of the braid, detaching the clasp.

Melody had it in her hands a moment later and wrapped it on my wrist.

“Yes.” I tried to encourage her; she was on the right track.

I had watched Emma’s power when she tracked me down in Point City. First her ki flowed to the gems, then it re-entered her body to enhance it. My working theory was it was some sort of short-term enchantment that she used the gems to create.

“Now, use your power.” Melody glared at the cat woman.

“That’s not how it works. I have to touch it, and it is only going to heal me. Do you think I haven’t tried something like this before?!” Emma was pissed. But it wasn’t directed at Melody or me; she hated that she couldn’t save me. “Fuck, I want to heal him as much as you do.”

“Serum.” I wheezed, trying to give her some hope.

When she had first come back from prison, I watched her power closely. It really was more like short-term enchantment and right now I needed her to believe that.

“Fuck you. Don’t give me hope.” Emma hovered her hand over The Nine Lives, but she didn’t touch it as her face scrunched up in concentration. She closed her eyes, clearly straining to do whatever I needed, but nothing happened.

But then she bumped the bracelet, and it lit up.

My whole side itched as the skin rapidly grew back, filling in the hole in my side.

“It’s working!” Melody squealed, and Emma cracked her eyes open. Her eyes grew wide as she saw the progress, and she doubled down her efforts, trying to heal me even more.

But there was only so much she could do. Her power was already short lived, determined by the size and quantity of stones.

One emerald exploded under the use of her power, but she didn’t let up.

The itching spread, and I was happy for it. I hadn’t expected to find myself pleased just to have skin that could itch.

Bone started regrowing painfully, but I just pressed myself to the ground and dealt with it. Compared to dying, the current discomfort was absolutely nothing.

The barrier I had keeping the fire out flickered as I went through the pain, but focusing on it was something to keep my mind off the pain as Emma healed me.

Three more emeralds shattered in her nine lives before she finished, and I was laying among the soot with a new side. “Fuck. Let’s not do that again.”

Emma had tear streaks down her face. “Don’t you ever do that again. Now you owe me four even bigger emeralds.” She threw a demand from me, if only to make it. Emma would have scratched me if she hadn’t just healed me.

“Deal.” I agreed happily.

I found myself pressed between Emma’s cleavage as she hugged me within an inch of my life.

“He needs to breathe.” Melody commented.

“Fuck his breathing. I’ll just heal him if he tries to die again.” Emma wouldn’t let go.

Melody hugged me from the side and whispered in my ear. “Very glad to have you back.”

Yes, my fated. I almost did something terrible. Mona seemed to settle back into my mind, having drawn away while I was in pain.

“Master!” Stella hit me like a missile and lifted Emma and Melody off the ground with me before wrapping all three in a hug. “You’re okay. You’re okay!” She danced while she crushed all three of us. “Kitty Cat is the best. I’ll get you all the treats and naps you want.”

Back in control of my body, I solidified the barrier against everything and pried the three of us apart. “What happened to Pix?”

Stella had a dangerous glint in her eyes, and she smacked one fist into the other palm. “Squished, like the bug she was. I can’t believe she betrayed you like that.” Stella paused and looked around, changing her focus. “My medkit.” She found it and picked it up, dusting the soot off. “One second, let me patch you up.”

“Stella I don—“ I realized my error and just sat down.

“There. Thank you for being a good patient.” She popped open the now dented kit and stuck her tongue out as she picked out a rather large bandaid. “Hold still.” She peeled the backing off and stuck it to my cheek.

Melody frowned. “He doesn’t have an injury.”

I patted her thigh. “No, there was a pretty rough scratch there.” I lied.

Stella looked absolutely beside herself with happiness as she looked back in the kit for another bandaid.

Emma just shook her head. “If everything is alright here, I’m going to head back and shower before I’m missed. But serious Miles, no more near death stunts. I don’t know if my heart can take it.”

“Make sure Angelina fills up entire barrels full of liquid for gems. When I get back, I’m just going to fill a whole bathtub full of them and stick you in it.” I promised Emma.

I’d never felt so mortal before. I was still shaking a little at the prospect of death.

“Promises. Promises. Be careful so that you can come back to fulfill them.” Emma twirled around and planted herself on the amethyst throne, crossing her legs and waving with her fingers before she disappeared.

“Stella, what happened to those two bodies?” I asked.

She looked up from her bandaid. “Uh. Well, one went pretty splat. The other isn’t in too bad of shape.”

“Are they at least close together?” I asked.

“Yup yup.” She nodded emphatically.

My stomach grumbled. Apparently, healing had taken a lot out of me.

Stella looked me in the eye with deadly seriousness. “We need to get you food.”

“We should also probably get out of here, too.” Melody had a wry grin on her face. She knew there would be no dissuading Stella at the moment. 

“Okay, but Miles was pretty heavily injured. I’ll carry him, and you can carry the medkit. We’ll get him out of the fire and get some food in his stomach. Then he’s on forced bed rest.” Stella scooped me off the ground and took flight, with Melody keeping pace.

I kept the heat away and us invisible as Stella flew free of the fire.

We passed a super on the way, spotting a few others. Pratt clearly had people watching the edges of the fire, waiting to see if we would emerge.

Stella kept glancing down at me, checking on me as we flew. I had a feeling my normally clingy succubus was about to be even more overprotective in the near future.

Stella was trying hard to take care of me, and the least I could do was let her help. It was therapy for her in its own way.

So far, I had always been the one to help and support her, never really needing much from her.

The medkit she brought was the first clue. She desperately wanted to help me in some way, even if it was just putting bandages on some scrapes.

Now with my injury healed by Emma, she had an excuse to coddle me and help me with the smallest things, even fly me around again. So for the moment, I just let myself rest in hear arms, trying to prepare myself for what came next.