SSV 4 Chapter 13 (Patreon)

After everything that had happened fighting the titan, my adrenaline washed away. I crashed into one of the deepest sleeps I’d had in a very long time.

I woke up to somebody arguing with Daeva.

“Huh?” I mumbled, trying to understand who might have joined us. We’d ventured out alone, how the hell did anyone find us even?

“Good, he’s awake.” Mona shot over to me and turned my bleary vision to her. “How are you?”

“You pulled away.” I groaned, remembering the feeling of her leaving my mind.

“No, My Fated, you pushed me away. You made a chasm between our minds. I want back in.” She had tears in her eyes, and I realized that she must have flown by the starlight to reach us. That would have been incredibly slow compared to her normal flight.

Her eyes were filled with distress at our separation, and I felt awful for pushing her away and causing her to stress. It must of been a reflex in my pain.

I rolled onto my back, using my remaining arm to pull her down to the ground with me. “I’m right here.”

She headbutted me, as if that would solve the gap between us. “I know, my fated. But you won’t let me back in. Somehow you pulled away and stretched this giant gap between our minds. I hate it.” She was a mess as she clung to me, her nails scraping my skin like she wanted to claw her way back.

I didn’t understand much about the telepathic connection she made with me. She’d mostly done the heavy lifting with managing it. I had no idea how I’d caused the chasm she felt, let alone how to undo it.

I held her close, trying to give her some intimacy in the meantime.

She curled up on top of me, and I tried to reach back out to her again. I felt a bit of muck, but I pushed through until like a tidal wave, her mind crashed into mine.

I was instantly overwhelmed with her obsession. Love, adoration and longing poured into my mind making me tear up.

Her fervor completely drowned out any other thoughts in my mind. When we’d first connected, I now realized how much she had held back.

With the full force of her power invading my mind, it made me dizzy. She was looking into every nook and cranny of my mind, like she had to double check that everything was still as she left it.

My thoughts were consumed with just trying to keep my brain together as she poked and prodded all over the place. Leaving floods and tidal waves of her love for me in her wake. Eventually she seemed to settle, moving to the little nest in my mind where she usually resided.

I smiled, waiting for a bit of relief, but then she began drilling deeper in around her nest. It was like she was bolting herself into my mind.

“Hold on.” I managed to say; it felt like she was going to fry my mind.

“No.” Her words echoed in my mind at the same time. “You pushed me out, and you’ll never do that again.” Her physical face was focused as she continued to bolt herself into my mind.

After a few more intense bracings, she seemed to relax.

“Done for now.” She patted my chest. “So, now we can talk about how you need to stop these new negative thoughts. You are still my fated. It’s just a flesh wound.” She used the words that I had taken as a joke last night.

“But—“ The rebuttal I had was obliterated. “Wait, did you just erase that thought?”

Mona grabbed my face and held my gaze. “Yes, my fated. I’m in your mind, and I’m staying there. I will remove anything that threatens us, because there is nothing that could cause me to not want to be with you. Don’t even try to argue or push me away.”

I went to argue, but she grabbed my face and kissed me with complete passion, overriding my thoughts without even using her position in my head.

But it didn’t take long before she was throwing her telepathic thoughts at me. I was just swimming in sticky gooey thoughts of her wanting to smother me with love, wrap me up and stick me somewhere safe, preferably bolted to the floor and kept in a permanent state of arousal.

I sighed. Mona could be a bit too obsessive sometimes. But I let her get it out of her system.

I came up for a breath amid her flood of thoughts and pushed them back down as I broke the kiss. “Mona, I’m very impressed with your control.” After just a little push she drew the flood of her love for me back.

“Thank you, my fated. I’m trying. But if you push me away again like that, I might just lose it.” She pulled back enough that she wasn’t flooding my mind, but she had certainly cemented herself inside of it. I had a feeling unless I really worked at it, I was stuck with her for the rest of my life.

Perfect. Mona smiled at me.

I nodded, giving her another quick kiss. “We’ll work on it, and you should probably get back to Point City. You probably should have a session with Angelina.”

“Nope.” She clung to me.

Daeva cleared her throat. “This is wonderful and all, but shouldn’t we get going back to New Haven?”

Mona glared at Daeva. “Be thankful I don’t kill you for not protecting him better and leading him into danger.”

The two women had a stare off, and I knew I needed to break it.

Grabbing everything with my power, I lifted us off the ground and pulled us back towards New Haven. Mona still clung to my side, even if we were now upright.

It didn’t take Daeva more than a few seconds to take our loot from me and take control with her telekinesis.

“You know, maybe we could give you monster fruit. Maybe you would grow new limbs. Or even a few extra. I have some ideas for what extra appendages could do.” Mona wiggled her eyebrows.

“I’d rather not. Monster Fruit is still quite unpredictable. And I’m not sure if I can do the same for myself that I did for melody.” I replied. “Besides, when I return to Point City, we can see if Emma’s power can work even though it’s healed over now.

Daeva smiled. “There have been people who regrew their limbs with monster fruit, though the limb is normally a little different than the original.”

“He is perfect how he is. Really, you just need to make them dark. Right now your power keeps making phantom limbs for you.” Mona replied.

I nodded. I’d experienced the phantom limbs a few times.

I tried to focus, picturing my right arm and leg taking on the same darkness I used when I was Void.

Both limbs appeared. I flexed the void hand and it reacted.

I smiled down at the new void appendages. Now if only I didn’t have to focus for them.

“See? It is as if nothing happened at all.” Mona smiled so wide that her eyes pinched together. She pushed and pulled somewhere in my mind and it was like she changed them to being there by default. They no longer required concentration, instead it felt like I’d have to push to get them to disappear.

“If I’m fine, then you should head back.” I turned it around on her.

She huffed. “I could use a break. Every time I see Hendricks or Pratt, I want to vaporize them. They used Melody to get to you and then tried to kill you. They will die.”

I raised an eyebrow at her. “So what’s stopping you?”

“Because I’m saving them for you, duh. Plus they are pissing Kim off and keeping her super busy.” Mona shrugged and seemed to enjoy them keeping Kim busy.

“What are they doing to piss Kim off? They haven’t been that involved in the BSH in the past.” I frowned further.

“Above my pay grade, and it has nothing to do with you, so I don’t care.” She blinked at me as if that was a given.

I nodded, but the new information was unsettling. I didn’t like Pratt and Hendricks getting more involved in the BSH. That in itself was a good reason to get Mona back to Point City where she could be my eyes and ears.

“I’ll go back after I say hi to Stella and Melody, maybe go meet this Pollen girl before I go too.” Mona gave me her best pleading look.

“Behave.” I warned her. Having just felt the full extent of her obsession, I was worried for the others.

Daeva watched us both with interest. “Mona, I too need to talk to Stella. Miles says that she has things to teach me.”

The obsessed woman spun to face Daeva. “Don’t think you are getting ahead of anyone. You just earned a few points because he was at a low point and you were there for him.”

“He was hurt, but he’s fine. He healed quickly and his powers will make up for any perceived shortcomings. All I did was see him for who he was and not his present situation.” Daeva’s blue eyes twinkled as she moved closer and put her hand to Mona’s chest. “I see that you love him very much too and you are strong, maybe stronger than the other two he brought with him. You will have strong children with him.”

Mona grabbed her cheeks and blushed as she bit her lip and looked back at me. “His children.”

Oh shit. I wasn’t sure Daeva and Mona should spend too much time together anymore.

Mona read my thoughts. “No. I’m not going baby crazy. I already was. I just kept it tamped down.” She smiled, pleased with herself. “You will eventually give me a baby, preferably a boy once we figure out the gender disparity issues.” She was dead serious and apparently reading all of my surface thoughts.

Daeva had a knowing smile of her own. She had brought up children with Mona on purpose.

I looked down at my void hand, closing and opening it several times.

I’d used the ability before, but it had taken on a deeper meaning now. I marveled at the control I was able to have as I pressed my hands together. Even then, my power transferred the sensation of touch a little stronger than my real hand.

In some ways, this hand wasn’t that different from the Fenris Wolf. Hell, there was probably more I could do with it now than when it was flesh. It wouldn’t be bound by the laws of the human body.

Thoughts swirled through my head at a rapid pace. My power had always been at a ridiculous level. Stella had compared me to titans, and Daeva had compared me to a god.

I was working on figuring out Frankie’s power. If I could turn water into wine I could probably win over a few more of my women.

If I kept going, I could become even more like a god. Mona picked around my head at the idea, but didn’t say anything about my thoughts.

I let them stew in my mind as we continued the trip back to New Haven, a bit of hope rising up in me as I moved with my void limbs.

***

Kim sighed and stared at Angelina, who was currently sitting across from her looking like Miles. Of course, she knew it was really Angelina, they couldn’t pull this off without bringing her in on Miles’ absence.

“What do you mean she’s gone?” Kim rubbed at her forehead.

“I mean we woke up this morning and it looked like she made a sandwich and left. And she was clearly too preoccupied by whatever made her leave to clean up the kitchen. She left quite a mess.” The slime girl sat far too gracefully for Miles. He would slouch a little, always far too comfortable, like he controlled whatever room he was in.

Her disguise was fooling most people, but it wouldn’t fool Kim.

She’d been watching every action Miles took for weeks. He normally plopped down in chairs with a complete disregard for the chair.

Angelina looked like she was afraid she’d break it.

“Is something wrong with Miles?” Kim asked as she pulled her attention away from the small details that Angelina did as Miles that drove her nuts. But it wasn’t Angelina’s fault. Kim just hated that each of them reminded her that he was out of her reach for the moment after she had gotten so close. Pratt needed to get fucked for chasing away her Miles.

“Why would you ask that?” Angelina had a placid look on her face like a therapist hiding their emotions.

“Because she nearly killed the General and Mayor last time Miles was attacked. It doesn’t take a genius to piece together that she has some form of communication with him. If she didn’t, she would be losing her mind and tearing down buildings to get to him according to her psych profile.” Kim pulled out her tablet and swiped it to Miles’ Team folder on her home page. “She has a redacted power under the rules that it is personal.”

Angelina raised a brow. “I assumed you knew?”

“No. I try not to pry on these sorts of things.” Kim replied, putting the tablet down and staring down the fake-Miles.

“Look, it isn’t my place to tell.” Angelina held up her hands.

“It might help us determine if she’s okay.” Kim leaned forward. She needed to know everything about everyone in Miles’s life if she was going to worm her way in and fix everything she’d done to him. “Besides, given the current situation, I could probably make a request of the Coast City director. But it would be better if we don’t include another BSH branch in Miles’ business.” She smiled, knowing that she had just pushed past Angelina’s resistance. She was far easier than Miles.

“Fine.” Angelina spat, and Kim marveled at how well Angelina was able to follow Miles’ angry face. The reminder of his sexy self when he was all worked up made her have to tighten her thighs. “Mona has a power that was damaged. When Miles augmented her power in Coast City, he revived it. The power creates a telepathic link between her and one other person.”

Kim leaned forward. “So the power is now active between her and Miles?”

“Yes. She’s always connected to Miles, even when he has traveled out to New Haven.” Angelina crossed her arms.

Kim was satisfied with the new intel and leaned back. “So then, something happened to Miles to make her leave. Do you have any other way of getting in contact with him?”

“We have a secondary measure, but we won’t get a response for a while, even if we send a message now.”

“Do it. We need to make sure Miles is okay. That’s the top priority. And we’ll shift your route today. With both Demoness and Venus out, Miles’ team is looking a little light.” Kim commented, staring at her tablet.

“I am Miles.” Angelina tried to stay in character.

Kim scowled, but she said nothing. “So, after work today, I was thinking about swinging by with groceries and trying to cook for the house. It feels like Obsidian is always cooking.”

“Miles actually cooks a lot when he’s around. The other girls only really cook when they want to do something nice for him. It’s actually really hard to do much around the house when you have a man who can clean rooms with a glance. I’m not even sure he’s aware he does it at this point. And then Obsidian, with all her clones, takes care of most of the remaining housework.” Angelina sighed.

Kim saw an opportunity there. “He doesn’t know he cleans?”

“I don’t think so.” Angelina rolled her eyes. “I think he uses his power more than he realizes. Stella made this huge mess in the kitchen once and Miles just glanced at it, scraping all the dried pancake batter off the counters, cabinets and floors in an instant. And he put it all in the trash while he complimented Stella on her pancakes.”

“You know a lot about how he uses his powers.” Kim couldn’t help but be interested.

“I watch him use them all the time. Partially because it’s my job, and partially because I’m in love with the man.” Angelina checked her tablet. “Shit, I have to go. I’ll let you know when I hear back from Miles.” She started swiping at the tablet as she got up and hurried out of Kim’s office.

Kim didn’t stop her as she continued to chew on Angelina’s words.

The woman was Miles’ therapist and Kim’s best resource to understand him better. Kim desperately wanted to ask her most pressing questions, but that would put the therapist in a moral bind. She didn’t want to lose the connection she had to Miles through Angelina.

Kim put her tablet down and ran her hand along the edge of her desk. She hoped that Miles would come back soon. She was eager to work with him on energy to mass conversion.

His power felt almost limitless. Those types of powers were interesting.

The BSH had a hard time quantifying the power levels of supers like that, because the flexibility of the power made it even more complex. Now with the Libertech devices measuring ki levels it was becoming even more difficult. They had high ki, but it took more ki to power an ability like that, so while they might register on the devices close to an S grade super, their function might not be much better than a B grade.

Kim glanced at her desk where she had one of the devices stuffed. She really wanted to know Miles’ actual strength.

The supers she knew who had mass conversion power or were able to alter one type of matter into another were some of the strongest supers out there. If Miles had that level of ki, but also used it for that kinetic energy manipulation he was off the charts, and may not even be fully aware of what he was capable of.

Kim wondered if using those types of powers exercised their power more, and created stronger supers, or if the powers were larger so that they had the energy to function in the way that they did. There was still so much they didn’t understand about powers.

Kim knew Miles was powerful. And if she helped him, maybe he could understand his powers better, unlock new uses. It would help bond them.

She smiled thinking of Miles thanking her for all her help in honing his power. Maybe he’d even take her out to a fancy dinner as thanks, sweep her off her feet, give her roses.

Her mind started to drift off in a daydream, only to be broken as her phone began to ring. She scowled at the interruption.

And then she scowled even deeper when she saw who was calling her.

She rolled her eyes. “What now Mayor?” The woman deserved far worse after running her love out of the city. Bitch.

“Is that how you answer the phone to your boss?” Hendrick’s voice grated on her.

“It is now that you ignored all of my advice going into this Void debacle.” Kim left her phone on speaker while she talked to Hendricks. If she held the phone, there was a good chance she’d end up chucking it against the wall in frustration.

The mayor had gone after her Miles, and Kim had been having trouble controlling her flames around the woman since then.

Kim was a little surprised that Mayor Hendricks was still alive. She’d expected one of Miles’ women or Miles himself to seek revenge by now. But that just proved she didn’t understand him well enough. She bit her nail wishing she was Mona and could literally be in his head.

Hendricks was still on the phone and talking. “Anyway. Pratt is pushing forward with the operation to clear the Wilds around the city, but he’s losing too many prisoners for us to make the progress we were looking for. So, I’m going to set a quota on your department. We need more manpower in this.” Hendricks stated the order like it was some trivial matter.

“Excuse me?” Kim couldn’t help herself, but then managed to rein herself in. What Hendricks was saying was ludicrous, but Kim knew how to deal with the woman. Hendricks’ casual disregard for human life made her rage, but at the moment, she needed to keep it together to protect her city. “What goal?”

“Above your pay.” Hendricks said sharply. “We need at least 300 more prisoners by the end of the month. I bet you can scrounge up that many angry women doing bad things. We’ll handle making sure they want to join Pratt’s project. Also, Pratt’s noticed a project to try and give inmates therapy?” She scoffed. “That’s cut immediately. They have too much hope to sign up.”

Kim couldn’t barely speak through how hard her teeth were clenched together. “Crime is on a decline. I’m not sure we can just summon the criminals from thin air.”

Hendricks cleared her throat. “Of course not. That would be illegal. However, the police have some incoming policy changes that would escalate more cases your way, to better protect the police force from violent crime. Take a piece of advice from me. Use it to your advantage to hit your quota.”

The phone clicked off like the mayor had just slammed her earpiece down.

Kim waited an extra moment before letting out her feelings in a series of curses. “I hope Miles comes back soon. Hendricks and Pratt need to be put in their place, and I can’t do it while I’m director of the BSH. Too many people depend on me.” She stared up at the ceiling and let that daydream of Miles taking her out for helping him with his power creep back into her mind to calm her down.