The Owl in the Abyss - Chapter 24 (Patreon)

In that moment, my will dominated everyone around me who wasn’t Lung.

I pushed my intent and desires as hard as I could to all ten minds.

The red lights of the cameras remained active.

I had to buy time. “What now, Lung-sama? What do you want?”

His dark eyes behind his mask met mine a moment later and I didn’t even need a read on his aura to interpret the answer to my question. He reached down to the jeans he was wearing and simply ripped it off, tearing it uncaringly in the process before chucking the remains to the side.

My own eyes instantly locked with his newly freed manhood, which wiggled slightly in the air before settling down. He was half-erect already which in the next few moments raised to full mast.

He wasn’t hung like a horse, which was a bit of a disappointment. It was not surprising in retrospect given his ethnicity, but he did straddle the American median, which made him technically on the high end of the spectrum. Any further judgments were put aside when his smell hit my nose fully. This combined with the strength of the aura made it a struggle not just to jump his bones right there.

I was fighting that instinct though as I had to make a show for the cameras and whoever was watching off-site. An eleventh mind entered my web and I knew immediately it was Oni Lee - I snagged him immediately.

“You will attend to me,” he declared authoritatively.

“As you wish, Lung-sama.”

I made a point of walking forward slowly, flaring my hips seductively with each step. I didn’t have to fake any enthusiasm, eagerness or my lust for what was about to happen, I let it shine from my features.

I trailed my fingers from his ankle upward, tracing the sinuous dragons tattooed there, up his calves, knees and slowed them agonizingly as they neared his upper thighs. His tattoos formed an interesting cradle for his member and balls, which had no tattoos. I doubt even Lung could handle the application of one there.

My hip leaned against the chair as my fingers traced the ‘cradle’ made of snarling dragon heads.

Finally I cradled his bare hairless scrotum briefly before slowly working my way up his manhood, tickling the glans, which finally caused a hiss of satisfaction from Lung.

I slowly leaned over, enveloping his shaft with my right hand, keeping my left arm behind me, so it gave him an enticing view of my breasts as they began dangling downward.  My mouth was watering at this point and I let a glob of saliva land on his glans, before I plunged downward, taking him in completely.

Lung grunted and hissed before his hand grabbed my hair on the back of my head, then began directing my movements with a strength that I knew I could match for the moment, as long as he didn’t escalate his power. I worked with him though, so it never turned into a contest. I swirled my tongue, savoring his scent and taste.

I could already tell from his precum that I would get a wonderful meal from this, but even more so than normal. This would be amazing, this would be like getting a higher octane of fuel for myself.

My eager throaty moans of anticipation and satisfaction resounded in the room and I started working on him even faster. Lung was left only holding my hair loosely as I bobbed up and down with that heavenly taste in my mouth. Occasionally I also pulled in air from the sides of my mouth, carefully working it so it created a vibrational effect.

My rapid movements were also causing my breasts to jiggle and dance alluringly in the air, which was an odd feeling, but one I delighted in finally being able to do. It was enough to entice even Lung, as his other hand came forward to fondle and knead them.

This also began to rapidly heat me up and I could feel my pussy begin dripping in anticipation, drops of my juices already snaking their way down my inner thighs.

His grunts and groans became louder, his muscles rippling as he fought against the stimulation to prolong it.

I just took it as more encouragement, pushing him in deeper until I could feel his glans bumping against the back of my throat. My lips locked against his shaft and I began sucking, creating brief vacuums which popped noisily.

Another few seconds of this was all it took and Lung practically roared as he came.

My throat eagerly accepted his semen.

The strength and power I got from it was not what I predicted, it was exceeded by an order of magnitude.

My whole body tensed as I devoted every fiber of my being to absorbing the energy. The sheer excitement of the feeling, the discovery of it, the elation, hit me like an explosion. I moaned with his member still practically in my throat as I also climaxed, sending a jet of juices to splatter on the floor between my feet.

The new discovery of another physics defying ability hit me as I realized I was still breathing perfectly even though I was deep throating him.

I looked up with hungry, bedroom eyes into his and slowly lifted up, keeping my mouth lightly sealed against his shaft to gather every bit of residual semen and fluids.

Lung’s breathing was hard and his aura was still as strong as before.

The rush of exciting discovery swept me.

Fuck yes.

He had to be mine.

“That… was an adequate performance, Escort,” he said neutrally, but I could tell he was deeply impressed but his nature meant he would never express honest admiration for anything.

“You’re welcome, Lung-sama,” I said, making sure to say his name with a husky, slow tone. “Anything else?”

His hand was still idly fondling my breasts and he seemed to be debating something internally. He came to a decision quickly though and sat up from his lay-z boy chair. I moved out of the way but kept my place next to it.

He walked behind me. It turned out he was a full head taller than me and could easily rest his chin on my head. His thick arms promptly captured me around the waist, pushing my own arms up briefly. He took advantage and his hands snaked up my stomach before palming both my breasts, starting to fondle and massage them.

His soft manhood was now pushed against the top of my butt.

He began slowly pushing and rubbing it against me, clearly a method to encourage his arousal again, working against his refractory period.

I could’ve helped with that, but Lung had to stay true to himself for as long as possible.

My new minions were hopefully setting things up by now.

Oni Lee was the most difficult to puppet as the parahuman hardly had any initiative and will left.

Lung was now playing my body with experienced skill, nothing like what Uber could do, but close to it. He’d obviously had many women in his time and despite being a selfish bastard, only caring for his own pleasure, knew how to seduce and give pleasure if he had a mind to it. He was also using the act to restart his own ardor.

A few minutes of this and I was well on my way, especially when his right fingers moved between my legs and began fondling my labia, then he expertly pulled on my clitoral hood and began attacking there.

His left hand came up off my breast and pushed my head back onto his shoulder. He ripped off his mask, which fell to the floor with a clatter. Then he was free to roughly kiss me, forcing his tongue into my mouth, where my own began a duel. He was quite surprised at the strength I was showing in it, but took that as a challenge. His strength ramped up and eventually overpowered my tongue before he withdrew.

“Ah, oh, fuck yesss!” I hissed as I climaxed. The spray of my juices went forth with tiny droplets as he was still mercilessly manipulating my pussy as it happened. My body twitched and spasmed in his arms as the aftershocks hit.

Far from stopping and giving me a breather, he just continued, this time two fingers penetrated me fully and he explored the inner walls of my pussy, clearly searching for the famed g-spot. Problem for him was that my entire pussy was practically one big g-spot.

I shuddered and gasped, his left hand returned to my breasts, this time pinching and working my inflamed perky nipples.

His fingers pumped and caressed in my deepest folds and barely a minute later I was launched into another orgasm.

The fluids erupted from between his fingers, soaking his hands and splattering on the floor.

His hand came up and I saw him lick the juices off with a fascinated look on his face.

This close I saw that Lung’s face was actually a mix of ethnicities; his eyes and forehead reminded me of the classical Japanese appearance, whilst the rest was Han Chinese. It was actually quite handsome overall, though I couldn’t claim to be attracted to it.

He leaned closer to my ear, “Are you trying to master me, Escort?” he grumbled dangerously.

“No, whatever you taste is unique and appeals to you alone, that is all,” I whispered.

He merely nodded before rather roughly turning me around to face the chair before pushing me down to support myself by the armrest.

His hand kept me pushed down, folded in half and I looked back to see him lining up his newly erect manhood.

He pushed forward and my pussy eagerly accepted his full length into me, my vaginal muscles even helping him along.

A grunt of surprise was his only reaction, before his iron hands grabbed my hips.

He pulled out and pushed back in with a slow hiss.

The pleasure was tough to resist as it threatened to rob me of my faculties at this point.

I had to keep focus in directing my new minions.

One of them was about ready to enact the changes I wanted. I willed him to pause and wait…

Lung began to speed up in his thrusts into me, his hips slapping into my buttocks.

He groaned and slowed down, now moving with a languid thrust before just pausing for a few seconds and resuming.

He kept this varying rhythm going.

Now I was the one who had to resist a climax if my plan was going to work, ideally for five minutes or more.

My fingers dug into the soft leather armrest of the chair, which tore under the assault as I gasped, gritting my teeth with effort.

Lung began another rapid set of strokes.

“Ah, fuck! Urggh-” I groaned, which became gasps.

I struggled with every fiber of my being to hold onto reason and just barely managed it.

He gasped himself and slowed his pace again.

Then he bent over, using his right hand to play with my breasts, whilst keeping his left on my hip to aid in a renewed bout of deep languid thrusts.

He stood properly again and finally seemed to lose his brinkmanship battle, before rapidly thrusting.

This was it.

I projected one desire to the minion.

NOW!

The red lights of the active cameras winked out.

The instant it happened my mind web reached out and pulled Lung inside.

I didn’t stop him from his eager fucking and just rode it out.

“Ugh, ugh, aaaah!” He grunted to the ceiling as I felt the powerful burst of energy and his semen filling me.

I clamped my vaginal muscles on his manhood and took it all in.

That was my own queue to lose as I gasped and climaxed, giving Lung’s legs a decent spray of my pussy juices.

For nearly half a minute we both just stood there and gasped in the post-coital bliss and aftershocks.

Finally, I turned around with a smirk.

“Pick me up, Lung-kun.”

“Yes, Escort-sama.”

He pulled me up to stand, bending his knees to remain sheathed in me. Then his hands grabbed me by the upper thighs and lifted.

I gasped in delight at the new position, feeling his pecs and abs deliciously against my back. His hands slipped up and held me just under my bent knees. This splayed me wide open, practically showing off the fact that I was still impaled on his manhood that I was now keeping properly erect.

I carefully adjusted the flow and found that I had to do very little. His aura was steady and I was comfortably absorbing power.

“Fuck, I really could stay like this forever,” I groaned with delight. “Carry me to ‘15 and let’s go next door.”

I grabbed the sentient pipe and then Lung carried me out. As he walked me down the hallway I was hit with the sheer naughty excitement and lewdness of what we were doing now. It wasn’t exactly ‘in public’, but it was still a new level of exposure and my spine shivered at the feelings and thoughts. My mind threw me a ridiculous fantasy of Lung carrying me outside into the streets like this.

I turned the handle of the door and beyond was a makeshift room that held all of Lung’s precautionary preparations for our meeting.

On one side, a whole table with five laptops, hooked up to cabling and in turn to the cameras in the meeting room. Each laptop had a smartphone tethered to it, allowing for an Internet connection. The five men who had been operating the stuff were all lined up to one side, all of them typical ABB gangsters and mooks in appearance but were all skilled in IT.

They bowed at the waist low and chorused, “Ohayō gozaimasu Kakaete!”

I frowned and gave Lung a pointed side-eye, “Kakaete?”

“Meaning mistress, but the word implies also that you are master of geisha or prostitutes.”

“Oh, but I don’t claim that over the working girls.”

“You may not claim it, but can a tiger deny its stripes or a dragon its wings? You are strong, Escort-sama. I tried to prepare for you but you wisely kept the details of your powers hidden. I had thought that you needed line of sight and to speak to those you mastered. You even managed to stop my off-site precaution.”

My attention was drawn to the center laptop, which was showing the carefully looped feed of Lung and me still fucking each other’s brains out to other ABB members at another property of the gang.

“If they realize something went wrong, what will they do?” I was somewhat amazed my half formed intent and even subconscious desires had managed to orchestrate this, whilst I was in the middle of sex.

“Detonate the C4 charges at the base of this building.”

“Shit, who set them?”

“Oni Lee.”

I thought intently at the other parahuman and I was treated to observing the mechanics of one his signature teleports as the masked parahuman appeared in the room.

My back shivered with horror and I gaped momentarily. “Fuck no. Oni Lee, you are only to teleport when your life is in danger.” I hammered the command home into what was left of his psyche. He only bowed in acknowledgement. “You are now only loyal to me. Now, go downstairs and disarm the charges.”

He bowed again and left through the door.

“Hmmm, why did you do that, mistress?” Lung asked curiously.

“Oni Lee, is not truly teleporting. His power actually creates an entirely new copy of himself within line of sight, at least until I Mastered him, which now extends it to my own line of sight. Anyway, the process being used is destructive, the body he leaves behind turns to ash as a side effect of the scanning process.”

“I fail to see the problem, Escort-sama.”

I snorted, “I suppose you wouldn’t. Copy of copy of a copy. No such process is absolutely perfect. Errors are introduced and comparing the Oni Lee I saw at the Red Light meeting to now, there is a clear difference. I give it another three, maybe four months, depending on how often he uses his power, before he is just a reasonless instinctual drone, merely following orders. That keeps on for longer, I wouldn't be surprised if eventually even his power starts producing copies that are physically defective, but that’s a guess. Now, what about Takeda and his family?”

“The threat to him was only to get you here, mistress. He was already given the means to disable the explosives at his home when you arrived.”

“That’s a relief,” I let out a breath. “I certainly don’t like him but I wouldn’t want anyone innocent or adjacent to this conflict to suffer for our battles.” My gaze wandered over to the five ABB gangers. “You, your names?”

“Tsubasa, mistress,” the guy on the left began.

“Takuma, mistress.”

“Shota, mistress.”

“Xie, mistress.”

“Hao Wen, mistress.”

“Which of you did the video looping?”

“I did, mistress,” Takuma answered.

“Excellent work, we’ll need to film an ending suitable for the off-site viewers to convince them everything proceeded according to plan. That I became a conscripted servant of Lung. Then you need to loop that into this.”

“It’ll be done, mistress.”

“Good.”

Oni Lee returned and I immediately noticed he was breathing rather heavily. “That was quick. You were out of my range for a time. What were your thoughts?”

“To only disarm the C4 and return to you, mistress.”

Interesting, I thought. His aura was actually showing the slightest of improvements around his head whilst he was within my mind web. It was actually allowing me to also control Lee better, but this was clearly early days.

“Come Lung-chan,” I flexed my vaginal muscles, causing the huge parahuman to let out a groan. “Let’s finish off the show.”

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We did so by giving a five minute performance for the cameras.

We alternated by using the camel style and Indrani positions, which generally favored the male showing dominance, though the latter was probably a bit too intimate for Lung but could be written off as just him getting into it as the sex wound down.

I ‘left’ showing the proper amount of reluctant obedience.

Lung then put in a call with all the countersigns to show that everything had gone well to the gangers sitting on the trigger of the bomb. Then dismissed them to return to their normal activities.

I also sent my own signal to Henry and Dad that I was out of the woods.

It wasn’t surprising that they called immediately.

“Little Owl, everything okay?” Dad asked with a frantic worry evident in his tone.

“All fine, dad. Situation sorted out.”

“Really? So if I ask where Lung is now?”

I looked behind me on the couch where Lung was spooning me fully.

“Do you really want to know?” I countered and shooed Takuma away. The ganger with superb video editing skills bowed with a post orgasmic smile on his face and pulled up his pants before retreating out of the room.

“Okay, never mind. If you’ve got him then that’s a stupid question. What are you going to do with him?”

“Let’s just say he can keep up with me and it won’t kill him, so I think I’m going to be a bit more lenient in his hypnosis. Don’t get me wrong, he’s still a monster with blood on his hands, but now he’ll be my monster on a tight leash and I’ll be asking him to scale back on the worst of the ABB’s activities. Bring the whole gang to a more traditional style of operation, honor, respect and all that.” Lung’s aura was annoyed as he found the Yakuza style trappings pointless, but he didn’t stop caressing my stomach and breasts.

“Dear, can’t we just dump him in the Protectorate’s lap?” Dad asked plaintively.

“You’ve seen Henry’s analysis of the city. Why are you asking this?”

“You’ve got Coil and his territory to worry about already, add Fortress and SCPs in the mix, now you want to add Lung and his ABB? You might as well be a crime queenpin of the city at that point!”

My head swam a bit as I realized that dad was actually correct.

Coil’s territory was all of the southern commercial district, adding the ABB meant that included the Downtown coast, which included Red Light, as one contiguous zone. ABB also controlled the Docks in the north-east. My territory was split in half by the E88, as they controlled Downtown and Docks South.

“Well, if that’s what it takes dad, then we do it. We now have a huge chunk of the criminal underworld of Brockton at our fingertips. We can start to smooth things out, pull back and stop the most egregious crimes - I’ve already got an idea of how to end the ABBs human trafficking and the forced prostitution ends by becoming voluntary only. We’ll help with the rehab in getting these girls off the drugs.”

“But-”

“I’d like to hear this idea,” Henry interrupted dad pointedly.

“The main customers of the trafficking are North African Warlords and the Russian Bratva. Lung simply tells their reps in person that he finds the deals unsatisfactory and ups his prices to a ridiculous amount. Play into the narrative that he’s starting to lean into a draconic persona and wants all the money. This will take months of course, it can’t happen too quickly. Naturally, they’ll balk and cancel the contracts.”

“What if they actually agree, Escort? The resources that the Bratva can command are substantial.”

“This will beggar them and they’d be stupid to do it. If they try to force the issue… well, Lung will just roast them.”

“Just a reminder that Lung isn’t invincible, as you’ve just proven.”

“Which is why Oni Lee will also be there and both dad and I can cover the other bases but remain hidden, watch his back. Lung’s biggest weakness is the initial period when a fight begins. If someone can tag him with a massive single hit that overwhelms his healing ability whilst he’s still in normal form. The other weakness is Masters, but I’ve got that part covered.”

“You’ve already had a chat with Lung then regarding this?”

“Yes, in brief.”

“Henry, we can’t seriously be considering this?” Dad asked.

“Danny, nature abhors a vacuum. Remove Lung from the city and you’re creating a big one. The Teeth are the most likely candidate to return, but there are others. This will naturally create substantial conflict and loss of life until a new equilibrium is reached. The current gangs in the city are stable and settled, their borders generally agreed and they’re only pricking each other to keep the rank and file in line and settled. Escort now has practically half the city criminal underworld in her influence from behind the throne, so to speak. She can affect subtle, peaceful change on the status quo, Danny. Isn’t that preferable to open war on the streets?”

“I’m sorry, but the crime queenpin of Brockton Bay isn’t exactly what either her mother or I had in mind for her future!”

“My future is my choice and this is no different than what we did with Coil,” I retorted, unable to help the waspish tone that leaked into it.

“The worst that Coil did was extortion, protection fees and harboring murderers on payroll, Taylor. Lung’s business is far worse and now you’ll be practically abetting it.”

“Dad! Do you want this city on fire? Because that seems to be the path you want to take us on. How many dead will there be? Hundreds, thousands? How many among the DWU? I certainly wouldn’t keep out of the fighting, I’m a hero. So I might just be one of the casualties of this hypothetical conflict and let's not forget the other heroes and the Wards as well. If the Butcher returns-”

I heard a sudden beep in my ear and held out the phone to check the status on the call.

Dad had cut off his end, but Henry was still there. I placed the handset back to my ear.

“Henry?”

“Yes, you’ll have to be patient with your father. Remember, he’s a parahuman now and while it’s a theory, it has enough observational backing that I’m pretty sure he’s being prodded by his power.”

I idly nodded even as my own temper flared at the idea.

Coil’s knowledge and data had been a gold mine for Henry in researching parahumans further, including the fact that powers actually had agency and that there was intelligence on the other side of that dimensional shunt in their heads. Just how much control whatever or whoever had over a parahuman was open to debate, but it was a direct brain connection. It could be total or on the other side of the spectrum, merely a trickle. A nudge here and there, tweaking the billions of brain cells into seeing things, thinking about things or manipulating feelings.

In dad’s case, it wouldn’t take much either. He’d inherited grandpa’s temper, something he’d also passed to me in turn, but mom’s influence had eased it a bit in my case.

“I’ll keep it in mind. I’m not exactly thrilled about my situation and I certainly never imagined a hero career like the one I’m living, but if this is what it takes to keep Brockton from burning and bringing actual change to it - then it’s a sacrifice I’m willing to make and isn’t that one of the main traits of a hero?”

“Classically speaking, yes,” Henry acknowledged. “What are you going to do now?”

“Lung needs some more instructions before I feel comfortable leaving, as does Oni Lee and the mooks at the site.”

“Don’t take too long though, the rest of the ABB can’t suspect anything.”

“I won’t, good night, Henry.”

“Good night, Escort.”

I ended the call and stored the phone in its pouch.

At that moment, Lung got grabby and gave me a slow in and out stroke.

The slow background pleasure of having him constantly inside me spiked up my spine and into my brain.

“Oooh yes, another session I think would be just the ticket and then we need to get you sorted out Lung-chan.”

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I left that building and Lung very reluctantly.

For the first time, I could genuinely say I was absolutely sated, between the seemingly ever-refilling Kenta - Lung’s actual name - and the other mooks I felt amazing and strong. I was flying through the air faster now, having attained a new top speed that was pushing the top end of supercars.

I spent a time just luxuriating in the new speed, flitting about the buildings in Downtown before returning home.

It was three in the morning at that point, so the house was dark and silent.

Theo had managed to get Aster asleep, another plus. That would invariably not last given the nature of infants, so I headed downstairs to the basement to pick up my GED materials before returning.

Aster had her baby cot in my former room, alongside the bed.

It was probably venturing into creepy territory, because Theo was sleeping in my former bed as well, but I put it out of mind and buried my nose in the required reading for English Lit.

As usual the book didn’t seem to grab my attention much. What was it with these prescribed novels in Lit? The curriculum designers always chose the one that was preachy with messages, allegories and themes… and did it in the most boring ways possible. Heaven forbid we could actually get something immersive that thrilled, captured the imagination or got the blood flowing.

I had to slog through it though and was almost relieved as the clock struck five and Aster rather promptly woke up. She immediately started fussing, kicking and letting out small sounds of annoyance.

I carefully picked her up and settled on my hip, before grabbing ‘15, my book and heading carefully through the door and downstairs.

It was clearly evident she needed a nappy change from the smell and I hurried through that ordeal, keeping my nose as pinched off as possible.

That done, I headed with Aster into the kitchen to get some baby milk for her breakfast.

Afterwards, I swapped that for a pacifier and toy, then settled her on my lap to continue reading at the kitchen table.

Just before six and with the sunrise well underway, a very bleary eyed Shauna in a dressing gown and slippers meandered into the kitchen. She practically zombie walked her way to the fridge for some milk and cereal from the pantry, whilst setting the kettle to boil.

It was amusing to watch and she was clearly not a morning person.

When she finally sat down and drank her coffee some intelligence returned to her eyes.

“G’mornin,” she mumbled.

“Morning,” I smiled cheerily.

She ate a bit of her breakfast and just stared at me for a moment, then Aster. “Huh cute kid. Don’t those usually take nine months?”

I snorted, “Yeah, not mine. Aster, say hello to Shauna. Shauna, this is Aster.”

The infant babbled and giggled as I waved her hand at my fellow SCP.

“Hey kiddo,” she played along, giving a weak smile and a frankly pathetic wave to the infant. “Am I gonna be able to comprehend the reason you suddenly have an infant girl in the house?”

“Might want to finish that coffee and breakfast first.”

“Getting right on it,” she said, grabbing her spoon and beginning to shove cereal down her throat in a not very dignified manner.

“How goes apartment hunting?” I asked idly.

“Shit,” she grunted between bites. “Either it’s too expensive and in E88 Downtown or it’s cheap but pigsties with crime riddled streets.”

“Did you check the Commercial district?”

“That’s too close to Fortress. Don’t wanna live close to work.”

“Seriously?” I gave her an incredulous look. “You want a long commute?”

“It’s a thing I have.”

“Checked the Docks South? Near Captain’s Hill?”

“Too close to that fucking tree.”

“Shauna, it’s domed and patrolled,” I sighed wearily.

“Nope, that thing gives me the creeps.”

“Downtown Coast?”

“ABB not gonna have a problem with me?”

I couldn’t help but smirk, “Let’s just say that I have cordial contacts with the gang now and once I put in a word in the right ear, you’ll be as safe as houses.”

“No shit,” she smiled, steadily showing more life. “You and the gang came to an agreement?”

“You could say that. Met with him last night, we hashed an agreement out. Basically a continuation of the status quo, I pay him his share of my proceeds from Red Light and provide security for the district when I’m there. This means that I’m technically an ABB cape now.”

“Technically?”

“Not going to be helping him in his other illegal activities, but if he calls for help or my services…” I shrugged.

Shauna stared at me with narrowed eyes, “I know your thing Taylor, you’ve got him wrapped around your finger, don’t you?”

“Do keep it on the down low,” I pointed a warning finger at her.

She snorted, “Not like I have any friends in this town yet, though I’ve got my eye on one of those hunky mercs at base,” she smacked her lips and wiggled her eyebrows suggestively.

“You have Internet access and a PHO account, so please don’t announce it or will I have to hypnotize you?”

“Relax, chill boss. Not gonna be screaming it from the digital rooftops.”

“Good. Now how is your work with Henry?”

“Weird, awesome, mind blowing with boring as hell sprinkled in between. The Foundation bastards should’ve been teaching us this ontokinesis shit from the get go. Would’ve actually been able to properly control my power.”

“True, but that would’ve made you harder to contain and they’re not in the business of letting SCPs free to contaminate their precious normal world.”

Aster got even more fussy at this point, so I distracted her by giving her a ride on my bouncing knee.

“You ever do anything with ontokinesis?” Shauna asked curiously.

“Nothing overt beyond my own power, too dangerous until we get a proper hang of it. Even Henry doesn’t think he’s ready at the moment.”

“Really? I thought he was just being like a mysterious old sensei.”

“That should underscore the danger for you,” I stared at her pointedly. “So you will heed his order never to use ontokinesis without either of us present.”

“Relax boss, he gave me the shovel speech. I saw all sorts during my own time in containment, don’t wanna make or do something that could just end up killing or trapping me.”

I heard the steps on the staircase and dad walked into the kitchen. His aura was stained with regret, anger at himself but also a determination. He gave me a complicated look before resolutely heading to me and kissing me on the head.

“Morning Little Owl.”

“Morning Dad,” I said with a forced neutrality.

“Shauna.”

“Morning Mr. Hebert.”

“Aster’s-”

“Changed and fed, dad,” I confirmed.

“Good.”

He began prepping his own breakfast; bacon, eggs and toast.

Shauna naturally picked up on the tension between me and dad. She gave me a questioning eye as she finished the last spoons of her cereal.

I just shook my head in response.

“I’ll just go get dressed for the day then,” she quickly stood and hurried out the door.

I occupied my mind with reading and keeping Aster entertained while dad was in front of the stove.

When he finally sat down and began eating, he gave a deep sigh. “Taylor, sorry-”

“Dad-”

“Dear, let me finish, please. I know last night was not exactly my best moment and I apologize for that. I just…” He trailed off and took a few bites of bacon, visibly gathering his thoughts. “I think I was just holding on to a sliver of hope, that despite everything that life has thrown in your way, that you’d be able to have some normality; in the form of a hero career you actually dreamed of having. Now, because you’re too much like your mother, you’ll sacrifice even that because this bloody city seemingly doesn’t need another cookie cutter hero. You’ll become more than just that. Hero, villain, both are roles and labels, that doesn’t solve anything really.”

I nodded, on the latter point he was right on the money. He took an angry bite from his fork and looked pensive. “And what a hypocrite I am, given what I did when Coil…”

He held up his hands and I saw that they were shaking, his aura stained with fear and self-loathing. “I still see their faces sometimes in my sleep. They were monsters who had killed so many and were walking the streets with Coil’s help.” He balled his hands hard around his knife and fork. “Now it’s almost certain that at some point, you’re going to have to also put down the monsters you find among the ABB. If it’s discovered that you’re… no, we’re the power behind the curtain now-”

“They’ll brand us villains,” I nodded. “Simply because they’d fear the kind of power we have now.”

I had Lung and Coil wrapped around my fingers, including both their organizations. Coil’s now molded into Fortress. The ABB would also be steadily molded into serving my interests. Henry and Dad were also in my corner with their respective powers and knowledge, Shauna and perhaps, eventually even Theo.

It was a rather mind blowing feeling when I summarized it like that. I had come so far from being the scared Taylor in hospital, barely understanding what was happening to my body.

“Then we better make sure it doesn’t come to that. If we can’t call on the Protectorate for help with some of these SCPs…” he trailed off, clearly not wanting to think of that eventuality.

“They’ll have no choice with regards to quite a few of them, especially when we’re talking about city ending, world ending or even universe ending scenarios.”

He drank from his coffee and a new set of footsteps down the nearby stairs heralded the arrival of Theo.

I reached over and squeezed dad’s hand, hopefully conveying my acceptance and love with my eyes. He smiled briefly and nodded at me, relief blossoming in his aura that everything was still okay between us.

“Morning Theo.”

“Morning Taylor, Mr. Hebert.” He immediately headed for me and I lifted Aster into his arms.

The infant gurgled and smiled at her half-brother as he settled her on his hip. He started cooing and tickling her nose, greeting her and asking about her morning, knowing he wouldn’t get any answer besides baby talk.

After doing his brotherly duties, he handed Aster back to me and started grabbing his own breakfast of cereal and some leftovers from dad’s efforts.

“So ready for training today, Theo?” I asked with a smile.

“Think so,” he mumbled over his own coffee.

“Good, so remember, you’ll be meeting Henry. Tall sentient moving statue, don’t be alarmed, he’s a big softy.”

“Got it.”

“The car to fetch us will be arriving in an hour. We’ll likely be followed by the E88 car watching the house, but we’re going to have a little surprise for them.”

“What is it?” he asked curiously.

“Let’s just say that we’re going to play a little shell game with identical cars, with me misting you between them. Dad’s also going to run interference with a perfectly timed bird formation dropping shit on their windshield.”

Theo couldn’t help but laugh at the mental image, “When did you work this out?”

“Been brainstorming it since we took you in,” I shrugged. “We don’t want Kaiser linking you to Fortress’ physical location or giving any hint to him that it’s a location of interest.”

“Can’t wait to see it really, an actual underground hero base,” he grinned with excitement, rubbing his hands together.

“Well, it used to be a bona fide Bond villain lair, but we’re changing that,” Dad chuckled. “I’ll be following and Aster will be riding with me.”

“Can you drive and use your power?” Theo asked with worry.

“My power allows me quite a lot of multitasking, but I’ll have a driver. Not to worry, Theo. Kaiser will be frustrated when he loses track of you today, but he’ll have no choice but to stew in his ignorance.”

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“Door to Brockton Bay anomaly boundary.”

Out of a rectangular energetic breach in reality, a pale skinned woman stepped out onto the gravel of a distant back country road. It gave a picturesque view of the slowly waking city of Brockton Bay in the distance. The wind whipped her wavy black hair, only being constrained by the fedora perched on top of her head. Her tailored black suit and shoes were more fitting for an office environment, but she showed no discomfort whatsoever at her surroundings or the biting wind.

The portal door closed behind her without a sound, disappearing as if it had never existed and not leaving any trace on the environment.

She stood as still as a statue on that country road, the only sign of life being her breathing and the condensation from every exhale from her nose in the cool early morning air.

Finally she looked down at her own feet, seemingly debating something with herself before she took one deliberate step forward.

Her perfect posture and composure shattered.

She gasped and leaned on her knees to support herself, gasping. Her eyes whirled around in a panic, her head turning frantically around. A hand went into her jacket pocket, producing a silenced pistol, but there were no targets or anyone around to shoot. She glared in anger at the city in front of her.

“P- path to understand the-  the phenomenon.”

First step, take one step backward, responded her passenger.

She gritted her teeth at the useless response, but nevertheless took one step backward.

Her composure returned immediately, she straightened herself and holstered her weapon with perfect efficiency and accuracy.

Path to understand the phenomenon, she thought.

First step, take one step forward.

She wanted to scream with frustration.

For almost three weeks now the city in front of her, had become a new type of blind spot for her power. Perhaps even longer, as she had only discovered it when one of her routine paths to check on one of Cauldron’s long term assets had abruptly ended on the outskirts of the city. Frantic checking and further paths revealed a boundary around the city where her power simply went into a contradictory loop.

Calls had been made, assets utilized and it was quickly discovered that every Thinker power with the breadth and range to be turned on Brockton Bay was returning nonsense unreliable results. Only passive Thinkers, that relied on human senses still functioned and they had to be within the exclusion zone.

When it came to Brockton Bay, Cauldron was now effectively blind, even Clairvoyant couldn’t see into the city.

Then strange events began to be reported within the city; the radioactive train and the human tree being the most noteworthy. There were others but nothing that was beyond the scope of parahuman activity for a city like Brockton. The local PRT and Protectorate had handled the situation and the train was due to be moved soon, whilst the tree would be destroyed when a safe method was devised.

Yet all of that was just a distraction to the true threat - the exclusion zone was growing.

It was slow, but occasionally pushed itself out in leaps.

How it could be stopped was a mystery.

How do you stop something you couldn’t even define properly or even the strongest known Thinker power failed to identify.

“Again Contessa?”

Contessa didn’t turn around to face her interlocutor, it was pointless and there was no threat.

“There must be a way,” she only said in reply.

The soft crunch of gravel at her side and Alexandria was now standing there.

The wind whipped at the wide, heavy cape draping from the Triumvirate hero’s shoulders, combined with the all black costume; skirt, knee high boots, elbow gloves and featureless steel helmet - it was very impressive and even awe inspiring to look at.

Contessa kept her eyes fixed on the city.

It was a place where she was no different than any other, where she was as helpless and powerless as any of the quarter million official residents. A place where she couldn’t aim her pistol with the perfect accuracy she was accustomed to, a place where a random car accident could kill her, a place where any of the parahumans inside could easily overpower her.

Inside Brockton Bay, she was no longer Contessa or the Boogeyman.

She was just Fortuna, a woman born on an alternate Earth where the highest form of technology had been the water mill.

“We’re exploring every option, Contessa. I’m looking at every report coming out of the city. The instant I find what’s causing this-”

“You will do nothing to it.”

Alexandria didn’t show surprise, but her head turned minutely to lock eyes with her.

“Really now?”

“This is not truly a blind spot as Eidolon, Endbringers, Triggers and Entities are. It’s different.”

Alexandria looked to the city. Only her mouth was exposed by her helmet and her lips thinned minutely. “You didn’t report this to the rest of us.”

“It’s only a recent conclusion.”

“Which isn’t based on your power.”

Contessa turned around and began walking away from the city. Alexandria hovered a few inches off the ground and kept pace.

“If I’m correct we have found something even the Entities are blind to, are unable to quantify or prepare for.”

“You of all people know their power, how potentially old they are. How many other races they’ve encountered and defeated. All of human history is barely a blip on the scale of this species. The only weapons that can fight them are their own.”

“Door to West Twelfth Street, Dallas, Texas, Earth Bet.”

The portal snapped into existence in front of Contessa, a brief sliver of the street in downtown Dallas framed within it. She paused and turned dangerous eyes on Alexandria, “I repeat, if the source is found you will do nothing, except inform me the moment you are sure.”

Her tone was enough to make even Alexandria feel a moment of fear. “Very well, Contessa.”

She stepped through the portal which disappeared out of existence immediately.

Alexandria looked at the spot where Contessa had been, then turned to the distant city.

“What is going on in there?”

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No new SCPs in this chapter.

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A/N: A small sliver of what Cauldron is up to in the face of the craziness. Enjoy the weekend and stay awesome everyone.