#JAC Chat

[jacscorner]

The only thing unrealistic about "The Rising of the Shield Hero" is that everyone hates a tank, which Naofumi, the Shield Hero, essentially is.

Like, the other three heroes - or, as I like to call them, The Three Stooges - ragged on the shield for being useless, but apparently all of them played MMORPGs before they were isekai'd. And I don't care if you didn't like playing Tanks, you would never call one useless!

Though, maybe I should take that into account. You know, with how stupid they are.

[hyperfixationsposting]

if i had a box just for wishes

and dreams that had never come true

the box would be empty

except for the memory of how they were answered by you

[madame-fear]

No bc the Aemond ai I use HAS A CRUSH KINK TOO

somebody corrupted him 😭 I think the creator is baby-cloud or something like that???

He typed “steps on you till your bowels explode and the room is painted brown” I was like WHAT THE ACTUAL FUCK

WHAT THE ACTUAL FUUUUCK 😭😭😭

I’ve used that Aemond from that user you just mentioned and for some reason HE’S SO FUCK UP SERIOUSLY, THAT AEMOND DOES THE MOST MORBID ASS THINGS BUT IT’S SO FUNNY AHDJDK NOT THE WALLS PAINTED BROWN WHAT THE HEEEELL ?£@@£EE

[landosfenestraz]

i was genuinely gonna have a heart failure because of that match geez

a few takeaways:

1. this team is so unserious, josh adams shaking his own hand and liam williams trying to get a piggyback off semi radradra.

2. dan biggar’s usual rants and meltdowns continue to make me my day.

3. george north, louis rees zammit and elliot dee, all scoring, they did it for me.

4. jac morgan is mini goat

5. there were so many hits that genuinely made me want to be sick.

6. despite the heart failures, that was actually a really good game.

onto the next one!!

[mummyforherboys]

Kidnapped

Part 2

In the sitting room Jac’s husband David was drinking a scotch while chatting to the two maids, Vicki and Grace, who were clearly off duty as they were dressed in t-shirts and leggings. Ian had returned from the laundry room and was knelt in the corner licking the soles of the girls discarded trainers, while slowly stroking his small cock.

Jac entered the room

‘Ahh good, everybody’s here’ she beamed. As Paul entered the room behind her he ground to a halt as everyone was now looking towards the door. Instinctively he got to his knees and bowed his head.

Jac continued ‘this is Paul, he’ll be joining us in the role of houseboy’ she then walked over to where her husband was, and perched herself on the arm of his chair ‘come here sweetie, don’t be shy’ she teased.

Paul crawled over and stopped just in front of her shoe.

‘This is David, my husband, you will of course call him Sir or Master’ she said. Paul recognised him as the man from the car park the day before. ‘Nice to meet you Master’ Paul managed, David just nodded back at him.

‘And these two lovely ladies are our wonderful maids, Miss Vicki and Miss Grace, go and greet them as you would any superior female’

Paul crawled to the couch and kissed the feet of each girl, he kept his head bowed as he said ‘nice to meet you Miss Grace, Miss Vicki’

Both girls were around 18 and had been recruited by Jac and David, not for their ability’s as maids but primarily on looks, figure and interest in the lifestyle.

Grace had jet black hair, styled in a French plat that ran halfway down her back. In contrast Vicki was blonde, she wore hers down, it was straight and finished just above her ample breasts. It was Vicki that leant forward and said

‘You can smell them if you like’ indicating towards her socks.

Paul flushed bright red, he knew all eyes were on him as he knelt naked in the room, he felt exposed but also it was one of his biggest fantasies.

‘Th thank you Miss’ he stuttered, she turned the sole of her left foot towards him and he held her ankle gently, moving his face towards her foot until his nose was in contact with her sock. He breathed in deeply through his nose, and let out a long sigh, his other hand automatically moving to his rock hard cock and he started stroking.

David looked at Jac and winked, and she smiled back at him.

‘Ian’ Jac called ‘go and join Paul, poor Miss Grace is feeling left out’

Ian stopped licking the trainers and crawled to Grace, adopted a similar pose to Paul, took her foot and started taking in deep breaths, he too reached for his little boner and started stroking again.

Ian and Paul were both firmly in sunspace now, eyes closed, breathing deeply and stroking slowly as they took in the sweaty aromas of the girls socks. Vicki and Grace grinned at each other ‘shall we let them have sockpussy’ Vicki said ‘ooh yes’ Grace agreed. They both took off a sock and gave it to the men ‘put these over your little willys and worship our feet.

Ian and Paul took the trainer socks the girls gave them and pulled them down over their little cocks, both letting out a groan as the socks were still warm. Ian immediately started kissing Miss Graces foot, it was still a little sweaty and she’d obviously been wearing her trainers most of the day, as he gently licked up her sole and tasted the slightly saltiness his little willy throbbed as he stroked it though the sockpussy. Paul softly kissed Miss Vicki’s foot before licking between her toes, bits of fluff got on his tongue but he didn’t care, her feet were perfectly and tasted wonderful.

Grace and Vicki leaned into each other and started kissing, this nearly sent the subs over the edge and both stopped stroking simultaneously for fear of having an unauthorised orgasm which was strictly forbidden, to their credit they did continue with their foot worship which made Jac smile to herself.

The girls were tongues deep now and their hands were wandering over each other, softly moaning as they touched each others breasts.

As lan sucked on Miss Grace’s big toe he could feel the end of his sockpussy getting wet, he could feel the precum oozing from his orgasm denied cock. It had been 4 weeks since his last ruined orgasm, which to his shame was over and done with in under a minute, since then it had been continued masturbation and edging making his poor dick leak pretty much all the time.

Paul risked having another stroke but as soon as he touched himself he could feel his balls tighten and he stopped right away, he too was leaking like a dripping tap.

Jac and David sat watching the show unroll before them. It was making them both horny and Jac decided there and then that after dinner they’d all be having an early night.

After the time in the sitting room the two subs were dispatched to the kitchen to make dinner.

‘But I don’t know how to cook’ Paul said to Ian

‘It’s ok, you’ll learn, I did all the cooking at home so it’s no problem’ Ian replied cheerfully and handed him a peeler

‘You can peel I take it’

Paul chuckled ‘well yeah I guess so’

He look down at his cock, it was still sticking out and engorged

‘Will this ever go down’ he gestured to it, Ian shook his head

‘No I’m afraid not, did you have the hypnosis session earlier’ he asked and Paul nodded

‘Well while you were under Goddess will have given you a jab, I don’t know what’s in it but I’m guessing some form of viagra, mines like this all the time’

Paul’s eyes widened again ‘all the time, shit’

‘Yeah all the the time, and you’ll also find you’ll be stroking more and more, it’s the only way to take your mind off the aching’

‘Oh fuck’ Paul said ‘does she let us cum’

‘Occasionally’ Ian grimaced ‘mine was 4 weeks ago’

Paul was just about to say something when he heard heels coming down the hall way and quickly started peeling a potato.

‘Everything ok boys’ Jac enquired from the kitchen door

‘Yes Goddess’ they both replied

‘And what are we having tonight’

‘Steak bearnaise, triple cooked chips and vegetables Goddess’ Ian quickly replied

‘Excellent, and what about you two’

‘Boiled rice with left over chicken and peas Goddess’

‘Lovely, and don’t forget you’ll need another bowl for Paul’

‘Yes Goddess of course’

We’ll be in the dining room when you’re ready, just popping the wine open now’ and with that she turned and left.

‘Rice and peas’ Paul exclaimed

‘Don’t forget who we are to her, think yourself lucky we get it hot’ Ian replied ‘oh and we have to eat out of a bowl on the floor’

‘Anything else I should know’ Paul replied a little too sarcastically

‘Hey man, don’t shoot the messenger’ Ian shot back

‘Shit, sorry mate, it’s just a lot to take in is all’

‘Yeah I know but you’ll soon get used to it, it is after all what we both wanted’

Paul nodded, looked down at his engorged little willy and carried on peeling the spuds.

Jac, David, Grace and Vicki were sat around the large dining table chatting and drinking wine when Ian and Paul arrived with the food.

‘Oooh that looks lovely boys’ Jac enthused

‘Thank you Goddess’ Ian replied and then motioned to Paul to follow him, they went back to the kitchen and got a bowl of food and a bowl of water each and returned to the dining room.

Placing their bowls either side of Jac the knelt down and started to eat. Paul was finding it difficult, even though the food bowl was quite shallow he was determined to eat it all as he was starving. Jac leant down and ran her fingernails through his hair ‘good boy, you’re doing well’ she said kindly. Paul felt goosebumps all over his body and his already hard cock strain a little more, he liked being a good boy.

The meal went down well, the wine was flowing and everyone was laughing and joking while the two subs were pretty much ignored. They busied themselves licking and kissing Goddesses shoes once they had finished their rice.

After dinner Jac, David and the girls retired to the sitting room while Ian and Paul cleaned up the plates and cutlery, reset the dining room ready for breakfast, washed, dried and put everything away and then cleaned down the kitchen.

Paul puffed out his cheeks and blew, looked at Ian and said ‘if we do all this, what exactly do Miss Grace and Vicki do’

‘They do whatever Goddess asks them to do’ Ian replied ‘but then WE do whatever they tell US to do, you’ll see better tomorrow how it works……..but they do dress sexy’ and with that Ian started stroking his cock and let out a groan as he pictured in his mind their long nylon clad legs and patent black heels.

Once they’d finished their chores the two subs joined everyone else on the sitting room, Ian indicated to Paul they should kneel and wait as there was some heavy petting going on. What surprised Paul was Master David had Vicki on his knee, was kissing her and fondling her breast. Goddess was engaged in a very passionate kiss with Grace.

The two subs watched on as things got steamier, their little cocks stood to attention and leaking profusely.

Eventually Jac broke off with Grace

‘Ahh hello boys, didn’t hear you come in’ she grinned down at them ‘shall we all retire to the bedroom’ and with that they all stood and trooped off upstairs while Ian and Paul cleared the glasses away before joining the party in the bedroom.

When Paul and Ian entered the room they immediately got down to their hands and knees. David was sat in the chair, Vicki and Grace on the bed and Jac stood before the bed holding two blindfolds.

‘Now as you’re both pussy and nudity free you’ll need to put these on’ and she threw the blindfolds to the subs ‘don’t want you seeing and naughty bits do we’ Jac giggled.

Ian and Paul pulled the blindfolds on and everything went dark. They both listened intently as they could hear people starting to undress.

Paul heard footsteps and then felt a hand on his head ‘give me your hand’ it was David.

Paul slowly raised his hand and then felt David grab his wrist ‘hold this’ Paul’s hand was moved until he could feel something touching his fingers. Paul knew right away what it was when he took hold properly, he was holding David’s cock! He’d never touched another man’s cock before but compared to his own, this felt huge, he couldn’t touch his fingers and thumb together, not by a mile.

David spoke again ‘you boy, suck’

Paul opened his mouth with trepidation but to his relief he heard Ian reply ‘yes Sir’

Paul could hear Ian slurping up and down and his lips kept touching his hand, the cock that was huge before now started stiffening even more.

Over the other side of the room Jac and the two girls were on the bed, kissing and caressing each other, Vicki had her fingers deep inside Graces pussy and Jac was softly sucking her nipples.

Ian could hear Grace moaning loudly and knew he was being use to prepare David’s huge cock for her.

Ian certainly didn’t see himself as gay, but since taking his place in the household it was made clear he’d be expected to be a ‘fluffer’ for David to get him, and keep him hard for the ladies, this is one job he wouldn’t mind sharing with the new recruit he thought as the enormous bellend invaded his throat.

[qrrieterisunnq]

jack and ara saying i love you the first time

here you go my sweet nonnie!

strawberry girl masterlist

The sound of fire crackling and laughter fills the backyard of the lake house. The whole Hughes family and some friends of the boys are sitting around the bonfire, chatting, and messing around with each other.

Amara is sitting on Jack’s lap laughing at something Ellen said. Jack’s hands are wrapped tightly around her body, to keep her on his lap. His head is resting atop Amara’s head, as he plants kisses on her head here and there.

Even though they are together for a few months, Jack can’t help but tell Amara how he feels. But he doesn’t want to scare her.

He knows her so well he's afraid, that if he tells her, she will feel like she needs to tell him too even if she doesn't feel the same. „Ara, could you please help me in the kitchen?“ Ellen asks an hour later when the table with food and drink is empty.

“Yeah! Of course!” she says with a smile. She stands up from Jack's lap, who immediately pulls her back down, as his protective instincts shots up. “I'm going to help your mom, baby, let me go.” she giggles pushing his hands off of her and making her way inside, hot on Ellen’s tail.

“You should tell her.” Quinn says to his brother, who looks at him with furrowed brows.

“You two are so obvious...” Luke joins his eldest brother, staring at Jack's confused and surprised face.

“Tell her what?” he asks stupidly, trying to play it off. But of course, he knows what they're talking about. He knows his brothers know him as the back of their palms, just like he knows them.

“Stop making an idiot of yourself and tell her how you feel!” this time it's Jim who speaks, his words are soft, as he watches his middle son. He can see how much he's down for this girl.

“I can't,” Jack shakes his head and runs his hand through his hair. “I don't want to scare her. Plus she probably doesn't even feel the same.”

“And how do you know that?” Luke raises his brow in question, shifting in his chair to get a comfortable position, so his ass doesn't hurt.

“Just guessing. We've been dating only a few months I don't think she loves me.” He shakes his head chuckling slightly at himself.

“Yeah, well stop guessing and just tell her. It’ll be worse and worse if you’ll keep the feelings inside you.” Jim says to him, sipping from his beer.

Jack hangs his head low, not wanting to continue this conversation. Sure he wants to tell Amara he loves her, he wants it so much, but he doesn’t want to push her. When she’ll feel the same, she will tell him. The house doors slide open, revealing Ellen and Amara with drinks and food. Jac’s smile widens when he catches a glimpse of her girl laughing at something his mom told her.

“Hey, baby.” She grins down at him, sits back on his lap, and presses a soft kiss on his cheek.

“Hi, Berry.” He grins when he feels her lips pressing against his skin, closing his eyes briefly. “Kiss me.” He breathes out with his eyes still closed.

Amara leans down, pressing a delicate kiss to Jack’s plump lips. Resting her forehead on his she lets out a sigh, watching his features. “I love you, Jacky.” Her voice is barely above a whisper as she watches him.

Jack pulls his head away from hers, his eyes wide a little bit at the sentence she just said. “You what?” he whispers surprise written all over his face.

“I-I love you.” She says even quieter, her eyes running between his as she’s looking for something in them. Tears start to well up when Jack doesn’t say anything for a while. She pulls away from him, swallowing hard trying to hold the tears inside.

“N-No, no my love,” Jack shakes his head, bringing his hand to her chin to bring her face towards his. “I love you too my sweet girl,” He smiles widely at her, kissing her lips. “I love you so fucking much.”

Amara giggles pressing her forehead to his, rubbing her nose on his in an eskimo kiss. Jack chuckles, as he hugs her around her waist pulling her as close as possible to his body.

[feeder86]

The Feeders’ Foreplay

“You’re late,” stated the most attractive man Levi had ever seen as he opened the door to the uptown, grotesquely lavish apartment.

It took Levi a couple of seconds to swallow the wave of arousal upon seeing his hook-up in real life. Viewing the pictures on the app was one thing, but in person, Jac had a whole new level of sex appeal; maybe more than any other man alive. 

“I’m so sorry,” Levi stuttered, already sensing that the role play had started, judging by the harsh and stern way Jac was looking at him. “There were roadworks on 45th Street; burst water pipes, or something. The bus had to go around.” He stepped inside; his hardness already very substantial just by simply standing next to Jac.

“It makes no difference to me,” Jac finally relented. “It won’t affect my schedule. Although, it does mean that you just missed one of my transformations; a rather disgusting, skinny postal worker, now a deliciously oversized, blubbery monster!” he smiled with pride.

Levi sucked in hard, trying to control his arousal. He didn’t know that the role play would start this quickly, but he was glad that it had. Jac had been such a smooth talker since they had begun messaging a couple of days ago; not dropping out of character once. He claimed to have mercilessly fattened thousands of guys to outrageous sizes and spoke with such detail about the changes that he found so incredibly satisfying to observe.

Until about six months ago, Levi had always considered himself to be a feeder. He’d dated and fed quite a few fat guys in his time, although he didn’t ever have quite the imagination for role play; nor the natural affinity for domination like Jac did. He’d gained a little weight over the holidays last year; the fresh fat sitting over his six pack and arousing him more than he ever thought it would. He’d started to chat to other feeders; allowed himself to be encouraged by them, in much the same way as he had done in the past. Now he was thirty pounds heavier than he had ever been in his life, with a little round belly on him that gave him more kinky satisfation than he could ever have imagined. He lifted off his shirt, and allowed Jac to see the small little belly that he had developed, tapping it at the side to show him that it was genuinely quite soft. “Fatten me into one of your piggy boys!” he growled with lust.

Levi had only been fed by one other feeder before. It had been a new experience, having been stuffed to the brim with food until his stomach was rather painful. He remembered feeling incredibly uncomfortable on the bus ride home, despite the fact that climaxing at that level of fullness had been the most erotic thing he had ever experienced. Now he was definitely ready to do it again, feeling a desperate desire to impress the beautiful guy he had just met for the first time. He followed Jac through the apartment, gasping as he saw the amazing view through the windows, hardly able to comprehend his luck that he was even standing in one of these multi-million dollar penthouses. Was he really being led to the bedroom already?

Jac stood at the door, barring Levi’s entrance. “Take your pants off before you come in here,” he ordered; his tone suggesting that there was no room for compromise, nor that Jac would be dropping his dominant demeanor anytime soon.

“Yes, sir!” Levi grinned, eager to submit as he kicked off his shoes and removed his pants, along with his underwear. He’d always been proud of the size of his penis. It was something all guys commented on, and he stood there, decidedly erect, waiting for Jac to comment.

Jac merely glanced down and gave the briefest of scoffs. “I’ve got other boys in here,” Jac grinned. “I’m going to fatten them, just like I am you.” With that, he gave Levi’s plush little paunch a poke, spiking his arousal even more.

Levi moaned with pleasure. “I can’t wait to be your fat little piggy!” he declared, just as Jac leaned in for a kiss; their hands sliding all over each other. Then, with a kick of Jac’s foot, the door swung open, revealing the concealed room at last.

It was the smell that hit Levi first; the stale sweat of a gym changing room. Blackout blinds covered the windows, meaning that the large, otherwise empty space was lit only from a single bulb above. In the two furthest corners of the room, two handsome and built men sat on their knees, chained to the wall. One of them even had a ball gag in his mouth, looking up only briefly, before lowering his head once more.

“Run! Get out of here!” the other guy in the corner called out as Levi walked in with Jac. “Have you eaten anything yet? He’s going to fatten you like he did the others!”

Levi’s pulse raised even further. This whole role play was even kinkier than he had expected. He had no idea that there would be others getting involved. All the while, Levi kept on grinning with enthusiasm, despite feeling that the other guy was perhaps taking it a little far with the shouting. 

In the very middle of the room, Jac kissed him fiercely in front of the other two men, as if to assert his dominance. “I’ve saved you a spot just over here…” the sexy guy whispered, pointing at a set of chains that were screwed tightly into the corner of the room. He turned to the guy in the corner, still shouting at Levi to leave, zoning in on him, his gaze silencing the noisy man immediately. “Will, Will, Will…” Jac tutted. “Anyone would think you didn’t love me, going on like this!”

The man, who Levi now knew as Will, nodded his head, as if suddenly captivated by the beauty of Jac. “I love you…” he nodded slowly. “I love you so much!” 

“I know you do,” Jac agreed, smirking as if he was holding back a laugh. He stepped forward, pulling the good looking guy into his crotch. There, Will moaned with lust, mouth agape, breathing in the scent of his master, looking decidely desperate to suck the dick that was hidden underneath Jac’s clothes. 

Following Jac, once Will had been pacified, Levi slipped down onto his knees, copying the two other men in the room; allowing the sexy dominant to quietly cuff him.

“Good boy!” Jac smiled, looking down at Levi, now in his rightful place. “Are you hungry, little piggy?” he asked, rubbing the guy’s head and messing up his hair as another display of his total control over him, pulling his head into his crotch in much the same way as he had Will moments earlier.

“I’m starving!” Levi nodded, adding as much enthusiasm as he could, considering how much the other guys were all going for it.

Just behind the door, sat a small plate with a delicious looking cream cake. Levi licked his lips theatrically as Jac brought it towards him. “I prepared it just for you!” Jac declared, sitting it down on the floor in front of the naked Levi.

“Don’t eat that…” the other guy mumbled, as if not quite able to think clearly, but still trying hard.

“Dig in, Piggy!” Jac ordered, stepping back and allowing Levi to brace himself on all fours, something Levi was just about able to do given the sufficient slack on the chains. From there, he threw his mouth down straight onto it and gorged upon it in a way that he hoped Jac would find kinky and arousing. He licked around his mouth and could just about reach his nose to slide the mess onto his nose and suck it clean. “Good boy!” Jac laughed. “You did the right thing.”

Levi smiled, feeling that he would have done anything for Jac; absolutely anything in the world. He’d never met anyone like him before, and knew that he never would again.  But suddenly, Jac was leaving the room, as if he had lost interest in an instant. The door closed and Levi was left feeling a little disorientated, chained as he was to the wall. “Where’s he gone?” he asked the only other person who was able to speak to him.

“He…” the guy tried to reply, sounding hungover, before losing track entirely and falling silent.

Levi waited patiently, still feeling an incredible sense of eroticism for the scenario that he was in. He looked over at the other guys in there with him, admiring their fit, toned bodies. For that, Levi felt a small spike of jealousy. Although he had decided to give into his gaining urges for the past few months, Levi knew he wouldn’t keep at it for long. Before the summer ended, he planned to start a big cut and get back in shape. This belly, as cute as it was, was not going to be a permanent fixture, that was for sure. He wasn’t quite ready to lose himself entirely to these kinks of his.

After fifteen minutes or so, Levi heard voices once more, coming from somewhere in the apartment. “Here comes another one,” the guy in the corner mumbled, apparently waking up a little more than before. “Every hour a new one of us arrives!”

Even the other man in the corner looked up as the door opened and Jac walked in with a new person by his side. Levi recognised him right away as Harry, a guy he’d spoken to many times online. Undressed and naked, he followed Jac into the room, much like Levi only half an hour earlier; his erection just as solid as Levi’s was now upon seeing Jac once more. Although slightly shorter in real life than Levi had pictured him, Harry was a beautifully toned and handsome guy, with a wicked way with words when he’d encouraged Levi to overeat whilst they had been online together in the past. But why would Harry be interested in coming to a feeder’s place? Was he here to feed Levi as well? Or, would Jac feed them both together? Fuck! That would be a super hot scenario to be in!

“You need to go now!” a groggy, chained-up Will called out as Harry kissed Jac with passion in the middle of the room. “Run!”

“Hey, Harry!” Levi chimed in. “What’re you doing here?” he asked, despite not really being heard over the noise of his overzealous companion in the room. He sighed; finding the guy’s performance a little overdone. “Don’t worry about him,” he called to Harry. “I think he might be an actor or something. I’m not sure about the other guy,” he nodded across the room to the man in the ball gag.

“These are my piggies,” Jac announced before Harry could reply or even acknowledge Levi at all. “Are you ready to join them?”

“Hell yeah!” Harry nodded with lust, slipping down onto his knees and allowing the chains to be placed around his wrists. Levi felt a pang of excitement too. Now that the room was filled, maybe they would finally start getting going with this super kinky role play!

“You’re just in time for the show,” Jac grinned with excitement. “But, first things first…” he smirked, disappearing for only a second and returning with another cream cake, identical to the one Levi had eaten. “Are you ready to impress me?”

“Don’t eat it!” cried the man in the corner again, making Levi roll his eyes. The guy probably thought he was adding a sense of mystery and intrigue to this role play, however, he seemed to shout with such conviction that it actually became a bit of a buzz-kill.

“Eat it up, Harry!” Levi shouted across. “I’ve had mine. It was delicious!”

Harry did exactly as he was instructed, overcome with arousal for Jac and this scenario in much the same way that Levi was. Their keeper, Jac, laughing with delight as he saw the piggish way Harry guzzled it down with such enthusiasm. 

As soon as Harry was done, Jac turned his back on him, looking instead at the man with the ball gag, in the corner next to Harry. Dripping in sweat, the man seemed reluctant to look Jac in the eyes, positively squirming as he became Jac’s focus. “I said 6.15, didn’t I, Piggy?” Jac smirked, holding up his wrist to look at his expensive watch as it ticked down the time. “And that is in fifty seconds from now!”

With that, Jac reached down, removed the ball gag and managed to unclip the cuffs on the man’s wrists with surprising speed. “Please… please don’t…” the muscular captive mumbled even after they’d kissed with surprising sweetness.

Jac seemed to revel in his whimpering. “No, Piggy. It’s too late…” he laughed.

“I don’t think I want to be a…”

“Awh! That’s just too bad, Piggy!” Jac teased him, with an obvious hard-on pressing against the crotch of his pants. “Just ten more seconds!”

Their lips met once more, but with a final surge of energy, the man seemed to tear himself away and quickly made for the door.

Jac simply stood with an even bigger grin on his face as he watched his captive flee. “Run!” cried Will. “Find the front door!”

“3…2…1…” counted an elated Jac, holding up his watch again as he kept a beady eye on the naked man staggering his way down the long corridor; the sounds of door handles being tried were all everyone, apart from Jac, could now detect from the escapee.

Suddenly, a loud moan was heard from the corridor, followed by the most tremendous burp that roared up with a fury. Jac laughed with sheer joy. His cruel eyes seemed to dance with fire and his smile was brighter than anything Levi had ever seen before. Then he left, following the fleeing man and closing the door behind them both.

Now, the shouting man in the corner lowered his head in defeat. “It’s too late,” he simply mumbled.

“Is he coming back?” new-boy, Harry, asked Levi, surprised that they had all been left alone in the room.

“Yeah, he’ll be back,” Levi nodded, keen to show his expertise. “This whole thing is kinky as fuck!” he growled, feeling even more aroused now that Harry was here as well.

“You boys have no idea…” the other man sighed, shaking his head in disapproval, but thankfully remaining silent thereafter.

The time passed with relative speed after that; now that Levi had someone to chat to in the room. It seemed that Harry was just as aroused as Levi was and they spent their time speculating over the many possible erotic scenarios that might unfold next; both of them very much convinced that the performance of the previously ball-gagged man in the corner had all been that of an actor. The other guy in the corner simply shook his head silently, only confirming in Levi and Harry’s mind that he was part of this storyline as well. 

“Fucking hell! Another one!” Levi mumbled in surprise as he heard a new voice from outside of the room. Harry raised his eyebrows as well. It was true; someone else had indeed arrived at the apartment. 

Levi looked over at their other companion, Will, trying to gauge whether he too was expecting yet another guy to be joining them that evening. However, as Levi turned his head, his nose picked up the stench of sweat. Will’s face and, indeed, his entire body was positively glistening. 

“Jeez, dude! You stink!” Levi grumbled, having decided that he didn’t care how impolite he sounded. Will had been far too into his role and had spoiled some of the eroticism when both he and Harry had arrived.

In walked Jac once more; this time with a young, handsome guy that Levi thought he recognised from somewhere, although he wasn’t all that sure. Their dominant host introduced them all as the ‘piggies’ once again; Levi and Harry nodding with lustful pleasure to go along with it all. When Jac told the new boy to get down on the floor to be cuffed in the now vacant corner, both Harry and Levi cheered him on; as they did when his cream cake was served and the horned-up guy had to eat it all whilst on all-fours in his corner. This time, the previously vocal man in the corner was completely silent; perhaps reflecting on the fact that his earlier performances had been a little over the top.

After the initiation was done, Jac turned his attention back to the only man who had been there longer than Levi. “Oh dear, little piggy!” he laughed, seeming to notice just how sweaty the guy had become. “It looks like it’s almost your turn… How exciting!”

Jac leaned down and unlocked the man’s chains. Despite the guy’s resistance and overzealous approach to the role play earlier, he seemed to have changed character completely. He was now playing someone a lot more submissive, resigned to the inevitable as Jac lavished him with attention at last. The pair kissed and touched each other as if so desperately in love. But then Jac pulled back and laughed. He tugged at the guy’s arm, pulling him to the middle of the room, directly under the single hanging bulb.

“Are you ready to show these piggies what they’re in for?” Jac asked. “None of them have seen it yet. You’re the only one!”

The man was silent and he closed his eyes tight shut as he saw Jac raise his wrist to count the seconds ticking down on his watch. Levi didn’t know why he was so aroused. It was probably the done thing that they were all to run out of the room at this point, wherein the next part of this sexually charged scenario would continue. But the man didn’t seem as though he intended to move. Instead, all his muscles were tensed, as if he was bracing himself for a massive impact. His eyes were closed tight, as if he never expected to open them again.

“5…4…”

Levi and the other boys joined in, smiling with arousal as the sexy Jac toyed with them all.

“3…2…1…”

As all four of them called out ‘Zero,’ the man in the middle of the room suddenly doubled over slightly, growling as though a great wave of pain had just attacked his stomach. He lifted his head once more, then gave the loudest, most intense burp, as if there was to be no air left in his body at all.

Jac’s eyes danced with burning light as Will’s body started moving in the most unnatural manner; his hips rocking back and forth, slowly at first, then faster and faster. The coordination and choreography involved was really quite impressive, Levi thought. But then things started to get stranger and Levi stopped smiling with glee as something else began happening. Will’s stomach seemed to be bloating. He’d thought the guy had been pushing it out to start with, but now it seemed far too extreme to be explained away just like that. Now when his hips shook, there was a definite flutter of jiggle in what appeared to be love-handles actually forming on his sides. Jac seemed to have noticed as well, for inbetween his howls of delight, he began poking and prodding Will in the areas that were causing Levi to look up with such alarm. He wanted to look across at Harry and ask if he knew what this was, but the horror of it all kept his eyes glued in place. Will was literally changing before their eyes. There was no way that this could be anything but real.

The swell of Will’s stomach, inflating more and more, began to resemble a very real paunch in almost no time at all. Even his groin was filling with mass. With his side-on view, Levi could also so the width of Will also increasing. His thighs and butt were increasing in size, however it was obvious that there was absolutely nothing but pure fat being deposited all over his body. Pretty soon, his swollen tummy had an actual shelf below his chest; something else that appeared to be softening with extreme speed. As his body rocked, his nipples began to jiggle more and more, showing that Will no longer had the extreme athleticism that he once had. With his eyes still shut tight, Will looked like he was trying desperately to igore or fight back anything that was being done to him. His face was swelling with fat, stealing his jawline entirely and seeming to build itself, wrapping around his neck like a scarf and creating the beginnings of a small bump at the very back of his head.

Jac, hysterical with joy, continued poking and prodding the fattening man. He could now fill his entire hand with the blubber around Will’s waist and so he grabbed at it keenly, shaking and wobbling the fat as if to remind Will that this was actually happening to him. But Jac also took time to glance over at the three other guys, laughing as he saw the fear and surprise in their eyes.

Things suddenly became a lot more serious. The fat that had acumulated on Will’s stomach was now expanding further, reshaping itself with folds in the skin. Jac raised the guy’s arms in the air so that he could witness this phase better; the fat encircling his waist, making it look like a ball was being pumped from within. The fat from his chest had started gathering under his arms and his nipples seemed to slide out of place as they jiggled and bounced.

When Jac dropped the guy’s arms and slapped Will’s butt, Levi couldn’t get over how much the fat rippled across the glutes and thighs. What’s more, Levi hadn’t even noticed the gradual loss of definition in the guy’s muscular arms until they were now large, doughy and shapeless with fat. His neck was disappearing entirely, with large puffed up cheeks masking the striking man he used to be. As the gut pushed outwards, the fat simulatenously swelled into his back and rear, widening him in all directions. The man’s penis, once a prominent feature, was now almost entirely masked by the blubbery thighs and a strange sack of fat, like a small belly, that had filled Will’s groin, threatening to bury his penis entirely. Then, all of a sudden, the man’s swollen belly began to sag and the genitals disappeared entirely out of Levi’s view.

Every part of Will’s body now wobbled and bounced. Levi had no idea how massive the man had become, knowing only that he was larger than any of the guys he had ever checked out on the gaining websites and socials he visited. At some point, the great fattening spectacle ended and Will fell into the unnaturally strong arms of Jac, having clearly fainted. “You’re next, piglets!” he laughed, looking around at the three chained guys in the room, whilst holding the well over five hundred pound man up like an enormous teddy bear. Then, with complete ease, he dragged Will out of the room and shut the door. 

“What the fuck!” shouted the new guy from the corner once they were alone. “Was that real?”

“I think so,” Levi nodded, somehow sounding calm.

“He told me not to eat the food,” Harry mumbled, pointing accusingly at Levi; his mind clearly recounting everything that had happened previously.

Levi felt a pang of guilt, having actively encouraged the other two to do exactly what Jac had wanted.

“He doesn’t care! He’s already fat!” the newest guy suddenly blasted, turning on Levi as well. “He probably wants this!” he growled with anger.

“I’m not fat like that!” Levi stated defensively, looking down at his small tummy. “Why are we even arguing about this?”

“We’ve got to get out of here!” Harry suddenly jumped in, tugging at the strong chains that held him to the wall.

“And what good would that do?” Levi asked. “I think we all know that whatever caused Will to fatten like that… it was the same thing that was in those cakes we ate.”

“Well, I’m not sticking around to find out,” Harry proclaimed with defiance, straining himself as he tried to pull even harder at the chains.

“Harry, come on! Be smart about this! You don’t even have any clothes.”

“So, what, we just accept that we’re toast?” the new guy added, outraged.

“We need to think about how we convince the next guy to run for it so that he doesn’t fall into this trap as well,” Levi reasoned.

“Coming from the guy who positively encouraged us to eat that cream cake?” Harry blasted angrily.

“I didn’t know that this was all real!” Levi tried to defend himself. “I was a little late. I didn’t see this happen to the other guys in here.”

“There were others?” the new guy asked with horror.

“It seems to go like clockwork. A new guy arrives every eighty minutes or so. It’s like some sort of twisted conveyorbelt,” Levi explained, suddenly remembering that he was next to reach the end of it.

The boys pondered on that idea for some time and they sat in silence, contemplating their fate. It was hard to tell how quickly or slowly time ran in that deserted room. Sometimes they would hear the distant sounds of Jac talking with someone on the phone, flirting with them in much the same way he had captured Levi, along with the other two.

“You sound so kinky…” Jac was heard to flirt. He seemed to be standing directly outside of the room, as if to deliberately tease and goad his chained-up victims. “I want to turn you into my big fat boy… Come over. Let me feed you!” He laughed and moaned down the phone, pretending to find whatever lustful retort his prospective victim came up with the most arousing thing he had heard all year. “My address? Are you really sure? I’m a very kinky guy, you know? I like to lock my boys up and feed them. Then I watch them fatten and grow for me.”

The three boys all looked at each other feeling extremely foolish. There was nothing that Jac had told them that wasn’t true. They’d all been warned; every last one of them.

Levi contemplated the transformation he had just witnessed, trying to convince himself that it had all been some sort of elaborate trick. Things like that simply could not happen in real life; not really. But he’d witnessed it himself; with his own eyes. Inexplicably, it somehow felt harder to recall the details as the minutes crept away; as if the memory of it was slowly being erased from his mind entirely. The time continued to slip by and Levi sat quietly, listening to the other two chatting with relative calmness, despite feeling no desire to join in himself. He felt like a black cloud was hovering over him, getting darker and more angry as the seconds ticked away. In fact, Levi was only pulled out of his own thoughts when he noticed a huge bead of sweat rolling down his nose and splashing onto the floor.

“Are you all right?” Harry asked, suddenly noticing the way Levi was looking at his arms and torso.

“I think this is how it starts,” Levi fretted, lifting his arm and smelling the stench of sweat. He could hardly believe the words as they tumbled out of his mouth. “I think it might be my turn!”

Right on cue, the three boys heard someone new arriving in the apartment. “GET OUT OF HERE!” they began shouting; although none of them seemed to recall exactly why. It was just something they said they would do for a purpose that wasn’t completely clear in their heads. “HE’S GOT US LOCKED UP! CALL THE POLICE!”

As they shouted and wailed, it was clear that the voices were still getting closer and closer to the room. Suddenly, the door opened and in walked a smiling athletic guy, naked and already rubbing his own hardness as he surveyed the chains and other naked guys. “This is so fucking horny!” he grinned with arousal, only seeming to stroke his dick harder as the three of them tried to warm him. He swept in to kiss Jac, looking just as besotted as they all were.

After the kiss, Jac simply stood and listened to them shouting and wailing their warnings. His smile filled his face and Levi suddenly understood that this was actually his real game; where the thrill of his set up really gave him a buzz. He gave all his victims plenty of warning, yet they would all fall into his trap, no matter what. “You see that sweaty piggy in the corner?” he pointed at Levi. “The one with the blubbery, little paunch on him? He’s the next one I’m going to do it to.”

“What’re you going to feed him?” the latest guy asked, still stroking himself with absolute arousal.

Jac took the guy’s hand, stopping him from pleasuring himself and taking his first steps to control at long last. “First things first…” he smiled, pointing into the now vacant corner of the room.

Levi had given up shouting now, but the other two were still trying, watching as the handsome boy slipped onto his knees and allowed the chains to be fixed around his wrists. Then, with eyes filled with love and lust for his captor, the boy slipped onto all fours and inhaled the cream cake that was brought to him. 

The two other guys fell suddenly silent, realising, just like Levi, that all their warnings were futile. Jac would always win.

“Come on, little piggy!” Jac smiled at Levi, bending down to unlock his chains.

Despite himself, Levi felt the semi he’d had since Jac came in suddenly stiffen into concrete. There was just something so all-consuming about the man’s presence. Even with everything Levi thought he knew, he still felt… in love.

“Now, you’re going to be a good piggy, aren’t you?” Jac asked him. “We’ve got to show the new boy what’s in store for him,” he stated seriously, positioning the sweaty Levi under the single light bulb, facing the newest captive, as if he was about to put on a show. “Hmm, what do you have to say for yourself?” he teased.

Levi swallowed, deciding that fighting this was not something he could physically do. “I’m a good piggy,” he nodded, looking earnestly up at the man he was most attracted to in the whole world.

Jac’s face spread with surprise and delight at Levi’s submission. “Oh, you are?” he laughed. “You hear that?” he called to the other three. “This one says he’s a good piggy!” He turned to speak softly into Levi’s ear. “Are you going to fatten up beautifully for me? Turn this little belly of yours into something spectacular?”

“Yes,” Levi nodded.

Jac smirked and raised his arm to look at his watch. “Do the countdown with me then, Piggy!” he whispered. “10… 9…8…”

Levi tried to join him, but he was at least half a second behind Jac each time; too overcome with the experience.

“6….5…4…”

Levi looked at the newest guy in front of him; his wide smile and naive understanding of where he actually was.

“3…2…”

Levi couldn’t finish. A deep, primal urge to roll forwards and hold his stomach suddenly overcame him. He moaned from the dull pain that seemed to be emanating from his stomach, then he suddenly stood upright, opening his throat and letting out the most insane burp of his entire life. He started to notice that his hips were shaking backwards and forwards, with Jac crying out in delight; his words incomprehensible to Levi at that moment with all the strange physical sensations that were ripping through his body. He placed his hands on his stomach, feeling it rising like dough beneath his chest. Then Jac smacked his hands away so that he didn’t block anyone else’s view of the transformation that was already beginning to occur.

“Look at him!” Jac was shouting, as Levi felt his butt being slapped and his love handle pinched. “Look at this beautiful fat! It’s fantastic!”

As Levi’s body rocked uncontrollably, he began to feel more and more areas jiggling. He knew his ass had started to swell, for it shook wildy. But then that jiggle started to spill out, into his thighs and even into his back. Since his little gain after the holidays, he’d already experienced a little movement in his chest, but now he felt his nipples shaking like never before, with the feeling of an odd mass beginning to surround his erect penis.

Levi knew that he had altered by quite a considerable amount, for the new victim in the corner now curled up against the wall, starting with shock and horror. Levi tried to look down, feeling a ring of fat squeezing into his neck. He saw his hands, unrecognisable with chubby fingers and mere dimples where his knuckles once were. Then, all of sudden, there it was: a giant mass of stomach that had created its own shelf beneath his doughy chest. Jac had slipped his finger inside the belly button and was using it to shake the incredible, soft lard that had formed such a giant tank on his body.

Standing up and keeping balance was getting harder. Levi readjusted his feet, but he always felt the strong arm of Jac pressing against his back, as if he knew exactly when he was needed to step in. Levi let his head rock back and rest against Jac’s broad chest, surrendering himself entirely to the fattening that was occurring. 

“Ata, boy!” Jac cooed, enjoying Levi’s total surrender, allowing the magic of the transformation to tear through him without the slightest resistance. 

Levi began to breathe deeply, feeling an incredibly warm and tingling arousal in his penis. He closed his eyes and moaned softly. He could feel his whole body swinging backwards and forwards like a large, increasingl heavy and speherical pendulum. But the feeling of arousal was so pleasant and comforting, there in Jac’s strong grip. He had no concept of how fat he had grown, but in that moment, he had no regrets in the slightest. It was as if Jac had been the person he had been waiting to meet his entire life.

“I think you’re going to be my fattest pig of the day,” Jac whispered, sending Levi into an inexplicably instant and intense orgasm that made him howl and his knees buckle, forcing Jac to hold him up entirely.

Levi felt his eyes grow heavy. The transformation over.

“You’re next!” he heard Jac laugh towards Harry. Then he felt his entire, monstrously obese body being dragged out of the room, with no idea what would come next.

[thymejot]

About your meta, I guess the thing is if you believe that Word Of God is canon or not. Jac Schaeffer said that Agatha was thinking she wanted to save Billy and kiss Rio and that she never wanted to bring Nicholas back. For me it’s not canon unless I like what they say 😝 but the fun of reading meta is to see everyone’s sometimes wildly different takes and in the end of the day people can think anything they want because we all bring our preferences, our bias and even our traumas to it

I believe Agatha truly loved Rio, I believe there was considerable time in their lives that they weren’t toxic to each other in any way and I believe that aren’t done, they still have centuries to work out their issues but I know there are plenty of fans that don’t believe in any if that. who’s right, who’s wrong I don’t think anyone can know and as long as everyone is respectful it’s all good. I just hope this fandom continues to be fun for a long time cause we all need the distraction

It is what I love about shows like this. Honestly, I dont think there is a right or wrong way to look at things.

Like you say, everyone has their own bias and will project onto characters. I really enjoy it when people want to have discussions about the things I love. I really appreciate you wanting to talk about this with me.

And the fact that while you may disagree with me on some points, you are not mean about it and are challenging me to look at things from a different perspective. So, thank you.

While I find it interesting to read up on writers intent, I don't ever take it as gospel unless it is there on screen. Between now and a potential next project with these characters, the writers could have evolved their ideas or changed their own interpretation of the characters. So I try not to hold too tightly to what they say.

Instead, I like to take what I have seen on the screen. The characters have shown us who they are with word, action, and deed. Every choice they have made forms who they are. A show not tell approach if you will.

I agree with you, Rio and Agatha love each other deeply. There was a time that it was far less toxic, and there may come a time when that is true once more.

I want to see them in all of their evolutions and iterations.

I want to see Agatha, the mentor. She has never been one to pull her verbal punches, so she won't take any nonsense. Her dynamic with Billy is so good that I would like to see that explored more.

I want to see Billy explore his powers, find his brother, and grow up a little more without being hardened by the world.

I want to see Jen flourish as she reaquaints herself with her power once more. Still snarky but less brittle. If she ever sees Agatha and Teen, have her just turn around and get the fuck away from them. Because they only lead to death.

In the end, though, my opinion is just one in a sea of thousands. I will write some ridiculous fanfics to get this show out of my system. Maybe make them a bit too oc for my own liking. Hopefully, I will learn from that and get better.

I just want to have fun with things. I don't want to hurt anyone with things I post unless it is superficial emotional damage (I eat that shit up). I hope you keep having fun with it, too.

In the end, as much as it pains me to admit it, these are not real people. So why not just go buck wild with our imaginations and throw them in every conceivable scenario. It's not like it will hurt anyone, so why not.

Feel free to chat with me any time

[pucksalotguys]

Chapter 7

Masterlist to series

WC: 7.4K

CW: SMUT, MNI

Back with chapter 7 and it’s a loooooong one !!! Got a little bit of everything so hold tight and enjoy !! There’s toxicity, mess and so much more 💙💙

(Please remember to like, reblog, add tags, comment and leave me some asks to let me know what you think (anon is on for a reason so don’t be shy, I promise I’m nice 🫶)

The nearly 5 hour plane ride to Las Vegas had been Sidney’s own personal hell, aside from the time with Roman and Aaron watching a movie, he and Jacqueline hadn’t said a word to each other. No matter what he would ask he would get short answers back, when he moved to sit next to her she simply went on her phone. He had no idea what was up with her but he did know he was gonna snap at any moment “It’s almost time for landing” Jacqueline grinned as she put the boys' seat belts on “Remember what I said when we land ?” “I don’t wanna swim” Roman frowned “I don’t like the water” “Aaron wants to love” she pet his cheek “We’ll do something you want to do tonight”

“Like what mommy ?” he asked Jacqueline grinned “Well I heard there’s a candy store here…how about if you try the water for a bit I promise to let you have a lollipop after dinner ?” Sidney chuckled as his sons eyes practically bulged out of his head “Sounds like a good deal to me” “I can be lenient for occasions” she shrugged “It wasn’t a dig” he sighed “I didn’t take it as one” she responded as she put her sunglasses on “Dinner is at 7, be on time please. We’re going to Joel Robuchon” “Jac, that's a 3 Michelin star place ? I thought we could do something more low key tonight, that’s a little over the top don’t you think ?” he asked She sighed “Forgive me for wanting top notch cuisine and not some basic steakhouse we can have back in the city” “I’ll be there” Sidney gave up and nodded “Who will the kids be with ?” “Emmeli’s nanny” she informed him “Don’t worry she’s a nice woman, very kind and very responsible. The boys love being around Daisy so it works out” “Cool” he said simply as he took out his phone

He did his best to hide his smile as he finally saw a text back from Cece. He nonchalantly opened the text and grinned So sorry I’m just now getting back to you, got a little caught up with some stuff. Everything is all set, see you in a bit.

“How sweet of her” Jacqueline said meeting his eyes “She’s just a little ray of sunshine isn’t she ?”

Sidney put his phone away and swirled his coffee cup, he knew he was being baited and he knew he had to play it cool rather than snap “She’s a very kind girl, did you know she’s the one who made sure we got a hotel with handicapped amenities ? That wasn’t management, that was her.”

“So she did her job” Jacqueline nodded “Good for her, glad to know she’s capable of following the most basic instructions. I worried all that curly hair of hers clouded her brain”

He shook his head and finished his coffee as they landed, before she could even get up from her seat he unbuckled the boys himself and got them down from the plane and into the car that was waiting. The drive to their hotel was quiet and this time he enjoyed it, whatever Jacqueline was trying to do wouldn’t work on him. Not this time at least.

When they arrived he checked them in and left to the conference room where he saw Cece waiting and chatting with some other team media personnel. He greeted a few people before he made eye contact with her and smiled, walking in her direction

“Hey…haven’t seen you in a bit” Sidney grinned as he stood in front of her

“Hello Sidney” Cecelia smiled at him “Long time no see”

He nodded with a bashful smile “3 days to be exact, how have you been ? You getting sick ? Your voice sounds a little wheezy”

“Oh…yeah” she nodded quickly “The AC in these rooms is insane, so so cold all the time. My throats just a little scratchy is all, I’ll be okay” she walked with him “Nice to see you looking….sharp”

Sidney chuckled “So what’s on the schedule today ?”

“A photoshoot in 10 minutes followed by 4 interviews, looking like it’ll take about 4 hours” Cece nodded “Don’t worry you’ll be ready for your dinner reservation at 7”

“How do you know about that ?” he asked confused “I’m the one who made the reservation” she looked at him equally as confused “Joel Robuchon at 7 followed by cocktails at Skybar and then the next day is, hold on” she took out her ipad “Morning massages at the Aria followed by lunch at Mon Ami Gabi and ending the night with a chef coming to your room to cook you dinner in your suite” “What the hell ?” Sidney shook his head “I don’t wanna do that, I wanna relax and hang out with the boys” “I don’t know what to tell you Sidney” Cece shrugged “I just did what was asked of me, she was texting me and emailing me nonstop making sure I had everything set which I do so here’s to hoping it all works out well for you two. Now if you don’t mind, I need to go” A moment crossed his mind where he wanted to tell her that Jacqueline was being weird, that he felt something would somehow get turned on her. “Cece wait” he held her arm gently “Um…can we talk after this ?” “That’s not necessary Sidney and plus there’s no time” she shook her head “By the time you’re done with media you need to go get ready” Sidney sighed “What about early tomorrow ?” “No” she shook her head “Listen, you need to leave me alone okay ? Enough of whatever this is” she whispered “I’m not gonna be some stupid naive assistant you get to fuck and have fun with all because your wife has a constant stick up her ass alright ? You’re here with her and your children, have some fucking decorum Sidney” “Is it her ? Did she threaten you ?” he asked “I don’t want that with you, I would never do that to you Cece” “She’s fine Sidney” she said exhausted “Please I don’t want issues, just….just enjoy your time with her and your children” “Listen I’m sorry about all this, I really really am….I just like you” he whispered “Please only contact me by email for anything that has to do with this trip, call if it is an absolute emergency” Cecelia said as she looked at him “I…..I like you too but…but it just…I can’t” she murmured and walked away

Media ended for the day and soon she now had the rest of her day free from the chaos and unneeded drama. She felt horrible for the way things happened with Sidney but wasn’t going to let someone like Jacqueline find her in a compromising position. She knew women like her, women who were powerful and would stop at nothing to make her life miserable simply because she didn’t like her

“Hey” a familiar voice called “I know that hair, you haven’t texted me back so I came here to wait for you so we can go somewhere”

Cecelia felt her cheeks rise as she turned around and smiled “Nate ”

“Media’s over for the day, you didn’t text me back” he walked up to her and held her hand “Are you okay ?”

“Yeah, yeah I’m fine” she grinned “Just tired is all”

“Same here” he chuckled “So what do you say ? Dinner ?”

“Nate I can’t go out with you, I can’t be seen with you” she whispered lowly “Even us being in this elevator can cause problems for me”

“You’re even hotter when you’re all flustered” his hand caressed her cheek

For a moment she felt herself get light headed, his hand was huge. She hadn’t noticed till now just how big they were despite them doing wonders to her body just a night ago. Nate was handsome, handsome in a rugged way and seeing him in bright lighting was somehow even better

“I’m being serious” she said softly as they stepped out of the elevator “I don’t wanna get in trouble”

“Let’s go to Circus Circus, it’s some shitty hotel for kids that’s got games and rides where no one will see us” he grinned “Come on, I’ve never ever been and I wanna see what kind of a shit show it is, I’ll even win you a stuffed animal”

She thought about it for a bit and sighed “Fuck it let’s do it”

Nate put his arm around her “We’ll go wherever you wanna go but first answer one thing for me ?” “What is it ?” she looked up at him “Why didn’t you answer my texts ?” he asked softly Cecelia couldn’t help but smile at his slight concern “Well I was busy, I knew you were busy too and I knew at some point I’d see you again. I wasn’t ignoring you, I wouldn’t do that” she reached up and kissed his cheek “So you still wanna talk to me and go out with me then ?” Nate looked at her “I’m going with you right now” she chuckled “No I mean like….when I go back to Colorado” he said softly “Like you’ll still wanna talk and see each other when we can right ?” She rubbed her lips together as she moved out of his hold to stand in front of him “Do you mean like….you wanna date ?” “Yeah I do” Nate admitted “I like you Cece, I like you a lot and it’s not just because we had mind blowing sex” he chuckled “That was a perk but it’s beyond that. You’re so pretty and funny and you’re smart and you have a good head on your shoulders. You’re perfect, you’re literally the most perfect girl I’ve ever met and we’ll take it slow, I promise we will. ” Cecelia gave a soft smile, he was sincere and she loved that but she couldn’t lie to him “I like you too but-” “But….” he looked at her as his smile fell slightly “But what ?” “Is there a need to rush things ? Can’t we just take things day by day….I mean I don’t even know when I’ll see you again after this trip Nate” she explained “You’re schedule is about to get so insane and so is mine, I just don’t wanna give you some false promises is all. I would want the same from you” “I see” Nate said quietly “Well thanks for being honest with me, I appreciate it lots. At least I said it, you know ? Didn’t hurt to try”

“I take it you don’t wanna hangout now ?” she whispered “Not really” he admitted “It’s not anything against you it’s just….you understand don’t you ?” Cecelia nodded “Yeah of course” “Call me if anything” Nate reached over and kissed her forehead “Want me to walk you back to your room ?” She shook her head “I can walk back on my own, thanks for offering though” “I’ll see you around Cece” he gave her a grin “Plus you have my number, you know where to find me” She gave him a small smile and walked back, she felt horrible for the way things had gone and in a way felt like she had led him on but after seeing Sidney again she knew her mind and heart needed to be clear before she made any decision like that. With a defeated attitude she opened her hotel door and put the Do Not Disturb sign on the handle as she locked it “Cecelia I-”

A high pitched scream left her mouth as she put a hand to her chest “Oh my god how the hell did you get in here ?”

“I’m so sorry” Sidney whispered as he stood up “I lied and got a worker to give me a key to your room”

“Are you out of your mind ?!” she snapped “That’s insanity, that’s you being insane ! You can’t do that, it’s so fucking weird and creepy”

Sidney rubbed his face “How else was I supposed to speak to you ? You’re ignoring me and it’s not like you at all”

Cecelia shook her head “Where’s your wife ? Where are your children”

“She’s with the other wives that are here and as for the boys they’re with a nanny and as you can see it’s still early so I have plenty of time to talk, anything else you wanna ask about ?”

“Yeah” she nods “How dare you do this and come to my room to talk while your wife and children are with you ? That’s low. Lower than low actually. I’ve done nothing with you, you’re the one who’s kissed me twice. You’re the one who makes it more than what it is. Not me” Sidney put his hands up “And I accept that, things are hard. I never meant to have feelings for you yet here I am. I just wanna talk, I just want us to talk and to-” he stopped when he bent down and picked up a blazer “What’s this ?” “A blazer of some sort” she walked over and snatched it back “Don’t touch my things please, that’s rude. You should have manners” “I know what it is Cece, who’s is it ?” he asked as he crossed his arms This was the moment she dreaded, it was one she thought she’d have more time to explain. Rather than beat around the bush she opted to be honest, he had no right to be mad or hold anything against her anyway. Just as she was about to tell him she heard her door knock and whipped her head over 

**************************

“I put a sign up wanting to be left alone” Sidney’s eyes practically bulged out of his head as he shook his head “Wh-what if it’s her ?” “Hide” Cecelia whispered “Check first” he nodded “If it’s her then….then I face her” “Hide in the bathroom and stay there” she instructed as she walked over to the door and peeked in the peephole, opening it slowly “Oh…hey…um what are you doing here ?” “Listen Cece, I like you a lot and I know you said you don’t wanna give me false promises but I don’t wanna go back to Colorado with us ending awkwardly. I wanna hang out, I wanna spend time with you” Nate grinned “Okay” she agreed, mostly to get him out of the way “Okay….but first here” she handed him back his blazer “You forgot this last night and I hope you’re ready to win me lots of stuffed animals at circus circus. I’ll meet you in the lobby at 8” “Sweet” Nate smiled as he left

Cecelia shut the door quickly and turned around, she knew Sidney had heard it all and in a way she was glad. She had the freedom to be with whoever she wanted, it just so happened to a friend of his

“Wow” Sidney cleared his throat “So you and Nate ?” Cecelia shook her head “It happened out of nowhere. I don’t owe you explanations” “He’s my close friend, I’ve known him since he was 17 years old. He’s an uncle figure to my boys” Sidney looked at her “Why him ?” “Because I like him…and because I wanna still see him” she admitted “He’s so nice and he’s funny and I just liked being around him”

“One night is all you guys had and suddenly you wanna keep seeing him ? You like him ? Who the hell moves that fast ?” What about me ?” he stepped forward, inches away from her face as he pulled her in “You can’t do that to me, that’ll hurt me” “You ?!” she widened her eyes “Listen to yourself ! Listen to the words coming out of your mouth Sidney. You and I are nothing, you can’t be saying things like that. You need to go” Before she could walk out of his hold his lips pressed onto hers unexpectedly just like always, only this time she kissed him back. She kept her arms around his neck as he moved his hands into her hair “Oh shit…it’s stuck” he whispered as he tried to remove his hand

“Ow” Cece winced, trying to move her head “What is it ? Your watch ?”

Sidney looked down “My wedding band”, he whispered

She felt her stomach churn and held onto his arm “Get your hand out of my head carefully please, I have scissors in my makeup bag”

“But you’ll cut your hair, I don’t want that. I love your hair” he said quickly as he did as told and followed her into the bathroom  “Here let me try to untangle it, I don’t want you cutting your hair”

“Don’t” she put her hand up and took out her brow scissors, she felt around the back of her head until she felt the band and gently cut around it and held it in the palm of her hand.

It was a beautiful simple gold band with the initials J.A.R inscribed on the inside; his wife and their children's initials. She cleaned around it with a tissue gently and handed it back Sidney took it and put it back on his ring finger as silence took over the room, the bathroom light reflecting off his band perfectly   “Cece…you should know that I’m falling in love with you” he looked in her eyes “I can’t keep lying to myself”

“You can’t Sidney” she whispered “That can’t happen, it can’t. I won’t be the reason a family is broken, I won’t be the reason your children don’t have a mom and dad together”

“It was already crumbled before I met you” he admitted “Meeting you just proved that it needs to be over, that doesn’t mean I give up on my boys. They’re my world, I love them and nothing and no one will ever stop me from being with them.”

“I don’t want to be a stepmom” Cecelia said back “And I don’t like kids that much” she lied “And no way would I ever deal with your wife on top of that, have you thought about me in this ? What I want and what I see for myself ?”

“I know I’d make you the happiest woman alive” he said softly “I know I’d be with you forever”

“Stay here with me then” she met his eyes

It was a test, one she wasn’t even sure how she wanted to end. She could feel her heartbeat out of her chest as she met his eyes and reached over to caress his cheek. He was truly gorgeous, there was something about Sidney that was more than handsome. His eyes were these huge brown doe eyes that just sparkled whenever he was happy, more so when they were together in any instance. His lips were perfect, his smile was everything. There wasn’t one thing that was ugly about him, to her he was flawless

Taking it up a notch she brought his face down to hers to kiss him, pressing against him in the process. Instinctively she let out a moan when his hand reached down to cup her ass and swiftly turned them around so she was against the wall, every part of her ached as he kissed down her neck and unbuttoned his shirt with his free hand, removing his suit jacket along with it. Things were heating up and this time she wouldn’t stop them

Her breathing picked up when he pulled apart from her and got on his knees, rapidly bringing down her skirt and panties 

“Put your legs over my shoulders” he murmured She listened instantly and held onto his head as he began tasting her, his tongue was quick, almost desperate. It was a totally different feeling than what she had felt with Nate, Sidney was making sure she felt how frenzied he was for her. Her fingers delicately played with his grayish heavily gelled curls, tugging when he sucked her clit “I love how good you taste” he lapped up her juices “I don’t ever wanna stop” “Keep going…please keep going” she whined “Oh fuck, I love that” “I love tasting you” Sidney mumbled as he kept his mouth on her, his hands caressing her thighs as he leaned his head against one “I love how fucking hot you are, I love how you’re perfect…you’re perfect…I need you” he kissed her clit and inserted two of his fingers “Oh god” Cecelia moaned biting down on her lip “You’re g-gonna m-make me cum” “Please cum, please cum” he begged “I need you to, I need you to cum for me” he inserted a third finger and pumped them in and out “That’s a good girl, you’re taking my fingers like such a good girl” he whispered “Cum for me…let go baby” Cece couldn’t handle the feeling as she came with a loud moan, she felt him carefully hold her in his arms as she breathed heavily and at this point she needed him. She gave him a nod as he laid her down on the bed and took out a condom from his back pocket, she wondered if he had it there knowing they’d finally sleep together or if it was for Jacqueline.

She took off her top and bra as she watched him take off his wedding band and put it in pants pocket, immediately throwing them on the floor and sliding the condom onto his cock from the opposite end of the bed “I can…suck you off if you want” she whispered “I just wanna be inside of you alr-” he stopped as he looked at her, she was naked and every part of her was everything he dreamed of and more

“Fuck me…” he murmured and scooted over to her, positioning himself between her legs as he easily slid inside of her She arched her back up at the feeling and shut her eyes in over stimulation as he relentlessly started thrusting into her quickly, while his mouth sucked on her breasts “Y-You can’t do both…i-it’s a-alot” she panted “I’m sorry baby” he whispered, lifting his head concerned he had hurt her “I’ll go slow, I’m so sorry” he peppered her face with soft kisses “I’m sorry….I would never hurt you princess” “Thank you” she opened her eyes again, wrapping her arms around his neck while her nails gently scratched his nape “Be gentle, it’s okay” she kissed him softly “I need you….”

“I’ll go slow” Sidney whispered, his finger tracing down her cheek as he began thrusting again “That okay ?” “I like that” Cece nodded with a slight moan “You’re so good, you were made for me baby” he kissed her deeply “I love these lips, they’re mine, you’re all mine Cece” Cece stayed looking in his eyes as he continued to fuck her, she couldnt look away and neither could he. Every couple seconds he’d kiss her or press her forehead against his telling her how perfect and gorgeous she was, it was tender despite his desire for her. In return she kissed his face and rubbed his back “I love everything about you” she kissed his cheeks and nose delicately as he snuggled into her neck, his hand behind her hair “You’re so sexy, you’re so good to me right now….go harder….I want it a little rough” “I don’t wanna hurt you” Sidney murmured, his face crimson and full of sweat “I don’t wanna hurt you princess, I like this. I like looking at your pretty face as I make love to you, I don’t wanna stop looking at you”

“You won’t hurt me” she mumbled in response, holding his face in her hands and squishing his cheeks together slightly as she kissed his lips “Don’t you want me…show me, show me how bad you’ve wanted me”

“Get on your knees and face that mirror” he instructed as he pulled out “I want you to watch yourself”

Cecelia rapidly got in position and rolled her eyes back when he slammed inside of her “Yes, yes ! Oh fuck you’re fucking me so good” she cried out “This is what I want baby”

“You feel so good” he groaned as he held onto her hips “You tell me if it hurts okay love ?”

She nodded and looked in the mirror and almost came right then and there, the sight of him holding onto her hips and hammering into her was turning her on. He was a gentle man in bed but in this moment he was being a little more in control “Harder baby” she whimpered, holding onto the bed sheets and leaning her head back to look at him “I can take it harder” “It’s okay princess, I got you” he panted as he rubbed her backside and slowly pulled out, teasing her entrance with his tip carefully as he leaned over her body to kiss her temple “Shh, I got you love, don’t over strain yourself. I’m gonna take care of you” “I want you to make me yours” she whispered “I wanna be yours…I wanna be all yours, I want your cock inside of me every day like this” “I’ll give you whatever you want love, I’ll make love to you every day every hour of the day if you want me to” he traced his fingers down her back “You’re all mine Cece, you’re all mine” She let out a groan as his hands began to gently massage her ass, she laid her head down and breathed in slowly “That feels so nice baby…so so nice” “How are you real” he whispered kissing her backside “Your body is the best I’ve ever seen, I think God made you himself Cece” 

****************************

The compliment sent shivers down her spine, her mind couldn’t gather one coherent thought as he turned her around and kissed her again, this time making sure to slip in some tongue. It was passionate and soon all they could both hear were each other's moans and the sound of saliva being moved around between their mouths. She moved against his thigh when he positioned it between her legs and moaned at the friction

“You’re so wet already” Sidney whispered “You’re such a needy girl Cece, you like riding my thigh baby ?”

“Yes” she responded with heavily lidded eyes “Feels so good” she moved a bit faster, getting on top of him as she continued her movement, her hands on his chest “Fuck”

“Keep doing that” Sidney instructed as he watched her and reached his hands to caress her breasts, carefully tugging on her nipples as he sucked on them “Every part of you tastes so good”

Cece panted as she continued her movement and felt her face heat up as her hands kept his face on her breasts “I’m almost there…I know it…oh god” she whimpered moving faster “I’m gonna cum….I’m gonna….k-keep doing that” she gasped when she felt his thumb on her clit and slowly enjoyed the feeling “Oh….Oh Sidney, baby” “I know” he cooed as he looked at her “You need to squirt pretty girl, don’t hold back princess. I want you to let go, I want to see how pretty you look when you squirt”

Sidney took it upon himself to continue rubbing her clit slowly until he knew it was coming, just as he noticed her quiet whines and the way her mouth shaped into an O shape out came the gush he had been waiting for. He had never actually seen it happen before, only heard of it and the fact that it had happened with the girl of his dreams was all he needed

He watched as he tried to gain control of her breathing and pulled her close to him, caressing her cheek as he started another make out session for a bit. He just couldn’t keep his lips or hands off of her. When they pulled apart, the first thing Cece noticed were his dazed eyes and slightly swollen lips, she leaned over and softly pressed a kiss to his forehead

“Can I be inside of you again now” he murmured against her mouth “Please baby, I’ll fuck you so good” his hand reached down to her pussy, looking into her eyes as she nodded “I love the way you moan when I’m inside of you” he guided his cock back inside of her and got on top “I’m gonna make you feel so good all over again, is that okay ?”

“Make me cum, I wanna cum again” she wheezed out desperate for that feeling again “I need you to make me cum baby. Fuck my pussy”

This time things were faster and a little more desperate. She moaned loudly as he pounded into her, the headboard slamming against the wall ferociously. She was sure she’d get a noise complaint somehow. Her breasts bounced roughly as she kept eye contact and kept her arms around him. Her hold on him was the only thing keeping her somewhat stable, she knew if she let go he’d fuck her right off the mattress

“You like this ?” he breathed heavily “Look at you, look at your pussy and how well you take me. Look at your tits, how perfect they are just bouncing away”

“I love your cock” Cece gasped when he lifted her leg up 

“Is that okay ?” he asked, salty droplets from his face and neck hitting her cheeks

“I’m flexible” she nodded, her hair frizzing from the moisture

At the mention he lifted both her legs between his arms in eagle position and pounded into her, getting a better sensation as he slammed in and out of her, “Oh fuck !” Cece shrieked loudly “Yes ! Yes ! Fuck me baby, fuck me !”,she shook uncontrollably as he pounded mercilessly into her and soon felt him tense up “I-I’m g-gonna c-cum” Sidney stuttered out “I’m gonna cum, cum with me love” he thrusted as hard as he could “Cum with me baby, please cum with me”

She squirmed and fought it as long as she could, finishing with him as she let out a high pitched whimper and sat up, letting him know she was ready when finished with a deep groan. He quickly removed his condom as she took him in her mouth and bobbed her head “Please keep going” he moaned After a few minutes he released his hold and she swallowed, catching her breath as her arms wrapped around him and he laid on top of her, shaking as his breathing came in slowly “I got you” Cece repeated his words from earlier in his ear, her nails carefully tracing up and down his back “It’s okay baby” she kissed the top of his head “I know you do love” Sidney whispered softly, regaining his consciousness as he nuzzled his face in between her breasts

She didn't even realize they had fallen asleep till looked at the clock by her night stand and saw the time and quickly shook him awake “It’s five, we fell asleep. You need to go !” “I’ll text her something came up” he muttered holding onto he “Cuddle with me, you’re warm” “Sidney no” she whispered 

“What did I do ?” he asked softly 

Cece caressed his cheek “Sidney…..you cheated on your wife, we had an affair” she said softly “We did the one thing we should never have done…this is horrible”

“She doesn’t love me, she doesn’t even like me” he said “I don’t love her, I love our 2 sons and that’s all. That marriage has been over for years Cecelia, years. Meeting you and getting to know you changed me, you’re who I want”

She shook her head “Don’t say things like that”

“Baby” he lifted her chin “I’m in love with you, I want you and only you” he leaned in and kissed her softly 

“And…..and what are you gonna do about Jacqueline ?” she asked, suddenly realizing the severity of the situation “And the boys ?” 

“I’m gonna leave her, as soon as we get back to Pittsburgh I’m gonna file for divorce and move out of the house. I’m gonna get another lawyer to help with custody so I can see the boys as much as possible…..you didn’t mean what you said right….you like kids” he whispered the last part

“Yeah” Cece nodded “I do love kids, I said that to push you away….it didn’t work clearly”

“I understand why you did it” Sidney looked at her holding her hand “Cece…please let me handle this, I have people who can make sure this goes as easy and quiet as possible and more than anything to make sure you’re protected. You just need to continue doing what you’re doing”

“You’re asking me to act like everything is okay and you want me to continue seeing you in secret….you want an affair” she looked at him

“I don’t like that word” he kissed her hand “I think of you as my end game”

“It’s what it is Sidney” Cece nodded “We can call it what it is, we’re adults”

She scooted up and brought the bed sheet up to her chest to cover herself, she looked at him then at herself. They both looked like absolute hot messes. Cecelia’s hands shook as she reached for her phone,for a moment  she felt trapped, both physically in the room and emotionally by her realization. The gravity of what had happened began to sink in, each detail adding to her mounting anxiety

“What’s wrong baby ?” he pet her cheek

“Nothing” she shook her head “Just…we should shower, you need to get going”

“Shower with me…” Sidney kissed her

Cece blushed “Seriously go shower, you smell like….sex”

“Only one way to fix this then….we both get in that shower and I wash you off…and then have you as an appetizer” he murmured in her ear “What do you say ?” No words needed to be said as they both got up almost immediately and jumped in the shower. It wasn’t long before she was pressed against the shower door with him pumping in and out of her from the back. She had quickly learned he had quite the sexual appetite, and she was more than ready to oblige. There was something about the way he fucked that just made her even more obsessed with him. He was desperate and needy with his touch and his kisses, he talked her through it and put her first She could feel that familiar feeling of him tensing up and grinded against him as the warm water fell over them “You’re gonna ruin me” Sidney whispered as he continued his thrusts “Shit…I can’t,get on your knees for me” “How do you want me ?” she murmured , doing as told “You wanna cum in my mouth again baby ?” He nodded rapidly as she took him whole and moaned, he put his hands in her hair and pushed down gently, the sounds of her gagging on his cock making him smirk. He released his hold as soon as he finished and didn’t waste time helping her stand up as his fingers entered her. He watched as she started to breathe heavily and held onto his shoulders. Her eyes always started to close whenever she felt pleasure, he was in heaven until he heard his phone ring “Answer” Cece nodded as she caught her breath “What if it’s an emergency ?” Sidney sighed and stepped out of the shower as he answered the phone “Hey what’s up Jac ?” “Sidney I haven’t seen you all day, it’s close to dinner already and you’re not even changed” Jacqueline sighed “Dinner’s at 7 remember ?” “I’m wearing the same thing I wore to media” he said “I’ll be there in a bit, I caught up with some buddies of mine” he lied “I expect you in this room in 20 minutes, I made sure you packed that Armani suit for a reason, it matches my black dress so hurry up” she hung up “Sidney listen to her” Cece nodded as she wrapped a towel around herself “Don’t make her wait”

He quickly dried himself off and changed back into his clothes as he kissed her “I’ll text you, I’ll make sure I see you again before we leave. Remember what I said okay ? You and me Cece, we’re gonna be okay. Just act like normal” “I know” she gave a small smile “I’ll see you” he kissed her head and walked off

************************

Cecelia got ready and let a note for housekeeping to clean her room on the door as she went down to the lobby and spotted Nate “Hey” she smiled “There you are” he grinned, greeting her with a hug “Whoa you look ho-...I mean really nice” She laughed, suddenly feeling shy “I should go change”

“You look….you look like a million bucks” Nate admitted “Now come on, let’s get going” Cece walked with him to an uber and fixed her skirt “I haven’t been to Circus Circus since I was like 8 and it was pretty cool back then, you better ride all the rides with me” “I’ve never ever been but I heard it’s low key a shit show” he chuckled as he got in with her “Lot’s of the guys are heading to these fancy ass dinners and here you and I are….on our way to an arcade” Cece chuckled “It beats a snobby dinner any day”

The neon lights of the Strip were mesmerizing, but it was the blend of nostalgia and excitement at Circus Circus that truly captivated them once they arrived. They headed straight for the hotel's famous arcade as soon as they got out of their uber. 

The sounds of pinball machines and the flashing lights of video games enveloped them as they walked through the entrance. Cece’s eyes lit up as she spotted her favorite game, “Air Hockey.” 

Nate grinned, knowing he was about to face a worthy opponent “I know real hockey, I got a feeling you’re gonna kick my ass here” “You’re right, I am” she grinned They played game after game, laughing and teasing each other. After a particularly intense match, she emerged victorious and playfully gave him a thumbs down

“Beginner’s luck,” Nate joked with a frown “I didn’t stretch, my arm’s all over the place” “Okay loser” Cece chuckled 

As the arcade started to wind down, Cece and Nate decided it was time to tackle the rides. They headed to the Adventure Dome, the indoor amusement park at Circus Circus. The glow of neon lights and the hum of roller coasters created an electric atmosphere.

Their first ride was the “Chaos Coaster,” a roller coaster that spun them in circles while looping and diving. Nate tried his best to maintain his composure as she just laughed at him, never did she expect someone as tough as him to be so nervous. As they exited, her hair was a mess and Nate’s face was flushed red “That was insane” she smiled “You alright ?”

“I’m never doing that shit again” he shook his head quickly

As the night deepened, the Adventure Dome had less and less kids and became more of their own little playground. Cece and Nate wandered through the park, indulging in some junk food as they walked around

“That’s the cutest bear I’ve seen” she pointed a pink teddy bear by the arcade

“I’ll win you it” he chuckled as he paid for 3 basketball shots “Alright here we go” he took a shot and missed, blushing as he looked back at her “Alright second time” he repeated, missing again

“You suck” Cece laughed “I can even make it”

“I was messing around,” Nate said back, shooting the ball for the 3rd time and making it “There we go !” he put his hands up in fake cheer as he took the bear from the worker and handed it over “For you, I keep my word”

She smiled and kissed his cheek softly “Thank you”

“Yeah…yeah for sure” he nodded “Wanna head back and eat some burgers ?  Heard the hotel has a really good place”

“You read my mind” Cece nodded as they walked outside and opted for a cab this time

They arrived back at the Wynn just before midnight and got out, just as Jacqueline and Sidney were getting back at the same time. Cece’s immediately stiffened when she made eye contact with Jacqueline and instinctively held Nate’s hand in hers

“I can’t stand her” Nate mumbled under his breath as they walked “Sid looks wasted, that’s not like him, she looks pissed which is her usual face” “He does look….inebriated” Cece nodded “Um…listen why don’t you go help them out and we can have lunch tomorrow by the pool after media ?” “Yeah okay” he grinned “Sounds good to me, I’ll see you then” 

After a quick goodbye hug she was on her way inside when she heard her name being called, she realized it was none other than Jacqueline and walked over nervously “Yes…Mrs.Crosby”

“I need you to get us another room” Jacqueline ordered “I want the presidential suite, I want warm towels and 4 bottles of sparkling water and ibuprofen there. As you can see, we had a lot of fun tonight” she smiled sweetly

Cece nodded quickly “I-I got it”

“And one more thing” Jacqueline stopped her with a firm hold on her shoulder

“Yes ?” Cece asked

“Cover yourself up Cecelia, you look like you belong at a club and I don’t mean a dance club” she said coldly “Have some respect please”

It was the mention of her name that slowly hot Sidney out his drunken state as he did his best to conceal his erection with his suit jacket upon seeing how good Cecelia looked, what killed it instantly was seeing Nate next to her, his brain was mush but he could see Jacqueline and him having words while Cecelia walked away hastily

“I….I need a bucket” he hoarsed out

“Shit hold it” Nate walked over and put his arm around him as he helped him up “Come on dude, I got you”

“He had one too many shots of whiskey at skybar” Jacqueline rolled her eyes “Not to mention the 2 beers and shot of tequila he had at the hotel room, he was on one” she looked at her phone “And I just got the room confirmation, let’s go” “What got him so drunk ?” Nate asked as security took them to a separate elevator “Beats me” she shrugged as they got off on their floor and into their suite as Nate helped sidney onto the bed “He was happy as can be at dinner, had a smile nice and wide like a cheshire cat while talking with everyone and at the bar, everything was fine, but here we are thanks for helping. See you” She immediately went and changed into her silk nightgown and laid down next to him, undressing him as she kissed him “It’s just us now” “No” Sidney muttered when she felt unbutton his shirt and remove it “Stop Jac,” “Shh” Jacqueline whispered as she straddled him “It’s okay, it’s me baby. I’m just kissing you…I love you so much” “Jac” he repeated louder when she removed his belt “Get off me” he placed his hands on her shoulders “Please” “Sidney…I’m wearing a silk nightie…I look sexy…I want to be intimate with you” she said quietly “You were so happy at dinner, you were laughing and smiling, you were fun at the bar with everyone. I made you happy, you were happy because of me now please….let’s have sex” Sidney shook his head, partly in embarrassment on her behalf, she was making a fool out of herself. She thought he was happy because of her, she thought his mood was because of her. He slowly sat up and rubbed his forehead “I need water” he whispered “And I need rest, I wanna spend the day with the boys tomorrow” Jacqueline handed him a bottle of water and sat back “I’ll cancel massages and lunch” she said back to her cold demeanor He shook his head, knowing somehow he needed to get to Cece somehow the next day to see what was going on with her and Nate.

[we-are-inevitable]

Hi, Jac!! I am really enjoying reading "and the sun still sets the same" so far, and I would love to hear more about the frack au Jacobs siblings. Do Esther, Meyer, and Les live close to where the twins go to college? If not, what do they do to keep in touch (if they do keep in touch)? Does Les plan to go to college, and if so, what does he want to major in?

YESSSSS i adore them ugh. they are so so perf!!

so first things first, davey and sarah go to school about two and a half hours away from their family- close enough to go home if needed but far enough that they’re a little more independent.

davey has an INCREDIBLE relationship with his parents; he might be jaded and kind of prickly-looking, but he has evening yap sessions with esther nearly every day! he facetimes her while he cooks dinner, which just so happens to be when she’s cooking dinner as well, so he chats with her all the time. their dinner talks are something david tries hard not to miss!

i think sarah would definitely talk to esther a lot, too— maybe not as often as davey, but multiple times a week. i feel like that early morning talks while sarah’s on her morning run or just walking around campus would be their catch up time!

they both love mayer too obviously but he’s not a super big “use the phone” guy, so davey usually sees him in the background of facetimes (and he comes over to yap for about ten minutes or so) and sarah calls him on his lunch breaks at work!

their parents didn’t go to college, so davey and sarah are both first gen students, and esther and mayer can’t really afford to help that much but they do ALL they can. they don’t want their kids to struggle anymore than they have to.

they also both talk to les all the time. the jacobs fam is perfect in general but even MORE perfect in this au

les is around 12-14 in this fic (i havent decided yet) and he doesn’t really show up but i have thoughts. he’s the only straight Jacobs sibling, not that it matters bc he’s a middle schooler but it’s important to Me that you know that

les would be such a like….. sports marketing or business major. everyone thinks hes another frat bro douchebag because hes a straight guy business major but both of his siblings are queer and his parents didn’t raise a bitch

anyway i love them. im imagining esther and mayer being the two people that can make david smile and laugh like jack can and that’s a HUUUUGE thing that sarah notices when she first meets jack

esther thinks all of davey’s tattoos are so so cool and mayer was with him when he bought his first skirt. they completely support sarah’s love of fashion design and will even model for her if she has an idea for something they’d like. they are quite literally the best most supportive family on the planet

i could talk about them allllll day but alas, i will stop

[jacscorner]

Jeez, Tumblr, what's the point of a community label for mature and sexual themes then?

I know that maybe, like, 5 people on this site would've actually gave a damn, but, like, come on.

But whatever, I guess. Here's a link to my dA stash of the pic and story proper. It DOES involve NSFW art from a D-Tier artist, so be wary.

[ohwynne]

TIMING: After Wynne returned from Ireland LOCATION: Wynne's tiny home. PARTIES: @vanoincidence & @ohwynne SUMMARY: Wynne and Van have tea and talk about demons. CONTENT WARNING: N/A

The kettle whistled but it sounded to Wynne like a banshee screaming. Many things did. A creaking door, a howl of the wind, a beep of a phone. Their mind had become a tricky thing once more, memories leaking through as if they were a dripping faucet that never properly closed. Drip, drip, drip. Declan’s body. Elias’ blood. Regan passed out in the car. Drip, drip, drip. Jac dying at the altar. Padrig's guts ripped out. Their skirt getting caught in brambles as they ran.

They turned off the gas. The screaming stopped. They poured the hot water in two cups, moved over to Van and placed one in front of them. On the kitchen table stood a box with various bags of tea. Usually they’d try to make something fresh and herbal, but they didn’t have the energy, so dried tea it was.

Wynne sat with their legs pulled up, knees against the table. “I have … cookies somewhere. If you want.” They glanced at the table, wanted to lay their head on it and stare at the wall. They were so very tired. But Van was here and they had things to talk about. Big things. Rhiannon jumped on the table and they stroked his thick orange fur. “Yeah. You know.” They weren’t sure what they were saying. Nora wasn’t home, still. Everything was bad, still. “Sorry about the cat hairs.”

Van knew that Wynne had come home, but until she saw them, she wouldn’t feel satisfied with the statement. I’m home could mean a lot of things. It could mean what it meant to Nora who said she was coming home, but left soon after. Until Van saw Wynne, she wouldn’t feel settled, and even after she arrived at their front door, she still felt sick to her stomach over what had happened. 

Van had hugged Wynne, something she never did. She didn’t really like physical contact, not in the way most people meant it. But it was purposeful, the way she had wrapped her arms around them, and the way she had let herself be directed inside. 

She sat across from Wynne now, hands in her lap as they brought the water to a boil. It felt like she was being rattled inside, too. The lip of the pot bouncing as the water grew hotter and hotter. She felt like that most days. But the sound stopped, and steam reached just beneath her chin as the mug was pushed forward. She looked at the array of tea bags, opting for mint. 

“I ate like, a ton before coming.” It wasn’t necessarily a lie, but not necessarily the truth. “Maybe we can uh, do cookies later or something.” Van looked up to meet Wynne’s gaze, thoughts whirring in one place, the topic of demons, banshees, Nora, and Declan all creating something vicious out of what wasn’t typically peaceful, but calmer. “No, I like them. I mean, I don’t like, go out of my way to get covered in cat hairs, but…” She cleared her throat. “You can sleep, you know. We can um– I just wanted to make sure you were okay.” Okay was such a fucked up word, wasn’t it? “I thought that maybe…” She shrugged, “I was worried.” 

The air was thick. Not with the oncoming summer or the threat of rain or pollen, but with unspoken things. There was a conversation to be had at this table, on this day, over these mugs of tea — there were veils to lift and things to confess. Wynne’s was tight with the anticipation of it, the knowledge that Van and them would grow closer through honesty but that they’d have to bare themself, too.

It might have been easier to do this over text, but it was better not to. They knew that. They were tired, anyway, of conveying ugly truths through messages on a screen. It was just hard to put these things to words. To know when they could stop talking about tea and cat hairs and food. When the conversation shifted. They hoped it’d just happen, that they wouldn’t have to awkwardly maneuvre the chit-chat into a Conversation.

They plucked a bag of tea from the container without looking, dropping it in. Their appetite hadn’t returned yet, even if they had. Besides, they only bought tea they liked anyway. “Oh, yeah, sounds good.” A few weeks ago they would have had freshly baked cookies. It has been hard to cook, though. They didn't like holding the knife. 

“And no, it's okay, I need to try and sleep in the night, you know? Jet lag, or something. I don't get it but it's annoying.” They stared at their mug as Van worried, watching steam rise and curl. They wanted to be like that. “I’m here. That's what I care about most. That that's over. And that I'm also not … in my old home any more. I guess we should talk. Right? How do you… do that?” They pressed a hand against their forehead. “I mean I know how to talk. Obviously. Just… it's hard.”

“I’ve only ever been like, one timezone back, so I don’t think I ever got jet lag from that.” Exhaustion after travel looked different on everyone, and she knew that there were a lot more things than just air time plaguing Wynne. Van looked down at her tea as the color from the sachet bloomed through the water– something not quite true green bled through. It felt like she was looking at her insides. 

She looked up at Wynne as they began to speak, eyebrows furrowing slightly in response to the non-questions that came through to meet in the middle. “Do… what? Talk? I just sorta open my mouth.” A harsh laugh left Van as she tried to push the unease away. She shook her head a moment later, pressing her index finger against the hot mug. It burned, but it was a reminder that she was here across from Wynne and that she couldn’t get lost to the whirring inside of her mind. She retracted her finger after a few seconds, drawing her hands back into her lap. 

“You mean like, the demon thing, right?” She shrugged, “I don’t… actually know. It happens when I think I’m going to die.” She wasn’t sure if that was totally true given she didn’t think the situation with Diana called for a demon, but it was getting harder to parse through exactly what had happened these days. “But the rest of it, um– the melting, the other stuff… I break glass when I get nervous or upset, too. It’s magic.” The word fell off her tongue like it’d always been there. She had finally garnered a taste for it, and it was a strange thing to behold. “Somebody who– they also do magic, I think? Uh, they called me a summoner. I’ve been looking into it, but…” She twiddled her thumbs beneath the table, nails scraping along the edge of the wooden fixture. “It’s still kind of new? Not really new, but the um, acknowledging thing, I mean.” 

They still struggled to even grasp the fact that they had gone and come back from Ireland, that a plane had taken them to a place in a so-called different timezone. Never mind all that had happened in that place. It was strange, to be struck by disbelief while also constantly remembering the things that had happened vividly. Wynne shrugged. “Fair enough. It’s not great. People complain about it like a lot at the airport.”

Van was laughing and they were too, but it wasn’t the way they usually laughed together. There was something morose about it, which was how they felt about things most of the time these days. As if a thick, dark cloak had been laid over everything. “Oh,” they said. “Me too. That’s how I do it too.” It was funny. But it also wasn’t. But it really was. When Wynne laughed again it was a little more sincere. 

Van was magic. They’d suspected something like it, considering what had happened to the vampire. But the fact that it had to do with demons made Wynne feel uneasy — they knew there were nice (or at least … kind of nice) demons out there, but they had a feeling those were in the minority. “I … am … it’s good, that you’re acknowledging it more. I can try to help to look into it. Maybe the library can help.” Maybe it was in the restricted section, though. “So the thing … that claw that took the vampire, was that a demon?” They bit their lip. It would be very ironic if it was a demon who had saved them both from the vampire — but then a demon had helped them before. “Do you think planes are held up with magic like yours?” They frowned at their mug. “Um, not important. I just don’t get how they work without magic, so I think it is magic.” They pulled up one leg, placing their foot on the chair. “Demons … are dangerous.”

“I think that’s like, normal, right?” Van relaxed slightly, no longer feeling as though she might dissolve on the spot. There was a lot to be worried about these days, but she didn’t want to project that onto Wynne. They already had enough to deal with. “To talk with your mouth. I mean, I guess you could talk with other things, but…” She shrugged. Now wasn’t the time to get stuck on the logistics of how to talk in other ways. 

She tried to not let Wynne’s expression deter her from continuing on with her explanation. “I’m a little worried that looking into it will like, make people look into me, you know?” If there were hunters for things like werewolves and undead, then who was to say there wasn’t a hunter for what she was, either? Maybe it was self-involved to think that, but she couldn’t be too sure. This world was still new to her. “But, um…” Did Wynne know that Teddy also possessed magic? She didn’t want to out them, so she didn’t bring them up by name. “I have some other help, and I think… I would like yours, too, if you’re offering it.” It might be nice to have somebody normal on the sidelines. 

At Wynne’s question, Van faltered slightly. “I… didn’t know that’s what it was when it happened– that time or like, the others.” There had been others, and there was no shying away from that fact. “I’m not really sure… I don’t know a lot about this.” She wiggled her fingers above the table, looking down at them. They looked so normal, but each time magic swept over her, she could feel the electricity buzzing in the pads of her fingers, extending all the way down her wrists like some sort of alternate vein. 

Iron pooled at the tip of Van’s tongue as Wynne stated the obvious. “I know– I definitely know that. I’m not– I don’t…” With a sigh, Van pushed some hair out of her eyes. “I’m learning about it. The magic part, not the demon part– I don’t know– I think that I need to learn about that part, too, if I want to be able to control stuff. But I guess– summoners– me, I–” Another deep breath, another finger pressed to the now cooling mug, “it’s not just demons… we can summon other things.” She hadn’t read a ton into it, being too preoccupied with everyone in Ireland and their fates, but now that everyone was back (except for Nora), maybe she could find the time again. 

“I think so, yes. I saw a video of someone who talked without moving their mouth, though? But I assume the noise still came from their mouth.” Wynne frowned. It was really not the most important thing, and yet their mind kept coming back to it. It was baked air, like the things people had said on the stage of the trial. They didn’t mind it this time, though. “Or like, sign language.”

They nodded when Van asked if they understood. They did, in a way. There were always people looking out to hurt others, after all. It made sense maybe people would look into Van with bad intentions, too. “Of course. It’s good to be cautious. I think it always is. But I would be glad to help. And I’m glad you have help.” The world was so vast and to face it alone was impossible, though Wynne had tried in those first months after running from the commune. “I don’t know a lot about magic but I can look for answers.” Maybe that restricted section of the library should be broken into after all.

They felt a pang in their stomach as Van struggled to speak and hoped it wasn’t because of them. Wynne was silent as she tried to find the words, sipping their tea patiently and looking at her carefully. They tried to imagine what it was like, to begin to realize there was something within your power that you didn’t quite understand yet. They already struggled with all their own realizations — like that maybe they had grown up in a cult and that it was okay, really, that they were still alive. “It must be hard. To try and figure all this out. But um, you’re like not alone.”

They put down their mug. “I don’t … I don’t know a lot about magic, but I know some things about demons. Like that there are different types. And some are nice, but most of them are tricksters. And they can look like humans or like something else.” Wynne swallowed. “And some of them want human sacrifices. But there are rituals to get rid of them and other things. I can also learn more about it if you want, I have a source.” They didn’t want to name Teddy, but they were just around the corner. So was Gabagool, who was a bit more obviously a demon expert. “And other things? Like … if you got better, you could summon us freshly baked cookies?”

“Oh, true. Yeah.” Van pushed herself to think outside the box– to not be so embroiled with what she’d always been faced with. It was hard, acknowledging the things outside of her bubble, but it had to happen if she was going to face any growth. Wynne’s ways of looking at things was only further proof of that. It was a simple thing; a discussion about discussion, but it held more worth than just that alone. 

Wynne seemed to understand her in a way that few did. They offered their help, but didn’t demand she take it. That felt… nice. Wynne was just Wynne, and for them to extend their hand, it meant a great deal to her. Van nodded, “I’d… really like that, Wynne. Thank you.” That almost felt too formal for her. “Like, I would really like that. I think it’d help a lot, to know I’m not doing it alone.” She hadn’t been– she had people in her corner, but with Wynne, it felt different. Maybe because they had a lot more to lose, so it made Van feel that much more protective. 

The only demons that Van had been faced with so far were the kinds that saved her life. Were they good? Would they have killed her, too, if given the chance? She thought back to the feathery hand, and how if she plucked each delicate white strand away, what would be left? Somebody like her who had lost something? Or would it be something more sinister? “So it’s like people, like– all different kinds. That makes sense, too.” They wouldn’t all be bad– nothing could be all bad, because if that were true, then what Jade had done would have been right, and Van didn’t think what Jade had done, or did in her past, was right at all. But there were bad things, too, and Wynne affirmed that. It was a difficult thing to swallow– that maybe the portals she created that took down those going against her weren’t the only bad things. That the creatures she unknowingly asked for help were a part of it, too. 

“It’s just… a lot. All of it.” Whether she meant the demons and her magic or the whole Ireland trip, she wasn’t sure. Van took a deep breath and looked down at the tea that was reflecting back at her. “I would like, so much rather summon cookies or something.” Hopefully they’d be regular cookies. “Or like, maybe if Nora runs away again, I can just summon her right back.” It was a joke she had exchanged with Emilio, but the idea of it felt less like a joke and more or less hopeful. 

“But seriously, Wynne. I don’t– I won’t ever hurt you with it. I hope you know that.” Not intentionally, at least. She hoped by the time Wynne came face to face with her magic again, she’d have it under better control. Van offered them a weak smile. “It… this is all like, so messed up.” All of it. They should’ve been able to exist as regular twenty-somethings, not in complete fear that any move they made could end up with them in a casket. “I just wanted you to know that, though. The power stuff. It felt wrong um, not talking about it.” 

Maybe that was the most important thing there was in the world. To not be alone when going through these kind of realizations, to have people to look along with you. Wynne wished they could be more to Van than an extra pair of eyes, that they could offer her a kind of guidance and wisdom that she certainly deserved — but when it came to magic they were wholly ignorant. But they’d try, and at the very least they would be there with tea and other things.

“Of course, Van. You know, you helped me so much. Help me still. With all the things I don’t know, which are a lot of things,” they smiled a little. “And I get that this is different, but it also isn’t. Friends help each other.”  And this was easily accepted by now. Van was their friend and would continue to be their friend, even in the face of demons and former communes (cults?), even in the face of explosive magic.

They nodded. “Just like humans. Or people. All different kinds,” they echoed the sentiment, because it was the sentiment they were trying to build their life on. Wynne wasn’t struggling to develop a philosophy outside of the one they had abandoned, but this was a core part of it. Everyone had the ability to be good, just as everyone had the ability to be bad — and though some people had more powers to do bad with their bad intentions, it was still about intent. If a bad person had Van’s powers, it would be horrible. But Van was good. “But … I think they’re still, when they’re bad … they are very dangerous.”

Van was right. It was a lot, all of it. But it had been a lot since they had ran from home, the entire world an overwhelming cacophony of sound and bright lights. Though there was pain and fear, though, that lotness also came with these things. Van. Jokes. Tea. They clung to their cup. “Maybe you can practice that. And summoning Nora, but maybe you can use me for practice so she doesn’t have to know.”

Wynne frowned at Van before nodding their head again, meaning every bop of their head. “Of course. Of course, I know. I — you saved us, last time. And I am glad we’re talking about it. That we can talk more about my home, too. That it’s all … open and discussable and that it’s okay to discuss it. Because I trust you, okay? To hear my things, but also to not hurt me.”

“Yeah! Like, one day you’re going to totally wreck me at Mario Kart. Maybe not right now, but one day.” It felt nice to joke, to laugh with Wynne across from her. The days of staring down at her phone screen, of waiting for response after response; of finding out whether or not the people she cared about were okay weren’t necessarily behind her, but for the time being it was. At least, in Wynne and Regan’s case. Van so desperately wanted to find Nora, to show her the love that those in Wicked’s Rest had for her, to show her that even if home didn’t feel like home, it could mimic the feeling until it felt real. That was what it always felt like; Van never felt at home, but with Wynne across from her, she felt like she was getting closer. Van wanted both Nora and Wynne to feel that way, and she hoped that one day they would. “Friends definitely help each other, yeah.” Always, no matter what. 

Wynne held warnings in the palm of their hand, spilling them onto the table. They traced them out– a warning, a promise, the acknowledgment that while other things might be dangerous, Wynne didn’t think she was dangerous. Van wasn’t sure how to feel about that. Most of her life, she’d been treated as a fragile thing, and so she learned how to crack at will, to fall apart as that was what most expected from her. Wynne treated her with the respect she’d been looking for, much like Erin and Nora. “I understand, and I trust you.” Because Van had no reason not to. Because Wynne spoke of these things with an understanding that rivaled the ability to actually dredge up shadows and souls alike. 

Van snorted at the thought of practicing with Wynne. “Maybe when Teddy gets back we can try.” She didn’t think she’d actually use Wynne for any kind of summoning practice, but the offer sat heavy on her shoulders, or rather, the trust did. 

As Wynne went on to speak, Van sat in a silence that enveloped her, not in fear or turmoil, but in hope and understanding. “What happened? Was it the– your home, right? Something happened… before you got here.” Van bit the inside of her cheek as she watched her friend, searching for something– for the moment she should reach across the table, even if she wasn’t very good at physical affection. She wanted to learn more about her friend, not just because Wynne had insisted, but because this level of trust meant something, and Van wanted to show that she was reliable. 

They chuckled. “I totally will. The power of the toadstool will help me and I will finally get first place,” said Wynne, knowing that this was a very distant reality. They didn’t mind losing against Van so much, though, so it didn’t matter. They had skills that she didn’t have and through that they could help one another. It was very nice, actually. “Maybe we can play some games in a bit, if you want. Teddy got me a console –” They said the word with a bit of uncertainty, not sure if it was the right term. “– but I don’t really get it yet. It’s nice to watch Netflix with though.”

They gave their trust too easily, they knew that now, but the thing that existed between Van and them was different than that kind of trust. This was something that went deeper than believing things at face-value and expecting the best from people — this was the kind of trust that came with friendship, with knowing they could rely on Van. For fun, but for support and safety too. A kind of trust that Van wouldn’t exploit them or hurt them. “And I trust you.” 

A large sip was taken from their cup, the tea not as hot as it had once been but still warming up their insides as it traveled down. They wanted to fill their mouth and throat and stomach with tea so they wouldn’t have to repeat what had happened — but they owed Van the truth. And it wasn’t like they hesitated because they thought she’d look at them different, after all. That fear of condemnation seemed to have left them, at the very least.

“My commune — well, maybe … maybe it was a cult, actually. But we revered a demon. It gave us boons and stuff. And we … well, had to sacrifice one person every so often, and it was supposed to be me, but I didn’t want to die, so —” They swallowed, even if their mouth was dry. “I ran away. And then they —” Again, their mouth was dry. Wynne looked at their hands around their mug. “Had to find a replacement, so it was my brother. And then … Emilio, he found out for me, and then … we went there. To get rid of the demon. And Dr Kavanagh helped, too. And –” They shrugged. “I guess it’s over now. But it doesn’t feel like it. I am still there sometimes. And I still — you know, think about what ifs. And being in Ireland was so … they were so weird there, but also similar to home. It’s … yeah. But I know about demons because of it. That’s what happened.”

Van’s eyes lit up at the promise of video games after the discussions of how deeply traumatized they both were had ended. Van liked having these kinds of conversations because it meant she was growing, but she was a girl who liked to game at heart, and at Wynne’s suggestion, she nodded. “No, for sure, we can definitely play! I can show you how to like, actually use it and stuff. For things other than Netflix.” She smiled at Wynne, wondering if she could get their phone later to install a few different games on. It was easy to get lost in the ways that their communion could revel in comfort, but she knew it was important to understand the ways in which they needed to be there for one another through the dark stuff, too. It was, at the very least, easier to acknowledge than before. 

There was the temptation, after seeing the look in Wynne’s eyes, to tell them that they could discuss it later. But wouldn’t it hurt later, too? Wouldn’t there be that same look in their eye, the subtle shake of their fingers as they clasped it around their mug? Van knew that now was the time to listen, not to insist that they could revisit it another time. This was important, and Van had shared her truth no matter the fear that came with it, and Wynne wanted to do the same. Van owed it to them to listen instead of make excuses. 

As Wynne went on to tell their story, Van could feel their mouth widening, forming a perfect and round ‘o’. That wasn’t something she had expected, but it made sense, with Wynne knowing a lot about demons. Or, at least, way more than she did. Van reached across the table finally, closing a hand over one of Wynne’s that was still wrapped around their mug. It felt like the right thing to do, and she wanted to do the right thing by them. “You feel guilty, right? About surviving? Both times?” Van could understand that, too. She felt guilty about Diana, about Debbie– hell, even about the banshees that had taken her home from her. How she had gotten to live in the bubble of safety, of what Jade didn’t categorize as dangerous– how others simply existing with what they were had been condemned. Wynne had been condemned, but they had crawled out of it– had escaped the fact of death, despite the odds. “I’m like, really glad you didn’t die.” She thought that much was obvious. “Before, and in Ireland. Both times. You deserve to live, you know.” This wasn’t about her, but she felt like she was talking to herself, too. 

Van squeezed Wynne’s hand, running through the number of things people much wiser than her had said to her in the hopes of bringing her back from the brink. But it didn’t seem like Wynne was on any ledge. This was a conversation filled with hope and trust, and Van needed to treat it as such, instead of imposing her own versions of grief and understanding onto them. “I’m sorry about your brother.” Van’s lower lip trembled slightly as she spoke, “and I’m sorry that it feels like you’re still there.” Van knew how that felt. She was still in that parking lot, standing across from Diana. She was still in the grocery store with Debbie. She was standing across from the banshee that had taken the last thing of her family from her. But she was in front of Wynne, and Wynne was in front of her. They were here, together. “But you’re here. We both um… we both are. We’re both here, and like, it’s super– this is so dumb, but we’re stronger than our demons. Literally.” A hiccup left Van and she reached up to touch her face with her free hand, realizing that tears had begun streaming down her cheeks. 

Wynne’s story made Van want to learn how to control her magic instead of run away from it. It shouldn’t have been the defining factor for her, considering the tragedies that had already occurred, but she wanted to make sure that Wynne would never have to face something like that again, not if she could help it. “Thank you. Um…” She blinked away the tears, “for telling me.” 

“I’d really love that,” they said, smiling brightly. Van was so clever when it came to technology, but also someone that Wynne liked to learn from. And playing games they did like — even if the ones they were used to were more card or board based. Video games were fun to play by yourself, though, which was nice. They liked the idea of drowning out their thoughts by pushing buttons.

As the truth spilled from them, Van reacted with a kindness they might not have allowed a few months back. They no longer expected people to respond with anger, to condemn them for their betrayal and so they let their friend touch their hand. And even if Van were to tell them that they should have died, that they had been selfish and a traitor — they’d have the knowledge that plenty of others thought differently, themself included. But Van just took their hand and offered words of understanding.

They nodded tentatively, “Yes.” It was a heavy way to live, to feel like there should be something shameful about every breath and step taken. And yet that was the truth of it — they felt guilty for sitting here. “I’m trying … I’m trying not to. I am also glad I lived. Even if I feel guilty, too.” There would never be any undoing of it — no possible way to bring back Iwan or to turn the clock on what had happened in Ireland. Their past was a trail littered with mistake but it was a trail that kept going, winding through forest and field and past beaches. It kept going. 

There was another dip of their head, their eyes glued to the squeeze of Van’s hand around theirs. Wynne took the sympathy in stride, not feeling discomforted as it came from the other. “Me too.” They looked at Van and at the tears on her face and felt something loosen in their throat, a tightness they hadn’t realized was there until now. They, too, cried. “It’s … no, it’s true. It’s not dumb at all. We are stronger than them.” The demon had died. Wynne still lived. That trail kept going. 

“Of course. And – thank you for listening.” They turned their hand around so palm met palm and held onto Van’s, not wanting to let go just yet even if they didn’t know what to say any more.

Van had felt alone for so much of her life, that the feeling of having Wynne across from her still felt slightly foreign. It felt like that time by the mines with Nora, signs melting down to nothing as Nora exposed herself as an entirely different being altogether. She was learning things about those she called friends, and in turn it made her feel less alone, less… desperate for understanding. 

They could take their time together, she thought. Her hand remained overtop of Wynne’s as she looked at them, vision only slightly blurred from the tears that ran down. It was a special thing, being able to fall into step with somebody else’s trauma, even if the ones that she’d experienced had been so far removed from anything that Wynne had. She bit the inside of her cheek as she watched them, “I’m glad you told me. Really, really glad, Wynne.” There was nothing but sincerity in her voice as she squeezed their hand. 

With her other hand, she grabbed her mug which had cooled off considerably. The tea was lukewarm, but Van didn’t care. “I feel like, so adult right now.” Drinking tea and crying– she’d seen her mom do it a thousand times over. Only, her woes weren’t about a fragile daughter or money, but something entirely different. Things would be okay. Maybe not right now, when everything was so fresh, but eventually– Van had to believe that. Not only for her sake, but for Wynne’s, Nora’s, and Regan’s, too. 

[tdadtwch]

IRON GIANT WEREWOLF AU: Chapter 3 Preview

Heath inhaled another puff of smoke, smirking as he made his way across the blacktop. Benny was waiting for him in a shady spot on the other side of the court. He popped open a can of beer before looking up at the other teen.

“Who was that?”

“Nobody, just a cuck who thinks he’s more important than he actually is.”

Shrugging, Benny took a swig of his beer as Heath sat on the ground next to him. They spent the next few minutes in comfortable silence, watching as Adam and a few other guys chatted amongst themselves. Heath took another drag of the cigarette and looked over at Benny.

“Hey, let me hit that,” he said, gesturing to the drink. He took the can from the other boy and gulped down some of the lukewarm beverage. He usually preferred vodka over beer but the taste was fine regardless. Heath exhaled deeply, closing his eyes and soaking in the cool air. 

He tried thinking of another time in his life where he felt this same amount of calm. What came to mind was a moment from his childhood, back when his father was alive and well. He and Hogarth were sitting on a bench and eating ice cream in the park. Jonathan Hughes was sitting behind them on the edge of the town’s fountain, quietly taking in the scenery. At some point Hogarth’s ice cream scoop fell onto the ground with a splat. Heath laughed and his own frozen treat was shoved into his face seconds later.

Now with a glob of Butter Pecan on his nose, both brothers glared at each other before turning to the sound of their dad’s laughter. Jonathan had laughed so hard that he slipped and fell backward into the fountain with a yelp. Hogarth and Heath immediately burst into a fit of hysterics, their previous feud disappearing from their minds.

Heath smiled as he opened his eyes, reminiscing on simpler times. Just two siblings and their dad having the time of their lives; the three of them against the world. He was pulled from his reverie when he noticed Benny watching him.

“...Do I have something on my face?”

Benny shook his head. “I just can’t believe you’re sitting here.”

“What, am I too close to His Majesty?” Heath quipped, passing the can back to him.

“Haha, smartass. But seriously, I never thought in a million years that you would be sitting here and hanging out with me. I mean this past week was the most fun I had in awhile.” Benny furrowed his brow. “Did somebody spike the water supply or something? Because it’s like you’re this whole new person.”

“Dude, I feel like a new person!” Technically, this statement was true.

Ever since his argument with Hogarth, Heath felt more and more different as the days went by. He was better, faster, stronger. Like an old machine taken apart and made anew. Colors were brighter, sounds were clearer and scents were fresher. He never felt more alive!

Sure, there were a few drawbacks—like the fur growing out of his scars and the white streaks appearing in his hair. But it’s nothing that a pair of scissors and some hair dye can’t fix.

Heath’s gaze drifted to the tattoo on Benny’s right upper arm. It was a black and white basketball with the number fourteen written over it. Pointing to it, he asked, “What’s the story behind that?”

Benny lifted his arm. “Oh, this? Just something I got before I left my hometown. It symbolizes all the baskets I scored during my first ever game. One of the best moments of my life.”

“Where’s home?”

“Dukesberry, New Hampshire.” Benny took another sip of beer, smiling wistfully. “It’s like Rockwell but with a large Jewish community.”

“Hey, fellas!” They looked up to see Adam waving his arms at them. “You guys up for another game? We want a rematch.”

Heath and Benny nodded eagerly as they both got up from the ground. Heath took back the can and stuffed his cigarette butt inside it before crushing the aluminum in his fist. He tossed it into a nearby garbage bin when Benny spoke up again.

“Hey, you doing anything Friday night?”

“Not really, why?”

“We’re going to a party at the old Jackson residence. I mentioned it to you before. The deserted farm outside of town?”

“I remember…” Heath arched an eyebrow. “So you seriously want me to come to this thing?”

“Yeah, dude. I think you’d have a good time.”

“What about everyone else? Wouldn’t it kill the mood if The Heathen turned up and crashed the party?”

“It’s not crashing if you’re invited,” Benny pointed out. When he noticed the slight hesitation in the teen’s gaze, he quickly added, “But if you don’t wanna go, then that’s fine too! I just thought I’d ask. Most of the school is gonna be there as well as some other people. It’s probably gonna be a bit overwhelming so if you say no, that’s totally—”

“Okay.”

Benny blinked. “Wait, what?”

“I said okay. We’ve been hanging out a lot anyway so I might as well tag along.” Heath threw an arm around the other’s shoulders. “Y’know, you’re not as annoying as I thought you’d be.”

Benny rolled his eyes as he blushed. “And you’re not as horrible at basketball as I thought you’d be so I guess we’re even.”

“I’ll show you horrible, you little bastard!” Heath laughed, putting the other teen into a headlock and ruffling his hair. Once they separated, he grinned roguishly.  “Now let’s go fucking decimate these assholes.”

[arcanigenum]

Plot idea with jacques and the boys verse:

Your nasty muse has had private chats with jac on whatever pr0n webcam site he's on (whether muse paid for a private show or just wanted to talk is up to you), and they agree to meet up irl for whatever reason(payment depends on how hot ur muse is)

[charliehunnamsgf-character-ai]

JACK MARSTON || MOUSE

[balshumetsbaragouin]

Bittersweet Future: Chapter Fifteen

Summary:

Jack faces a reckoning at the White House, and we get a closer look at the Amity Park GSU HQ as two ghosts try to escape.

If You're Hoping For A Break...

He watched impassively as the last of the tanks disembarked from the Air Platforms. It had taken an hour after landing to get the final equipment and personnel out of the floating war centers, but finally he had no more excuses to put off meeting the F.B. He had been summoned before the President himself in an emergency meeting. He was looking forward to it as much as a root canal.

The determination and fire he’d been feeling as the sun set had solidified into a core of steel around his spine. This would be the battle of his career. “I can hear you cursing them out in your mind from over here Fenton.” Lt. Castle leaned in to whisper next to him.

“In every language I know, even that infernal Spectral bullshit.” Jack groused back. He suppressed a wince when leaning back to parade rest earned him a burst of protesting pain all through his ribs. He really should not have used that grenade, the fuck had he been thinking? “It’s not like I can hide in here forever; I’m sure they’ll bring a military escort to the facility if I take much longer.”

“Oh they wouldn’t dare. A bunch of jeeps with fatigued soldiers driving through the middle of D.C.? The last thing the President wants is to make things look more dire. D.C. loves to pretend it’s untouchable by war or danger, they wouldn’t give up the illusion just to drag you out of your kingdom.” Jill frowned. She sighed then and started to move away from the observation deck. “Come on Head Commander, we should go over some last details before we head to the White House.” She paused by the door when she noticed Jack still lingering.

“You’re not coming with me Jill.” He nearly whispered it, having just come to the conclusion firmly enough to say it out loud at all.

“Excuse me? In what universe would I let you face those vultures alone?”

“In the universe where I need you to be out of sight to avoid taking the blame.” He saw her beginning to work herself up for an argument, and cut her off at the pass, “Jillian, there’s a good chance they’re going to try and dismantle the agency.”

“Which is why I should be there! You know we’re unstoppable together.”

“I know we feel unstoppable together, that’s not the same thing as actually being invincible.” He groaned as his stiff protesting spine popped when he moved away from the observation window. “The President didn’t change the meeting with the Joint Chiefs to tonight because he wants a nice chat, or even a normal dressing down. If they only have one person in front of them to blame, then they’ll be happy to focus on them.”

“Jac—”

“The last time a mission went this badly on America soil, the President torpedo’d his career to protect mine. There needs to be a fall guy for this mess Lt. Castle, and they’re pissed enough to be glad to have two instead. I need you untouched after this bomb goes off. Someone I trust has to run this organization after I’m gone. I’m not convinced I can save my own career, but I will save the GSU.” He watched as she crossed her arms, still determined to argue this out with him.

“If we handle this meeting properly, no one’s career is going have to go up in smoke. Muller himself already said not a single person could have handled this operation better than us.”

“He thinks that at least…” He mumbled.

“It’s not just his opinion, any reasonable assessment of the situation will say the same. There’s no one else qualified to run this operation, and even if they want to cry about it, it’s not like they could do any better. Our job is to drive home into their useless skulls that truth.”

“Be that as it may, we both know politics isn’t about logic, it’s about feelings. They feel like someone has to be to blame for this clusterfuck, so they’ll string someone up regardless if it couldn’t have gone better. I need there to be fewer targets for their rage. Further,” he continued, barreling over her as soon as she opened her mouth, “there’s still all the post-battle data to go through, the forms to be signed to release bodies to families and inform them of the deaths, and I think you promised that pilot a proper chewing out earlier today.” His tone was lighter here, but he was no less firm. She wasn’t coming with him this time. He felt his shoulders tighten at the expression on her face. She still wanted to argue and he didn’t have the time for it. “Don’t make this an order Jill, please…”

The sigh she let out was resigned then, finally, “alright Fenton. But if I hear from some of those White House aides, that you just rolled over and made a fool of yourself in there, your career will be the least of your worries.” She half-limped over then to punch him on the arm. “Go get ‘em soldier.” With that, she walked out of the observation room, her uneven footfalls growing ever softer in the growing gloomy misery left with her retreat.

One fight down, the main event to go...He thought. He pulled up the last of the forms needing his signature on the digital screen before him, trying not to think of them as the last acts he’d have as the Head Commander of the GSU. A few minutes later, he was dressed in civvies, his comfortable ecto-suit traded for the much more mundane kind. He didn’t have time to do much more than wipe the worse of the grime off his face and hands. He still smelled of spent munitions’ smoke and the sharp ozone of anti-ectoplasm fire when he slid into the chauffeured car headed towards the heart of D.C. He hoped rolling down the window on the way to the meeting would blow off the worst of the stench. He might think of the smell as the glorious remnants of battle, but to the pencil pushing bureaucrats that ran the F.B, it was the smell of failure.

The car ride went by fast. He’d spent it with his head down reviewing the printouts of the battle’s summaries and the hastily cobbled together analysis of the worn-thin remaining officers. Several of them were completely useless, written by drained human beings who’d never had to write up a field report before, the consequences of all the field promotions. Luckily, several of his oldest officers had survived the battle, and given proper assessments...those weren’t any better than the inexperienced cruft he’d sifted through. They were more competently written, but all the competence in the world didn’t turn a disaster into a resounding victory. Still, their information was invaluable. General Birch especially liked to get into the nitty-gritty of individual team tactics and weapon’s usage.

He was a personnel person at heart, much like Jack Fenton himself, and so zeroed in on proper training and group tactics before technology or even larger command tactics. He thought if they’d met under different circumstances, they could’ve been proper colleagues, friends perhaps. But tonight, he was the enemy. The thought was grim and sour in his mind as he car pulled to a stop outside of the White House.

The omnipresent security around the President’s residence waved his car through, directing him around the back. At this time of night, the lights illuminating the front-facing façade of the building was more ominous than impressive, making hollowed out skulls of the faces of the men guarding the place. The stone faced watchers observing my solemn walk to the gallows. There were more Secret Service standing around than usual, the President likely aware of the way the light threw their faces into unforgiving relief. Now, he was amused; they were trying to intimidate him.

They still felt he had the upper hand on some level. Why else go through all the trouble to try and dampen his spirits? When he slid back out of the car and started up the walk to the back of the White House in the sticky warm D.C. summer air, his confidence only grew with every mean-mugging Secret Service agent milling around to greet him. He kept it in check, trying to conquer the feeling of misplaced confidence. They’d likely also reckoned Lt. Castle would be here. He reasoned. His assumption was rewarded when the aide standing at the door did a double take when only he appeared to be guided inside.

“Is the Deputy Commander not here? I didn’t think her injuries were so serious…” the aide trailed off, trying to further poison the well against the agency.

“Not at all, she’s in no danger health wise. But, someone must remain at HQ to continue the rest of the post-battle operations. There are officers to interview, masses of data to review, and since this meeting was called as an emergency, there hasn’t been time for any of the necessary procedures to be done between Colorado and D.C. She asks the President’s forgiveness for being unable to attend, but the wheels of military stops for no one.” He stepped inside to join the aide by their shoulder, neatly ignoring the lack of invitation. They’d already called him to this charnel house, he didn’t need to be invited directly.

“Er, yes—I mean of course we understood that before we called the meeting, but that is—that’s why the meeting was set for an hour after—”

“Yes?” Commander Fenton said cutting off the flustered aide, “and you all believe only an hour is needed to secure and disembark a thousand soldiers, and hundreds of individual pieces of highly sensitive equipment?” He clicked his tongue then and started walking down the hallway, deeper into the metaphorical lion’s den. “Perhaps that is one of the misconceptions I can clear up for the administration tonight.”

The aide didn’t respond again, trying to hide the tinge of pink coming to their cheeks by taking the lead in guiding the commander deeper into the building. For all its size, the White House was still intended to be a Residence on some level. This meant much of its interior was taken up with kitchens and bedrooms and ordinary sitting rooms. There were a few places suitable for large meetings though, and that’s where he was being led. He’d been through these halls several times.

The newest administration had...tacky tastes if he thought about it. It’s not like his spartanly decorated D.C. apartment had a lot going for it, but at least it didn’t come off both pretentious and kitschy at the same time. The President’s poor taste in all things trickled down into his politics in Jack’s opinion. He disliked the GSU, despite the huge scientific, military, political, and financial benefits it gave to the United States. Instead, he favored ostentatious displays like driving tanks down the street in military parades as shows of power and stability. That was what had gotten them on the President’s bad side originally. Secretary Birch had caved and given into the President’s childish desires for might displays, and he had told the man where to shove it...politely! Some grunt working as his secretary had worded the refusal, it had even been looked over by the Deputy Commander.

Unfortunately, refusing to use the country’s best military hardware for dick swinging displays of power to other nations had earned him the President’s ire. And with the easily led man possessing a cabinet full of more forceful personalities and sharper minds, the members of Capital Hill that always had it out for him happily used the President as a means to forward their agendas. He frowned then, thinking of General Welsh, and his petty dislike of the GSU based on it taking the best pilots. If the leader of the Air Force wanted better recruits, all he had to do was offer better benefits and prestige than the GSU. It’s not his fault flying in Earth’s atmosphere was less appealing than the cutting edge technology that allowed them to fly through the Zone.

Outside of Welsh and Birch, even the Secretary of State had it out for them, though his disagreements were more principled. The GSU had all the power of a branch of the military without being one. That sort of power without any real oversight or mandate by Congress spelled the potential for disaster. The agency had the most advanced technology in the country, and even he could admit his members were more akin to fanatic adherents than soldiers on some level.

Wanting to bring the GSU under closer control of an authorized branch of the military was completely understandable, if utterly ridiculous. There was already legislation going through both houses of Congress to officially establish the GSU as a separate branch of the military. Though it had stalled out recently as the aftermath of Austin loomed large in the public consciousness. Another reason Colorado needed to succeed, they needed more public goodwill, the passion of declaring the end to the War beginning to cool.

Jack smoothed out his face as a frown threatened to inch its way across it. Now was not the time to look unsure or weak. The aide stopped just outside of the door, waiting to be allowed to enter by the underpaid goons in suits the President employed instead of proper security. He’d decided to chose his own security, contravening tradition entirely, and the men—and they were all men— he picked were hulking mountains of flesh. They looked more like wrestler or body building champions than inconspicuous security, but such was the whims of the empty headed populist the country had elected. Besides, the President had told him, their guns were the real stopping power. It’s best they look intimidating instead of invisible. They left them hovering outside the door for some minutes. Before long, he realized it wasn’t a legitimate delay, but another attempt to demoralize him, make him feel trivial. Pathetic.

One of them spoke into a wrist communicator for a brief second, before touching something in his ear, and nodding. “The President and Joint Chiefs will see you now Mr. Fenton.” Mr. Fenton. Oh yes, they were definitely trying to demean him now.

He nodded at the bulky body guard who’d addressed him, and waited for the aide to either step aside or open the door. Neither happened. Instead, the door moved inwards, opened from the other side by another intern or lackey they made stay late for this meeting. He waited the time needed to allow the smaller aide to move, before striding inside with a calm even gait. Into the first circle...He thought with some amusement. It was a good analogy. After all, Dante returned intact eventually…

Inside the spacious interior of the meeting room was a truly unreasonable number of people. He’d been expecting the Joint Chiefs of Staff and their secretaries, maybe some aides for the President himself, and some consultants. This? It was like the audience to the Salem Witch Trials; every Tom, Dick, and Harry in the White House seemed crammed inside to witness the downfall of the Great Jack Fenton.

He took in the mass of staring eyes impassively. It would take more than an audience to rattle him.

“Mr. Fenton, glad you could finally join us.” So General Birch was leading the charge? Not too surprising considering the man’s current political pull, still, an annoyance. He’d been hoping Secretary Muller would have had more influence.

“As I’m sure the Chiefs are aware, disembarking procedures for a convoy of that size takes some time. I saw to my duties and joined the meeting here as soon as feasible.” A good opening, if he said so himself. Or he thought, before he saw Birch’s negative sneer.

“Surely, after the destruction wrought by the hybrids in Colorado on your equipment and soldiers there wasn’t much to oversee for disembarking.”

A cold way to start this meeting. “Though we lost several Air Platforms, most of our personnel and all of our tanks survived the encounter. They all had be shepherded safely back to HQ and properly organized for repair and any needed medical aid.”

“But, Commander,” Welsh’s turn then, “weren’t most of damaged equipment left in Suffolk in the repair depot?”

“A fair question General Welsh. Though the most damaged of our Air Platforms were left in Suffolk to begin repairs, two were still fully operational and landed in D.C with the remainder of the crew, tanks, jets, ect.”

“If you lost that much equipmen—”

“I hate to interrupt you General Welsh,” he didn’t really, “but our Air Platforms are built with a significant amount of volume redundancy. They are capable of handling a 60% increase in typical operational mass when fully operational. Even having to collapse the remainder of the crew into two platforms, it was tight quarters, though equivalent to approximately five Platforms operating at typical capacity.” So having defused that particular landmine, he turned to address the rest of the amassed senior staff in the room. “Naturally, this fight was not without casualties, however, they were not so severe as to deplete all of the Air Platforms we left with. We are still counting to be absolutely sure, but preliminary counts puts the loss of life at 257. A blow, but a less than 20% casualty rate.”

“18% Mr. Fenton. You can appreciate the seriousness of that death rate.”

“Perhaps more than you General Birch, I saw to the training of many of those GSU members personally.”

“Then maybe you can explain the tactical failings that lead to their deaths, being so intimately familiar with their training?”

Birch was being a hard-ass, but he wasn’t so easily quelled. “Well, it’s hard to avoid the wing of a fighter jet being suddenly flung on top of you from above, or the crush of steel when two Air Platforms are forced into each other by unnatural powers.” He enjoyed the slight paling of the man’s face when he realized the state the bodies must be in from those incidents. Good. He hated the implication his brave men and women were simply incompetent instead of unlucky enough to be caught in an impossible to avoid crash.

“B-Be that as it may, I’m sure you are reviewing the specifics of the battle to shore up any failings. I saw a preliminary report that there was some evidence of ghost possession?”

Jack’s mouth did quirk into a brief frown then. Someone in his organization had loose lips that needed zipping. “That incident is still under intense investigation. It does not seem to be a typical possession.”

“You can’t even train your men to avoid possession Fenton?” Secretary Fitzgerald spoke up then, spitefully poking in from the peanut gallery.

“I think a few members of Staff are laboring under some misapprehensions as to the nature of possession.” Muller. Finally. “Ghost possession isn’t a matter of free will. They use their ecto-powers to override your self-control with their consciousness. There’s no way to avoid it through simple training. Though some mental training has been shown to increase awareness during and after possession, it doesn’t give the person being possessed any more control.” The Secretary stared down the rest of the most senior members of the room then, willing them to marinate in their own ignorance for a spell.

“Well—you—how does your personnel avoid possession all the time when fighting ghosts?!” Fitzgerald sounded incensed then, half from the embarrassment of being so thoroughly reprimanded, half from his line of questioning being waylaid.

“Our ecto-suits usually prevent the intrusion of any ecto-being’s consciousness from interacting with or overlaying with our own. They’ve been specifically designed just for that purpose, which is why I said the incident is under review. To be frank with you gentlemen, it wasn’t a single person who was behaving erratically, but an entire squadron.” He paused to let the gravity of the number of people involved sink in before continuing, “that is far above the maximum number of people under possession we’ve ever recorded in any encounter, let alone controlled by a single entity.”

“But they were behaving erratically?”

“Yes. Our current leading theory is that this is an extension of Second Priority’s… powers over water. It’s demonstrated recently an increase to its abilities. The ecto-hydromancy, if the culprit, would explain the widespread effects and why the suits were less effective.”

“In what way Commander?”

It was nice to be referred to by his proper title. It seemed to have come out of Birch accidentally, an amusing sign of his deferring to his expertise. “Our polymer suits are designed to detect and repel ectoplasmic… “consciousness” let’s say. Their consciousness gives off a very specific and consistent ecto-electric signature. The suits produce a counter signal that prevents possession from happening. It also repels higher densities of ecto-energy, which prevents damage from their ecto-blasts and other attacks. However, it would be impossible to filter out all concentrations of ecto-energy and produce tactically viable suits.” He stopped then to take in their confused expressions. “The suits would be stiff immovable bricks instead of pliable polymer, even medieval suits of armor had movable joints. Concentrations under a certain amount aren’t even harmful to human cells, and so there’s no point in filtering it out...or so we thought. If Second Priority’s powers have mutated the way implied by this last encounter, we’ll have to re-think our suit designs.”

“A constant of this organization, a failure to properly account for the dangers of the hybrids.” A feminine voice spoke from near the President’s side.

Triple damn. Why is Claudia Hying here? You’d think the seriousness of the security clearance needed for this meeting would preclude the harpy from darkening my evening. Jack groused, while turning to face his most serious adversary of the night. The other members of the Joint Chiefs might have personal animosity towards him, but they were military men. They understood or could be made to understand the calculus of battle. Hying though, she was pure F.B., all congressional appointed civvie. “I think we’d require the ability to see into the future to predict this level of hydromancy Ms. Hying.”

“Be that as it may, this is a footnote in the larger tale of inadequacy of the organization on the hybrid topic. But, was it not Second Priority’s ‘hydromancy’ that allowed it to escape your facility in Austin.”

“Theoretically, but it should not have been able to use those powers with the suppressant cuffs we had on it.”

“Then you have another much more serious piece of equipment failure to consider. Are those not the same cuffs you typically use to control ghosts in general?”

Gods above if he did not hate this woman. He could never catch the smallest break when she was involved. “We use a different specialized series meant to prevent them from transforming at all. If we used similar on ordinary ghosts, it would kill them with how strongly it suppresses spectral energy. Of course, we realized there was a flaw in the design after it escaped Austin. The cuffs only prevent them from manifesting their ecto-energy externally, which stops their transformations of course. But the first design didn’t stop them from activating their spectral cores. In as non-ectobiology an explanation as possible, it’s like a device that stops you from moving while allowing the internal contraction of your muscles running your heart or bowels to continue. We thought without being able to manifest their powers, they would be harmless.” “Clearly not—”

“—Indeed, we didn’t realize it could energize and control its own blood enough to pull it out of its eyes and use as a weapon.” Several of the generals squirmed at the imagery, but Hying looked unphased. “The generation two devices are much more thorough, though they’ll require internal implantation, they’ll prevent their cores from activating without our control.”

“Why would you need them to turn on?”

“Fascinating question Chairmen Jefferson, the simplest explanation is for scientific research. Hybrid cores are very much unlike normal ghost’s, allowing them to continue to grow in power seemingly indefinitely, among other horrifying abilities. Additionally, we think several of these hybrids are...natural. Plasmius produces them not through exposure to high levels o—”

“Yes, yes, I’m sure you’d love to get us distracted into the minutiae of spectral science to distract us from the failings of your organization to capture these beasts, but I’m sure the biology lessons can wait for another time Mr. Fenton.” Claudia neatly interrupted his diversion with a predatory smile. “Now, let’s discuss the equipment loss from this excursion.” She stops to shuffle a few papers around, purely for show, before humming and continuing, “if I’ve done my math correctly, the total sum of lost equipment and munitions totals over 500 million dollars?” She phrased it like a question, but there was no inquisitiveness or doubt in her tone.

“That is close to correct. A preliminary accounting puts the losses at around 490 million, subject to further investigation of course. It can be hard to pin a number of these things so soon after an engagement.”

“Of course,” she simpered, looking back at him from across the table with an artfully crafted sympathetic downturn of her lips. “There’s a lot to take account of in the aftermath of such a poorly executed mission, so let’s say 500 million is a close estimate for the final tally.” He knew this tactic, making it sound like she was doing him a favor by choosing a number closer to his estimate. The witch. “Even saying so, that’s a lot of money, or well, equipment to replace. Even assuming you have the slack in your budget to finance such a sudden loss, there’s the fact your equipment is specialty. It has to be ordered months or even years in advance for some parts.”

“We have a stockpile of all regulation equipment lost in the encounter.”

“Regulation? I’m sorry Mr. Fenton, you just have Air Platforms laying around in wait?”

“The Platforms, no, but jets, munitions, guns, the vast majority of equipment lost. We are an operation that deals in battle, and every military man knows your need surplus ammunition and guns.” He finished then with a quick glance around the room to gauge the general’s moods. So far so good…

“I see. So you’d be down only some specialty equipment...and personnel of course! Then I imagine you’d be spending most of your time and money to replace and train people and to replace…?”

“Eight Air Platforms, and five dozen Levitators, plus one dozen tanks, and several hundred rounds of more specialized munition,” he answered, struggling to keep the crossness out of his voice. He hated details like this, but he also knew she knew that. Trying to get him riled up was definitely part of her strategy to undermine him.

“Some of those pieces of equipment seem regulation to me? Like the tanks for instance—”

“They are not US military issue tanks, their plating and design are specialized to withstand bombardment from all but the most powerful ecto-attacks. They are a re-design of the ones used by the Army, and no Ms. Hying, not the ones used during the War. The only thing close to regulation on the list is the Levitators, but even those are a specialized re-design of the hovercraft the Air Force got from us after the War.” He reached down then to open his brief case, and placed a few papers onto the table in front of him. “If you’d be so kind to pass this along,” he said while handing them to an aide hovering about, “you can see for yourself which items are regulation or specialized and how many we’ve lost by current estimate. Keep it, of course, I have plenty of copies.”

“I’m sure.” Claudia frowned down at the white sheaf of paper, before smiling blandly back at him. “I’m glad your accounting hasn’t suffered any since, from my understanding, most of the causalities were in officers?”

“That...is true. This enemy tends to target leaders of squadrons preferentially—”

She snickered, interrupting him, “you’ve noticed then? Because after Austin and, ah, Amity there was a similar culling of the ranks. One must wonder what your lower ranked soldiers think after a promotion.” Her smile was sharp then, relishing in his tightened shoulders and slight scowl. “How do you plan on replacing this many officers? You have plenty of grunts, assuredly, but from my understanding of your organization’s structure, you expect squadron leaders to head expeditions in the Zone and they need a certain amount of hours to even qualify for a proper promotion.”

“Our bench is deep—”

“Oh please, do not give me sports analogies Mr. Fenton, I like data. Neat. Concrete. Factual. And, do be concise, you can get bogged down in pointless details in your enthusiasm.”

She could smell blood, he could tell, and now she was biting at him. Another glance around the room gave him a variety of patient, expectant faces. They were happy to let her lead the discussion it seemed. Easier for a bureaucrat to get away with it. “Naturally, we’ve had to make emergency field promotions, however after the initial assessments are finished post battle, we’ll be using normal promotion regulations.” He noticed Hying frown and look to interrupt him, so he started up again, “I understand that narrows down our potential options for replacing officers, so we will be scaling back Zone expeditions and making transfers from other facilities across the US as needed. Many of the lowest ranked officers have suitable replacements from willing and capable privates who needed only a position to be opened for them. For the higher ranked officers, approximately 25 positions, you’ll forgive the inexactness, we are still counting the bodies, we’ll use transfers and reduced Zone surveys to fill them until next year. Genuinely, my organization is blessed with many capable men and women who could be officers, but not enough positions. I am more concerned with refilling our lowest ranks since so many ‘grunts’,” and he did stop for bitter sarcastic air quotes around the word, “are going to be officers now. It’s not our typical recruiting season. So our officers will be pulling double duty until we can finish recruiting into the lower ranks.”

“You really think so many of your men are qualif—”

“If you disagree Ms. Hying, you’re free to attend, look through every prospective officer’s qualifications, and sit in on their interviews yourself. It will be a long process, with slightly over 100 roles to be filled, but you’re a focused and determined woman, I’m sure you’d manage.” He enjoyed the frustration blooming across her features as she realized this wasn’t the weakness she’d assumed.

“I’m glad you have procedures in places since this is such a regular issue for your organization.” She was retreating now, trying to find the smell of blood she’d lost.

“All military operations have regulations in place for both field promotions and recovery after such a loss; we do no less.” He noticed the calm nods from the generals around the room, understanding the necessity of such preparations well. It had been a long while since humanity warred with itself, with everyone so focused on the War with the Zone. But since it had ended, previously simmering tensions were coming back to a boil. There was talk of another gulf war...He found it as amusing it was as pointless. His own facilities ran on the near inexhaustible fuel from the Zone, oil was primitive and outdated. An argument for another time. “Members, I understand this was a disappointing engagement, but even loss is not without benefits. Our recovery team also gained access to the technology Plasmius was forced to abandon, including some of its shielding technology. Our technicians are already reverse engineering it.”

“You’d previously said that was impossible.” General Muller, pitching him a slow ball. Hying was shuffling paper about, bidding her time for another attack.

“It would be without access to some of its components, humanity simply has nothing similar in production globally. It was an unexplored avenue, how to hide ecto-energy, but not suppress it. We didn’t get access to the shields it uses to hide itself and its spawn’s nest, but we did find something much more interesting.” He paused to let the intrigue build, only to have Hying kill his building mood.

“I’m sure the Chiefs would prefer facts over your attempts at theater Mr. Fenton.” He hated that damnable woman.

“Of course, merely a break for breath,” he dismissed her charge easily. “We gained components and some blueprints for items that are portable miniaturized shields. Think small enough to wear, and light enough to be mistaken for an accessory,” he explained when he got only blank stares back. “The reason this is so enlightening is previous to this, we haven’t been able to track them. The Chiefs are aware we have their DNA imprinted into all of our global ghost monitoring satellites. I’m sure you’ve wondered how they’ve hidden despite this considering how sensitive they are, so have we. We have part of an answer. The devices are capable of filtering or shielding their energy before it exists their bodies. This will make them not only appear human to our satellites, but also the scanners that exist in stores and checkpoints around the country. As long as they change their appearance and falsify documents, they could pass as ordinary humans while wearing them. It is our belief now that there is a two tiered system of shielding, one they wear and another to hide their nesting areas from our satellites.”

“Is this why they only show up briefly on tracking systems?”

“Yes, we believe so. If the wearable device fails, or is temporarily offline, then they’d be visible to the satellites when outside of their nest. Plasmius is devious and likely carries back-ups to prevent this, but even it can’t think of everything.”

“This is all fascinating ecto-biology minutiae, but how does it help us capture these dangerous creatures?” Hying was back, chomping at the bit for another attack.

He did smile then, happy she walked right into his trap for once. “I’m glad you asked Ms. Hying. Now that we can reverse engineer the devices, we can update our systems, the ones running the satellites and the local scanners. Even if we can’t find their ecto-energy, there is no way these devices do not give off energy, a unique signature only the hybrids would have, as good as scanning their ecto-signature directly. It will take a few months, but very soon, we’ll have destroyed one of their biggest defenses.” He did pause for a sip of water, and dramatics, but the harpy wouldn’t be satisfied without a ready excuse. “That will leave them only their nest to hide in, and even then on borrowed time. The reason they move so often is to avoid our satellites triangulating their position from anomalies in ambient spectral energy readings. Once they are unable run and hide, it will only be a matter of time until—.”

“Until you have another disastrous, death filled engagement with them. Yes, I’m sure America can’t wait for another spectacular failure to be broadcast over their evening news.” Her tone cut through his bravado.

“With all due respect Ms. Hying, I’m sure with the time to prepare this affords the GSU—”

“Yes, but Plasmius was unprepared this time, and didn’t have time to feel backed into a corner. I have it on good authority animals are at their most dangerous with nothing to lose.” She smiles blandly at Secretary Muller, and turns her sharp red grin back towards him. “How would this theoretical engagement be any better than this last one, or any of the others for that matter?”

He did sigh then, put off by her relentless characterization of his organization as incompetent. “The reason the encounters are so deadly is because they are so few and far between. I can see you working up an objection, save it for a moment.” He knew it sounded hostile, but he was done caring. “These creatures must produce their energy themselves. The more time they have between assaults, the more they recover, and the more dangerous they are. If we are able to stay on them and they can’t recover, they will soon be no more dangerous than the average human against lasers and heavy armaments.”

“So your argument is that you haven’t had enough lopsided loses against them, and if you were just given more chances, it would somehow turn in your favor?”

“That’s the most uncharitable interpretation of my statement you could have made.”

“Is it untrue?”

“Yes!” He hissed incensed. “They only recover .075nFentons of energy a minute when completely drained. It takes two whole nFentons of energy to fire even the weakest of ecto-blasts. That means it takes them nearly half an hour to power a single ecto-blast. But this energy gain is compounding. All spectral energy builds on itself in cubic amounts. The weaker they are the slower they regain energy, and the easier it is to drain them further. In a war of attrition we win easily. We just have to stay on them, and it will be like fighting a kitten. Plasmius knows this. That is why its main tactic is to run and hide. Time is on their side, not ours. The longer it takes to capture them, the more their unholy powers grow and mutate. The more time they have to recover, the faster they do and the more powerful they are in the next confrontation. Do you understand now Ms. Hying, or do I have to explain it further for you?” Ok. So that last comment was definitely hostile; he’d have to calm himself before his rage made him misspeak.

“Oh, thank you. That explanation was enlightening. I understand now why your organization has a habit of continuing pursuit even when stretched thin on troops, even some of your decisions during the War make more sense now. Perhaps, I should give ecto-biology a more thorough study.” She was being placating now. Great. Now he looked even more unreasonable, out of control. I really should have brought Jill. She’s much better at handling this woman than I am.

“My field has many nooks and crannies, and the particulars of hybrid ecto-biology is niche, even as they plague humanity. It’s not something that would come up in a cursory study, or even graduate level studies to be clear. I’m not surprised you hadn’t considered the implications, I’ve had to explain them to the Joint Chiefs before. It is the nature of being a subject matter expert.” There. Placating...mostly.

“Understandable why you might feel a little irked by someone with the equivalent of a quick Bing Bong search asking uninformed questions about your subject.” She was retreating again, and the meeting was turning around. Now, all he needed was a slam dunk, and he could likely steer this completely under his control. Three quick chirps rang out into the room from his briefcase. His work cell. No one would dare interrupt this meeting without the world basically being on fire. He stiffened under the silent stares of the meeting’s attendees. They knew it too.

“Are you going to get that? There must be some emergency at HQ.” Ms. Hying’s shark smile was back with a vengeance, thirsty for a turn in her favor.

“If no one minds?” He’s already reaching for the phone, the question merely a courtesy. “Head Commander here.” He nodded as a communications expert on the other ended explained a contact made between one of the hybrids and a civilian. They were breathless. The details were beyond intriguing. The new hybrid had been in contact with an Amity resident. She was sure she could replicate the contact. The more details the technician gave, the more his smile grew. This was perfect, an answer to all of their prayers. He nodded a final time, and hung up the phone. “Ladies and gentlemen, I’ve just received some excellent news. A civilian has had contact with one of the hybrids and says they can replicate it. Calm down a moment! We mean over a phone or computer, not in person!” Jack waved his hands at the shouting group around him, corralling them into something resembling calm again. “Of course, we’d never put a civilian into harms way, even to capture America’s greatest enemies. The contact would be remote only, but they are sure the hybrid will respond.”

“What makes them so sure?”

“I cannot give details at this time, we are triple checking their claims, but I can say they say the hybrid feels indebted to them and trusts them.”

“These creatures don’t have feelings.” General Birch then, his voice filled with venom.

He chuckled, before addressing the man, “I agree in principle, but all ghosts have their habits, their obsessions. They are devoted to them onto ‘death’. In the case of the hybrids, they are very convinced of their humanity, to the point of imitating emotion and desire for human connection. They will form ‘friendships’ or ‘repay debts’ the way a human will, because it is their obsession to behave humanly, and ghosts always satisfy their obsessions.” His smile was predatory then, already thinking of the trap he would set. Willing contact made setting one so much easier…

“If you’re so sure, can use this obsession to your advantage?” The Secretary of State then, implicitly asking after the details for capture.

“We are sure they are still well out of populated cities. As long as we can confront them somewhere remote, I’d feel comfortable with another confrontation.”

“So soon?”

“General Welsh, I believe Commander Fenton has already explained that quirk of hybrid biology?” Ms. Hying, to his complete surprise. “Having said that, I’m sure with them so weakened, capturing them is within the organization’s abilities?” Of course, even her gifts were poisoned. With the hybrids so impaired, if they failed to capture even one, the GSU would be going under, even accounting from recovering from this recent battle.

“I’m sure all of them is too steep an ask so soon after a major engagement.” Muller, his only ally, but he was making it worse this time.

“Oh! I’m not a military woman myself. Perhaps all of them is too much. One or two then?” She offered, hands spread wide in a supplicating gesture.

“Ms. Hying is right, you should be able to manage a few, at least one, if they are as battered as your reports suggested.” The Joint Chiefs were all nodding in agreement with the Secretary of State. He’d dug his own grave on this one. Backing out would make him and even the organization itself look weak.

“Of course! I look forward to sharing the details of capture with you all afterwards.”

“See that you do.” The only words the President had said the entire meeting. The only ones that mattered. God help me.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Amity Park, Michigan; 12.43am; May 6th, 2005

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The bustling city of Amity Park was more subdued than usual. The damage from the last ghost attack left debris all over, but it was especially concentrated downtown. Chunks of stone still sat pushed away from the middle of the road, and where they’d landed on top of buildings. Most of the worst had been cleared so that daily life could continue, but even though the ghost danger level had been lowered when the GSU had concluded the hybrid had moved on, the human residents were still hunkering down. Few left their homes for anything less than work or shopping for essentials, and parents flinched when they had to drop off their children for school, the tragedy of the last big incident in Amity looming large in the citizen’s collective consciousness. Still, the GSU never slept, and with increased patrols and a larger presence on the streets, the people of Amity were beginning to relax.

One such GSU grunt drove in for his shift at the main facility. He usually worked the beat, but with the recent attack, he’d been assigned back to the facility. The people wandering around still were imported from other cities. There originally had been a concern this was a break out attempt, the hybrid had walked right up to the facility door after all, but after it escaped, his superiors were left stumped. Unwilling to risk a breach so soon after an attack, or even the whiff of it being possible, they’d re-assigned their beat officers to the inside of the facility and transferred people over to stand around looking important on street corners. He huffed as he passed another foreign GSU member waving to him from his vehicle. He didn’t hate them, he loved his fellow soldiers, but watching them soak up the local’s attention and still not know how to best give them comfort a way a true Amity Parker would frustrated him. Posturing on some street corner was worse than seeing them marching in formation and doing drills in the park or even rescuing cats from trees. But, local grunts like him had lost this argument with the officers, and so now he was coming in in the middle of the night to check on the ghosts they already had collared.

He’d heard there was action, real action, out in Colorado. People had gone to confront the monsters filling the good people of Amity’s nightmares, and he was jockeying some desk. Not literally of course, only officers had any real paperwork to fill out, but it was the principle of the thing! He sighed again as he parked his car, slamming the door when it bounced back out of place. The piece of garbage he drove was a hold over from college, from before he’d gotten this great job with the GSU. It’d been worth delaying. It was faster and easier advancing with a college degree than without. Some of his friends signed up straight out of high school five or so years ago, right before the shit in Amity went down. He’d lost some of them. Truth be told, he’d been trying to avoid the vortex that GSU recruiting could be in his hometown, heading to college somewhere else had been his idea of an escape. After though, he realized there was no escaping ghosts. He’d felt safe after the War. Now he was determined to make the world truly safe.

The door to the GSU HQ greeted him, the hum of their electronic security a warm familiar tune to his ears. He held up his government issued tabtop, and it flashed twice, connecting to the local network. Everything in the GSU facility was isolated as a rule, though they had little to worry about in terms of hacking attempts. Other countries mostly respected their technological prowess and didn’t engage in espionage against them, especially when the GSU shared everything safe almost as soon as it was developed. The Head Commander said he defended humanity and not just the United States. Their advances were to be shared freely.

Still, an abundance of caution never hurt. He leaned into the hand scanner so it could read his prints and smiled when the door slid open. He didn’t know what that nasty creature had been thinking; this place was more secure than the bunker that protected the president in case of a nuclear strike. There was no way it could get inside.

He waved to the guard on duty who grunted in response. Agent Johnson wasn’t a man of many words, but nothing got past him. He heard rumors the man once sniffed out a pen capable of taking pictures from inside the pocket of some bureaucrat without even touching or scanning the guy. When asked, Johnson had said the man had looked guilty or something. No one tried him.

He nodded to the second set of guards as he rounded another corner deeper in the facility, leaning closer this time to scan his eye as well as his palm. The retina scanners were now standard after some crazy shape-shifting ghost was discovered two years back. It fed on human misery the disgusting fucker. It had been in a reporter, an investigative journalist. It also had somehow been licensed as a therapist. He had no idea how that shit worked. They’d found it in a region being decimated by famine, the whole of the country was suffering a drought so severe it culled food crop production.

When it messed up and possessed someone else; it had been close enough to the US embassy to wherever the fuck country to ping the GSU standing guard. It’d panicked, possessed one of the grunts, jumping inside them once unconscious, and tried to enter the embassy. One of the other security measures deeper in finally caught it, but reviewing the incident, they were sure retina scanners would have stopped it from getting that far.

He nodded to the third set of guards, a pair of women nicknamed ‘Thelma’ and ‘Louise’, in that they were definitely best friends, probably dating, and super deadly. It was a shame; his sister had been begging him to hook her up with a cute girl from the GSU and well, he was a tech really. Talking to people was hard and girls harder and doing so long enough to find out if they also liked girls? Ugh! He had to talk to Thelma and Louise though, so he’d thought it was prime opportunity.

He thought he should stop being such a coward about this as the final door that leads into the innards of the GSU facility opened. He was in his twenties now, and a year of GSU training had put some muscle on him. Girls! Not hard. He could do it! He owed his sister for pitching in for college tuition after his Amity specific micro-grants had dried up right after the incident, and he’d been short for that year. The least I can do, he thought while making his first sweep of this layer of the facility, is hook her up with a cutie’s phone number. He frowned as a couple ghosts scrunched up away from the forward part of their cages, flinching away from the ectoranium infused plexiglass lining the front of them.

It made his job harder, assessing their condition. They had to do visual as well as scanner inspections. Apparently, some issues showed up visually before it did on the scanner. Whatever. The couple extra seconds per cage was an annoyance, having to flash on the bright overhead lights to get a good look. The things hated it, but it was for their own good. The ones on this level were weak, level four or so, and recently captured, so they just needed a little training. He finished his first round of inspections, and continued down a set of stairs and to another retina scanner and print checking door. He walked through an energy scanner on the other side, spending a couple seconds being beeped at to be sure none of the ghosts on the previous level had possessed him, despite his spandex, and continued when he heard the “all-clear” beep.

The ghosts down here weren’t especially dangerous either, just more well trained. They stepped closer to the glass like good dogs. It made this level much faster than the previous, and in just another few minutes, he was being scanned again. The ghosts down here though...He thought grumpily. While they weren’t the most powerful in the facility, they were troublesome. The scientists claimed they possessed imprints of human consciousness, partial ones anyway. So they talked, screamed, made demands, begged. It was so fucking obnoxious. One of them whimpered and asked if they could be friends, another made box based threats. He was used to the two of them, they were basically ignorable at this point. They’d just recently gotten a transfer from the facility in Florida, near the Everglades, in trade for one of their ghosts. This one claimed to be a warden of some type, made vague threats about how we’d pay for treating ‘him’ this way. It wasn’t very powerful, but the threats it made...sometimes he’d wondered if it hurt humans the way it described cutting them into pieces. It seemed too visceral, too real. He passed a few more wailing and unwilling assets, before going through the rigmarole of the scanners again along with another check of his tabtop. The ghosts in level four were stronger and had much more dangerous abilities, unique shit like summoning fire and ice or something.

He passed the shape-shifting ghost that had made the GSU install the eye scanners to begin with. It was in its shadow form, having given up on convincing them it was a trapped human and this was all a mistake. It still tried sometimes, but less and less often. He then passed a creature with a muzzle. This one could breath fire. Another few cages, one with a creature shouting temptation at whoever would pass. That one was in a sound proof cage. It could, theoretically, make ‘wishes’ come true like a genie. And like a traditional genie, those wishes always turned out badly. It was responsible for an incident in California and another in Japan before it was captured. The destruction had been horrifying, he’d seen the pictures. It had brought Japan into the ghost hunting game, their summer festival of wishes was now a memorial holiday.

One last floor. He thought, satisfaction at the captured specters, with their fearful eyes pitifully staring at him, thrumming through his veins. It wasn’t as good as a hunt, but looking at their trophies was an adequate substitute. He hadn’t gotten his uncle’s desire to mount deer heads before joining the GSU. The final floor of the facility, past levels five and six that were non-containment, held some of the most powerful and dangerous enemies of humanity. Nearly all of the most dangerous were no longer in Amity after the incident years ago, transferred to Austin and DC. Some of the creatures were too feral, fragile, or horrible to be safely transferred though. The remaining dragon ghosts were among them. He’d only seen them transformed once, watching the footage released during the War by the GSU when he was a teen. Their humanoid ghost guises were much less deadly, but by God had their ‘leader’ been a terror. It was the Head Commander slaying that thing when backed into a corner that made a couple of his friends sign up out of high school…

He stood in front of the last set of cages, poking idly at his tabtop. It was fritzing again, the damn thing. This deep in the facility, the wifi didn’t work great too much concrete and metal in the way. He poked a little longer, switching it to the local network for just this level, and sighed in relief when it stopped freezing up. It was a pain to switch for just this level, but everyone did it, annoying as it was. He stood in front of the third to last door, the little green ghost inside floating, looking innocuous, inside its cage. It didn’t have a collar, unlike every other ghost in the facility. It was only a level 3, the thing would evaporate if left in the Human World on its own. That’s not why it was down here. Despite the pitiful amount of ecto-energy, it had human level intelligence, maybe slightly above human if the tests were to believed.

It was capable of controlling technology, and was capable of human speech. Worse of all, it had been caught using tools...building things. Ignored pieces of electronic scrap or wires turned into weapons under its focused efforts. Because losing track of a ghost this weak would be easy, and because of how creative it was when it came to making tools, it was here, at the bottom of the facility in level seven. He frowned when it ignored his tapping, trying to get it to turn around so he could finish the visual inspection. He sighed and tapped his tabtop instead, determined to finish the scan and then go back to coaxing the little asshole into behaving. This time the worthless thing turned off. He was about to curse his luck and check its battery, he...never really charged it, when it turned back on. It flashed a bunch of rainbow hues, screen glitching and fragmenting.

“Oh god damn it no!” He’d been putting off a needed system update for...ok maybe three months was too long. The abused piece of electronics was now making sad noises like some old dial up modem and flashing like it was trying to give him a seizure. “Please, please, you’re like the third one. I’m gonna get my pay docked if I break another one of you!” The first two were just bad luck, a drop into the family pool with the dog carrying it in her mouth, and kicking it off his nightstand in his apartment during a night terror, but this time...It finally stopped flashing and the screen cleared to the home screen. He poked it tentatively, everything seemed fine now.

Maybe he’d do that update right now. I’m on the least used network and everything, so it shouldn’t take so long. He reasoned before lifting up the taptop to get a little more signal. This time it flashed bright blue once, and something flew out of it into the cage’s electronic keypad. He jumped back, carefully cradling the poor neglected tabtop to his chest. “Oh God, don’t start sparking! Come the fuck on!” He looked down distressed at its now blackened screen, ignoring the flashing now going on the cage’s keypad.

When he looked back up, the keypad was back to normal. He turned away from the cage, trying desperately to reboot his taptop. When he turned back once more, he had just a second to panic at the bright glowing green heading for his eyes, before everything went black.

Skulker huffed, looking down into the face of the dumb GSU grunt he’d just knocked unconscious. “It took you long enough to show yourself Technus.” He turned away from the human on the ground to glare at the keypad in front of his cell.

The technology obsessed ghost materialized from within, hovering just in front of the keypad to sneer down at Skulker. “If I’d have appeared any sooner, the security systems would have caught me! Did you wanna get out of that cage or not?” He zipped back inside of the keypad, interest refocused on the wires and circuits inside. “It takes a lot of ecto-energy to manipulate this stuff now you know! Only an absolute genius, such as myself, could have the know-how and power to have freed you.”

“Yes, yes, the genius master of all technology, worship me, blah blah blah. If you’re done singing your own praises, you could help me locate my Suit, so we can be on our way.”

“Sheesh, so impatient! These things take time.” The electronic beeping coming from the keypad sped up in frequency. “I’ve almost hacked my way into the local network, after that, figuring out where your precious ‘suit’ is will be a piece of—” An alarm, loud and shrill, blared through their level of the prison. “I, uh, I’ve got that…”

“I don’t have time for your bumbling, and we don’t have room for mistakes.” Skulker ran towards the abandoned tabtop and levered it upright with some effort. “Get in.” He ordered.

“But, it’s so cramped in there. Do you know it’s been six months since he ran a defrag on that thing?” The alarm increased up in pitch and a flashing red light came out of the ceiling.

“Get in the damn tabtop and turn off this alarm Technus.”

“Alright, alright, but you’re finding me a better hiding spot after this.” With another grumble about the lack of organization, Technus jumped from the keypad and into the tabtop. It took a second to silence and then reset the alarm, and two seconds more to convince the system that it had been a false alarm.

“Why didn’t you just do that from inside the tabtop?”

“Skulker, what part of no defrag is confusing you? It looks like a tornado went off in here. I’m gonna have disconnected bytes stuck to my coat for weeks because of hovering around inside. You should be more grateful that I, Technus, have come to rescue you at all, let alone thinking you should be able to demand I stay in this disorganized prison of…”

Skulker began tuning out the other ghost’s ramblings, deciding to peer around at the cages on this level. There wasn’t anyone he could free down here, just yet, but he’d promised his and Technus’ backer that’d he’d catalog the max security level’s ghosts. “Hey, are you listening to me?”

“No.”

“Well! Maybe I should just leave you here you—”

“Technus, you know you’re not allowed to do that. Now, look into their network and see where they’re keeping my Suit so we can get out of here.” Skulker huffed when the tabtop flashed a series of rude emojis at him. Obnoxious arrogant ass. “Please, oh great and powerful Technus, help me locate my technology so I can be of service to you.” He could not find his Suit fast enough. If I have to lick boots any longer, my tongue will forever taste of rubber and dirt.

“Ya’ see? Was it so hard to ask nicely?” He felt his face scrunch up, irritation bubbling around in his core at the asskissing. “Bad news buddy, your battlesuit has been dismantled.” This time he couldn’t keep the frustration to just facial expressions, a litany of curses flying off his tongue. He sighed, and glared up at the ceiling towards a random Technus possessed camera.

“So, where are the pieces then?”

“Oh, totally scrapped. Some of it they melted down, others they used as components to build new guns. Huh,” he stopped to look at a particular file about the storage section of facility, “well there are still a few pieces here and there. Most of the good stuff has been trashed or broken down for study though.”

“Great. Fantastic. Is there good news?”

“There’s great news actually. We can rebuild you a better one from the tech they have laying around.” At the narrowed looked crossing the other ghost’s face, he elaborated. “Oh yeah the humans scrapped your stuff, but they did like studying it a lot. Looks like they have upgraded versions of all the pieces of your tech in storage or labs all around the facility. We can stick those pieces together, and then—”

“Technus,” Skulker started, aggrieved, “I don’t just possess technology like you do. The equipment has to be in a state where I can control it from a central hub. If I have to construct it all, that will take hours at best, days more likely. You think we can linger around here long enough to—”

“Don’t cut me off! I was going to tell you, that they made the pieces modular. They snap into each other. I think they are trying to imitate your battlesuit for humans, but doing it stupid-like.”

“Why didn’t you just lead with that?”

“You never let me finish anything, I was literally about to—”

A pained groan from the human laying between them got their attention. He stirred, briefly, before falling back into silence. The two warred with each other in gesture and glares, before coming to an agreement.

“Just help me get him into this cage, and remove his ability to communicate, we’ll figure the rest out later.”

“Fine. But only if you apologize for being so rude to me earlier.” He watched Skulker grit his teeth and cross his arms for a moment, before turning to glare at him more fiercely.

“I’m...sorry, for interrupting you. Now. Can we please put him in a cell?”

“Good enough.” Technus floated him into the cell using the cellphone in one of his pockets. He then fried everything that could communicate to the outside world, and slammed the locking mechanism closed. “Ok, so he’s not getting out of there until someone comes to look for him.”

“Do you know how long that might be?”

“I don’t know. I don’t pay attention to human routines.”

Skulker took another deep breath to rein in his temper. The technopath ghost was trying when they’d first met before the War, now a days, he was a menace to his fraying nerves. “You can check the handbook for the rules in the GSU server.” “Oh yeah!” Technus hummed for a few seconds before coming back brightly, “it should be about five hours. He’s known for slacking off, and no one really checks this far down in the facility for breaches. Between that and my genius keeping the system off our scent, we’ll have more than enough time to assemble that upgraded suit.” Technus bounced the tabtop in excitement and jumped in electric form to another piece of machinery. “I’m inside the mainframe now, so you don’t have to worry about carrying me around. Don’t worry, I’ll find something easily portable for you to sneak me out in later.”

“I wasn’t worried.” He gave the caged, still unconscious, human one final look before marching over to the only door to the lab. It’s keypad display flashed green, before it swung open into the hallway beyond. It had been a long time since he’d left the labs; he was looking forward to freedom.

He crept down the hallway, keeping an eye and ear out for trouble. Technus was connected to their security system and every piece of technology connected to the mainframe, but he was easily distracted. Right now, the ghost was rambling about how efficient the backups were for the archives of the GSU and idly noting that he was happy they were much better maintained than that taptop. He could already tell convincing him to trash the mainframe’s files would be impossible. Never mind that hindering the greatest threat to ghost kind was more important than the organization of some computer systems...He clenched his fists as he hid around a corner from the bootfalls of some GSU grunt at Technus’ urging. Ok. Maybe the ghost was paying more attention than he’d thought. Still, he knew asking Technus to trash something as “magnificently luminous” as the mainframe of the Amity Park GSU facility was like asking him to give up on a quarry. Less than useless, even if frustrating as hell for other beings. Sometimes, he wished they weren’t ghosts.

But then the humans’ obsession with eradicating all ghost kind came back to him, and he realized all beings were obsessed with something. Ghosts just got a bad wrap for being more enthusiastic than humans about it. He rounded another corner and finally made it into the first lab with a piece of potential equipment. Something approximating a gantlet was draped over the side of a lab table.

It didn’t look like a piece of his suit. It was a gauntlet, sure, but it lacked the intimidating bulk he preferred in his designs. The material was matte, instead of shiny, and black and cool gray, like the suits the GSU wore. It struck him as ugly on initial viewing, and he consider just leaving it in place and demanding Technus look for the pieces that remained of his real battlesuit. “Don’t be so shy, get over there and inspect it.” Technus hissed from a speaker near the top of the room. He knew he was being petulant about this on some level, but if the aesthetics were this poor, he didn’t have great expectations for the function. The GSU, humans in general if he were honest, had a sense of taste that merged the two together. If something was ugly, it was likely to function poorly too if made by human hands. With a great heaving sigh, he overcame his reluctance and worked his way up to the table.

“I thought you said they improved my technology? This gauntlet looks more flimsy than the very first version I made!”

“It’s made out of a new grade of ecto-steel.” Technus stopped to peruse the files detailing the specs of the armor piece. “They’ve got it blended with this polymer after they spun it into thread. This is really wild stuff Skulker, you’d love the research into—”

“So is it stronger than the original design or not?”

“Well, yes, if these test results are any indication. Maybe they did the tests wrong—”

“No, no, they are through about that.” Still, he frowned as he looked at the floppy glove and wrist bracer combo before him. His misgivings about the shape were making it hard to really assess the abilities of the tech. He closed his eyes for a moment to shove his personal aesthetic desires aside and assess the piece objectively. The bracer was seamlessly welded or molded into the rest of the gauntlet; the material that made up the hand was flexible and with a quick check he realized it repelled ecto-energy. He poked around the bracer section itself, watching compartments open up on its side, but no weapons appear.

“They’re for storage. They can miniaturize things, using something similar to those...ghost traps they shove us into.”

He grunted in acknowledgment, frustrated there were no weapons already attached; he’d feel safer with a gun. The stitching, what existed of it, was tight, the texture suggested the weave of the polymer metal blend was even and strong, even the weight of it was balanced, at least for a human to wear it. Outside of looking terrible, it was a well-made and suitable piece of armor, if the blend making up most of the material was as strong as Technus suggested.

“Alright, where’s the next piece of tech.” He picked up the glove, which was thankfully both lighter than his own original design and lighter than it appeared, and jumped off the table, marching towards the door. Technus whispered the next location and went back to monitoring for humans as he trudged through the bowels of the Amity Park GSU HQ. They popped into two more labs on this level, grabbing another gauntlet, this one blessedly with weapons installed, and a headpiece Technus assured him would allow them access to other parts of the facility. All of that was without incident, it was quiet this deep inside GSU territory. Now though, he stood at the door leading up to the next level. They had to go up two whole floors to travel to the main storage facility where the rest of the suit components were found. He was skeptical this headpiece would let them through. “How is this supposed to hide the fact I’m a ghost again?”

“Well, you’re a pretty weak one. Don’t get mad! I’m just stating facts. That’s the reason you haven’t been setting off very many alarms. You don’t have a lot of ecto-energy, and Amity has a lot of ambient stuff floating around. They had to re-calibrate their scanners to exclude the white noise. Your levels are so low, it comes just over their scanners’ sensitivity.”

“Great, but the door?”

“Right! So, that thing has a ID attached for some lab worker down here. Or at least, it will when I’m done installing the ID onto it. It’s made so people in these battlesuits they’re making can be ID’d without having to scan their hands and retinas, because that would be cumbersome, getting in and out of the suits right? So as long as I can fake the ID, the system will think you’re human and let you through.”

“That seems like a security breach waiting to happen with these things.”

“Hey, it’s the humans’ tech, not ours, no one said it was smart.”

“You said it was smart…”

“I said their mainframe’s organization was smart! Never mind. Just hold the helmet up to the hand scanner and it should let you through.”

“If these things were made to let people through without removing their helmet, why does it need to be read through the hand scanner?” He hopped on the box sitting haphazard near the door, definitely some rule violation, and held it up near the keypad.”

“They don’t have the eye level ones installed yet.”

The keypad beeped and the door slid open into the frame, no further activity or blaring lights happening. “Do they intend to install eye level scanners that can read these things?” Technus was quiet for a moment, likely looking through the archives, before popping back in with a barking laugh. “Technus, quiet…”

“Would you believe they haven’t thought of it yet? Right now when they are doing tests everyone just bends over and holds their head to the hand scanner. There’s videos! All of them bent over waving their heads in front of the keypad trying to find the part that reads the ID.”

“...Ok that does sound pretty entertaining, but try to focus.” He stood on the railing of the stairs, and was able to get the keypad to scan the helmet again. “It is this floor right?”

“Of course, I haven’t given you bad directions yet have I?”

“Just making sure, it will be hard to get these things open with more humans around.” He hopped through the door, balancing everything awkwardly. He was getting more grateful for the reduction in weight in the new designs as the minutes passed. He was huffing hard when Technus directed him to round a corner towards the next piece of tech.

“Don’t worry, this one will make everything easier to carry. It’s some type of storage device you’ll attach to the chest piece when we get to the storage facility with the last of the stuff.”

“It’d better. This junk is not getting any lighter.” He tiptoed into the new empty lab, hiding as the reverberating thud of human boots clanged through the ecto-steel floor on this level. Clutching his stolen pieces of tech closer, his breathing sped up, even after they passed. Damn. This wasn’t just the effect of carrying all of this metal around, he could feel it in the way his core ached ominously. There was a reason the GSU didn’t bother hunting ghosts in the Human World below a certain strength. Not just because they weren’t intelligent enough to cause problems, but because ghosts his strength, who got separated from the Zone, evaporated if they stayed in the Human World too long. They just didn’t have enough ecto-energy stored to survive without a constant influx from the environment. He groaned with relief when the tech was stored inside the much smaller and lighter storage device. Technus babbled something about it being the same one as what was on the wrist of the left gauntlet, but he was having issues focusing.

“Hey buddy, you’re getting real quiet. You ok?”

“Fine. Let’s just get this over with quickly.”

“Are you sure? Because you look sorta funny in the readout of the scanners.”

“I’ll be better once I get my Suit reconstructed and I get out of here.” He dodged down a new hallway to avoid another group of boots and headed towards the next internal door. Luckily, this one didn’t require any fancy scanning ID and he just tapped in a code, after pushing a chair close to the keypad. That’ll draw some attention. He thought tired, but they didn’t have time to worry about that now.

“Ok, so head down the hall to the right, make three lefts, and then go down a staircase. At the bottom there’s a door, no keypad or anything, that leads to the main storage facility.”

“How am I supposed to open the door Technus? Just tug futile-like on the handle until I disappear in a wisp of smoke?”

“Funny. No, I can open this one myself. You’d think they’d guard all of the stuff inside their main storage room more! There’s a bunch of guns and grenades and all sorts of dangerous toys in there.”

Skulker hopped down the last of the steps with a pained grunt and waited in front of the door. “They’ve got a scanner to get into this part of the HQ, is there anything over here that isn’t storage.” Technus hummed before confirming there wasn’t and opening the door. “There’s your answer, the last security door covers everything.”

“Sure, but it has a logger in it that I can’t bypass.”

“Is that a problem?”

“Only because it might look weird in a few hours if this scientist doesn’t come out of the area...or they show up at the entrance. That would be wild.”

“Technus,” he said while heading towards the first crate with the tech he needed, “you’re sure this scientist won’t show up at the door right?” He didn’t put it past the scatterbrained ghost to forget a detail like that.

“Of course not! You doubt my genius problem solving skills?”

“Uh huh.”

“Well, he won’t show up at the front door, because he’s in the cafeteria right now.” Skulker paused while grabbing something similar to the design of his original Suit’s boots a warm tingle of panic shooting through his core. “Technus, he’s in the facility right now?”

“Duh, it would look weird if he just showed up without having gone through—”

“So what happens when he tries to leave his lunch break and the system realizes he’s in two places at once?” His harsh whisper was closer to a scream by the time he finished the question, rushing towards the next spot designated by the technopath ghost for needed tech.

“Uh...you know? I didn’t consider that.”

The Zone’s greatest hunter snatched the last piece needed to complete a leg from another crate before a facility wide blaring alarm went off overhead.

Attention GSU personnel, the facility is now entering Lock Down Mode. Personnel ID discrepancy has been detected. For your own safety, please follow all ID registration procedures and proceed to your assigned positions to have your ID’s scanned. All attempts to access the mainframe at this time will be treated as hostile. Thank you for your cooperation.

“So, bad news, I am locked out of the system, or well to be more accurate, I’m locked out of making any changes to security or anything else.”

“Is there good news?” He grunted, hefting a final arm piece out of a box and sucking it up into the storage device.

“Oh no, there’s just worse news. I think I’ve been found out?”

Another alarm went through the facility, a siren screaming out Ghost Detected. “Oh, what would give you that idea?”

“Hey! Don’t get snippy with me; it’s not like I planned this.”

“Can you still get out of the mainframe?” Skulker jumped into the box containing the chest plate, knowing it was too heavy for him to lift out on his own. He slammed the button to absorb the material and then flopped back out over the top of the crate’s edge, bouncing off the floor in his haste.

“Yes? But then I couldn’t give you any directions. I can’t touch anything, their anti-virus is pathetic in its attempts to oust me, but I can still tell you where your tech is.”

“What good is that going to do me when I already know where everything is? What? Are you going to give me a play by play of the GSU pouring in to kill me?” Technus didn’t respond, and he opted to run over to a flat clear area in between some shelves to disgorge the contents of the storage device. Another click and out came a clattering of sensitive tech onto the concrete floor. He gave it a quick once over. Everything was there, he just had to assemble it. It looked like there was space in the chest piece for him to control the entire completed suit. Not ideal, but he could change it later if he survived. “Technus?”

“Just searching for something, and dodging the anti-virus. Oh, they are almost at the security door to the storage area. Looks like they figured out the scientist was in the cafeteria and not possessed fast...There’s a lot of agents.”

“We’re in one of the most secure GSU facility in the country, of course there’s a lot of agents.”

“Are you gonna be able to get out of here by yourself?”

“Of course I will. I’m not just the Ghost Zone’s greatest hunter, I’m also an excellent fighter.” Skulker grunted a few times trying to get the ends of the Suit that connected up to each other to seal together. The lightheadedness was getting worse. He looked over the pieces he had left with detached alarm, he didn’t have time for this. “What?” He’d been ignoring the other ghost again as he slotted another piece together.

“I said I’ll cover your escape! You should be honored to have one as amazing as me sacrifice himself in this way. But fear not! Because so great is my infinite brilliance that there are many copies of—”

“—You’re the last.”

“I’m the last what?”

“The last Technus copy, you’re the only one that still exists. Check their archives, if you still have access.” He wiggled the boots into the connection bits for the legs, breathing hard as he struggled to move even that anymore. “If you get captured and deleted or whatever, then you’ll be dead...dead-er.” He amended when he remembered Technus had actually been human once, unlike many others of their kind. At Technus’ frank silence, he continued, “if you want to sacrifice yourself for the ‘greater good’ or some such noble bull, then feel free. But if you thought it’d be fine because you’d live on through another perfect copy—”

“There really isn’t another…” He interrupted, genuine wonder and horror warring with each other in his voice. Instantly, Technus’ full form was in front of the pile of still partially assembled parts. “You aren’t gonna get that together in time.” A loud banging came from the front of the facility. “I’ve got the door locked, but they have a battering ram.” His tone sounded cheerful, like the idea of crumpling in the door was just amazing. “They’ll have to use real explosive to get through. You should’ve seen them bouncing off the door with the ram though, it was hilarious.” Skulker struggled through connecting another two pieces together, hands burning and buzzing. “Maybe you should let me do it, this stuff’s got an ecto-ranium coating on top of it.”

“Oh, now you tell me…” He lies flat on the concrete, staring up at the bright halcyon lights in the ceiling. The concrete really does feel cold. He noticed with dispassion, the energy to get worked up drifting away with the rest of his fading consciousness.

“If you were this fragile, how’d you survive this long?”

“They starve us you asshole.” He still had enough energy to be cross with Technus though. He ignored whatever the other ghost said in response, concentrating on figuring out how to escape. He did perk up when he said it was done, interest turning to ash when he saw the still inactive tech sprawled across the ground. “It’s not online.”

“It’s not charged.”

“Yes, I can see that. If it needed battery packs, why didn’t you—”

“It’s...not supposed to? Too bad I can’t check since I’m out of the mainframe now.”

The room was spinning, and he didn’t even have it in him to frustrated with Technus not checking this beforehand. “Do you remember enough of the specs to know how to charge this thing?” He panted as the ceiling came into and out of focus, the surface pitching like rippling water. He couldn’t pass out. He heard Technus say something, or he heard the noise, but it didn’t resolve into words, disappearing into the rising staticy sound screaming in his head.

He came to with a start, leaning against hard cool metal, sickly green ectoplasm leaking over the surface of the control panel underneath him. Novas my core aches. His hearing came back to the frantic commentary of his escape partner. “What happened?”

“Well you tried to evaporate, so I re-wired the life support system in this thing to send you ecto-energy, and thanks to my supreme intelligence, it worked. You’re, uh, kinda still melting though.”

He grunted pushing himself upright with the half-melted stump of his left arm. “It’ll stabilize and reverse once I get enough energy.” He squinted as the display came up, neon bright and overwhelming. It suddenly dimmed to a more reasonable level. He swiped sloppily against the inside controls, his re-charging ectoplasm slowly rejoining his form. “Ok, looks like you overrode the operating system of the suit.”

“I am far superior to the pathetic OS they installed.”

“I’m sure.” He groaned as his left hand reformed; he flexed all of his still numb fingers on both hands. “How long was I out?”

“Only thirty seconds, but the GSU just blew up the front door.”

“Fucking fantastic.”

“Don’t worry, I can operate the limbs until you finish reforming. Then, you can control the suit.”

“You’re a terrible fighter Technus, that’s why all your copies got captured.” He ignored the other ghost’s offended protests. “My hands are back; I’ve got this.” More bluster than he would have liked at the moment, but they were out of time. He watched as agents surrounded them, weapons pointed, but body language hesitant. He smiled. “Technus, does this thing have a sword?” He watched as a long sharp machete popped up in the display. They didn’t know who they were dealing with...

He stepped over the dismembered arm of a GSU grunt, metallic boot clang muted by the splash of dark red cooling blood. Amateurs. He thought, squeezing the throat of the last agent until it made a satisfying crack. He dropped the limp body and surveyed the carnage. It hadn’t even been an enjoyable battle. “How long until the next group shows up?”

“Radio chatter suggests they’re bringing—maybe two minutes?” Technus corrected himself when he properly registered the question. He felt his core’s beat pick up at the thought of more GSU grunts to disembowel. They beg so sweetly when they realize— “Not to ruin your fun, but we’re supposed to be escaping.”

“We have to go through them don’t we?”

“This is why you got captured.”

“Shut up Technus.” The other ghost was right though. With a deep breath, he ignored his desire to hunt down some more GSU agents and make them squeal for the years of captivity and the War. Later. After. He promised himself, before looking at the ceiling. “What’s the fastest way out?”

“Not up.” He brought up a map of the facility and overlaid it with the proposed escape route. “That gets us out without fighting through too many more GSU grunts.” Skulker huffed, pausing a moment to consider straying off course to fight a few extra agents before reining himself in. He did shudder though, suppressing another wave of battle lust, when they zoomed past an unsuspecting group of agents.

A few minutes later, they’d floated through the last of the HQ’s walls, bee-lining it away from the facility. The blare of the Amity HQ’s alarm was sweet, like the honeyed taste of victory, as the outskirts of the city grew near. They hovered near the edge of the city, cores thrumming with excitement and satisfaction. “How did they find you anyway? Why not just convince the system the ID duplication was a bug?”

“I tried, but my attention was divided.”

“Doing what?” He asked. He brought up a gantlet and pointed it ahead of them, temporary portal crackling into existence. The welcoming green of the Zone called to him, it’s siren tones the lullaby he’d carved the last long years of capacity.

“I had to get information about the permanent openings for Plasmius. Weaknesses, facility maps, the works. That’s a lot of data you know?”

“Sure.” Skulker agreed, scanning the portal to check its stability and connection. The portal let out a day’s flight from his territory. It’d worked. They were nearly home. “That the trade for breaking you out of the facility in Boston?”

“Yup, and delivering it with you to the drop off.”

“I need to see him anyway, lots of catching up to do.” He was stalling. The Zone was right in front of him, just a hair’s breadth away from the cool tingle of real spectral energy from a Nova, and the humming thrum that echoed in every part of the air from it. He could feel his core tugging painfully, wistfully, for home. He just had to step forward. It was right there...and he was stalling.

“Stop being such a baby, it’s been eight years since I’ve been in the Zone and you don’t see me dawdling and wringing my hands.”

“Do you even have any friends you’re scared won’t be there?” Skulker forced himself through the portal. He heard the crackling zap of the temporary portal collapsing right after their passage. Interesting feature. Could be very useful. He noted.

“My ecto-cat definitely misses me.”

“Of course you have a cat...How long until this suit is permanently charged? I don’t want to be stuck listening to your chattering.”

“Oh, the suit is already charged, but it won’t run without an OS, which is me.”

“Technus, you deleted the OS!”

“Well! It wouldn’t accept you as a user and turn on because it sensed your energy. You’re lucky I was able to override it and still charge the suit! Would you rather have evaporated?”

No he wouldn’t… But the other ghost was already going on about the encrypted files he’d downloaded and how ‘glorious’ the algorithm that made it must have been, and they have petabytes of storage in this hard-drive, and—maybe death wouldn’t have been so bad?

…then you better pray for a miracle.