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Chapter 4: family business

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Last updated:2021/08/08

POV: Carter aka Dauntless

Shocked, I stood there. Cali without hesitating lunged on me. Her red curls were held back in a white headband. She wore a skimpy maid’s outfit that barely covered anything.

 

“You’re finally home!”, she said while giving me a huge hug.

 

“Hey babe, it’s good to see you too”, I said while hugging her back.

 

“You’re about 15 minutes late.” she said, with a pout.

 

“Oh no, how horrible of me. You must’ve been heartbroken.”, I said, teasing her. While moving past her to put my bag away.

 

“I can’t believe how mean you’re being. First you’re late and now you’re ignoring me. You’re just asking to be punished aren’t you.”, she said with a sultry expression.

 

“So what is mistress Cali going to do with me then?” I said with a laugh, while putting down my bag.

 

“Watch your tone mister. If you keep on misbehaving like that I am going to have to tie you up and keep you to myself.”, she said in the same joking flirting manner. She hugged me from behind. We haven’t tried that type of play yet. She was being quite forward today. Though she was always trying to get me out of my pants as soon as I got home.

 

“Fair enough, I’ll make sure to behave. What’s the special occasion?”, I asked, as I turned around and hugged her back. I noticed that there were suitcases packed in the living room.

 

“Well, I am going on a business trip. I am going to be gone for about a week. I wanted to surprise you with something sweet before I left.”, she said meekly.

 

“This is all of a sudden. When do you leave?”, I said in a surprised tone.

 

“Well tonight at a little before midnight. Which is why it’s so important that I recharge my battery before I leave.”, she said while wrapping her arms around my neck. From this angle I was given a perfect view of her cleavage in the skippy maids outfit. She moved in closer and whispered in my ear, “Could you help me with that?”.

Hearing that I pulled her in close and gave her a long drain out kiss. She pulled back with a smile, and holding my hand pulled me toward the bedroom.

 

She kissed me passionately using her tongue to toy with mine. With a giggle she pulled me onto the bed. I pulled my shirt off and threw it to the side. She discarded her costume revealing her lithe figure and supple breasts. As soon as the costume was off she didn’t waste a second before returning to my kisses. 

She wrapped her arms around my back and head while she rubbed and pressed her body into mine trying to find some way to get even closer to me than she already was. 

Both of our breathing became ragged. I started to kiss my way down to her neck. She let out a moan while grinding herself against my crotch. She rose up and hugged my face into her chest, I fondled and sucked on her breasts.

 

“Just like that. Just like that”, she moaned in my ear.

 

At this point my bulge was already tenting my pants. Noticing this she giggled and moved her way down my body. Freeing my member from the confines of my boxers. She held it gently in her hands, savoring the sight.

 

“I have always been entranced by the aroma of your cock”, she said blissfully as she took a sniff. While pumping it up and down.

 

“Especially the taste”, she began slowly taking me into her mouth. She began deep throating me. I moaned feeling her take me in deeper. Hearing this moved back up my body and planted a sultry kiss. She placed one hand on my chest and the other guided my member to her entrance. She was already wet.

 

“Wait, we need a condom”, I said hesitantly. She began rubbing my cock up and down her slit, coating it in her slick.

 

“It’ll be ok. It’s an off day.”, she said with a giggle. “Besides, I am going to need to take some cum for the road.”, her expression was one of an animal in heat.

 

“Ok then”, I said, giving into my carnal desires.

 

With that she slowly lowered herself down on my cock. Our moans filled the space in between us. She was tight and walls gripped my shaft. She began riding my cock taking me in deeper, her expression became unfocused and filled with lust. 

 

“Oh god yes. Oh god yes”, she moaned as she rose up and down faster. She leaned in and we began kissing again. Her right hand pulled my face closer to hers, her other hand moved up and down my body exploring every crevice and muscle. I began playing with breasts, she began to shudder under my attacks. She pulled away from me and we both gasped for breath.

 

“Cum in me babe, please cum in me.”, she moaned. “I need it”, she whimpered, as I moved my hand to her honey pot. She slowed down her and moaned as I carefully and lightly massaged her clit. Arching her back with a final moan she buried my cock deep in her pussy, and shook in orgasm. Feeling her walls contract pushed me over the edge and I emptied my load into her pussy.

 

We both took a moment to come down from the orgasm. 

Finally she spoke, “Ready to do that 6 more times? One load for every day I will be gone”, she said with a giggle. Looking at my expression, she explained, “Well, since I am not going to be here to make sure your cock is milked everyday.”.

“You’re going to miss your flight then, surely we can work out a compromise. How about 2 more times? You’re also going to need to shower and get ready. It’s only a few hours away.”, I said in an exasperated tone.

 

“Who says we can’t multitask in the shower?”, she said with a playful smile. 

 

She was incorrigible.

 

_

 

“So where are you going?”, I asked. I was dressed in my pj’s and was sipping some tea while leaning against the door frame of the bathroom. Cali stood there in her power suit trying to pin up her hair.

 

“Umm… to one of the west coast branches. I can’t remember if it was the Oregon one or the Arizona one. Whatever one just opened.”, she said in a distracted tone.

 

“Nice. What will you be doing there?”, I asked.

 

“I am told that they needed help with setting up their billing system. But I won’t know how much work needs to be done until I get there.”, she replied.

 

“Who else is going?”, I asked.

 

“Roy. You remember him from the company summer picnic, right?”, she said while moving onto her makeup.

 

“Not really, I remember you dragged me off twice so we could...”, I said but was cut off.

 

“Him and a few others that I don’t think you’ve met.”, she said.

 

“So I ran into Taylor today...”, I said trailing off after seeing her expression.

 

“Oh, and how is she doing?”, she said in a cold voice.

 

Cali had been like this from day one. Cali really didn’t like Taylor. She also didn’t like when I hung out with her. For the life of me I couldn’t figure out why, I had chalked it up to the fact that some people just didn’t like other people.

 

“She’s alright.”, I said. I could tell that bringing up my conversation and promise to Taylor would be best on the phone 100 miles apart. 

Cowardly? Yes. But I have also seen Cali give a death stare to one of my co-workers at the bar after she tripped and grabbed my shoulder for support. She later questioned me about how many times that co-worker tries to flirt with me. That was my co-workers first day, and my first time interacting with her. She also tried to give her “a talking to”, but I was able to convince Cali to let it go.

 

 Yeah, I probably didn’t have the best choices in women. Cali wasn’t perfect, but she was better than my ex. She was protective and would easily get jealous. My ex once tried to stab me with a fork because she thought I took her yogurt. Dating Cali was like riding a tiger. It was always an adventure being with her, but it was important to not piss off the tiger. 

 

POV: Cali aka Pyro

I gave Carter a peck on the cheek before leaving. He was going to have a rough few days when I was gone. Partially because he’d miss me, but also because I wouldn’t be able to put nicotine patches on him when he slept. The nicotine patches were just one of reminding his body that it depended on me.

That was classical conditioning for you. When I am there he feels good, when I am gone he feels sick. He then starts associating my absence with discomfort. It was perfect as long as I remembered to remove the patch in the morning. Though that wasn’t hard because I just removed it, when we fucked in the morning.

Though with his fast healing withdrawals would pass quickly. I thought bitterly, well that’s life for you. 

 

I took a cab to the pick up point and waited.

 

_

 

She sat in the back of a non-descript van. Roy sat across from her with a laptop in hand entranced with some project on his screen. She sat similarly with a laptop reviewing figures for how much they need to launder and put off shore for their legitimate businesses.

 

Roy had graying hair with a full mustache and pot belly. Roy was in charge of weapon development under the overlord. He would need to decide what the meta was of the armaments business. Depending on the design and new breakthroughs in development and manufacturing costs could skew what the overlords modus operandi for arming their grunts.

 

“Roy, I forgot to tell you happy birthday.”, I said as a greeting.

 

“So it is. I suppose Jance told you. Before the overlord sent out the summons, my wife had set up a wine tasting that I was looking forward to.”, he said with a wistful face.

 

“Yeah she’s a real sweetheart, and was a great help for helping me adapt to my new position.”, she said feigning sincerity.

 

“Well I am glad to hear that, I was surprised when you transferred.”, he replied.

 

“What armaments have you chosen for the grunts?”, she asked, offering a lead for him.

 

She tuned him out as he began adamantly describing the iterations his team was going through with the pulse cannons. She would smile and nod and respond by asking another question to keep him going.

 

The overlords empire was run like a fortune 500. The only difference was that meetings were more cut throat, and failure would lose you more than just a job title. Super villains didn’t tend to work with each other. 

 

A decade ago Plasma-weapons were the main armament for the grunts. But the industry was slowly moving away from plasma. Plasma needed to be superheated and fire assembly needed to be cooled. 

It required plutan ammunition in a non-liquid form. They had a low durability but melted through most body armors. They are mid range and have a low fire rate.

Force blasters only needed to be powered, and could go through commercial force fields. But they had a limited range, and high fire rate. 

Lasers needed a lot of energy and were ineffective against most body armors. They have an extremely long range.

Sonic weapons were mostly used for riot control, and weren’t effective on robots.

 

The overlord had recently asked Roy to review, if the grunts equipment needed to be upgraded in case they were falling behind.

 

On special operations our organization would sometimes hire the petty common villain. Whether it was for their unique abilities or just for just expendability and miss direction. Hire some goons to stir up trouble away from your target and use the cover for the real operation. All while leaving the heroes confused about your intentions. 

 

Generally speaking there are two types of villains to speak of. Petty crooks looking for the next pay day, and megalomaniacs with world domination in mind. Though their motivations normally come down to greed or revenge. 

In the overlord’s cause it was revenge towards the military and many of the captains of the industry in the military complex.

 

The overlord wasn’t a convectional supervillain. She was a paraplegic and rode a chair that magnified her already impressive abilities.

Her telekinetic powers allowed her to read others' minds, commute and send images to them, lift objects with ease, and was a master at manipulation. 

 

The overlord was the closest thing she had to family. Her aunt had raised and taken care of her since birth. She trained her when she developed powers. Her aunt wasn’t the nurturing type. Although you’re stuck with the family you have.

 

Her powers came to her at age 9. She was living with what at the time she thought were her parents. Her physical form would transform into one of fire. That state bullets go harmlessly through her or just melt from the intense heat. Though that also left her at the disadvantage of not being able to carry anything.

 

The van pulled into an airfield. It wasn’t long until both her and Roy ascended the stairs of the company's private jet. Mr. Conners was waiting for them on the plane. His suit and slicked back hair, made him indistinguishable from any car salesman. He was the right hand man of the overlord. They took their seats and waited for take off.

 

They all sat there in silence for a while. Roy helped himself to the whisky on board and looked up towards Conners.

 

“Conners, you wouldn’t know why we’re being called to Alpha base would you.”, Roy said, with eyebrows raised.

 

“Ray it is good to see you... in the flesh. I believe our employer... would like to impart us with that knowledge herself. But I assure you, it wouldn’t be unimportant... that is if she wants us to meet in person.” , Conners said. 

Conner was strange in that his cadence was always monotone and he tended to emphasize and pause in weird places, like human language was alien to him. He always left Cali a little weary. She half suspected he was a demon or lizard in human guise.

On the other side Roy was an Engineer to his core and was always clear and to the point, this usually led to him speaking his mind. They were the exact opposite of each other in this regard.

 

“Do you ever get tired of spouting riddles. This better be important, force cannon’s aren’t going to develop themselves.”, he said bluntly.

 

“Aw yes... how are the delays going with project indigo. As a fellow department head, I of course wish only for your... success in the matter. If you need help managing your engineers... I am always at your service. I would hate *ahem* for our employer to deem you as a liability.”, Conners said with a whizzely grin.

 

“We're about three months from production, we're just testing out the durability and tuning the energy inputs.”, Roy said in a flustered tone. Changing the topic he asked, “How goes the corporate espionage on the Fremuta corporation.”.

 

“Ah, a lass there have been a few setbacks... in regards with the Fremuta corporation. Unfortunately the design we were trying to attain... from our power suited friend seemed to have been laced with a few contingencies… but let me assure you… my dearest colleague. The matter is well in hand. ”, Conner said with a grin, while straightening his tie.

 

“I heard that you were able to get hold of Attrons powered armor designs.”, Roy said, cutting to the chase.

 

“Ah, I see word tends to… get around. We were able to attain a few designs from our... friend on the other side of the coin. Unfortunately it seemed to have been for a couple of generations ago. I presume it would be of little use to us.”, Conner said.

 

“I would still like to look them over. Even if it’s a few generations ago, my boys can find a weakness somewhere. Hell, we could even build a replica and go on a killing spree pretending to be him.”, Roy said with a wicked grin on his face.

 

“An entertaining idea… for sure. But I am afraid I must… disappoint you in that regard. For it would seem that there was a… malicious program on the drive we ascertained. I am having my techincations… restore the lost data as we speak”, said in his same monotone voice.

 

Hearing this Roy bursted out laughing. 

 

“And you were busting my balls about the delays, yet you can’t restore a fucking hard drive.”, Roy said, leaving a smirk on his face.

 

“Cali, how are you adapting… to the cleaning side of our business. I have to say, there is a bit of… melodically with the spot you left on the team.”, he said, changing the topic.

 

“It’s a new set of challenges for sure, but I would be lying if I didn’t miss certain parts of my previous position.”, she said, not letting her true feelings show.

 

“It’s good to see a pupil… flourish like so”, Conners said, his face unchanging.

 

They continued their conversation but Cali, tuned them out trying to get what little rest she could.

POV: Carter aka Dauntless

Two day had passed since Cali had left. I went to work but I felt tired all day. When I got home I felt a little dizzy and nauseous. Damn I must’ve caught a cold. Good thing Cali left when she did, I would hate to have gotten her sick. 

Feeling exhausted I crawled into bed. I received a text from Isabell. Clark was still missing, and she officially put in a lost persons report. I didn’t have the energy to respond and drifted off to sleep.

 

_

 

It was summer break. I was sitting in the living room of my Fathers condo. It was where I spent most of my breaks, sometimes on a blue moon I would visit my mother for Christmas or thanksgiving. Though I started oppting out on those visits more and more as I got closer to graduation.

 

The balcony door opened, and my father came in wearing his costume. Something was off about this whole scene. Taking off his cap and mask he made his way to the sofa. 

 

“Son”, he said in a flat tone.

 

“Richard”, I responded in kind.

 

This is what passed between us as warm hellos. He sat next to me on the sofa. A rip formed across his pristine costume on his chest.

 

“So what are we watching?”, he asked in a slightly more interested tone.

 

The screen showed a loop of missing people.

 

“Don’t you recognize this?”, I asked.

 

“Yeah”, he responded in a somber voice. Pausing briefly he continued on, “Though different faces of a different time.”. He shifted on the sofa smearing blood on the white cushions. 

 

“But enough of the past, what of the present? How are you?”

 

“Well I graduated with honors. I tried the solo gig for a while and couldn’t make it work. I don’t know how you were able to do it without a team. I took the name “Dauntless”, same as you and grandpa. 

I formed a duo with Taylor. We then expanded until we had 5. We were good until I quit, and it just fell apart.”, I said while looking down at my hands.

 

“Teams can be like that sometimes. If you don’t mind me asking, but why did you quit? It was always a dream of yours to be a hero. What changed?”, he said, while a small pool of blood started to creep across the fabric of the sofa.

 

“I fell in love. Don’t get me wrong I do love the hero's life, but I love her more.”, I said, feeling a bit awkward. 

 

“Fair enough. That was one thing I had a hard time with. Balancing family life with my work life. Speaking of family, how is you mother and brother?”, he said.

 

“Mother is in a retirement home somewhere in Florida. Clark is ...”, I paused. I was about to say that he was off doing his own thing but something scratched at my memory. “... He has gone missing.” I said finally processing that information.

 

“Missing eh? Any chance it has something to do with this?”, he said while gesturing towards the screen. His costume was smudged, torn up, and slightly smoldering. His smoky white pupils looked toward me and then settled on the screen.

 

“You think Proselyte has something to do with this?”, I asked befuddled.

 

“It’s possible, though It would have been through his minions.”, he said in a raspy voice. A feeling of paranoia permeated my being.

 

“He doesn’t have any powers. What would he want with him?”, I asked, my worry growing.

 

“Maybe ‘he’ wasn’t the target. It wouldn’t be the first time someone has mistaken you for him or in this case it would be him for you.”, he replied, looking at me with his sunken eyes.

 

“What would Proselyte want with me?” I asked. I realized how stupid of a question that was. “Same thing he always wants. Blood.” answering my own question.

 

“Revenge is also a possibility. He isn’t the most rational villain though. Or maybe just insurance.

When I first started investigating the disappearances he kidnapped you. It’s a common tactic. Caring for someone can be a liability. It comes with the job. It’s also why it’s so important to keep your private life separate from your hero life.”, he said, his body dried and withered.

 

“I know, that’s why Cali wanted me to leave. She also wanted me to be able to see our future kids grow up. But you wanted to protect your family. That’s why you never quit, you wanted to protect our future even if you needed to sacrifice yourself in the process.”, I paused and thought for a moment. “Taylor’s been investigating him which means she might be in danger as well. If Proselytes back, then he will need to be dealt with, otherwise he may target Cali or Taylor next.”

 

“Careful, if you live by the sword then you’ll die by the sword”, his voice whispered.

 

I was left sitting on a couch with a charred skeleton.

 

_

I woke up from the fever dream in a cold sweat. My mind was in a panic. I felt like I needed to check in that Cali and Taylor were safe.

Sitting up I felt nauseous while grabbing my phone, I called Cali. It went to Voicemail. I hurriedly called Taylor.

 

buzz

 

buzz

 

buzz

 

“Hey! How’s it going beetle brain?”, she said slightly out of breath. Crap in my haste I forget to consider the time.

 

“Oh, sorry I didn’t mean to startle you, is this a good time to talk?”, I asked while trying to mask the concern in my voice.

 

“Yeah, what’s up?”, She responded.

 

“I wasn’t sure before, but I am in. When do you want to meet?”, I said, spouting out my response without thinking.

 

“...Um sorry could you repeat that?”, she asked.

 

Flustered, I took a moment to formulate my response. I could feel my anxiety dropping.

“Sorry, I just woke up. If you still need help finding Proselyte or training, I am able to help.”, I said.

 

“And Cali has no objections to this?” she said in an unreadable tone.

 

“probably, I don’t think she would approve. I wasn’t planning on telling her.”, I said in a guilty tone. “...But it’s to help someone important to me...” I said not knowing whether to bring up Clark. I never really talked to Taylor about my family, only to bring up stuff about my father. This was partly due to my embarrassment and a strained relationship I had with my brother. Also as a rule superheroes didn’t talk about their families even with other heroes.

 

“Oh, I see. Well if you’re dead set on this, who am I to refuse your help.”, she said, stifling a laugh.

 

“But Cali’s gone for the next few days so I have some time free.”, I said.

 

“How about tomorrow?”, She offered.

 

“Sounds perfect”, I replied.