Chapter 20: When I Asked The Succubus For Advice About Being A Futa We Had An Audience

The Gospel was a fast little vehicle, so fast in fact that the landing actually took up as much time as the ride itself. Once they reached Base 15 Elaine sent the two civilians off to Rachel, who determined that the two were slightly malnourished but otherwise fine, and sent them off to the beds in her infirmary, which they crashed into immediately. They had had a very hectic day, after all, between being chosen as sacrifices, being saved and then having to watch their saviors struggle to put down the monsters they'd just saved them from.

Elaine and her team likewise could do nothing more than wash up and crash into bed. By the time they had made it back it had only been slightly past noon but they still slept most of the day away, woke up to get themselves some dinner and then slept some more. Well, except for Elaine, who decided she had something else to do after dinner.

Elaine's girls had each earned 300 EXP just from that last fight and a bunch more from the other confrontations so she assumed that after this they would need to spend some time focusing on their Bond Levels, though Abigail had managed to reach Bond Level 5 during the trip. All of them also managed to get the Achievement for encountering 10 enemy types, which had been worth another 20 EXP. Things were looking up and Elaine went over to the infirmary to take Rachel up on her offer to have a chat. And after that, she had one more stop on her list.

**

“99.99%. This is utterly unprecedented”, Stollos said. He wasn't really speaking to Jeanne but the two of them were in the same room so of course she replied.

“She triggered a resonance with her Soul Shard, stronger than any I've seen so far. Did you know about that?”

“Of course”, he said, chuckling. “I've been monitoring her progress and that spike was unmistakable. But I did send you with her for a reason. What is your assessment?”

Jeanne breathed deeply before replying: “She's powerful. Determined to keep people safe, strong enough to make it happen and great at thinking on her feet. Frankly, she's everything this project was trying to create. She was a bit single-minded and didn't consider the rest of the cultists when we attacked the leader but I can forgive hotheadedness given that she has a team with her and doesn't try to go it alone.”

Stollos snorted. Leave it to the angel to give him a monologue without actually answering his question. “So you think she's a worthy candidate?”

“If she agrees”, Jeanne replied, “then yes.”

“Good.”

**

“Are you free?”, Elaine asked Rachel after entering the infirmary. Rachel sat at her desk, working her way through several documents, which she pushed aside when she noticed that she had a visitor.

“Of course”, the demon said. “What's up?”

“Well, first of all, how are they?”, Elaine asked.

“Exhausted”, Rachel replied. “They need some proper food and lots of fluid and they're probably suffering from PTSD, but otherwise fine.”

“I'd say that's good, but I don't know if it is”, Elaine said.

Rachel snorted. “If you hadn't intervened they would have both been eaten by a Shoggoth. I think everything else is an improvement to that.”

“Well if you put it like that...”, Elaine said with a smile.

“So, that's what you wanted to talk about?”, Rachel asked, a bit of tease in her voice.

“I... you said I could come and talk to you about...”, Elaine trailed off, squeezing her legs together.

“I did”, Rachel replied in an even voice.

“First I want to know what you know about it.”

Rachel chuckled. “I'm a succubus. I can change my body to better give my partners pleasure. I will admit that our situations aren't identical, of course. I can change back and forth at will while your change was thrust upon you and permanent, but I'm pretty sure I can relate to you better than most people.”

“Well, okay”, Elaine said dubiously.

“So, be honest with me”, Rachel said. “Do you miss it?” It was clear what she meant even if she didn't say the word.

In response Elaine shifted uncomfortably. “A little”, she finally admitted. “I'm bisexual but without it I don't think many men would be interested.”

Rachel smirked. “You'd be surprised how many guys are into that sort of thing, trust me on that.”

Elaine smiled at her reaction.

“So, did you get to have sex with a guy before it happened?”

Elaine hadn't told very many people about that but she figured she'd come here to talk it out so there was no point holding back.

“Just once”, she admitted, then went on. “It was weird at first. It didn't hurt or anything, but it didn't really feel like much at first. As he kept going it started to feel good and I was starting to think this could be really fun... and then it was over.”

Rachel chuckled.

“Compared to some of my experiences with girls later it really wasn't that good”, Elaine admitted, “but a little part of me keeps wondering what I'm missing out on now that I can't have it anymore.”

Rachel nodded. “So, do you hate having it?”, she finally asked.

“I did”, Elaine said after a long pause. “I felt like a freak. I was disgusted by it. I couldn't even ignore it because, you know, you have to pee some time.” Rachel snorted. “I thought that nobody could love a freak like me.”

“But your girls showed you differently”, Rachel guessed, but Elaine shook her head.

“No. I mean yeah, they did, but I came to terms with it before that. I... did enjoy the idea of having it. I didn't think anyone would want me but I did fantasize about what it would be like to use it.”

Rachel smirked. “It's fun, isn't it? Having a dick?”

“It is”, Elaine admitted. “I can't really say which feels better yet, but... god, having a woman suck it is amazing. Not just the feeling, but the visuals. A strap-on just doesn't compare.”

“Have you done more with it?”, Rachel asked, entirely seriously.

“No. I'm... working up to that. That's kind of what I'm worrying about. Alexis is a lesbian, so can I really expect her to be okay with it?”

“What did she tell you?”

“She told me that it's me that she likes, not what I have between my legs. But...”

“No buts”, Rachel said, cutting Elaine off. Elaine had never seen her quite this serious before. “Listen, I'll lay out some hard truths for you. Yes, your concern is valid. No, you cannot force anyone to work with genitals they aren't comfortable with. But that isn't what's happening here. She has made her choice. If you second-guess that then you're taking her agency away from her as surely as if you took advantage of her.”

Elaine stiffened. She wanted to snap but she held back. She thought about it. “You're right, aren't you? She's a grown woman and if she's fine with it I shouldn't question her. But what if she ends up disgusted by it?”

“I don't know how far you've gone with her, but has she seemed disgusted so far?”

Elaine shook her head. “She hasn't.”

“Then you should trust her”, Rachel told her. “You owe that to her.”

“It really is that simple, isn't it?”

Rachel smiled ruefully. “Most mortal problems are.”

“I'm just surprised that you know so much about mortal feelings”, Elaine said.

“We don't really feel any differently than you do. And you know that sex is something emotional. Or at least, it's way more fun when it is.”

“Are you seriously telling me that you have serious relationships?”, Elaine asked the demon, who chuckled.

“Having feelings for someone doesn't necessarily mean loving them. What I find most important is trust, actually. And I do have fuck buddies I trust.”

“Trust again. I guess we've come full circle to the whole Awakener thing, haven't we?”

Rachel chuckled again. “Yeah. I don't know if the Professor intended for things to work this way but they sure do. Anyway, did this help you with your issue?”

Elaine smiled. “It did, thank you.”

“You're welcome.”

Elaine got up and left Rachel, off to her next target.

**

Cassie was shocked by what he'd heard. At first he didn't really understand what they were talking about but when the nurse had spelled it out it had become pretty clear. The very attractive brunette who had saved him apparently had a penis.

Cassie's sexuality was a complicated matter. Cassie didn't consider himself gay or straight. Even bisexual was too mild a term. Cassie knew sexy and he knew that sexy had nothing to do with gender. By definition that made him pansexual but he didn't really care about such labels. Cassie had a much bigger issue. There was something he liked in bed more than anything else and so far he'd yet to find a woman willing to accommodate him for long. Guys were more amenable but one too many times Cassie's attempts at flirting had resulted in threats of violence and slurs spewed in his direction. His viewership would have been fine with him, eager even, but a lot of them were just that little bit too creepy.

But if this Elaine woman had a dick... He certainly did find her attractive, what with her pretty face, fluffy hair and toned body.

“You can stop pretending to be asleep now”, Rachel said once the door had closed.

Cassie jumped up as if he'd been shot. “How did you...”

“I'm not human”, Rachel said. “I could hear your heartbeat rising when you started listening in.”

“If you knew I was listening in, why did you keep talking to her?”

Rachel smirked. What she didn't tell Cassie was that, as a succubus, she could practically see what someone enjoyed sexually, particularly if they were currently thinking about it, so she hadn't so much heard Cassie's heartbeat as seen what he'd been fantasizing about during her discussion with Elaine. But instead of talking about the way Cassie wanted to be treated in bed Rachel asked:

“Tell me, Cassie. What did you think of the powers Elaine and her little group had?”

Cassie thought about it for a while. “They were amazing. I want to know how to be like them.”

Rachel's smirk turned into a full smile. “Then you're in luck. See, Elaine is what's known as an Awakener. She can rouse the potential of others. Others like the rest of her team. And when I took a blood sample from you I noticed the same potential in you.”

Cassie's eyes widened. “You're saying...”

“Would you like to help us fuck up the monsters that took our world, Cassie?”

**

As Elaine made her way to the Professor she noticed Jeanne walking past her, waving from the hip but clearly too busy to talk.

After announcing herself the Professor welcomed her to his office.

“What can I help you with, Sergeant?”, the Professor asked. He seemed surprised to see her.

“Well, there was something I wanted you to take a look at”, Elaine began and then started pulling the pieces of the satyr out of her Ring of Holding, placing them all on his table.

“This is...”, he began, surprised.

“The body of the Blessed of Shub-Niggurath we encountered, I'm sure you've heard about it.”

He nodded.

“As I understand it they're immortal so I didn't really know how else to beat him”, she admitted. “I was hoping you'd want to study him or at least that you have some way to kill him for good.”

The Professor chuckled. “Nothing can kill a Blessed. I had actually been meaning to ask how you managed to deal with it. I saw that you fought and then defeated one but I was wondering how you did it. You didn't really have the resources for the normal methods. This is ingenious, Sergeant, truly.” He seemed genuinely impressed.

“Thank you, Professor”, she said, then asked: “How are they normally beaten, then?”

The Professor shrugged. “Normally people make sure cultists are killed before they can go through with the transformation. If people do fight them they usually atomize them and then try to capture at least some of the air they're spread over.”

“Wait, they can reform after being atomized?”, Elaine asked, baffled.

“Yes. They are utterly immortal and can survive anything. That being said, there are ways to get rid of them. As I hear there are at least a dozen of them that were teleported into our sun. They can reform as many times as they want there, they just get burned again in an instant. But this?”, he asked, pointing at the encased body parts. “This is priceless. Almost literally. If I paid you what this was worth it'd throw the Credits balance of the entire compound out of whack. So, how does two thousand Credits for you and one thousand Credits for each of your team members sound?”

Elaine blinked. “Seriously?”

“Of course. This could further our research into the Outsiders by leaps and bounds.”

“Well, okay, sure then. Thank you.”

He shook his head. “No, I'm the one who needs to thank you. And while I have you here, Sergeant, there's one more thing.”

Elaine frowned. “What is it?”

“Well, I'd appreciate it if you sent your team member Private Dupree to meet with me”, the Professor said. “I have a proposal she should be interested in.”

Elaine was slightly suspicious now. “What kind of proposal?”

“Oh, nothing bad I assure you. She recently gained access to a skill called Akashic Knowledge and I want her to purchase it so we can run a few tests with it. Only when she isn't on missions with you, of course and she'll be paid for helping me.”

“Ah, of course, I'll let her know. Can I ask what you're trying to accomplish?”

He shrugged. “The skill allegedly grants her knowledge she shouldn't have and from its description it does so by augmenting her CARD. That means it lets her CARD access the Akashic Record instead of Base 15's database, which would be immensely powerful in the right hands. And once we've confirmed it works the way it says it works we can have her analyze things that baffle us. For example”, he began and pointed at the body parts on his table again.

Elaine's eyes widened. “Yeah, I'll make sure to let her know.”

She made to leave and the Professor called after her:

“Once you and your team have recovered from the last mission I'll have another proposal, for you this time.”

“Of course, Professor”, Elaine said, not really thinking much about it.

**

“You... you want to stay here?”, Kate asked, shocked.

Cassie and her were sitting in the cafeteria, having a very late dinner, mostly because the nurse had insisted they get some food in them. To Kate's surprise the food wasn't bad. Much better than what they'd been able to make during the last few days before the cultists had taken over Albion, actually. In fact Kate was savoring the hell out of the food, which was why the dinner conversation had shocked her so much.

“The nurse told me I could be like those soldiers who came to rescue us”, Cassie said.

Kate had all but adopted the little rascal and worried about Cassie like she did her own children and had come to know Cassie as cheerful but a little subdued, so this felt out of character.

“But you'd be in danger”, she protested.

“We were in danger all this time”, Cassie reminded her. “Heck, we were almost eaten today. If I do this I can help make sure this sort of thing doesn't happen to anyone else.”

Kate bit her lip. “So this is something you really want?”

Cassie nodded.

“Alright, then I guess I can't stop you.”

“So what will you do?”, Cassie asked her. “I hear they can get you to a refugee camp. You'll probably find your kids there.”

Kate shook her head. “I can, they've found them for me. But if I stay here I can talk to them via video calls. I was considering helping out around here.”

Cassie blinked. “But wouldn't you rather be with them?”

“I know they're alright. Greg and I? We'd only be getting in each other's hair. So I'd rather do something useful here. Did you notice there's only three people working this kitchen? That's way too few. Besides”, Kate said and smiled fondly at Cassie, “how could I leave my other daughter all alone at a time like this?”

Cassie looked down and blushed. “Thank you.”

**

After dinner Cassie and Kate had gone back to Rachel. They didn't have their own rooms yet so they had to stay in the infirmary for now. Once there, Rachel took Kate to Lieutenant General Hayworth to get her approved as a worker in the cafeteria and sent Cassie off to speak to Jeanne.

“So Rachel told you you're a Shard Bearer?”, Jeanne asked pensively.

Cassie nodded. “Yes. She said I had the potential. Is there a problem?”

“It's not really a problem”, Jeanne said. “Normally we get recruits in batches so we can push these batches through basic training together. So we'd need to rush you and you alone through basic training before you could join a team.”

Cassie bit his lip and asked: “What would this training entail?”

Jeanne shrugged. “A very rushed version of boot camp. You'd learn commands, gun safety and such and go through physical training.”

Cassie grinned. “Well, that's fine then. I went through boot camp before.”

Jeanne frowned. “You did?”

“Yeah, my dad sent me there when I finished high-school, thinking it'd make me more manly. Didn't work, but it's not as if I've forgotten everything since then.”

“Wait. Manly?”, Jeanne asked and took another look at Cassie.

No matter how she looked at the person in front of her she saw a pretty girl. A slender build, hips that Jeanne just couldn't help but think of as feminine and with a cute butt to match, a gorgeous face and long silky blond hair that actually looked better cared for than her own, though that couldn't be the case seeing how Cassie had been a prisoner just hours ago. Only upon really close inspection did she notice the one thing that was off about the picture: The faintest hint of an Adam's apple.

Cassie was grinning at her. He loved having this effect on people. Sure he dressed in women's clothes, sure he put a lot of work into his appearance, but he never actually claimed to be a woman. He just let people come to their own conclusions. In fact, whenever someone called him a woman he took it as a compliment.

“So, does that mean you need the men's uniform?”, Jeanne finally asked.

“No thanks, I'll take the female version.”

Not that there was much difference between the two. Both consisted of black pants and black jackets. The main difference was that the women's version had a slightly longer blazer to give the impression of a skirt without the wearer actually wearing a skirt.

“Alright”, Jeanne said and began to take Cassie's measurements.

When she was done she handed him three of the uniforms in his size. It was the smallest size of the women's section and Jeanne was legitimately shocked by Cassie's slight build. While she had him there she also handed him a CARD and told him what it was.

Then she did something she should have done much sooner and gave him a scan.

That... explained a lot, actually. Freya was a goddess of war and beauty so it made sense that a man with a Soul Shard of her would be particularly effeminate and pretty.

**

Elaine lay on her bed, futzing with her CARD, fretting. She was going to do the thing she'd been half dreading and half hoping for, but still she hesitated. Then she remembered the talk she'd had with Rachel and decided to just go for it. Rachel had been right. If Alexis was fine with her, who was she to question the girl? So she typed out a message to Alexis.

Elaine smiled at the nearly instant response. She knew that people could ignore CARD notifications, even mute them, but Alexis had clearly done neither. Of course Elaine didn't have any illusions that Alexis was languishing in her room waiting for Elaine to come knocking but it did excite her that the blonde was so eager to reply.

There was a pause that Elaine tried not to read anything into before the reply came.

She smiled and they decided on a time and place. Place, of course, was a grand word considering they were all stuck in the same facility together, but still Elaine's heart pounded at the thought of taking one of 'her' girls out on a date.