Chapter 8: The Woes Of Two Attractive People With Their Own Harems

After a thoroughly intriguing and arousing conversation with Evelyn Elaine decided to check up on her collection of toys, just to make sure everything would be in its place for when Evelyn came over to provoke her.

So she started to dig through her wardrobe until she reached the drawer with the false bottom, the one she was very grateful Evelyn hadn't found back when she'd ransacked her room.

In it she found all the stuff she didn't want just anyone to know she had, the stuff that might freak out Alexis if she learned of it. And Elaine truly didn't own this stuff in order to freak anyone out. If a partner wasn't into this kind of thing she was perfectly fine never touching it. She wasn't some sort of lifestyle BDSM person, this was very much a casual kink to her.

She'd had a couple girlfriends who had been fairly serious about it and a few others who would have rioted if Elaine had even suggested introducing this stuff to their bedroom activities and she was fine either way, really, but she couldn't deny that the thought of beautiful women tied up, gagged and blindfolded, was one of the most effective when she needed inspiration to help get herself off, not that that had happened lately. Ever since Alexis, Ophelia and Evelyn had decided to all date her at the same time Elaine had practically been in a state of near-constant readiness for sex.

With that out of the way Elaine did something that had been long overdue: She sent a message to Jordan.

To onlookers this kind of abrasive talk would have seemed like Jordan and Elaine couldn't stand each other but this was just how the soldiers talked among themselves. Elaine was especially amused by the 'What's up Doc' reference. That was pure Jordan. Abrasive banter but with a pop culture reference added in.

**

Stollos knew that he was on a probation of sorts. It hadn't escaped him that Base 15 had been manned by both Jeanne, one of the strongest among the Cherubim, and Rachel, Lucifer's little daddy's girl. In other words, they had made sure to have enough firepower at the base to even subdue him if he ever became more trouble than he was worth.

Of course they had grossly underestimated just how powerful he was, but they had made their intentions perfectly clear. And he didn't want to have to abandon this project because of a misunderstanding.

And so, knowing of Caulder's involvement, he'd had little choice but to call a staff meeting to inform the others of what Private Dupree and him had uncovered.

“So, Professor, why did you call us together like this?”, Lieutenant General Hayworth asked.

Jeanne and Rachel were also present and were looking just as curious.

“Right”, Stollos said. “Private Dupree recently acquired a skill called Akashic Knowledge. It's an incredibly powerful skill that allows her CARD to link up directly with the Akasha Chronic.”

“Akasha what?”, Hayworth asked.

“The Hindus believe that there is a record of everything that is, was, might have been and might be”, Jeanne explained, looking awed. “That is called the Akasha Chronic. And if I understood the Professor correctly then Evelyn has access to this infinite repository of knowledge.”

Hayworth's eyes widened. “Is that correct?”

Stollos nodded. “It isn't quite all-knowing”, yet, he thought to himself. The skill might still be upgradable, “But the skill is quite powerful. So powerful, in fact, that when we were running tests on it Private Dupree and I accidentally uncovered something I need to share with you all.”

“Well, what is it, then?”, Rachel asked.

“Right”, Stollos said and then began to tell them of the research specimen Sergeant Caldwell had given him. Finally he finished with: “This suggests that someone has been deliberately directing the Outsiders.”

“That is highly concerning”, Hayworth said.

“It is”, Stollos agreed. “At first I believed I might have been jumping to conclusions but then I had Private Dupree analyze the specimen with her new skill. I had been wanting to find out how exactly the transformation had happened and Private Dupree's skill gave me a wealth of information to go on. But then she also found out something concerning. It mentioned that the tampering we'd observed was carried out by a member of an organization named IDS.”

He was met by a trio of blank faces and so he explained:

“IDS is a company that provides highly immoral defensive solutions that are made up of a fusion of biological, technological and magical components. And now they seem to have begun expanding their operations to Outsider specimen.” He paused and then sought eye contact with both Jeanne and Rachel. “And the company belongs to a man who calls himself Caulder.”

Jeanne was halfway out of her chair at that. “Wait, hold on. I thought you were Caulder.”

He gave her an extremely wry smile. “I noticed.”

“I'm afraid you've lost me entirely”, Hayworth said.

Stollos nodded. “Caulder and I used to be... colleagues of a sort. We were both trying to surpass humanity's limits in our own ways. Once upon a time I worked with him but we parted ways a long time ago. His methods were too immoral even for me and he thought I was too squeamish to achieve true greatness. But since we worked together once upon a time large parts of Heaven and Hell seemed to think we were the same person. Several times Heaven sent strike teams after me for things he's done and other times he was attacked for things I've done.”

“Hold on”, Jeanne said. “Does that mean you weren't responsible for the Celestial Flayer Virus?”

Stollos nodded. “That was him. I helped Heaven come up with a cure.”

“I fear I may owe you an apology”, she said.

“Don't bother”, he said. “There were also things I'm not too proud of that I never faced repercussions for.”

“Like Grigorius?”, Rachel asked.

“Yeah, like him”, he said.

“Who?”, Jeanne asked.

Stollos let out a sigh. “Once upon a time I wasn't as picky with who to perform the Oath of Crystal Tears on as I am now”, he said. “One of them was a man who calls himself Grigorius. He is... slightly unhinged. Recently he has been slaughtering Outsiders but before the Invasion he has done a few things I can't exactly approve of.”

“You should probably mention where you found him”, Rachel said.

Stollos sighed again, even deeper than before. “I met him in Whitechapel, in 1888.”

“You turned Jack the bloody Ripper immortal?”, Jeanne demanded.

“I am roughly 80% certain that Grigorius isn't Jack the Ripper”, Stollos said. “But... he is a big fan of Jack the Ripper's work. As I said, I am not proud of it but once upon a time I was more concerned with gaining allies than with the morality of said allies. And right now I feel the need to remind everyone present that my cooperation with this project provided me with a full pardon for my previous activities.”

“Wormwood”, Jeanne swore. “I've seen how passionate you are about this project and I can tell that you are ashamed of your past so I won't hold it against you but... Wormwood, Stollos.”

He nodded, chastised. To his shock he found that her disapproval stung him. He'd never cared much for Heaven or Hell's approval but after weeks of working with Jeanne he found that he actually cared about her opinion.

“I think we should get back on track, though”, Hayworth said. “Why exactly did you call this meeting, Professor?”

“Mostly to inform everyone of Caulder's involvement”, Stollos said. “And to make sure everybody is aware that him and I are most definitely not working together. My other reason for calling this meeting was to suggest we have the monitoring division keep an eye out for IDS and their activities.”

“Activities?”, Hayworth asked. “You said they sell defensive solutions, right?”

“Right, I apologize”, Stollos said. “I should have clarified. They have a very... active research division. They have a private army and their field researchers travel with protection. Their forces aren't enormous but their 'soldiers' are cyborgs powerful enough to put up a fight against even our strongest Shard Bearers.”

“In that case I agree”, Hayworth said. “We need to keep an eye on them. Where are they based?”

“I don't know”, Stollos said. “Last I checked Caulder operated out of a little pocket dimension but the fact that they performed their little experiments here in New York State suggests that the company has at least a temporary base close by.”

“What are the odds of those people just happening to set up shop so close to us?”, Jeanne asked.

“Relatively high, actually”, Stollos said. “We are in what used to be one of the most densely populated parts of the country. If they are working with the Outsiders then they need a steady stream of bodies, either for their corpses or for human sacrifices.”

“Charming”, Jeanne said.

“One last thing”, Stollos said. “Private Dupree's skill also told us that the head cultist from Albion found the knowledge he needed to commune with his foul goddess from a book he found in one of the libraries in the University at Buffalo. Such books should not be readily available, especially at a college library.”

“Do you think this is connected to IDS' activities in the area?”, Jeanne asked. “Buffalo isn't that far away.”

“Insufficient data”, Stollos said. “I will pick Private Dupree's brain on the matter but so far I think it would be foolish to jump to conclusions. I do believe it would behoove us to liberate Buffalo sooner rather than later though.”

“Agreed”, Hayworth said.

“I don't think we should rush this”, Jeanne said. “The cadets are good, but they need to get a bit stronger still before we can send them out on an operation like that.”

“I'm with Jeanne on this one”, Rachel said. “They aren't quite ready for a large-scale mission yet. So I suggest we give the monitoring division at least a week to check the place out before we make any plans for Buffalo.”

Hayworth considered that, then turned to Stollos. “Would a week's wait be acceptable to you?”

“Certainly”, he said.

It would give him more than enough time to speak to Sergeant Caldwell.

**

After an hour of drinking Elaine and Jordan were shooting the shit as if they'd been doing it every day and the several weeks they'd spent talking to pretty much nobody except their teams hadn't happened. Well, aside from the fact that their team members were the main topic of conversation.

“So, have you hooked up with all the cuties in your team already?”, Jordan asked, pointing his half empty bottle at her.

“I need to be a lot drunker than this to answer questions like that”, Elaine said.

“Come on, we've all been curious”, he insisted. “A whole team of pretty women led by an outspoken lesbian. No way in hell you were able to keep your hands off them.”

“What about you, then?”, she countered. “With all the muscles you gained from the treatments the ladies must be all over you.”

“Don't you start”, he said. “You have no idea how much bullshit I have to deal with.”

“Then dump it on me or stop whining”, she said.

He chuckled. “Like, half the time when a woman is into me I know it's only because I'm a black guy. They don't see a man, they just see a chance to check out if the BBC myth is real. Or they want to piss off their conservative parents. Do you have any idea how annoying that is?”

She nodded.

“No, for real though”, he said. “You get how objectifying this is?”

“I do”, Elaine said with conviction. “I've had girls wanting to hook up with me because they wanted to piss off their parents. I suppose dating a lesbian is a safer way to go about it...”

“Not sure if I should be offended”, he said.

She rolled her eyes. “If they date a girl they can't get pregnant from it. So it's a way to piss off daddy without any chance of consequences.”

“Yeah, that makes sense”, he said. “I really didn't know you had to deal with this shit, too.”

“Whatever”, she said. “So you don't want to date a girl who wants you for your body.”

“Oh I'm fine with a girl ogling me”, he said, “I just don't want any of those creepy fetishists. I see a Queen of Spades tat and I'm outta there.”

“Yeah, I always found that shit weird”, she said.

“It is”, he said. “I don't want to be someone's fetish. I want a cute girl I can curl up and watch anime with. I've actually been telling these bitches that I'm very sorry but I'm actually only four inches. That usually gets them to scram.”

“And are you?”, Elaine asked with a teasing smile.

“That's besides the point”, he said with a grin, then added quietly: “For real though, I was a decent size before the treatments but since then... hoo boy. Those treatments do something similar for you?”

Elaine blushed and Jordan took that as an excuse to check out her breasts.

“They don't look bigger.”

“Perv”, she said.

“Guilty as charged”, he said.

“So, I'll ask again”, she said, “how about your girls? Any of them you actually got something going with?”

“I'll tell you if you tell me about your team afterwards”, he said.

Elaine stared into her empty bottle, looked at Jordan's similarly empty bottle, then got up to get them both new ones. “Deal”, she said as she sat back down.

“So there's Anna”, he began.

“That's the cute mousy brunette, right?”, Elaine asked.

“That's her”, he agreed. “We've been on a couple dates. I really like her and she's super nice and nerdy. We get along great but I don't want to rush things with her.”

“Nothing happen yet?”, she asked.

“We've done a little bit”, Jordan said with a shrug. “But again, I don't want to rush her.”

“Good man”, she said. “So, what about her abilities?”

“Right”, he said. “So she's got a Soul Shard of Poseidon, but some of her abilities are weird. Actually, come to think of it, most of my girls have weird abilities.”

“Like?”, she asked.

“Watch”, he said and then used an M skill, manifesting a weapon he'd been granted by one of his Shard Bearers. In his hand appeared a large, ornate trident. “Looks like a normal trident, right?”

“Right”, Elaine agreed. It looked a lot like how she'd imagined Poseidon's trident. Only two things jumped out at her. First of all, the outer arcs of the prongs were rounded and sharpened so that the weapon could be swung as well as thrust, and second of all the handle clearly had two different textures.

And then Jordan flipped an almost invisible latch and then pulled on the handle. The handle slid apart and as he pulled he revealed the wickedly sharp blade of a katana while the rest of the trident, now with a significantly shorter handle, looked more like a weirdly shaped battleaxe.

“Look at this shit”, he said. “It's a fucking trick weapon.”

“Yeah”, Elaine agreed. “Not what I was expecting.”

“And they're all like that”, he said. “Take Kotori for example.”

“Kotori is the kitsune?”, Elaine asked.

“Right”, he said. “Her Soul Shard is named Tenko-no-Yume. But there's no such god. The name could mean either 'dream of the tenko' or it could mean 'a tenko by the name of Yume'. Except of all the tenko we know not one is named Yume and there's no being called the 'dream of the tenko'.”

“The Professor did warn us that Soul Shards exist beyond time and space”, Elaine said, “so I suppose she has a Soul Shard from another universe.”

“It's still freaky”, he said. “How am I supposed to handle that?”

She chuckled. “Well, how are you handling her?”

“No comment”, he said, but he was wagging his eyebrows as he said it. “And then there's the one that makes even less sense to me.”

“And what would that be?”

“Ashley's Soul Shard”, he said.

“Who is Ashley?”, Elaine asked.

“Right”, he said, “not sure if you've noticed her, she's the tall, tanned blonde in my team. She's also a werewolf.”

“Nice”, Elaine said. “So, what's weird about her?”

“Her Soul Shard is of Arianrhod, the Gaelic goddess of the moon. And that's super convenient. She can create her own moonlight to make her transformations faster and easier, she gets powerful light magic, but she also has a lot of super weird abilities.”

“Like?”, Elaine asked.

“Her first M skill was a giant fuck-off lance”, he said. “The second one was a suit of metal armor that combines with her suit to give her something that looks a lot like what Jeanne wears into battle. And I mean, what the fuck? Most depictions don't even show Arianrhod with a weapon, let alone in full fucking armor and wielding a lance as big as she is.” Elaine was grinning from ear to ear. “What are you smiling about?”

“I know what's going on”, Elaine said in a smug sing-song voice.

“Mind sharing with the class?”, he asked.

“Let's just say that if she gains an M skill named 'Argreion', I want to be there when she uses it for the first time”, she said.

“Okay”, he said. “Why?”

“Because that means she will summon a super robot”, she said.

“I don't think M skills will get that strong”, he said.

“Have any of your girls reached Bond Level 8 yet?”, she asked.

“Not yet, no”, he said. “Some of yours did?”

“Last night”, Elaine said with a nod. “I only took a quick peak at the abilities but Level 8 abilities seem to be way stronger than the stuff before it.”

“Well, good to know”, he said. “So, you gonna tell me why you know about her abilities?”

“Try Google, dude”, Elaine said. “Pretty sure the character is more popular than the goddess she's named after at this point.”

“No, hold on, that doesn't make sense”, he said. “You saying her abilities are inspired by some anime character?”

“Video game character, actually”, she said. “But it's simple. How people think of a god shapes that god's nature. And with an obscure god like Arianrhod a depiction in popular culture is enough to change that god's entire image.”

“How do you even know this shit?”, he asked. “Was there some sort of meeting I missed?”

“I was curious so I bugged the Professor about it”, she said. “The way he explained it to me is this: If you read the Bible carefully you'll find that Lucifer and Satan are two distinct people. Not only that, but the 'Satan' in the Bible is actually on God's side.”

“You're fucking with me”, he said. “I know there's a story about Satan falling.”

“There is”, she agreed. “In Revelations, which is supposed to show the end of the world. That's where Satan falls. So until then he's still God's lackey. His job is to test the faith of His followers. Anyway, so technically Satan and Lucifer should be different people but almost nobody knows or believes that, so in reality they are the same person. Lucifer rules Hell and the fact that he is also Satan is reflected only in the fact that he inexplicably knows things that only those in God's inner circle know.”

“That sounds kind of messed up”, Jordan said.

“It is”, Elaine agreed. “Apparently it plays hell on their operational security. Anyway, that effect works on all gods and also on angels and demons to some extent.”

“So what, we could spread the word that Rachel is a total prude and she'd stop fucking random people?”

Elaine snorted. “Wouldn't that be a hoot.” Then she looked into her empty bottle. “Hey, this one's leaking.”

“So's this one”, Jordan said. “I'll get us new ones.”