Chapter 22: Free time

Unsurprisingly, production speed kinda slowed down. It was expected, but it's not bad. More normal now to be honest. So chapters will probably take longer to come out, and there might be less when they do, but they'll still come out eventually.

George - I will.

Kashou-sama - I'm not, my writing speed just slowed is all.

Redburndragon - The idea is to stabilize them depending on their forms. Like, Weld for example will most likely end up as a steel locked Osmosian. Pretty much Kevin to be more specific.

Dragons guard - Well, here's one of those. A short one, but one regardless.

A few days after we became Whole, we got used to our new schedule. Using and testing the Danger Room was awesome, we both felt like we were improving faster now that we could safely test out our skills/abilities in combat scenarios, and we were making good progress on getting used to our guns/bikes. I could reliably hit things and reload with my shotguns now, though I was still prone to fucking up the reload during a fight, so I'd still need some time to get used to it. My sniper/pistol proficiency was increasing though, so that was good.

I had no issues with my R-301 though, it was hard to fuck up with an AR.

Using my bike though came naturally, which was a Surprise, but I accepted it. I'd gotten used to the vehicle, and already had some ideas on how to upgrade it, adding weapons and an important feature, but those would wait since the expedition to Ellisburg was tomorrow. Sure, we could go and upgrade them before the expedition, but then we would only have the day to get used to them, so that was a no. Especially since Taylor was taking more time to get used to riding a motorcycle, so that sucked.

While I was getting used to my guns, new and old, Taylor was getting used to fighting with her new forms and range. I had no idea why she had a default of 2 miles now, but it was whatever. She handled the new range easily enough, it was the amount of bugs under her command that was giving her some issues. In the mountain alone, we had a total of 10,000 bugs, ranging from Hornets, Bees, Wasps, Spiders of all kinds, Centipedes, and more creepy crawlies that I wouldn't want to be anywhere near.

But out in the forest surrounding our home? Well, that number jumped up to 200,000... Ish. Somewhere along that number. It was insane really, but when we were both Necrofriggians? Knowing that my girlfriend could command upward of 1,000,000 bugs was nightmare fuel...

Though to me, the fact my girlfriend was basically the perfect Horseman of Pestilence, was the coolest shit in the world. Yeah, I could turn into aliens, but who the hell would look at 1,000,000 bugs and go 'Yeah, I can handle that?' We were so looking forward to scaring the shit out of literally EVERYONE.

Other then that, we'd gotten used to not only having Dragon in our lives, I'd defaulted to referring to her as Auntie, but to our change in relationship. After the initial explosion, we both both couldn't keep our hands off of each other...

Which led to the development of a new routine.

Lemon Start

Groaning, I opened my eyes, a familiar feeling coming from my dick. Seeing my girlfriend taking my dick down her throat, her jade eyes meeting my own, I fully woke up. Taking a moment to groan at the feeling of her warm mouth against my shaft, and feel that I was getting close, I took in all of what she was doing. Her tongue was licking up and down as she went from tip to base, gagging as she coated my cock in her spit. My hands went to her head, Give it to me, do it dammit, and I didn't need any other sign to start thrusting up into her throat. Pleasure and Desire pulsed from the both of us as my girlfriend choked and gagged due to the treatment. "First thing in the morning and you're acting like a slut," There was a spark of Indignation at that, but the bigger pulse of Lust was enough to tell what she really felt. "Can't help it can you? You're a little slut aren't you?!" My other Half moaned around my cock, her hands and nails running down my chest as I tightened the grasp I had on her head.

I felt myself getting closer, Oh? Then groaned when she started to suck. It didn't take long for me to reach my peak, the thought getting a big pulse of Excitement from my Other Half. |Give it to me, cum down my throat! Give your slut your cum!| That did it, and I felt myself cum, and couldn't help the moan that came out when Taylor kept sucking, audibly and visibly gulping as she took the load. With that done, I let go of her head, and watched as she raised her head, and let my cock out with a small pop. Like before, she opened her mouth, showing she'd taken it all, before giving me a grin. "Morning Mi Corazon." Her accent would need a little work, but that was fine.

I still felt my everything twitch at that, and idly thanked pat me for teaching her that word. "Morning Mi Reina." Affection pulsed from her. "Taking your turn now?"

She grinned, licking her lips as she moved up, straddling me as her hands pressed against my chest. Keeping her eyes on mine, she ground herself against my dick, Amused Excitement pulsing from her as she grinned at me. I shared the look, Desire and Anticipation flowing from us, and after I got a firm grip on her ass, which got me a low moan, she brought herself up, then back down, impaling herself on my cock. Lust came from the both of us as we moaned, the feeling of her walls tightening around my cock was addicting, and hearing her moaning was only more intoxicating. "Fuuuck." No idea which one of us let that out, it could've been both of us, but we didn't know or care at the moment.

After we got used to being Whole, Taylor raised herself up, then brought herself back down. For a bit, we lost ourselves to the simple act of my Other Half riding me, Pleasure coursing through the both of us as she came down faster and faster, until I managed to time a thrust right as she came back down, a moan erupting from her as she shook and clamped down on my cock like a vice.

Knowing she was getting close, I tightened the grip I had on one of her cheeks, while letting go of the other. Knowing what was coming, her eyes widened, Anticipation coming from her. "DO IT!" I slammed the hand back down, the smack echoing through the room, as I thrust up into her. "OH GOD!" Pleasure rolled through us as she came, collapsing onto me, her nipples pressing against me as my cock unsheathed itself from her and her body shook from the orgasm.

Grinning to myself, I rolled us over, getting a Surprised yelp from my girlfriend as I repositioned myself over her, my arms beside her head, and my dick above her pussy. Knowing what was going to happen, Taylor wrapped her arms around my neck, and legs around my back, she let out another moan as I thrust into her, hilting myself inside of her. "Fuck." After getting used to being Whole again, I started moving, Pleasure and Love pulsing between the two of us, making the whole experience that much better.

I started slow, "Faster! FUCK MEEE!" But after that, I sped up. My cock pounded into her, Taylor's moans sounding like music to my ears. "Like thaAAat! Faster! HarDEEER! FUCKFUCKFUCK!" The both of us were getting closer and closer to our peaks because of this, and the feedback loop coming from our Bond. Knowing my Other Half as well as I did, I brought a hand to her throat, tightening it just enough for her to constrict, but still be able to breath, making her walls tighten as her Pleasure spike. "Oh god, yes! Yes! YES!"

Hearing and feeling the Pleasure coming from her, I felt my lips curl up even more then before. I Loved seeing my Other Half like this, the headstrong woman writhing under me. Seeing that, I tightened my hold on her throat a bit, making her moan and bring her nails down to my back, digging into my skin. I hissed at the sudden pain, but it just made me slam my hips into her a little harder, OhgodyeS! We were getting close, we both knew it, so I was about to pull out, but her legs tightened around me, and her eyes focused onto me. "Inside! It's ah, SAFE day! NOW FILL ME UP YOU FUCK!" That was all the confirmation I needed, my Other Half moaning louder before she SCREAMED as the Pleasure of our orgasms rocked through us, and I released into her.

After that was done, we both collapsed into each other, still tired, it was morning after all, but definitely Satisfied.

Sharing a look, we grinned in Satisfaction. [|Love you.|] Love and Adoration pulsed between us, and we spent the next few minutes cuddling. (This is the life.) Taylor hummed in Agreement, and that last noise we made for a bit.

Lemon End

After we were done, we cleaned up, used Swampfire to handle our soreness, and took separate baths. I was getting used to showering in the morning now, unfortunately, so it didn't take long for me to finish up.

Making my way towards the living room, I could hear my Other Half in the kitchen, playing a song I'd introduced her too, while said song was playing on her phone in the background. Thanks to The Guild having no restriction on buying from Toybox, I was free to buy some of Cranium's tech. Taylor and I spent an hour or so picking it apart as Grey Matter, and managed to make a 'Memory Reader.' It was basically a kind of TM machine, but instead of turning my memories into disks, they were turned into data, which I could then unpack as Ultimate Grey Matter/Thoth, or Upgrade. Either or to be honest. And thanks to Brainstorm having Perfect Recall, I could recreate my playlists, as well as any song I'd ever heard! I'd regained the joys of anime too!

Games wouldn't work though.

Anyway, that was how Taylor was currently singing one of her, unironically, favorite songs."~ Kiss me, k-k-k-kiss me,~" Having made it into the kitchen, I grinned at the sight in front of me. Taylor's hair was up in a ponytail that stopped above her ass, looked dried, but it still shone a bit due to having been wet just a bit earlier. She was in a pair of pajama pants, and a crop top that showed off her arms and a good amount of her back/stomach.

She hadn't noticed me since my thoughts were 'Muted' at the moment, so I slowly walked over and wrapped my arms around her waist, "Don't mind if I do." A Surprised yelp sounding out before I nibbled on her ear. My girlfriend pulsed with Affection, and leaned into me.

When I was done, she let out a Content sigh, and turned to look at me. "You're going to do this alot now, aren't you?"

I grinned. "Do what?"

She scoffed, Fond Amusement coming from her as she went back to cooking breakfast. "You know what."

Humming to the song, I unwrapped my arms from her, and made my way to the fridge. "Maybeee." I could feel the eye roll from that. "Probably." She let out another scoff at that, and I brought out a big container of Sunny D, best drink in my opinion, and set it on the counter. "By the way," She hummed at me. "Ideas for today?"

Taylor kept humming, but she let her thoughts out, which reminded me to unmute my own. It's snowing today, so while we COULD go outside, I don't really feel like it... Though the forecast is supposed to clear up soon... And it isn't raining down in Brockton... I think? Blinking, she turned to her phone, pausing the music as she went to check. While she did that, I filled up our glasses of juice, and went to pick out our snacks. Yeah, it's fine... So we could go spend time out in the Bay. Blinking at that, I paused as I felt like I was forgetting something.

Feeling my girlfriend's Confusion, I tried to remember what I was forgetting... The remembered that I had to put the last touches on our upgraded suits. "... Phoenix?" Taking a second to recognize the tone, I slowly turned to my girlfriend... And saw the deadpan on her face. "How do you forget that?"

To be fair, I had a good answer. "Well when the first thing I'm doing after waking up is fucking my hot girlfriend," Embarrassed Affection came from that. "Then I'm not exactly going to be thinking of much else."

...

...

...

"I hate that 'Because sex' is a viable answer."

I snorted.

With breakfast done, we made our way to the lab. The door opened when we got to it, and a Projector opened up from the ceiling. Neither of us reacted when The Taskmistress, who was basically the one that lived with us, appeared a bit in front of us, a smile on her face, and VERY small blush on her cheeks. "Good morning Phoenix, Taylor."

The replies came without skipping a beat. ""Morning Tess/Auntie.""

Keeping the smile on her face, she fell in besides us. "Finishing the upgrades to your suits?"

I nodded, and stepped up to the monitor between a pair of closed displays. "We'll need to spend... A half hour at the least finishing it up though." I could feel my Other Half's Confusion at that, so I clarified. "One of the upgrades we gave your suit was a sort of adaptive memory thing. I doubt either of us get the science, so there's no point in explaining it."

"To you two maybe..." I blinked, and turned to raise a brow at my Aunt. Dragon returned the look, then shrugged. "In my opinion, the science behind the capabilities of your suits is an interesting thing. Sure, adaptive material isn't a new thing, but material with defensive properties as powerful as yours, is."

Humming, I was about to say something, but the displays opened, showing the new default forms of our suits.

Taylor's scarab necklace looked a bit different, the differences were that it was bigger, turned into a choker. The scarab was in the middle, golden and emerald fibers weaved together in a way that looked like waves. It was supposed to look like sand and emeralds, and I was pretty sure I'd gotten it down. It's beautiful. I grinned, and watched as my Other Half walked towards the choker.

When she picked it up, she turned to me, a silent question in her eyes that made me laugh. Making my way over to her, I held a hand out, the choker finding its way into my palm as I opened it, and brought my hands to her throat. A quick pulse of Excitement hit her, but we ignored it as I put her new suit on. When it was on, I closed it, and gave my Other Half a kiss on her lips. Surprise was followed by Affection as she relaxed into it, our arms finding their natural places on each others bodies.

Sadly, we had to separate when Dragon cleared her throat, my Other Half's eyes shooting open in Alarm as she whipped her eyes to my Aunt. The look of 'Deer in headlights' came to mind, and I barked out a laugh. "Phoenixxx!" The hiss was one of Warning, but I just laughed harder. My girlfriend huffed at me, and took a step back, doing her best not to look at Dragon. "Sorry Tess."

Looking at the artificial woman, I noticed the somewhat amused smile on her face, and the small flicker of envy in her eyes. "It's okay Taylor. Just remember, you have rooms for that." My girlfriend blushed, Embarrassment coming from her, while I cackled. The laugh put me in my Aunt's sights, making me pause. "As for you..." We stared at each other for a bit, me wondering what she was going to say, and her in contemplative silence... Then she groaned, and pinched the bridge of her nose. "I don't know if I'm supposed to be supportive, family is supposed to be that way, or to scold you as family is supposed to do."

Taylor snorted, while I blinked. "That first option sounds good. How about that?"

My Aunt's unamused stare told me what she thought of that. "Can I ground you?"

It said something that my first thought was to just stare at her. "... No?"

"How does someone even ground a shapeshifter as strong as he is anyway?" We blinked, then both turned to my Other Half, who looked and felt Thoughtful. She met our looks, and shrugged. "It's a real question. Big Chill or Ampfibian make walls a mute point." She was onto something here, Of course I am. "Plus, XLR8." Stopping there, we all knew what she meant. "And Heatblast... Goop... Don't even get me started on the Ultimates." The more she spoke, the more blank Dragon's expression went.

Eventually, the woman sighed, then ran a hand down her face. "Taylor... Why?"

My girlfriend shrugged. "Just pointing out the facts here. And since he's not escaping anything I have to go through, I can do it freely. So, yeah, he can escape from anywhere, so grounding won't work."

"This message is endorsed by 'You have no power over me' inc. We thank you for your support." Both women gave me unamused raised brows, and I rolled my eyes. "Anyway!" My girlfriend pulsed with Amusement, while Dragon let out a soft snort. "Activate it real quick." I heard Taylor mentally do just that, and watched as the choker unveiled itself and wrapped itself around her. Though, considering it happened in between moments, I didn't get much time to see much.

Standing tall, my girlfriend turned to the hologram that sprang up by her side, and gave herself a once over. Not much changed, but her wrists had new additions. There were a pair of small ports by the base of her wrists, Wait, really? I rolled my eyes, and sent over a mental image of where they were, and what they were for. "Huh."

She raised her wrist, probably about to test it out, when I frowned. "If you shoot that in here I'm going to suplex you into the ground." That made her pause, and slowly turn to me, Confusion radiating off of her. "You heard me." My lab was perfect in my opinion, I knew where everything was, it looked and felt awesome... And I might've had a little bleed over from Grey Matter, but the idea of some of my shit getting messed was annoying as hell.

Taylor stared at me for a bit, then slowly nodded. "Danger Room. Got it."

I let out an Amused scoff at that. "Anyway, general upgrades went to durability, strength, power capacity, power regeneration, effectiveness to the Crysis functions, and how well your suit works with your Power. In PRT terms, you're a Brute: 6 in your base state now, and cap out at Brute: 8, on the cusp of 9 when you use the Strength or Shield aspects of the suit. Theoretically, you should be Mover... I want to say, 7?"

Looking at my Aunt, I pulled up the stats of said mode, and sent it over to her. The woman hummed, visibly scratching her chin. "Yes, 7 would be a good placement."

Nodding, I turned back to the console, and brought up a few other things, while sending the data to Dragon. "Outside of general upgrades, and the grappling hooks, you should be able to wall crawl now, and you've got a limited inventory." Her Interest spiked, and I grinned. Sure, we'd literally worked on it together, but Taylor wasn't used to suddenly being a giga brain, and wouldn't remember all of what we did during a Tinker session yet. "At the moment, it's small, but you should be able to carry all of your guns without worrying about anything. We should be able to fit in another gun, but you could probably substitute it for meds or about a dozen nades."

Taylor hummed, and I heard her mentally ask the suits V.I to show her how to work the inventory. "Phoenix," Turning a bit to look at my Aunt, I met her curious look. "There's mention of 'Genetic Recombination' here. What exactly does that entail?"

My Other Half was also Curious about that, so I pointed off to the side, where I knew the machine was. Said machine was installed into the wall, had two see through cube structures, sort of like display cases, on the side that, at max capacity, could hold a 20x20x20 container of materials. In the corners were 4 drones, while the center was another see through display that had 8 specialized construction drones that would do the work. "Since nearly all of my forms supply something with DNA, we made something that could scan the strands," I waved a hand in the general direction of that scanner, It looked like a centrifuge, just better and in Upgrade's colors. "Separate what we wanted, and recombine them into what we needed. That'd give a clear outline of what we wanted, and that data would then go into the big fuck over there," Waving back to the see through machine. "And combine the traits to make a better material."

My Other Half was radiating Confusion, while my Aunt hummed. "So you could perhaps create a tool or material with the durability of Diamondhead, but the capabilities of Snare-Oh cloth?" I hummed in Agreement, since that was basically what I said but shorter. Her eyes lit up, and my Aunt clapped, a smile on her face as her glasses started to flash with code, a sign she was going over combinations of what this could be used for.

While she did that, I looked at my girlfriend, who was humming. "So, what did you mix into my suit?" Grinning, I brought up the images of a few aliens. The selection got a pulse of Surprise, and Curiosity. "I get Spider Monkey, the wall crawling had to come from somewhere, but Humungousaur? Swampfire?"

Tapping some shit, I brought up a little display that appeared above the aliens. "Since some forms make you bigger, Diamondhead for example, the suit would need to stretch. That's where Humungousaur comes in. Separating the part of his DNA that's responsible for his growth, I mixed that in with the fibers of your suit, so it'll both adapt to, and grow around you if you decide to use one of the bigger Hybrid forms." She nodded along at that, and I moved onto the other guy. "Since Swampfire can photosynthesize, I thought, 'Why not?' And spliced that into both of our suits. So now our suites have a small self repair feature, and we both charge with sunlight." Understanding came through, and I gave off a Smug smile.

She let out a Fond scoff, then gestured to the last alien displayed. "I'm assuming Feedback is to help turn anything like electricity into more power?" I nodded, since yeah, that was obvious. |Hush, I still had to ask.| Rolling my eyes, I got rid of the aliens and what they contributed to the suit, before grabbing my bracer.

Deciding to be fancy, I turned it into a forward facing jackal, the dagger like snout ending above my knuckles. The 'Ears' were pop up Pulse Barrels, so I had a gun on me at all times, like any good American would if given the chance. Amusement was followed by a quiet snort from my girlfriend. Her aside, I brought out the improved cloaker, and attached it onto the gauntlet of my Ultimatrix. This one was a band, similar to the last one, but had a compact shield generator, so no one could cut my arm off and keep me from going alien. It'd be charged with movement and sunlight, so with a few hours of moving in the sun, I'd have a shield passively protecting me.

"Wait," I hummed, and looked at my girlfriend. "Does mine have that?" I deadpanned at her, wondering if she honestly thought I wasn't going to give her that. Embarrassment pulsed from her, and she looked away. "Nevermind then." Snorting, I made sure everything was set, then nodded. It was time to head to the Danger Room, and do the tedious task of going through all of our forms so her suit could adapt to them...

Joy...

[Taylor's POV]

Leaning back, I padded myself down, fixing any wrinkles in my clothes, then turned to look back up to my Other Half. "Try not to destroy the Bay."

My boyfriend rolled his eyes, and waved it off. "I'll aim at the Nazis just in case."

Scoffing, I turned towards The Docks, and started walking. |Have a good time, love you Mi Corazon.|

The pulse of Love warmed my core. [Love you too Mi Reina.] I felt my lips curl into a grin, and made my way out of the park, headphones connected to my phone, and V.I tasked to randomize a song from my playlist. The song that came up made me pause, and I hastily ordered it to randomize again. I'd listened too and already had a small breakdown to 'I Miss The Days', and I was not about to start shunting Melancholy or Sadness this early in the day.

Hearing 'Welcome Home' start playing, I repeated the previous ac...- (JESUS CHRIST! Why do I have so many sad songs in here?!)

'We both know why.' My eye twitched, and I grumbled nonsense under my breath. My Future Self wasn't asked, so she could stuff it.

I skipped 'Arcade', and let out a sigh of relief when 'Heat Waves' started up. I felt the pulse of Interested Amusement from my Other Half, my emotions had probably been Interesting to him, and huffed. |Ignore it.|

[No, I don't think I will.] My brow twitched, and I mentally flipped him off. Annoyingly, that only got me the image of some anime gif of a kid raising a shaky thumbs up. Huffing, I tuned my boyfriend out, and let myself immerse into the music, and my thoughts.

After the mind numbingly boring task that was getting my suit used to suddenly changing forms, we decided to spend some time out. We were going to be busy tomorrow, we might've had plans for the raid, but reality and expectations didn't often align... (Well that's a quote.) I had no idea if it was, but it felt like it, so I was just going to treat it like one.

I was going to go spend some time with my Dad, while Phoenix did whatever he felt like doing. I was tempted to introduce the two, but my boyfriend didn't exactly like my Dad, and he was enough of an asshole to say something that'd wind my old man up. Sure, I could glare at him or tell him not too, but if he felt like it was worth it, he'd say or do something in spite of any threats.

It was annoying part of him... It Annoyed me more because sometimes I could see the humor in it.

That aside, as I idly kept an eye on my surroundings, noticing the relatively cleaner buildings. There weren't as many Merchant Tags, if any at all. Sure, there were a few more E88 and ABB tags as trade off, but now that we were official Heroes, we'd be able to take out those gangs when we were ready. It'd probably take a bit, we'd need to orchestrate or strike at an event where most of the Empire was gathered, or directly at Lung and knock him out before things escalated, but we could do it soon. (Probably a bit after the Ellisburg raid. We've got the fire power, the skills, and the capabilities to deal with them.) The idea to team up with the local PRT was there, but I shooed it away. We didn't need them, and frankly, we were better then them.

On his own, my boyfriend could destroy Brockton in under a half hour.

Not counting Ultimate usage.

Hell, if I flexed my Power, every insect in 2 miles would flood wherever I wanted them too, devouring any and everyone that pissed me off. Add my Hybrid forms onto that? Especially Big Chill and the range boost I got? (Yeah, the only one who'd be an issue would be Vista. Making space her bitch is terrifying.) I set a few bugs on some random purse snatcher a block away, scoffing under my breath that some idiot would try something this early.

That aside, I just took in Brockton Bay, seeing that despite the Nazis and Slavers gaining ground, the city was starting to heal... (I changed my mind. As soon as we're done with Ellisburg, we're kicking the shit out of one the ABB. The E88 dies after.) That thought, I paused, then nodded. |What do you think about taking out the ABB, then the Nazis?|

Surprised Interest was the immediate response, then he mentally shrugged. [I mean... Eh? Depending on how Ellisburg goes, I might not feel up for it.]

I frowned at that. I WAS a little Worried about how the raid could go, the unknown Royal Guards could pull something and show themselves to be actual threats, so something COULD go wrong... And knowing our luck, maybe it would. So just jumping right into another fight wouldn't exactly be a good idea. |And if it turns out to be a cakewalk?| Still had to ask.

He hummed, Thoughtful Contemplation, I idly noticed another song start playing, and sicced a swarm of bugs on some E88 goons menacingly trailing after a black guy and what seemed like his sister. [If it goes well, then I'd rather we relax at home. Maybe sleep in... I haven't been able to just really lay around and just waste a day away for a bit, and it's long overdue to be honest.]

Taking that in, I thought about whether that was a good idea or not. (On the one hand, not being lazy is something we've been working on. On the other hand, Tess made it a point that we need to have more to life then being Capes.) And she had. It was why we had designated rest days where we just did whatever we wanted... |I guess we could... Maybe we could have a movie date? Watch stuff from your memories?|

Anticipation bled over from him, and I grinned at how childish it was. [Remind me to show you Spiderman. The first movie is a classic... And some Power Rangers. The glory of Dino Thunder needs to be spread.] I gave the impression of nodding, because I had no idea what the hell he was talking about. [... I've been informed by trustworthy sources you've had a heretical thought.] Oh what the fuck?! [Your blasphemy will be rectified later.]

I huffed. |Whatever.|

His mental laugh rang through my mind, and I felt myself smile. [We'll definitely make a date of it.]

|Sold!| I paused for a moment, blinked, then nodded. |Yeah, sold.|

He cackled, and I resisted the urge to giggle. I was easily bribed it seemed, but that wasn't a bad thing.

Now hopefully, the raid went well, and we could have our date in peace.