Bianca left soon after it got dark, and the Squad got to sleep for the night, with the exception of Greg of course, who decided to visit the local ferals while he was around, see how they were doing. He flew around a bit in fairy form, feeling a bit of nostalgia as he visited the site he'd first met Jennifer. He then flew towards the mansion where he'd killed the scorpocroc, transforming into it as he landed, sighing a bit as he walked inside. This had been his first real fight. Sure, he'd killed the sharkman earlier, but he'd cheated there, using the stupidness of his ability and surprise to win. It hadn't really been a fight.
It'd also been the place he'd gained his favorite form, which… was probably one of the more fucked up aspects of his ability. Kill them, then steal their form to walk around in. Like some sort of skinwalker or something. Hell, he didn't even need to kill! Just take some hair or skin cells, a little bit of DNA and boom, carbon copy. Greg paused for a moment as fantasies of turning into women's husbands or boyfriends to take advantage of them swirled through his mind, until he quickly shut it down. Then the idea of turning into people's wives or girlfriends started swirling around in there as well, and that one took a bit more effort to put down. Greg hadn't really thought of the fact that he could turn into a woman before, and he couldn't quite shake the idea once it got in there. An entire side of humanity he hadn't experienced before… he was curious. Tessa was a shapeshif-
Greg shook himself. *Bad thoughts. Bad thoughts!* He chastised himself internally as he shoved away fantasies of him and Tessa rolling around in strange, unnatural forms. Greg let out a slow breath as he calmed down. *I am way too horny for someone who regularly has sex.* He sighed to himself, blaming his multiple forms. From his perspective, it felt more like a once or twice a week event, rather than the every night and some mornings thing it actually was. He really needed to find a way to fix that.
"Who goes there!?!" A voice called out, interrupting Greg's internal reflection.
He looked up to see two figures watching him warily. Familiar, hyena-like forms. "Oh hey, it's you guys! How have you been?" Greg grinned as he approached, looking them over. "You've been behaving yourselves, right?"
The Hyena Bros backed up, staying out of reach as their eyes narrowed at him. "You know us?" The ice twin asked.
"Yeah? Oh, right, you wouldn't recognize me like this." Greg smacked himself in the head, before changing into his sharkman form, then human form, then back to the scorpocroc. "Remember me now?" He asked with a grin.
""Mighty one!"" The brothers exclaimed in unison, suddenly excited. "You're back!" The needle twin cried.
"Have you come to see what we've accomplished?" The ice twin asked excitedly.
Greg raised an eyebrow at the ice twin. "You have accomplishments?"
"Indeed!" The ice twin announced, puffing out his chest. "We are the local protectors! Defenders of the weak!"
"All the females wish to mate with us now." The needle twin added with a wink, before his brother cuffed him upside the head, glaring at him.
"That isn't the point!" He growled, before turning back to Greg. "We've taken your lessons well, and have created a place where people can feel safe. Would you like us to show you?" The needle twin nodded along beside him, eager to show Greg what they'd done.
Greg grinned, nodding. "Sure, let's see what you've got." He chuckled.
The twins led him deeper into the mansion, showing him around. Apparently, after he'd killed the scorpocroc, the twins had moved in, making the mansion their own. As they worked to protect people, they ended up bringing the few they found without a safe place to stay back, and after a while, they had even more begging to be allowed to stay with them, creating a small community. Close to fifty ferals had made their homes there, all living peacefully.
The needle twin hadn't been lying either. As soon as they walked into what looked like several hollowed out rooms which most of the ferals were relaxing in, the women's eyes latched onto the two ferals with an almost predatory look, before turning on their rivals. A few of the more attractive ones slinked over to hang themselves on the twins, giving them the doe eyes. "Do you require our services, our precious defenders?" One asked in a silky voice, batting her eyelashes at the ice twin.
"Not at the moment, lovely one." The ice twin replied, though he made sure to squeeze her butt once before turning to the rest of the room and getting everyone's attention by letting out a short roar. "Attention! Today, we have the pleasure of being graced by the presence of the being which made all this possible! The mighty one who showed us the way, and blessed us with his wisdom, before destroying those who would not listen! The avenger of the weak! The Mighty. Shifting! Cloud!" The ice twin announced grandly, turning to present Greg as the crowd let out roars of approval and celebration.
Greg frowned. "Wait, hold on… were you guys the ones who gave me that name?!?" He asked incredulously.
The needle twin puffed up proudly. "We were! He wanted to call you the Mighty Shifter. I said Mighty Cloud. We couldn't agree, so we decided to combine them! Do you like it?" He asked, giving Greg the same look a younger brother did after asking if you wanted to play video games together.
"It- it's great." Greg sighed, resisting the urge to shake his head. He couldn't crush the pure adoration in the twins' eyes. On the other hand, the way this 'lovely one' was looking at him…
"Mighty Shifting Cloud." The girl purred, pressing herself against him with a feverish look in her eye. "The Defenders have told us much of your deeds and glory! I would be honored~ to mate with you."
The ice twin gave him a thumbs up and a grin. "She's very talented, mighty one! You will have a great night!"
"Oh, no, I wouldn't think of stealing one of your females." Greg immediately protested, attempting to gently push the girl away, which only made her press against him more.
The ice twin frowned for a moment, before suddenly laughing. "That is a good one, mighty one! You know we can't claim females! They are free to mate with who they wish! As long as they ask permission."
"Would you please mate with me, mighty one?" The girl asked, looking up at him pleadingly.
Greg shook his head. "I'm sorry, but I can't. I have another female, one who would be very hurt if I mated with another. She and I have promised to only be with each other, and it's a promise I take very seriously." He explained.
The girl paused, before taking a step back and sighing. "I understand. Bound partners are a precious thing. I would not dream of coming between you and yours."
"You should have just said you were paired before! I would have warned the others!" The ice twin exclaimed, sounding slightly distressed by the blunder.
Greg froze. "You guys know about that?" He asked incredulously. He didn't even realize ferals had a concept of monogamous relationships. Hell, he wasn't even sure they had a concept of relationships period.
"Why would we not?" The girl asked, raising an eyebrow at him. "Several of the couples here are paired."
"I have even asked the lovely one to pair with me, but she refuses." The ice twin sighed.
The lovely one flushed, looking shyly down at the floor. "I could not bear to choose between you and your brother. You both treat me so well."
"It would be a sin to steal your loveliness from my brother." The ice twin sighed, glancing over at his brother who was currently playing with a few of the younger ferals, rolling around with them like the big kid he was.
Greg blinked at the little drama, not sure how to process the idea that the ferals had complicated relational dynamics. He was just so used to seeing them as one step above animals… but maybe that was because they didn't have any other choice, rather than a statement of their capacity. With the environment they lived in, they had to act like animals, to stay safe… it was only in safety that they could let their humanity show. *Man… now I have to make that feral safe zone.* Greg sighed to himself. Seeing the ferals interact with each other like this, like humans… he couldn't just leave them to struggle on their own anymore. *God damn it.* Greg sighed. He hated being responsible.
Greg let the ice twin show him around a bit more, paying his social dues, before excusing himself, leaving the mansion and flying off. As he did, he let all his selves turn to smoke, floating up over the city, watching it grow smaller and smaller as he rose higher and higher. The city itself was dark, with the Downtown Clan a single, shining glow. Towards the edges of the city, two other bright spots appeared, what Greg assumed was the God's Blessed Holy Land and the Young Blood Paradise. As he looked down on the city, he considered his options. If he couldn't rely on help from the safe zones, then he needed a way to handle this himself. But how? He couldn't create- Greg paused. *Well… that could be an option…* Greg pondered thoughtfully. It all hinged on him having enough smoke, but… if he dissolved a large enough section of the city, he could make walls, possibly an entire dome for the ferals to stay in. It wouldn't exactly be hidden, but… it would be nigh indestructible, which counted for something. He assumed there were some high tiers that could break through, but the ferals hopefully had high tiers of their own as well.
*Was cheese grater a high tier?* Greg wondered to himself. He actually didn't have a firm understanding of what a high tier really was… Patrick was pretty strong, right? Not that they'd really fought. Thinking about it, what tier was he? He definitely wasn't a low tier, that was for sure, he felt a bit stronger than a mid tier, but he wasn't sure if he exactly counted as a high tier either. Well, if you counted his survivability, maybe he'd be up there, but strength wise? No chance. Hell, he'd only managed to kill cheese grater because heavy things falling in increased gravity do a lot of damage. Plus, the dude was insane. Anyone else would have gotten out of there way before Greg had a chance to actually hurt them.
Maybe his ability was more focused on defense? His walls could be pretty impressive, especially if he started making them out of steel or something. He couldn't imagine there was much out there that could instantly break through steel. Unless they could control metal or something… how would his ability work with something like that? Would his ability to control his smoke outweigh their ability to control metal? He doubted it. He couldn't control his smoke all that much outside of when it was, well, smoke. Anyway, unless something could instantly break through his barrier, he could repair it before they could break in. That did seem pretty powerful… Greg grimaced. He wasn't too excited about playing the defensive game. It didn't actually solve the problem, just kept it at bay. Still, for creating a safe zone, being defensively focused wasn't terrible. Plus, he wasn't exactly weak. For any threat below high tier, he'd be fine. As long as he took care of keeping everyone safe, he could let the high tiers take care of the rest.
Greg drifted around above the city, looking down at it for a bit longer. He saw a few places that might be good locations to set up, but mostly he just gazed down, lost in thought. He'd been trying to help people this entire time, but… he hadn't really had much hope to actually do anything. He'd thought he'd just take care of a few assholes, make the streets a bit safer, and that's it. He didn't expect to suddenly have to think about creating an entire safe zone for ferals. He'd never thought he was even capable of something like that. But somehow he was doing it, and he couldn't stop. He could help so many people, so he couldn't just stop because it felt like a lot of work.
Greg floated for a bit longer, before sighing as he transformed back into his scorpocroc form, falling back down towards the city. The wind whipped past his face as he fell, rapidly approaching the ground, before turning back into a cloud of smoke just as he was about to land. He quickly reformed, before splitting back into seven different forms, each one transforming into fairy form and flying off. It had been a nice little break, but… he had work to do. He always had work to do.
*
This content has been misappropriated from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.
Now that they'd left the denser areas of the city, the Squad could relax a bit as they headed towards the college. "You know, I used to live around here." Brittany sighed as they walked through the neighborhood. "A few streets that way, actually."
"Oh really? Renting or did your family live there?" Greg asked.
"Family. I was born and raised here." Brittany replied with a somewhat sad smile.
"That must have been nice." Greg nodded. "Being so close to everything. I always had a half hour drive whenever I wanted to go somewhere."
"Yeah, being close is nice, but don't you think it's nice to be able to get away from everything? In the city, people are always doing something. They never stop! I don't think I experienced a quiet night until I went away to camp when I was twelve." Brittany sighed.
Greg shrugged. "I guess. There's a trade off for anything though, you know? You want quiet, you're gonna have to travel. Want to be close, and you'll need to deal with some noise. And if you're nigh unkillable, you don't get to sleep."
"That last one doesn't seem like much of a tradeoff." Brittany pointed out with a smirk.
"Trust me, it's a tradeoff." Tessa grumbled.
"I get bored." Greg nodded.
"And Greg does not do well when bored." Victor added. "It's something we share."
"You two do seem to be cut from similar cloths." Brittany commented. "How long have you two been friends?"
Greg and Victor shared a look. "Two years, but maybe a month and a half just counting the time I've been awake?" Greg answered.
"Something like that." Victor agreed.
"Wait, you guys have only known each other for that long?!?" Tessa asked incredulously.
"Yeah?" Greg replied, giving her a weird look.
"But- but you're so- you guys are like that after a month?!?" She continued in disbelief. "How?!?"
"Roommates. You either love 'em or hate 'em." Victor shrugged.
"Sometimes both." Greg nodded. "Though… considering we've known each other for like two weeks, I'm not sure you're one to talk about fast progressing relationships."
Tessa froze, a flush creeping up her neck. "That's a fair point…" She muttered.
"Slut." Meredith muttered under her breath, making sure to say it just loud enough for everyone to hear.
Immediately, Greg had her by the throat, pinned to the nearest wall six inches off the ground. "Say something like that again, and I'll tear your tits off and shove them down your throat!" He snarled, glaring into her wide, terrified eyes as she struggled against his grip, before dropping her, letting her collapse to the ground, gasping for air. He then turned back to the rest of the group, pausing as he noticed the wide eyed stares. "Sorry about that." He apologized with an awkward grin. "That was more angry than I expected to get."
"Angry Greg is scary." Victor leaned over to whisper to Casey, who just nodded dumbly. It was weird to see, because Greg never got angry. He barely ever got anywhere even close to frustrated! The dude was mellow as could be, even when talking about possibly needing to kill someone. To see him suddenly snap like that… It was freaky. The fact that he dropped it just as quick was even freakier.
Jake rushed forward to help Meredith to her feet, shooting a glare at Greg. "A little overboard, don't you think!?! All she did was call Tessa a name! It was wrong, yes, but she didn't deserve that!"
Greg frowned at him, crossing his arms. "There are a few things I don't tolerate in this world. Trying to hurt my girlfriend is one of them. She's lucky I stopped with a threat." He replied, shooting a glare at Meredith, causing the woman to tremble fearfully. "I almost carved the word into her forehead "
"You're a psychopath!" Jake cried in response.
Greg cocked his head. "Your point?"
Jake stared at him in disbelief, before turning to the others. "Are you guys hearing this?!?"
Carlos shrugged. "It's a little extreme, sure, but she's been trying to come between the two of them since day one. It's about time he knocked a little sense into her."
Brittany nodded as well. "I didn't particularly need to hear such a… graphic threat, but I can support his sentiment. Insults like that may seem like just words, but they can eat at you, especially when they hit upon your insecurities. Some insults can do more damage than a punch in the face."
"Sticks and stones may break my bones, but a healer can't heal emotional scars." Victor chuckled.
"I'd burn anyone who said something like that to Emily." Casey added with a fierce look in her eye.
Tessa just stood there, not knowing what to say. She was stuck between feeling angry at Meredith, ashamed at the idea that she might be right, comforted by Greg's immediate defense, startled by his ferocity, and embarrassed that it had become such a big deal. She really wanted everyone to just drop it, so she and Greg could talk later, in private, without everyone listening and judging.
"I can't believe you guys!" Jake exclaimed, looking around incredulously. "How can you support this?!?"
"We literally just explained ourselves." Victor pointed out.
"But-" Jake began.
"Alright, enough." Greg interrupted. "We can talk about this later. We need to keep moving." He explained, motioning for everyone to move.
The rest of the group immediately began to move, while Jake growled in frustration, but didn't argue, pulling Meredith after him as they followed. Meredith was stunned for a bit, but as soon as she got her bearings back, she shook Jake off and rushed forward to stick close to Greg, leaving Jake to stare after her incredulously. He'd been the one defending her! Why did she immediately run back to Greg, the one who had threatened her?!? Why did girls always go for the assholes?
Jake stewed internally for a bit before pausing and letting out a frustrated sigh. He was doing it again. Why was his morality always aligned with the prettiest girl in the room? He knew Meredith was a bitch who manipulated people for her own benefit. Now that he thought about it, it was obvious that the only reason Meredith could have possibly had to say what she did was to hurt Tessa. Brittany was right. It was just as malicious as a punch to the face, if not more so. This was why he'd insisted Greg be the one in charge. He couldn't handle manipulation. He couldn't make complex decisions on the fly. He needed time to think, and life didn't give that to him. So he ended up making mistakes, things that seemed so obviously wrong or right in the moment suddenly reversing after a little thought.
"Guys, I'm sorry." Jake apologized as they settled into their home for the night. "I was wrong, earlier. I just- I got a little heated, and I thought I was right, but-" Jake struggled for a moment before letting out a defeated sigh. "I'm an idiot."
Carlos patted him on the shoulder with a comforting smile. "It's okay buddy, we know."
"Why do you think no one argued when you wanted to put Greg in charge?" Victor snorted.
"I argued." Greg pointed out.
"You don't count, you don't know Jake." Victor retorted.
The rest of the group began to gather around Jake, poking at him a bit, but making sure he knew there were no hard feelings. Meanwhile, Meredith sat in a corner, doing her best to look small and vulnerable, while frustrated that no one was paying attention to her! Didn't they realize how important she was?!? Did they really want to get on her bad side? Just see if she'd heal any of them now! She grinned slightly at the thought of Tessa with a bloody hole in her side, begging for healing. Then her mind then flashed to Greg's reaction if she left Tessa in that state and she shuddered. Maybe- maybe she should find other ways to get revenge.
While the others focused on Jake, Tessa pulled Greg into another room with a complicated expression. "What's up?" Greg asked once they were alone.
"About earlier…" Tessa began, before hesitating, not sure what to say next.
Greg frowned. "Do you think I went too far?"
"I-I don't know." Tessa admitted. "I- it was just so sudden… with- with your… issues. I don't want you to end up hurting- killing someone, because of me."
Greg sighed. "Yeah, that threat was a little extreme."
"You wouldn't actually do that, would you?" Tessa asked hesitantly.
"No, I would. I will." Greg replied with a hard expression. "With Meredith… with a person like that, you can't let them think for even a second that your threats are meaningless, or they'll walk all over you. You set a boundary, and then you follow through. If you don't, you're screwed, and I'm not willing to let her hurt you just because the punishment I stated is a little extreme. That's my mistake, and I'll deal with it." Greg paused. "Maybe I'll just rip a nipple off and shove that down her throat… that would count, right?"
"Greg, that's horrible!" Tessa exclaimed in a horrified tone.
Greg sighed. "I know, but… look, we aren't in a place where we have a lot of leeway. Meredith is an asset, sure, but she isn't dependable. If she starts acting out, doing things to purposefully hurt you, to hurt the Squad, then the only option we have is to ditch her… I'm not sure if she has the ability to make it back to the safe zone on her own. It'd be a death sentence. So it's either that, or we force her to stay in line. Maybe it's cruel, maybe it's horrible, maybe I'm a monster, but it's better than sending her off on her own to face God knows what. I mean, what if she gets captured by something like the sharkman? She can heal! There'd be no escape for her. Not even death."
Tessa's eyes widened. She hadn't thought of it that way… if those were her two choices, then she would absolutely choose to have her nipple ripped off over ending up like that poor woman they'd found with Sarah. She wasn't sure if she bought the idea that those were the only two options, but… she saw where Greg was coming from at least. It made her feel better that her boyfriend wasn't being bloodthirsty for no reason. "Don't you think there might be a middle ground though?" Tessa asked, raising an eyebrow at him. "Like, maybe you could send one of your clones to escort her back?"
"They're not… huh, I hadn't thought of that." Greg paused for a moment, before nodding. "Yeah, that could work." Greg agreed, before pausing and grinning slightly as another idea occurred to him. "Or I could drop her off with the hyena twins. Perfectly safe, but definitely not comfortable." Greg chuckled evilly.
"The hyena twins?" Tessa asked, raising an eyebrow.
"Two super powered ferals I met early on. I explained what they were doing wrong, and they really shaped up. They have a whole mini safe zone thing going in the mansion near the bunker. Nice place." Greg explained, before pausing. "Probably shouldn't tell your dad about it… don't want them getting 'dispersed'." He added.
"Obviously." Tessa rolled her eyes at him, before fixing him with a weird look. After a moment she sighed and shook her head. "I don't get you sometimes. You do so much good, yet… you would absolutely tear pieces off of someone's body and feed it to them if you thought you had to. You wouldn't regret it at all, would you?"
Greg frowned. "Why would I regret doing something that needed to be done? Well, that I thought needed to be done… At any given moment, we can only make the best decision we have available to us. As long as you do that, what is there to regret? Even if you later learn you could have done something better, you didn't know that at the time, so it wasn't a decision you could make. All you can do is learn from it and try to do better next time."
"Because even if it was necessary, you hurt someone. That has to at least eat at you a little, right?" Tessa asked, with a hopeful gleam in her eye.
Greg stared back at her with a complicated expression, before shaking his head. "I really wish I could say it would, but… that's not who I am. I don't work that way. I'm incapable of it. I struggle to think about people at all, let alone worrying about something that's over and done with. If there's something I need to fix, I'll fix it, but… the past is the past. Worrying about it won't change a damn thing, and I can't pretend I feel any different. I'm- I'm sorry if that's a problem for you."
Tessa's eyes widened. "No, Greg, that's not what I meant! I-I'm sorry, I didn't mean to make it sound like I was judging you, I just- I'm trying to understand you. The way you work… It's so different from anyone else I know. It's just hard to wrap my head around sometimes. I-I get the concept of doing something because it's right, not because of how you feel about it. That makes sense. It feels right. I just- I didn't think about what it meant to take feelings out of it entirely." She paused for a moment. "Do- do you feel any satisfaction when you do something good?"
Greg frowned. "Not particularly. Honestly, I find it annoying a lot of the time." He paused for a moment, before shrugging. "But I've never really needed to get something out of it to actually do something. It's nice when I do, sure, but it isn't necessary. Some things just need to be done, like taking a shower or brushing your teeth. It isn't satisfying, but it's necessary, so you just do it."
Tessa paused. "You don't feel good when you feel clean?"
"No… am I supposed to?" Greg asked, raising an eyebrow.
"I do." Tessa shrugged, before letting out a sigh. "I'm sorry for being so difficult… I know you're different, but it's hard to see how much sometimes. Thanks for humoring me."
"Hey, I want you to understand me just as much as you do. Possibly more. I don't want you out there thinking I'm some kind of monster. If you're struggling with something, please come talk to me so I can explain. I can't stand the idea of losing you because of some stupid misunderstanding." Greg replied, placing both hands on her shoulders and looking her dead in the eye with a serious look.
Tessa looked startled for a moment, before a smile slowly spread across her face and she stepped in to hug him. "I will, don't worry. I don't want to lose you either."