--- Mia ---
Kate had slipped out of the shower in humiliation and was getting dressed while they talked. Even so, it looked like she hadn't entirely given up on her completely unsubtle attempts at flirting, as she kept pretending to slip and made exaggerated movements while putting on her clothes.
Mia was so embarrassed for her girlfriend's choice of attire: She was putting on a skin-tight suit. A very practical piece of clothing that protects from environmental hazards and is very useful for construction work, but the absolute worst choice she could have made for attracting male attention. It showed off all her curves and left nothing to the imagination! Given that her looks were really nothing to write home about and that men generally preferred subtle flirting and romantic gestures, this was just a terrible choice. She would be so much better off wearing baggier clothing, so that she would have an easier time wooing them with her personality.
Well, the situation was probably beyond salvaging, anyway. First impressions were important, and in this case the ship had well and truly sailed. Tom had started bleeding from his nose, for pity's sake! And while she was getting dressed, Tom kept averting his eyes whenever part of her naked body 'accidentally' stumbled into view. He couldn't possibly make it more obvious that he did not find her attractive.
Kate really should just take the hint and give it up.
Then again, her perseverance and optimism in the face of hopeless situations were part of what made her so charming to Mia, so perhaps she should not judge her too harshly here.
"Kate, please hurry up! We are in danger! People are looking for us!" Mia said.
Kate responded without looking at her, while pretending to be unable to close the zipper on her suit on the first try. "Really? Then I think they already found you. Somebody just came by and said he was looking for you. A Purrian man. He said he is not a slave but an independent contractor, and that he has been hired as a negotiator for the Quaestrive Consortium. He told me that you were going to get here soon, with a new acquaintance, and that he wanted to talk. He said that he wants to avoid a confrontation, so he gave me his contact and left, nyaa."
They were too late, and had already been found out!
But instead of fighting Tom, they just wanted to talk?
"Well, if they were planning to ambush us, they could have done so. And he did not take you hostage either, so it sounds legit. Frankly, the way Tom charged in here without thinking, he would probably have attacked the guy on sight, so leaving us his contacts is basically the best possible scenario."
"Yeah, guilty as charged." Tom admitted sheepishly. "I should probably not have run in here without thinking. I didn't even know what anyone looks like, so I couldn't actually tell who is a friend and who an enemy. In retrospect, that was pretty dumb."
"I have one question, though." He continued, addressing Kate: "If you knew there was something important happening, why were you in the shower?"
"I just came home from a full shift and was sweaty and dirty. He said I had ten minutes to get ready, so I took the opportunity to freshen up. It turned out you were faster than expected."
"Oh, that makes sense. Sorry again for just barging in here. I did not know you were taking a shower. By the way, where is everyone else? This place is far too large for just the two of you."
"Everyone else is still at work."
"At this time of the night?" Tom responded in shock. "Wow, you are really being exploited. Slavery is just the worst."
"Actually, that's voluntary. They are working the night shift because it gives extra perks. We don't get paid anything, but we do get rewards if we go the extra mile at work. They don't want us to overwork ourselves though, because that would reduce our productivity in the long term. We work seven hours per day because that's the optimum, but we get better rewards if we work in the evening instead of the morning."
"Yeah, like unlocking cool extra skins in videogames, nyaa!" Kate added.
"Wait. You are slaves and you work seven hours per day, and you play videogames in your free time?"
"Yes. But we only work seven hours per day for five days per week. The other two days are for mandatory relaxation, to regain energy for work. We are encouraged to play videogames or do other activities that aren't strenuous on those days."
Tom was silent for several seconds before he shook his head and solemnly declared: "My ancestors sucked."
Mia didn't know what that was about, but they had other priorities right now.
"Kate, we have a lot to discuss. But before we do that, can you tell me how urgent this situation is? Did the guy sound like he was going to barge in here with a squad in the next five minutes?" Mia asked.
"He didn't give a deadline, but he did say he wanted to avoid conflict, so I guess we have some time to spare, nyaa." Kate responded. "He also said that they took down the phone network in the area to give us some privacy and prevent information leaking out. It's true. I tried calling you back when the call disconnected, but the network demands outrageous prices. I asked about that. He said that they monitored the connection until they had an excuse to raise the prices, then pretended to raise them too high by accident so that all calls in and out of the area are now impossible. They pretended it was an accident to prevent people from leaking information, without drawing too much attention from the government and other megacorps.
"He gave me this to contact him."
Kate handed a phone to Mia. It looked like an ordinary phone to her, but judging by Kate's expression, it clearly wasn't.
"That's a Mark 7 Hermes model. That's a top of the line military communication device! Mia, what happened? What did you do? This guy looked and acted like the protagonist from Shadewalker 4!"
Comparing someone to a videogame character was certainly an odd way to describe him, but in this case it told Mia everything she needed to know: The Shadewalker series was a first person shooter with RPG elements, where the players took on the roles of operatives working for megacorps. Players used a combination of weapons, computer technology, psychic powers, and demonic magic to attack competing megacorps. Typical missions were about stealing research data, assassinating key employees, and hacking enemy servers to discover evidence of criminal activity for blackmail purposes. Sometimes, there was no evidence of existing crimes to discover and you had to plant false evidence of crimes instead, but that was very rare, and usually a sign that you were being set up.
The series was often lauded for its realism. Most of its plot was allegedly based on real events and they even employed real Shadewalkers as consultants sometimes. Being a Shadewalker was technically illegal, of course, but they tended to earn enough money that they could get away with their crimes. It was better to be truthful about these things on your tax returns and to pay the requisite bribes than to try to lie to the tax officials.
The Malumian tax system was very unforgiving, after all. The fate of the world depended on it. On other planets, the phrase "money makes the world go round" was a metaphor, but on Mammontum it was a deadly reality. When the Malumians first discovered the planet, it did not have any axial spin. They performed a large-scale demonic ritual to start the planet rotating and make it habitable. Since Mammontum's rotation was powered by demonic magic that only paid lip service to the laws of physics, it was not subject to the laws of inertia. The government had to sacrifice large amounts of tax money to demons every year, and if they ever failed to do so the planet would stop spinning and everyone would die.
Mia took a look at the phone Kate handed her and she was shocked by what she saw: "This says that the name of the guy is Felix Serenus. I recognize that name!"
"...and how do you recognize the name of a Shadewalker?" Kate asked, with concern in her voice. "I know you like befriending the strangest people, but I thought we agreed that you stay away from criminals."
"It's not my fault, I swear! It's not like I meant to infiltrate any gangs. It's just that rumors have a way of making their way towards me on their own, nyaa. I overheard through the grapevine that Felix Serenus is the man who brokered peace between the Ruber gang and the Caerul gang six years ago."
She turned to Tom, who probably understood none of that and needed clarification: "The Ruber and the Caerul have been in a cold war for decades, and around six years ago it looked like it was all going to blow up. It was so bad, the Quaestrive Consortium even hired additional security guards. Our district is relatively far away from both gangs' territory, and normally neither gang would be stupid enough to directly attack the property of one of the most powerful megacorps on the planet."
Slaves were property, and that meant that their owners had a vested interest in keeping them safe. If an employee died, the cost of replacement was the cost of a job interview and of onboarding. But if a slave died, the cost of that to the company was far higher since the company fully owned the slave. So naturally, guided by capitalist imperatives, the Quaestrive Consortium cared far more about keeping its slaves safe than its employees. The gangs knew that, so they usually avoided making trouble in the slave districts. That the Quaestrive Consortium felt the need to ramp up security despite this really showed just how deadly the looming gang war could have been.
"But then, one day, everything was suddenly fine again, nyaa. Overnight, the megacorps behind the two gangs somehow came to an agreement and ordered their gangsters to stop fighting. It was a minor miracle that saved a lot of lives. I overheard that the peace talks were arranged by a Shadewalker called Felix Serenus. Both the Ruber and the Caerul really like him now, and it's the weirdest thing because Shadewalkers are normally not known for their diplomacy. They usually shoot first and ask questions never. In fact, they tend to kill all the witnesses so that other people can't ask questions, either.
"To be honest, I'm a lot less worried now. Felix is still a dangerous mercenary criminal, of course, but he is a lot less bad than most Shadewalkers, nyaa."
"So, judging by the way you both talk, I take it Shadewalkers are dangerous?" Tom asked. For some reason he chuckled at the word Shadewalker as he said it, though Mia did not get what was supposed to be funny about such horrible criminals.
"Well, relatively speaking, yes. Shadewalkers are dangerous." Mia responded. "Before today I would have been terrified at the prospect of meeting one in person. But after the last hour or so, I feel pretty meh about it, nyaa."
Kate looked at her in clear surprise: "Hold up, please. What do you mean? This doesn't shock you? What the hell did you do? I still have no idea what is going on and it sounds like we do have time to talk. Can you please explain what happened?"
She looked at Tom and added: "Maybe starting with the supersoldier in the room?"
Then she held out her hand and said: "Hi, I'm Kate, by the way. It's nice to meet you, nyaa! We maybe got off on the wrong foot. I'm sorry about that!"
"Hi, I'm Tom, and I apologize as well." Tom responded, shaking her hand. Mia was a bit confused about what he was apologizing for. It was Kate who kept hitting on him after all, and it wasn't like he did anything wrong by barging in to save someone. Well, except for the sheer idiocy of kicking in doors without warning. Someone could be standing behind them!
"Kate is my girlfriend." Mia added. It was important to establish such things soon and get it out of the way.
Tom looked surprised to hear that. After a few seconds he said: "Oh. I see."
He sounded disappointed, and honestly she was positively surprised by that. It suggested that he found one of them attractive, and was disappointed that the two of them came as a bundle. It was always disheartening to see how men reacted when they found out that a group of women were together, and would prefer to date a man together, as a group.
Why didn't they understand that sharing is caring?
It was a rhetorical question, of course. She understood the evolutionary reasons behind this. Zygote sizes, differing energy requirements, and psychosomatic factors, both conscious and unconscious, all depended on species and sex, and influenced mating strategies. It wasn't strictly necessary for her work as a nurse to understand these things, but she found it a fascinating topic so she read up on it anyway.
But it turned out that understanding the biological reasons behind the gender differences in mating strategies just made it all the more frustrating. It felt like the universe had arranged things to make dating more difficult on purpose. She knew this was silly, of course. She knew intellectually that the universe was not sapient and did not care about people's feelings. But sometimes it sure felt like it did.
The author's content has been appropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.
"Kate, remember how I said I was going to learn about humans tonight? Good news, I succeeded! Tom here is a human! Nyaa!"
"Oh wow! That explains the looks, nyaa! I thought at first you must be a Purrian, but you look quite different!" She responded.
"Yeah, I don't have cat ears." Tom replied.
"That's not what I meant. You are so short, and your shoulders are so narrow!" She added with a mischievous smile.
Oh wow, she was really not being subtle with her flirting. And of course, it didn't work. Tom looked like he didn't know how to respond to that, and appeared to be outright hurt by her statements. Mia was unsurprised. Some men really took it badly when you only complimented them on their looks and not their personality.
Mia decided to interrupt before Kate could dig herself in deeper: "Tom is not a super soldier. He is a celebrity."
"He is wearing power armor." Kate pointed out reasonably.
"No, this is just regular metal armor." Tom said. "I just made it look like power armor because it looks cooler."
"Then how can you move in it?"
"With muscles. I'm a muscle wizard. I put most of my points in strength, and none in height. That's why I'm shorter than Purrians."
He was clearly bragging about how he looked perfect even without putting any points into that, and yet he sounded almost defensive about it. How odd.
"What do you mean, you didn't put points in height? What points?" Kate asked.
"The humans are reality warpers who gamified the universe, nyaa! They get superpowers! And they can assign stats to themselves like they are characters from a game! Nyaa!"
Mia was elated. She finally had an outlet to talk about all the weirdness she experienced in the last hours, and she found herself unable to stop.
"He saved me from a demon lord! Nyaa!"
"...It was a team effort." Tom interjected.
Mia was glad for the compliment and nodded in confirmation: "I helped, nyaa! I have superpowers, too! I'm a Nekomancer, nyaa! I summoned Schroedinger the mythical cat, but he died because the demon lord was not a level appropriate encounter!"
Kate was looking at her like she had grown a second head, but she paid it no mind. She had a lot to get off her chest, so she took a deep breath and continued.
"Tom is a moron!" She said.
"That's true." He confirmed, nodding sagely.
"He punched the demon lord, but it didn't work. But then he punched the ground into stupidly oversized flaming swords, nyaa! And he survived the demon lord's stupidly oversized flaming axe by abusing iframes, nyaa!"
"And then I used Nekomancy to buff the brain damage Tom causes with his words!"
She shuddered at the memory, then declared loudly and with emphasis: "NOT NYAA!"
It was important to show appreciation for the universe by saying 'nyaa' at appropriate times, but sometimes it was equally important to let the universe know when you really did not appreciate something. How else was it going to learn?
She sighed. "But the one-liners did kill the demon lord. So nyaa anyway."
Credit where credit was due.
Kate was tilting her head in disbelief, but Mia just kept talking: "And there are a bunch of humans looking over my shoulders at all times now, like subscribers for streamers! That's where we both get our powers from!"
A part of her subconscious noted that all of those subscribers had probably seen Kate standing naked in the shower. Oh gods. Normally that would be a reason to freak out, but Mia was already busy freaking out about too many other things. He brain tried to add this to the list of things to freak out about in the future, but it encountered a buffer overflow and the topic was dropped.
"Wait, Mia! Please slow down. That is a lot to take in." Kate interrupted.
"Yes, it is! I have had my worldview broken half a dozen times in the last hour! But it was awesome! Nyaa!"
"Seriously, Mia. Breathe!"
"His government is nice, Kate! Nyaa!" Mia said ecstatically.
That was one claim too far, as Kate stopped staring at her in disbelief and instead interrupted her with a worried expression on her face: "Mia, listen to me. You are nyaa-ing excessively. You need to calm down. You are being hysterical and not making any sense."
Hm? Mia's brain locked up for a fraction of a second as she quickly introspected. Kate was right. Mia was in fact being overly emotional and hysterical.
So she decided to be calm instead.
"Thank you for pointing that out to me, Kate. I'm good now." Mia said, much more quietly than before.
"Don't worry, it happens to the best of us." Kate reaffirmed her.
Tom was staring at the two of them with a shocked expression and it took him several seconds to find his words: "What just happened?"
"What do you mean, what just happened?" Kate asked. "Mia was freaking out, so I pointed out to her that she was being irrational and that she should calm down."
"...and telling her to calm down actually made her calm down?" Tom asked, sheer disbelief written on his face.
"Why wouldn't it?"
For once, it was Tom who looked like he had his worldview shattered, and not Mia.
She did not understand why. Most humanoid species were able to do this, after all, although some were better at it than others. Maybe humans were bad at it? That would actually be attractive if it was true, so going by simple pattern recognition it was probably true. "If it is attractive then it's true for humans" seemed like a surprisingly effective heuristic.
Being able to calm yourself down at will was a useful ability, but it also made you easier to exploit. Species like the Thrin had very little self-control and were practically impossible to calm down. The result of this was that nobody in their right mind ever attacked or even inconvenienced a Thrin in the first place. It was simply not worth the trouble. The Purrians, in contrast, had a tendency to let reason prevail and back down from a losing battle. Ironically, this just caused the more aggressive species to pick fights with them more often. Being mentally stable was a double-edged sword when it made you predictable. Many Purrians therefore preferred to have at least one friend who knew when not to back down, and to double down on their emotions instead.
While Tom was recovering from his confusion, Kate took charge: "Now. You just talked about a lot of different things and most of them frankly sounded absurd. A nice government. Seriously? But there are too many topics to cover and too little time. Which of these topics are most urgent? What do we need to focus on?"
Mia was glad. Her girlfriend was good at thinking clearly and acting decisively.
"The most important thing is making sure you are all safe, because Tom broke a bunch of laws." Mia responded. "He is the heretic the sirens talked about. And they know that he protected me, so I was afraid that they would use you as leverage. But this Felix guy is giving us time to think, which is a much nicer response than I was expecting."
"See, you should probably have started with that." Kate responded. "But if he is giving us time to think, then let's make the most of it."
And so they did. Mia and Tom spent the next couple of minutes explaining recent events to Kate. This time she paused to answer questions, and actually managed to convey information without getting distracted. They even demonstrated some of their skills, such as Tom's ability to punch objects into other objects using his muscle wizardry.
"Wow. That is a lot to take in. I'm just happy that you are safe, though. Nyaa!" Kate said when they finished their explanations.
"But for the record: I still think that the part about the nice government is made up. Tom, you are clearly messing with us, just to see if you can get us to believe outlandish claims. But I am onto your games!
"I totally get why you dumbed yourself down, though. Sometimes, when I play a game, I just like rolling up a barbarian and turning off my brain. It's relaxing and fun, nyaa!
"And Mia, your Nekomancy sounds awesome! It's just like the videogame class, but without the megalomania and self-delusions!" She joked. "I have got to ask, though: Does your buffing work only on Tom, or also on other people? Would it work on me?"
"I think it would, nyaa!" Mia replied. "It actually says that I have one use of 'Empower Follower' remaining. Would you like me to use it on you?"
"Would I ever, nyaa? Please do!" Kate replied excitedly.
"I would be happy to, but this is a build-defining ability and I don't want to make any mistake. We should think carefully about how we want to use it, so you don't end up regretting the choice."
"But what if Felix gets here, and he turns out to be evil, and I don't have any superpowers to help you with?" Kate replied.
"How about you ask FEI for recommendations first, and just go from there?" Tom interrupted.
That sounded reasonable, and the human was the only one among them with actual experience at this. So she queried FEI and asked it for options. They spent several minutes going through options, but then Kate confidently stated "That's the one! Nyaa! I want that one!"
Mia did not know what she was expecting, but she was unsurprised by Kate's choice. She instructed FEI to apply [Empower Follower], and the room lit up in a lightshow as tendrils of energy erupted from Mia and sought out Kate, just like last time, when she used the ability on Tom.
You have applied Empower Follower. Selected Specialization: The Gamer You have integrated Kate into your system as a follower. She shares your power source but otherwise improves independently of you. You have 0 uses of Empower Follower remaining. You will regain one use at level 100. Your current level is 93.
Kate spent the next couple of minutes excitedly trying out all the new things she could do. Unfortunately, it turned out that was almost nothing: Her class was called "The Gamer" and it grew stronger based on use instead of planning. She had just unlocked it, so all she got were some minor passive boosts. If Felix turned out to be hostile, Mia really hoped that Kate's growth would happen quickly, because otherwise she would have little to contribute in a fight.
Luckily, Kate did not share Mia's disappointment. Instead, she immediately got down on the ground and started doing pushups.
"I can already see my numbers going up! This is awesome! Nyaa!" She shouted excitedly.
Mia was happy to see that her girlfriend was happy, but she thought that working out right now was not the best use of their time. Felix had not given Kate a deadline, but it was probably not a good idea to make him wait for too long and it did not seem likely that five minutes of pushups were going to make a difference in a fight. While Shadewalker operatives were known for their patience, since they often had to wait for the right opportunity to strike, stories where they ran out of patience tended to end badly for everyone involved.
They used the device Felix left with Kate to send him a message, and barely a minute later the man came walking down the street. He looked armed, but that was only to be expected for somebody in his occupation. More tellingly, he wore a suit instead of armor, and he also appeared to be alone. He very likely might have a squad waiting just around the corner, but troops that far away wouldn't help him if it came to a sudden shootout, so his claim that he was here to negotiate was most likely genuine.
They left the door open, and gestured at him to come inside.
When he got closer, she finally got a good look at the man.
Given his reputation and status, she had been subconsciously expecting somebody very attractive, but Felix looked like a rather typical, average Purrian man: He was around 1.9 meters tall, broad shouldered, with a V-shaped body, a swimmer's physique, and a square jawline. He had very well-developed biceps and his six-pack was visible even through his suit. So much muscle mass was usually unattractive since it suggested that one had to rely on physical labor instead of intellectual work, but the situation was different for Felix: An operative needed to be both intelligent and physically fit, so she supposed the muscles did look good on him.
His suit looked professionally tailored and must have cost a small fortune. Even though his clothes were fashionable and clearly expensive, they were also practical and allowed him to move easily. Mia was a good judge of character, and she suspected that Felix was far from the stereotypical man who owned a dozen different shoes for no good reason. Instead, he probably owned three or four dozen different shoes for very specific and pragmatic, mission-oriented reasons.
After a few seconds, Mia caught herself staring and quickly averted her eyes. She hoped Felix hadn't noticed her checking him out. She was embarrassed for her poor impulse control and chided herself for being so shallow when it came to men.
If she was an author, she would definitely be guilty of the "female gaze", although she was sure she wouldn't be as bad as certain other authors she read in her youth. "Women writing men" was an oft-derided trope, after all, and she was pretty sure that men did not pay anywhere near as much attention to their looks as female authors would have you believe. Women usually did not have to deal with the same from male authors, since those tended to be far too romantic to focus on people's looks.
Besides, the female equivalent wouldn't even make grammatical sense. The phrase "he dicked around cockily" was crass and rude, but at least it was a meaningful sentence. What would a female equivalent even be? "She breasted boobily to the stairs, and titted downwards"? It was completely absurd, and no self-respecting author would ever focus on such things when it contributed nothing to the story.
As he drew closer, Felix raised his hands in a placating gesture, to show that he didn't have a weapon in hand. His eyes moved between the three of them before settling on Tom.
"So you are the human who sent the entire government of Mammontum into a panic?" He addressed Tom questioningly.
Tom furrowed his brows in confusion. "How did you know that I am a human?"
"I wasn't sure until you confirmed it for me just now, nyaa." Felix responded with a disarmingly handsome smile.
Mia wanted to facepalm. That conversation was going great. Maybe letting the self-proclaimed idiot talk to the professional Shadewalker wasn't the best idea.
"Count Scelus reported that you talked about humans, and that you did not act like a typical Purrian at all. You then went on to defeat a demon lord. Defeating a demon lord is doable if you are rich and powerful enough, but to do so you would typically either hire a small army or simply bribe the demon to leave. You did neither of those things, and somehow managed to kill it in combat.
"Based on that, it wasn't hard to put two and two together. I expect that many government functionaries already suspect you to be a human. They just won't say so openly until they are sure it won't get them executed or fined for heresy.
"But where are my manners? I should introduce myself properly. My name is Felix Serenus, and I have been sent to negotiate with you and the government you represent on behalf of my client, Vetunia Quaestrive."
He held out his hand in greeting, and after a tense two seconds or so, Tom shook it. To her surprise, Felix then offered his hand to Kate and herself as well. It was rare for rich people to acknowledge slaves, after all.
But her surprise at this gesture took a backseat when his words registered properly in her brain: His client was Vetunia Quaestrive. Mia recognized the name. She had assumed that Felix was hired by a local manager, or maybe a company executive. But Vetunia Quaestrive was a member of the Quaestrive Consortium's ruling family itself! The eldest daughter of the family, and heiress of the entire consortium! She was so high up the totem pole, Mia only knew about her because she had memorized all of the top people of the organization that owned her. She was surprised to hear that somebody this important was even on the same planet as her, instead of living on Capital, the aptly named Malumian homeworld.
Mia felt a shiver run down her spine. It happened every time she thought about Capital. Not because it was a planet full of horrific, demon summoning slavers, but because the name was a pun. What sort of despicable monsters would name their own homeworld after a pun?
"That's cool and all." Tom replied eloquently. "But I don't represent my government. Or anyone else, really. I'm just me."
Felix gave him a flat stare. "You are a super-soldier, dual-wielding flaming swords, who not an hour ago crashed our banking system and then killed a demon lord in melee combat. If you want to keep your associates a secret, I can understand that, but please don't insult my intelligence by claiming that you don't have any backers."
"Oh, I do have backers. I'm a celebrity. People like watching my stream and I'm empowered by their subscriptions. Also, I did not mean to insult your intelligence or anybody else's. That would be very hypocritical, since I am very, very stupid myself, after all."
"I see." Felix replied, in the tone of voice of someone who most definitely did not see, but who did not want to get distracted.
"That is interesting and unexpected. If I may ask, if nobody sent you, then why are you here?" Felix asked.
"Tourism." Tom responded confidently.
Mia facepalmed. Kate tilted her head in confusion. Felix kept his expression neutral, but he slowly raised a single eyebrow.