“GRRRRRRR, why the fuck is this place still in the stone age of tech! For Prime's sake, all their stuff is still using silicon as the main base! And their coding bleh! It's like trying to understand a fresh off the boat Termorion without a translator!”
I had just been in the middle of heading back to my room to check up on Lucia’s condition. My state of mind having eased after Xue’s promise alleviated the weight on my heart from soul-crushing to just a smudge of encroaching panic when an outburst that sounded a lot like a tantrum caught me off guard.
The sound of plastic and other sorts of mesh being cast around in rage. Choosing to take the stealth route, I carefully shuffled towards the room down the hall where the noise had originated from making an effort to try and remain silent.
“No power crystals either! My Nano’s almost out of juice, what the hell am I going to do then!”
What appeared like the remains of a smart toaster smashed next to the door I was peeking into startling me into opening it slightly allowing me and the grumpy person inside to see each other.
Reol in her all her glorious petiteness of 5’3” watched me with an open mouth, a shocked expression on her face as though she hadn’t expected her little fit to attract anyone's attention.
The dawn-tinted ponytail that made up her hair glowing more radiantly than the day before, making me suspect that her emotional state might be tied to how bright it could get.
If I didn't focus on the hundreds of potentially thousands of dollars in home appliances and entertainment equipment lying in tatters around her like some sort of machine monstrosity had spilled its innards, I would have called her fuming state adorable.
Deciding that I should be the first to respond considering it was my home, I asked her a question making sure that my annoyance was evident. I wasn't all too happy with the cost of the mess she had just made.
“So care to explain why anything remotely resembling like it posses a CPU is now lying around you, in what one could only call a necropolis of technology?” I was mildly angry, yes, but I’d come to realize these girls were anything but ordinary, so there must be a reason why she’d done this.
Though if her reason sucks, I’ll sick Lucia on her, tie her up and give her a real good spanking to teach the brat a lesson.
Kidding!
I’d get tossed in jail if anyone saw me do that to a girl who looked as young as her.
Instead, I’ll have Lucia do the spanking while I watch. Still questionable but sometimes you had to get a job done.
“Grrrr…” Did she just growl at me? Even Alsha an actual dragon hadn’t growled at me.
“Perverted Ape! What's the state of this planet's space program!” Oh, well that's an interesting question, though I couldn’t see what it had to do with the current condition of what was once my favorite toaster.
As a species before the change that gave over a ¼ of the words populace superpowers, we had just been starting to colonize Mars. The smallest of efforts costing billions just to keep the people out there alive. Many thought it to be an impossibility with our technology, which was later proven to be right as the anarchy that came with powered individuals turned the entire world upside for over an entire decade.
If it weren’t for those that saw the good they could do with their powers uniting against the madness we’d likely be living in a Mad Max right world, tight leather pants and everything included.
When we did return to Mars though it was as a stronger species, S-rank teleporters, and wormhole tech allowing for instant travel between the two globes in space and enabling us to divert resources towards betterment of living conditions for the colonies.
Hell Mars was already half terraformed, and it's only been 35 years since they started. If things kept up like this, we’d finish colonizing the system in less than half a century.
The only thing holding us back was having enough people to move off-world since the fertility rate had dropped signiganly after people started awakening powers.
“I’d say we’ll finish conquering our home system within a century. If our population manages to keep up.”
“Shit.”
She spun around and started digging in the pile again looking for something, her small arms tossing things half haphazardly all over the room, the junk leaving indentations in the walls and floor.
“Here open this up for me. I need access to whatever primitive form of the web your world has!” After Pulling out my laptop from the pile, I angrily tore it from her hands the moment I saw what I was.
“Why the hell did you go snooping through my room!”
I normally stored my laptop underneath my bed which wouldn’t be all too bad if I didn't also keep vintage magazines of dubious contents that Marvin loved to give me on my birthday each year. I didn’t have the heart to toss them out since I could tell they were difficult and expensive to come across.
“I didn’t do anything to your porn so stop getting your panties in a twist.” She crossed her arms around her budding chest, frowning that I was still focused on how she had acquired my stuff.
“First tell me what you want to do with it, and then I might consider allowing you to use it.”
Crankier than an old man yelling at kids to get off his lawn, Reol looked at me like she wanted to take some of the junk on the floor and shove somewhere I wouldn't like.
“I need information! Plus I can feel the mana in the air but its a lot more restless than from my universe, so I can't even use it to try and form power crystals. That good enough for you dipshit?”
The tale has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation.
Ok, that was enough.
“How about you learn some fucking manners, and then maybe just maybe I’ll let you use my stuff.” Yeah, she could just screw off for all I care if she was going to keep being that rude.
She ate my food, slept in my house, destroyed my entertainment rooms, and wants to keep being a little cunt? Naw bro, this ain’t it.
I was already halfway out the door when I felt a soft hand seize my own. Turning around I was surprised to find Reol had actually taken my hand in hers.
Her face was scrunched up as she had just eaten the sourest of limes, but she continued to hold on anyways.
“Look I ain’t exactly the most polite person I get it. I’m sorry I ruined all your stuff, and I promise to pay you back for it all, but if I don't start working soon this little thing on my neck is going to blow my head clean off.”
She pulled aside her long ponytail giving me a glimpse at her delicately slim neck where a strange red crystal was embedded in. It pulsed rhythmically like a clock, every pulse slowly moving it towards a red line that seemed to designate a very gruesome fate.
“What the fuck is that!” It looked like it was embedded straight into her spinal cord, removal might not even be possible.
Her hand grip tightened to the point where it actually hurt, I wondered how someone so small could produce such hold.
“The Corps do just love their contingency plans.” She said bitterly as sat down on the floor, laying her small head on her knees. Dark memories resurfacing from what her frosty white eyes showed me.
Seeing her their on the floor I couldn't help but think back to myself not even an hour ago, begging Xue for her help. If I denied her not only would she die but I wouldn’t deserve the support Xue was going to give me.
“Goddammit here, just take it before I change my mind. The passwords Big Chungus. My mom must be rolling in her grave for almost making a little girl like you cry.”
“I’m 20 you fuck!”
Having the effect, I expected the somber mood was blown away like it never existed in the first place as Reol took the laptop from my hands and instantly typed the password in less time than it took for me to blink.
My existence became that of air to her as for the next hour she just sat there fingers a blur on the keyboard, eyes soaking up information at speeds that seemed to rival the very computer she was using.
Click new page scroll down, click new page. A perfected cycle repeated itself over and over again. Sadly, I neglected to charge the laptop during the last few days, so it died just as we reached the 1-hour mark.
“Good, managed to get most of what I wanted.” Reol sighed as she laid down back to the floor, a relaxed expression giving me a splendid sight of what she looked like when she wasn’t perpetually scowling or throwing a fit.
With youthful features that just made you want to wrap your arms around her and tell her you’d protect her, I resisted the strange urge. She looked so vulnerable at that instant even if it were only passing moment.
Though I knew better, this feisty gremlin would have me by the balls if I did or said anything of what I’d just thought.
“So what did you do?”
“I focused on getting an accurate measure on your worlds tech. It's very primitive in almost all regards despite a few where they work in tangent with these powers you all seem to possess.”
Wouldn't her enhance mind count as a power? She made it sound like her world didn’t have such things.
“Doesn’t where you come from have powered individuals?”
She closed her eye maybe contemplating on whether or not to give me an explanation. Eventually, she spoke up white iris’ full of bitterness.
“Mana is a fuel source, where I’m from. It's an energy that exists in almost an unlimited quantity everywhere. As long as you have the right devices, you could convert it into any other source of power you need, or even directly use it. The only people who hold powers where I’m from are those that were created to have them. For additional profits, they were exposed from birth to high concentrations of Mana until eventually, they changed. Sometimes they were small changes other times it would lead to creatures that couldn't even be called partially human. My abilities are thanks to these experiments.”
Receiving more information than I expected I felt somewhat touched, but that quickly turned to rage as I realized Reol was essentially one of what my world called The Enhanced. There were strict laws in place to protect experimental procedures from abusing their patients. Those Corporations Reol talked about didn’t seem to need to follow such guidelines and used the lives of the people like those of lab rats.
My mother had been an Enhanced, one of the earliest to every receive the procedure back when there weren’t any major laws to protect the new rising group. She’d been a very powerful advocate for these laws and spent quite a bit of her own money to make sure the laws were passed when they did. Many of the older Enhanced saw her as a leader, which is why on her deathday large droves of people would gather around her grave to mourn her passing. I respected the Enhanced, and their mistreatment was one of the few things that could really set my blood boiling.
“Wretched trash pretending to be human is what those who perform or fund these projects are. A bullet to the brain is all they deserve in life.” My anger surprised Reol, her gaze like that of someone who had just properly learned the name of the associate they interacted with on the morning train every day after a long year.
Bursting out into a lovely giggle, its bell-like peals soothing to the heart Reol handed me back my laptop and started cleaning up the mess she had made.
“Looks like your, not a just a perverted ape, you got some good qualities in you as well!” She was tossing everything into the corner, but at least she was trying to neaten everything up.
“I’ll never refer to myself as perfect, but Lucas Rivan is a well-known gentleman. At least to those who show him respect, and don’t call him a dipshit.”
“I'll keep that in mind, but you’re still a perve, don’t think I didn’t catch you ogling my chest, no one can hide anything from these eyes of mine.” I couldn’t help but chuckle at her accusation as we finished ‘cleaning’ up her room. I’ll get some trash bags later and toss everything out when I get the chance, but for now, it would all lay in the corner of this room, which would be Reol’s problem till then.
We had just finished, and I was about to ask Reol if she could explain to me how to properly utilize the enhanced mind ability when her mood took a turn for the worst. Her frost white eyes had an intensity that rivaled Alsha, as glowing claws sprung from her gloves.
Without so much of a warning, she lunged at me her speed while not as impressive as Alsha’s or Lucia’s was still to fast for me to react.
Fucking hell girl I thought we just had a moment! Why did you suddenly go from laughing with me to wanting to slice me apart!
Unable to do anything I promised to myself if I survived this I was going to paddle this girl into submission!
In an instant, it was over.
Though I stood there without so much as a paper cut.
Turning to see what exactly had happened I couldn't yell at her.
“Why did you suddenly go feral on me?!”
Then I got a good look at what exactly was going on.
She had something I couldn't see struggling in her hands, her glowing claws trying to pin it in place.
Eventually, she succeeded and opened her mouth into a huge lewd O and started slurping, the image of something else filling in the invisible thing she was….. Eating?
I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t turned on as I watched her slurp for an entire 30 seconds, but as a gentleman, I made sure to hide my uncomfortable boner.
With one finally wet swallow, she was done giving the succ, and I was now on hunched over ‘pretending’ to get a better view so I could ask her what exactly had just happened.
“Finally some usable mana!” She actually looked full unlike when she had eaten over half of her body weight in food earlier in the morning.
So… Um, what was with that sucking?” I wasn't sure how to ask nicely without giving her a legitimate reason to kick me with her heavy boots.
“Give me a sec, this mana has information embedded in it.” She sat their her focus turned towards inwards to try and unravel whatever this mana thing she had just eaten was.
Eventually, she opened her eye again, but this time a nervous laugh left her.
Looking straight at me her next words added to my plate of problems.
“I think your summoning wasn’t exactly discreet. You’ve got trackers looking for your ass.”
Well shit.