The ship settled into a stable parking orbit around the planet and we contacted the hospital. Since they didn't have anyone there that knew the man's true identity, they had no choice but to let random strangers see him to try and identify him. We had to wait for them to make the proper arrangements, though.
Thankfully, Simone had found a great place about a quarter of the planet away. It was a set of majestic waterfalls that were over a mile high and two miles wide. It had been the result of a tectonic shift in two continental plates that just happened to share the same land mass, and it created a massive waterfall. Thanks to that, the local humidity was almost always one hundred percent, which meant t-shirts and short shorts for Simone, Jelly, and I.
We met up at the shuttle and climbed aboard, then flew down to the surface of the planet along the very restricted flight path that had been assigned to us. We came in for a landing next to the resort in the designated spot and Jelly shut everything down. For good measure, I covered everything in Presence and made it solid. No one was using the controls without our permission.
“Hunter, would you mind?” Simone asked and motioned to her own chest. “It's going to be too hot and humid to wear a bra.”
I chuckled and touched her arm, then formed Presence around her breasts and squeezed them together and lifted them up almost to her chin.
“HEY!” Simone yelled and both Jelly and I laughed. “Stop that!”
“Sorry.” I said with a grin and lowered her breasts to the right spot, as if they were hanging naturally, then gave them the proper support they needed.
“We all know you're not sorry.” Simone grumbled.
“I'd ask you to do mine next; but, there's no way you could get them that high.” Jelly said and cupped her breasts and tried to simulate the move. “Nope, not anywhere near as funny.”
I chuckled and waved for her to move her hands, then I gave her a Presence bra that fit perfectly and gave her the exact support that her breasts needed.
Jelly let out a contented sigh. “Thanks.”
“It sucks that we can't wear our flight suits.” Simone said. “What a stupid regulation to have about not wearing expensive clothing and adornments.”
“I think it's to discourage theft.” I said as I motioned to the shuttle hatch and opened it. “I'm pretty sure if you showed up in the flight suit, everyone would be looking at you.”
Simone rolled her eyes. “Fine, fine.” She said. “No unwanted attention.”
“Why else do you think I'm concealing my Presence?” I asked and we left the shuttle. “It would alert everyone within two miles if I used Detect Presence.”
“Why aren't you using it in a limited capacity?” Simone asked, slightly confused. “You've done that and still stayed hidden before.”
“At the moment I felt the assassin's Presence flared, she had felt mine. She knew I was coming for her because of that and was ready for me.” I said and Simone's hand grabbed mine and held on tightly as I relived that blinding moment. She went through it with me as my attention changed from the woman in front of me to the people I felt inside the building. I used up all of my Presence to protect them from the blast and to nullify as much of the explosion as I could. Unfortunately, it had left me completely vulnerable and I only had my personal shield to rely on. It hadn't been enough.
“H-Hunter.” Simone had to wipe her tears away with her free hand.
“Yeah.” I said and lifted her hand to my mouth and pressed my lips to the back of it. “Let's go inside.”
The three of us walked over to the nearby building and went inside and over to the reception desk. Since I was hiding my Presence, I couldn't tell who else had it; but, I could tell who tried to use it on me. The woman behind the desk greeted us and confirmed our reservation and the man beside her used his Presence to check us over.
I wouldn't have minded that, since we didn't have anything on us except for the invisible bags of holding, so he wasn't going to find anything. I was annoyed as hell that he was using the opportunity to check us over in a different way than he should have by 'feeling' us with his Presence, so I created a very small Presence Blade behind him and poked him in the balls with it and absorbed it.
“YEEOOWWWW!” The man yelled and immediately grabbed himself between the legs.
“HEY! He just... oh, you bastard!” Jelly exclaimed and tried to climb over the counter to get at the man. I caught her before she managed to reach him, though. The receptionist had been startled and then she quickly turned on the man and saw where his hands were. She cursed and berated him in front of us and didn't need the gentle mental prod I had been prepared to give her to let her know what he had been doing.
A man in a black suit came out of the back room and the man and the receptionist walked over to the side. We stood there and watched a lot of hand waving at the culprit as he rubbed himself between the legs. The receptionist shook her head and then the man was grabbed by the arm and escorted into the back room by the man in the black suit.
“We are terribly sorry for that.” The receptionist said. “He will be appropriately punished for...”
“I want him charged with assault.” Jelly said through gritted teeth. “He used his ability to touch me.”
“Miss, I'm sure that we can...”
“Unless they are going to remove his ability to stop him from assaulting anyone else... and I'm sure you're not going to do that, considering the way I just saw you handle this.” Jelly said and pointed. “I want him charged with the crime he did to me and my friend here.”
“He did it to me as well.” I said and Jelly, Simone, and the receptionist looked at me with surprise on their faces. “It felt like he was rubbing my butt. I thought about saying something, then he yelled...” Because I poked him in the balls. I thought and finished the statement in my head.
“Miss, sir, I...” The receptionist gave us a pleading look. “I assure you that he will be dealt with.”
Simone squinted her eyes at the woman. “I don't normally call people liars to their faces.” She spat and took out her datapad. “What was that man's name?”
The receptionist didn't respond and Simone used one of the security hacks I had given to her.
“I guess I don't need it.” Simone said. “It seems he's done this a few times already, 'reformed' each time, then did it again.” She shook her head and looked at the receptionist. “You are pathetic!”
“He's the owner's son.” The receptionist said in her defense.
“I wouldn't care if he was the owner of the whole planet!” Simone spat. “He's a criminal! He needs to be in jail!”
“Is there a problem here?” A different man in a dark suit said as he came out from the back room.
“Yes, you're not allowing a criminal to be brought to justice.” Simone said.
“The matter is being handled.”
“Really? How?” Simone asked and the man didn't say anything. “Aren't you going to lie and say that he's being punished?”
The man stood there and didn't respond.
I slowly shook my head at him. You don't come out to confront people unless you can deal with them.
“Well, I know how to deal with this.” Simone said and lifted her wrist com and hit the standard emergency code. The man in the dark suit stepped forward to grab her wrist and I grabbed his arm instead.
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“Don't.” I said to him.
He tried to pull his arm away and I didn't let go or move. He frowned at me and made a fist, then he swung at my hand holding his arm. Since I was touching him, I knew that he expected me to either let him go before he made contact, or he expected to hurt my hand and that would make me let go. He also expected to apologize and to be suspended for hurting a guest inside the hotel. What he didn't expect was for me to stand there and take the heavy punch right on the tops of my fingers and I didn't let go.
“I hope your security footage is nice and clear.” I said with a smile. “That's four crimes I've counted so far. I'm including the three counts of sexual assault as one crime, by the way.”
The man in the dark suit thought about trying to punch me in the face. I grinned at him and he changed his mind. Five minutes later, a squad of guard troops and two members of The Order came into the lobby.
“Thank the goddess that you're here!” Simone said and then gave her account of what had happened.
The guards looked like they were bored and knew they weren't really needed for this part, and the two Order members had her explain the first incident again. They started to look around and then they commanded the troops to storm the back room and to follow the stairs up to the third floor to get the man in question.
I stood there with my hand on the dark suited man's arm and waited. When the troops came back, they had the man who had assaulted us, another man who I suspected was the owner of the resort, and the other dark suited man.
“Having an unsanctioned Presence user working here and checking the guests is against the law.” One of The Order members said.
“Not to mention assaulting us!” Jelly nearly yelled.
“He's the owner's son, too. They've been covering up for him for years!” Simone volunteered the information and held up the datapad. Both of The Order members' expressions became hard.
“A Presence user since birth? On an Order planet?” One of them asked. “Was he even tested?”
The owner didn't respond and The Order member started to reach for him. In the next moment, The Order member sighed and waved for them to be taken away.
“We'll take him now.” One of the troops said and relieved me of my burden.
“Thanks.” I said.
“Thank you for bringing this to our attention.” The other Order member said to Simone.
“Do you need this...” Simone held out the datapad and the man smiled.
“No, we will have someone here momentarily to shut the place down and investigate exactly how many crimes have happened here.” The Order member said.
“Make sure you prosecute them all for what they did.” Jelly said, angrily. “They stood by and...”
“Please, calm down.” The other Order member said and tried to use Presence to reassure her.
“NO!” Jelly jumped back from him as she felt it and then she planted her feet solidly. “How dare you, you fucking asshole!” She snarled, then quick as a flash she jumped forward and punched the man in the face as hard as she could. Since she was a trained combat pilot and a member of the military, she was not a weak person by any stretch of the imagination. The man's head snapped to the side from the force of the blow and he dropped to the floor like a limp noodle, unconscious.
The other Order member sighed at his companion's complete lack of decorum. “I am terribly sorry, miss.” He said and didn't try to help the other man at all. “I will council him on the proper use of his skills and when not to apply them. When he wakes up.”
Jelly opened and closed her fists as she took several deep breaths to try and calm down.
“I guess that means our reservations here are no longer valid.” I said.
“Please, allow me to make up for what happened here.” The Order member said and took out something from his pocket. “This will gain you access to a nice Order owned two story apartment house about ten minutes from here.”
“We have a shuttle.” Simone said.
“There is a personal pad nearby.” He said and used his wrist communicator to make the appropriate arrangements for us to go there. “I don't see any bags.”
“They are still on the shuttle.” Simone said. “We wanted to see the room first and...”
The Order member held a hand up. “I was worried you needed to check out.”
“We just got here.” Jelly said through her clenched teeth. “Now I'm debating on whether or not to stay.”
“I assure you that now we know what has been going on, things like that won't happen again.”
“Are you going to check all of the resorts and hotels and things?” Jelly asked.
“Yes. Yes, we are.” The Order member said. “The local control tower will send you the coordinates for your new landing destination and the flight path there.”
“Thank you!” Simone said, excitedly. “I... we appreciate it.”
The man smiled and nodded, then he unceremoniously picked up his partner and tossed him over his shoulder and carried him out of the lobby. The three of us exchanged looks, then we followed them out of the lobby. They climbed into a large hover car and we went to our shuttle and climbed in. After they took off down the road, Jelly had us powered up and the control tower gave us the flight path and the new coordinates for where we would be staying.
Jelly followed the directions exactly and we flew to the new place and landed right beside the two storey house. We grabbed our bags and left the shuttle and went inside the house. Once we were inside and dropped off our bags in the living room, I turned around and made 'come here' motions to both women. Simone came right over to me and gave me a hug. Jelly was reluctant at first, then she saw the tear in my eye. Her eyes teared up and she came over to me and wrapped her arms around me and held me tightly as she cried.
I knew Jelly had started to overreact to try and garner sympathy at first, then the full implication of the man's crimes had hit her. He had used Presence to molest hundreds, maybe even thousands of people, and she was the latest victim. When that Order idiot had tried to use Presence on her to calm her, right after she had been assaulted, was the stupidest thing he could have done. It had been a genuine reaction on her part to lash out like she did and she had scared herself. She hadn't held back at all.
“Shh. I'm so sorry that happened.” I said and then I rubbed her back. “As soon as I felt him trying to feel us like that, I poked him right in the balls with a Presence Blade.”
Jelly caught her breath and looked up at me. “You stopped him and made him yell like that.”
I nodded. “I couldn't do much more than poke him without giving us away, though.”
“What you did was enough.” Simone said. “It brought it all out into the open.”
“No, you did that.” I said and rubbed her back, too. “Hacking the security and then calling an emergency?” I smiled. “That was some quick thinking.”
“I'm good under pressure most times.” Simone said.
“H-Hunter-r.” Jelly said with a slightly shaky voice. “Can... can...”
“Well, okay.” I said and let them go. They both looked at me with raised eyebrows for a moment, then I turned around and bent over a little. “I'm not taking the shorts off, though.”
“Wh-wh-what?!?” Both of them stared at me.
“No, I guess that wouldn't work.” I said and turned back around. “It's easier to grab this way, right?”
“Wh-what are you t-talking about?” Jelly asked.
“You wanted to grab my butt to make me feel better after I suffered my first sexual assault, didn't you?” I asked. “At least, that's what I'm guessing. I have trouble reading surface thoughts while I'm blocking so much.”
Jelly wasn't sure what to say to my offer.
“Well? Go ahead.” I said and closed my eyes and held my arms open slightly. “I won't even look.”
A moment later, I felt her step close to me and give me a hug. I put my arms around her and her tears flowed as her hands slowly moved down from my waist to my backside. She gripped my cheeks hard and she sobbed and cried into my chest.
“Shh.” I said and rubbed her back with a hand for several minutes.
Jelly calmed down eventually and eased her hold on my butt, then she stepped away and looked up at my face as I let her go.
“That felt good.” I said. “Thank you.”
Jelly took a breath and let it out. “You're such a liar.”
“Okay, it felt like my cheeks were locked in a vise.” I said and she barked a laugh as another tear came to her eye. I quickly wiped it away. “I'm glad my butt could be of use in your time of need.”
Jelly actually laughed this time and she opened and closed her hands. “My fingers are actually sore.”
Simone laughed, too. “I've got good news and really good news.” She said. “The good news, Hunter has muscles like tristeel and it's rare that he'll let you touch them.” She said with a grin.
“What's the great news?” I asked and she motioned to the window.
“Take a look at what's across the street.” Simone said and we walked over to take a look out the window.
“Ha.” I said and smiled as we looked at the building that we were going to have a really hard time getting to while travelling across a movement restricted city.
“Is that what I think it is?” Jelly asked, unsure.
“It sure is.” I said and put an arm across her shoulders. “I really hate that we had to go through what we did to get here, though.”
Jelly looked up at me and I was already looking down at her. “Would you have still caused the scene...”
“Absolutely not.” I said and turned her to face me. “I would have activated my Detect Presence at full power and let them all blow themselves and their records up before I would intentionally subject you to that kind of treatment.”
Jelly took a shallow breath and briefly glanced at Simone, who nodded. “Thank you.”
“We better get everything set up if we're going to figure out their work hours and how to get in safely.” Simone said. “I'll take the evening shift.”
“I'll take overnight.” I said.
“I'll get to bed and be ready for the morning.” Jelly said and tried to walk away.
“Hey.” I said and touched her arm. “If you need anything, anything at all, come right to me.”
“What if I need to share some girl talk?” Jelly asked.
“I've had a lot of practice with that, so if you need to, I'm here.” I said.
“Really?” Jelly asked and briefly glanced at Simone, who nodded again. “I... might just do that.” She said and walked over to grab her bag and went to the downstairs bedroom and closed the door.
Simone and I set up all of the equipment we had stashed into our bags of holding and then we sat back on the couch and watched the small screens we had placed on the coffee table. We sat there and didn't say anything for about half an hour, then I just couldn't help myself.
“When are you going to cash in on that bet?” I asked Simone.
“Wouldn't you like to know?” Simone said with a wicked smile. “It must really bother you to not be able to read the people around you in your current hiding state.”
“You have no idea.” I said and she leaned in close.
“I'll tell you beforehand when I'm going to do it, so it won't be that big of a surprise.” Simone said.
“That's a relief.” I said. “I don't mind being caught off-guard most times, usually because it's a pleasant surprise; but, if it compromises me in some fashion, I won't be happy about it.”
Simone smiled. “I know.” She said and we sat there and watched the screen and the datapad automatically marked the people going in and coming out. We lost count of how many of them had the same silver case that I had found full of ashes, that we knew was a cleaning case that removed all evidence of their missions and their items when necessary.