Becoming Monsters: in the Mirror

And now we enter the home stretch of this wild ride.

This is still story of the Becoming Monsters universe by Ai Loves, setting used with permission. All canonical and mechanical errors are my own. The yarrb is the creation of FelisRandomis, used with permission.

—

Chapter 31: Chains of Command

Certain emotions dominated the breakfast table. Relief that Lucy and Emily were alright. Utter terror at what exactly happened overnight, once we told the tale. Anger at the entity we dubbed the Cursebringer, for doing all of this to us.

And, most surprisingly, a shard of frenetic excitement, coming from Sarah. She could hardly hold herself together, the words spilling out of her mouth with such speed and in such twisted form that none of the rest of us could hope to keep up. Not even Whitney, who was by far the most used to it.

I had to interrupt. "Sarah, slow down. I heard something about power matrices, a seven by seven grid, batteries, filters, and you getting very hyper. That took ten seconds, and you've been going for about three minutes. I think I heard you breathe once in there."

She visibly restrained herself. Took a breath. "Okay. So. I told you about my Masterwork. How I was looking for proper components, that they had to be perfect for it. After all that we have been through? I think I have them all now. In order to demonstrate my Unified Resource Theory, I think I can create a Hunger Battery, and if I get it right we should be able to pull mana out of it. And vice-versa. Possibly Health and Stamina. I don't know what the conversion rates or efficiency would be, not yet, but I hope to work that out today. The hospital has a few references, but now that I know exactly what I have I can dial in my formula."

"And if it works out?"

"Then my path is clear from here to level twenty. Enchanters who complete this get a significant boost to Class Progress gains until the checkpoint level, too. It's one reason I have been gaining so fast, the stave I completed for Lucy satisfied my First Masterwork."

Whew. Okay. That... that's a lot. I hadn't heard of an Enchanter over level 18, and that one was the one of the main guys for the US Armed Forces Research and Development. "Do you need anything from the rest of us?"

"Besides the pancakes Gloria is making? Not until this evening. I have more than two of each of the components. Karackt feather. Gaaku scale. Babau fang. Glasya horn shard. Balar blood. Kitsune fur tuft. Succubus wing leather. I have the battery formula, and a Crystal Coin to anchor the lens." I winced at that. "Plenty of Alkahest, well-refined basic and intermediate components, and a solid selection of rare ones for bridging. My personalized tools, and my ring. I think I'm set for supplies."

"You've put a lot into this. I want to see it work, so everyone? If Sarah calls you for anything, and says it's for this? Lay down what you're doing if you can and go."

"Ay, she's hungry, first!" Gloria set a pancake in front of Sarah. Singular, sure, but the size of the largest plate we had and dotted with at least three different fruits and chocolate. If that didn't get her going, I'd have to use smelling salts. Then I got one, myself. Basically, fruit salad mixed 50-50 with ambrosia. There was butter and syrup on the table. Nobody touched them.

Once my taste buds weren't distracting me, I thought to check my Status again. Not the greatest news, but better than I expected. I was under 20% for basically everything. Still. Been worse, just had to make sure to not get into any fights today. Eat a bunch, give my Regeneration a chance to work. Gave me an excuse to grab a second pancake.

My wife shook her head a bit, still waking up. It was almost like our sleep had been interrupted. "Okay, ladies, a bunch of us are riding high on our stores, and Jay is low. Paige, after breakfast. Whitney, lunch break. Emily, you and I can grab him at any spare moment. Maybe a clone if he isn't doing anything technical."

I almost choked on my pancake. Almost.

Paige Evans was many things. Powerful. Statuesque. Skilled. One thing she wasn't? Patient. She finished her breakfast, spotted that mine was done, and

quite literally

dragged me to bed. Easy to forget sometimes that Whitney wasn't the only one who could bench 500 pounds here. Er, 225 kilos? Either way, since I wasn't doing the walking I had time to consider it. Though there was still a molten lava problem, Paige had exactly zero issues using the rest of her body and loved it. I had no objections, either. Especially when she told me to take as big a bite of her pool as I needed.

As I came onto her face and chest, I did just that. Instead of a nibble, I feasted upon her inner energies. As I pulled them from her, I could see as her face contorted with pleasure, beyond even what she had felt as I was within her. She shuddered as I finished, orgasming with me despite me not having done anything that should have done so. That was new, and I wondered briefly what had led to it. As burning questions went, though, that was a lower priority.

I could wonder why pleasure happened after I got past a couple of things trying to kill us. That was a bit more urgent.

Still, the morning meant I went to work with a smile on my face despite everything, and certainly in a much better headspace than the day prior. Looking at some of the things I had attempted to work on the previous day? I decided to redo a few by way of apology. My mind really had been on my wife and the rescue mission. And bank robbery. And Nathan. And... okay, I had a lot on my mind.

A few familiar faces turned up that day. Seven folks suffering life drain came to the Curse Annex. I was called over for context and verification. Five were discharged less than an hour later with firm instructions to rest and recover. Their souls would heal on their own, they just had to do uplifting things to help themselves along. Two... would be staying a while. Vish's assessment had been spot on. If they ever went Below again, it would be because whatever higher power they worshiped decided to do them a favor.

I did what I could to help the doctors and nurses. The irony of Emily being one of the main attendants was not lost on me. She had descended into the Dungeon to care for this exact group of people. In the end, they had come to her.

That is not to say that the news was all bad. On a more macro level, my Guild was well ahead of our hours posted for keeping our home. The Twins were keeping well on top of social media, and on my instruction started gathering up our information networks for correlation and coordination. I gave them specific contact information for... well, anyone who I gave mine to. The list was not exactly a long one, after all. A few Guild Officers, some low-level recipients of mentoring, a couple of specific folks from our old careers. If they were important enough for that? The Twins needed to know. Not Marshal Shapiro, though. That didn't seem like a good idea. We also weren't hurting for income, despite the last day lacking visual recordings. You know, I could live with that.

On a personal note, Whitney absolutely (and quite literally) grabbed me during lunch, and two different closets got quickies added to their resumés as Lucy and Emily got time. For reference, I was, in fact, doing technical things while they enjoyed my Double Team copies. They did, in fact, delight in trying their hardest to get me to break character on my main face. I did, in fact, manage to put their focus and multitasking training to good use and keep from embarrassing myself. I just had to make sure not to do any coding while they did.

There seemed to be a rumor floating around the hospital, towards the end of the day, that one of the Enchanters had been going slightly Mad Scientist in the protected lab. This usually had about a one-in-four chance of amazing upgrades to the hospital, and the rest at least being entertaining. There were betting pools involved, which I happily participated in. Some people might claim inside knowledge. I'd reply that everyone else had a week to get to know Sarah, so if they didn't realize who they were betting against it was on them.

All in all? A really good day. I could live with days like this.

A call came midafternoon, from the Administrative Building. Whole office internet went down, usual emergency, and I was requested. It was a nice day outside, if a bit warmer than I preferred, so I took the walk at a stroll. Swung by the apartment and checked in on the ladies there. Gloria was focusing intently on her side of the social media thing, answering questions from fans, researchers, and enthusiasts with seemingly infinite patience.

Amber? Well, Amber's heat cycle should have been over, if things lined up with Lucy, but maybe hers was a bit different. Or maybe she just got horny the old fashioned way. Either way, she would not let me leave until I pinned her up against a wall and railed her to several excellent orgasms. The transformation effect on her had arranged it so that every millimeter of herself was placed precisely for maximum pleasure, both of myself and her. Something to be grateful for. I could tell she was.

After the quick stop, I did have to hoof it (and wing it) a bit harder to get to the job in a reasonable time frame, fudged a bit for when I found out about things. As it turned out, still faster than the tech team's normal response time. Go figure.

The issue, though, wasn't so easy to track down. No external service at endpoints, though local servers were still operating internally. So was print service. Huh. Server room confirmed the same thing. Lines inside, good. Lines out, dead. Lights alternating between red and green like we were all set for Christmas. Odd. An hour of testing, tracing, pinging, and calling gave no progress. Finally, I decided to go to the external junction box.

Though the sun wasn't exactly low on the horizon, the alleyway was narrow and angled wrong to catch much light. The box, too, was placed awkwardly. I got there, though, using my phone as a flashlight to check the connections and cables. Even odder, they seemed to be in place, but then I caught a glint where one wasn't supposed to be. The metal lining of the cable, exposed. I looked closer, it was sheared through, but cleanly.

Like it had been cut.

I heard one footstep. That's all the warning I got. I threw myself to the side and a billy club came down where my head had been, clanging against the metal. Another from behind connected with my left wing joint, the shooting pain telling me that escaping upward was now a spotty proposition. I was disoriented, my Lightning Net hitting nothing but air and brick as a third attack struck my skull cleanly. I saw stars, staggered. Caught a whiff of something cloyingly sweet. The attacks were blowing out chunks of the tiny amount of Stamina I had left, the drug overcame me, and I hit the floor.

The first thing I became aware of was the smell of fish and salt water. Familiar. The smell had not changed since the last time I got knocked over the head and dragged here. Had the feeling Julia wasn't as keen on conversations this time. Even assuming she was the one doing the interview.

Alright, no time to waste. This time around I was in a more capable shape than when I had a broken arm and ribs. Really freaking low Stamina, poor HP, and mediocre mana reserves. Way more options, though. My shield gauntlet was still on my left hand, apparently having been mistaken for a wrist brace or similar. My baton was gone from my pocket, though I knew my Extradimensional Space still contained my pistol. Phone and watch were missing.

Now the cons. I was blindfolded much more effectively than last time, and my bindings were much more secure. I could not hear any other people, but that did not mean none were present. It was still warm enough to suggest daylight, which meant no more than a couple of hours had passed. Thing is, I was on the clock this time, with several dozen people expecting to see me at specific times and places. My family wasn't asleep.

They had to know this. Time, therefore, was not on my side. I gave it about another minute of listening, but heard nothing further. Taking the risk, I activated Double Team.

Sensory overload isn't anywhere near as severe a problem when one body is bound and blindfolded. My double emerged in a seated position, which was not great for balance, but recoverable. My bindings were fairly thick hemp rope, but whatever sadist had secured my arms had dumped seawater on them when they did. This simple expedient both made it way worse to untie regularly, while also being much more resistant to fire.

I looked around. This time, they didn't have me out in the middle of the warehouse, but rather in a side room. The door was closed. That didn't mean much. The window was barred but the glass busted out of it. Potential egress point? Possibly, but I didn't have enough time just now to test it. I had to get myself free while my mana lasted, and I couldn't afford to siphon my shield yet. Commanding my Double to Flame Ray the bindings would be expensive, ineffective, and possibly hazardous to my health. Thankfully, I had an alternative.

Good hemp rope is effective. Loses some of that effectiveness when the bound person can make themselves significantly smaller at will. I dismissed Double Team and activated Shapechange instead, turning as small as I could without expending enormous amounts of mana. The bindings slipped off easily, and I was on my feet. Removed the blindfold. Stretching out, joints popping, I considered what was next. Listening at the door, I could still hear nobody, but the door itself was locked securely. While I was sure I could take it down, that would be noisy.

The window bars were too close together to Shapeshift through, too. I didn't have alternate forms like Emily to get a head start. While I could get an arm between them, barely, the bars were securely fastened enough that I'd have to resort to violence to remove them. Thus, noise. Thus, unwanted attention.

Bit of a catch 22.

I could hear the ocean waves outside, smell the sea air. In the distance, I could see three or four tiny forms flying around. Either birds or drones, it was hard to tell. They dove down to the water line. Birds, then. I was getting distracted. Feeling trapped. Overwhelmed. I shook my head.

There was a scratching sound at the door, a key turning. The door opened, and one of the last people I expected stepped in. He was in a plain, white shirt, and blue jeans. Over this was black body armor, unlabeled, and on his waist was an equipment belt. His brown hair was showing gray, light skin wrinkled, square jaw clenched. His right hand rested on his pistol in its holster. "I see I need to find better goons."

"Sergeant Mann! Imagine seeing you here." His voice had been rough, much more so than the last few conversations we had. Under the surface, the stress and rage were practically boiling off of him. Combined with the firearm and the situation, along with my low health meter, and I was in a much deeper pile of problems than it appeared at first brush. I attempted to Scan him, but the spell returned nothing. Either his willpower vastly outclassed mine, or he had some kind of resistance to it.

He was talking. "It's Paul, now. You made sure of that. Lost my job. Lost my retirement. Lost everything in my life. Because you ratted me out to my boss."

"I do not know who Julia is to you, Paul, but you chose your associates exceedingly poorly. I suspect she was not a random handshake, either. Not if I could... and can... smell her on you."

"You are one to talk, Jeremiah. I'm not blind. Karackt, Gaaku, Babau, Glasya, Balar? Why is it that the Races of your little harem you call a Guild just

happen

to nearly perfectly match the rare demonic monsters that you've been publicly fighting and claiming bounties for?"

Alright, that was a lot to unpack. I could write a novel about it and still not cover everything.

"There are a few people who know the story behind that tidbit who don't wear my Guild Badge. You are just not one of them."

"It's always the case with you!" he suddenly shouted. "Always where the action is, always reaping the rewards, never seeing the cleanup and consequences of it all. You left that to folks like me, and then the second I go sniffing around you decide to end everything that had meaning in my life."

Okay, so that's what I was dealing with. "You are blind, Paul. You think my life is all roses? You think I've dodged all consequences of my actions? In case you missed it, I got interviewed by your boss in the hospital because Julia tried to kill me in my home for stopping her second bank robbery. Almost managed it, too. I've given up on my old life for this, put myself in harm's way for people who still think my Race means I will never be a good person. People who don't have to see the

years

of suffering and scraping by we had to go through!"

His spike of rage was the only warning I got. His weapon flew into his hand as I clenched my left fist, three rounds connecting with my shield. The gunshots were thunderously loud in the tiny room, as were the two I returned after pulling my own pistol out of Pocket Space. I hit nothing but air and the metal wall behind him, but if I hadn't had my Shield he would have perforated my torso.

The silence was as deafening as the gunfire. "Why am I not surprised you're a Gunslinger? Between SWAT and OPP duties, you probably take down a target every week, minimum, and use your class abilities every time. Level, what, twelve-ish? Tetra spec? You could probably take on most of the Guild Hall in a fair fight. You don't exactly have nothing left. You're still you. You still earned all of this. You can rebuild yourself with your skills."

The buzzing in my ears was not leaving me alone. He was speaking, it was hard to focus on his words through the shock and fatigue. "As if you'd let me. The only way I move forward is over your corpse. I have you alone, Kithkin. Eyes on every member of your Guild, they aren't here to save you. Back against the bay, the buildings are ours, and lookouts to land. Nothing and nobody can get here. Even your infamous preparation can't help you."

I realized something then. "You are forgetting one critical detail, Paul."

"Really? And what might that be?"

The buzzing got louder, and two red dots appeared on his chest. "I subcontract."

From outside the window, two buzzing drones piloted by highly-aquatic Cecaelia twins fired very physical bullets from their carried armaments. Some of the rounds bounced off the bars, the rest made it through. They had no more success than I did, but as Paul was occupied by dodging them I could jump back out of the way and throw a Lightning Net at him.

The projectile got close, then reversed course. Much to my shock, it came straight back at me, engulfing me in its power instead of the former cop. As I struggled out of it, he put two shots through the window. The buzzing stopped rapidly.

"Your allies aren't particularly effective, Kithkin. And now, before we are interrupted again." His pistol snapped up, pointed straight at my face. I was still bound by my own Net, I couldn't move or Shield. There was a flash and a boom.

Somehow, I was alive to hear the boom. I thought you don't hear the one that kills you?

Standing suddenly between me and the disgraced former police officer was a slender figure, wearing a gray hoodie in the summer heat. His skin shone like mercury, and he had two batons crossed before him in the path of the bullet. Nathan, seemingly from out of nowhere.

"You will

not

hurt him!"

The kid... no, the

Specter...

dove in with stunning speed, driving the tip of one of his batons into the socket of Paul's left shoulder. His second strike connected with the forehead instead, and though the cop aimed and fired his pistol with the speed of a striking viper Nathan just

wasn't there

.