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A Mage's Guide to the Multiverse (Celestial Grimoire SI, Worm Start) by Throwaway1971

Books » Private Rated: M, English, Romance, Words: 202k+, Favs: 160, Follows: 197, Published: Jan 17, 2024 Updated: Mar 20, 2024

25Chapter 23 - 4 Heads, Better Than 1

'One or two hours' ended up being a magical serpent ride that lasted until roughly 1 AM.

It hadn't even been one of those situations where I'd gotten distracted by a pretty girl and ended up talking, and later fucking, her head off. Amy wasn't nearly that fast, I was with Cassie, and the vibe just wasn't that sorta vibe. Instead, we had simply listened to different songs from Disney as we circled around the western side of Brockton Bay, too high up to be spotted by sharp-eyed goons, but low enough to avoid drenching ourselves with the hovering masses of water vapor known as clouds.

I knew that I was at a fairly stressful and high-risk juncture in my adventures on Earth Bet, but I had to admit… I had fun. It was a different kind of fun than usual; one that didn't involve fucking somebody, fucking somebody up, or fucking with magic. Speaking of magic, however; I did receive two new abilities from the Grimoire - one that made me virtually invincible when sleeping, and a much bigger one that gave me the threadbare beginnings of permanent enchantment magic in the form of 'Infusion'.

I couldn't explore the abilities while flying, but I was excited to try out Infusion once I got back home.

Throughout the whole excursion, there had been almost no talking, other than Amy muttering her distaste or enjoyment for the different movies I played the soundtrack to, and holy shit did she have some passionate opinions. It was already a big enough surprise to learn that Earth Aleph had shared the entirety of Walt Disney's coveted princess movies with Earth Bet. Imagine how far my nonexistent, feathery brow raised when I heard Amy badly singing along to Beauty and the Beast beneath her breath, as if I didn't have the ears of an oversized bird-snake.

My chuckling hisses didn't win me any favors with the flustered girl, that was for sure.

Eventually, the ride had to come to an end. What had started as a gentle drizzle that felt novel when floating mere meters beneath the depressing clouds quickly transitioned into a downpour that had Amy swearing loudly and me pushing 120 miles per hour trying to get her home before she contracted fucking pneumonia - if she was even capable of contracting diseases.

Interestingly enough, I felt like I could have gone faster. I was becoming more in tune with my…flying serpent god self?

All in all, the night out with my newest cape friend ended with me dropping her off at her room on the second story, watching as she tried to shove her rain-soaked, healthily plump body through the window sill. With her drenched robes pressing against her skin, I was privy to a sight and realization that I hadn't noticed in the slightest over the past few hours…

Amy Dallon had a motherfuckin' dumpy. A god-damned gyatt, with two big T's. It was larger and fatter than Cassie's more perky and bubbly ass, but Amy was a bit taller and had more meat on her bones compared to my petite little girlfriend. She wasn't reaching genuine chubby levels - she wasn't overweight at all, actually, but she definitely had some healthy plush to her. Especially in her ass.

The freckles didn't just stop at her face, either. Zoo wee mama.

Not that I was looking super hard or anything.

I may have helped her out with a moderate application of Azyr, forcing a strong gale of wind to blow down from the sky and shove the grumbling and wriggling girl face-first into her bedroom with a startled yelp.

I couldn't even trill out a little birdy apology - immediately, the lights in the rest of the house came on, a concerned and teenage female voice yelled out 'She's here!', and Hidden Intuition told me that leaving Captain's Hill was probably the best way to avoid a very awkward and prolonged confrontation with the Dallon Family. I had to fly away, and fast.

So I did. At breakneck speeds. I didn't want to make things even more awkward for Amy, and I was already running late to the meeting that I had to have with my people.

The last thing I saw before waving a wing and hitting a smooth 180 was Amy flipping me off through the window, a heat-filled glint in her honey brown eyes that promised vengeance.

It made for a cute parting exchange. I foresaw many angry text messages in my future.

I didn't know what to expect when I arrived back at the Sanctum, but the messy and discombobulated scene that greeted me in the living room was pretty damn low on my 'expectations' list. Everyone was downstairs and busy with something or another, and none of them seemed to notice when I quietly shut the door behind me and just watched.

The couch and coffee table was shoved off to the side of the room, leaving the majority of the floor free for what appeared to be an impromptu workshop area.

084 was hovering over Sherrel's shoulder as the half-naked woman wrote on a large whiteboard, the battered cap of her sharpie bending between her pearly white teeth. She was writing what vaguely looked like street addresses in large, yet surprisingly neat handwriting. I couldn't see any specifics, but the hovering Pod seemed to be awfully interested in the information. Hell, I didn't even know where they got the easel and whiteboard from, but I was pleasantly surprised to see that Sherrel hadn't gone on a withdrawal-fueled rampage and hurt anyone.

It would've sucked to be forced to kill her after our little heart to heart.

Cassie, meanwhile, was sitting on the paper-strewn floor criss-cross-applesauce style, triple fingering three different laptops that practically glowed green with the amount of code scrolling down the screens. That wasn't necessarily a cause for concern or surprise - she was pretty good at multitasking, and coding was her specialty. No, what threw me for a loop was the skin-tight, expensive looking outfit that she was wearing.

Don't get me wrong, I was the furthest thing from put off by the way it clung to her curves and highlighted the suppleness of her palm-sized tits and hips, but…

What happened while I was out with Amy?

"Sorry I'm late, but… the fuck happened in here?" I stared blankly from the doorway, steam still drifting from my flash-dried clothing - courtesy of minor Aqshy manipulation.

Cass, ever the loving and adorable little minx, practically gave herself whiplash when her head darted in my direction. Her eyes, or what I assumed to be her eyes - the unfamiliar pink and blue coloration was throwing me off - widened at the sight of me, and the cool focus that had been directed towards the laptops evaporated in that one moment.

Her soft, supple pink lips pulled up into a beatific smile, and all the stress of my extremely busy day fled from my shoulders.

"Jay!" she shouted, joy and excitement empowering her body with a sudden burst of energy.

The girl lunged from her spot on the carpet, trampling over sheafs of documents and papers that littered the living room floor in her haste to glomp me. I'd almost forgotten just how physically affectionate she was - before I'd left this morning, she practically forced me to embrace her and give her five forehead kisses.

Specifically five, with audible smooches.

"Woah," I grunted, a crooked grin forming on my lips even as I caught the petite missile in my arms. Her body was light - lighter than it was before, that was for sure, and I knew just what recent perk I could thank my new natural physical strength for. "What's with all the excitement, cutie? Sherrel didn't slip you a pill or anything, did she?"

A low blow, admittedly, but I never claimed to take the high road when it came to humor.

The former druggie snorted, spitting the sharpie cap out of her mouth and giving me a half-hearted glare. Dark bags were forming beneath her eyes. "Hardy har har, douchebag. Fuck you for pullin' that teleportation bullshit on me, too! I almost got fuckin' shot by 048 here." She shot daggers at the Pod floating overhead, but it didn't seem apologetic in the slightest.

"His name's Tactical Support Unit Pod 084," Cassie shifted in my arms, looking back in order to stick her tongue out at the disgruntled mechanic. "And he almost shot you because you charged at us. Like a fricking blonde-haired bull!"

That caught my attention.

I looked over at Sherrel again, a burning question visible even through the shades of my sunglasses, and she had the good graces to blush and avert her eyes. "C'mon, kitty cat. I already apologized 'bout that, and the… other thing. What happened to lettin' bygones be bygones?"

Cassie merely narrowed her eyes and blew another raspberry at the tired-looking Tinker.

"Other thing?" I blinked, danger entering my tone.

"I'll tell you later!" she said much too quickly, wiggling in my firm grip. "We've got more important things to discuss, mister."

When I let her go, she twisted on her heel again and peered up at me, her face attempting to shift into a completely forced caricature of annoyance and impatience - possibly in response to my tardiness. The keyword there was 'attempt'. As soon as she properly looked at me, adrenaline faded and attention focused to a fine point, her eyes widened comically, and her jaw practically unhinged itself.

"...What the fuck? Jason?!"

I smiled. "Yo, that's my name; don't wear it-"

Before I could even get the cheesy one-liner all the way out, Cassie's gloved hands were prodding and squeezing my newly-airbrushed face. I stumbled back at the abrupt invasion of personal space, my hands darting forward to clutch at her latex-covered hips and square my feet in a last second attempt for balance. My agility was phenomenal at this point, and keeping my balance was child's play in most scenarios, but the only way to not fall here involved shoving Cass away and extending my left foot back in order to keep my center of balance in equilibrium.

In a split second, my decision was made.

I toppled back over my own two feet, Cassie's clumsy ass falling on top of me like some sort of shitty romcom anime scene.

"Urk!"

My sunglasses went skidding across the floor, and my now uncovered eyes were lidded with bemusement as I stared up into Cassie's much more colorful ones. If she was hurt or shocked by the sudden fall, it definitely wasn't shown on her flustered and amazed face. She was just… staring at me, straddling my abs with her knees on either side of my body. I easily read the emotions drifting across her soft, heart-shaped face.

Cassie is shocked. Cassie is happy. Cassie is horny.

Ha, I wondered what gave it away - the widening of her eyes, or the way that her hips quivered against my body?

"When did you become a supermodel?! I knew your powers were changing your body, but this- this is different. A lot different." Cass whispered breathlessly, the naked confusion thick in her voice. It was a happy sort of confusion, I noticed - like waking up and finding fresh flowers by your bedside.

From the surprisingly comfortable position beneath her, I just smirked. "... Ta-daaa. It's my apology gift for making ya'll wait. You likey?" My voice came out equally as quiet as hers, each word smoothly transitioning from one syllable to the next. I could see the way that her eyes traced every minute movement of my lips, heavy and laden with a complicated mix of lust, desire, and something else that I didn't bother delving deeper into.

Baby girl was down bad.

"'Likey'?" she murmured, lowering her upper body down until her lips were mere centimeters away from mine. I felt it then - the flexing of her bouncy ass, flush against my crotch, as she pressed and ground the heat of her core against my stomach. "You can't do this to me. I'm supposed to be mad at you…"

There was a wet, damp whine to her voice, as the scent of her blueberry lip gloss drifted into my nostrils and awakened something primal in me.

I stiffened, in more ways than one.

"If you're gonna fuck, go ahead and fuck! Not like girly hasn't rubbed it in enough already…" Sherrel's tired, grumpy voice broke through the heady haze that had fallen between the two of us.

Cassie jumped, startled out of her daze, and she would've accidentally headbutted me if I hadn't reached up and palmed her face.

"Hey!"

I was still hard, but horniness could wait until later - preferably after I had a hot, scalding shower to wash away the scent and memory of the hobo block party I'd crashed earlier.

One moment I was beneath a pouting Cass, my large hand dwarfing her face and gripping her skull gently, like the world's most fragile basketball. The next, I was standing behind her and plucking her off of her feet like a cat would a baby kitten - she even pouted and crossed her arms in mid-air, not at all surprised by my casual use of teleportation. If I had to guess, she weighed around 110 lbs, give or take a few pounds - nothing I couldn't manhandle with relative ease.

I placed her down on her feet before bending over to grab my sunglasses…

"Ahem! Lookin' good, toots."

Why was Cass deepening her voice again-

SMACK.

I froze.

"... PFFFT!"

Someone laughed, and going off of the raspiness and tired, half-mad laughter, I assumed it was Sherrel. My ass cheek tingled a little from the force of Cassie's slap - fairplay, since I'd done the same to her multiple times over the past couple of days. Just because it was fairplay didn't mean I planned to just let such actions slide, however. I had a pretty nice ass if I did say so myself, and it was normal to wanna smack and grab such clear perfection and excellence, but I wasn't some whore.

I straightened up, turning around to stare down at the giggling hacker. Her eyes were getting misty from the effort of muffling her own snorts, and the sound of the cutely hideous pig-like noises was almost enough to dissuade me from the path of vengeance.

Almost.

I'd get her when she was least expecting it. Sherrel too, considering the blonde criminal was smacking her hand against Pod 084 and busting her gut with laughter. Fucking bitch - and I mean that with utmost friendliness.

The robot stirred, servos humming as the light on its head blinked yellow. "... Ha. Ha. Ha."

Traitor?!

"There's no way it was that funny," I grumbled, straightening my sunglasses and carefully stepping over the messy piles of documents in order to get a closer look at Sherrel's whiteboard. "Treatin' me like I'm some kinda slut. That's sexual objectification, Cass - I'm hurt."

And now she was sticking her tongue out at me. Since when did my little Cassie become such a glutton for punishment?

"It was pretty funny, boss. Gettin' objectified is kinda par for the course for hot, sexy women like us. If we're gonna be your eyecandy, it's only fair if we do the same to you." Sherrel grinned, taking a step back and crossing her arms beneath her considerable bust. I hated that my hormone-filled body decided to go against my will and peer downwards for the briefest second; despite her clear exhaustion, the woman was obviously watching and waiting for the reaction.

And my girlfriend was right fucking there.

Sherrel's grin grew wider when my eyes met hers again, and I knew I just lost that mini round in whatever fuck-fuck game we had going on between us. I didn't want to dwell on it right now, or bring any attention to the area my attention had been drawn to, so I just rolled my eyes and turned towards the whiteboard. Let no one state that I had no control over my own perverted nature.

Still, things were getting… dicey for me, in both my chest and my pants, and I wasn't a pussy who lied or hid things from his girl. The not-date-but-kinda-date with Amy, the unfortunately real sexual attraction I felt for Sherrel, the fact that I fully planned on breeding Raven if I ever caught her ass lacking in the DC Universe…

I was going to talk to Cassie tonight. It just wasn't fair otherwise.

"Being the 'boss' comes with certain privileges, and smacking my frustratingly cute girlfriend's ass is in the top five- easily." I retorted after a few more seconds of introspection, turning to do a quick scan of the list of addresses written on the board.

"Oh, just top five? And what's the other four?" Cassie pondered with a smug little smile, the occasional quiet giggle still escaping her lips as she re-situated herself down amongst her laptops. She began clicking on the keys once more, and I knew from experience that anything I said to her from now on would be heard with only one ear.

"Kickin' butt, making money, saving the multiverse, and, hm… piledrive-fucking your bratty ass into the mattress. Just boss things, you feel me?"

The click-clacking of her keyboard abruptly paused.

COUGH. COUGH.

"-ACK! J-Jay, that's-!"

"Lewd? Overly sexual? Too far?" Sherrel snickered, eyeing the two of us with amusement and heat practically radiating from her pores. She shook her head slowly, cocking her hip to the side and giving the red-faced Cassie an intense, half lidded stare. "You are as fuckin' pure as rain, kitty cat. As sweet as candy, too. Jay could learn a lot from ya."

I rolled my eyes, a smirk pulling at my lips. "Yeah, yeah - I can learn a lot from the both of you, actually. Let's start with the latex, Cass. I'm diggin' the new look, but what's up with it?"

I turned away from the whiteboard, my passive Insight already having plugged the addresses for what they were - the location of Merchant safehouses that Sherrel managed to remember off the top of her head. I'd revisit that shortly, but the burning question at the forefront of my mind was centered solely on Cassie.

"Oh shit, I forgot to tell you about my verification. Stop being so frickin' distracting, assholes..." Cassie breathed, lightly smacking her inflamed cheeks. With a loud, put-upon sigh, she rose from her cross-legged position and poked the black earbuds that had been resting snugly in her ears. Her brows were furrowed, slim shoulders set firmly as she waited for something to happen.

And waited…

Cassie's shoulders slumped, and she stamped her right foot frustratedly. "Wh-what?! C'mooon, it worked earlier! Sherrel, you said I just needed to grease the springs, which I did. I applied too much grease!"

The mechanic yawned and idly dug in her ear with a pinky. "Yeah, well your little headphone thingamajig is too tiny for my tastes, kitty. I like my babies a lil' bit bigger and louder, with tires and steering wheels." She paused, before grinning lazily. "That I can drive-"

Cassie pouted. "I get it. God blessed you with big tits and a delightful personality, didn't he?"

Sherrel's grin turned wicked. "Oi, he gave momma a lot more than big-"

I snapped my fingers, and the loud crack echoed through the room. Both heated pairs of eyes shot in my direction, and I chuckled beneath my breath. "Chiiill. Cass, try pressing it again."

She tilted her head to the side, looking very much like a bemused and annoyed kitten. "Baby, it probably won't work. I'm… I'm not good with making tinkertech outside of programming, and this was one of my first pet projects. It's probably just a dud now…"

Chamon, the Yellow Wind of Magic, tasted like gold and copper in the back of my throat as I mumbled a short incantation beneath my breath while Cassie complained about her supposed 'lack of skills'. I knew next to nothing about Tinkertech, other than the fact that it was basically impossible to replicate, but magic didn't give two shits about any of that. Magic just worked.

And Law of Logic, the boon I ensnared around my girlfriend's mind with only a few whispered words and a slight gesture of my hand, was magic.

Sherrel eyed me confusedly, not knowing what I was doing but knowing, in some baser, more instinctive way, that I was manipulating forces unknown.

"-or maybe I should redo the verification video without the HUD? Hm, I don't know-"

"Baby girl," I interrupted her murmured musings, smirking when her head snapped up to me.

"Y-yes?" she squeaked.

"Try. It. Again."

"Yes sir!"

I could see how the Law of Logic changed the outcome this time. Instead of just pressing the sides of the earbuds and hoping for the best, Cassie reached up to her ears, hesitated, widened her eyes, and yanked them out - all in that order. She almost tripped over her laptops when she turned around and ran upstairs, leaping to take the stairs two at a time in her sudden excitement.

"I'll be right back! I just realized something!"

A warm sense of self-accomplishment blossomed in my chest. If there was one thing I doubted I'd get tired of, it was making Cassie realize that she was capable of more than she thought she was. I wasn't sure what type of tech she managed to make, or when she even had time to do so - though, apparently it was a pet project from a while back. Regardless, I was looking forward to the reveal.

"Sooo," Sherrel hummed, sliding up towards me. "What was that all about, boss? Your magic fingers capable of pushin' Tinkers through breakthroughs now?" Her tone of voice was light and casual, as if talking about the weather, but only a dumbass would miss the subtle pangs of hunger there. Voracious and lurking, like a scavenger pacing around a meal of a lifetime.

The thought was amusing.

"Yeah," I stated matter-of-factly, straightening my posture and meeting her face to face. Healed or not, showing weakness to former criminals like Sherrel was a slippery slope to losing respect. I couldn't have that. "Amongst other things. You tryna see?"

Something shifted in her face. The scavenger hesitated, realizing that the 'meal of a lifetime' was more than capable of biting back. Her breath quickened. "Depends on which part you wanna show me," she whispered, sliding her long, pink tongue over the supple flesh of her parted lips.

My eyes drifted down, but my cooled expression didn't shift. 'Control, Jason.'

"I guess we'll see." I replied easily, returning my gaze to the staircase. Loud, excited footsteps were approaching.

"Mmm. I guess we will."

Her voice sounded conflicted. She didn't know whether to be disappointed at the lack of flirting, or excited at the prospect of having her tinkering bolstered by my powers.

Speaking of powers - the Grimoire was offering me another mote of light within my soul, and a quick scan of the ability had me brushing it back into its infinite pool. A normal, mundane wizarding staff was cool when you had nothing else, but I was hardly your stereotypical wizard. With my new Infusion ability, I could make my own basic magical foci.

"I'm literally the coolest Tinker in the fucking world!"

The sight of Cassie slid down the smooth wooden railing of the staircase, an uncharacteristically large grin on her pale face, pulled me from my thoughts. As soon as she reached the bottom, the girl pushed off with her platform sneakers and landed somewhat clumsily on the floor. She teetered for a brief moment on the tip of her toes, but I coughed into my elbow and whispered a command for Azyr to push at her from the front, barely keeping her stable on her feet.

When she realized that she was safe, Cassie sighed in relief and flicked her short hair over her shoulder. "Nailed it."

I golf-clapped politely. "Good shit, babe."

"This Pod is impressed by Mistress' agility. Proposal: Repetitively perform more acrobatic maneuvers to build actual muscle."

Her left eye twitched. "Fuck you, tin can."

084 ignored her, slowly hovering over to her laptops and settling down beside one of them.

"Heh, don't listen to the robot - guys like Jason enjoy a little bit of soft meat. You, uh, figure out what the problem was with your toy?" Sherrel walked closer to the shorter girl, circling around her before moving in closer to peer at the nondescript black earbuds. Her heightened interest was obvious.

"Er…" Cassie wrinkled her nose, taking a step away from the nosy blonde and covering her ears. "No stealing my ideas, woman. These are trademarked!"

Sherrel rolled her eyes.

"Now, before something else can go wrong… let me start over." Cassie turned towards me, wringing her hands and suddenly looking a lot more nervous. Her eyes glanced from me, to Pod 084, to the intensely staring Sherrel, and then back to me. "I just want to say, for the record, that it did work two minutes ago when I made the modifications. Also, Sab- um, Parian made the costume. If you couldn't tell. It was a secret."

"You're stallin', and we're not in Russia." I commented idly, glancing up towards the clock. 2:30 AM.

"It'll work, kitkat. Stop bein' a pussy." Sherrel heckled with a grin. When I glanced at her, she shot me a shrug .

"Okay, okay, I know. Just- hold on." Cassie lowered her hands from her ears, closed her eyes, and let out a low, deep breath. When she opened them, the nervousness was all but wrenched away, showing off that same bullheaded, fearful fearlessness that had saved me from getting lynched all those days ago. Without any more hesitation, she squared her shoulders and slammed her thumbs into her black earbuds.

HISSSSS.

The small, nondescript earbuds suddenly shot backwards and outwards, forming what looked like smooth, dark cybernetic cat ears on either side of the hacker's head. The front ends folded inwards, above and below her eyes, and thin, see-through plastic occupied the space like ski goggle lenses. The whole thing didn't appear too durable, but durability probably wasn't the focus - lightweight mobility and sleekness was.

Overall, they looked cute enough, but seemed… unfinished? I didn't want to dissuade or demotivate the girl, but I was a little confused.

"Yo, do-" A finger was placed on my lips. I raised an eyebrow.

"Wait for it," Sherrel muttered, having backed up to my side at some point during the little showing. "She does this cute lil' nerd thing. You're gonna love it."

'Oh?' I returned my attention to Cass, who still had her eyes closed. I could be a patient man.

"Alright, it frickin' worked…" Her serious frown was quickly shifting into a small, radiant smile. Opening her eyes, Cassie clenched her fists and said, in a loud and clear voice, "HUD, on!"

There was a quiet, staticy crackle, before the front of the goggle-headphones hybrid lit up with warm, pinkish-blue light. There was the low hum of a voice permeating through her cat ears, but whatever was being said was lost to my above average hearing - all I knew was that Cassie looked absolutely overjoyed that whatever she was doing was working, and that made me happy.

Plus it actually looked pretty fucking sweet with the HUD activated. Very high-tech retro.

Suddenly, Cass smirked and whispered something beneath her breath, and my phone began to vibrate violently in my pocket. I eyed her suspiciously as I pulled the device out and swiped it open to check its overflowing notifications.

"This is a Chain Email. If you do not post your a-asscheeks on PHO within three days and three nights, you will be damned to an eternal torment by Iris, the Coolest Hacker- Cass, why the hell did you send me fifty emails? When did you even make me a fuckin' email?" My phone was still vibrating.

Cassie's smug smirk grew wider. "I'm happy you asked - the first question, not the second one~. That is not my name right now, however…" Her hand drifted behind the small of her back, right above her perky little ass, and she tilted her head cutely. The adorable addition of her the black cat ears made the movement even more sickeningly sweet. I couldn't be annoyed at that.

I sighed, but a smile formed on my face. "Iris. Nice choice on the name, by the way. A beautiful name for a beautiful goddess."

That knocked the wind out of her smug-infested sails. Cassie's cheeks reddened, visible even through the glowing visor, and she nibbled nervously on her bottom lip. "T-thank you. And I'm- I mean, my HUD. Or goggles, rather-"

"Stand up, kitty. Don't let him smell blood!" Sherrel coached encouragingly from the side.

"R-right! Ahem, I call this," she tapped the visor, "My CodeLink. It's kinda complicated to explain, but basically; by 'linking' the CodeLink to my phone's operating system, which holds all of my current programs, I can use voice command and the aid of an eye-tracking AI to visualize the effects of my apps virtually, in real time. Kinda like… playing a video game in real life?"

"Hold on," I said, blinking in confusion. "You said 'the aid of an AI'? You just… casually made an AI?" I glanced over at Pod, and its light winked once in greetings. "Like lil' bro?"

Cassie snorted. "I frickin' wish! No, I guess it's better to call them 'VIs', since they wouldn't pass the Turing test... AIs just sound cooler. Programming basic artificial intelligence isn't very hard - it just never crossed my mind to try. You helped me a lot with that, Jay; my mind has been racing with ideas recently, like my powers are excited. Analyzing 084's code - or what parts of it that I can actually read - has helped me a lot too. Some of the things he can do is…" Her voice tapered off in silent amazement, and she shook her head wistfully.

I inclined my head in acknowledgement of her gratitude. "You gave me a place to stay, I gave you a high-tech AI with enough firepower to air out a Denny's parking lot. Guess you can call me your magical sugar daddy."

The deadpan stare, red cheeks, and quivering lip was the only response she deigned to bless me with. I'll take it.

Sherrel rubbed her chin, her interest in the conversation returning as she mulled over Cassie's words. "Artificial intelligence, huh. I've mashed together a few autopilot protocols in my babies… before. They were artificial, for sure, but none of 'em were too 'intelligent'. Think you can help me out with that, kitty?"

"Mhm!" Cass nodded vigorously, a determined smile forming on her face. She was clearly happy for the distraction. "Easy peasy, I've already written out a skeleton array for an autopilot program in preparation for the ambush, so we can look it over together if you want to."

"Sounds good to me. If I needa grab us a ride on such short notice, ramp the torque up to handle my additions, get it all nice and speedy… we can try and fit it in later today. That is, if boss man wants to get me a spot to do my work?" Sherrel glanced over at me, the question clear in her eyes. "Your place is nice, don't get me wrong - but I can't really drag a four-door through your fancy-smancy livin' room, can I?"

I thought about it. She needed a vehicle, materials to work with, and a place to cobble it all together. We only had two days before the transport, and time to prepare was running thin. There were more than enough empty warehouses in the Docks…

"084, you pin down the addresses Sherr listed yet?" I glanced over at the silent Pod.

It stirred at my words, mechanical fingers flexing, before it hovered to my side. "Affirmative. This Pod has confirmed the location of two out of five locations. The other three are located in the southern Docks, and have no CCTV footage to access. Sending the data to Mistress now."

Cassie started as something Sherrel and I could not see passed over her vision, and her eyes lost focus for a moment. "Yeah, I see them - thanks 084. Jay, are we…"

I knew what she was going to ask before she even fixed her mouth to ask it. I shook my head immediately. "It's late, Sherrel's barely standing' on her own two feet, and I need a shower. We'll scout out the safehouses after getting some sleep, see if we can grab the cash before someone else does. You remember any of 'em being secure enough to work as a temporary garage?" I asked the exhausted woman.

She yawned again, her jaw cracking quietly with the force of it. "Fuck if I know, big guy. It was hard enough just rememberin' what part of the city they were in. Bein' high all the time does that to ya."

"Of course it does," I sighed, tapping my finger against 084's cool chassis. "Alright, fuck it - we ball anyway. Cass, 084 - run me through what ya'll collected from the emails between Reddit and the Warden chick. "

"Rennick," Cassie corrected idly, crouching down to pick up one of the pieces of paper on the floor. "084 wrote so many frickin' notes after your talk with him yesterday. Half of this isn't even relevant-"

"This Pod has only organized the most prevalent and key points in regards to the correspondence between Deputy Director Rennick and Chief Warden Amaya." 084 cut in loudly in his monotonous voice, flying over to another pile of discarded papers and picking them up. "Proposal: Practice better bookkeeping skills."

"Hey, I wasn't the one who decided to print off over fifty pages of bullshit!" Cass shot back hotly, turning around to give the emotionless AI a heated glare.

"Affirmative. Request: Lower auditory volume. This Pod is detecting heightened hostility in Mistress."

"Heightened hostility my ass!"

Sherrel gave me an exhausted, miserable glance before sluggishly making her way over to the pushed-aside sofa. I didn't blame her at all when she collapsed onto the soft cushions, letting out a loud, high-pitched groan. Amy's healing probably took a lot out of you, considering it utilized your own biomass, and Sherrel had an especially taxing day even without getting her tummy flushed.

She deserved the rest more than anybody.

"Alright you fuckin' children," I interrupted the bickering of my two intel specialists, bearing the brunt of their twin stares with a cool tilt of my chin. "Start from the top, 'ight?"

"This Pod-"

"I can-"

"Nope," I cut them off, frowning like a disappointed father. "One at a time. 084 first."

The robot's little body made a quiet buzzing noise as it floated forward, a massive sheaf of papers held in its little metallic hands. "Affirmative. The email from Deputy Director Rennick to Chief Warden Amaya states, "Good evening, Chief Warden Amaya. I hope that you're having a beautiful day today, for the cloudy sky down here in America must be infinitely more dour than what Canada is experiencing this wonderful January winter-"

Cass and I locked eyes, and an instinctive understanding flitted between us. We'd let him have his moment now, but in the future…

Cassie would do the information dissemination.

For now, we'd just settle in for a long night.

[A/N]So, little change here - during extreme downtime like right now, rolls will be made every 3000 words instead of 2000 in order to avoid amassing a shit ton of abilities and not using them before getting more abilities. CP collection rate will stay the same, so 100/2000. He rolled once this chapter, got a dumpy, but next chapter is something pretty fucking fun so stay tuned.

1000 CP remaining.

PS: Next chapter is out on , so be sure to stop by and check it out if you're impatient. Chapter 25 will be released on tonight as well!