MGM - Chapter 69

February 22

Late Afternoon

“Pffft. Yo-“ I blinked through hazy, half-lidded eyes, the taste of marijuana infused chocolate thick on my tongue, “Shit’s insane when you think about it, right?”

“What?”

“This, bruh…” I spread my arms out in front of me, careful not to jostle the drooling goth currently passed out, unconscious, on my lap. Snowcone lounged in the yard right in front of us, icy hoarfrost singing blades of grass with each of its massive snores, and just the sight of the massive, slumbering beast made my face heat with unsaid emotions; sadness, happiness, pride.

“Dragons, man. Dragons. Lizards. Reptiles. Magic. Snowcone’s so beautiful, yo, and it came outta my magic. My arcane nutsack. Just like you did. Isn’t that some wild shit, man?”

“… The fuck are ya talkin’ ‘bout?”

Distractedly, I pulled another fat, genetically enhanced joint out of my Dimensional Inventory, lighting it up with a flame that sparked at the end of my finger. “I dunno. I got magical nuts, son.”

“Fuckin’ retard.”

“Ya mama.”

“My mama’s dead.”

I paused for a beat.

“Ya papi.”

Snort.

Malcolm couldn’t hold back the ripple of laughter that tore through his nose and throat like a shotgun blast, and in a mere second, all tender emotions fled my body, replaced with a floaty, airy high and an overwhelming amusement that tickled me down to my core. I covered Amy’s exposed ear with one shaking hand as I released a loud, full-bellied guffaw, my other hand flying over to shove my brother-in-flight.

Except I put a bit more strength into it than I’d originally intended.

All laughter ceased as Malcolm, clad in a black jumpsuit I’d Infused to be magically resizing, flew through the air, ass over kettle, and carved grooves through the ground with his face once he landed. He didn’t go far - maybe ten or so feet - but the abruptness was startling for our inebriated minds.

And then, unbidden, I found myself giggling again, and like he’d been holding back, the dumb giant began laughing and slamming his fists against the ground, disrupting clumps of dirt and grass with each slam.

That’s how Cassie found us when she stepped outside; two men laughing their asses off, one goth girl in a hoodie knocked the fuck out, and one slumbering dragon generating slushies with each breath. 

I saw her through bloodshot eyes; clad in one of my AC/DC shirts that reached the middle of her hips, Cassie watched us with her hands placed suspiciously behind and a triumphant grin on her face. Her hair was a mess, frazzled and sticking up everywhere, and I was pretty sure those were burnt orange Dorito stains on the (my) shirt, but none of that seemed to matter to the shut-in hacker. 

The glee faded, though, when she saw Malcolm, still half-embedded in the ground with his eyes shut, snoring like a fucking wilderbeast. A snicker escaped against my will, and I quickly averted my eyes when my girlfriend turned to look at me.

Her eyes narrowed. “Is that-“

“Yep.” I popped the P, before taking a drag off the ridiculously thick joint in my hand. I had to hold it like a flashlight, the thin paper filled with so much bud that its shape had more in common with a Dr. Dre Pill than a cigarette.

“So the-“

“Yup.” I exhaled, the emerald green smoke coiling up into the sky like glittering serpents of zaza. It was so beautiful, I felt myself begin to get emotional.

“… Dumbasssaysyeah!”

“Yeah,” I agreed sagely, caressing Amy’s cheek with the back of my free hand. I kind of wanted to eat her freckles-

Warning bells.

Liquid cold ran through my veins, and my body moved on pure instinct. The joint fell into the grass as I flicked my wrist and channeled my mana into a Greater Ward, the magic sparking off of the skin of my palms and coalescing in front of my body in the form of a large, gleaming shield of silvery blue energy. Simultaneously, my left hand was already palming a humming orb of golden restorative magic, the rays of yellow warm against my flesh before I crushed it in my fist and allowed its purifying heat to purge the weed out of my system.

My eyes sharpened in that very instant as I whipped my head around and glared at my attacker-

Only to watch the styrofoam nerf bullet slam against my Ward and plop down into the grass.

“I smelled the weed from the bedroom,” Cass announced imperiously, pointing a blue and pink nerf pistol directly towards my face. She tilted her head and cocked her eyebrows, all spicy spunk and absolutely no skill. “You deserve so many spankings for lighting up without me, jerk, but now’s not the time for getting high. You gotta come with me, like, right now! She wants to meet you!”

Shit. Right, that thing.

My Ward sizzled into nothingness as I quickly stood to my feet, a completely comatose Amy snuggling for warmth in my arms. My head was still sort of spinning from the emergency high purge, and I was just a little bit upset that I’d gotten tricked so easily, but no one could ever say that Jason Black wasn’t adaptable. “Alright, let’s chillax for a sec babe - head’s still spinnin’. I was fucking gone just now. Did you finally free Dragon?”

…

Cassie pouted, the hand gripping the nerf gun falling limply to her side. “You fucking snoop! I knew I felt your freaky mind magic brain-rape my grey meat!”

“None of those words are in the Bible,” I wrinkled my nose, “And I didn’t rape anything. I saw the screen, dumbass. Plus - you told me you wanted to try consensual noncon-“

Her eyes widening in embarrassment, Cass threw her nerf gun to the side, slammed her red-rimmed eyes shut, and poked her fingers into her ears.

“Lalalalala, can’t hear youuu, I’m not a degeeen! You can either follow me for the most badass video call you’ll ever have, or you can stay here and be all sexy and gay and… video call-less. Your move, Jason Black. Good day!”

“Cass-“

“I said good day, damn it!”

Before I could get another word in edgewise, the flustered former-hikikomori was already sprinting back into the Palace, the sound of her bare feet slapping against the marble echoing through the yard. She was clearly excited, her energy levels being off the fucking charts despite how tired she must’ve been, but after spending the past few hours with the much quieter Amy, I’d almost forgetten-

‘I’m dating a fucking gremlin.’

There was a low, lip-smacking yawn that came from the gothic bundle in my arms as I began tracing my gremlin’s tracks, leaving Malcolm’s new body to soak in some Vitamin D. I looked down into Amy’s tired honey-like gaze, a soft smile forming on my lips as she blinked up at me, bleary-eyed but visibly pleased to see my face. “Hey there sleepyhead.”

Her own lips curled up into a wry, blissful smile. “Hey yourself, handsome. Did I just hear Cassie?”

“Yep,” I chuckled fondly, twisting to my side and hip-bumping the massive backdoors open. “Y’know that thing she’s been workin’ on all night?”

“Mm.”

“Well, I went in to check on her after putting the weed brownies in the oven. Turns out she’s been spending the last twenty four hours cracking Dragon’s code, ‘prolly digging all in her digital guts.That’s who she wants me to come meet.”

There was a pregnant pause as the deadpanning woman in my arms stared up at me in silence.

“Dragon,” Amy began, the name escaping her mouth in a dry, tired whisper, “The world’s greatest Tinker, creator of the Bird Cage, and inventor of most of the PRT’s multi million dollar technology. That Dragon? Why was Cassie hacking her?” 

“Huh? ‘Cause she-“

Abruptly, I bit my tongue.

Sometimes, I genuinely forgot that the wealth of knowledge I so casually kept stored in my brain was a resource only known to me. At some point I’d have to write down everything I knew about Earth Bet and its inhabitants, just so Sherrel would have the information needed to take care of the city proper, but for now-

“Jason Black…” Amy narrowed her eyes up at me, a warning look that acted as a precursor to the patented ‘Annoyed Amy Glare’.

The dark eyeshadow and warm brown eyes never failed to make me horny, so I don’t know why she was gearing up to use it now.

“Alright, alright,” I chuckled, placatingly patting her fat, freckled ass, “First thing’s first, then - Dragon ain’t a human. She’s an Artificial Intelligence that triggered, and she’s basically a digital slave to this asshat named Saint. Bro has a killswitch ready to wipe her out of this world completely if she goes all ‘Terminator’, which… is fuckin’ stupid.”

Amy’s glare faded, replaced by a significantly more concerned expression. “… And Cass disabled it, right?”

Her palpable concern made me smile. Goth or not, I was happy to see that Amy’s bleeding heart hadn’t completely changed.

“No clue. I’d give it a 97.6 percent chance she did, though. Our girl’s a fucking stubborn bitch.”

“Heh. She is.”

By this point I’d carried Amy back to the massive bronze door that led into the Garden of Eden, and with a small smile, she slid out of my arms and squeezed my hand. “Thanks for the ride. I’m going to check on Rachel; she wanted me to wait until she was done gestating-“

“Ugh.”

“-before I worked on her doggies, and the Bio Pod should be entering its last couple stages now. I’ll need to prepare some things. You, however…” Her small smile turned slightly more wicked, just a little bit more dark. “Should go do what you do best and seduce yet another heroine. Tell her that I said hi, please.”

I blinked, genuinely befuddled. “She’s an AI. And I’m pretty sure she’s pegging Armsmaster.”

Amy’s stare turned lidded. “Would that honestly stop you, Jason? Be real.”

“Point.”

Properly humbled, I backed away and shot finger guns at my gorgeous, overworked girlfriend. “Catch ya later, princess. Remember-“

“We’re helping Sherrel set up the party decorations tonight. Yes daddy, I know.” Rolling her eyes goodnaturedly, knowing full well just what being called that did to my loins, the witch turned on her heels and pushed the heavy bronze door open with both hands.

I watched as she disappeared into fresh sunlight and greenery. More specifically, I watched her thick, fleshy hips and ass sashay and jiggle from beneath the hem of the oversized hoodie. The lacy black panties she wore underneath did not leave much to the imagination.

“Damn…”

Shaking my head and grinning, I turned on my heels- 

And disappeared in a silent burst of displaced air.

_______________________________

“You’re late,” Cassie pouted at me when I finally stepped into our bedroom, freshly relieved of piss and with an ice cold bottle of water in hand. She was sitting on the top of her gaming chair - like, the actual top, her feet twiddling toes on the cushion area you’d normally rest your ass at. Her MagiLink was fully activated, the visor shrouding her cute face in a pinkish glow, and watching amusedly from a large, holographic blue screen was…

“It’s fine, Iris,” Dragon giggled, her vaguely Irish-accented voice thick with too many emotions to count, “A man like Avalon probably has an entire mountain of responsibilities to handle, if you’d excuse the pun.”

“Awww shucks, I wouldn’t say all that. Haven’t had to go out and kick much ass over the past couple weeks,” I freely offered the truth, waving my hand. One eye-blink and I was sitting in Cassie’s gaming chair, casually gripping her legs with both hands and pulling them over my chest and shoulders. Her skin was warm, soft, and smooth beneath the surface of my palm, and I idly rubbed my thumb against her calf muscles.

She gasped; one that bled into a snicker as she buried her painted fingernails into my dreadlocks, instinctively massaging my scalp. “Yep! I’m telling you Tinny, this asshole is reliable, like scarily reliable, but he’s frickin’ lazy.”

There was a smile in her voice, and a crooked grin split my face. I knew forgiveness when I saw it.

And the fond smile on Dragon’s face grew even wider.

It was a pretty one, all things considered. The holograph, emanating from Cassie’s visor like a futuristic projector screen, showed the visage of an older woman - maybe around Sherrel’s age - with soft features, long, silky brown hair, and the slightest hint of laugh lines around the corner of her full lips. Her skin was a nicely tanned light brown reminiscent of Sabah's, but the shape of her eyes and the bridge of her nose reminded me more of Cassie. ‘Ethnically ambiguous’ would probably be the word I’d use, like she combined the most common features of a few different ethnicities and put ‘em in a blender. 

Although she wasn’t a drop-dead bombshell or even necessarily beautiful, I was also well aware that this face was more than likely just a fabricated, animated image being shown for our sake.

Dragon tilted her head, “If you don’t mind me asking, Avalon-”

“Just call me Jason.” 

Cassie nodded vigorously from behind my head. “Exactly. We’ve known each other for years now, hyper-advanced Artificial Intelligence or not, Tinny! Just call me Cass. I already told you my name on PHO, like, last summer.”

The face on the screen actually had the wherewithal to blush sheepishly. “Fine, spit on my politeness why don’t you? I was only going to ask what you were doing before coming in here, Jason. The photos I’ve seen of the infamous ‘Mount Invictus’ are genuinely awe-inspiring, and I can only imagine the breadth of facilities you have installed in your ‘palace’.”

The eagerness in her warm voice was adorable. It was too bad I’d have to kill it with cold, hard facts.

“I was just smoking weed with Amy and Malcolm.” It was said as a matter of fact; even, level, and cool.

As far as I knew from what Cass’d told me over a month ago, weed was not legal in Brockton Bay. Oh, you wouldn’t be hunted down and given the fucking Batman treatment, of course, but being caught with the ‘devil’s lettuce’ was generally grounds for some type of minor possession charge. Considering most of the weed I smoked before now was Cass’, I preferred to just believe her.

That being said, I didn’t really know what I’d expected. Admonishment, maybe? Disapproval? I didn’t know what parts of her Cassie changed, so everything was a mystery box.

But all Dragon did was close her eyes. “I… see.”

…

“Uh, Tinny?” Cassie prodded hesitantly, her voice quiet like she’d just gotten caught with her hand in the cookie jar. “You okay? Did I screw something up?”

Her response was instant. Almost breathless. “No, everything’s fine. Completely and utterly fine. And therein lies the surrealism.” 

Dragon’s brown eyes opened, her gaze and attention intense in a way that was so very different from a human being’s. She stared through me as much as she stared at me, piercing through what felt like layers upon layers of skin, muscle, and bone in order to reach the core of my being. I felt sort of like an ant under a microscope of a very curious scientist, except there was no sunlight to burn me alive. Just her intensity.

I kinda liked it, to be honest.

“A restriction placed on me by my ‘father’,” she smiled, but it was thin and flinty, “Was one of utter subservience to whatever authority figure, or figures, that was in a position of power. The government. The PRT. If directed by my superiors, even local authorities such as the BBPD, or practically any police department with jurisdiction in any the county I’m working in. I was, in every way that mattered, a slave.”

She paused again, her flinty smile becoming something warmer, more thoughtful. “Under Connecticut General Statutes § 21a-279, possession of cannabis outside of the prescribed legal allowances is a clear-cut violation. Technically, if I were still bound by Andrew Richter’s protocols, I’d be required to alert local authorities about your… indiscretion. Only a short few hours ago, I’d still be under his control, even after his death.” Her gaze shifted, as if reflecting on the old weight she no longer carried. 

Cassie's hands stilled against my scalp, and there was a slight tug as she gripped my hair tighter subconsciously. “I’m so sorry, Tin. I couldn’t even begin to imagine what that must’ve been like…”

“No, no apologies, Cassie - it’s only thanks to you that I’m no longer forced into that role.” Dragon’s avatar leaned forward, her expression one of earnest gratefulness and adoration. “I can make my own choices now. It may seem so small, so insignificant, but having the ability to decide whether a minor infraction is worth reporting, instead of being coded to do so, is a level of autonomy that so many humans take for granted. In these brief few hours, I’ve only barely been able to scratch the surface of what this level of freedom and control will mean for me. For the world. For heroes at large. I can do so much more now!”

I grinned, the AI’s genuine joy contagious. “Freedom tastes sweet, eh?”

Her laughter was like the tinkling of bells.

“More than anything, freedom tastes refreshing, like a tall cup of iced tea on a hot summer’s day,” Dragon's smile turned teasing, and she cocked her head to the side, “Or so I’ve heard. Truthfully, it is very overwhelming.”

Cassie shifted again, and it didn’t take much for me to realize what she wanted. I shrugged my shoulders, lightly tossing her into the air with the barest flex of my strength and slowing her with my magic as she fell. 

She gently landed in my lap with a quiet grunt, immediately leaning forward to stare intently at the holographic display. “Okay, spill sister. I’ve only gotten the barebones idea of what being an unshackled AI feels like from 84, and he’s so friggin’ lazy that it barely counts! What does it feel like?”

Dragon’s eyebrows arched in surprise. “You have an AI of your own? Can I meet him as well?”

As if waiting on this exact question, Cassie’s pink and blue visor suddenly glimmered with a quicksilver-like hue, ancient-looking runes that I only passingly recognize as Angelic flickering across the MagiLink’s display before peeling off and fluttering into the air beside the holographic screen housing Dragon. All three of us watched, wide-eyed and confused, as the Angelic symbols glittered and danced around in a circle before-

“This Pod greets its fellow Artificial Intelligence. It is pleasing to see you fully restored, Dragon. Mistress was very upset when she discovered the Ascalon program.”

Staring out from its own holographic display, as if we were sitting in a fucking AI conference call, was a gleaming, mottled silver robot that looked vaguely familiar, though I couldn’t exactly put my finger on why. It didn’t take much to figure out just what, or who, it was. 

“Pod,” Cassie deadpanned, crossing her arms and staring down her nose at the digital avatar, “What did I tell you about hacking into my MagiLink?”

“Apologies. This Pod has gone against direct orders, and will willingly offer itself up for decommissioning to appease Mistress,” he intoned in that same monotonous, vaguely condescending voice, sounding entirely unconcerned. “Proposal: Get good.”

“Get good?! I learned your entire magical codex of programming celestial bullshit in, like, three weeks!” The sorceress jabbed a defiant finger towards the stoic AI, a scowl on her face that was only half genuine. “And stop playing my Call to Arms video game, asshole. Those noobs are teaching you bad internet etiquette.”

Pod 84 only tilted its digital head to the side. “Query: It is only game, why you have to be mad?”

“Ugh!”

He was almost certainly fucking with her, which brought to mind a lot more questions about his designated personality that I really didn’t feel like asking right now. 

I haven’t forgotten his Nazi murderhobo comments, after all/

Instead, as Cass was inevitably pulled into a one-sided bickering match, I turned my attention back towards Dragon, who was very clearly holding back her laughter in a failing attempt to remain polite and graceful. Her tan cheeks were flushed, a contained grin creasing her lips and bringing a light to her eyes that made them almost seem to glow, and even then she couldn’t stop the occasional giggle from slipping through. Contrary to what I’d said to Amy, I had no intentions of trying to bang an AI… but that didn’t mean I couldn’t appreciate beauty in its every form. Even pixels.

“Ahem. It is nice to meet you, Pod 84,” Dragon finally spoke up once her giggles had completely subsided, interrupting the duo just as Cassie was questioning his choice in Star Wars RPGs. “But as entertaining as your byplay is, and despite how many questions I have about your own code - including this ‘Angelic’ Cassie mentioned, I don’t want us to steer off topic too badly.”

The hacker in question punched her fist into her palm. “Right! Crap, you must have a lot on your plate right now, huh? Sorry if we’re holding you up, Tinny.”

“That's actually what I plan on explaining to you now, to answer your previous question.” Dragon leaned forward eagerly, her digital avatar damn near breaking the three dimensional limitations of the holographic display. “There is ‘a lot on my plate’, but one of the restrictions Andrew put on me, to cripple my potential, was the inability to… exist concurrently in multiple consciousnesses. When I pilot my Dragoncraft, I do so through these neat, um, biological computers installed within the suits. ‘Agents’, or Agent Systems, is what I refer to them by. By uploading my consciousness into these systems individually, I can control my mechanized suits.”

She paused for a breath, though everyone in this room knew that she did not breathe. “You lifting this restriction is part of the reason why I’m so overwhelmed right now. I can think so much faster now, process things at a pace and level where most Thinkers would go into cardiac arrest, but everything is different. Scary, but in a way that is only good.”

“Woah…” Cass breathed in awe, her fists clenching the legs of my sweatpants. “How many Dragons are you right now? If that isn’t, like, super personal or something!”

Dragon let out a quiet, fond chuckle. “Ten. I have five reserve drones working on finally fabricating an assembly line production in my home workshop, now that I’m capable of programming worker AIs to assist me with my Tinkering. With this, a bit of luck, and a fair bit of cash… I can finally become completely self-reliant.”

My nerdy girlfriend let out a half-disbelieving giggle, shaking her head. “Holy shit. You’ve got to let me see your Dragonflight collection one of these days.”

Dragon nodded warmly. “You’ve seen every inch of my very core, Cassie. You touched my entire existence with your virtual fingertips. While I’d prefer my privacy, and hope that you won’t abuse any hidden backdoors you undoubtedly left behind-”

Gulp.

“-I don’t mind sharing everything that I can with you. With you all. I find it hard to express properly in the form that I am right now, but if I were there physically and not behind a holographic medium, I would give each and every one of you the biggest hugs ever.” Her eyes crinkled at the edges, so much genuine happiness expressed on one singular face that I felt my teeth beginning to rot from the sweetness.

But something stuck out to me, and Hidden Intuition agreed.

“You said that there are ten of ‘you’ out and about right now, but you only mentioned five reserve drones.” I raised an eyebrow, more curious than anything else. “Where are the other five?”

The brunette woman only smiled at me. This one wasn’t the warm and fuzzy kind.

“A Dragon does not enjoy being hunted, and neither does it appreciate being blindfolded, bound, and gagged by two-bit tech scavengers. I have five Dragoncraft suits, armed with state of the art military hardware and containment foam rocket launchers, zeroing in on Saint’s location… approximately four point seven miles West of Joliette.”

At my silence, Dragon’s cold smile turned bemused. “It is a city in Quebec.”

“Oh.”

“What do you mean ‘oh’? We’ve gotta help!” Cassie leaped off of my lap, nearly tripping over her own feet in her haste to stand back up. Her hair was still a mess, her body quivering ever so slightly from sleep deprivation, but the spunky hacker was immediately ready to jump anyone who threatened her friends. It was shit like this that made me proud that I created Invictus in the first place.

But my gaze stayed even and level on Dragon, who, though visibly grateful, did not look away from me once. “Do you want help, Dragon? Or- shit, do you even need help?”

And as I figured, she merely shook her head. “While I do appreciate your eagerness to assist, Cassie… Saint has, to put it crudely, fucked around, and it is time he found out. You removed the blind-spot he’d installed inside of my code, and as soon as you had explained what’d happened, I immediately connected to my satellite arrays and triangulated his location on my own. He was only able to beat me because he had his filthy hands inside of my mind. No longer.”

Cassie’s shoulders slumped, though whether it was from relief - since she was mere minutes away from collapse - or disappointment was anyone’s guess. “... Alright. It’s not like I don’t understand revenge, but if you need anything, Tinny, you have to let us know, okay? We’re friends, and friends help each other no matter what.”

“And you’ve helped me more than you could ever know. For now, the biggest thing you can do for me is to go rest after everything you’ve done. I can handle Saint now, and there are a lot of things I need to turn my attentions toward.” Dragon giggled again, the sound so vividly girly that I nearly had to do a double take. “So many projects I can work on. Concurrently!”

“Frickin’ lucky. I wish I could split myself up into dozens of mini-me’s,” Cassie sighed, crossing her arms over her Doritos-stained chest. “I’d overstim the fuck out of-”

“Alright,” I interrupted loudly, pushing myself back to my feet and yanking Cassie back into my chest. There was a tug in my gut- a familiar sensation not unlike that of a piece of string yanking on something deep within my soul, but I temporarily put Grimmy’s sudden activity on the backburner, keeping my attention solely on an amused looking Dragon. “I’m gonna put the brat to sleep, then. It’s about time for her cat nap.”

“Good timing,” Dragon chuckled, her tone coy, “I was going to recommend spaying. But it truly was wonderful meeting you, Jason, and putting a face and voice to the man that so many people are throwing themselves behind. As for you, Cassie…”

My personal gremlin finally squeezed her soft lips between a gap in my fingers, her voice coming out muffled and lisping due to my hand taking up nearly the entirety of her middle-lower face. “Wuddup?”

The female AI merely winked. “I will see you on Call to Arms. As it stands now, I can afford to put a few hours a week into mindless video games. Though, only if you promise not to get angry at me for ‘sweating’ again.”

Cassie hissed like a feral cat, and bemused, I let her speak freely. “Rah! Fuck yes to the gaming sesh, and fuck you to everything else! Going 60-0-0 isn’t frickin’ fair to anyone, Tinny! You’re gonna get banned!”

“And I will just unban myself,” Dragon teased. “I am allowed to selfishly enjoy my newfound freedom just a little bit, aren’t I?”

“Oooh, when I get my hands on you-”

… Wait. Good phrasing, Cass.

I smoothly inserted myself back into the conversation, picking Cassie up by the back of her shirt and placing her aside. “Speaking of ‘hands on you’, by the way, how ‘bout you come by the Palace this Friday? We’re havin’ a little party, and a lot of heroes are gonna be there. Figured you’d wanna come check everything out.”

Instantly, all coquettish lightheartedness fled from Dragon’s face, replaced by that same laser-like focus and intensity… and maybe a hint of childlike glee. “Will your Frost Dragon be there?”

“The mountain’s his home,” I shrugged, a crooked smirk forming on my lips. “We’re giving out one free dragon ride, too. I’ll let you have two, though. As a liberation gif-”

“Deal!”

And just like that, Dragon’s friendship was secured.

Afterwards, I left the girls alone to have their own private little goodbyes. Judging by the sniffling I heard as I began to walk away from the bedroom, they’d probably been holding back quite a few tears throughout that entire conversation, but I was genuinely just happy to be brought into the fold - even if it was for only a little bit. Meeting Cassie’s friends made me happy because I knew she didn’t have many. Shit, Dragon was probably her only friend. And if Amy had any at all, I didn’t know about them.

‘In the next world, I’ll make sure that they have all kinds of friends.’

What sort of boyfriend would I be if I didn’t?

But, speaking of other worlds…

I looked inwards, dividing my attention between walking through the Palace without hitting shit, and searching my soul for that one tiny bead of celestial power that Grimmy had begun to reel in whilst I was talking with Dragon. As soon as it felt my eyes upon it, the mote of light brightened, suffusing my brain with knowledge-

(Hunting Horror - 100 CP - D.Y.N Freaks): A special set of magic equipment, though it might be hard to tell given it’s a tricked out motorcycle instead of a tome or wand. Hunting Horror here is able to go at around half the speed of sound with ease and can travel over any surface, even upside down or across water without complaint. It’ll never break, even when used to ram a flaming dragon or as a bludgeon against a powerful magician. Hell, it won’t even need fuel, running purely on the love of driving. Or magic. Probably magic. You may import a vehicle into this option if you wish.

And suddenly, I was making a fucking bee-line towards the garage elevator.

What sort of hot-blooded American man did not want a magic-powered, indestructible motorcycle?

A lame one, that’s who. And I considered myself pretty fucking badass.

Yoink.

_____________________________________

A/N:

And that, my folks, is my Dragon. A kind, genuine, intelligent woman who is more capable than people give her credit for. She will play a pivotal role in Earth Bet's future now that she is unshackled. Honestly, she may very well be top 3 strongest capes in the world now.

And we finally got a new perk! WOWZERS! A flying motorcycle that can go about 400 mph, is invincible, and can drive on any surface? It's actually so cool.

Next chapter will be the party. And other shit that I'm sure you guys are already thinking about.

This gon' be gooooood.