by H D Forth
"What sort of surveillance will they hold on you?" Kani asked I nodded in agreement to her question.
"The collar, of course, is one," Val said, using a thumb to gesture towards her neck. "Another is someone from the Heroes Guild will be permanently assigned to be part of the team. The representative will be out immediate contact, they will be given an apartment close by, and will have full reign over what the field permissions are, including but not limited to when lethal action is permitted."
I swallowed at that but squeezed her hand. “I’m just happy that you get to stay with us, despite my mistake.” They both audibly let out a sigh at that. “What?”
Instead of answering my like any sane person would, they just turned to each other. "Hero types," Val said with a roll of her eyes.
I scowled at them, retrieving my hand from her grip. “What’s that supposed to mean?”
"Hero types are always the first to try and help out, and they're always the first to claim when something the villain does causes something to go wrong," Kani explained.
"I'm not like that." I didn't whine, heroes don't whine. "I don't know the last time I was the first to help someone." That earned me a kick to my nonexistent heel. "Fair point." Was all I could say to that. My sight flickered as a growth of skin covered my eye. "Finally," I mumbled reaching up to prod at my face. My skin had grown back.
Chapter One Hundred Sixty
A less noble hero than I might’ve been staring at Kani’s chest as my old shirt was stretched by her bosom. As much as I would like to say that I am not such a man, that would be a lie. And boy, where they real nice to look at.
I jerked my head as the magnetic lock on the door clicked, and it opened. “Keep still you moron.” Kani said, slapping my head. “This is hard enough without you moving around so much. That’s why I didn't change into something more appropriate to the work.” She had known, of course she had known.
“I see you’re working on fixing his head.” Val droned. I could hear her footsteps approach, but unfortunately I wasn't allowed to look away. Kani’s orders. “About time…”
“I would like to take offense to that at a later time.” I replied, struggling with peering for her through my peripheral view or just focusing on the glory. Val let out a somehow feminine snort to my comment. I heard her kiss Kani’s cheek, and her hand caressed my cheek before she stepped away.
“Anyway I’m beat.” She said. “I’m going to go take a nap.”
“Yeah,” Kani replied. “We’ll talk later.”
Once Val was out of the room, Kani stepped away weird tool in hand. She looked me in the eye, before they flicked towards the stairs. “Did you see how tired she looked?” She asked.
“I got glimpses,” I replied. “Though I could hear it even in her voice.” Kani frowned in concern, but stepped back placing the tool against my head.
***
Getting my skull polished has to be one of the weirdest experiences of my life. I couldn't really feel it, since the Nerve System hadn't been joined yet, but I could sense the motion it caused and I could occasionally see the pad she used flash into sight.
Finally, she stopped polishing and went over to the computer. “I’m turning all systems on again.” She said. “Keep a check on them to make suer they don't act out of order.”
“Finally,” I said, relief clear in my voice. It had been a couple hours since she had started taking her measurements, it had been like sitting at the barbers chair for near upon 3 hours, except this was just a stool.
If not for the view it would have been horrible. “Thanks.” I said, opening my arm for a hug, though I was careful to also gesture it like asking for a hand up, since I didn’t want to push her.
I saw Kani, maybe not steel herself, but looked at empty left arm and my still mostly crippled leg. Then she stepped forwards into the hug. She was tense for a moment as I wrapped my arm around her, but after a second or two she visibly relaxed into it, and let out a sigh.
“Oh!” Val exclaimed, “Are we hugging.” I looked up to see her come bouncing across the floor and into the hug, enveloping Kani from the other side, squeezing her between us.
At first she let out an ‘oof’ of released air, but she kept smiling. We stood like that for a few minutes, before we finally started disentangling form each other.
“There is something I need to tell you.” Val said, gesturing at the dinner table. As Kani helped me over to the table, Val went and got some water for herself and Kani. “So, a few things have happened. I’m thinking I start with why Galenor took me away instead of leaving me to help take care of you.
“So I haven’t been exactly clear with you…” Val said slowly, some nervousness seeping into her voice. “I wasn’t exactly known for being a hero…”
“Wait?” I asked, leaning forwards in my chair. “You used to be a villain?”
“Velenthrix if I don’t miss my guess,” Kani said, leaning back in her chair with a smug smile.
“Ding, ding, ding.” Val said, looking somewhere between cautious and relieved. “I used to be Velenthrix.”
“W-what?” I asked, this time the word came slowly and hesitantly to my lips. “But she was, you were, one of the, umm, big ones. The really bad ones. The uhh…” I continued stumbling over my words for another few moments.
“Yes I was,” Val said, cutting me off. “It’s due to my powers,” She turned to Kani. “Have you heard of a technique called the Foundation?” She asked, clearly expecting a no.
“Yeah, Vanys explained it to me.”
Val blinked. “Okay, makes this easy then. I’m too strong for me to control myself with use of the Foundation. I can contain the power, and use only tidbits in small doses. I could in theory manage the amount I use very carefully, thereby allowing me control, but it’s dangerous and has never ended well.
“My past means some heroes know me by sight, even out of costume. As Galenor fought me, Visor, one of the other heroes, spotted me and basically took me in.” As she finished, she sipped her water, examining us over the rim of the glass.
“They took me to one of the hideouts, brought in a bunch of old heroes that have mostly retired. Then they sealed and bound me. They were unable to arrest me, since they have no actual proof of me, as Valeria doing anything illegal, but I can’t prove that they did this either.” She gestured towards her throat. A collar I had thought part of today’s outfit, started glowing on her neck.
As I examined it closer, I noticed that it wasn’t made of cloth, but just sat on her throat like a tattoo that could glow. The collar consisted of intricate patterns sitting closer together than I thought possible, without blurring the lines.
The light of the collar never intensified, yet slowly curls of smoke rose from its edges, causing Val to wince and let her magic drop. “I am no longer able to perform greater feats of magic, without the collar seriously hurting me.”
“I'm so sorry,” I said, leaning over reaching for her free hand. “This is my fault. If I hadn't gone out to fight Leric again, then you wouldn't have put yourself out there and you wouldn't have gotten hurt.”
Val squeezed my hand back. “This isn’t your fault,” she said. “It was bound to happen eventually, it was more a question of how much Velenthrix would return before it did.
“There is something else however,” She said, some enthusiasm returning to her posture. “We have been officially recognized as a heroes, by the Hero Guild.”
My eyes widened and my mouth dropped open a little. “Really!” I exclaimed, leaping a little out my chair. “We’re a hero team? Officially a hero team?”
Val nodded, I looked from her to Kani and back to her again. This was crazy good news. Most heroes had to work consistently for months before this would happen.
I was a hero. A real official hero. A real officially recognized hero.
“Now, there are some caveats.” Val said. “Mainly that normally a young inexperienced team gets a mentor, someone from another team or a solo wor
ker like Galenor or Visor. These are meant to help out in serious situations and occasionally takes them on trips out of their original zone, in order to teach them how to handle different situations.”
I nodded, trying to contain my eagerness. I could figure out that we probably wouldn't have one, or it would be an asshole, like one of the ones sitting around in the Center Tower.
“Right now though, there are a real shortage of heroes still in active duty. There are only three of them working in our city, and another five working between in the two nearest cities. That’s an insane amount of ground to cover, without keeping up with a newbie.”
I swallowed, was she going to say that we just weren't going to get a hero.
“Luckily,” She continued. “I managed to swing a sort of agreement for you. Under probation, I get to remain with you guys, where they can keep any eye on em and make sure that I don’t go crazy, while also making tapping into the well of knowledge that is my glorious brain.”
“What sort of surveillance will they hold on you?” Kani asked, I nodded in agreement to her question.
“The collar of course, is one.” Val said, using a thumb to gesture towards her neck. “Another is someone from the Heroes Guild will be permanently assigned to be part of the team. The representative, will be out immediate contact, they will be given an apartment close by, and will have full reign over what the field permissions are, including but not limited to when lethal action is permitted.”
I swallowed at that, but squeezed her hand. “I’m just happy that you get to stay with us, despite my mistake.” They both audibly let out a sigh at that. “What?”
Instead of answering my like any sane person would, they just turned to each other. “Hero types.” Val said with a roll of her eyes.
I scowled at them, retrieving my hand from her grip. “What’s that supposed to mean?”
“Hero types are always the first to try and help out, and they’re always the first to claim when something the villain does causes something to go wrong.” Kani explained.
“I’m not like that.” I didn't whine, heroes don't whine. “I don’t know the last time I was the first to help someone.” That earned me a kick to my non existent heel. “Fair point.” Was all I could say to that. My sight flickered as a growth of skin covered my eye. “Finally,” I mumbled reaching up to prod at my face. My skin had grown back.
Chapter One Hundred Sixty-One
I got up from the chair, Kani handing me my shoulder crutch attachment. "Thanks," I mumbled. "I' m gonna go fix my hairline." That caused more snickers. "Unless you're not done with the news?" I asked, looking towards Val before I headed for the bathroom and its accompanying mirror, she shook her head in the negative.
It took a lot muscling about and fighting with the space, but a managed to cram myself and the crutch into the small first-floor bathroom. It really hadn’t been made for someone without an easily detachable crutch. Inconsiderate designers.
When I finally managed to adjust myself, I turned to the mirror bending down slightly to get my entire hairstyle in the frame. Slowly I started plodding my hairline. Unfortunately, it wasn't as easy as just saying one, two, three.
It could've been if we wanted to get preloaded hairlines, but since predesigned hairlines didn't really work too well when you weren't generically built, and the custom ones cost too much money, I had to do it myself.
It was a painstakingly, slow task. At least it was usually. For me, it was mostly just a tedious task, rather than annoying or time-consuming. It also took some measure of focus for me to accurately plot my hairline.
If I also have to remove anything I fucked up. It was sort of like holding a mental pen when the software controlling hair growth was online. If my focus wandered, I could accidentally draw a thick line of hair down my brow and across my nose. Theoretically, because that hadn't happened.
This focus was also the reason I was surprised when I returned to check my hairline that some of it wasn't like I had left it. “Girls!” I yelled, struggling the door open, while also trying to not sound anxious. “Some thing’s wrong with me again.”
I heard them both sigh as I finally managed to get the damned bathroom door open. They had both gotten up from their chairs and were heading towards me when I stepped out of the bathroom. What they saw caused both of them to stop.
“Why do you have a scar?” Val asked. “I get commemorating a battle, but choosing to commemorate it with the face wound is a risky move.” I stared at her.
"I didn't do this," I said, through clenched teeth. "At least, not purposefully."
Kani remained quiet as she stepped closer, examining the scar. She prodded me a few times, then bade me over to her laptop.
***
"I can only conclude that it's due to you Connecting so deeply with the Nerve Module," Kani said, turning in her chair till she faced me. They had brought the laptop and a small standing mirror over to the dinner table so I could watch myself.
I had grown a long scar in an arcing line. It started somewhere above my hairline, before going passing through my hairline, arcing through my eyebrow missing my eye with less than two centimeters of space, before moving off into the hair of my temple, just above the ear. I perfectly matched the break in my skull that Leric had made.
"Can you make it go away?" Val asked. I closed my eyes focusing on the software that controlled what my skin looked like. I made it remove my scar, then opened my eyes. It was gone as if it never was and I stopped pushing to remove.
Immediately, I felt a command go off from the Nerve Module, and the scar started fading back in. I focused on the software again, forcing it to remove the scar, but this time keeping a mental check on it.
I watched in the mirror as the scar faded. Once it was gone for a few seconds, I stopped pressuring the program. As soon as I did, the scar faded back into view.
“Troubling.” I murmured, examining the scar closer.
"I don't know," Val said, thoughtfully. "It seems some of us appreciate it." That caught my attention. I turned to look at her, but she wasn't looking at me. After a beat, I turned to Kani, who was blushing with evident embarrassment at having been caught.
I watched her spine straighten and her hands balling. “There’s allure in the look,” She mumbled out, as her ears started glowing bright red. I watched as Val stepped closer to Kani, leaning down to whisper in her ear.
“If you like it,” I could see her lips touching the tips of Kani’s ear, causing the smaller woman to shiver. “Then say you like it.”
“I like the more rugged look it gives you.” Kani barely managed to get out.
"Very good," Val whispered, caressing her chin with her fingers. "What else do you think he should change?"
Kani was very still for a few moments before she audibly swallowed. “Maybe a bit of a beard, some stubble?” She finally managed.
"Are you sure?" Val asked. I couldn't see what her other hand was doing, though from the whimper Kani let out, I could only guess it was interesting. "You don't sound certain at all."
"I am." Kani's voice quivered with tension as Val ministrated on her. Keeping my hands to myself was hard. The way Kani whimpered and shivered under Val's hand, had me hard as ever in my pants.
"Why don't you ask him then?" Val's tongue slithered out, and she licked Kani's ear. "I'm sure if you ask him really nicely, he'll do it."
Honestly, she just had to look at me right, and I’d do just about anything for her at that moment.
“Please,” Kani started to say quietly, but Val apparently didn't want her quiet for this part. She pulled on Kani, causing her to pull back, gluing herself against Val, while she stared at me.
"Louder, girl." Val said, "Otherwise he won't be able to hear you." I could see one of Val's hands moving from the behind Kani to her side, revealing that her hand was down her shorts. Her hand didn't stop until was between Kani and me, down her pants. I watched fascinated for a moment as Val's hand worked inside them.
“Please,” Kani whimpered, looking up at me with huge begging eyes. “Could you grow a little stubble please.” She knocked her forehead against my chest, hiding her face.
I smiled at Val, as I wiggled my arm for the mirror as if I couldn’t reach it. “I would be happy to, I’ll need a mirror and someone to make sure I don’t grow it too much.”
Val gave me a wicked smile back. "Good boy," she cooed. Kani let out a little moan of frustration as Val removed her hand from her shorts. "Why don't you go fetch the mirror for him?" She asked Kani, slapping her on the ass.
Then Val stepped around Kani and lifted the fingers of her other hand, the one that had visited the inside of Kani's shorts. Liquid gleamed off her fingers as she slowly lifted the hand to me, lightly placing her fingers against my mouth.