RanPorn16 Porn World! By Jim Robert Bader (Inspired by the works of Rumiko Takahashi and so many others who do not deserve the blame for putting me up to this series...) The Sixteenth Encore. The League of Extraordinary Gentlewomen ("World Without Men...") WARNING---LEMON MERANGE FANFICTION AHEAD! CONTAINS SCENES OF AN ADULT AND HIGHLY SUGGESTIVE NATURE THAT MIGHT NOT BE TO EVERYONE'S PALET. THIS IS A FANTASY WORLD IN WHICH 99.9% OF THE MEN HAVE BEEN KILLED OFF, LEAVING THE SURVIVING FEW A HUNTED, HOUNDED AND PERSECUTED MINORITY ON A PLANET FULL OF PROMISCUOUS LESBIANS/BISEXUALS, ALL OF WHOM WILL DROP EVERYTHING TO SCREW THE NEAREST GIRL THEY CAN LAY HANDS ON IF YOU GIVE THEM THE SLIGHTEST HINT OF INTEREST...AND GUYS? THEY'RE WELL PAST THE ENDANGERED SPECIES LIST! YOU HAVE BEEN DULY WARNED! In a world that had known much loss and gain over the past fifteen years of recorded history there was also much positively obtained in terms of personal satisfaction and/or insight. The half of the population that had survived the demise of the other half had coped and adapted then moved on with great resilience. There had been many painful events during the transition, but much had been gained to compensate for past losses, and society had largely moved on, turning the page on a new chapter for humanity and gradually settling into a mode of existence that became the accepted norm by those who came after. One significant change that had rather noticeably overtaken the world was crime itself, the willful violation of Society's collective standards. Prostitution had been decriminalized, then legalized and given official recognition as a profession, albeit with heavy regulation to prevent abuse, and Unionization in order to establish rules and guidelines for acceptable norms of conduct. Patterns of substance abuse had been greatly altered and were now treated more like a medical rather than a legal problem, and licensed alternative dealers had largely taken the profit motive away from the gangs and syndicates of old. The old "Morality Police" of previous times had largely died off or were so thoroughly discredited that it was possible for new rules to be put in force that recognized certain patterns of behavior as pathological yet not truly criminal in nature, allowing newer remedies to be put into play to stem and control these "problems." This was possible largely because of a change in attitudes, as well as leadership, brought about by the scourge known as the dreaded "Millennial Virus," which targeted Y-chromosomes for elimination while enhancing the X-chromosomes in all women. Because of the Virus women tended to behave in general with a more licentious attitude that diminished some forms of aggressive behavior or redirected it towards sensuality instead of violence. As one consequence of this Murder and Assault were now very rare crimes indeed, for most people had better things to do with their time rather than engage in violence for its own sake. Theft was still an ongoing problem, as were reported cases of assault, albeit that it was much, much harder to obtain a conviction on a rape charge since many a 'victim' tended to freely cooperate in her own ravishment after only a bit of sexual stimulation. Kidnapping and involuntary detention, however, were on the rise, especially given that certain criminal organizations found a thriving business in the underground slave market. There were also groups that actively provided "live test subjects" for human experimentation, and there was no shortage of "mad" scientists these days who did unauthorized research, only some of whom were seeking to find possible cures for the man-destroying Millennial Virus. The shifting nature of police work had largely fallen to those dedicated professionals who were able to maintain a clear and objective view of the criminal element and its changing modes of illicit behavior. Then---further out on the fringes---there were the stray vigilantes who worked outside the system seeking much the same end, only a few who had been actively in the "trade" long prior to the Virus, and who were largely predisposition to the sort of "outlaw" conduct that was now taken for granted by the younger crop of "bloomers." These days the object was not just to capture the "bad girls" and throw them into prison...for just as the villains were less inclined to kill their captives than before, so too the so-called "heroines" were just as inclined to use seduction and restraint in their routine "take-down" procedures. It was such conduct that often blurred the lines separating the "good" from the "bad" players, and often this confusion of sensibilities made it hard to discriminate "hero-villain" clashes from a really odd form of profile dating. So it was that a certain young-seeming crime-fighter by the name of Dinah was struggling to cope with the demands of the situation in which she had landed. At present her arms were entangled by a sticky kind of organic polymer that resembled spider webbing, and her legs were similarly held apart against her best efforts at working them free...not that she had much presence of mind at the moment to consider obtaining her freedom. This was because of her quarry, the lady who had "webbed" her and was now proceeding to ravish Dinah's body with her hands and tongue, having already parted her leather jacket and bullet-proof halter top in order to denude the blonde woman's upper chest so that this so-called "Spider-Lady" could get at the goods and do her business. Being fondled and groped by another woman was certainly not a new experience and had even come to be something you generally expected when you got yourself captured, but Dinah would much rather have been the one doing the molesting. Being helpless while subject to another's will was more the subject of bondage fantasies than her concept of a "good time," but under the circumstances she knew better than to resist, feminine pride notwithstanding. "Hmmm...tasty," her nominal quarry remarked, flicking her tongue over one rocky-hard nipple as Dinah tried to suppress a groan, closing her eyes and rolling back her head under the thrall of lust that was clouding her battle-hardened senses, "I knew you were hiding these babies for a good reason..." Dinah could only shudder slightly at that, mentally chiding herself for being careless and underestimating her opponent, a mistake made far too many times over the course of her decades-long career, yet which never had entirely lost its rank edge of humiliation. Even granted that winding up at the mercy of a cute girl like this did have its...compensations. "My, you are so responsive," the Spider-Lady cooed while attempting to slide a hand down beneath Dinah's Kevlar-laced garter, "You're obviously very experienced...and I'll bet that a cutie like you has got somebody at home who revs you up each morning..." "She does," another voice intruded, startling Dinah and causing the Spider-Lady to turn around in search of the one making her rather dramatic (and ill-timed) appearance. "Who...?" the Spider-Lady let Dinah go as her eyes sought out and found a darkened shape hovering just barely within the shadows, only to step out into the light in order to confront both women. Dinah had known at once who the shadowy outline was and swallowed. That was the other disadvantage of being ensnared by an amorous bad-girl...it tended to make you look bad in the eyes of your current girlfriend. "Call me the Huntress," the younger girl replied, "And you are so bagged, Spider-Girl." "Spider-Lady," the other woman snapped, "You want me to get sued for trademark infringement?" "Whatever," the Huntress replied, and all at once something shot out from beneath her trench-coat and wrapped itself around the Spider-Lady, pinning her arms to her sides and leaving her momentarily both stunned and helpless...long enough for the Huntress to take a step forward and do a spinning side-kick that sent the Spider-Lady into dreamland. Confidently assured that her tormentor was (at least temporarily) out of the picture, Dinah called out to her rescuer, "Helena...ah...nice to see you, lover. Um...would this be good timing or bad?" "That all depends," Helena the Huntress remarked as she took a few steps forwards to close the distance between herself and the so-called Black Canary, "...On how much you enjoyed that." "Ah...well..." Dinah winced, "I thought I could take her by myself, and I really wasn't expecting any...um...problems..." "Problems?" Helena allowed her eyes to sweep over her denuded lover's body, "What sort of problem is that? You seemed to be doing perfectly fine for yourself here..." "Helena..." Dinah grimaced. "And after all the times you've chided me for running off half-cocked and playing the rebellious teenager," Helena resumed, "And here I thought we were supposed to be partners...partner." "Helena..." Dinah gently pleaded. "You could have called for my help, or even Barbara's," Helena continued, "I mean, you guys practically raised me, and I've lost count of the number of times you've insisted on my calling in when I get myself into this sort of situation." "Um...well," Dinah attempted to shrug, but with no real success, "Like I said...I thought I could take her, and...well...this is kind of embarrassing, not exactly the sort of thing I want Barbara to find out about..." "Why?" Helena asked, "You think she wouldn't be too understanding?" "Babs? Hardly," Dinah sheepishly replied, "Even professionals have their off-days..." "I'm afraid that's not good enough, Dinah," Helena slowly smiled (which only added to Dinah's growing sense of nervousness), "In fact, as you've often stressed with me, I'm afraid that a moral lesson will need to be taught, and since you're already in the perfect position..." Dinah knew what was coming and was hardly in a position to dissuade her lover from taking advantage of her position, nor did she feel particularly inclined to refuse the open invitation to be "taken advantage of" since this was far from the first time this had happened, but still she felt inclined to bringing up a certain nagging sore point, "But...Barbara..." "Hush," Helena mused as she moved in to pick up where the unconscious Spider-Lady had left off, "Let Barbara get her own date...she's old enough for that, and besides...you two are no longer an item, remember?" "So why do I feel like such a cradle robber with you?" Dinah asked in a rhetorical manner, right before surrendering to the moment as she felt the gentle caress of younger hands begin to feel her up, after which no further coherent discussion was required between her and the adoptive ward of her loving partner... Meanwhile, elsewhere in that selfsame city... "Hmmm...I wonder what Helena and Dinah are doing right now...as if I need to fill in the details..." Those wistful remarks were delivered amid the windy silence of the evening as the speaker, a statuesque and costumed redhead, was lost in reflection as she gazed down upon the well-lit portions of the city and wondered for the hundred-thousandth time why she still maintained such rooftop vigils, communing with the shadows of the past rather than join in with the masses in their endless pursuit of carnal pleasures. Perhaps it was because she yearned for something other than another meaningless encounter or quick toss in the hay with the first available warm body to catch her fancy. She had been around long enough to recall the names that used to be assigned to that sort of woman, back when there had been a strong public condemnation of promiscuous behavior. Before the Virus came along and swept away such archaic forms of thinking. Young people these days---like Helena, for example---took matters in stride and lived each encounter as though it were the most important thing that yet could happen. Even Dinah, to some extent, was on the make and looked for new enticements with the relentless energy of a predator in heat, one of many reasons why it had not quite worked out between them, even though that brief time when they were officially an "item" still warmed the memories and brought a smile to the redheaded woman's dark reflections. Yet still there were some old-timers who clung tenaciously to the past and remembered those times when human beings had better control over their baser instincts. Such individuals were inclined to hold themselves aloof from random encounters, to seek longer-term relationships, and whose memories of past affairs gave them the hope that one day they might find that the joy shared with those taken from this life might one day be restored to them...at least in some small measure. So it was that a silent vigilante maintained her lonely vigil atop a tall spire atop a high tower at the center of a city known as Gotham, peering down at the darkened streets that were hers to guard in trust for the one who had been her longtime mentor. Her thoughts, while melancholy, were tinged with a certain sweet reflection as memories were the thing she valued the most, for dwelling upon the past often gave her a kind of satisfaction for a life lived well and to its fullest measure. In truth she was a very unusual woman, a former Congresswoman and librarian turned costumed vigilante, at one time crippled by a cruel act of the fates, since restored to full health by the miraculous effects of the dreaded Millennial Virus. She was both heroine and mentor to heroines, a woman of many talents whose greatest gifts were centered upon information gathering and retrieval. For her the emptiness of night was a comforting balm, a sanctuary away from the hustle and bustle of ordinary street life and often her refuge from the present and the past when she could reflect upon the many unusual chapters that her life had taken and still have hope that newer pages were yet to be written. Yet even though she was accustomed to solitude, often still she yearned to fill her nights with companionship, and of late the prospect of sleeping alone in her bed had worn heavily upon her mind, causing her to seek refuge in the night from her self-imposed isolation...a sanctuary of thought that she hardly expected to have violated this late in the evening. But then again, her life had always been one chock full of surprises, both the pleasant and unpleasant kind, so when a voice calmly addressed her from out of seeming nowhere she did not give out a yelp or a start but merely turned her head and gazed upon the half-moonlit outline of a very familiar figure, one welcome to her vision. "Barbara?" the voice of her nocturnal visitor asked once again, "Do you have a moment? I...kind of feel like talking." As gratified as she was to hear those words, still Barbara Gordon could not help but smile in irony, for who else did she expect to find hovering there fifteen floors above the street without a wire or harness attachment to resist the pull of gravity? Long golden hair floated about a face that surely belonged to one of the angels, for the heavens were her abode most certainly. A perfect body, flawless in every detail, curvaceous and sinewy, yet much stronger than her looks would imply. She seemed aloof and removed from the cares of the world, yet Barbara was not deceived by mere appearances, just as she knew full well the sheer raw energy and power that hid behind the softness that the blonde outwardly presented. In spite of everything she felt a pang of deep attraction briefly overwhelm bitter memories that even more briefly clouded her vision. Yet behind it all the memory that they had always shared a certainly closeness. Despite the many things that separated them from one another, they had a bond of mutual sorrows that marked them as sisters as surely as if they were blood-kin. A tightness filled her throat as she struggled to hold down a mix of emotions, but then she mastered herself and gave her visitor her full regard before replying in a softly humored voice, "You know talking is something I do very well, Kara...but what's on your mind...or do I even have to ask that?" The golden-haired beauty just sniffed in response to that teasing phrase, "You know very well that I'm not just here to socialize...but this isn't about business...at least not the professional kind...if you know what I'm saying." "I think I have a pretty good idea about that, Kara," Barbara straightened up and allowed her cape to flap freely in the night air as she confronted her former lover and tried to gage in the dim light just what sort of expression the other woman was wearing. Very carefully she said, "So...what sort of business are you after?" "Ah...I don't know," her visitor replied evasively, "It's just that...we always used to talk in the old days...back when we were just friends and not...well..." "An item?" Barbara replied, giving out no hint as to her feelings as she studied the blonde carefully as though attempting to read her mind through her face and body language. "Well...yeah, that," Kara said hesitantly, "I mean...the first time we made out it was on a night like this when we'd just come back from kicking some villain butts named Harley and Ivy, and then you invited me to share a shower with you and..." "Do you think I could have forgotten a thing like that?" Barbara sniffed, "Even without Eidetic memory I'd have a hard time forgetting what it felt like to wash the back of a 'Girl of Steel,' especially when you turned around and kissed me." "Ah...well...it seemed like a good idea at the time..." Kara sheepishly noted. "I was sore for a week and I thought you were going to break me in half," Barbara noted, "But I wouldn't have changed a thing if I had to do it all over. I mean, who knew you were such a goer?" The blonde perked slightly and said, "Well...I had to restrain myself...you earth girls are such fragile creatures, but when we...got down to doing it...I was surprised at how strongly you came back..." "And I was surprised to find out you were such a screamer," Barbara countered, then allowed her tone to harden once again, "So...what besides our former sex life did you come here to discuss?" The hovering Kryptonian just sighed and gave Barbara a faintly disgusted look, "Do I have to spell it out for you? I was lonely, and it's been a slow night, and there's not much point I pretending that I wanted to be anywhere else but with you, so..." "You thought you'd stop by for a quick visit?" Barbara asked, "Is the Justice League so hard up for work these days that they can spare you for a few hours? Are you sure a plane isn't about to crash somewhere, or a hiker get caught by the weather in the Andes?" Kara sighed, "I guess I deserve that...I was always letting one damned thing or another get in the way of our relationship..." "Oh, I perfectly understand how work can come before fun in our business," Barbara snorted, not intending to make her words sound as bitter as they were coming out at the moment, "But when you can't even commute cross-country to keep appointments or honor your obligations because you feel compelled to answer every single emergency under the sun...well...that does make stable relationships something of a problem." "Barbara," Kara floated a bit closer to the cowled beauty whose red hair adorned her shoulders, "I know I screwed things up for us...but is it too late to ask you to forgive me? I never meant to put you through that kind of anguish..." "Hey, I'm a big girl, I can handle myself, really," Barbara snapped, "But how do you think it affected Helena when she was growing up in our care and she needed both of her guardians to play parent? Her mother was a real mess at the time and doing hard time in prison, but somehow---in spite of it all---our little girl's grown up bright and healthy and only half as screwed up as her father." "Well, that's certainly something," Kara agreed with a faint smile, then she sobered, "I'm sorry I wasn't there to see her growing up, but I had...um...well...commitments of my own to look into..." "Ones you seemed able to manage while balancing them off your professional life, it seems," Barbara noted, and obtained some small satisfaction from seeing the way Kara winced in the moonlight. "Ah...well..." if she had been standing on solid ground Kara would have scuffed her feet, but as it was she made the motions with her legs before admitting, "I did kind of have help with that..." "Which brings us to the main subject," Barbara noted with a certain hint of less-than-amusement, "How are things these days between you and Diana?" "Ah..." Kara glanced away and seemed to find something about the skyline of great interest, "We're...not together anymore. In fact, she moved back to Paradise Island and took little Hyppolyta with her...said her daughter needed to be raised in a more traditional setting, or something of that nature, away from the contamination of...'Man's World,' or words to that effect." "Man's world?" despite herself Barbara could not help but gawk over that, "She actually calls it that? Still?" "I know, I know," Kara made a placating motion, "It's silly, but some traditions do take time to erase, and the Amazons spent the last three thousand years in seclusion with nothing besides horror stories about what an awful place the world is, and that men were to blame for all of its problems." "Well, they sure can't say that anymore, now can they?" Barbara scoffed. "No," Kara agreed, "But they say a lot of other things since the Virus crossed over into their world and converted their quiet paradise into one never-ending carnal orgy." "I thought they were all practicing Lesbians there, and had been since their founding," Barbara pointed out. "Oh sure," Kara snorted, "Like they've had anyone else besides each other to date for thousands of years? All that talk of Love and Universal Sisterhood...but it never got as bad for them as it did when the Virus erased all lingering traces of social restriction. Now it's one giant brothel over there, and hardly anyone has the time to think of anything besides screwing each other, and even the queen is jumping into bed with any girl who even slightly catches her fancy..." "And that's the kind of environment in which Diana wants to raise her daughter?" Barbara asked with an incredulous expression. "I tried explaining that to her, but you know how she gets when her mind is made up about things?" Kara sighed, "It was all I could do to get her to agree to leave little Alison in that boarding school in Japan rather than drag her to live with her sister in virtual exile...I mean...I know they're both Clark's daughters, and half-Kryptonian on their father's side, but..." "You feel you owe it to your cousin's memory to see that his kids are raised right?" Barbara asked. "Well...don't you feel the same way about Helena?" Kara turned the point around, then---unable to help herself---she wound up blurting out her next question, "And how are things this day between you and Dinah?" "About the same," Barbara replied, "We see each other professionally and talk all the time. We're still friends and partners...but...it isn't the same for us anymore...not since she started hanging out with Lady Shiva, and then took an less-than-casual interest in our own ward, Helena." "Now that's one odd pairing that I don't understand," Kara shook her head, "Not in the least. And in a way it is a shame...you both seemed so good for each other..." "You honestly think so?" Barbara asked with a lifted eyebrow. "Hell no," Kara shot back, "I was jealous as hell the whole time you were together. I mean...how was I supposed to feel seeing the way you two were fawning over each other during that one JL meeting?" "We weren't doing it to deliberately make you feel jealous," Barbara insisted. "Oh no?" Kara scoffed, allowing a bit of her temper to boil over. "Dinah has always had the greatest respect for you, and you know that," Barbara assured the other woman, "How else do you expect she should feel knowing you could grind her into powder faster than she could give a Canary yell?" "Good point," Kara sighed, easing a bit back on her resentment, though the memories still left her feeling bitter, "Look, I know she stuck with you during a very hard time in your life, and I'm grateful that she gave you companionship when we both went our separate ways, but don't expect me to be happy about the fact that I lost you to her because of my own damned problems..." "Are you telling me you've grown up a bit over the past eight years?" Barbara asked, "That you want a chance to start things up all over, to wipe the slate clean and try again to make it work between us?" "Yes!" Kara blurted out, then paused before saying, "Ah...what I mean to say is..." "I thought you'd never get around to it," Barbara grinned, "So I decided to summarize since if I left it to you we'd be here until morning." "Ah..." Kara said once again, momentarily taken aback by the change in the other woman's tone and manner. "The way you were going on just now I half expected to hear you drag up the brief affair I had with Helena's mother, back when we were briefly an item," Barbara continued, "But if we're all done with that stage, then maybe it's time to just get on with it and make up for lost time. That is...if you still want me?" "Do I?" Kara asked in wonder, only to pause before saying, "But..." "Kara," Barbara replied, "Despite appearances I am nearing fifty, and in us earthwomen that tends to mean we examine our deepest values and priorities more intently, and while I won't say that I'm too happy about the way things were when we parted company, I'm old enough now to see things with a...somewhat different perspective. Besides which, I freely admit that I'm a far cry from perfect..." Kara drifted closer to the other woman, "Do you mean...all is forgiven?" "It is if you've learned to better prioritize and time-manage," Barbara grinned, "Honestly, for a girl who can fly around the world in a matter of minutes you have trouble enough being everywhere you're needed. Just don't expect Helena to be a quick to forgive you...she's in those awkward teenaged years and full of rebellious instincts that she inherited from her mother. I could sure use a firm hand steering her the way I want her to turn out..." Kara brought herself in even closer to the other woman, "As I seem to recall things, you were tougher on her than I ever was..." "I'm more of a disciplinarian," Barbara replied, "I play the bad cop, but you're better at playing the good cop than I am." Kara came so near to the cowled redhead that they were able to look fully into each other's faces without the separation of night coming between them. At such a range the magnetic attraction of sex was overpowering, and both women were fully aware of one another on a level that went beyond mere biology right down to a primal, almost spiritual level. "I'd like the chance to be a mother again," Kara replied, "There's not much else I can offer you, but..." Barbara reached out with a free hand, using her other hand to grip the spire atop the clock-tower, and gripped the blonde Kryptonian by her cape in order to draw her in closer, whereupon their lips met and a kiss was shared that ended all confusion. "Wow," Kara said when at last their lips parted mere moments later, "If that's what I've been missing for eight years..." "Are you going to talk or fuck me?" Barbara asked her bluntly. "What do you think, Red?" Kara replied as she took the other woman in her arms and lifted her away from the clock spire, their arms embracing as they experience Zero-G together while their mouths were locked in passion, tenderly sharing a kiss something less than two hundred feet above the pavement. Very gradually they began to drift down towards a level spot atop the rooftop penthouse adjoining Barbara's private headquarters, whereupon they set down on the balcony still arm-in-arm and melding tongues together. "Eight years," Barbara murmured as their mouths parted once again while she absently used her glove controls to deactivate the alarm system and open the patio doors to admit them into her office, "Where does the time go?" "Beats me," Kara replied, eyes intent on the woman in her arms as she lifted Barbara and carried her past the threshold, "But I sure don't intend to let any more slip by me before I show you how much I've learned about Amazon love techniques." "Oho?" Barbara raised both eyebrows speculatively, "Maybe I'll owe Diana a favor after all, if this lives up to expectations." "Count on it," Kara chuckled, "I fully intend to ravish you silly. In fact, I..." All at once the Kryptonian paused on the verge of carrying her prize off to a bedding. Turning a glance towards the sky that seemed only partially distracted, her eyes focused on something only she could see, which prompted Barbara to ask, "What is it?" "Oh," Kara turned away, "False alarm. I thought I heard something skimming across the atmosphere just now, moving hypersonic under full stealth cloaking, but it turns out I recognize the signature of that particular forcefield. It's a Latverian model Hyperglider, and three guesses who's piloting the thing, and where she's actually headed." "Oh," Barbara replied, "You mean Crimson Dawn's on her way to New York for a visit to the Baxter Building again? Didn't know it was that time of the week." "You can almost set your watch by those two," Kara snorted, "One of these days I'm going to have to remind her majesty, Queen Kristoff, that there are certain formal protocols that have to be observed when violating territorial and international boundaries." "So says a woman who does that routinely?" Barbara asked with an upraised eyebrow. "Hey, I have a UN permit that gives me official sanction," Kara rebuffed, "But enough about Doom's child...we've wasted enough of the night talking about other women." "We certainly have," Barbara agreed as they entered her private domicile, enjoying the strength in the slender arms of the woman carrying her with anticipation of what they were about to do together, repairing the rift that had grown between these star-crossed lovers as their mutual ardor took hold and put all other concerns to the furthest recesses of conscious awareness... Meanwhile, less than a hundred klicks away as the Hyperglider flies, in a certain exclusively owned building near Yancy Street in New York City... Sue Storm-Richards had been half-drifting off to sleep, having momentarily exhausted herself with the need to tuck in the former girlfriend of her late, much lamented brother. It was hardly the first time that she and Frankie Rae had wound up giving each other nocturnal comforts, but a woman needed her beauty sleep, and at times it seemed more like a therapy session than a simple screw job. Much of the time they were together was mostly spent in cuddling and some light-to-heavy petting in which she helped Frankie adjust to her imprisonment on Earth after years of freedom of the spaceways as the herald of Galactus. In truth Frankie had a lot to cry about these days since being rudely dumped by the Inhuman princess named Crystal after a three-month whirlwind relationship in which both girls rocked their world cosmically. It had seemed a perfect match at the time, but things did not always work out romantically in this day and age where ample temptations might cause one to stray and lose sight of the "big picture." Such had been the case when both women had discovered a taste in "outside" pursuits, but for Crystal it had proven to be yet another case of completely flipping around and losing her interest in one lover in favor of another, much as she had done years ago when she dumped Susan's late brother in favor of Quicksilver. Frankie had not taken the breakup too well and had been in a terrible shape when she came to Susan to console her broken heart. One thing led to another (as it almost invariably did in these types of situations) and the two of them wound up in bed consoling one other since Sue had been feeling lonely herself at the time and was in need of a good "pick-up." Nothing permanent would come of it, of course, but it always was nice to feel that certain closeness that only came when wrapped in the arms of another woman. Of course it had not been Frankie whom Susan wanted to sleep with at the time, but as the old song went: "If you can't be with the one you love, then love the one you're with." Actually, it was a bit tiring these days having to play "Den-Mother" to the newly reconstituted "Fantastic Four," whose membership roster seemed to change every few months but generally revolved around the same group of closely-knit friends and allies. At times such as these Sue really did miss her late and much-lamented husband. Reed could be a tower of strength in the darkest of times and a comforting presence who always seemed to know the answers. Of course he had met with failure in the end when trying to obtain a cure for the Virus, but no other genius on earth had come so close to unraveling the mystery surrounding it... Well...none other but the one man who could rival her husband for sheer brilliance, but he had gone the way of all male flesh in the end, leaving Susan behind to pick up the shattered pieces....or rather Susan and Victoria, two rival ends who fit so well together... (Stop that,) she mentally chided herself, (You're being disloyal again to the memory of your husband. All right, so she's a younger girl, and she has much of the brilliance and arrogance of her father within her, but that's no reason to be so painfully reminded of how much you miss Victor, how sad you were at his passing, as if you really had lusted for him in your heart and never knew it...) She tried thinking of the other men in her life who she missed almost as badly...of Johnny, her brother, of Ben Grimm---who had been like the very heart of the Four from it's rocky beginning. And then there was...Namor...and once again Sue chided herself for yielding to her fantasies of what life might have been like had she accepted the prince's offer to live full time with him as co-ruler of Atlantis. That job was now Namorita's (thankfully) and she was more than welcome to have it. But still... The memory of rippling muscles, of pectorals that could crush coral rocks, of a tight butt that fit well in a pair of ever-present green swim trunks, and the bulge that she had often seen there when she had not meant to be looking...now there had been a man, and what a waste of lost potential... All at once Sue awoke with a start from her lustful fantasies and stared around in the darkness of her bedroom, finding a lurking presence somewhere in the shadows, one who would not have been visible to normal human senses, yet with her specially enhanced abilities stood out to her mind like a neon beacon. "Who...?" she began to ask when her visitor raised both hands and pointed towards her, and another moment later two gauntlets crossed the space of the room and snatched hold of her wrists, drawing them up and pinning them to the backboard of her bedding. Sue was shocked at the abruptness of the assault, but instantly she rallied to erect a forcefield to protect her from her unseen attacker. Her shield seemed to hold her assailant momentarily at bay, but then the darkened figure lifted a hand and pressed fingertips against the invisible wall...and eyes began to glow from beneath a face-mask as unimaginable forces were channeled, and all at once her mental shields began to dissolve and then to part before the greater power of another. That brief display was enough to alert Sue as to the identity of her assailant, and with a gasp she said, "Doom?" "You were expecting maybe someone else, Susan?" a sardonically lilting voice replied from behind the mask as the woman in armor contemplated the naked beauty before her with visually enhanced sensors. Sue frowned a bit before growling, "What do you want with me, you fiend?" "I should think the answer to that would be quite obvious," Victoria Kristoff Von Doom replied as she touched a wrist-band with a now-bared finger, and all at once her armor began to detach itself and separate into different component sections. These sections flew off of her body and hovered in mid-air as though draped upon invisible hangers, leaving only a naked Victoria in place but for a cloth face-mark that but partially obscured her upper features. Sue squirmed a bit on the bed, all too aware that she was not wearing a nightgown since that had been discarded somewhere into her nocturnal tryst with Nova. Instead she adopted a somewhat haughty tone herself and said, "Do you really think I am that easy to take in my own house, Crimson?" "On the contrary," Victoria said with evident amusement as she advanced upon the bed like a stalking predator, "I expect you to put up a good fight. It but adds to the sport and makes matters that much more...interesting, do you not agree, Susan?" Sue pouted a bit as she made a tentative effort to free her wrists from the gauntlets, then just gave the other woman a mild glare before saying, "Does your father know what you're up to, or did you sneak away from detention once again?" "What my father does not know will not hurt me," Victoria replied as she sat down upon the bed and reached out with a hand to stroke the blonde locks of her nominal victim, "And, speaking of which, I do hope that I did not hurt you just now when I disrupted your forcefield. I was trying to be gentle." "How do you always do that?" Sue asked, shuddering slightly from the brush of fingers against her face, though not with aversion as she wanted her assailant to go a lot farther, "I've stood up to the likes of gods and even Galactus, but you always penetrate my fields as if they were not even there..." "Something even I wonder about at times," Victoria admitted before permitting her hands to slide down the smooth skin of the other woman's high-cheekboned features, admiring her beauty in the dim light as she traced a path down the slender neck of the older woman, moving past the clavicle of Sue's collarbone and sliding down to grip firmly one bare breast, which brought a faint gasp of amazement from the blonde haired FF leader. "But what say we postpone further explanation until later...much later..." Sue gasped and felt her pulse begin to race as growing excitement replaced her former irritation. In spite of her efforts to maintain a façade of heroic outrage over being assaulted within her own bedroom, the plain fact of the matter was that she was thrilling to the presence of the domineering Latverian sovereign, who reminded her a little too potently of her father...in many of his best and worst aspects. And---worst of all---Sue would have been hard pressed to say which aspects she found more enticing. "Hmmm...such smooth texture, such fine tone," Victoria mused as she allowed her hands to rove freely over the intimate places of Sue's naked body, "You really must have been working out lately, my dear, in order to maintain yourself to such excellent standards." "Flatterer," Sue sniffed, though she had to work hard to avoid smiling since the other woman's skillful hands were obtaining some interesting reactions that were firing up the flagging nerves of her formerly tired body. "Not at all," Victoria cooed, "I speak only the absolute and total truth about you, Susan, and you know how much I appreciate rare and exquisite beauty..." "Do your worst, Doom," Sue scoffed, only now she was smiling, hoping she could continue to put on a good front as her body was already adjusting itself on the mattress to allow her ravisher better access to her prone and vulnerable form. "On the contrary, Susan," Victoria chuckled, "I intend to do my best..." All at once the lights came on, startling both Sue and her 'tormentor' as they turned to see the stunning blonde bombshell who had sauntered into the room wearing nothing more than a light bathrobe. "Mom? Are you busy in here, I---OOOPS!" the new arrival suddenly reacted with a start, seeing the domineering brunette hovering over the blonde with hands assuming possessive hold over some incriminating portions of the latter's anatomy. Rather than be outraged, however, the younger girl said, "Victoria? So sorry...didn't know you were visiting mom, my bad." "How many times have I told you to knock before entering a room, young lady?" Sue snapped before biting back on her temper and sighing as she looked apologetically up at Victoria, "Would you mind holding off for a bit? This will only take a minute." "But of course," Victoria replied, letting go of her nominal victim and sitting back on the bed before snapping her fingers to cause the gauntlets to release the blonde's wrists so that Sue was able to sit upright, massaging those wrists as she turned her attention back towards her eldest daughter. "Now then, Franklyne," Sue began, "What's on your mind this late in the evening?" The eldest child of Sue and her late husband just gave a sheepish look and said, "Um...never mind, I suppose it could wait until morning..." "Too late for that," Sue sighed, "You broke the mood, now Victoria and I will have to try again much later. Besides, it seemed important enough to you a minute ago that you were prepared to wake me in the dead of the evening." "Ah...well..." Franklyne Richards replied, "It's...well, Aunt Lyja offered to give me a lift over to Avengers Mansion where I was hoping to see Firestar---ah---I mean...Angelica, and..." "This late at night?" Sue frowned, "Has Janet Van Dyne been throwing yet another one of her Toga parties?" "Yeah, well..." Franklyne shrugged, "Aunts Jenny and Nita already went there together, so it's not like we won't have adult supervision or anything like that..." "There had better just be sex going on over there," Sue warned, "But if I find out you've been doing any drinking..." "Hey, I won't touch anything alcoholic, not even the rubbing kind," Franklyne assured, "But when I talked to Angelica just now she was sounding kind of down and..." "Fine, go, have a good time," Sue waved a hand dismissively, "Screw your brains out, whatever, just don't do anything I'll regret hearing about later." "Thanks Mom," Franklyne sighed in relief, "We'll be on our best behavior, honest. Can't say the same about Aunt Jenny, but...well...you know how she gets at parties." "All too well," Sue said with a slight edge of rue in her smile, "But I'll be expecting a full report from Lyja, so behave yourself around her and don't get into any trouble." "Hey, it's only an orgy," Franklyne shrugged, "What could possibly go wrong at an orgy?" "The mind fairly overflows with possibilities," Victoria mused, but otherwise kept aloof, preferring not to interfere in such a private domestic matter. Franklyne turned back to her mother's guest and gave her a rueful smile before saying, "And I'll be sure to tell Chris you're here, Victoria. She's been eager to see you since your last visit." "I would prefer if you did not disturb her for the moment, Franklyne," Victoria urged, "I am eager to see her as well, but I would prefer to deal with one Richards at a time, thank you." "Maybe so," Franklyne said as she turned to exit the room, "But you don't have to live with her, I do, and you can't imagine the ways she could make life difficult for me if she gets miffed, so I prefer to stay in her good graces." "Oh, very well," Sue sighed, "Send her up, we'll make it a threesome." Then, after her eldest child exited, she turned back to Victoria and said, "Hey, are you all right? You look a little glum, and since when did you ever object to having Chris and me double-team you?" "It is not that, Susan," Victoria sighed, glancing away into the distance, "It is simply that...well, if you must know, I did not come here strictly just to ravish you and spend time with my favorite blonde American duo." "Oh?" Sue tried to hide her disappointment, but she was still worked up on an adrenal surge and wanted a good screwing to take her mind off of her own domestic problems, so she had to work hard to keep her excitement level down as she played the attentive mentor, "Would you care to discuss it?" "Not in any great detail," Victoria replied, turning back to the older woman before continuing, "But...you know the demands placed upon me by my father...the obligations he laid upon my shoulders before he perished. I have a mission that I must fulfill...but it is one that troubles me greatly, and I am...having second thoughts upon the matter. I am wondering if I can carry through in fulfilling his will and still remain in your good graces." "Sounds pretty serious," Sue remarked as she laid a reassuring hand on the other woman's bare shoulder, "Is Victor having you do more dirty-work from beyond the grave?" "Something like that, yes," Victoria sighed, then all at once she was unable to help herself and leaned over to rest her head against the older woman's bosom, "I want to find another way, I do not wish to go to the extremes that my father believes are necessary, but..." Sue put her arm around the younger woman's shoulder and kissed her on the brow before murmuring with infinite compassion, "You'll do what you have to do, and in the end you'll find a way. I have every confidence in your ability to find answers where others see none, and your heart has always been in the right place. Just take your time and don't rush into any judgements, and only act when you are sure that you are doing the right thing." "You make it sound so simple," Victoria mused as she savored the caress of her cheek against the soft firm flesh of the widow of her father's greatest rival, "But at times such as these...I come to wonder if I am as cut out for this work as my father." "Oh, trust me on that front, Victoria," Sue softly chuckled, "You have Victor beat out on a number of points, but we'll discuss the finer details at another time since I hear Chris beating haste towards my room." Sure enough a moment later a scantily clad vivacious sixteen year old with long blonde hair done up in a ponytail---who was like a younger version of her mother but far more brash and intemperate in her behavior---burst into the room and at once sized up the situation. Without hesitation she pointed an accusatory finger towards Victoria and cried, "Ahah! Just as I suspected! You broke in here intending to kidnap mom again, didn't you, Vic?" "Ah...well..." Victoria attempted to explain herself, but never even got a chance before the blonde once more continued. "How could you? It's not fair! You hardly ever stop by to try and kidnap me! And here you are sneaking around behind my back fooling around with Mom again, and after I've been waiting a whole week hoping you'd show up and kidnap me!" Victoria's mouth hung open but no words came out. She wanted to explain herself to the irate teenager, but finding the exact terminology that would not offend the younger girl was a task to try even a genius. Besides, it took a lot of time, energy and planning to come up with a decent strategy for capturing, let alone immobilizing the young girl known as Christine Richards, who---after all---ranked as one of the most powerful young mutants on the planet. But Sue rallied to Victoria's defense and said, "Now Chris, you know better than to think that Victoria was intending to slight you. She came to me for advice and a good screwing, but afterwards I'm sure she would have stopped by to pay you a visit." "Give me a break, Mom, do you think I'm slow or something?" Christine huffed, "Everybody sooner or later tries kidnapping you, but do they ever think of trying their luck with me? Hardly!" "Perhaps because very few in my profession are possessed of that strong a death-wish?" Victoria suggested in what she sincerely hoped would be taken for light banter. "Well...it may be true that I've had a few too many adventures in my youth," Sue noted with a mildly self-effacing expression, "But these days I try to be a bit more cautious about who kidnaps me, and Victoria is practically like family. Oh, sure we've had our differences from time-to-time, but it's never been as serious as with her father." "Yeah?" Chris asked suspiciously as she eyed the nude Latverian monarch in a manner calculated to considerably decrease the latter's comfort level, "And speaking about your old man, what's the old iron mask done this time that you felt the need to fly all the way over here just to snuggle up with mom? You only do that when you're feeling guilty and want her to sooth your conscience." "My father is not at issue here," Victoria insisted, "It is true that he has burdened me from time to time with...ethically questionable duties and assignments, but I am my own woman and fully capable of assuming responsibility for my actions." "A-huh," Chris growled in low-voiced confirmation of her suspicions, "So whatever he's putting you up to this time must be pretty awful or you'd level with me rather than make me have to guess about it." At this Victoria felt a surge of sudden alarm, for if there was one woman on the planet against whom she could not hope to shield her thoughts and deepest intentions it was Christine Richards, the only woman on the planet whose Psi-powers so vastly exceeded her own that Victoria might as well have been a head-blind mundane. (Which---come to think of it---was pretty much how Victoria tended to view most everyone else upon the planet who was not similarly as gifted as herself with Psi-endowments.) "Chris," Sue chided, "You know better than to violate the hospitality of our home by attempting to probe the secret thoughts of a guest when she doesn't feel like confiding them with us..." "Even if I find out that she's been seeing someone else on the sly besides us?" Chris amiably countered. "Hmm..." Sue turned a different kind of look upon Victoria and said, "You may have a point about that. Is there someone else of whom we ought to know, Victoria? Be careful how you answer because you know that Chris will know if you are lying." "That is absurd," Victoria insisted with much less calm in her voice than she might otherwise have preferred, "Why would I come to you if I had an outside love interest? Chris...I give you my word that I have been faithful only to you and your mother and have not given in to...shall we say...other temptations when presented?" "Hmph," Chris pouted, "Well, all right, I'll let it go at that for now...but that doesn't mean you're off the hook about the other thing. I won't probe you to learn your secrets or what you're hiding from us this time, Vic...but I don't really need to either since---knowing your old man like I do---it probably concerns Lilith." "You mean the Millennium Virus?" Sue asked with raised blonde eyebrow. "My father's singular obsession," Victoria winced, "And it is none too surprising that you would have guessed that given how large an effect it has had on all of our existence." "Why do you guys insist on always calling it a 'virus'?" Chris huffed, "I mean...I know it did awful stuff and all, and it's a real downer that dad and uncle Ben and Johnny aren't here, along with all the other men who died off when I was little, but it's been fifteen years now, and five since anybody got sick and died. These days it acts more like a symbiote, keeping our bodies fresh and healthy, and most girls of my generation have come to accept it as pretty much normal." "Because you are too young to know what life was like before the Virus happened," Victoria insisted. "Oh, I know all about the historical archives," Chris said dismissively, "We study about it all the time in school, what life was like in the old days when men ran the world and us girls were pretty much second class citizens, but we've inherited what they abused, and if you asked most guys my age what they think about it you'd hear a pretty strong consensus that most changes made have been for the better." "You don't really mean that, do you?" Sue asked in surprise. "And why not?" Chris huffed, "I'm not saying all men were bad, but enough of them were that they made a pretty big mess out of everything with all the wars and corporate greed and chauvinistic world domination...I mean, can you believe that in some countries girls didn't even have any rights? Men could marry us off to some fat slob who could abuse us at will and there wasn't anything we could do about it. Most women in poor countries died young from hunger, disease, childbearing and violence, and all the stupid men in this country seemed to care about was that they not be allowed to use contraceptives or have the right to an abortion!" "You are oversimplifying the issue, Christine," Victoria reasoned, "And as one who had originally been born a man I must take exception to the broad characterization that you are inferring with that statement." "I may be exaggerating a little here, Vic," Chris persisted, "But I know enough from the records to say that at least some of those guys who died off brought it on their own stupid heads, and good riddance. Too bad Lilith didn't discriminate between them and the good men like daddy." "But that is precisely the problem, Chris," Sue assured her youngest daughter, "The Virus took the good with the bad and left us to mourn for the losses it inflicted. It's true that it affects women differently, though, and in that sense I suppose you could call it more symbiotic than parasitic, but it also has wrought a terrible price in that most women now have difficulty controlling their sexual urges...as I can well attest." "Hey, don't pretend like you mind sleeping around, Mom," Chris said with a grin, "And I think it's pretty cool that I have one of the hottest mommas on the planet. But the problem is you still miss daddy a lot and on some level you feel guilty about cheating on his memory, which happens with a lot of adults, I've noticed. Not like Vic and me, who can turn it on and off whenever we want to." "Oh?" Victoria arched her eyebrows from behind her mask, "And just how often to you practice this self-control of which you speak, Christine?" "Enough that I can get through a school day and still get my homework done on time," Chris assured the older girl, "And hey, just for the record, I really wouldn't mind if you sleep around on your own time, just as long as you're up front and open about it. Now, about this stuff that's got you so hot and bothered..." "Ah..." Victoria quite suddenly got up off the bed and gave an apologetic smile to Sue and her daughter, "Perhaps I have overstayed my visit. I do have other duties to attend, and I only wanted to stop by to pay my respects to my favorite Richards women." "Must you leave so soon?" Sue asked with obvious disappointment, "You were just about to ravish me, and it wouldn't be hospitable to let you go without a complimentary snuggle." "Believe me, I would like nothing better than to ravish you, my sweet Susan," Victoria gave the older woman an indulgent smile, then favored Chris with a leer before adding, "And I promise that I will not neglect you next time, Christine, but when we do it I wish to make certain that there will be none of these petty distractions to ruin the mood when I take you." As she said this Victoria adjusted her wrist controls and all at once the hovering plates of armor flew back into place and attached themselves around her slender body, then sealed tight with an audible "click" as the Mistress of Latveria was once more 'The Crimson Dawn,' encased in gleaming armor while a scarlet cloak (with matching hood) adorned her like a mantle. "Nice trick," Christine replied while extending a hand, "But I can top that on my own..." "Chris," Sue chided, "What have I said before about interfering with the operations of a foreign mechanism without the permission of the operator?" "But Mom..." Chris complained. "Show some respect for your mother, Christine," Victoria said as she further adjusted the controls of her armor, "My armor has some very delicate components that you might upset if you were to pry them open. I promise to return shortly after...I tend to some rather trifling business oversees, and when I do I shall make full and complete use of all your sweet openings, so fret not for you are in my thoughts always. Adieu." With that Victoria vanished from the room in a sparkling haze of transporter-like effects, leaving the older and younger blonde women behind to puzzle as to the less cryptic meaning of the Latverian's actions. Chris summed it up best herself when she turned to her mother and said, "Now I am worried. Since when has Vic ever passed up on a chance to screw the both of us silly?" "I have to concede that it is troubling," Sue remarked, "I do hope she hasn't gotten herself into something too deep. It would be a tragedy if she were ever to cross the line and become just like her father." "Can't have that, now can we?" Chris mused, then all at once turned about and said, "Well, sorry to bust in here and break things up, Mom, but I'll be headed back to bed if it's all the same to you. Not like it's any skin off my nose what that stuck-up Vic thinks she's doing to please her dead daddy." "Of course," Sue said sagely, then waited until her daughter left before adding, "And do look after Victoria...she's going to need a friend like you on her side to help her through her latest moral dilemma." Needless to say, Sue Richards knew perfectly well what her daughter was up to but was not about to interfere since it was hard enough keeping up with an average teenager, let alone one who could cross the globe in a matter of seconds WITHOUT the need of an orbital Pogo jet. Besides, if there was one place it would not be safe to stand at the moment it was anywhere directly between her beloved child and the lover they both shared, especially if her instincts for trouble were to be believed as she was certain that Victoria was about bite off far more than even her father might have chewed. Especially if it meant going head-to-head with the will of Lilith... * * * "Yen-piece for your thoughts, Ranchan?" Ranma glanced at Ukyo then sighed, "Is that the going rate these days? I never was as good with rates of exchange as you are, Ucchan." "Let me try putting it a different way," Ukyo said to her fiancée, "What's on your mind that you look so distracted that you're not enjoying eating lunch with me, even after I baked your favorite okonomiyaki?" "Oh," Ranma glanced at the food in her hand then gave a slight shrug as she continue to nibble upon it, not bothering to fully chew before swallowing and then answering, "I'm just trying to figure it out, that's all...I mean, all the stuff that's been happening lately, and what mom let slip yesterday, and how I'm gonna manage to survive the rest of the semester." "Oh, minor stuff?" Ukyo said with a somewhat whimsical smile, only to sober abruptly as she glanced away before saying, "Ah...and while we're on the subject right now, Ranchan...I thought maybe I ought to apologize to you. For the way I was acting since yesterday, I mean, when Auntie 'Doca dropped that little bombshell about how you can sex-change." Ranma was unusually careful in selecting her next words, "You mean...when you and those other girls decided to pull a train on me and ride me silly?" "Ah...yeah, that," Ukyo winced, "I really meant to apologize about that before...but at the time, well...things got a little crazy. I mean...one minute you're the girl I grew up with, and the next..." "So I figured," Ranma admitted, "You all went berserk when you saw me as my other self, then before I knew what was what you were going down on me, along with that Shampoo girl...then later on again when we got to the Tendos." "Yeah...that's what I meant," Ukyo glanced down between her legs before continuing once again, "I didn't think of what it must have been like for you until later, when I started coming back down from the high I was on, the lust that just took over and made me act like a complete wanton." "I figured it was something like that," Ranma said, "I wasn't gonna say nothing at the time, but you sure looked like you were enjoying it a lot, and even though I did feel like a piece of meat being fought over by a pack of love-starved wolves I really knew you were the same Ucchan underneath it all. I just had to feel like you were...I dunno...possessed or something..." "That's what it felt like from my end," Ukyo admitted, "And I really didn't mean to be so hard on you. I can't really even explain it to myself this feeling I had when I saw you for the first time with that thing between your legs, and...well..." "Guess I really don't understand," Ranma sighed, "I mean, I saw myself in the mirror but I didn't know what it was. It just hung limp down there until it started to move, then get hard. It was freaky." "Ah...yeah...guess it was at that," Ukyo glanced sideways, then added, "But Ranchan, that's who you really are, the person you were meant to be, and no matter how weird that may seem to you it's something you just have to accept. I know it's not gonna be easy or anything like that, and I probably don't have the right to try and advise you..." "Probably not," Ranma agreed, "But you don't turn into a boy when you get hit with hot water neither." Ukyo sighed in recognition of this but said, "Ranchan...I may not turn into a boy, but I now know what a man is, and...you may have trouble accepting this, but...I kind of thought your other self was beautiful...and that was even before I started to ride him." "Do you mind?" Ranma complained, "I'm trying to each my lunch here. Okay, so you thought he was beautiful, but me? I wish the whole thing never happened. Now I gotta live each day with this curse hanging over my head, and if I get careless enough or let myself get too exhausted..."" "The Virus will get you?" Ukyo asked, "Don't worry about that, I won't let it happen..." "How are you gonna prevent it?" Ranma looked curiously at his longtime companion, "You couldn't control yourself the last time. Only by changing back to myself did you guys snap out of whatever spell you were under...so if you lose control like that and go nuts on me again..." "You think we'd fuck you to exhaustion...maybe even to death?" Ukyo suddenly shuddered and lost all appetite for the lunch she had worked hard at providing. The two of them were sitting atop the tall clock tower of the main building looking down upon the school campus, high above the rest of their new classmates. Looking down from that height always allowed them the perspective of meditating upon the order of life, and realizing their place in it, which helped a lot when confronting new feelings. "Maybe," Ranma said, "But I don't think you'd do it deliberately. It's just...most girls seem to go crazy when they see me in my other form. You trained alongside me, you've got as much self-control as anybody I've ever known, and still you lost it completely. What's to keep it from happening again the next time I change?" "I..." Ukyo tried to think of something comforting to say, but nothing sprang to mind and she was left to stare out at nothing, contemplating the implications that she might well be responsible for the future death of a loved one. The silence hung uncomfortably in the air until Ranma finally said, "Look, I didn't mean to come down on you just now. This whole thing was crazy from the start. I mean...finding out that I'm really...you know...and that I've got all these people I'm engaged to, including Ryoko..." "Oh yeah," Ukyo nervously chuckled, "And that I've gotta share you for the rest of our lives with these other girls. I mean...I really don't mind that, the other girls I mean. We've never exactly been monogamous, always taking each day as it comes and all that...and any cute thing that crosses our path has always been fair game, share and share alike and all that." "Yeah," Ranma agreed, "Guess I can't really complain, and we've had some pretty good times together, and the other girls are...well...I guess cute would be an understatement." "Damned straight about that," Ukyo agreed, "Especially that Shampoo...whooiieee! Talk about your foreign imports..." "She is a real honey," Ranma agreed, "Kinda reminds me of that chick we met in Hong Kong, the one who works for Interpol, remember her?" "You mean Inspector Zhan?" Ukyo replied, "Yeah, she was sure a real knockout, only Shampoo's got that exotic Amazon thing going down, know what I mean? She's real easy on the eye, and that accent of hers...talk about sexy!" "Ain't hard to think about being with her for the next twenty or thirty years," Ranma mused, "And what about the other girls, the Tendo sisters?" "I like the tall one," Ukyo admitted, "Kasumi...she's nice and likes to cook and clean house, and she's got a heck of a body, and real generous about sharing it too." "She's good," Ranma agreed, "And what about her sister, Nabiki?" Ukyo nudged Ranma with her elbow and grinned, "You like her, don't you? I saw the way you acted when she was sucking you off, like you were giving it to her to play with, and you have to admit she gives real good tongue action." "No complaints there," Ranma agreed, "And the fact that she's got a good head for business doesn't hurt much either, eh? Thinking of taking her on as a business partner?" "Hey," Ukyo chuckled, "I can always use the services of a good secretary and accountant, especially one who gives great oral action. But yeah...I really do like her. She makes a spicy good compliment to her sister's sweetness. Too bad their younger sister doesn't want any part of the action..." "Akane?" Ranma asked with surprise, "Well...she's cute enough, but I don't really think she likes me all that much..." "She only has a problem with your guy thing," Ukyo noted, "But she wasn't shy about giving you her business when you were fully a girl, and I kinda like that cute ass of hers..." "You always did like girls with wide bottoms," Ranma chuckled, "So I guess I ain't got any complaints about the girls, and it ain't their fault if they find me irresistible. I guess we could make it work...if only I didn't have to make all of you guys preggers in order to please mom." "Which brings us to a couple of other girls on the list," Ukyo noted with some reluctance, "Remember that one girl at the party the other day? The high-strung sorority type with the pony tail who showed up again this morning?" "What?" Ranma said, "That Kuno Kodachi girl? I thought she had the hots for Akane." "She also seems to have it bad for your male half," Ukyo pointed out, "So if I were you I'd be careful about transforming when you're in her presence." "No fooling," Ranma agreed, then she considered the point and said, "She ain't bad to look at, but a little too flighty and unstable for my tastes, and the way she rode me out the other day you'd think I was a pony she was trying to break to the saddle. Don't think I wanna go through that on a daily basis." "Yeah," Ukyo agreed, "My point exactly, she's the type of gal who could work you to exhaustion. But that just leaves the other potential suitor on the list..." "Ryoko?" Ranma sighed and stared down at the school grounds, "What am I gonna do about her? She's obviously mad at me for missing out on that match we were supposed to have a couple years back, but now we find out she's also supposed to be yet another one of our fiancées?" "It's getting kinda crowded around here," Ukyo sniffed, "I don't think I'd mind having Ryoko around, but she's kind of short-tempered and gets on lots of peoples' nerves, and she ain't exactly the most stable girl either one of us knows, so it's gonna be a problem if she insists on being included in the package." "I wonder what the other girls are gonna make of her," Ranma pondered, "I like Ryoko as a friend, and I never had any complaints about as a lover, but if she pulls one of her violent acts and hurts one of the Tendos...I'd be pretty damned upset about it." "So we're going to have to agree to put some limits on this thing before we wind up with a whole damned squad of would-be suitors clamoring to get a ride on your male equipment," Ukyo looked sidelong at her fiancée then added, "And you're right about not trusting me to control myself. Never could resist the old Saotome charms even when you are full girl, but when you change...it's like everything in the world makes sense and I know that you belong to me, and I love to feel that part of you inside me. Couldn't stand it if I hurt you doing that, Ranchan, and I sure won't stand by and let some other girl hurt you, so I'm gonna have to train myself to hold back at critical minutes." "You mean like a time-out?" Ranma asked, "Think you could do that?" "Dunno," Ukyo sighed, "But if the risk of losing you to the Virus is that high, then I'd just as soon never let you transform ever again, even if I'd miss the male you terribly. I'm game for having a baby by you, but not if it means you wind up a shriveled up husk leaving me and the other girls widows." "Yeah, no fooling about that," Ranma remarked before patting her own flattened abdomen then adding, "Funny thing is...I've thought about having a baby with you...someday in the future, of course, only I was wondering which of us would play the momma. Guess that sure settled that question." "I guess," Ukyo replied, then decided to change the subject, "What about that Akane though? You sure you won't consider her for potential co-fiancée?" "Yeah, I'm pretty sure I'm not interested," Ranma replied, "But you can have her if you want her so much. Me, I'd rather not spend my time with somebody who would just as soon kill me as make out." "She isn't really that bad," Ukyo insisted, "Although I have to say that I was mighty impressed with the way she took on all those girls by herself. Her technique was basic and lacking in a few places, but she had pretty good speed, timing and coordination, to say nothing of some wicked power behind those punches and kicks." "Oh sure," Ranma scoffed, "But not that much control, and she was wildly off balance in a couple of places. She could have dome some serious damage to those girls, and no matter how rude they were with her there ain't no excuse for being unnecessarily brutal." "You're right about that," Ukyo mused, "Mom...I mean...Auntie Nodoka would have been all over her for that, but she probably would have chewed out those girls in that quiet, understated manner of hers and...hey! Maybe I could coach Akane to help better control her power. Do you think she might like that?" "Don't see why not," Ranma shrugged, "And if it gets you closer to having her in the sack then I say go for it, just don't think about roping me into the picture. With the way she was acting yesterday if she saw me transform again she's likely to rip my...ah...well...thing off..." "I'm sure she wouldn't do that, Ranchan," Ukyo assured her longtime lover, then paused to glance out over the rest of the campus before saying, "Wonder where she went after class? I was kind of hoping we'd be able to rug-munch with her and the other girls while taking our lunch break." "Don't really know, Ucchan," Ranma shrugged, "Only with the way they set things up in this place it's a wonder you even know who your classmates are. Not exactly like you can see them sitting in those cubicle booths with all the blinders." "They just do that so we can better concentrate on doing our class work," Ukyo smiled, "Can you imagine what the place would be like if we could check out all the cute things sitting next to us? It'd devolve into an orgy before the teacher even had time to call attendance." "Guess you're right about that," Ranma sighed, "Fact is, the last I saw of her she was going off with her two girlfriends for a serious heart-to-heart, and from the looks on their faces I don't think they were planning anything too romantic..." At that selfsame moment Akane was staring off into space while sitting on a storage room rooftop on the opposite side of the campus. Her thoughts were indeed upon her friends Yuka and Sayuri, but---more to the point---she was moping over what they had said, telling Akane in no uncertain terms that they had decided to break up with her, at least on a trial basis. "But why?" Akane had asked her lovers with tears in her eyes and a lump in her throat that threatened to choke her. "Look Akane," Sayuri said as gently as she was able, "We've been with you for most of the last semester, but lately the pressure's been on us from all sides because everybody in school is jealous of the time we spend with you, and frankly we've started to wonder ourselves if a steady relationship is worth it," "We think it's sweet that you want to remain faithful to us," Yuka added, "And sex with you has always been great, but...well...aside from the other girls in our school, you've got Kodachi jumping your ass every time we turn around, and it's not like you've up and told her to bug off, which is leading her to think that she might have a chance at making you her steady." "We're all just young kids making out and enjoying our youth, it's too soon in our lives to know if we want a more permanent union," Sayuri insisted, "And since you obviously can't make your mind up about Kodachi it seems to us like you're not as committed to us as you keep protesting." "But I am committed to you!" Akane insisted, "I really am trying to make Kodachi understand how I really feel...it's just..." "Just what?" Yuka asked, "That you feel attracted to her in spite of yourself? Maybe you're not as obsessive about it as she is, but it must seem awfully flattering for you to have the richest girl in our class fawning over you, to say nothing of one of the prettiest." "At first we were angry and jealous about the whole thing," Sayuri resumed, "But then we gradually started to feel less and less that way, so now Yuka and I are thinking about cooling it with you for a while...just long enough to find out how we really feel about each other. You understand how it goes, right? It's not a permanent split, but we just need some room to sort out our feelings..." "Oh sure," Akane scoffed in the present, thinking back with bitterness to how that sounded in her own ears, and after she had just gotten done publicly restating her commitments. "But what about my feelings? Did you guys really think about them before you up and made this declaration?" "Sounds more to me like they want to do it as a couple rather than a threesome," a familiar voice intruded upon her private sanctuary, and Akane jumped before glancing to the side and seeing who it was who had just addressed her. "Nabiki?" Akane asked, seeing her sister climbing up on the roof with the assistance of a ladder, "What are you doing here?" "Looking out for my baby sister, of course," Nabiki said as she gently set foot upon the rooftop tiles, then moved carefully to where Akane was sitting before squatting down and confronting her sister directly as she added, "Thought you might have come here since this always was one of your favorite places to hide from your adoring fan club." "Harde-har-har," Akane glared back at her middle sibling and said, "I don't need an official hand-holder, and I'm not in the mood to eat bush with you, Oneechan, so if you don't mind all that much..." "Mind?" Nabiki feigned innocence (which was quite an accomplishment given her record), "Are you forgetting that I happen to be engaged to a brand-new fiancée? Not that I think she'd mind it if I played around with my little sister, but it's the appearance of the thing that might give other folks the wrong kind of impression." "Of you?" Akane eyed her sister not so coyly, "That would be a trick, considering the reputation you already have around our schoolmates." "What do you mean?" Nabiki reacted with surprise. "Don't play innocent around me, Nabiki," Akane said with a smirk, "It doesn't look convincing with you, and you know perfectly well what I mean, given your past history and the number of girls you've slept with, both the ones you've seduced and the ones you've conned..." "Conned?" Nabiki took umbrage with that remark, "You think I have to con people into giving me pussy?" "Of course not," Akane replied, "You don't have to con anyone to do that, but do you deny that you've used a number of scams and clever plots to convince girls to do what you want and give you things when you want them." "Well..." Nabiki started to say, her anger sputtering a bit as she tried to think of a good counter. "Understand, I'm not judging you or anything like that, Oneechan," Akane continued, "And I've often been in awe of the way that you can work your whiles on difficult cases and girls who might not be inclined to saying yes when you proposition them. But Nabiki...you can't be doing stuff like that anymore, not if you're going to be part of a group marriage centered around Ranma as your fiancée. Especially not if you revert to old type and start viewing her as a possible asset." "What are you implying?" Nabiki scowled, "That I'd use unethical means to have my way with my own iinazuke?" "No," Akane replied, "I don't think even you would try and blackmail or coerce her into getting what you want, and you'd have to be crazy to try something like that around that Ukyo or Shampoo since those girls have been trained to see past your kind of 'song-and-dance' BS. I mean about the other thing, your fiancée's hidden secret, the one that needs the most protection." "What?" Nabiki blinked, "Are you saying you think I'd try and use that to my advantage?" "I'm saying that the idea has already crossed your mind of what a valuable asset she is, and what some people would pay for a girl who can change into a guy and back almost at will," Akane stated blandly, "But if you ever did that you could kiss goodbye to any kind of a future you might share together. Quite apart from the trust issue, it would be an act of selfishness unlike anything that I know you've ever done in the past, which is why I don't think you'd ever do it. However..." "Do you honestly think I'm even capable of such a thing, Akane?" Nabiki said a bit coldly. "No, not really," Akane said, "But you're smart enough to think of other ways in which you could profit at her expense, so I thought I'd sound you out to see if you've actually thought through what you are doing. After all, the reason mom says you and Kasumi are getting engaged in the first place is so you can both have his children and carry the Tendo or Saotome name into the future." Nabiki did not reply to that at once, but her regard of Akane was more wary as she thought the matter over before finally saying, "I don't like the sound of what you're implying about me, little sister, but if you really want to know how I feel, then you should know that I am perfectly well aware of what is at stake here, and I'd never do anything to jeopardize Ranma-chan's health, safety or welfare, especially because she is going to give both Oneechan and me babies. That's worth a lot more to me than any trifling amount that I could earn through scamming her, and I am very much aware that my part in this depends on staying in the good graces of my co-wives. Besides that, do you seriously think I'd do anything to upset Kasumi?" "Not unless you want to get spanked by her," Akane chuckled, "I sure wouldn't want to make her angry." "She never shows it on the surface, but you know her temper is there, and she has ways of making you regret it," Nabiki chuckled, "And we both know how she can make her will be felt. So you're right, it would be a pretty bad idea to do anything that would upset her." "So," Akane said as she regarded her older sister, "Are you ready to go through with this? I hear marriage is a pretty big commitment." "Not that you were adverse to the idea of going steady with your own girlfriends, huh?" Nabiki replied, "And my advice to you, little sister, is not to let it get you down so much. Yuka and Sayuri are bound to come back to their senses sooner or later, and if they don't then it's their loss. Or maybe you really are thinking of taking Kodachi up on her offer?" "No thanks," Akane attempted to smile but it came across more as a wince, "She's good for a lay, and I'll even admit that I find her more than a little bit attractive, but she's too pushy about what she wants, and way too possessive for my tastes. Being treated like a commodity just doesn't appeal to me all that much, and if I'm no longer committed to the girls I want to be with, then I'd rather be the one to decide who I wind up being with. I'm no more eager for that than I am to be part of an arranged marriage." "You really sure you don't want to join our little group thing?" Nabiki asked, "You seemed to be enjoying yourself the other day, and I think Shampoo and Ukyo both like you." "Really?" Akane found herself smiling at that, "Well...I like them too, but not enough to want to be in a relationship with Ranma. I mean...sure she's cute and cuddly and all that...but what she changes into..." despite herself she found herself unable to repress a mild shudder. "Freaks you out that much, huh?" Nabiki replied, then shrugged, "Well, to each their own, but for my part her other half is an added optional feature." "More your taste than mine," Akane sighed, "Still...I really am disappointed, I thought Yuka and Sayuri felt the same way I do. We've grown up together and we've known each other since we were little children." "People change," Nabiki shrugged, "And not always for the better. You gonna be all right for now, little sister?" "I'm fine," Akane assured her, "You go find your iinazuke and have some fun while we're still on lunch break." "Good idea," Nabiki grinned as she snapped her finger, "But since I came to cheer you up, why don't we share a good rug munch...and I brought my own box lunch to boot...by which I do not mean a bento." A movement out of the corner of her eye caught Akane's attention, but rather than react with alarm she instead turned an astonished look to see the comely purple-haired Chinese girl moving towards them with cat-like ease on all fours, her smile worthy of a predatory beast seeking her meal. "Shampoo?" Akane asked in surprise. "Nihao, Sister-in-law-to-be," the beautiful predator fairly purred in her erotically accented baby-doll voice, "Airen Nabiki say you need cheering up, and Shampoo know perfect Chinese recipe that always bring smile to face of one who needs it." "But..." Akane half-heartedly protested, "What about Ranma, your iinazuke?" "Airen already give blessing to have fun," Shampoo responded, pausing to add, "Her say is all right if Shampoo go with Nabiki and try make happy with Nabiki sister, and this one always do best to please Airen, so if Nabiki-sister no have mind, Shampoo no mind either share too-too nice noontime showing Akane how much she like her." "It's true, Sis," Nabiki assured the astonished Akane, "Ranma said it would be okay, but the one whose idea it really was is that cute Ukyo, who I think also kind of likes you." "Really?" Akane slowly returned the smile of the other two young women, "Maybe I should thank her for this later. Guess I'm going to owe Ranma a favor, but since you are guests at our place, and we're practically family now, then I suppose I could try sampling from the menu, especially if a dish like you is going to share it." "Akane is very flattering to this one," Shampoo cooed, cuddling up to the other girl as she and Nabiki set to work stripping down and making a rude mattress out of their combined clothing, "So this one show Akane what she miss if she no want be Airen." "Let's give her a real taste of what's in store for the rest of us, Sham-chan," Nabiki grinned, taking as much delight in exposing herself as she did in seeing both her sister and future co-wife naked so that they could get down to the business of a mid-morning threesome. And---not very far away---another woman shaded her eyes and smiled as she watched matters unfold upon the rooftops murmuring softly to herself, "Young people these days are so predictable..." To her side her blonde companion noted, "They do inspire a certain hope for the future, Darling, but do you think Shampoo can convince this reluctant Tendo girl to join in with a group union?" "Too soon to tell on that," Cologne replied as she took careful notice of the initial methods her great-granddaughter and heir were employing for this seduction, "But knowing her as we do, Shampoo will give it her best effort." "Things are proceeding according to plan," Siren observed before looking away with a puzzled expression, "And yet for some strange reason I feel something ominous upon the breeze, as if unknown factors we've not yet counted upon are about to enter the picture, and possibly even stir up trouble that might well affect the program." "I have learned over time to respect your misgivings, Airen," Cologne noted grimly, "But whatever it is we will persevere. The future is depending upon us, and things have already been set into motion that cannot be recalled at this late date." "True enough," Siren agreed, "Guess we'll just have to tackle it whenever it comes up. Still wish I knew why I was getting these other strange feelings, like something is in the neighborhood that ought to be in China." "Who knows what that could mean?" Cologne murmured, "Perhaps I should have taken Lotion up on her offer to accompany us. A Lore Master would be handy for guidance against the unknown." "Unfortunately she's off paying her respects to her late husband," Siren pointed out, "But if she gets any sense that we might need her then you know she'll turn up like the proverbial bad penny." "With her own great-granddaughters in tow," Cologne faintly shuddered, "And who knows what that could entail for this district? One of them is a former lover of Shampoo, and the other two..." "One of whom is my own granddaughter," Siren reminded, "And the other one...well, let's not go there right away. There have been enough dramatic revelations in the past few days to make the Tendo clan a bit wary, but learning that their late father had yet another daughter..." "Quite," Cologne said decisively, then smiled, "So...shall we pay our respects to our son-in-law?" "Which one?" Siren quipped, "The old or the new?" "Either one will do for the present," Cologne said before a wicked gleam cross her agelessly beautiful features, "But now that you mention it, the older one could use a bit of nudging." "That's why I love you so much, Darling," Siren mused, "You have a wicked bent to your sense of humor that compliments me to a 'T'" "Great minds do think alike," Cologne managed to quip back just before her sorcerous wife cast a minor gate spell and willed them away to the office of the principal of Furinkan High School for a rendezvous with a certain foreign-born transgender, unaware of the ominous storm clouds that were about to gather around their future... Continued. Comments/Criticisms/Committed Resources: shadowmane@msn.com Finally got this done (only took me a couple of weeks and some computer glitches that I won't bother to mention), and now it's here for your review and/or approval. I know some people will complain yet again that I devoted more than half the chapter to the non-Ranma related sub-plots, but I had a lot to cover this time around and I felt it was entirely necessary to give Victoria Von Doom the proper build-up for her impending arrival. Next time up we'll see how Ryoko/Ryoga takes to the discovery of her/his "real" gender, and Christine Richards does her own fact-finding mission over whatever it is that Victoria is up to, so be sure to check in when the fur starts flying for that particular lover's cat-fight in, "Femme Fatal Fury," or, "The Queen of All Lovers and Fighters!" Be there! (Oh yeah, and I will try the next time to incorporate more Ranma stuff than the 'frigging preludes, I promise...!)