Chapter 17: Mission Prep

Hey readers, sorry about the wait. I hope you enjoy reading this chapter as much as I enjoyed writing it. Feel free to drop me if a line if you have any suggestions, gripes, or praises. Enjoy.

“Oh Duncan, what have you done!?”

Lila was even hotter when angry. Her chest had a reddish flush to it and her eyebrows were stern, but she was just too cute to be intimidating, especially with Jazz still sucking on my balls. “I cost ten coins, what were you thinking?!”

Jazz inclined her head at the outburst with the annoyed expression of a teenager watching mom and dad fighting. I mouthed the words “It’s cool,” and she went back to inhaling me.

“I thought it would be pretty obvious what I was thinking,” I said. “One of you was blowing me while the other beat me in the face with her tits. C’mon woman, how much willpower do you think I have?”

Sure, there were more important things to do right now than bang my caretaker, relatively speaking, but I had agreed on the terrifying-fucking-worm mission, right? That would earn me more coins, right? Surely I would be able to afford my Dress Blues and Translator after that, right?

“That only leaves you with 19 coins, Duncan!”

“15 actually. I’m gonna grab that bed you were talking about, too. Computer, I purchase that bed that Lila was ... ooomph.” Lila slapped her hand over my mouth before I could continue. She looked petrified by my lack of sound judgment.

“Stop it! Stop spending coins!” Even as she screamed at me to be responsible, her tits swayed hypnotically, and Jazz began to gag herself on my dick. I shuddered. It was like a bizarre form of torture.

“You needed those coins to get the Translator and the Uplink, Duncan. Now what are you gonna do?” I motioned to her hand covering my mouth, and she released me so I could answer.

“Well,” I began, clearing my throat. “I was thinking about that while Jazz here was doing her thing, and I figured that the translator isn’t that important, for now anyways. If I need to deal with villagers...”

“You figured wrong!” she interrupted.

“Wouldn’t be the first time,” I said. “Relax.” She gave me pleading eyes.

“You will need to deal with villagers, and how are you going to hunt down their worm if you can’t ask them where it is, huh?” She raised her hands in exasperation.

“Not to mention, primitives don’t tend to trust people who speak in a foreign tongue, dude! Are we already forgetting what Prince told you about getting burned alive as a witch? CUZ THIS IS HOW YOU GET BURNED ALIVE AS A WITCH, DUNCAN!” She grabbed her hair with both hands and started to pace around the room.

“First,” I said, “Calm down. This is totally gonna work.” It’s startling how skewed one’s confidence can be while receiving a blowjob. I placed my hand on the back of Jazz’s head and sighed against her efforts. Even after having cum twice, I was rigid yet again, twitching as she swallowed around my cock, deepthroating me every four or five strokes. “Just trust me. As long as you can still change the weather and make me look like a badass, then I can just use hand signals or draw a picture or something, right?”

“Seriously?” she said. “You’re going to walk into town armed to the teeth and ask to do a finger painting?”

“Oh come on! A worm is just a squiggly line,” I said. “I can draw it in the dirt. And if I show up with heroic eyes, a heroic voice, and some heroic godrays, they’ll probably get that I’m there to do some hero shit, right?” She was shaking her head.

“I can’t do those things again, Duncan.”

“Wait ... what?” I tensed. “Why not?”

“Because it was a trial use, baby, like your trial use of the Translator and Uplink, and your trial use of the bathhouse. It was supposed to show you the importance of the Taskmaster so you would buy it later. I can talk to you via the Uplink but I can’t change anything this time.”

“Well,” I said. “This seems like an obvious question to follow. How much is it to unlock my Taskmaster?” Lila paused in her pacing, and raised her eyebrows at me.

Ten minutes later, Lila knelt on my right and Jazz knelt on my left, and a third gorgeous woman of Harmony stood before me. While Lila went looking for my taskmaster, Jazz finished me off yet again, squeezing my balls while I released into her mouth a third time. She dutifully swallowed it down while staring into my eyes, and never stopped sucking, even when I started to shake from overstimulation. I had to physically pull her off of my penis to get her to pause a moment, which wasn’t easy as she was much stronger than I was.

After throwing some pants on, Lila returned with a cute little dork named Cadence. Retinue members were cheaper than Caretakers so unlocking my Taskmaster had cost me only five coins, and before Lila could stop me, I bought that bed she was talking about as well, in addition to the Uplink to Harmony.

The bed had appeared like Jazz’s sword before, as if my magic, replacing The Basement Dweller that had previously occupied that corner of the room. It was plain and utilitarian, but looked soft enough, and this one had an even more cosmopolitan name - The Entry-Level Graduate. Harmony had a weird sense of humor.

Those three purchases brought my cash stacks to a whopping zero coins but I was confident in my ability to earn at least five coins killing the Flatworm, enough to purchase my blues, and I wouldn’t necessarily need the translator tonight if I had five other guys with me who could speak the language. It all made perfect sense to me, and now I got to bang three gorgeous women before I had to leave. All was right in the world, but Lila was still tense.

“I’m afraid this interview is going to have to go a little faster than the previous one,” she began, “and don’t think I’m finished with you Jazz. Both of you are temporarily instated because we’re strapped for time...” She glanced at her watch. “ ... but don’t think you can rest easy. I plan to thoroughly examine all of your abilities once we get a minute.”

Jazz had a bemused smile on her face, looking at her former schoolmate. I guessed that Lila had changed since those hot sweaty nights in the dormitories spent breathlessly rubbing and kissing and gyrating ... I shook my head to clear the images. Concentrate, dude. Cadence was unreadable. She stood in front of me at parade rest.

My new Taskmaster was, of course, very pretty, but instead of being a physical marvel like Jazz, she was hot in the cute nerdy way reserved for teachers, engineering students, and the ever-elusive, practically mythological girl-gamer. She was wearing her black catsuit - identical to the one Jazz had been wearing - and her waist was tiny and slim, as were her arms and legs. She was probably a good hundred pounds soaking wet, which made her massive chest all the more comical, and sexy in a cartoonishly exaggerated way.

“Cadence Taskmaster reporting as requested,” she said, flexing her back and looking pained. “Along with her ridiculous new breasts, also as requested.” Lila gave me a self-satisfied smile.

I leaned over to her. “You could probably take her down a cup size,” I whispered. “Her back is probably killing her.” Lila chuckled.

“Nah, she can deal with it. I want my team chesty and fabulous.” Lila seemed fairly militant about her team’s boobs but I assured her that it was alright to take em down later for the sake of comfort. She seemed reluctant, but eventually relented. Small boobs need love too.

In addition to her lilliputian dimensions, Cadence had luxurious wavy black hair that turned into curls past her shoulders, much longer than the shorter cuts of Lila and Jazz, and it was slashed with highlights of bright crimson and blue - very American. Her other notable feature was per porcelain skin. I would almost call the color ivory - she didn’t look like she saw much sun - but it made the light freckles on her face unbelievably cute. I couldn’t look at her without smiling.

“So Cadence,” I said, trying my best to seem on-the-fence. “Sell me. Why should I choose you over all the other girls on Harmony?” While I spoke Lila did her ninja gestures to open up her dossier as before. She actually was 100 lbs. Damn, I’m on the ball today.

“Well, my Lord, my grades speak for themselves, as does my experience.” Well well, someone’s pretty cocky. I furrowed my brow and turned to Lila.

“Is her record really that good?” Lila scrolled down to her grades. First in engineering protocols, first in plasteel dynamics, whatever the fuck that means, first in computing behaviours. She was obviously a very intelligent girl. However, one number stuck out to me. She was 42nd, out of fifty, in Pleasures of the Flesh.

“It’s commendable I suppose,” I said, rubbing my chin and sounding as douchey as any good interviewing manager should, “But how do you explain your grade in Pleasures?” Pleasures... Christ, I’d been in Harmony two days, and I was already making up slang. She knew what I meant, though, and sighed.

“I was first in my class in eleven disciplines and second in fourteen others, and I was only second in those others because of...”

“You were 42nd in Pleasures, Cadence!” Lila yelled. “Answer your Lord’s question and stop trying to weasel out of it! You’re better than that.” I smiled at Lila and laughed. Damn ... Lila is strung the fuck out.

Cadence lowered her eyes to the floor but she looked more mad than ashamed. I could see that look in her eye of the chess champion that could never really figure out flag football in gym class.

“I had better things to do with my time than run around with boys,” she said.

“Better things?” Lila asked. “Are you saying that satisfying a hero’s need for companionship is unimportant?” Cadence sighed and looked at me.

“Look,” she said. “Would you rather fuck or live?” I smiled. Can’t we do both? This girl had spine. “Cuz if it’s the latter, you’re going to need me. There aren’t many others on Harmony that can do what I do.” Lila raised up on her knees.

“Cadence actually wasn’t a possible choice for Taskmaster,” she explained. “She was defrosted several months ago to work on Harmony’s systems. Those hiccups we were talking about earlier have been happening for a while longer than I wanted to admit.”

“Hiccups?” Cadence said, stifling a laugh. “Our computers are fucked, Lila. I’m finding viruses hidden in programming that go back years. If not for me, the entire system would be crashed by now.”

“In any case,” Lila continued. “Cadence is support staff. She didn’t have the requisite scores to become a Taskmaster because well...” She gestured to the one bad score on the list. “ ... you know ... she sucks at sex.”

“Oh, I do not!” Cadence countered. Lila silenced her with a look.

“HOWEVER, Harmony chose her to work on the computer because she is the finest engineer we have who isn’t already assigned.” Cadence positively glowed with pride at the remark.

“Who beat her in those other fourteen courses?” I asked. “Seems to me like she’s second best.” Sometimes, the best way to deal with over-confidence is just to be an asshole. Second is pretty great, but what can I say? I like to push people’s buttons. She glowered at me, but it just struck me as adorable.

“The best WHO ISN’T ALREADY ASSIGNED,” Cadence repeated. “As entitled as you seem to believe you are, you can’t steal another hero’s Retinue.” Lila glared at her until Cadence added “ ... my Lord.”

“She might be a little rough around the edges,” Lila said, “but this is a very rare opportunity, Duncan. She’s only available because she thinks she could get a better feel for the glitches in the system by working with an actual Hero.”

“That’s some dedication,” I said. “Didn’t I read somewhere that Retinue members serve until the hero dies?”

“Believe me,” Cadence said. “I wish there was another way, but Harmony’s rules are very specific even for us. I cannot use mission terminals unless I’m assigned as a hero’s Taskmaster, and that’s where most of the bugs are coming from. It’s the only way I can obtain access.”

“I don’t know,” I said. I did know. I totally wanted her. “You look like a lot of drama. If I allow you to join my Retinue, do you think you can get along with everyone?” I smiled. “You know, be a team player and not be so sassy all the time?” Her expression changed instantly and her face lit up into a bright smile.

She batted her eyelashes prettily at me. “You mean like this ... my Lord?” There was a bit more sarcasm to her tone than I preferred, especially with the “my Lord” part. God ... I AM becoming entitled.

She reached up to the zipper of her singlet and pulled it down to her belly, exposing the stripe of skin between her cleavage. My throat caught. Then she pulled each flap to the side to reveal her enormous pale breasts in all their glory. She squeezed them together and gasped dramatically.

“Is this what you want? Maybe I should just drop to my knees right now and suck your dick, huh? Would that change your mind?”

I glanced at Jazz and she met my eye, blushing. “It worked before,” I admitted. Cadence rolled her eyes before stuffing her tits back into her shirt. She had some difficulty with it, as the mountainous jugs were obviously new to her.

“This was a mistake, Lila. I don’t think this is going to work.” She curtsied to me, the expressions striking me as odd without a skirt to go along with it. “Thank you for your time, MY LORD.” She turned toward the door and started walking away.

“Hey, slow down,” I yelled, “and get back over here. Are you fucking kidding me?” She stopped and turned back to me, seemingly shocked at my forceful tone. “Honestly?” I continued. “I get that you need to use mission terminals, but damn, learn to spot a joke and grow some thicker skin. I thought you were a professional.” She turned back to me as I thought she would. True professionals guard their pride.

“Telling me to suck your dick might be a joke back on Earth,” she said, putting her hands on her hips. “But here, we tend to see it as an order.”

“Look, I don’t know what you’re used to,” I said, standing up. “But I’m never going to force you, Lila, or Jazz to do anything that you don’t want to do.” I was hoping to sound magnanimous, but it was an easy thing to say when I already had two bombshell assistants eager to fuck my brains out.

In my third, though, I wanted the brains to stay in, so to speak. Mission support was very important. “Look, this place is a little amped up on sexuality. You can’t blame me for expecting you to be like the rest of Harmony’s girls.”

“I’m NOT like the rest of Harmony’s girls.”

“But you still ARE a Harmony girl,” Lila interjected. “Being a Taskmaster isn’t some lowly curse, Cadence. It’s a difficult and respected position, so quit acting like you’re above all this.” I could respect Lila’s position, but I could also understand Cadence’s difficulty in respecting a naked girl kneeling at the foot of my chair. It was an odd situation.

Cadence frowned. “I didn’t mean...” she stuttered, “I mean, I know your jobs are difficult. It wasn’t my intent to offend you.” She glanced at the ground and folded her arms. “It’s just this attack on our systems is unprecedented and I’ve never really ... I’m a little on edge, here.”

“I think we all are,” I said. “But back to the point, are you any good at mission support?” She harumphed.

“Please child,” she said, drawing another unhappy look from Lila, “I can do mission support in my sleep. I’m THE BEST at mission support...” She paused sheepishly. “Well, the best except for...”

“ ... the other girl that’s already taken?” I offered. “It’s whatever. I need to kill a Flatworm of Slye, you know what that is?” She nodded.

“Yeah, it’s a horrible blood-sucking amphibian that lays eggs inside of carcasses.” I shivered as she mentioned it. Oh my god, oh my god, oh my god. I’d never yet seen the thing and it already gave me heebie-jeebies. Get a grip, Duncan.

“ ... despite the name, it actually has more in common with an Earthling constrictor snake than a worm, and also has insect-like characteristics such as two sets of antennae, mandible-like jaws, and dozens of small supportive legs that help it too...” I dry heaved, placing my hand on my stomach, and Cadence took a step back. “Oh wow, are you OK?”

“Totally fine,” I lied. Everything I heard about this creature made it sound worse and worse. It was beginning to sound like something out a Lovecraft novel. I really didn’t want to even see one, let alone fight one.

“It’s very horrible,” she continued. “I’d recommend preliminary ingestion of something pungent and unpleasant to them like garlic. That should make it less likely to try and eat you.” Great ... that’s fucking great. “In addition, I’d alter the winds to ensure you’re downwind of the thing. And I’d bring the rain to make it leave it’s native body of water...”

“How do you girls do that stuff anyway?”

“What, change the weather? It’s quite simple. We have satellites orbiting all Discords,” she said shrugging, “Just a small matter of calibrating the birds, achieving the proper trajectory, aligning the orbit, coordinating their alterations, and adjusting for pre-existing weather conditions.”

“Sounds really simple,” I joked.

“Look,” she said. “A flatworm is nasty but stupid. I can get you through this, and I have a few ace cards up my sleeve for emergencies as well. I have an intimate knowledge of these systems that you won’t find with any other Taskmaster.” She was trying to hide it, but I could tell she was a little desperate.

She seemed obsessed with getting to the bottom of Harmony’s computer problems, and considering that she had been studying them for months, she was probably better equipped to deal with surprises than most other girls. “Gimme a shot?”

I nodded. “If you’re the best, I want you on my team.” Thankfully, she then smiled too. She had that breathtaking quality when she smiled, like a flower unfolding in the morning. “But if I die, I’m going to be really fucking pissed.” She smiled wider, but she did seem a little uncertain.

“But just so we’re clear, you do realize I have work to do, right? I’m not going to run around naked all the time trying to have sex with you.”

“Oh, yes you will!” Lila snapped. “If that’s what your Lord requires.” I raised a hand to Lila to silence her. She was like a feisty little attack dog. It was flattering, but that wasn’t what would work with Cadence.

“All your Lord requires is that you keep him alive,” I said, trying my best to sound reassuring. “But I am going to hit on you and make passes all the time because you’re beautiful and I can’t help it.” She blushed a little and seemed to relax.

“Also,” I added, “my caretaker comes first, so you have to listen to Lila, and she wants you to keep your boobs so get used to them.” Lila beamed but Cadence frowned. Reluctantly, she nodded.

“Oh, and another thing, do you know languages?” She looked at me queerly.

“What do you mean? I have a translator, like every woman on Harmony.”

“Well yeah, but I don’t. For this next mission, I’m going to need to talk to some people and I’m going to need for you to feed me the correct words.”

“How will I know what words you need?”

“Well, I’ll ask you when I need them.” That much seemed obvious.

She pursed her lips and raised her eyebrows at me. “So let me get this straight. You plan on asking me questions in one language while trying to speak to them in another? Don’t you think it will appear odd to be speaking to someone who isn’t there?”

She looked at me like I was crazy. “Are you trying to get burned alive as a witch? Cuz that’s how you get burned alive as a witch.”

“Holy shit,” I said, exasperated. “You guys seriously have a preoccupation with getting burned alive around here.” Even so, she was probably right.

“Well, yeah,” she said, turning to Lila and jerking her thumb toward me. “Haven’t you told him about the Luvian Debacle?”

“Oh goddamn it,” I said throwing up my arms. “Get out of here ... shoo...” I began prodding her toward the door leading to mission prep. She looked at me like I’d lost my marbles.

“Why are you making me leave?”

“Because for all I know, this thing is going to kill me and lay eggs in my corpse, so before I leave, I’m getting fucking laid.” She looked toward my crotch for the first time and saw my prominent bulge, pointing straight at her. Her eyes widened in surprise. What could I say? She was really hot.

“So if you don’t want to participate, go do something important. I’ll be with you shortly.”

“Umm ... ok...” She turned around to head toward my mission prep room, and just for good measure, I slapped her in the ass, making her jump.

“Sorry,” I said, smiling. “Reflex.” She narrowed her eyes at me, but her look had a shine to it, like she wasn’t really upset, just mildly annoyed.

“Whatever,” she said. “I’ll start prepping. You and your ego need all the help I can give you.” She walked toward the prep room door, but I think I noticed more of a hip swing in her gait than would be usual. I think she wanted some of the D, even if just a little bit.

Whether she admitted it or not, she had to be horny. Everyone on Harmony was, and if she used the rejuvenation tubes as Lila and Jazz did, then it would be interesting to see how long she would hold out. I could wait.

She disappeared through the door and Lila stood up, walking toward me. “You let her get away with entirely too much, my Lord.” She hooked her thumbs into the waistband of my sweats and started shimmying them down, cresting the bulge and causing my dick to spring free of its confines.

“Nah,” I said. “She’s just willful. She reminds me a lot of Earthling girls, to be honest.”

“But she’s not an Earthling,” Lila continued. “She’s a Harmony girl, and Harmony girls serve Heroes so that Heroes can serve others.” Jazz stood up as well, and walked toward me, her movements eerily smooth and precise.

“I would never treat you like that,” Jazz said, stepping up to me. She took my cock gently in her hand and began to stroke it. “I know how to treat my Hero.” I wrapped one arm around Lila’s waist and another around Jazz’s while they both idly played with my naughty bits. Their hands seemed perpetually drawn to my privates like magnets to iron.

“I didn’t think she’d be so defiant,” Lila added. “Are you sure you want her as your Taskmaster?”

“I’ll give her a shot,” I said. One mission couldn’t hurt, and besides, in spite of her energetic refusal to be objectified, she seemed to know her shit, which was ultimately much more important.

It’s not like I could blame her for wanting to be seen as something other than a sexual object. I would probably hate it if people were only interested in me for sex. Oh wait, that actually was the case, AND IT WAS AWESOME.

“ ... but right now, it’s time to conclude Jazz’s interview.” The radiant, muscled beauty looked into my eyes, and I became lost in those cerulean whirlpools. “Now miss, before all this started, I believe you were about to fuck me, right?” Jazz smiled evilly and nodded.

Rufus Crisp was not a man to be trifled with.

On Harmony, he was one of the top-ten ranked heroes in the world, and he had the medals, trophies, and titles to prove it. He was not simply The Iron Duke, that veritable walking fortress of black steel and blades that cut his teeth by shrugging off countless arrows and blows from a field full of adversaries during the Battle of the Three Rivers. He was also known as the Saviour of The Seventeen, that starry-eyed Traveler who managed to overthrow an entire cult of young thieves and brainwashed teenagers without killing a single one of them.

The title of Storm-Forged Footman was also well-known, after he struck down giants with the power of thunder and lightning itself, and most recently, he was The Breaker of Waves, for holding back the tides while the seaside city of Ostenburr was evacuated before a flood. He was, technically speaking, one of the most powerful men to have ever lived, by any standard, on any world.

So why was it so difficult to deal with two teenage girls?

“Hey dad,” Brandi said, coming through the front door with her bookbag. She had classes for much of the day, but liked to come home for lunch before returning in the afternoon. Rufus lowered the newspaper he had been reading and grumbled. That skirt was entirely too short for her, and that shirt? Far too tight!

“Hello,” he said. She still made him nervous, and he was never quite sure of what to say to her. He was doing his best at making up for all the years of being an absentee father but he found it difficult to get into the minds of kids these days. “You want me to make you a sandwich or something?”

She laughed as she passed him into the kitchen. “I don’t eat bread dad, remember?” Dad... He was still struggling to get used to that term, and it seemed to activate a sense of responsibility in his gut that he never knew existed. She was a pretty girl, and had every right to wear provocative clothing. On the other hand, it bothered the hell out of him that his daughter was doing so. Daughter... That was another term that blew his mind.

“Your makeup’s a little messed up,” he said. “Are you OK?” One thing Rufus did know was how to deal with violence and Brandi looked as if she’d had a rough afternoon. She wasn’t sporting a bruise or anything; she just looked a little less put together than she had earlier in the morning.

Brandi seemed to flush as he said so, and quickly scampered back across the living room, wielding a bottle of juice from the fridge. She seemed to be avoiding his eye.

“I’m fine,” she replied. “Just sweaty from all the heat is all.” Then she ran up the stairs, presumably to her bedroom. Like any teenager, she spent most of her time in there. But heat? It was 70 degrees outside, for crying out loud.

Brandi had been growing increasingly distant and bizarre over the past few semesters, but he tried to let it go and read his newspaper. Should he chase after her and press the issue? Or should he respect her privacy?

“The fuck if I know,” he mumbled. What did he know about being a father anyway?

Brandi and Jean were Rufus’s daughters, but they were also still strangers to his eyes. Only Brandi was actually his. She had been the result of of a disastrous fling Rufus had when he was still fond of the bottle back in his forties. He’d had no part in raising her, per her mother’s request, and she’d spent her entire life growing up in Colorado until recently, when she decided to attend The University of Pittsburgh, right in Rufus’s backyard.

When her mother had called him, after seventeen years with very little contact, Rufus had been unwilling to involve himself in his daughter’s life. She was unknown to him. What good could possibly come of it? But when Brandi picked up the phone, and he heard her sweet voice and her longing to know what kind of a man her biological father was, his icy nature had melted on the spot. She had a very soft, sympathetic voice, and after the short phone call, he felt an odd compulsion to help her in any way he could.

Rufus had agreed to pay her tuition and housing, but Brandi earned a full scholarship regardless and insisted that all she wanted was to stay at his place with him to try and reconnect. Rufus had been reticent, as his house was full of beige furniture, alcohol, leather, cigars, and weapons, just like his forever-bachelor friends Gerald, Connor, and Lou. But as he grew older, he had become increasingly aware that something was missing in his life, so he ended up agreeing, after enhancing the security systems and hiding all access to the lower floors, of course.

And then, a year later, Jean showed up, too.

Jean was a daughter to another man but she and Brandi had been inseparable as children. After graduation, she even chose the same school as Brandi. Rufus had no obligation to her, but his time with Brandi had been pleasant, so he decided to let Jean move in as well. The houses he and Gerald had built for themselves were too huge anyway, and with the girls around, it felt a little less lonely. Despite his grumpy nature, he’d actually cherished his time with them both. But he still had no clue if he was treating them correctly.

The door opened again and this time it was Connor. After living next door for the past twenty years, he never seemed to feel the need to knock anymore. “Afternoon, Mick,” Rufus said. He had started calling him “Mick” as a racial slur years ago, but he had grown so accustomed to using it that most of their acquaintances actually thought his name was Mickey.

Connor crossed the living room whistling to himself and tossed a green felt bag onto the redwood coffee table. It landed with a heavy thunk. “Delivery from House Allistair,” he said. “47 coins plus your fee.”

“I’ll take care of it in a bit,” Rufus said, returning to his paper. “Have a seat. Pour yourself a drink.”

“Aye,” Connor said, walking past him and into the kitchen. “Anything interesting in the news?” Interesting wasn’t the right word, but Rufus had been quite surprised when he opened the paper to see the article that he was currently reading.