[Author's note. Going to not put chapters in here. Tell me if you like it this way or want the chapters separated like the previous ones.]
I could tell Batman didn't believe me, but I wasn't trying to trick him. I was trying to hide how much blood I was covered in from murdering him, and if Cass cycled chi to her nose, she would have caught on. I quickly opened another portal in the same room I dumped the body in before pushing everything through really quick and casting. "Esnaelc."
The blood quickly dried and flaked off me into nothingness before I turned around to face them. "Yep, got away, he wasn't the other mind controller though. I'd have felt him trying to attack my mind if he were." I made a portal to my kitchen and grabbed out a banana. I was getting a bit peckish and had enough mana to do so, so I did. It left me back at the dizziness stage of almost completely empty.
"I think it's two 100s working together." I ate the banana before saying. "The guy with them wasn't the mind controller; he seems fairly cowardly, and the guy who came out to gloat was more on the stupid side. Them working together lets them accomplish far more than them working separately." I was blatantly lying about my real thoughts on the matter. I couldn't have anyone following me to the next dead man walking.
I tossed the banana peel towards a trash can and would have missed without a telekinetic hand to help correct its path. I heard the sirens start to blare, and I said. "I think we're done here." We made our way back home, and each girl gave me a kiss goodnight before heading inside.
I made it into my room and stripped off my costume before I portaled to their secret base.
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He knew that incompetent fuck would end up being caught. Yeah, he was charismatic and had convinced him they worked better together, but that didn't mean anything when it came to Batman. He wanted to leave the city and go somewhere smaller, but the damned handsome fool convinced him to stay.
He thought himself as a good guy, but could never get girls to like him before. Picking the mental controller bundle seemed like the smart thing to do, but after thinking about it after he had chosen, he regretted not just making himself extremely strong and handsome.
He knew he fucked up even more as the boost to his intellect kicked in. Going from average to low superhuman made many of his previous mistakes stick out like sore thumbs. A controlled gunslinger who fired as the fat man beside him collapsed was the only reason he survived the first explosion of fighting when they all appeared in the clearing.
Meeting that fucker afterwards, and having him convince him to work together, was his second huge mistake. Seeing the man siphon powers from his mind-controlled victim, he knew it was too good a deal to pass up. He could mind control them, and his partner could suck their powers out before giving some to him.
His partner must have known he was wary of him. His partner gave him the strength users bundle they ganged up on to take. He also gave him the pyrokinesis he stole from a low-tier villain, because it didn't suit his style. The man was hastily packing his clothes into a suitcase and was ready to leave as he felt all of his connections start to fade. Even the subtle one he left in his partner, in case he decided to betray him, disappeared.
So much for living forever, so much for just the two of them standing at the top. If he lived for another few years, he'd be happy. As he was making his way to the door, a clapping sound came from behind him. He turned to look and saw an even more handsome man than his first partner. He spoke with a velvety voice.
"Well, well, well. Look what we've got here. I've never seen a walking dead person before." The man had that look of a predator about him. He knew people like him in the other world, and all of them were so dangerous it was best to avoid them. If someone like him made it over, then there was no use begging for his life.
Running was still an option, but he seemed far too calm. He wasn't sure how the man even got inside, so he might have some type of teleporting ability. He decided to close the distance, using his strengthening skill to bring him to mid superhuman for a short period of time. Almost closing the distance in a second, the man just stood there with a smirk on his face. His emotions were so high that he was crying without even noticing, his teeth clenched so hard they started to crack.
As he reached for the handsome man, he was suddenly missing his arms and legs. The brief motion of his arm and the flash of the lightsaber were the only things showing what happened. He cried now and begged now that his chances of escaping were zero. "Please!" That was all he got out before the man put his hand on him and cut his head off.
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It was hard for me not to shout into the man's face as I killed him. "You have sex slaves in your basement and think I'm going to just let you go!?" I didn't shout, though. I gave him no indication that I knew what these two were up to as I cut his head off with the lightsaber. Picking his head up by his hair, I kicked it towards a corner and managed to hold back on not spitting on his corpse.
I teleported his body to the research department of SHIELD, then I went down and freed the slaves from their chains. The mind controller only controlled them until he got them chained in the basement, as it took mental power to keep someone under his control. That's why he started targeting other mind controllers. He could daisy chain their connections, letting him control more the more controllers he had under his control.
It was honestly a brilliant idea for how to use the mental communications network. He would have been much more dangerous if he had hidden from the beginning. Once again, I was glad at their inexperience as I stole his powers. Freeing the women, I didn't recognize any of them. Sure, they were attractive, but nothing special. They weren't actors or models. The girls had their lives ruined because two idiots wanted holes to fuck. It sickened me, but I knew there was evil like them in the world. I called for another SHIELD clean-up crew to make sure I didn't miss anything. That put a window on how much time I had to rob the place before the crew arrived, so I got to work.
The murder strengthened hypnosis/mind control, telekinesis, low superhuman regeneration, and mental defenses. Another boost to all my stats, bringing them closer to the next tier and allowing my intellect to break into low superhuman. My mouth was practically watering at the new powers I gained.
Mind reading, psychic battle form, mental communications network, pyrokinesis, physical enhancement boost, and environment adaptability. I was at about twenty percent through low superhuman strength now. That might not seem like a lot, but the difference between the higher ranks only got more and more ridiculous.
Low superhuman can lift cars, mid superhuman can lift ten cars, and high superhuman can lift a fucking building. Low cosmic lift yachts, mid cosmic can lift cities, and high cosmic can lift mountains. That is only the lowest level of each rank as well, with high cosmic beings able to rip planets in half if they wanted to. One more night of sex and I could finish my chi core, allowing me to boost my physical stats even higher.
I felt… I felt good, but at the same time, that was far too close for my liking. I could have easily died if the main grunt had used an RPG instead of a grenade launcher. It would have hit me before I could have done anything, and that pissed me off. Now I might be able to survive, but I'd be in awful shape if I were hit.
No, I really shouldn't have not noticed them coming. The biggest problem was that only one of us had the enhanced senses, and Cassandra didn't notice them either, most likely dropping her guard as she thought the fight was over. I was ready for the fight to continue even after I killed the first 100, and was pretending like everything was okay. No, even now, I was still coiled like a spring ready to go if something were to happen.
I'd be like that all the way until I went to sleep. Fighting always put me in this mood, and it was the only reason I survived as long as I did. The moment there's contact, I wouldn't drop my guard, and that's how I could react so fast when the ambush happened. No, one thing I did lose was my preparedness. I wouldn't have been ambushed, because I would have had a dozen guys outside making sure that couldn't happen with a dozen plans to go off if it did happen.
I couldn't be a crime boss in this world, though, especially because I had plans to fuck way more heroines than I have already. As much as opposites attract, if I show up with a group of goons covered in blood, it's not a good look. At least pretending like I'm a decent person is enough for them to justify sleeping with me.
So the main question is, what's the difference between pyrokinesis and fire control? Pyrokinesis felt locked at its current strength, unfortunately, and its current strength wasn't that strong. It did allow me to create fire, but it wasn't an impressive amount. It was slightly better than the first rank of fire control, but terrible compared to the second or third rank.
Still, a power was a power. I couldn't wait for someone to want a cigarette lit, and I offered them my thumb with a flame appearing out of it. I yawned as I finished robbing their house. They had a surprising amount of money and items I needed. I guess I haven't really been out of the hospital for very long. I wasn't very likely to get anything from the two bodies I handed to SHIELD, but something good might come of it. By the time I was done, it was almost dark outside, and I was tired enough to crash hard.
I woke up cuddled next to Nat. I pulled her on top of me and used her as a blanket. She let out a disgruntled grunt as I woke her until she went back to sleep. I just lay there for about an hour listening to her breathing and watching her chest rise and fall as she still needed more sleep than me.
She woke up while I was looking at her, and her frown turned into a smile as she hugged me more tightly. I turned her face towards me and gave her a kiss before asking. "So what's the plan for today?" She moaned as I turned the light on and frowned as she said. "Five more minutes." She spoke into my chest as I rolled her off of me and left to make us breakfast.
I made a huge breakfast for both of us. Bacon, sausage links, eggs, mini pancakes, hashbrowns, and toast piled high. The biggest thing with her type of super soldier serum is that it gave them intense food cravings. Eating a whole cake or chicken, leaving just the bones, wouldn't be an uncommon occurrence. After making extra for the two girls who were going to show up after she left, I put them under a food lamp I stole.
I could tell she was very happy I gave her more food than myself as I didn't need to prove anything with her. Not everything is a competition, and trying to eat more than her out of some sort of machismo bullshit was just stupid to me. I'd also probably tear my stomach eating as much as her.
Still, feeding a person who eats as much as six was fairly comical. A dozen eggs and mini pancakes stacked so high I needed to put a skewer in so they wouldn't fall over. It looks like a 90s sitcom meal a mom would feed their kids. The kind that the kid would just take the toast and run off towards the bus, leaving like fifty dollars of food cold that the mom would have had to wake up hours before everyone to cook.
She finished the coffee I prepared for her and rushed into the bathroom as I told her to lock the other door so the neighbors didn't barge in. I heard the shower turn on, and I prepared for the rest of my day while Steph and Cass came over and we talked for a bit before they headed off with the food. The plans to push for mine and Steph's chi cores were on hold for now as I decided on another person instead.
As Nat came out, I asked her. "Do you want to push for core formation today? It'll just be a bunch of fucking to get there, but I think we should… That fight I almost lost made me aware of how foolish I've been for not preparing everything beforehand." To be fair, I think I needed the break, as I was accused of being a rapist because of the group I was a part of. It was foolish not to realize it before something bad almost happened. I needed to put my nose to the grindstone and fuck myself and my loved ones stronger.
Natasha shuddered again before rolling off to catch her breath. She was drenched in sweat. The room had already become muggy from constant activity, and she felt tired and sore for the first time in a long time. It was a good soreness. It made her feel like she accomplished a difficult mission. Something felt different about her after that last time, and the man she had started to grow feelings for followed her before placing a hand on her stomach.
He had his brows furrowed as if in deep concentration, and his eyelashes fluttered as if he had almost passed out. After doing whatever he had done, he looked into her eyes and gave Black Widow that cocksure grin before leaning in to kiss her. "That'll just about do it for you. Now I only have to make the circle and core for you."
Wait. Wasn't that what he was just doing? She was about to ask him, but he told her to take the lotus position, and we had to move to the floor because the soaked bed was too distracting for her to focus. The moment the core was formed, she felt like for her entire life she was only allowed to walk, but now she could run.
She felt more. Just more of herself than she had ever felt before. Like a sudden recovery from the flu, all of her senses were shooting off at a higher capacity than before. She could feel the changes in her body, and something was off. She always had an empty hollow feeling that she'd grown accustomed to over her life, but it wasn't there.
She focused solely on it and couldn't feel it. Besides that, the sudden gush of blood leaking from her was a shock she couldn't comprehend. Her brain shut off and had to reboot as she couldn't understand what was happening. Did he hurt her at some point, and she didn't remember? He must have noticed her confusion because he finally spoke. "I regrew your womb. You can have children again."
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I did a bad thing, but it would work out in the long run. I'd normally have to ask for permission to change someone, but if I were to subtly ask her a question while she was screaming, "YES GOD YES YES YES!" it counted as her giving me permission. Another bad thing I did was check her mental condition with diagnostic touch.
She was mostly fine, but she did have a huge glowing problem I could take care of. Her maternal instincts were cranked up to 11. It was giving her low-grade depression, which meant she could never have a child, and some mental disorders, all stemming from that problem. To put it into perspective, a five would be what most normal people would be at.
A one you had no instinct to protect children, and even some hatred towards them. A three, you would help a child if it didn't cause you too much trouble. Five, you would sacrifice your own life to protect your own child's life. Seven, you would sacrifice your life for a relative's child. Now eleven, eleven meant you would sacrifice your life to save an unknown child from suffering.
It wasn't a very easy job either. I couldn't do it all at once, and it took most of the day and almost all of my stored biomass to pull it off. I made an extremely small version of her womb, which took most of the biomass. Just creating a tiny version took two hundred by itself. Slowly expanding it to a normal size, then attaching everything and making sure it worked, almost knocked me out.
The expected smile of happiness didn't come. Instead, I was greeted by deep whaling sobs I would have never expected from the Black Widow. I watched, stunned for a few minutes before I realized she would be crying like this until she calmed down. I left and got a washcloth before wiping her down. Reconnecting her womb made her body spray blood everywhere, so I cleaned that up and off the floor.
I started to get dressed before she grabbed my shirt from behind. I led her back to the bed, and we just cuddled for about an hour until she finally calmed down enough to speak. "Thank you." It came out as almost a squeak. "Thank you. Thank you. Thank you." She started crying again as she kissed me in between the thank yous.
I thought her having the chance to have a child would lessen her instinct, but it only made it go up. It was almost breaking into the twelve range, which would be otherworldly levels of love for children. The matron gods were ranked twelve as they treated all their followers as their children and would wage wars and destroy planets if any were even harmed.
There was nothing I could do about it now. I think I made a mistake not telling her beforehand, but I didn't want to get her hopes up. I wasn't even sure I could regrow her womb in one sitting, even with a thousand biomass stored up. If I didn't break through to the second rank from the middle rank, then it wouldn't have been possible.
The amount of shit I could do now in comparison to before was staggering. Recovering a body part was just having enough biomass as the actual part that needed to be replaced. Helping someone was about one hundred percent easier, and I felt like the biomass I could suck from a single person had gone up to a hundred at once.
I would have only gotten maybe ten percent done, but the sudden boost barely made it possible. I just let her cry on me for a long time as she stared deep into my eyes. I asked her. "So you want to start making babies now, or do you have to prepare for them first?" The deer in the headlights looked at my question and let me know, she hadn't thought of when to have children yet, only that she could.
The sex was… Kind of insane. Natasha was a very experienced lover, but the new emotions flooding her made her desperate for a child. The moaning was completely gone, and there wasn't the look of lust or anything in her eyes. No, an almost scared look of frantic panic, which made it hard to have sex with her. I had to get her to stop begging me and calm down before we continued.
She was wrapped around me like a vice. I had her legs on my shoulders as I pounded into her. She gripped my shirt, trying to pull herself closer to me, tearing finger grips in with her increased strength. Her first orgasm happened even faster than before as she clenched around my dick. The only reason it was still possible was my higher endurance than before, or she'd be breaking my dick. I could only piston into her even faster to try and finish.
By her third orgasm, she just kept repeating my name over and over again. If I weren't checking her mental health from time to time, I'd have thought she had suffered a mental break. She was just that excited about motherhood. If I didn't give her a baby, she'd have found someone else fairly quickly and… I didn't want to lose her to someone else. I know it was a selfish reason, but people have children accidentally all the time.
I came harder than I ever had as her pussy milked me for everything it was worth. I made a "Hnnnng" noise as my body locked up. I kept my hand on her stomach and made her body drop an egg for me to fertilize. Eh, let's give her twins. The desperation she had in her eyes changed the moment she could feel the difference in her body. I actively noticed her maternal instincts decreased by four points before stopping at seven.
Now, why did it drop instead of go up? Mainly because Natasha wouldn't sacrifice herself for random children anymore, as it would risk her own. I was honestly surprised it didn't drop down even further than that, as five was where you'd give everything for your child but not much for anyone else's. She was still a motherly figure who loved children in the end.
She stood up and looked down while rubbing her stomach. I broke her out of her fog when I said. "Make sure when you have your baby shower that you get stuff for a little boy and a little girl." She stopped rubbing her stomach as her brain malfunctioned at what I said. Tears streamed down her face, and she had a content smile that made her the most attractive she had ever been.
Once again, what I did was for mostly selfish reasons. Yes, it felt good to give someone with that much love for children the ability to have children. Yes, this would weaken her connection with SHIELD as she now had something to lose. The main reason is that I needed a ride or die on my side. I needed someone in my corner regardless of what I did, and giving her children was the easiest way to flip a SHIELD spy into an actual ally.
Plus… It was the BLACK WIDOW! Of course, I would grow covetous towards her. I didn't plan on adding her to my harem, but she somehow won me over through crazy sex, and she might be the person I have had the closest bond with on this planet. Speaking of which. "I think it's time I told you about my past life," I explained to her a little about who I was, and I decided I would do the same with any woman I had children with. If they were in it for the long haul, then they deserved to know something about me that only they would know.
I told her how I flew drones in the war. How bad the war actually got and how it affected America. How, even with roving power outages, I tried to make it work, but at some point, I just snapped. I got sick of seeing evil people constantly taking from those who really couldn't afford it for themselves. Even growing fat amid the worst food shortage America ever had.
I fought back. The potential thousands I killed flying drones didn't set me up for my first death. It wasn't clean. I worked my way up to be an enforcer for the local gang leader and went to stab him in the back. I assumed the head would be the best target, but the bone deflected the blade away from the skull.
I was almost killed, and the hostile takeover I could have killed only the boss, turned into the boss and the two other men in the room. I learned my lesson then. I was decent at killing, then I became good. Soon, I had become even worse than the men I was killing, and it would have resulted in my death if the economy hadn't recovered.
The second pandemic ended, the power outages were mostly fixed, and the food shortages caused by billionaires stopped. Life got back to normal quickly, and besides a few people who knew what I did. I needed to put down a previous rival who thought it was all going to crumble again the next winter, which it did not.
I just lived casually after that. Found love at one point, and she ruined it. Found love again, and tragedy struck, but I definitely wasn't going to tell my lovers about that. That was a lock away for myself, the kind of memory I wouldn't want anyone else to deal with. The tragedy destroyed my hope for life, so it took literally going to a different universe to rekindle my spark of life.
It felt normal to be worried, to be happy, to be sad instead of the apathy I had fallen into for years. I just felt more like myself than I had in years, and maybe it's because of my younger body, but I didn't think that was why. I had a goal again, and building a harem out of all the women I fancied from two brands merged into one was a very lofty goal. I knew at any point life could kick me in the dick over and over again, but at this point... I had already won in my head.
I let a single tear fall for my past as I wrapped up our long discussion about the world and let another fall for my future happiness. I just led her back to bed and held her on my chest as she curled into a ball. It must have been several hours before she got up and left. I had to get up as well, but after checking the clock, we had fucked most of the day away.
I cleaned up for another hour before Steph and Cass both came into my room. Steph took the lead in the conversation. "We've both been talking and. We want you to make it exclusive with just us two."
I really didn't expect this to happen this early in my harem building. Unlike most stories with harems, it isn't all sunshine and rainbows. Things don't magically work out where we all instantly fall in love and get along with each other. I look between both of them, and while Steph stares defiantly, Cass glances away, trying to avoid confrontation.
"What brought this on?" I turned the TV on to provide background noise and sat down, inviting them to sit so it wasn't so confrontational. Most of the steam Stephanie had built up was exhausted by this move. "We just want you to ourselves and think that having two girlfriends is already enough." She came at this purely out of feelings so I explained it to her in a more factual manner. "You probably want me to yourselves out of conventional thought, but to be completely honest, we're just starting out."
I flipped through the channels as she sat and really thought about our relationship. "Right now, our relationship is transactional. I give you powers, and I get to have sex with beautiful women. I'm fine with how things are between us. I'm fine with going further or even us breaking up, but."
I leave the channel on Maury as he is about to read the verdict. He reads the verdict as I continue talking. "Two people who I've only been in a relationship with for a few weeks don't get the option to ask me to change." I could tell this was a power play, but they didn't think it through.
"You know I spent ten hours today having sex, right? Let's take everything out of the equation and just look at the sex. Can you two handle having sex with me every day? Every single day, having sex so much you're sore for a week after? I know Stephanie has been avoiding me already for that reason. Also, the superhero thing."
I leaned towards them and genuinely asked. "I'm fine with it, but will the next guy be? You both patrol for fifteen hours most days." I put my hands on their legs as I gave them a genuine smile. "The main thing is, does being with me make you happy? That's what most relationships boil down to. We're happy right now, why try to ruin that so people outside of our relationship looking in don't judge you because it's all in your head."
The look of shock on Stephanie's face told me I was spot on, but there was something else. The psychiatrist's knowledge I siphoned gave me a better understanding of how most people thought. "I'm telling you right now, if you think Bruce is going to judge you based on who you're having sex with, he won't… To be perfectly honest, it's fine to look up to him in almost everything but how to deal with trauma and relationships."
I could have read their minds, but that was still on the borderline of powers I really didn't want. Yes, it was helpful, but the first second I, hmm. I should give mind-reading and mind control to Natasha now that she's going to have my children. I wonder if that would affect them, like if I gave her stronger powers, would they have the chance to gain them as well? Food for thought, I guess.
"I still can't get over the fact that my boyfriend is a man whore. I don't want to give you an ultimatum, but if you don't change, then I won't be part of this." Instead of backing off, Stephanie doubles down… Wait, this seems incredibly foolish. She knew what I was about from the beginning, so why does she care now? Either someone told her or. "Can I touch you real quick?"
As if she were scalded by fire, she pulled away from me. I need skin contact for my diagnostic touch to work. "Get her, Cass!" I shouted out as she made a break for the door. For some reason, she didn't teleport, maybe because she couldn't. I dived for her and held her down, grabbing her hands.
I can't tell what's wrong with her. She has something wrong with her brain, though, but I can't tell with diagnostic touch. Somehow, I know I can use mind-reading to tell what has changed. It was a massive breach of trust, and I didn't want to do it, but I had to. There was another controller! Someone left no traces that he had taken part in what was happening, leading the group from behind the scenes!
Someone far more skilled than the other two. If they had a month to steal powers, it didn't make sense that they would only have three confirmed people to their names. If he was pulling the strings of the two-man group from the beginning, he could have stolen the powers from a dozen heroes and villains in that time frame.
I read the changes and saw his face. With an anger-filled smile, I know what the fucker looks like now. He could leave mental suggestions to the extent that not only would they forget they met him, but they would act differently than before and not even notice. With a mental nudge, I started to untangle the mental compulsions when I felt a blade dig into my side right below the ribs.
Cassandra stabbed me. OF COURSE, he would have put compulsions to stop me if I found out. She was stronger than I, but I could tell she had some control over her body still; otherwise, I'd have had my neck slit. It wouldn't have been fatal, but it would have been a lot harder to deal with than the wound she gave me.
I dropped her from the height of Mount Everest over the ocean. Her body was strong enough to survive the fall, but that would buy me a minute or two to fix Stephanie. Pulling the mental compulsions took some time, but not much mental energy. I just had to be careful not to overdo it. A minute later, I was only halfway done. Shit, that meant Cassandra could land and be much harder to find.
I finished fixing her and portaled to the Titans' island while carrying Stephanie. I looked in the sky and didn't see her falling, so that meant… Shit, she landed already and could have teleported away.