Of Dreams and Journeys, a Jumpchain Story

[Neko Arc]

(So this will be my second story and again it's for the Jumpchain CYOA. Hopefully I will be able to keep up with this one a bit better. One day I may return to my previous work but it's on hold for now. I am still not the most familiar with how this forum works so bear with me I probably forgot most of what I learned last time.

Again this was something I posted on 4chan. I will give a small warning ahead of time. While I wouldn't call the first two chapters bad I think the third and following chapters are where the story finds it's stride. I would update and expand the first two chapters but people have already read them and I don't feel like putting something where they would need to go back to reread mostly what they already have read.

Once again for the builds I have mostly just listed the selections if there are any questions about what they mean I will be happy to answer them. Well with that I think we can begin. I hope you all will enjoy my writing.)

Spoiler: PIcture

Prelude

It's funny… sometimes major events announce themselves in the smallest and most inconspicuous ways. It was an average day. I was doing what I usually do and wasting time on the computer and I decided to check the /jumpchain board on 4chan. It wasn't always the nicest place but still I frequented it for some reason that escapes me till this day.
It was a fairly average day on the board. There were some discussions about some setting I didn't give a damn about. There was a lot of shit posting too.
It would have been so easy to write that post off as just someone shit posting. Someone posted under the name of The Jumper.
"Greetings, I have finished my chain, gotten my spark and am now ready to fulfill the pact. I already settled my personal matters and am now ready to take requests. I am giving out chains, though do keep in mind I still have limits so it may take me a while to get to everyone. First come. First serve. Please post your desired first jump and build on the board. I already have an AI tracking everyone on the site. I will get to everyone who posts today. After that I am afraid I have other matters to attend to in other dimensions."
The pact he refereed to was the meme that once someone had gotten a chain and won their spark they would come back and give the rest of us chains. This being just an imagination game I don't think anyone really took it serious.
Still the board went crazy after that, a lot of people calling bullshit that the person mentioned they had limits. Other people just posted builds. I noticed a lot of victim girls in there I hoped as a joke. There were also a few questions but The Jumper made no response. So it seeming like fun I posted a build complete with warehouse and body mod based on a project I had done. I even included a picture of Rias from High School DxD to show how I wanted to look as a jumper.
Then… nothing, nothing happened after it appeared on the board. Not that I expected it to. Still it was amusing. People continued to post builds or argue over this and that but eventually it trailed off and eventually I had other things I had to do like meals and talk to friends on the internet. All in all it seemed a normal day.
It was many hours later I was getting ready for bed. I had done my nightly stuff and was in bed clothes. It was starting to get cold finally after a long and severe summer. I was about to climb in to bed when I felt something. It was something strange like a pressure on me that I couldn't even begin to explain. I froze.
There came a sound behind me of someone clearing their throat.
I spun around and standing at the foot of my bed was… a man. He wasn't just any man though; He was strikingly beautiful, no actually I would have to say he was superhumanly beautiful. He looked perfect almost angelic. He had long curvy blond hair that reached his shoulders, unnaturally deep blue eyes that almost seemed to glow in the light. His features though undeniably male were slightly androgynous, his features were soft like those of a boy band member. He was about average height and build. He wore strange garments. He wore what looked like silver colored armor over some sort of white suit with a flowing white cloak. At his side hung a sword and strapped to his back was some strange futuristic looking gun.
He paused for a moment taking a look at the room and then at me. "Well interesting place. I can see why you would want to escape to a chain so badly." He mused.
"Anyways." He continued as if he were about to go in to some practiced speech. "Hi I am Bill but you can call me your Benefactor if we go through with this. Before you ask who or what I am and what I am doing here. I am the Jumper who posted on the board earlier. You were the one that posted not only your chosen destination but your cosmic warehouse and body mod choices. I must say I appreciate that as it saves me some time. I'll cut to the chase as I have many other people to fulfill the pact with. I am here to give you a chain."
I tried to speak, my mouth would even move but somehow I was unable to make words.
"By the way I noticed you posted a picture with your Post is that what you would like to look like?" he asked. I blushed and nodded.
"Hmm nice choice Rias is cute. It will be fun if you ever head to High school DxD." He noted with a grin.
"Okay let's get to the most common questions, I am not the devil, I am not god, I have no interest in your soul and I am not watching you out of some perverted voyeurism. I personally am not here to judge what you do or what you become. The only reason I am here is because I have been one of you and know what it is to dream and desire a chain. I know what it is to feel the crushing despair of reality. No, you may not use any supplements besides the body mod and the cosmic warehouse and no you don't have to start in Pokemon to get them. Since you posted an alternate Body mod I'll allow that. So now that we got that out of the way do you have any questions?"
"Wow, I know I should but I think you covered it, we are just using the rules in the doc?" I asked.
"Well I am giving this, thing just stack you don't have to worry about diminishing returns or anything like that. My benefactor did it that way so I am giving that. Quicksilver only had that rule to limit the growth of the jumper and encourage a more diversified build. I don't care what you do so go wild and stack away."
"Umm alright I think that answers every question I had… so how do we do this?" I asked.
"Well first you shake my hand to seal the agreement." He said holding out his hand. I took it. His grip was strong, not crushing but firm. Suddenly I felt power that I had never imagined fill me and the world fell away.

 

[Neko Arc]

Spoiler: PIcture

Chapter 1 the first steps.
Jump # 1 Gargoyles
Age: 18
Gender Female
Background: Big Business (100)
Race: Human (0)
Location: Manhattan Island, New York
Perks:
*Tech Adapting (0)
*Pragmatism (0)
*Durable (100)
*CEO (100, Discount)
*Xanatos Gambit (300, Discount)
*Mechanist (100, Discount)
*Mad Biologist (300, Discount)
Equipment
*Money X 2 (0)

Nubee's body Mod.

Cleansed (0)
Greener Grass (0)
Adjustment - height 5' (0)
Sex - Female (0)
Intelligence: 5 (150)
Charisma: 5 (150)
Reflexes: 4 (100)
Stamina: 3 (50)
Coloration - Red Hair, Green eyes (0)
Endowment (50)
Rejuvenation (50)
Grooming (50)
Aesthetics II (100)
Diet (50)
Enhanced Senses (100)
Charm (50)
Memory (100)


Cosmic Warehouse

Utilities:
*Electricity (10)
*Heating/Cooling (10)
*plumbing (10)
Structures:
*Shelving (Free)
*Housing (20)
*Medbay (20)
Misc:
*Stasis Pod X 2 (40)
*Food (10)
*Free Space(30)


The first thing I noticed was I was splashing water on my face. My stomach was tight. I was nervous. I was in a bathroom; a private bathroom, my new memories told me as they flooded my head. I looked in to the mirror and for a second I was struck dumb by the beautiful woman staring back at me. I had wondered how exactly an anime character would translate to actual flesh and blood but the goddess staring at me wide eyed in the mirror informed me well. My hair was fiery red and flowed down past my shoulders. My features were soft and I would argue just about perfect. My bright green eyes were beautiful even widened in surprise. My body was shapely my chest was… huge and seemed to strain against the confines of the dress suit that I wore. I knew that my hips, thighs and rear I knew were all curvy. Except for my short height I would have made a great super model. I was about 5' and was often forced in to heels because of it because studies showed taller people did better. Though secretly I was proud of my short height, it made me look cute in my opinion.
As I examined myself I realized with dread the reason I was there. I was about to go in front of a room full of people and beg for money. I was a very small business owner and I was in the heart of New York. I was a very small fish in a very big pond. I had left the west coast with what comparably little money I could and now I was right in the heart of the financial center of the world. I had precisely 400k to my name. To do what I wanted I needed to make that 400 million or more. I was betting that 400 k right here and now. This was my sink or swim moment. Unfortunately investors wanted something for their money. I was about to enter a room filled with investors. Hell David Xanatos was among them. Sadly most were more interested in me than my ideas. I would make a wonderful employee for their much larger more established companies. Of course there were also people from the government… who would want me to make weapons for them. There was easy money to be had there, if I were willing to sell my soul and likely my ability to sleep at night.
I gathered my courage. What there was of it. I straightened out my hair and fixed my suit and skirt so that I was presentable and headed out of the bathroom. We were in an auditorium. I passed the people in the audience trying not to look at them. I was nervous enough.
They say everyone has a super power; everyone is a genius at something. In my old life thankfully I had an ability to stand in front crowds. I would be nervous and feel like I was going to die just before I went on stage but then I had the ability to channel that energy. That was something I had lacked in this life, I was actually a little proud to be able to bring something to the table.
So I got up in front of everyone. My heart beating wildly took a few deep breaths and went in to my song and dance. I had a few working prototypes a lot of slides of potential projects and a dream.
I cracked a few jokes, I made sure to smile and I showed what I had and hoped that it would be enough. By the end of the hour I was completely and utterly spent but I succeeded in giving the best show I could.
Unfortunately after the hour it was time to go down among the guests and meet them and talk to them. Sadly dealing with lots of people was not my forte in either life.
That part became a blur. "Thank you for coming, I hope you enjoyed the presentation… what, no I am not looking for a job but thank you." I don't know how many times I said those lines. People it turns out were very predictable in a way.
Things dragged on and the crowd started to clear out. Things were looking grim for me honestly. Then David Xanatos approached me and introduced himself, though he was well known.
"I must say you gave a brilliant presentation." He offered "Unfortunately this isn't going to turn out like you are hoping. I know from experience. This isn't too far from how I got my start in business. Look you have wonderful Ideas. I heard you aren't looking for a job and I understand but perhaps we can make a deal that would benefit both of us. You see my company could produce these items that you are proposing. We have the name, we have the facilities and workers to produce them. If I invested the money you are looking at a few years before you can make a reasonable bid at getting them to market as it will take that long to set up those things. So how about you sell your ideas to me. I will give you a very generous amount and in addition I'll even give you a share of the profits. I am thinking about 10%. I know it doesn't sound like much but as I mentioned my company can start producing these it months instead of years." He took out a check book from his pocket and wrote out a check. "I believe this is a fair offer." He said. I took the check and looked at it and tried not to cough at the amount of zeros.
This was the best I could hope for. I was thrilled "Hmmm well… I don't know." I began not wanting to look too eager.
"Sure you do. We both know this is the best option you have. This is probably what you were hoping for all along. With that money you can actually build a business and won't be tied down to these ideas. I have a feeling while they are brilliant they are far from your best work. So let's just cut to the chase. You can shake my hand here. I'll have my lawyers write up the contracts and you can be on your way. I know that talking to investors after such a long presentation was always the hardest part for me back in the early days." He said with a smile holding out his hand.
"Yeah, you got me this was what I was hoping for." I admitted and took his hand "Thank you." I said.
"You're welcome and I look forward to seeing what you do next."
I smiled "Thank you." I said. I considered it high praise from someone I greatly respected.
My next major move took a few weeks. My company largely existed on paper. This windfall of money meant I could change that. However I needed just the right circumstances so I spent a couple weeks acclimating myself to my new life and plotting another project as I looked and looked for the right company.
Finally I settled on Wesker Pharmaceuticals. It was failing pharmaceutical and Biotech Company. The CEO had gotten caught doing several ethically questionable things and wound up in jail while the companies worth plummeted. Now they were waiting and hoping for a larger company to buy them up or more likely buy up their resources.
When I showed interest the current CEO was overjoyed. I purchased it and its resources for a song though it still was a considerable investment for me.
Still I needed their labs for my next project. This would be a true test of my new skills and intellect. If I could do this money problems would be a thing of the past.
So I began. The process was long and mostly boring. It involved lots of starting, failing, and restarting but by the end of a month. I had… on paper at least cured most forms of cancer.
It's funny but while I found myself overjoyed at first, I soon felt intensely lonely. We were operating with a skeleton crew to keep costs down and keep privacy and I had done most of the heavy lifting myself. Also despite my newfound charisma, charm and beauty I was still by nature a loner. While I had plenty of offers for dates some from rather impressive figures… I was alone.
I had just found the medical holy grail and I was alone with no one to celebrate it and no one to help me weather the storm that was coming as a result.
When I released my findings to the medical world for peer review the first reaction was a collective "Bullshit!" I had come from nowhere to do something impossible there was no way this could be real it had to be a trick. Those cries died out though when my theories proved sound.
I knew things were going to get crazy but I had no idea how crazy.
Overnight I became a celebrity and house hold name. I had underestimated the power what a combination of looks and natural charisma could do. I was the new wonder kid of science and business. Wesker Pharmaceuticals renamed Raven Pharmaceuticals took off and me with it.
Suddenly I found myself invited to posh parties hobnobbing with the rich and famous.
It was at one of these parties that I encountered David Xanatos again. He congratulated me, he admitted that he saw that I was going to do big things but I had actually surprised him a bit. I thanked him again for giving me my start. We chatted a bit. During the chat he leaned in and warned me "While I think what you have done is great, there are others who may disagree. I believe you will be hearing from them soon." With my new social awareness I was guessing he wanted to say a lot more. I thanked him for the warning. After that he had to leave.
It was later that night I was headed to my Apartment. I had been a bit tired from the party, I was grateful for the stamina boost; I didn't know if I would still be on my feet without it. Dealing with people still took a great deal of energy for me. Especially when I was fake smiling and making small talk to a bunch of people I didn't know. I hated crowds and this place had been crowded. I was looking forward to kicking off my heels getting in to a baggy shirt and crawling in to bed. However I found 3 gentlemen in front of my door obviously waiting for me.
They all at least average height but broad shouldered, however they were wearing suits that weren't cheap. They were also in their 40's and 50s by my estimation. They weren't likely here to mug me, the security in the building was very good. However something told me I wasn't out of the woods as far as danger.
I forced a smile and waved to the men "Evening Gentlemen, waiting for me?"
The men stood up and nodded and the oldest looking one a man with silver hair wearing a hat stepped forward. He called me miss and then my last name. "We would like to speak with you about a rather important matter. Would you please spare us a moment of your time. The sooner we get this done, the better it will be for you." He said with insistence.
"Is that a threat?" I asked.
"No, not yet" answered the man, "In fact I believe we can be of help to you, if you will allow us, but please let's do this inside." He said taking off his hand and fiddling with it in his hands.
I sighed and headed to the door. "None of you look like you came armed and there is a security camera over there." I motioned with my eyes. "Not that I don't trust you gentlemen but… I don't trust you gentlemen."
The men nodded.
God I wish I had finished that project I was planning now.
I sighed and opened the door. "Please excuse the mess I wasn't intending to have company." I told them, letting them enter first.
I kicked off my heels "Well before we get started please take a seat, would any of you like anything to drink?" I asked decided to at least be a decent host even if the circumstances were… not good.
The eldest man smiled and took a seat "Drinks will not be necessary though I do appreciate you offering. Perhaps this won't be so bad after all."
"Well you gentlemen obviously came for a reason. Why don't we cut to the chase?"
The man gave a small chuckle and actually smiled "You know I like you. I think we are going to have a good relationship. My friends and I represent an… organization, you might say a gathering of powerful people." He began.
"Or an Illuminati?" I asked.
The man nodded "Got it in one. You have made quite a splash recently. Usually we like to regulate things. The world is much more fragile than most people believe and unregulated progress could lead to devastation for the world. Normally such a large step like a cure for cancer would require many steps up to it. It represents a great shift in the world." He elaborated.
"And quite the great shift in peoples pocket books I would imagine."
That drew a soft chuckle and grin. "Quite true you stepped on many of our members toes with that. However I believe that just shows how much promise you have. I believe you could change the world and will, with our help."
"You said this wasn't a threat but it could be. I am guessing if I work with you, you will help me, if I don't you will hurt me in some ways." I interjected.
His smile faded some but he nodded and took a breath "Well to put it simply yes. I would like you to work with us. We will not tell you what to do or even what not to do in most cases; however we would like you to keep us informed. If you work with us you will find that doors will just miraculously open for you. If you work against us… well we can make things very difficult for you and I personally would not like to see that. Such a brilliant person should be supported and nurtured, Congratulations on your Nobel Prize, He said with a wink."
"Me a Nobel Prize winner?, well I am honored. Well I'll tell you what; I'll keep you informed on what I am working on. I'll work with you" I told him.
That drew a genuine grin from the man as he stuck out his hand to shake mine. I forced myself to take it. It was not the time to make enemies if I didn't have to.
"Thank you I am glad to see that you are a reasonable young woman." He said. "By the way what will you work on next out of curiosity?"
"Oh next I think I shall grow my company a bit and work on a little pet project. Don't worry this isn't for the public but rather personal use."
He nodded "I see, well we try not to pry in to personal matters when it's not needed, so I'll wish you luck." He said as he and the other men got up.
After the men left I sighed. I was tired but I headed to my computer. I needed to buy some things for said pet project that had just been moved up in priority.
Since my pet project wouldn't be ready for a while I hired my own security service to fill the gap.
In the mean time I bought several companies relevant to my little project. It wouldn't be the first of its kind in this world but it would be mine of my design born of my blood, sweat and tears.
The work would take me a few months. In fairness it should have taken me years but somehow the tech stuff went much faster than it should. During those months I almost released a self-evolving AI on to the internet by accident. I may have not noticed that a camera I was hooking up for that AI actually had wifi capabilities that could be hacked by a clever enough AI. I combined the genetics of human and cat, I built a skeleton out of the hardest metal I could find, I designed artificial muscles that would grant Strength a great many times those of a normal human along with artificial organs that worked many times better than a humans.
In the end it all came together on a stormy night. I was alone in a lab I had set up. My creation, my masterpiece lay on a table with a blanket covering it. I carefully slipped the connection cable from the super computers to the hidden connection port on the back of the neck of my hard work. Then… I waited. Time moves very slowly when you are anxiously waiting for something. I watched a green bar slowly filling up as it crawled across a screen with the percentage. Considering the amount of data I was transferring it wasn't a surprise that I had a wait ahead of me.
Eventually the green bar was completely full. I took a deep breath and turned towards the table and… nothing. There was nothing. No movement.
I blinked and frowned. "What's going on, why aren't you getting up and doing … something." I asked as Walked over and pulled back the blanket.
The impossibility that lay on that table should have been striking. It was an actual cat girl. She had long flowing silver hair, a very curvy build with breasts equal to mine which were quite considerable. Her beauty was stunning, her features more perfect than any human could claim. However at that moment I was busy trying to figure out why she wasn't waking up.
I listened at her chest her artificial heart was beating sending blood to her organic parts. She was clearly breathing. I got up blinking not sure what to do when there was a blur and I felt myself thrown to the ground. For a moment I thought I was dead. If my creation had turned on me, she had several built in weapons and strength enough not to really need them, what's worse my reflexes were at peak human, she was so fast my eyes couldn't keep up with her. Then I felt lips upon mine and a tongue enter my mouth in a passionate kiss.


"Mmm I have wanted to do that for so long. I am glad I finally got the chance she said before licking her lips and gazing down at me with her large red eyes with a playful look. "Hmmm I ask you are you my master?" she teased making a reference to one of my favorite series and apparently one she had grown fond of.
I coughed as my cheeks heated up "Y-yes I am your master, now what are you doing?" I asked noting that she seemed in no hurry to get off of me. She was heavier than she looked.
"Well you're very comfortable it would be a shame to move. Besides you are cute when you blush." She teased. She caressed my cheek before pouting and finally moving off of me, her lack of clothing seemed not to bother her in the least; her pale alabaster skin was flawless. She stretched a bit before reaching down and offering me a hand up.
She gave me a playful grin as she examined me "you know I didn't realize just how beautiful you were seeing you through cameras. You smell is very nice too." She told me I am sure I was blushing again.
"umm here I have clothing for you." I said grabbing an outfit I had made for her. It looked like a standard maid outfit. "It has an ultra–light woven Kevlar mesh layer between the fabrics, it should protect you from high caliber gun fire and there are several gadgets in the pockets that should aid you in your task of protecting me." I explained.
She pouted a bit but took the uniform and examined it. "Very nice but don't worry I would watch the world burn before I let anyone harm a hair on your head." She said casually enough to send shivers down my spine.
I named her Nekochan. Nekochan teased me for my terrible naming skills but refused another name as she found it endearing.
I had several things that I wanted to do. I wanted to build some power armors for me and Nekochan because as I remembered there were some things that were especially dangerous in this world. However there were parts I needed that were simply not available right now. Well they were but I needed someone who could get them without it being shown I could get them. I had a few projects like that. So I was forced to wait. However I was not bored. That was not a problem I had.
Nekochan was eager for new experiences, she was also eager for me to have new experiences as she thought I had the tendency to be a shut in. Imagine that. So I spent a couple weeks fulfilling Nekochan's desires. I got to experience Nightclubs… which were loud and dark and overfilled with people. Nekochan however loved it, she danced, she dragged me on to the dance floor even though I didn't know how. I learned quickly but even though I was better about being around people than I had been it wasn't easy.
Also as a star… dear god I had people hitting on me right and left. I had celebrities that were at the club eager to have their names linked with mine. I had rich people young business people out for the same and of course young horny people eager to make me the next notch in their belt. Thankfully with my new social graces I was able to let everyone down gently.
Nekochan and I spent the weeks on a whirlwind tour of New York, from the biggest Water parks, to the finest shops, to the finest restaurants we probably hit them all. Most places were too crowded for me but I believe Nekochan had fun so I was happy… though I did have to stop her from luring beautiful women back to our bed room to share them. At my core I am kind of shy and not one to sleep with someone I don't know well or well actually don't have feelings for. Nekochan didn't share those feelings apparently. I had to disappoint a few top starlets and models as well as Nekochan. On a related note Nekochan has especially deadly puppy dog eyes. That's a weapon I didn't know I armed her with.
It took a while to acquire the components I needed for the armor. During that time I moved my business headquarters to a tower of glass and steel. It was just another skyscraper. It wasn't even that tall, it was in the shadow of Xanatos' ridiculous skyscraper with a castle on it a good amount of the time but it was mine and that made it special.
I also acquired a nearby private laboratory. It wouldn't be ideal to do heavy science stuff at my headquarters. I went about securing it as it would be the heart of my corporation where ideas became reality. I got the best security staff I could find. I had several robots that were equipped with big weapons. I figured anything short of the US military attacking me there I would be fine. I also had Nekochan who while untested should be quite formidable herself.
I got the components and began to construct the power armors. At the same time I got an idea for my next project. I would create a super nutrient enriched grain that would help to feed the third world and make nutritious food that didn't taste terrible. I called my contacts at the Illuminati. The gentleman that never gave his name had given me a business card that only had a number on it, it was completely blank except for that. When I explained what I wanted to do there was a long silence. "Well… I can't tell you not to do this. However you will be stepping on more members toes and there may be some fallout from it. Please consider that before you continue." I thanked him for his advice but told him I believed this was something worth doing. He wished me well and with that I began.
By my estimation the grain once created would take a month. It took a week to modify the seeds and another two to observe its progress. Preliminary tests were amazing. It looked like I would revolutionize food with this.
I released the preliminary findings to the world… You wouldn't think grain would be sexy or have a big impact. However it turns out that for my efforts and with the name recognition I had the story actually blew up. I had governments eager to buy from me before I had my first crop. They were vying for who would be first. Not just third world countries either.
As this turned out a bit more labor intensive than I had anticipated I was only able to get my armor started. Also trying to secure the seed to alter was… a pain in the ass. If this worked fulfilling my orders were going to be a headache.
We were close to the first harvest. I was in the lab overseeing that particular project along with Nekochan who was honestly bored out of her mind. "Ughh are you done yet?" She asked for the seventh time.
Like the previous times I answered "Just a few minutes more." as I continued writing on the papers on the clip board about my findings.
"All you have been doing lately is working. Isn't this boring, don't you want to get back out and have some fun?"
I shuddered as her and my ideas of fun were completely different.
She must have picked up on it "We don't have to go out and be around people. It can just be you and me. We can have a nice evening in. We can play video game, watch movies or make wild passionate love at this point I don't care but let's do something."
I winced "Alright, you win I don't have to finish this tonight." I said putting down the clipboard.
I quickly found Nekochan's strong arms around me as she playfully nibbled on my ear and neck "mmm you know it's early we can do all 3, especially the last one. Maybe even do the last one first… then a bit of the other two then finish up with more of the last one some more." She purred as her hands went ... places.
At that moment the last choice was starting to sound very good to me too but then came the sounds of the alarms going off throughout the lab.
I felt Nekochan tense against me and heard her give a low growl. "oh someone better be dead or they are going to be."
She withdrew her hands and was about to run off when someone ran in.
It was a worker, I didn't know his name his appearance was fairly nondescript but he looked terrified. "We are under attack!" He shouted.
"Oh good some people to work out my aggression on, this is perfect." announced Nekochan.
"Wait!" I told her before she could rush off.
"Do you have any details of who is attacking us?" I asked the man, he was a bit out of breath he must have run back here.
"A bunch of men in power armor, they are slicing through our defenses like they were made of paper you need to get to the safe room."
I nodded, "Alright find everyone you can and have them head to the safe areas. The cops should be here in a few minutes that should give them pause. Hopefully our defenses can hold till then. Nekochan come on we are heading to the safe room." I said walking over and grabbing the arm for my power armor and slipping it on. It verified my DNA and clicked on to my arm and powered up. Without the full suit it would have very limited offensive capability. I might get a few shots of the repulsers off before it powered down. They wouldn't be as powerful as they would be connected to the full system but it would provide me some defense.
"Are you kidding? I should be out there defending this place." She snapped back.
"They are likely here to steal data, some prototype or something along those lines. Those can all be replaced, they should leave the workers alone and most of the guards are robots. If they are strong enough to break through our defenses, I need you with me and don't want to risk you getting hurt or destroyed." I explained.
Nekochan looked a mix between shock and hurt.
"It has nothing to do with your strength, we don't know the exact strength of the attackers I have to assume the worst in such a situation." I said already heading for the Safe room.
Nekochan let out an annoyed sigh but followed along.
We headed to the safe room. The door was large, heavy and made out of steel, It reminded me of a bank vault honestly and I imagined it would be as tough to get through. Inside the room it was filled with monitors and computers through which I could observe the rest of the lab grounds. I could shut off various sections as needed.
As soon as the door closed I headed over to the monitors. What I saw was sadly pandemonium. I gasped when I saw the power armored men. I could see even from the monitors that there were a lot of them and they were in high end armors. Armors typically only the largest corporations or countries could afford. They were on the large and bulky side more made for durability and fire power than movement. They were 7 feet tall and armed with weapons that could damage a tank. There were over a dozen of them and it was pretty clear why my defenses had not held. They were destroying everything in their path. My stomach tightened a bit as I wondered if the defenses in the safe room would hold against them. At their current pace it looked like I would soon find out.
"Grrr I told you I should have gone to deal with them." Commented Nekochan with her arms crossed pacing back and forth.
I sighed "Just get ready in case they breach." I said fiddling with the armor on my arm. I had to set it to manually fire.
I used the controls to seal off the parts between us and the impending assault but it seemed to do little besides slow them down. Thankfully the police arrived and some split off to deal with the officers. I kind of felt bad for the police here as they were going in to a situation where they were greatly outgunned. Unfortunately for me 3 of the remaining Power armored thugs were continuing towards the back where we were.
It was a long wait but they made it to the bank vault like door. The room was rocked by explosions against the door and parts of it started to grow red with concentrated laser fire. With each blast my hopes that the door would hold faded a little. I had to chide myself. I felt like a rat in a trap of my own making here. Still there was nothing I could do now but wait and pray what I had on my side was enough. The door started to dent and distort.
I got to the back of the room charging up the repulse blaster on my arm as Nekochan got in front of me.
"No matter what happens I won't let them harm a single hair on your head." She shouted back to me, her finger nails were now extended in to vicious claws and her red eyes glowed giving her a slight demonic look.
It was a moment later one last heavy hit and the door began to crack right down the center. There came a thunderous crash and part of the door was blown in while the other half swung in. There was a lot of smoke but as it cleared it revealed the three figures in power armor. I wondered if this was how my jump ends.
The faces of the power armors were covered by bullet proof black glass giving them a sinister appearance despite the light blue paint job with white trimming.
The one in front pointed at me. "Hey looks like we hit the jackpot boys, remember we get a bonus if we take her out".
There was a white blur from in front of me as even with maximum human reflexes I could not follow what happened all I knew was that suddenly Nekochan appeared before the three men and suddenly all that the man was pointing at me was a blood stump. Things seemed to slow at that moment, the man now missing an arm dropped to the ground grabbing his stump and screaming, it looked like the other two were aiming large heavy rifle looking weapons at Nekochan, only for her to casually reach out and rip them out of their hands, that seemed to stun them for a moment, her hand became a blur and the man on the left fell with his head falling in a completely different direction. The last man started to back up. "You dare threaten my master and think I am going to let you live?" growled Nekochan. She became a blur and suddenly blood and power armor parts went flying I had to look away and when I looked back Nekochan was covered with blood and gore as she stood triumphantly over a mangled corpse half dressed in power armor. At that moment it was tough to keep lunch down so I looked away. Thankfully when I did I saw the police were entering and securing the building the attack was apparently over. I was guessing this was meant to be a quick in and out strike to get/destroy whatever they wanted. The cops though they would be outgunned here would only complicate things. That was a guess I had made and it looked like I was absolutely correct. Maybe it was foolish to bet on such a gamble but I had little choice.
"I'm going to go take care of the rest of these bastards." announced Nekochan her eyes still glowing red.
"It's alright the cops are here and should be by shortly." I informed her. She blinked then seemed to relax taking a deep breath she walked towards me "I am so glad that you weren't hurt." She said truly grateful with her arms out like she was going to hug me. She then looked down and realized she was covered in blood and gore. She sighed and let her hands drop. I reached over and petted Nekochan. "It's alright, you did well. You protected me." She relaxed and purred as she nuzzled against my hand.
A minute or so the cops finally made it to us. There were a half dozen officers with guns drawn that came upon us. Their eyes widened when they saw the remains of the men in the army.
"Jesus, what the hell happened?" said one.
I explained what happened, the amount of blood covering Nekochan made it quite believable. I told them everything had been recorded as I made it a habit of making sure things around my labs were recorded.
At first they wanted to take me in for questioning and take Nekochan in for examining as she had just killed 3 men but a quick call to the highest priced attorney I could find dissuaded them. I was allowed to schedule my discussion with the cops and since I had all the permits for Nekochan's weaponry and it became clear that these men had ill intent, the matter of if she was safe to be walking around was dropped for now. At least it was with them. However, for me… I had to have a talk with her about the worth of human life. The cops told me that it looked like my lab was a complete loss; a quick tour of the place pretty well confirmed it.
As soon as we got home while Nekochan headed to the shower to get cleaned up I pulled out a very special business card I had been given. It had been given by a man who never gave his name. He was my connection to the Illuminati. I called up and it took a few rings but I heard a familiar voice answer. The man with the silver hair seemed surprised to hear from me. I explained what I had been through. For a moment there was silence.
I explained I recognized the quality of the armors. They were not cheap and only a very large corporation or a government would have the money for it. I explained that the group seemed very methodical and well-practiced in their attack, they seemed to be professional criminals, and they also seemed very familiar with the equipment they were using. Such a group sure would be known to his organization.
From him I heard a sigh. I could imagine him rubbing his temples "First let me assure you my group as a whole had nothing to do with this attack upon you. You are seen as very important to our group. If one of us made such a move it would be unilaterally and unsanctioned by the rest." He also said he was aware of a group of mercenaries that did wear high priced power armor. They were like a freelance military. He gave me their name of the group. They were the Ronins. They were a very high priced mercenary unit, generally used as I had suspected by governments and big businesses for less than legal attacks on competitors.
He further told me he would put his ear to the ground to see if any of their members had indeed been behind this. Targeting the interests of another member in such a way was forbidden.
I thanked him for his help and hung up. I was glad he was going to help but there was no way I was leaving it up to someone else to respond to this attack.
It was a little after then that Nekochan returned from her shower. "Awww man I was all set to actually make you have fun and our night was ruined by those assholes." She pouted as she plopped down on the couch next to me and nuzzled up against me.
"Yeah say I wanted to talk to you about something." I told her as she slipped her head in to my lap and used it as a lap pillow.
"Oh what's up have you changed your mind about having a baby with me?" she asked with a playful grin. I coughed a little as my cheeks heated up. "No it's not that." I replied.
"Awww too bad, I really think you would make an amazing mother and it would be the perfect expression of our love." She purred.
I sighed and nekochan frowned looked up at me "Oh I see it's one of those talks. The not fun ones." She said sitting up.
"Kind of… I am a little worried by how casual you were about killing when those assholes as you put it attacked us."
She blinked in surprise "They threatened you! Of course I killed them."
"You didn't have to you could have disabled them and left them for the cops."
Nekochan took closed her eyes and took a deep breath as if to calm herself.
"Look, you want to save everyone and to you life is precious. I get that I do and I love you for it. It's one of your best traits. However there is something YOU need to understand." She stated bluntly
"What?"
She sighed and looked me in the eyes "You are the most precious thing to me and I would burn the world to a cinder to protect you. Other people would have just programmed me to love them, used me as a sex toy slash bodyguard and called it a day. You just programmed me to protect you and then spent countless hours with me while I was just an AI teaching me about the world, teaching me things I couldn't find in raw data like what it means to love, why music is beautiful and why you should try to be a good person. You became my first friend and then something more."
I was honestly stunned. She spoke of love often but I guess this was the first time she spoke of why.
"The only thing I truly want is to stand by your side, now and forever… well that and to make sweet sweet love to you and see how loudly I can make you moan my name but while I agree violence and killing should be a last resort usually. You are something special to me and I will not tolerate something threatening to take you away from me." She said emphatically
I hugged her and she hugged me back "So what did you find out about those bastards?" she asked. So I told her what the man had said.
I had a name it wasn't much to go on but I decided to hire a hacker. I also created an automatic profile of companies that could pull this off, that were in my local sphere of influence and who might benefit from me leaving the stage. I had a good idea of who had done it by the end of my search but it took me a couple weeks of searching to find a skilled hacker who didn't mind work on the down low. I sent them to work on exploring the Ronins and seeing if they could find any major companies that had hired them lately.
Through extensive searching on the dark web he was able to find their contact information and from that he was able to send a request with a hidden attachment. A day later he was able to get in to their finances. My independent search had narrowed the suspects to a handful but really there was only 1 that would benefit, they also turned up in the search for companies that paid the Ronins a huge amount of money through dummy corporations.
It was The Santomon Company that had paid for the attack on my company. Santomon was an agriculture and agricultural biotech company, they specialized in herbicide and genetically modified foods. They were bastards who even were trying to engineer crops so that they would produce no seeds so farmers would have to buy from them every year.
I thanked the hacker and gave him a nice suitcase full of money in untraceable bills as was the usual way of payment for such a service.
I then called my contact to the Illuminati again. I asked him how things were going with the matter we discussed previously. He told me that it was being dealt with internally. I reminded him that he asked me to keep him abreast of what I was working on. That drew his attention. I explained through various means I had managed to find the people responsible for the attack myself. I said I was going to take my pound of flesh from them personally.
I heard a deep sigh from the other end of the phone. He told me if I tried he couldn't protect me from the fallout and it would be much easier to let them handle it. I assured him that would not be necessary. Sometimes you have to make a statement for yourself. Sometimes you have to show everyone you can't be pushed around. He gave a slight chuckle and agreed with me. I asked him if the rest of his friends would stay neutral in this and he agreed. That was all I needed.
There are many ways to hurt a corporation. However I found that the most effective way was the pocket book. There were several steps I needed to take first though I visited my acquaintance Xanatos. He was rather surprised to see me. He told me he was grateful I had not been hurt in the attack on my lab.
I informed him what I had learned. He nodded not seeming to be surprised. He noted that he didn't think he could help me. I then told him my plan and as I did he got this grin that grew as I elaborated.
He asked me what I needed him for. I explained I needed to do the final part of my plan in complete secret. I already had the piece I need planned out but I need someone able to produce it. I even gave him the price that I was looking to sell it at. He raised an eyebrow when I explained why I was planning to sell my new product at a slight loss. He understood completely what I was doing.
I asked him if he was in at the end and he agreed.
This was going to take practically every free cent I had and was risking the future of my company. However I wasn't going to be bullied by some company. They had picked the fight now it was my job to finish it.
The first step of my plans was I started buying Stock of The Santomon Company. I made it seem I was trying a hostile takeover of their company. This forced them to buy up their own stock. I also had a dummy corporation though short selling their stocks (Selling stocks they didn't have in hopes that they could buy them back when they were much cheaper. It wasn't exactly a legal move but it was a necessity for my plan.
I let them think they had won by buying up all of their loose stock. That's when I started with the media barrage. Santomon had always had sort of an image problem in the press as mentioned earlier they were assholes. Their company was run as if by a super villain. So a few whispers to the right people and they found themselves in a whirlwind of controversy. Well a bigger whirlwind of controversy than usual. Really all I had to do was throw a few bucks at some media outlets and they ran new stories about the negative effects of their pesticides and the potentially harmful effects of their genetically modified foods. Nothing was really new I just made the stories main stream.
That's when I had Xanatos release the final piece of my plan. Not only had I been planning to release super grain but I had my own pesticide to go with it what wasn't as harmful as Santomon's and worked even better. We released it and it was a body blow to the company. Their stocks fell by 80% as people started to jump ship. The whole business fell apart. I was able to cover the stocks I short sold for pennies on the dollar making a huge profit and when Santomon went in to bankruptcy I bought up most of their assets. Also once Santomon was out of the picture Xanatos cranked up the price of the weed killer and made a killing. No put intended.
Everything destroyed in my lab had been insured so as far as money goes I had not lost anything. Time however was actually more precious than money for me and I had lost plenty of that, It took months to get the parts for my power armors again which except for one arm was destroyed in the attack. In foresight I had regrettably not shown for my armor I had actually grown a small patch of grain in my warehouse. I intended to bring in forward to other worlds. So I had something for proof of concept. I teamed up with another agricultural biotech company to produce it. Ironically if they hadn't attacked me I probably would have been working with Santomon. Though they were effectively dead, last I heard their CEO had gone nuts and disappeared. In some countries a CEO of a failed company was expected to commit suicide sadly this wasn't one of them.
The grain hit the market and sold insanely well. Even though I was only getting part of the profits I moved up in to the upper part of the Forbes 500 list. More importantly as the grain was remarkably hearty and able to grow in a wide variety of climates it helped to feed much of the third worlds and helped reduce the amount of global starvation.
I got many awards for my efforts including a Nobel Prize and… much to my chagrin my star power increased.
Between more parties and fake smiles I was actually able to build the power armors I had sought to make for Nekochan and myself.
Testing them out was fun… I learned I did not like flying. I had a natural fear of heights and I did not like going fast and it was both of those things combined. Nekochan however loved to fly. The suits were very powerful, they even boasted a crude force field that I engineered as well as the more standard array of weaponry, increased strength, flight built in sensors and Ai. It even boasted limited invisibility. I could say with confidence that they were the most advanced suits in the world.
Still after the attack on my lab I was glad to have them, they both folded up in to briefcases that I made sure was never far from our persons.
Things were looking up.
Then I got a call from my contact from the Illuminati. He said he had some important things to discuss with me and asked me to come to a parking complex at midnight. He asked that I have as few people with me as possible. There seemed a lot funny about this. I agreed because I felt I had little choice.
So on appointed date I took a heavily armored limo loaded with a few surprises as I went to meet the gentlemen.
The lights were dim and the parking complex was abandoned. There was another Limo waiting there presumably with my contact in it. Nekochan warned me there were several figures using cloaking technology around us. That confirmed this was a trap. Nekochan wanted to drive off, which made sense but I doubted our limo would make it. We had to turn this trap on the trappers. So I had a couple of life model decoys made, one for me and one for Nekochan. They got out of the otherwise apparently empty back of the Limo and approached the other limo. I watched through the eyes of the android as it cautiously walked over to the other limo. At first the door opened and the gentlemen from the Illuminati got out. Then someone got out behind him. It was the former CEO of Santomon with a gun against the gentleman's back
"Well I knew something was wrong but I never expected to see you here." I said to the CEO. He was an older man his face was wrinkled with age and his bald head had just a few hairs left up top. He was short and kind of stocky. He was dressed in a fine suit.
"It's nice to meet you in person. When you took everything that I valued from me, you did it from afar like a coward but I am glad I get to see you in person."
"You attacked me first. You are the one who was responsible for your own downfall." My copy answered.
"That's cute but you knew we were the one doing genetically engineered foods. You stepped in to our turf. I wasn't trying to kill then. It was a happy accident you were there. Unfortunately you survived."
"Well sorry to disappoint you, any last words before I have Nekochan here disembowel you." My copy asked and the copy Nekochan extended her claws.
"Yes, you see I am not the only one who has a bone to pick with you. You see the Ronins were rather upset that you killed a few of their men and they are here today to return the favor."
With that something fired out of the shadows and hit Nekochan. It seemed to attach to her there were sparks and she fell limply to the ground blood leaking from her mouth.
The Men in Power Armor de-cloaked. My copy bent down and checked Nekochan with a distraught look.
"Awww that's adorable you actually had feelings for your real doll. Well sorry I broke your toy. Don't worry you won't be needing her any longer." He said turning his gun from the gentleman to my copy and filled her full of led. She collapsed.
"Huh I thought it would be harder than that."
Our doubles having played their part Nekochan and I exploded out of the top of the front of the Limo in full power armor and began to fire. I took out their limo's tires disabling it. Nekochan's armor practically exploded in a barrage of missiles and energy blasts as she targeted the ronins around us, they in turn opened fire and all hell broke loose.
The CEO ducked behind the Gentlemen with his gun to the man's head "Stop or I kill him." He shouted.
I could read his heart rate was raised. He was terrified. "IF you kill him there is no reason to keep you alive." I shouted as I fired a cable past him.
"Oh that was a mistake say good bye to the old man." Said the CEO before the cable pulled back with the door of the Limo slamming in to him and sending him flying. I walked over to where he lay. He was reaching for the gun but I stepped on his hand.
"Oww… what the fuck are you?" he demanded looking up at me in disgust. "Oh I don't know just a young girl on a long journey, the smartest woman in the world or the wrong person to fuck with, take your pick, all apply." I answered before kicking him in the head with my armored foot.
I didn't have to turn around to see that Nekochan had taken out the Ronin soldiers. I walked to the Gentleman who was laying on the ground and rubbing his head I bent down and offered him my hand.
He looked up and took it. "Well you have my thanks. I did not believe he would stoop so low." He said as as he stood up and dusted off his fine suit. He looked over at the former CEO. He walked over and turned him around and rummaged in his inner pocket pulling out a pin.
"It may be a bit premature for this but. I really think you have earned it. I would really like you to join our number as a full member." He said offering me the pin.
I looked down at the pin then shook my head "I thank you but I don't think I am really of the material to join your club. I would rather just keep our relationship the same." I explained. I didn't really want to join any secretive cabal of rich people.
He blinked in surprise then smiled "You are as ever surprising. Well I will keep this in hopes you change your mind. I would suggest we leave here, the cops should be here soon and it's going to take a lot due to that idiot to cover it up."
"Alright I'll give you a ride." I told him and he thanked me. We grabbed the Life model decoys and tossed them in the trunk and headed out.
"Did you see how awesome I was?" Asked Nekochan excited, "Yes you were quite impressive." I told her.
We dropped off my friend from the Illuminati somewhere. He told us not to worry about this night's event things would be taken care of.
I would say things quieted down after that but… one day I woke up as a gargoyle, another time I accidentally caught Demon's broadcast and got turned to stone. I had to warn Nekochan what was going to happen. She was apparently immune but it freaked her the hell out. Honestly it was tough to get her not to try and hunt the "bitch" down who had turned me to stone.
As far as the Gargoyles went I didn't really have much interaction with them. That was by choice, it seemed to me things were dangerous enough as it was. Interacting with them only would add to the danger. I did catch a lot of footage of them on the roof top and such as I had cameras out there unlike most people.
I started collecting some "Mystical Items" as this world had magic and I very much wanted to get to know this world's magic. I collected several nick knacks until one day I had an old man in for some unrelated reason who happened to know a bit. He asked me about my collection and I showed him and he scrunched up his nose a bit. "Well these are fake, these are just minor things and these are actually cursed and you should get rid of them as soon as possible." He told me. Then he looked at one particular fist sized crystal set in gold. He told me "This should not be in mortal hands. Especially untrained hands it could cause a great deal of trouble." He said taking it and examining it.
I was dumbfounded, I asked him if he could teach me magic but he shook his head. He told me I wasn't really compatible with this world's magic. I asked him what his name was again. He told me it again, then he said in other ages he had been known as Merlin. He changed as he said that. "He told me it was my destiny to wield magic but not in this world and it was wisest not to mess with it because I lacked knowledge in it. Even for one who walks between worlds such as me I had accomplished a lot. He advised me not to get too full of myself or too ambitious. "There comes a time when one should sit back and enjoy the fruits of their own labors. Things are relatively peaceful now you would do well to rest and prepare for your next journey." And with those words he was gone with the item he said was dangerous.
I sighed and considered his words chocking it up to the old rule "You can't have everything." I decided maybe this was enough for now.
As far as my company went we expanded in to Robots and Power Armor, mainly so I could have stuff ready for the next world. By the end of the jump my warehouse was full of robots, gold, power armor, various tools and some experiments I wanted to take with me and of course one catgirl android maid and her back up ai and extra bodies.

 

[Neko Arc]

Spoiler: PIcture

Chapter 2 Unforeseen Consequences

Jump # 2 Batman the Dark Knight trilogy
Starting location: Uptown Gotham (0)
Age: 24
Gender: female
Origin: Upper Class
Perks:
*Obfuscating Stupidity (0)
*Why do we fall? (300, Discount)
*Trained by the league of Shadows (100)
*Unorthodox Skills (200)
Equipment:
*Money (0)
*Bat Car (100) I got a cool car!
*Jumper Manor (100, Discount)
*Jumper enterprises (200, Discount)


The first thing I became aware of was a gun waving in my face. It was small dark metal probably low caliber, a cheap throwaway gun, The man holding it was short probably a teenager he was wearing a ski mask he appeared Caucasian, had a thick 5 o'clock shadow brown hair apparently, Wide green eyes filled with fear as they darted around the store. "Anyone moves I am going to blow this woman's head off." He shouted loud enough to make me wince. He was breathing heavy, I noticed his two friends similarly dressed and holding guns were also breathing heavy, they were young, stupid and afraid. I had to act quickly or someone other than them were likely to get hurt. Around me were a half dozen customers in the upper class clothing store as well as 3 workers I could see, Each of the thugs had their gun pointed at a girls face, mine included.

The thug in front of me seemed to be the "Leader" as he shouted out, "Give me all of your money, jewelry and purses, and toss them on the ground.

They clearly hadn't planned this out well beforehand. Strangely the scene of what would happen next played out in my head, In this life I had been trained to fight, with my observation and planning skills I was also able to read peoples moves, It gave me some idea of what they were likely to do in a tense situation. Strangely I felt no fear only a deadly calm. I very slowly held out my purse and dropped it to the ground.

I had to do this in one smooth single motion. With his eyes dropping to watch my purse his gun and drooped a little and was not pointed directly at me. The world seemed to slow slightly as I moved as fast as I could, my hand darted out and plucked the gun from his hand, before he could react I fired two shots catching his friends in the shoulder making them drop their guns and drop to the floor and then as the man noticed the gun was gone I landed a heavy knee in his stomach bending him over before slamming and elbow in the back of his skull to knock him out.

All 3 men were down but my job wasn't done yet, I moved to grab the guns the gunmen had dropped and shouted out "Call the police." To the woman behind the register who was looking at me stunned as I kept the men covered with the gun.

My memories were still swirling through my brain as I was becoming aware of whom I was but thankfully my instincts from this life had kicked in first.

Things seemed to move at normal speed again as I took a deep breath and actually felt the adrenaline leave me. I felt tired. I called for the Limo to pick me up I was done shopping for the day

I was applauded and thanked by everyone not currently unconscious or rolling on the floor in pain. I dumped the guns on the counter. "When the cops come you can inform them they can contact my lawyers for a statement." I told her placing a card with my lawyers name and number on it, writing my own name for them.

"You're not staying?" the girl probably barely out of her late teens asks me wide eyed. I groaned "As much fun as it would be to spend hours with the police answering questions because 3 idiots decided to do something incredibly sloppy and stupid, I would rather not."

"Well umm… thank you… that was awesome, like the greatest thing I have ever seen in my entire life. I was so scared and you just took them out like some movie action hero." I gave her a slight smile.

"Thanks but it wasn't much really." I told her and headed for the door. Likely it would take a few minutes for the Police to made it. Even in this a nicer part of the city, their response time wasn't good. Those actually interested in the job were overworked and honestly I heard a lot of them couldn't be bothered to give a shit any more.

When I got outside I found the limo waiting and got in.

"Wow Miss Raven, it looks like there was quite a lot of excitement in there." said Gary my driver for the day.

He was a stout man of average height. He had dark hair, eyes, and swarthy skin. He wore a mustache. He was an upbeat and talkative fellow.

I just sighed "Yeah a bit more than I would have liked."

"Wow imagines that just a few days back from your sabbatical to the Middle East and Gotham gives you her custom welcome."

I snorted "This city really is starting to decay. Someone needs to do something before this madness gets worse." I found myself saying. I couldn't help but wonder if the League of Shadows did have a point about this city being irredeemable. However I shook it off I could never approve of their methods.

"Yeah this place has really gone downhill, I am really sorry you had to come back to this." He said.

"So am I." I agreed. Inwardly at the moment I swore I would change things.

Who I was now was quite clear in my mind. I had been born to a well off family. My father had opened a robotics company and it took off. It wasn't as sexy as it sound mostly it was making specialized but necessary parts for manufacture. Anyways when I was in my tween years my parents had fallen victim to random violence from some dick head with a gun. I was angry, very angry. I was angry at the dick head, angry at the city, maybe just angry. I wound up falling in with a bad crowd. That's how I was introduced to the league of Shadows. They were overjoyed to take me in, to provide the substitute for the family I had lost, to train me to be a weapon. I was young and maybe a bit gullible I ate it up… until I found out they intended to destroy Gotham. It was something I overheard; I wasn't supposed to find out just yet. Whatever remaining shreds of common sense I had kicked in at that point and I failed out. My instructors were infuriated that I was holding back, that I wasn't eager to kill. Eventually I was handed my stuff and told to leave. To never seek them out again, forget what I had been taught. It was a small mercy they hadn't killed me but I guess even for them there was a lingering sentimentality. They still liked me even though they were sending me off. That was about a few months ago. I came home to find that the city had grown worse. I had already been toying with doing something. This was the last straw. I would fix the city my way. I wasn't going to wait for some guy dressed as a bat to show up and save the day. The Batman could fight from the shadows… I had a different battle plan. One thing was clear though we were both going to war.

It was a quick trip to the Mansion. My family mansion was a large, it always reminded me of a palace. It was actually modeled after the Wayne Manor apparently. It wasn't an exact copy but it was close. We actually were nearly close enough to be neighbors to the Waynes. Apparently my parents knew them before they died. Sadly Ironic they would reach a similar end.

The mansion had been maintained by a small group of faithful servants awaiting my return this near decade. Many of them I had grown up with and had been like family to me. When I had left… I hadn't cared if the place burned down I was angry and never intended to return. Now a bit older and wiser I was glad to have a place to return to.

The Guard at the gate's front was a recent but necessary addition. His name was Philip. He was a lean man of medium height and red hair, he had freckles and green eyes. He was one of a couple guards we had serving here. As we drove up he opened the gate for us and tipped his cap, I nodded to him and we drove on in.

Arriving at the Mansion proper I got out and was greeted at the door by Albert. He was a man of average height and build that was a lot shorter than I remembered, I remembered he used to have brown hair though it had turned grey and was receding now. He wore a suit, always that I could remember. Albert smiled "Ah good to see you home." He said then apparently read the expression on my face "Umm was there a problem with your trip?" concern was creeping in to his voice.

I sighed, "That's an understatement. I actually foiled a robbery. It sort of killed my mood to shop."

"Oh dear that's awful I am glad you weren't hurt, wait you foiled it?"

I sighed "Yeah … it was nothing major." I realized I didn't want to worry the old man.

He sighed and rubbed the bridge of his nose "Well I am glad you are alright, I do wish you wouldn't be so reckless though. Such matters are best left to the police."

I bit my tongue and nodded. "Yeah, your right, Say I will be having a friend over later tonight."

"Oh that's wonderful I shall inform the cook to set an extra place for dinner."

"Thank you." I said and prepared to walk away.

"By the way," he interjected "It's good to have you home." He told me. I felt my cheeks warm

"Thank you. It's good to be home."

I continued inside, I passed a few maids, again they were ruminants from when I was a child here. I greeted them warmly before heading on up to my room.

My room was large and largely filled with things from when I was a little girl. It was large, with a large canopy bed; There were shelves with stuffed animals and pictures of family about. It was… still strange. It felt like a little girls room, not mine. Not the current me. I… I couldn't move in to the master bed room. That was my parents room. It was still like it had been left. It was maintained by the maids as if they would return home any day. It was like a shrine to them. It was something sacred to everyone in the house and I couldn't bring myself to violate it.

One notable feature of my room was that my closet had a lock on it. That meant for me it was like a portal of sorts. I took a small mundane looking silver key out of my hip pocket. It was a little gift from my benefactor as was standard for a jump. I "Unlocked" the door and opened it. It opened in to a huge dark building complex instead of a normal closet that left me fumbling for the light switch near the doorway. With a click and the hum of the halogen lights above coming to life slowly my Warehouse was illuminated.

My warehouse was a large building filled with… stuff with two doors on the far end one at each side. On the left side of the building were 3 futuristic looking pods. Originally there had been 2 but at some point after I created Nekochan I found a 3rd​ one with her name on it. That was where I headed. There was a futuristic looking screen attached to the side of it. It asked me if I wanted to unseal my companions I told it yes and the pod hummed to life as the front began to lift and mist poured out revealing the rather shapely form of Nekochan. She was dressed in her maid uniform. I waited for her to do something, I noticed an eye flicker open for a moment. "Well… aren't you going to wake me with a kiss?" she asked. Despite myself I couldn't help but laugh.

"Awww well if you're not going to do it, I'll help myself then" she said and I suddenly found myself ensnared by Nekochan and my lips pressed against hers in a rather passionate kiss. It went on for a minute which I didn't mind.

When she finally released me she looked at me deeply and frowned. "You're tense, what's wrong?"
"Tense, I'm not tense." I said confused.

She sniffed "You're putting out tons of stress hormones. Even if I couldn't smell them I can read it in your face. What's wrong?" She demanded.

I sighed "This may take a while. Why don't you get some clothes put them in a suitcase, you are going to be a guest here. Also you might want to change your clothes too. It'll be kind of odd if you are dressed as a maid." I told her. She raised an eyebrow and then nodded doing so. Grabbing a suitcase and heading to the clothe section of the mess I had in my warehouse. It was actually much better organized than if I had just been doing it alone, it was in a fashion that looked like it made some sense, thanks to Nekochan's Insistence. Strangely she took her job as a maid seriously for someone so carefree.

I took a deep breath and gave her a short rundown of my life including what happened earlier at the store by the end of it her nose was kind of scrunched in annoyance. She sighed "So in this world you are Batman minus the costume but with all the angst." She more stated than asked.

I felt my cheeks warm in embarrassment. "Ummm I wouldn't put it exactly like that…" I began.

"But I am not wrong." She finished.

"Yeah pretty much" I admitted.

Nekochan looked annoyed with me about all of then then leaned over and whispered in my ear "Tonight I am going to tie you to the bed and screw all of that angst and stress out of you." I wasn't sure if that was a threat of a promise. Knowing Nekochan it may be both, and I was certain either way she was going to carry through with it.

"Well I guess that means my night is planned out for me. Anyways now that you have your suitcase and are dressed, you are going to have to sneak out and go to the front gate, tell them you are here for me."

She just sighed at me "Still trying to meet other people's expectations. I wonder if you will ever break free from that. Very well I shall be back in a few minutes." She said with a sigh as she headed for the window.

Though we were 3 stories up she opened the window and hopped down like it was nothing. Then she was just a white blur. The white blur hopped over the tall stone fence like nothing. I closed the window and headed downstairs to greet my guest.

Sure enough it was under 5 minutes and one of the maids who had gone out to greet the guest was walking in Nekochan trailing behind her.

"Um mistress, a Nekochan here to see you" she announced a bit uncertain. She seemed troubled by the figure behind her.

"Hey Nekochan…" I began.

Then I was tackle glomped by Nekochan. "Oh I missed you so much!" she said before planting a deep kiss on me right in front of the maid.

"My word!" uttered the shocked Maid. She was in her middle years, she had served from when my parents were alive, I know her well.

I broke the kiss and forced a smile wrapping an arm around Nekochan "Uh Nancy." I began addressing the maid by name "This is Kathrine or Kat or as she likes to go by Nekochan. She is my girlfriend." I explained.

"I-I see… I was unaware…" she stammered apparently trying to process all of this.

Nekochan just smirked.

"It's my fault I didn't really want to talk about it but I just found out today that she was moving to Gotham." I explained. "OH… and she will be staying with us for a while so could you prepare one of the guest rooms."

Nekochan actually pouted at that "Is that really necessary?" she asked. "I mean I could just stay in your room with you."

"Absolutely not" Interjected Nancy before blinking and blushing "I mean I will get the guest room ready for you immediately. Though might I have a word with the Mistress first?" she said motioning for me to follow as she walked away from Nekochan. I followed along.

Once she thought we were out of earshot "I know that it's none of my business exactly. You are an adult and may consort with whomever you wish but… Are you certain?"

I sighed and smiled slightly "I know she… seems well, a bit much but she is very nice once you get to know her."

"She is wearing fake cat ears and a tail. She wasn't in a minute before she was all over you like some sort of animal. I shudder to think what your parents would think of all of this." She said and then clasped her hands over her mouth.

I sighed. "You have kept this place immaculate in my absence." I started "You have my gratitude for that. When I left, I was a very angry young girl lashing out at the world and I probably wasn't the most fun person to serve. All that being said as you pointed out I am an adult now. I know Nekochan or Kathrine better than anyone alive. She may be rough around the edges but she is undying loyal and a true friend. I do hope you will get to see the positive side of her. However in the meantime, you will treat her with the same respect you would me. Also you will spread that to the rest of the household. She is a guest here and is to be made to feel welcome."

"Of-of course Mistress as you wish. How long will your girlfriend be staying?"

I thought a moment "She will be here as long as she wishes."

She bowed. "Very well then I shall prepare her room."

"Thank you." I replied with a nod, she quickly left to see to my orders.

"Boy she doesn't care for me does she?" said Nekochan walking up having heard the whole thing.

"She is just being protective." I explained.

She grinned "well you certainly are worth protecting so I can understand that." She said wrapping her arm around me "Soooo… I'm your girlfriend huh?" she said with a grin.

I coughed as my cheeks warmed "Yeah, considering what we do and our relationship I think it's appropriate."

"Ohhh so when are you going to make an honest woman out of me?" she teased.

I blinked and stammered a bit causing her to giggle "Oh don't worry, I am just teasing, though I would like to be married before we start having children."

I could only sigh and chuckle. At this point I was fairly certain Nekochan was only half joking.

Soon another maid came on to tell us that dinner was ready. Even though it was unnecessary she led us to the dining room where at a long table and impressive spread was laid out considering it was just two people.

Thankfully Nekochan was behaving herself. Mostly she asked about me and my past, nothing lewd. I told her about a happy childhood and an adolescence that I was not terribly proud of. Maybe I elaborated too much because at one point Nekochan got up walked around the table to where I was and hugged me. She said "You were young and very angry all people make mistakes, how about forgiving yourself?"
I was a little stunned and looking in to those big red eyes I could see she was serious. All I could do was nod and agree. I realized maybe I needed to rethink things. I hugged her back and told her I would try.

The rest of the night I had to set aside my plans as Nekochan made good her Promise/Threat. I was very sore and tired in the morning. I also got some weird looks in the morning. I had tried to keep it down but I guess it was hard to hide that, still I felt a lot less angry and a lot more relaxed. I still was bitter about my parents death, and about what had happened to Gotham but at least I wasn't alone. Also maybe I shouldn't have been surprised but it wasn't long before I heard whispers about Nekochan. It didn't take long for the help to figure out that those ears and tails were real. Things were a little tense for a while with some of them. Some were wary of her, though a couple seemed more intrigued. I left it alone and hoped it would sort itself out, I was busy.
I decided the next steps were two fold. I started to search for a biochemical company to purchase. I didn't have enough in this world to buy one yet on my own but I had enough squirreled away in my Warehouse that I could cover it easily. I couldn't afford a very big company but I could probably get one big enough that with a bit of expanding I could cover what I needed.

I also sent some blueprints for some fallout style power armor to my father's robotics company. Technically it was mine but I didn't really run it, it was ran for me. It was funny though I sent that over and an hour later I got a call back filled with praise and amazement. They were dumbed down from the ones that I had made in the past world but for this one where revolutionary. They confirmed they could make them and didn't think we would have any trouble selling them. It should represent a huge windfall for the company.

I needed money for my plans so that was good. It wasn't an exaggeration to claim I would be fighting crime with my wallet rather than my fists.

It took a couple weeks to Acquire the Biochamical company. It was moderate size, it didn't have many big accolades to their name. The next day I released the cure for cancer.

In the last world the reaction had been like a hurricane that washed over my life. This time as they were a lot further away it struck like a Nuclear blast. I was honestly shocked.

Forget being a celebrity I was deemed a national treasure. There were other countries trying to woo me in to moving their countries to work with gifts of money and freedom to work on what I wanted. I was a house hold name. I was getting marriage proposals from some people. I was discretely given a 24 hour protection detail which I am sure was not legal but apparently I had acquired quite a few crazy fans as well.

I was not the only one who received scrutiny in the following days. Nekochan became my constant companion and default personal maid and bodyguard. The problem is she didn't actually exist and that made the rumors about her crazy. Some thought she was the one who came up with the cancer cure, some thought she was an alien. Some thought she was nonhuman thing placed with me by the government for nefarious purposes.

Nekochan being Nekochan seemed to actively tease the people who asked her regarding these. Even once straight out admitting she was a bioandriod from another dimension created by another version of me for protection and companionship.

As far as money went I had loads of it coming in. Not only that but the government was almost so eager to help me they probably would have lined up dump trucks full of money in front of my place had I asked.

While this was going on it was revealed to me that some idiot had poisoned the Gotham water supply with a fear inducing toxin. I was asked to help and given a sample, it was actually tricky. Making an antidote was simple enough, making a chemical agent that was safe and if introduced into the water supply would render the fear toxin inert and safe was a bit harder however with Nekochan's help it was something I thought that was possible.

One thing about such delicate work is that it's easy to get caught up in it. One night found Nekochan and I in one of our labs leaning over a glowing monitor watching and desperately hoping that a chemical reaction played out the way that we wanted. If this worked then we would have a compound we could mass produce to counteract the fear toxin in the water supply.

As we watched simulated molecules bound together and shifted. I think we both drew in a breath ready to cheer when we heard someone clear their throat from about a dozen feet behind us. I turned around to find Nekochan already between me and the person who had cleared her throat protectively.

She was slightly on the tall side. Her features marked her as Asian with long flowing dark hair and dark eyes that seemed to watch us or particularly Nekochan with a mix of amusement and curiosity. She had a lean build but I knew just how strong and deadly our new guest was, she was heavier than she looked and had a lot of hidden muscle that I still wasn't quite sure where she hid them. She wore a red shirt under a black trench coat with jeans and black boots. She looked exactly the same as when I had left the league of Shadows.

"Well to what do I owe the honor Sandra?" I asked my old martial arts teacher. I hoped by using her name it would break the tension. I did not want to see Nekochan Tussle with this woman.

That drew a slight grin from her. "Heh, Your friend there is quite fast. It's strange though her movements are so crude. I suspect she hasn't had any formal training." She said crooking her head a bit. She wasn't hiding that she was sizing up Nekochan.

"Ummm so what brings you here?" I asked.

She frowned slightly and gave a soft sigh "Well first since you are no longer my student if you must address me it is Lady Shiva. Second I have been sent here to have a word with you… Though I must admit I didn't expect to find you with such a curious companion. The way she moves, those ears and tail are natural aren't they?" that was more of a statement than a question.

"Ah… well that is hardly relevant to this situation. What does the league of shadows want with me? Last I was informed I was persona non grata there."

Lady Shiva smirked and nodded "Yes, normally the stunt you pulled with purposefully failing out would have cost you your life. Had Ra's Al Ghoul himself ordered me not to I would have killed you myself for such a ploy. However he believed you had greater things ahead of you. I admit, it seems he was correct." She said her eyes not moving from Nekochan and Nekochan in front of me tensed up at the comment that she would have killed me if not ordered explicitly not to.

"Well it seems you have stumbled in to the league's business. I have been sent to stop you one way or the other."

"Alright, I have been quiet and listened to you talk politely but if you try and lay one finger on my master I will take your head, I don't care what relationship you had to her." Threatened Nekochan.

That drew a full smile from Lady Shiva as she just took a defensive stance herself and motioned with her hand to come.

"Nekochan Stop!" I ordered her "Lady Shiva, what business have I stumbled upon?" I demanded.

"It has reached our attention that you are trying to get rid of the toxin in the water supply. That is against the League of Shadow's wishes. We are willing to look the other way should you stop now and leave this city but otherwise I am afraid I will have to stop you here. Well after I finish with your friend of course."

"I see… well it seems like it would be a great problem if I should happen to disappear or turn up dead even for the league. After all it's in the name League of Shadows, It seems like it would draw too much light."

Her eyes narrowed "Do you dare to think yourself beyond the reach of the League of Shadows?"

I smiled "I do. You see presidents, world leaders all of them there are lots of them, however there is only one of me. If you killed me you would not only be robbing the world of the person who cured cancer but also whatever else I could do. As much as you hate Gotham even the league of shadows wouldn't want that. In fact I'll bet that you were sent here not kill me but to scare me. I'll bet the order to not harm me is still in effect. So instead of threatening me why don't you take a message back to Ra's Al Ghoul. Tell him Gotham now belongs to me. You may have seen it as Sodom and Gomorrah but I still see hope and I have already proven I can do what others can't. I am going to raise this city from the dead and clean it of its ills. Now I can't do this by simply snapping my fingers. However give me a decade; I'll make this city in to something great."

Lady Shiva's eye twitched and then she chuckled "I do not remember you being this arrogant and presumptuous. I should kill you just for that. Still you have become more intriguing. Very well, I'll take your message back to our leader. If he agrees to your terms then that is fine. Should he decide however that your time of usefulness has ended I shall return." She said and simply left. Just like that.

After she left turned to me annoyance visible on her face "What was that about? I am supposed to protect you. Why would you not let me stomp that bitch in to the ground?" she asked her voice flashing with real anger.

"First it was unnecessary I handled the situation myself, Second, I know her and how she fight, I am not so sure you could have won." I told her honestly.

Her eyes widened "What, she is only a normal human I could have torn her apart." She said in disbelief.

"I am going to give you a bit of advice because I have noticed an unfortunate tendency to look down and underestimate others. DO NOT UNDERESTIMATE YOUR OPPONENT! I have seen her kill with a single strike, you may be faster and stronger and tougher than any human could be but you haven't been in many real fight. What's worse is you haven't been in any real fights where your very life was at stake. For her that's a daily thing, I have seen her do bullshit things that were like they were out of a comic book. I am not taking chances." I explained.

She crossed her arms and humphed. She was about to walk off when I took a peak over at the monitor and say the chemical compound we were testing had been successful in the virtual test.

"Hey it worked." I said motioning over to the screen. That caught Nekochan's interest as she looked over "Well damn, It did, that's awesome." She said relaxing.

"Are you really that upset about me not letting you fight Shiva?" I asked.

She sighed "I am just sick of you trying to protect me when I am the one supposed to protect you."

"We protect each other, that's how it works. We are partners in this jumpchain business." I answered.



She relaxed and turned hugging me tightly. "Partners eh? That does sound rather nice. I watch your back you watch mine. I must say you have a very nice backside to watch." she added with a giggle.



I couldn't help but smile. "Alright lets get back to saving Gotham." I told her though I will admit I was somewhat sad to leave her embrace, she was very soft and warm and her hugs felt ve

"Mmm alright, though I still say I could whooped that bitches ass." she said playfully.



"Maybe but that would have been declaring war on the League of Shadows and I would rather not. They fight like bastards. I would rather not have to worry about them slipping something in to my food or some other dirty trick."



Nekochan merely nodded in agreement.



That reminded me I had to go and fix what those bastards had done so I called in the fact that I had found a compound to negate the fear toxin in the water and e mailed it to the proper people so they could immediately start producing it. My own biochemical company would be one of the companies making the compound. Because this was an emergency the government had stepped in and requisitioned all the help they could get to do so.



Maybe due in part to the movie nature of this universe the government actually worked fairly quickly as within hours the compound was being produced and it would only be a couple days before the water supply would be safe to drink again. Something told me it would have taken my original universe weeks if not longer to do the same.



I won't lie… being a hero is a pain in the ass. The news broke that I had found the cure for the poison in the water almost immediately as the government was trying to calm the citizens of Gothan and really the rest of the country. My name was used to help calm people, I was a hero again and my phone nearly blew up. I would not stop ringing. It was late already and I had wanted to just crawl in bed. I lost track of how many times I said "I will release a statement in the morning." before I just handed the phone to Nekochan and asked her with her super human endurance to handle things for a while so I could sneak off to get a nap (or what actually happened I near passed out for the night).



I woke up the next morning to a rather colorful statement she had made on my behalf. Apparently the two of us had saved the city on our own and we were awesome. That's what she had said in several different ways.



I immediately when I got up and saw that ran to make a statement that, This had been accomplished with the help of many and that we were grateful to everyone in the scientific community who had pulled together to collaborate to make this possible. While Nekochan's statement had been kind of true, snubbing everyone else probably wasn't going to win me any friends in that community and I didn't know when I would need help on something. The scientific community it turns out could be petty (after all many of them were future super villains). Fun fact: Lex Luthor did exist in this universe and was an even bigger asshole than in the comic somehow. I am guessing that was due to the lack of a Superman to focus his anger and frustration on. Though he kind of already hated me because he had been the smartest man on the planet before I cured Cancer. Something he claims he could have done but just didn't get around to.



It turned out to be an interesting and busy day. By the end of it I just wanted to crawl in bed unfortunately it was then that Nekochan found a note on my pillow. The league had accepted my terms… sort of. I had exactly one year to clean up the city and if I didn't I would be held responsible for it. Fuck. Nekochan of course was enraged and interrogated all the maids and the security service, no one knew anything. She even interrogated the people the government was having watch me 24 hours a day. Of course as they hadn't known about Shiva's visit I didn't have high hopes they would have seen anything. She wanted to let them all go and replace them entirely with robots but I managed to calm her down. I would just have to preform another minor miracle.



It turns out miracles take a lot of work and money. I started a new business a security business hiring men who I had thoroughly background checked and equipping them with Power armor from my father's company. I also employed Drones that were controlled and monitored by an Ai that I created. I even donned my own power armor and led them personally a few times as a publicity stunt.



The city was still reeling from almost being destroyed by some nut poisoning the water supply so I was allowed to do this and my biggest problem was that I needed more men, more power armor and more drones because any business or rich private person wanted my services. This I had actually predicted and through it I was able to blanket the majority of the city with my forces. My Drones in particular monitored the entire city. Secretly they had facial recognition software and were connected to a database of wanted criminals.



A lot of criminals wound up being picked up by police due to mysterious tip

I also used my money to background check and then support political candidates who were both sympathetic to my efforts to clean the city and not in bed with the organized crime.



I also started after school programs and lobbied for tougher sentences for career criminals. I used hacking programs to locate dirt on dirty judges, politicians and cops and released that information forcing them from office. I also used the hacking program to steal the money of organized crime. In short I turned Gotham in to an Orwellian police state and the people loved me for it. There were a few people who bitched at me about civil liberties but as I did this at a time after we had just had a localized terrorist attack that could have been greater than 911 had I not stopped it, I got a pass. I was confronted at one point by a pushy reporter when I was rather tired and responded "If you don't like it, then leave." that became a motto for the city. I made maybe not the most friendly city but very safe one.



The Joker did show up in the city… and got shot in the face by one of my Security Forces. I had warned them ahead of time of a crazy man wearing clown make up, that he was insanely dangerous and needed to be handled with extreme caution. Nekochan had gone behind my back and privately put a shoot to kill order on anyone matching the Joker's description. It wound up one of very few black marks against my services. However in retrospect I couldn't say that Nekochan was wrong. While the guy who shot the Joker was publicly reprimanded. Privately he got a big bonus and was let off with a slap on the wrist and promotion once the noise died down about his actions.



At the end of the year I found a letter on my pillow one night. It was from Ra's Al Ghoul himself. He congratulated me on a job well done with Gotham. He told me I had turned one of most corrupt cities in the world in to a shinning example of what humanity could be and should be. I felt a little sick at his praise and it made me wonder if I had done the right thing. Then finally it dawned on me something that should have been obvious and Nekochan had been trying to tell me the whole time. I did the best I could, who cares if people thought. I had made the city a safer place and improved the world.



After that I took a nice long vacation in Hawaii. I bought a house there that I would retreat to when I needed to relax. Nekochan loved the night life there but I preferred the more quiet moments just relaxing with her on the beach. All in all I think Gotham wound up better off from my being there. For the rest of my time there I continued to keep an eye on Gotham to make sure it didn't become the corrupted cesspool it had once been. I also released several more cures and life improvements like cybernetics and robots to take care of menial labor. I introduced anti aging drugs and other things to improve the quality of life. By the end of my time there Nekochan joked I could have conquered the world and the people would have cheered me on. It might have been the case but honestly by the end I was tired and ready to go somewhere else.

 

[Neko Arc]

Spoiler: PIcture

Chapter 3 Jumper the Conquer
Jump # 3 Sword & Sorcery
Age: 18
Gender: Female
Origin: Thief
Location: The kingdom in the crescent
Perks:
*Grand Orchestra (0)
*Grandeur and allure (400)
*Will to live (100)
*The trade of thieves (0)
*The charm of rogues (0)
*Quick and clever (100, Discount)
*Whims of fortune (200, Discount)
*Feet like wings (300, Discount)
Equipment
*A small Purse (0)
*A valued Steed (0)
*A series of stories (0)
*A thief's satchel (0)
*Thief's Tools (0)
Companions
*A host of legends (200)
Drawbacks
*Tattered veil (+300)



Companions:

Nekochan

Origin: Warrior

Perks:

*Grandeur and allure (400)
*Grand Orchestra (0)
*Born to be mighty (0)
*The Will to Live (0)
*Strength of Steel (100, Discount)
*Reign of Steel (200, Discount)
*To truly live (100)

Equipment:

*A Small Purse (0)

*A Valued Steed (0)

*A Series of Stories (0)

*A mighty blade (0)

*Salves and Tinctures (0)

The first thing I became aware of was the rain falling on me. It was a cold heavy rain that stung when it hit. I drew the ragged cloak around me as I forced my body to move against it's displeasure at the biting cold. Memories swirled through my head as I crept. After weeks of planning we had just scaled a wall. The guards wouldn't be back for a few minutes, the fact it was raining helped in that respect as they seemed to be slacking in their patrols of the mansion on this cold and wet night.

Beside me was Nekochan, We were both dressed in ragged cloaks with clothes over our faces, our clothes were dark and worn so if need be we could blend in with the poor people of the city. We crept silently through a garden, passing shrubs and bushes along the way. Ahead of us was the house of a very powerful Merchant. He was noted both for his wealth and his cruelty. Many rumors passed about mutilated corpses of his former slaves turning up in the gutters of the poorest parts of the city.

It was a bit of justice that we sought to bring as to relieve him of some of that wealth. Ideally we would be there and gone before anyone knew we had come with sacks full of gold and jewels. I had bribed a servant with a fair amount of gold to make sure that the window on the second floor of the back of the mansion was unlocked. The servant had said it was likely the easiest point of entry. We crept to the house and I removed a grappling hook with knotted rope from a satchel at my side. For most climbing in the rain would be almost impossible however in this life I had the agility of a cat and enough practice at climbing I felt comfortable making it. Nekochan with her super human abilities likely didn't even need the rope.

With a flick of the writs the rope flew up and hooked on the roof of the Mansion. A strong tug showed that it was secure, I was grateful in this wet weather. Honestly I was grateful that soon we would be out of the wet weather.

"I'll go first." I whispered to Nekochan. Thankfully her ears were better than any humans so she picked it up despite the rain. "oooh of course I do like looking at your rear as you are climbing." She said which made me snort in amusement. Even at times like this Nekochan was still Nekochan.

The rope was wet and I was grateful the climb was a short one. Still I managed to climb it with the grace of a spider climbing it's thread. I made it up to the window and checked sure enough it was unlocked. As I recalled this servant despised her master and thought him a monster. She was eager to see him knocked down a few pegs.

We entered in to a study There was a fine oak desk with a cushy chair behind it. On the desk was an open book next to a quill and bottle of ink. It was a ledger denoting his business or at least his publicly acceptable business. One bit of information that the servant had been glad to offer up was that in one of the drawers there was a false bottom, in there were his private notes. The merchant was a collector of information of the darkest sort. Never one to miss a chance to make more coin he was quite a prolific blackmailer. No one knew just how far his reach went. From what the servant had said what awaited in the hidden bottom of the drawer was just one copy he kept of many such books. She did not know the location of the rest.

The drawer was as the servant had said, to my suspicions there was also a trap. A clever mechanism, a hidden needle would prick the fingers of anyone trying to open it. Undoubtedly leading to a quick and likely painful death. Since I was looking for a trap I easily found it and avoided triggering it.

In the false bottom there was a book that a quick thumbing through confirmed contained a detailing of many misdeeds. That would be handy for later so I slipped it in to my bag. Thankfully they were pretty well water proofed.

That bit of business out of the way we headed for the room next to this one. It was the Merchant's private bedroom. The room was large with an Ornate canopy bed suitable for a few people. As I heard her frequently took pleasure slaves to bed with him two or three at a time. The walls were decorated with Sculptures and paintings. The statues and paintings were likely worth a good amount but would be too hard to take. So they were of little interest.

Our target lay under the high canopy bed. In younger days the Merchant had some muscle and was able to manage moving the bed alone but now he required the help of servants much to his chagrin. The servant I had bribed was happy to volunteer this to me. This what where the Merchant hoarded the majority of his wealth.

Quickly we moved aside the bed, I was grateful for Nekochan's Inhuman strength as she could have likely done it herself. The feet of the bed were made to be moved aside so the sound was terrible.

That out of the way we were able to find the trap door. Finding the key hole was a bit harder It was well concealed. We did not have the key but thankfully I was skilled enough with locks not the need them. So A little work and there was a satisfying click and the trap door was able to be slid aside. It revealed a large recess mostly filled by a huge heavy Iron chest large enough to fit a man. Again I expected a trap the room and especially the recess bore a strange sent, sort of sweet. The rest of the room had a faint strange scent that before I figured had been incense of some sort but here I realized it was more. I put things together and realized that if one tried to open the chest without a key it would release a cloud of some exotic poison that spelled death for the opener and those around them. I crouched down in the recess face to face with the lock and carefully applied my tools. I held my breath for a long moment before there was a click. My heart almost stopped as I didn't know if that was the trap mechanism triggering or the lock releasing, It felt like the lock releasing but I wouldn't know until the lid opened. With held breath which I doubt would help I lifted the heavy lid. Thankfully no cloud of death issued forth. Instead I gasped as I saw the chest was filled to the brim with giold and jewels, a kings ransom.

Immediately Nekochan and I began to fill our bags. There were gems larger than a man's thumb there were diamonds, rubies, emeralds, as well as an absurd amount of coins. The gems of course were quickly claimed but gold was taken too. The gems would take time to fence where as the gold could be spent without worry of looking for a buyer or waiting until the heat cooled off them.

Soon our bags were as full and heavy as they would bare. It was a little annoying that despite filling such large bags it had hardly made a dent in the Mechant's wealth. The time was coming to close things up and move the bed back to cover our tracks and make our escape.

Then Nekochan silenced me as her ears perked up through the cloth of her drawn hood. "Shh."

I waited in silence and I heard a very faint cry.

Nekochan's face was covered by a cloth but I could see from her big red eyes and her posture she was not happy. Put her finger to her lips and motioned to follow. I nodded and my hand slipping to my knife. I had chosen to travel light tonight and that remained my main form of defense.

Like shadows we stalked along the halls of the mansion, we saw servants and quickly ducked and hid as they passed.

Nekochan's senses led her to the first floor to a blank wall with an ornate candle holder attached the wall. From the scratches at the bottom of the floor it was clear that this was door here.

My first instincts were to search for the opening and carefully locate the mechanism to open it… but that Candle Holder was just so glaring. I thought "It couldn't be that obvious could it?" with a small test it turned easy and a doorway opened up leading to stone stairs leading down in to a hidden cellar.

As silent as ghosts we crept down to the cellar. The long stone staircase led to a large open room. It took only a moment to servery the contents and what I saw made my stomach churn.

The Merchant had his own private torture chamber, there were a half dozen prisoners some chained to walls or locked in cages. There were a couple of guards here lazing about it didn't seem they had noticed anything yet.

At the front of the room as we were coming out we saw the merchant bent over a low table. On the table was a cute little blond haired girl in rags. She was crying, begging for him not to hurt her, begging for help. The merchant only laughed as he fingered a large knife. His eyes held an evil gleam as her gave a monstrous grin. Slowly he was lowering towards the girl's face.

The knife was up in my hand before I realized it. It flew like a dart and landed squarely in the fat merchant's throat. The Merchant's eyes widened in surprise and horror as his hands went to his throat feeling the strange object there. He gurgled and then collapsed dying on the floor.

This roused the guards who came running over but unfortunately for them they only met Nekochan who became a blur of violence. The guards met both claw and swords and died a quick gory death.

Then for a moment there was silence. All that remained in the room were the prisoners who had likely been slaves and us. Then came the please for freedom.

I flew down the stairs and made it to the table and finding a ring of keys at the belt of the now dead merchant I undid the bonds on the little girl. She cried and clung to me as soon as her limbs were free.

Nekochan didn't bother with keys she used her claws to slash through the bindings and lock. Soon the slaves were free.

Her hands and sword still red with the blood of the fallen guards she asked "What do we do with these people?"

I grimaced, this was going to be a lot more complicated than I had planned for.

I turned to the gathered freed prisoners. "Alright we are going to grab some bags for you let you fill up with loot. I know a quick way our of the city. Are any of you by chance this girl's parents?" I asked. My heart dropped when there was a collective shaking of heads. Then one of the women there stepped up. "She is not mine by blood but I will take her and raise her. Thank you for freeing us from that… monster." she said spitting the last part out.

I managed a smile "Your welcome."

The smile slipped from my lips though soon enough none of the gathered people were in shape to fight if need be and getting them out would be… hard.

"Alright Nekochan wait down here I have a bit of work to do."

I saw the frown from Nekochan who didn't like to let me out of her sight but I wanted them protected.

Reluctantly she agreed.

I headed back first to the bedroom, I managed to grab a stack of clothing to help them survive the cold wet night as most of them were wearing rags if that, I also managed to find a thick sturdy satchel that would hold a good deal of coin. I managed to move the bed again and with the keys now it was easy to get back in to the treasure. I stuffed the satchel full tossed it over my shoulder and then headed for the study.

I had seen some oil lamps and a book shelf filled with old books and parchment. It was fairly simple to use the oil from the lamps on the papers and a bit more on the bed and soon there was a good fire going.

With that done I heard people shouting and heading for the front door as fast as they could.

I slipped down back to the Cellar handed out the clothes, they were to big and ill fitting for everyone there but should serve to keep them warm, I tossed one of the men the satchel and we lead them out.

Even in the pouring rain there gathered a crowd of those that had been inside a half dozen servants and about an equal number of guards. They were all transfixed as they watched the house start to burn, the second story was already engulfed.

As we exited there were a few cries of alarm, Nekochan and I stayed between the servants and waited to give them a chance to run.

A few guards actually came at us. One tried to fire a crossbow but in the terrible weather aiming was impossible.

The few that ran up for their trouble were easily knocked out. We had no desire to kill those we didn't have to. After we felt it had been long enough we took off running in to the night, We knew the city well enough to disappear. It looked like we would be going to ground for a bit

However out night was not quite over yet. We traveled from the finery of the rich merchant and Noble district marked with it's abundance of mansions, now one less, to the section commonly referred to as the bowels of the city. This was the area the poor and criminal class dwell-ed in. The houses if they could be called that were small most of them single room shacks.

This area was actually not ruled by the king really but by whichever criminal has amassed the most power in the form of money and men to keep it.

It was here that there was a secret way out of the city and here that we had told the slaves to head. The pouring rain actually served as protection for those slaves for likely had they come this way on another day they would have been picked clean of their valuables. However even the thugs that prowled the bowels had to yield to the weather.

We found them waiting in the house of Amir. Amir lived in one of the nicer houses in the bowels it even had multiple rooms and looked half way decent. Amir was a heavy set man of swarthy skin and medium height he wore finer clothing than most in the bowels and while usually this would have made him a target he survived by being too valuable to the people here to rob. He was intimately connected to the caravans that traveled between kingdoms. He arranged for people to travel with the caravans. He also arranged for hard to get items from foreign lands since he was so connected with the Caravans. He was a man from the middle east, it was said he had gotten in trouble in his homeland and was forced to flee all the way to this land.

Seeing me and Nekochan Amir brightened up with a smile. It might have had something to do with us being the two most beautiful women in the city and likely the world. Beauty perks are their own sort of magic.

"Hello Amir, wonderful weather we are having lately." I said with a smirk.

"Greetings, while I am always pleased to see you. I am surprised to see you out on such a night. It seems though you have been busy I was just been helping those friends of yours you recommended to me. While I am always grateful for the business, I would ask for more discretion than sending a group of escaped slaves to my home."

"As you said it's not the kind of weather people are to be out in and I was short on time. Anyways I came to see that they got a good deal on their trip."

Amir snorted. "You know I have a feel for when things are about to get difficult for me and your little visit here seems to indicate I will soon be having the difficulties doing my business. I don't know that I can afford to offer such a good deal."

Inwardly I cursed Amir's was sharp. The death of the bastard of a merchant would cause all sorts of chaos. I knew sending some escaped slaves to him in the middle of such a dreadful night would make him question the circumstances.

"That may be true. You could see it a favor to me to see them to a nearby city safely for a fair price."

Amir sighed "Very well for you I shall not charge them much but I will expect a favor later from this."

"Actually I may have come across some interesting information. I still have to verify it but if it pans out I may be able to give you some dirt on a few people who are supposed to overlook your caravans."

That caused Amir to raise an eyebrow "Well if you can do that, I would be greatly in your debt."

A few coins changed hands between the former slaves and Amir. They would be leaving soon on the next Carivan out of here. They still had plenty of coin to live off of for a good while. They all thanked Nekochan and I heartily and we made finally headed for Home.

Home it turns out was a rather large mansion, it was very familiar as it was the family home I had in the previous world with a few modifications. It was large and lavish, the style didn't really fit the age but memory told me it had been constructed long ago by a supposed visionary. It didn't have things like electricity or running water of course but it was large and almost a palace to itself. Over the years it had passed through many hands until I had managed to acquire it through mostly legal means.

People assumed because of my appearance and the house I was of some noble blood possibly a bastard child of the king. I had carefully laid a few words to help reinforce that impression. The truth though was I had been yet another child from the bowels that turned out luckier and more talented than most.

Nekochan and I returned home, we had already changed our clothes once so no one would identify we were the ones behinds the nights robbery turned murder. Once we got home we dried up and got in to some dry clothes. My poor body was shivering. The front room of the mansion boasted a rather large fire place. Nekochan immediately set about getting a fire started and soon it roared to life crackling. That drew my weary body to it as a planted myself on a spot in front of it on the thick cushy rug before it. My tired achy limbs were grateful for the warmth.

"You know we really need some servants to take care of this place and us." Noted Nekochan as she plopped down beside me, her arm wrapping around me and her soft body pressing against mine.

I sighed. "Servants cost money and we don't have a regular source of income. If I had servants I would have to steal more and we both know how faithful servants can be. It wouldn't take long before one of them turned us in for some extra coin."

"Well just had a bunch of slaves that would have likely been very loyal to us considering we saved them from a horrible fate."

I sighed "After the fiasco that happened there I wanted anything that could identify a connection between us and that place as far away as possible."

She ran her fingers through my hair and held me tightly. I was grateful Nekochan didn't bring up the idea of slaves. Even in this life that rubbed me the wrong way. I grew up poor and the possibility of winding up in debt and becoming a slave loomed large. It was a little too personal, especially given my looks, knowing exactly what my duties would entail.

"Say how are you doing?" she asked softly easing in to the subject. You killed the Merchant there, I know you usually don't kill are you alright?" she asked sympathetically.

I shuddered a bit. "You know the thing that bothers me most about it is that it doesn't bother me more. In this life I have had to take a life a couple times, it never sat well with me but… seeing that man and what he was about to do. I just couldn't allow that. I just am worried about it becoming easy, it's something that should never be easy."

I felt Nekochan's arms tighten around me a bit as she leaned in "Nah it's not that it was easier, it's that he wasn't human. You couldn't think of that as something human, it was just an abomination to be killed. I was about to do it if you hadn't. Some, well I hesitate to call them people; have given all rights to be called human." she replied. Honestly it didn't sit well with me.

"Yeah but who gets to determine that, what right do I have to determine what is human and what isn't?"

I could feel Nekochan's eyes roll. "You know somethings are tough to define with words but you know them when you see it. Well evil is ambiguous when you try and define it, it's a matter of opinion. That is until it is staring you in the face, then there is no doubt in it."

All I could do was nod in agreement. That man had been evil and deserved to die, I knew it from the core of my being. It didn't feel great but I knew it had to be done.

Maybe sensing the heavy mood in the room Nekochan cleared her throat and asked. "You know ever since I became conscious of who I truly was, I have had a question. Why here, you could have chosen anywhere in the universe, to be anything and you choose to be a thief in some knockoff Conan world."

"Ughhh I needed a break from trying to save the world. I needed to get out and have adventures and not worry about stuff. To just seek to fill my purse with gold and gems and my belly with decent food. I wanted a simpler world."

"Yeah but why a thief? Magic is real here, it exists and I know you want to be a mage yet you chose to be a thief when you hate thieves."

I shrugged. "Wizards in these stories are almost always bad guys and the magic here often requires sacrifice or servitude to some dark force. I'll get magic elsewhere. Someplace where it's cheaper and more reliable. As for why I chose thief, it had the luck perk. Always go for the luck perk. While I can't always control what's going on knowing there is the thumb on the scales of fate tipping it to my side is comforting."

She snorted at that.

Now it was my turn to ask something. "Say… how are you doing with this… you know having a new life in this world?" I asked. Nekochan had been born with cat ears and a tail in a world where nonhumans were treated as alien and scorned. Her childhood had been rough and to the best of my knowledge when I came upon her in the bowels as child of nearly the same age, I was the first one to treat her like a human being. We became fast friends and later more. Still it hadn't been the easiest of lives and likely she had only survived due to her super human body.

Nekochan actually sighed "Why dwell on stupid things that are in the past. Lets just live and have fun. As soon as this storm is over I intend to drag you out for a night of good dinning, drinking and debauchery as fitting such a haul." she said with a grin and I chuckled. "Sounds like fun."

Her grin broadened. "You know for the debauchery part we can begin right now. I am a bit more… pure flesh and blood here, I have been aching to see the difference in the feel of your body with this new body." she practically purred as her hands went… places. Nekochan knew what buttons to press and so we spent the rest of the night in each other's arms enjoying the fire and each other. Note: Nekochan really enjoyed the fleshy new body.

Nekochan and I spent about the next week living it up in the finest inns we could find spending a bit of our ill gotten coin. It turns out the head of investigations was one of the people being blackmailed by the Merchant so there wasn't much of a search for the real killer. There was a sweep of the Bowels and a few criminals were picked up but that was a token gesture.

After a week solid of celebration Nekochan seemed to be getting bored again. So I decided to both upgrade our equipment and plan for our next adventure. The new equipment put a bit of a dent in our remaining funds. Honestly I had enough saved in my warehouse for us to live quite well for 10 years in this world but we both agreed I would not touch it unless needed.

One night Nekochan and I were sitting enjoying an evening meal in a semi-reputable establishment. It was a tavern where there were common folk who were doing well that would some times mix with rogues who had made a successful score and decided to celebrate.

I was busy trying to think up what to do next. Nekochan had been trying to sell me on a boat trip with pirates or maybe a jungle adventure. At this point I was considering it.

It was then we were approached by a stranger in a cloak. The stranger seemed to be a nervous sort by his body movements. Normally you could tell something about a man by their clothing, the cloak and the clothes under in marked him of the poorer middle class. However the clothing was all very new and bore no tears or holes, the man was clean shaven and I could smell the faint scent of perfumed soap on his hair. It was very apparent he was of a higher social status trying to disguise himself.

"Excuse me ladies do you mind if I sit here?" he asked courteously.

"Well that depends, what business do you have with us?" Asked Nekochan eyeing the man cautiously.

"Well I see you are the type that likes to cut to the chase." he said leaning in so only we could hear.

"I hear you two are couple that can get things done. I was hoping that maybe you could do a job for me."

That caused both of our eyebrows to raise. It's not a good thing if people seek you out as a thief

"OH and just why would you think that a couple of lovely young ladies like ourselves would be able to accomplish such a job."

The man looked nervous and leaned in whispering "Amir owed me a favor and when I asked for someone to help me he sent me to you. He also told me to tell you that you were even, whatever that means." he added.

I sighed as I rubbed the bridge of my nose for a moment. I would have words with Amir later however I understood what he was saying by this.

"Alright lets for argument sake say that we could help you with something. What is it that we are supposed to help you with?" I asked quietly.

The man looked around and leaned in "Well it's a bit public here, would you mind if we met out back."

I nodded and Nekochan agreed as well.

So we both finished our drinks and headed our to the back of the building. A quick look around assured us no one was watching. The man cleared his throat now feeling freer to speak.

"I have heard you two… can procure hard to get items… Items that may be in other's possession." he began.

I sighed at that "I see… please continue."

"There is a small idol, it is made of jade and it is in the form of a hooded serpent. It has rubies for eyes."

He began and I nodded.

"It was an item procured by my family many generations ago. However during my father's time he fell in to a financial rough spot and offered the statue to another Noble family as collateral for a very large lone. Working hard my father was able to get our of financial difficulty and raise the money he owed this Noble. However when my father brought the money to them, the noble claimed to know nothing of the transaction despite contracts to contrary. They took the matter before the court but he had already payed the judge off."

I rubbed the bridge of my nose again as I observed the cloaked fellow, something struck me that he was young. Very young and very naive. Perhaps a trait that ran in his family.

I let out a soft sight "Well before we discuss matters any further I would like to suggest that you never accompany a couple of people of questionable reputation out behind a building in the middle of the night with no one present. That is a very sure way to disappear and have your robbed body turn up in a ditch in the Bowels."

The man's eyes grew wide as he looked around for a moment then back at us nervously.

"Take it easy. I will not stab you in the back. How much are you offering for this job?" I asked. The man who was a lean man of average height reached in to his cloak and pulled out a couple rather large bags of coins. "I will offer you this upfront each and a matching one upon your return."

I nodded "I trust we will be meeting with someone else in a secured location to turn over the goods so you have plausible deniability."

His eyes grew wider and his face what I saw of it paler. "I-I can arrange that. Yes."

Nekochan and I took the Bags of gold "Alright. We will get you this statue. You just give us the rest of the details about it and everything you know about the target. It may take a week or two as I like to research a job a bit."

The man nodded and seemed to relax "The man's name is Atreyu Arthus. His home is a large mansion in the gold district. The third one from the left of that gaudy castle looking mansion." he noted.

I inwardly winced, not only were we going to rob a neighbor.

"Very well It will be done." I assured him again. He nodded and took his leave.

"Huh, I don't think our house is gaudy." I began.

"That's what you are concerned about?" asked Nekochan.

"Well that and I have a bad feeling about this job. Like it's going to turn out to be a real pain."

Two weeks later and a bit of preparation saw us climbing to the roof of the building. Atreyu Arthus was a very rich and shrewd noble, known for cut throat tactics and playing dirty. He was also a collector of oddities. He boasted a private museum in his house of ancient trinkets of different civilizations. Most of which were long gone. I could appreciate the mans love of history. I admired such passion.

We found ourselves on the roof of the call mansion, It boasted quite a view of the surroundings and the stars above. There was a trap door down in to the mansion proper but it wasn't locked very well except for a latch. I pulled a small blowtorch from the pouches on my belt. Silently it did it's job cutting the bolt.

Nekochan grumbled slightly she could have done it quicker but I didn't want to risk the noise.

Soon we climbed down a latter in to the mansion proper. Silently we made our way down.

I paused and listened, my hearing was sharp. The only things I heard around me was our breathing and soft foot steps. I looked to see Nekochan frowning. "It's too quiet." she mouthed.

We found ourselves in a rather strange attic. It had furniture set out in a rather cozy display almost like a sitting room, there was not a speck of dust, with paintings on the wall and small statures and flowered vases around.

We found another trap door down in to the house proper. We found ourselves at the top of an ornate spiral staircase. Everything we saw said this guy was loaded.

As we reached the floor I noticed Nekochan looking around or more accurately she was listening. With a soft whisper she said "It's quiet. It's too quiet."

I stopped and waited listening myself. The Mansion was utterly silent, it was silent as a tomb except for the sound of our breathing. I had a slight feeling things were off. However it was the middle of the night almost everyone would be asleep.

Nekochan waited anxiously for a sign from my and I gave her the sign of lets go. She took the lead drawing her large sword which glimmered in the moonlight. Normally I might have questioned the pulling the sword in such a situation but there was that unshakable feeling of unease in the back of my mind.

We crept down the Staircase to the next floor. Unfortunately I did not know the set up of this mansion except for the little museum. Which was still a few floors down.

Maybe it was a bit of our pride as thieves but if we were going to the trouble of breaking in somewhere. We were exiting the place with a few bags full of goodies.

We had decided that we were going to find some stuff to help to sweeten the deal we had made. So we stepped off the spiral staircase I was surprised to find Nekochan pausing obviously tense.

"What's Wrong?" I whispered.

"Blood. I smell blood and lots of it." she whispered back "Further down." she answered.

I felt the hairs on the back of my neck stand on end. That wrongness that I had felt seemed to increase tenfold and a part of me wanted to turn right around and leave. I sighed "If something is wrong here, really wrong lets check it out. People may need help. You think this could be like the last job?" I asked.

She kind of smirked "You really are too kind for your own good. I doubt this is a torture chamber in the basement. I can smell blood and death." she replied quietly clutching her sword a bit harder.

I nodded. "So you think you can find the source?" I asked.

"With what I am smelling it would be harder to miss than to find in a floor or two."

I grimaced and nodded somberly I motioned to start down the staircase again. I was not a fan of gore and had a feeling I would be seeing a lot of it. I was grateful that on the night of a heist I tended to eat light meals because odds were I wouldn't be keeping it down if things were as expected.

So we continued down lower and lower only able to hear our footsteps and the sound of our breath. Floors passed and I began to smell the blood. It went from faint to quite pungent. Nekochan took a piece of cloth and tied it around her face to block the horrible scent. I could only imagine how bad it was for her.

We passed the floor I was told housed the museum. It looked like the entire floor was dedicated to that purpose.

Eventually we hit the ground floor. Everything was immaculate, the ornate furniture, the paintings on the wall, the marble statues of gods and important figures that surrounded us. However the horrible silence hung in the air. By this point we should have encountered a stray servant or slave. Something but no this place seemed devoid of life.

Nekochan looked a little sick. The smell was overpowering for me I could only imagine it was through great force of will she was continuing.

"Where to now?" she managed with great difficulty. I had a suspicion that the stairway continued down lower but was cleverly covered up. This was quickly confirmed when I looked down and say at a few feet from where we were there seemed to be some very slight scratch marks. I bent down and checked the finely polished hardwood floor and noticed two trails of scratches. They were faint as it would be hard to scratch such a floor but they disappeared suddenly.

"Well I think I found the entrance."I pointed down to the scratches Nekochan who at this point was not doing well at all looked down. I felt bad for her.

"Alright so how do we get in I don't see any way to open it manually." she noted.

"Well I am guessing there is likely a switch on this side somewhere, It will be hidden so lets get looking."

So we started checking the immediate area. That creepy ominous feeling was starting to get to me when I came across a small idol. It wound up to be attached to the shelf it was sitting on but it was able to be turned so I did so. There was a loud click that seemed to echo through the house. It was followed by a loud creak as the previously hidden trap door opened slightly.

Something bothered me about this. A lot bothered me about this honestly. We had found zero signs of a struggle throughout the house except some scratches at edge of the trap door. Nothing was out of place yet we were about to enter a blood bath from the smell of it.

"Hey Nekochan… this may be entirely overkill but lets get the suits. I have a bad feeling and I would rather be over prepared than under prepared."

She blinked then even though her mouth and nose were covered by a cloth I could tell she was smiling.

"You know those aren't exactly made for stealth." she teased. Somehow even in the current situation she hadn't lost her sense of humor.

"Whatever is down there is bad and we are not going down there half cocked. I am bringing enough fire power to level the entire house if I have to." I told her and meant every word.

Finding a door with a lock was very easy and we hat the suits near the entrance to my warehouse in case we ever needed them quickly.

I had to admit I felt a lot more confident stepping out of the warehouse now in my power armor. I couldn't smell anything which was a bonus. Even though each step now caused an audible clink that echoed through the place I didn't care.

"Ahhhh that's so much better." said Nekochan. "I am glad you are being reasonable about using you resources." she said as she was testing powering up her weapon systems.

"Yeah well having an adventure is one thing but whatever this is I am guessing we might need these just to survive."

Her face was covered by the mask of the armor but I could tell from Nekochan's posture that made her a little tense. Nekochan wasn't one to take enemies too seriously.

"I will go down first." she announced.

"Very well." I agreed as I focused the sensors of the suit down in to the floor beneath us trying to get a peak of what we might face. I got a general layout of a large room. I saw heat signatures of people that looked like they might still be alive. And I saw a bubble at one end of… nothing. The sensors couldn't penetrate a zone of about 15' radius.

"Are you seeing what I am seeing?" I asked.

"Yeah, say I thought this world was just supposed to be mostly idiots with swords and monsters that could be killed by them."

"I got a feeling we stumbled on to something worse than that."

"You know, we don't have to go down there, we could just leave. There is no harm in just getting what we came for and leave."

"We live on the same block. You want whatever is causing that wandering around. No we face it here and now."

Nekochan seemed a bit nervous, I was guessing it was more she was worried about her ability to protect me from whatever that was.

She nodded and bent down and lifted the trap door. As expected the Spiral staircase continued. It had been skillfully hidden.

Nekochan started down her weapons already charged. I similarly charged up my weapons took a deep breath and started down after her.

The basement was huge, maybe the full length of the house. The walls were lined with large thick pillars no doubt holding most of the house up.

The basement was laid out like a church or temple with rows of pews in the center of the room devided in the middle by an isle for people to walk down. At the end of the room was a great stage with an alter covered with carvings of tentacles, eyes and weird looking symbols.

Near the stage stood a group of people. Some wore robes, others shabby clothes that looked to be of servants or slaves. All stood frozen barely breathing or moving focused upon the stage.

On the stage behind the alter there hovered… a thing over a literal pile of mutilated bodies that looked to have been torn to pieces. It appeared… amorphous. One moment I saw it as a patch of darkness with tentacles protruding, another it looked almost like an orb filled with red glowing eyes and tentacles, another moment it looked almost like a man in a robe except instead of a face he had many red glowing eyes. My head began to hurt and I felt… something. Something was reaching in to my mind… It felt both alien and strange but also warm and inviting. The wrongness of the seemed to be slipping away. Nekochan in front of me seemed to go slack and her weapons powered down. I found myself beginning to power down my own but then… then something inside of me awoke. This was wrong and I was in great danger I realized.

The weapon system of my armor roared to life. The sensors still were having trouble locating this… thing.

It began to hover forward so I manually targeted it with everything and soon a hail energy blasts, missiles and bullets went flying at it.

The bullets and missiles seemed to pass through the creature but the energy blasts hit it causing it to fly back and let out a scream that seemed to rouse Nekochan from her trance and the others. People screamed and ran while Nekochan began to blast the creature with energy blasts as well. We both flew forward landing on the stage as the creature which had been knocked to the floor rose back up. It shuddered and convulsed. I heard words in my mind that were truly alien and sent a shudder down my spine. Desperately I continued the blasts of energy then… it just faded away. I don't know if it was destroyed or it just left. However I noticed then a pressure or prescience I hadn't noticed until then had left as well and I was able to breath easier.

"What the fuck was that?!?" Shouted Nekochan over the com in the suit.

"I don't know but it's time to leave." I said as people had already rushed out of this place.

I was now coming aware of the carnage we were standing near and my stomach was not taking it well.

We left. Everyone else who had been alive cleared out. We picked up the statute got out of the armor and slipped on some servant clothes and headed out of the front door. No one really was there as everyone who had escaped had ran as far and as fast as they could.

The cold air of the night was comforting and quietly we slipped back to our mansion.

"Okay… what the fuck was that?" demanded Nekochan.

"Alright this is just a hunch but that seemed to be something out of some Cthulhu mythos. I think we may have pissed off an alien god or one of it's servants. Likely a servant as we are both alive."

Nekochan sighed and shook her head "You know I never got the attraction for writers throwing in eldritch gods and stuff like that in stories, great you have a being that sees humanity as a bunch of ants… why are they always hostile? I mean if they are so great, they really shouldn't give a shit but apparently being this higher dimensional being means you have to be chaotic evil. What's the deal?"

"Well if they weren't they wouldn't be much of an antagonistic force or a factor in the story at all if they just stuck to themselves doing eldritch god things."

"Yeah anyways, so that thing… you think it's dead?" She asked slightly concerned.

I shrugged "If it's not I think we chased it off pretty good. I think it called me a nasty name and fled."

Nekochan smirked "Yeah I'll bet right now it's bitching to all it's friends that it was minding it's own business, subjugating and slaughtering humans when a couple of them burst in wearing power armor and started blasting away on it."

That drew a laugh from me. "That wouldn't surprise me in the least." I admitted.

"So we got the statue. We will make the drop off and get our gold. Not the best payoff for such a night but I guess it will do. So what's next? Well of course after the partying and debauchery?" asked Nekochan with a playful grin.

I thought for a moment. "You know this is turning out to be a bit more of a pain than expected. If we didn't have the power armor we would have likely been dead. I don't think your sword and claws would have done much to that thing even if you had been able to use them."

That drew a wince from Nekochan. "Yeah… I am sorry I am always trying to protect you but just something happened with my mind. I was not expecting to be attacked that way."

"Maybe we should start a business." I suggested.

"Oh hey we can start a brothel. I can help train the girls." Her grin broadening.

I blinked and then smiled "You know what you are a genius?"

"Well of course I am but, what I mean I was just teasing."

"No I was thinking of maybe starting a spy network and becoming an information broker. It wouldn't be hard to train the girls in how to deal with people. I could also train them in unarmed combat to defend themselves and stealth to get around when they need to."

"So Ninja Hookers. You want to make ninja hookers."

"Well I wouldn't put it exactly like that but yes I do."

Nekochan snorted in amusement. "You know I think I am rubbing off on you. Usually you would be too much a prude for this."

"Well… actually my mother was a prostitute before she died so the idea of maybe improving some prostitutes lot in life is actually nice. I am also thinking of opening an orphanage so kids like us don't have to grow up on the streets of the Bowels."

Nekochan nodded I hadn't really gone in to my background much, we were both children of the streets fighting to survive when we found each other.

"So you ready to give up on adventuring just because you almost died?" she asked.

I sighed "You know, I guess not but I don't think it's the only thing we should do. If I do this right I can set up an intelligence network. Not have to do much once we get it started and we can sniff out the weird stuff like we just encountered and deal with it before it reaches the stage that something is summoned. We can still go on adventures, though maybe robbing people is getting a little old. We should find some old tombs or something"

"That's a great idea, do you know where any old tombs are that we can rob?"Asked Nekochan.

"… well I am still working on that part of the plan. I may need to enlist some help on the matter."

"Alright, say I thought you had given up trying to save everyone and wanted to just adventure."

I sighed "I guess helping people is a tough habit for me to break."

"Sooo for this orphanage are we going to visit Auntie Em?" She asked with a grin.

I couldn't help but smile Auntie Em, or Emma was actually a friend of my mother's. She was a friend to a lot of people. She had been wounded in her youth so she couldn't have kids of her own. She took in and took care of many of the orphans of the Bowels. Which there were many

Nekochan and I probably wouldn't have survived without her help and kindness. Though we rarely stayed at her house except when it got too cold to be on the streets. She was always there when we were sick or hurt or hungry to help. She was the closest thing to a parent that Nekochan had.

With each job, in addition to the partying, debauchery and bribes for the next job we would donate a nice portion to her. After all she had many mouths to feed. That said we didn't really get a chance to visit as often as we should.

"Yes, She practically is already running an orphanage. We will just be giving her a decent place to do it and funding."

"Oh, that sounds expensive, are you planning to go on a string of heists?" She teased.

I sighed "No… I am going to break in to our savings. It was a nice idea to try and live off the land but if I am expanding things then it would be stupid not to. We have almost as much gold as Fort Nox in actual gold bars. We may as well use some."

That drew a grin from Nekochan. "I thought it was silly to begin with so I am glad you are being reasonable."

I just shrugged. Maybe it had been a little overly ambitious to just rely on resources acquired in jump.

"Aren't you afraid of what's going to happen when you start throwing around gold bars like there is no tomorrow?" Asked Nekochan curiously.

"No, the world will have to adjust and any problems that pop up I am sure we can pound right back down. I am actually going to do what I want."

Nekochan's grin broadened and soon I found myself in a tight hug. "I am so proud of you. I think you are finally beginning to learn."

After that Nekochan being in such close contact with me got a little frisky and as she put it decided to reward my change in heart with … well things not mentioned in polite company.

The next day we went to visit Auntie Em. She lived in what could be called a nicer house in the Bowels it was actually a proper house with multiple rooms. Next to the house was a small but well tended garden surrounded by a crude wooden fence to keep critters out. The house was in good condition for one in the bowels.

Auntie Em was said to be the illegitimate child of a noble family. They had banished her to the Bowels to be forgotten but apparently helped her with enough money to get by.

As we approached the house a couple of boys who were out front playing; apparently looking for bugs, called to her that she had visitors.

The door to the house swung open and revealed a woman in her middle years. She appeared at one time to be quite beautiful. However time had left it's mark leaving lines on her face and traces of silver in her hair. Still she was attractive for her age. Her eyes were a haunting pale blue, she had a warm genuine smile that one couldn't help but return. Her body was still quite shapely as chasing around so many kids must have kept her in shape. She wore simple rugged clothes. A long single skirt and thick but well worn shirt. Her skin was tanned as one who had worked outside in the sun a lot.

"Raven, Nekochan, Welcome!" she says walking up arms opened and wrapped each of us in turn. I hugged her back. Nekochan scooped her up in a big bear hug "Aunti Em!" she said happily. Auntie Em coughed and said "Easy Nekochan you are hugging a bit too hard. I need to breath dear." causing Nekochan to blush slightly and set her down. Aunti Em chuckled and smiled "You still don't quite know your own strength I see." she mildly teased but Nekochan just smiled in return. "I am just happy to see you." "I am too dear."

I couldn't help but smile at the moment.

"Boy you have changed since the when Raven first brought you here. I could barely get close to you in those days." She commented as she turned and motioned for use to follow. "Anyways please come in,

I was just making some soup for lunch. Have you two been eating well, you both look so skinny."

I couldn't help but chuckle "We are fine Auntie Em, you don't have to feed us."

"Nonsense dears I insist." she said as we entered the home.

With this exchange I couldn't help but remember some of the good times here. It reminded me that even though it had been rough growing up in this world… there had been some good times. Nekochan and I had not exactly been one for rules and chores which Auntie Em enforced upon those children that stayed with her but she never turned a child away who needed help and was always there to show some kindness.

The house was well kept for a house that hosted so many children, that is to say it was just a bit messy.

There was a big cauldron hanging over the fire pit where we could smell the soup she was cooking. We headed over to the large table where meals were eaten, like most of the furniture in the place it was rather plain but sturdy built to last. We took our seats as Auntie Em headed for the cauldron which was currently being stirred by a little girl who couldn't be more than 10 if that.

"Good job dear, you can go tell the others we will have lunch soon after I am done speaking with my guests." she told the little one who nodded obediently and ran off.

"A sweat girl, doesn't talk much though." she commented watching her go before turning back to the cauldron.

"So how have things been going?" I asked.

"Things are going well, especially with the donations you have been giving. Though money is always tight it's helped a lot. How are you two doing? You still in that huge mansion in the gold district." she asked happily. She didn't hide her pride that we had escaped the Bowels. Despite us not elaborating on how we had done it she clearly held us up as examples of success.

"Yes we are still there, Things are going well in fact we have a bit to help out here." I said taking out a bag of gold and setting it on the table.

That drew a raise of the eyebrows, "My so much so quickly, you really are doing well." she noted happily as she looked back at us.

"Well you know Raven, always the hard worker." Nekochan chimed in.

That drew a chuckle from Auntie Em, "Yeah but only when it was something she wanted to do. I still remember the looks the two of you gave me when I would ask you to help out around here." She teased.

"Say we didn't just come here to drop off a donation. I was thinking of opening a proper orphanage and honestly I could think of no one else better suited to run it than you."

Auntie Em straightened up blinking in surprise "An Orphanage? That's a wonderful Idea but I don't think I could possibly handle such a thing I have my hands full with a half dozen children."

"You would be able to hire help, I would see to it that you had enough. It would also mean a larger place of course. I love this house too but It's usually a bit small for the number of kids you do have."

"Ohhh I love this old place I have been here so long. I imagine that when my time comes I'll be buried here."

"Well we will make sure that the Orphanage is near here, maybe you can even have a couple of the older kids tend to the place and keep it nice and use it for when you need a break from your duties at the orphanage."

"Hmmm that does sound nice. It also sounds very expensive…" she said trailing off.

She had never before been concerned about the money we gave her but I could understand how she was concerned here as to how much money would be being spent and to where it was coming from.

"Don't worry we stumbled on to a kings ransom of gold and together we decided it was a good chance to give back and finally make a difference in this city."

She nodded "Well I appreciate the sentiment but you do realize you are talking about quite a bit of money."

"It'll be fine." I assured her.

She seemed to think for a moment "Well it would be nice to be able to help more of the kids around here. Maybe even find some a good home."

"That's the spirit." I said with a grin.

Soon a half dozen kids came running in to the house. There was the two boys we saw playing outside, the girl who was stirring the cauldron, A couple more boys and another girl. All of them looked to be under 12 and were mostly poorly dressed.

They rushed towards the table but Auntie Em stopped them. "Oh no you kids don't go wash up." she ordered, there were a few groans but the kids went and cleaned up. "Well you two should go get cleaned up too." she told us. We both knew better than to argue the point so we headed to get washed up as well. I noticed the boys eyeing us as we bent over the wash basin to get cleaned.

As we were doing that she went and got some wooden bowls and started filling them. She set out some soup for each of the kids and for us as well as part of a loaf of bread for each.

I think both Nekochan and I were fully aware we weren't getting out of there without getting fed. So we decided to accept that. I couldn't help but smile at the bit of pleasant nostalgia. I guess even in a harsh and brutal world such as this there are a few nice spots.

So we sat at the table with Auntie Em and the Kids. The kids all eyed us. Some of them had seen us before in one of our visits to drop off money but never up close. "So beautiful." I heard one of the older boys say. I saw that drew a grin from Nekochan.

"Are you adventurers?" asked one of the girls eyeing us with her large bright eyes.

"Why yes we are adventurers. We travel around fighting evil and finding treasure. Would you like to hear about it?" began Nekochan smiling, she was in her glory.

The kids' practically cheered at that.

Soon Nekochan was spinning grand tales of our adventures, telling tales of us prowling dark dungeons and forbidden temples. Freeing captives from ruthless natives and fighting an unspeakable horror using some magical armor that fired blasts of magic energy at the creature. I found it amusing how she dressed up our adventures.

I had to admit Nekochan could spin a tale. Even Auntie Em seemed transfixed as she listened amused.

Dinner was good though the soup was modest and the bread was a little stale. The kids all loved us though it looked like they were eager for more tales of adventure.

"So that take care of one project, the easy one. Now what are you going to do about the next project?" she asked with an amused grin.

I let out a soft groan. Nekochan patted me on the back. "You know we have a lot of steps before we select personnel for our little project. We have to buy the building and furnish it, we have to get everything ready before we bring people in."

I sighed "Yeah I am just not looking forward to what I have to do after all of that."

"It will be alright, you are actually going to help people and do this in the most ethical way possible."

I hoped she was correct.

It took some time to get our projects under way. It took us a couple of months to build the building that would serve as the orphanage. We threw around a lot of gold to get it done in a reasonable amount of time.

I expected the Brothel to take less time but the area I was trying to establish the brothel in already contained a very successful brothel. Normally that wouldn't be a big problem except that the owner had several powerful clients who owed him favors… So getting anything done became a slog.

What should have taken weeks took months. We even had to rebuild part of the building when it mysteriously caught fire. I had to restrain Nekochan with the promise that we would ruin the bastard.

I had to admit I was getting a little tired of jumping through hoops and having goal posts moved. Even our workers were accidentally breaking things at an alarming rate. I imagine a few gold was slipped to them too.

In previous times where something like this would have happened Nekochan and I would have had to do many things. We would have to deal with the prostitutes or workers to either get them to give us dirt or help to give access to the place of business. Then we would have had to search around for evidence of dirty dealings and hope there was so. Now though we had other options.

We got on our finest clothes and headed to the part of the gold district that bordered the Palace. The Palace was technically it's own district but everyone just considered it the crown of the gold district.

Many Bureaucrats lived around the Palace. In addition to it being convenient for work it was also a sign of status. It said they had to go to the Palace so often and were so important they needed a home near by. One such home/ office building belonged to Rex Mondus. He was a a thin man in his middle years, gray reaping in to his formerly dark hair and lines beginning to etch themselves across his pale face. Getting an appointment with him had been difficult to get an appointment with him.

He was in fact the head of city planning and it was his office that handled such things as regulations of buildings. Determining if a building needed to be condemned and such. It was his office that we had been butting heads with and we had visited several times speaking to various drones in the office. Usually he was the man in charge. Likely the people that had been payed off were below him. However as he sat across from us in his fine robes, Rex it turned out had a little secret. He liked to gamble. In fact he was rather poor despite the trappings of his office and the location of his home/office. He was also in dept to some of the biggest criminals in the city. They had been using this to force him to harass competitors and grant them favors. This was all within the black book which I had stolen. I had verified it by passing a bit of gold to the criminals to get some building stuff on the Orphanage expedited.

Mundus was clueless though of all of this and sat behind his desk with a placid smile and mild curiosity on his face.

"Good afternoon ladies. While I am certainly privileged to be in the prescience of such beauty. I am afraid I am at a loss as to why you have been sent to me. Usually the people working for me would handle personal matters. Usually I handle matters for the king or the city government." he explained.

"I do understand and I thank you for your time. I know you have many important things to do. I am afraid though we have run in to several problems with your office with a property I have purchased and am turning in to a brothel."

"Well I am sorry to hear that but that complaints should be handled by the managers I can give you the name of one…" He began but I cut him off.

"That will not be necessary I have spoken to all of them at various times. In fact that is only tangentially why I am here." I began which caused him to raise an eyebrow.

"You see as much as it pains me the corruption in your office has caused me much pain. I know the source I know the one behind it. Cutting to the heart of the matter. I happen to know you are in a lot of debt to a lot of bad men. You will be happy to know that I have purchased a piece of that debt and am willing to forgive it. I bought 1 thousand Gold worth of your debt. It cost me a bit more as you are a useful tool to those you have indentured yourself too but but with a bit of charm and gold they were willing to sell me a large chunk of your debt." I stated by this point Rex was wide eyed in fear and sweating.

"I am willing to forgive shall we say half but I am going to need a favor from you."

"H-half?" he said in a mixture of surprise and hope.

"Yes I'll still keep a bit should I need anything else but I am sure you know how that is but this matter is important. I need man crushed. I need you to reach out and crush this man with the full extent of your office. Force him to sell his business to you at a low rate because the city needs the building. Lose paperwork on his home and put it up for sale claiming he has not paid his taxes in years and slap him with a large fine. Make his life a living hell." I said as I took a piece of paper with the man's name and address and slid it over to him.

The man looked down and paled a bit as he read the name "Ah yes I am well aware of him. You know though he has friends and lots of money he has been spreading around." he began.

"I understand it may not be easy but make it clear to those in this office they no longer open for business when it comes to taking his bribes. He is not welcome here as someone has paid more." I told him and he winced and nodded.

"It will be done." he told me licking his lips then smiling "Well 500 Gold freer. Thank you." He said reaching out to shake my hand and I took it and did so. "One last thing. Since I still hold a considerable amount of your debt. I want you to spread this message around your office – If I ask for something the answer is Yes."

He nodded understanding. With that our business was concluded. He thanked me and saw me out of his office.

It turns out that a mixture of bullying and bribery has it's own sort of magic, as within a couple weeks the building for my brothel was ready. That was supposed to be the easy part.

It being close to ready it was time for me to do something that made me sick to my stomach. I filled sacks with gold and headed to the slave market.

The Slave Market was at the center of the gold district, It was held as an auction. People would gather in a crowd in front of the stage and then one by one they would bring a person up on the stage and offer them at the starting price of their debt. The city claimed the extra for the care of the slaves.

My stomach squirmed as I entered the building. It was a large building as it was one that did a lot of business. I felt Nekochan's reassuring hand on my shoulder as I forced myself to walk onward.


I reminded myself that what I was about to do was actually a good thing. I took deep breaths maybe it was my imagination but I could practically feel the mixture of greed and desperation permeating this place. It was late in the afternoon and here they held back the slaves that were expected to fetch the highest price. There was a gathering of mostly well to do people around me. Being among them felt dirty. People bought and sold like cattle. It was sickening.

With that a tall man who was well dressed walked out on stage and greeted the crowd warmly "Good evening ladies and gentlemen. We have a fine crop of slaves to show you today. I hope you brought your good purses." he told everyone. He had the first slave brought out. She was escorted out by a couple of burly guards and was dressed in chains and rags. She couldn't have been more than 13 or 14 she had pale blue eyes and long golden hair. There was an innocent look about her and hints of the beauty she would one day become. Hey eyes were wide with fright and understandably so.

She was introduced as Jenna and it was explained that her parents had been forced to sell her in to slavery to cover their debts. Such a tragic story made my stomach twist and turn.

The tall man began the budding. The amount wasn't terribly large for me but for an average person it was substantial. The place erupted in bids and soon they were asking more than double the starting bid. Then I raised my hand and offered triple that. A great hush fell over the crowd at such an increase. Even the tall man auctioning the slaves was stunned. He said going once, going twice, and sold. That was how I bought my first slave.

Then they brought out a man with long wild black hair and fiery blue eyes. He wore a loin cloth and the chains and shackles but had a half dozen Guards escorting him. They said they had not gotten the stranger's name but he was a criminal, a thief who had robbed prominent merchants. He was obviously a Barbarian from the hills. He had a dangerous look about him. His price was surprisingly high unlike the last one few people seemed willing to try and purchase him. Him I got for a little over the asking price. After him there were a dozen more 6 women, 4 men, a girl and 1 boy, the women looked like they might work for the brothel but that didn't matter. I purchased every slave offered that day.

After my purchases I was led in back. The Auction house owner states surprise that we had not come along with guards to help secure our purchases. He warmed to be especially careful of the Barbarian as He had almost escaped already injuring one of the guards. He stated he had hoped whoever purchased him would come well prepared to receive such a slave.

The slaves were brought out as a group. Again the Barbarian was surrounded by Guards despite being in chains. The kids were crying, the adults looked resolute and forlorn.

I took a deep breath a pressure that had been building in my gut began to lessen as I spoke.

"Hello my name is Raven. I have purchased you all today." I began. "First I ask that you let me finish what I am about to say before asking questions." I continued.

The Barbarian looked at me as if he were sizing up my neck to see how much trouble it would be to break it once he escaped.

"As I have paid your debts. I am free to do what I am about to do. I am going to first grant you all your freedom. I have no need for slaves. I explained, this drew gasps from everyone gathered except Nekochan and myself. Even the Barbarian who was looking murderous moments ago seemed to look rather stunned, a look that was quickly replaced by suspicion and curiosity.

I heard a few men ask if they were indeed free, and some women burst in to tears of happiness.

"Now I do have a job offer. I caution it isn't as bad as it sounds I am opening a brothel and will need people to work there. Not only as workers but waitresses, guards, bartenders and other such jobs. I am not going to force you to work for me if you do not want. In fact should you wish to leave the city I will arrange it and even give you a bit of gold to start you new life. If you will work for me I will be give you more."

"What's the catch?" Asked the Barbarian in a thick accented voice.

"There is no real catch here. I am just hoping that freeing you from Slavery will have earned some loyalty. I not only need workers but I need workers I can trust and depend on.

The Barbarian snorted "So you are trying to purchase loyalty, That comes at a higher price and only to those who are worth it for me."

"Say your name wouldn't happen to be Conan would it?"

The man blinked "No, my name is Crom. I will offer you that much for gratitude for freeing me."

"Anyways now I am going to ask for you all to be unshackled as you are no longer slaves."

" Umm actually." spoke the Head of the Auction house "We would prefer if you would not remove the shackles until you are well away from this place. Especially for the Barbarian."

I nodded "Very well. Then I think we should leave as I want to you make your choices without chains on." I explained to the freed slaves.

One of the guards went with us as he had the keys to the shackles. We went a few blocks and I asked him if this was far enough. He nodded nervously. I suspect he wasn't comfortable with this arrangement.

The former slaves seemed to be moving from nervous to hopeful the further they got from the slave market. Everyone except for the Barbarian who seemed perfectly calm the whole time. Those blue eyes burned with a certain intellect. It was tough to judge what he was thinking but the fact something was going through his mind was undeniable.

The Guard began to unshackle people starting with the children, then the woment, then the men and lastly and very hesitantly he Unshackled Crom. Crom rubbed his wrists for a moment as the Guard pulled away afraid. I thought for a moment Crom might hurt the man too. However he seemed content to let the moment pass.

The Guard seemed relieved as he withdrew and made his way quickly back to the Auction house.

So that left me and Nekochan in front of a small group of freed slaves. It was a vacant street which wasn't the best place to do business.

"Alright please follow us. We are going to visit where, if you choose to work for me, where you will be working."

It was a few blocks from the slave market. I was glad to put distance between me and that. I felt like I was going to need a shower after being in there.

The Brothel was a large wooden building. It had been an old Inn and tavern which made it ideal for it's new purpose. It was freshly renovated so it looked newer than it's neighbors.

I pulled out the keys and unlocked the large wooden door and we entered. It was dim only lit by the sunlight through the windows. I immediately lit a few nearby torches illuminating the large room dominated by several round tables with chairs around them, In the back to the left corner was a long bar with bottles of liquor on shelves behind it and a very large sword and a plaque in middle of the area to serve in case of trouble. To the right was a large stair case leading to the upper floors where patrons would find rooms. To the center was a door that led to the kitchen.

"Well why don't you all have a seat I am sure you wouldn't mind resting your legs." I told them and they all took seats around the round tables.

I noticed Crom eyeing the booze.

"Is anyone thirsty I will get you some drinks." I said, that drew a smile from the big barbarian. "Mead and plenty of it, that gods forsaken prison barely gave us anything."

I nodded and the others asked for drinks as well some for booze, some for water or juice. Nekochan was kind enough to go and collect the tankards and glasses and get everyone's request and brought them out on a huge platter. Soon everyone was sufficiently supplied.

It was just me and Nekochan standing in front of the door the kitchen.

"I am sorry I would offer you a meal too but I am afraid right now we are lacking a cook and there isn't much back there prepared." I apologized.

I took a deep breath and let it out slowly as I prepared myself.

"Alright first of all I am sure you have some questions. I will try and answer them as best as I can. First the reason I am doing this is two fold. First I don't like slavery. I don't agree with it and now that I am in a position to I am happy to be able to free some people from such a fate. Second I am hoping that you will appreciate what I have done for you if you choose to stay. I know the work I offer is not glamorous. I know this but I am hoping that you will give me a chance. I am not going to make anyone do the work with the clients, however should someone choose to take that job I will allow them to choose their own customers and to keep most of the money they make, only taking a percentage. I have something that will protect them from disease as well so they don't have to worry about that. I can also give you something to prevent unwanted pregnancies so don't worry about that. Any questions?"

I was surprised when the one who spoke up was Crom who had eyed me suspiciously. In is deep rough voice he asked "Well that all seems nice but what I can't figure out is what's in it for you? You can't expect to make money this way and you seem almost apologetic about this. What's the real reason you are doing this?" he asked crossing his arms across his muscular chest.



I tried to hide a wince, I couldn't help but admire the Barbarian's cleverness at properly assessing the situation. "Well I intend to train the girls who will be working with the clients in information gathering. I will be collecting that information for good pay should it pan out and using that information in other business ventures." I explained.

"Humph sounds way too complicated to me but I'll leave the games of bored rich people to you." He answered seemingly satisfied.

I nodded "Anyways now is the time to decide whether you will work for me or we part ways here. If you leave I will give you a bag of gold and transport out of the city. Understand that you can choose to work for me without working out front I am going to need severs and cooks and people to clean the place. Further for the children, I am not going to force you to work. I have a place for you. I have a friend that runs an orphanage where you will be taken care of. You may even find a family with their help."

"I'll do it!" Blurted out Jenna who was blushing deeply which surprised me.

"What?" I asked.

"I'll – I'll work as a…" she seemed pained for a moment "I'll work with clients as you put it. I knew my fate when I became a slave and your terms are far more reasonable than I expected."

"Ummm you are a little young, maybe you want to wait a few years." I said a bit uneasy then these were different times and she was old enough technically for the work.

She sighed "I believe you care, I believe you will be a great deal kinder to me than I expected. I expected to be used for a while then one day wind up a body discovered in the bowels. I had resigned myself to it. However though this job seems strange I will offer up my body. I am not much good for anything else."

"Well I would disagree but we will change that."

I was surprised when the other women agreed to work with the customers as well. A few of them had done similar work and all of them were just glad that they weren't going to be beaten whenever their master was in a bad mood or drunk.

"Umm Crom, I would you mind working for us as a bouncer. Mostly I imagine you will just have to sit and look scary which I am sure you can do quite well. Should any customer get a little to demanding or drunk you will be in charge of escorting them out. I would prefer no blood be shed in my establishment but you have to do what you have to do."

Crom gave an amused smirk "Well you did help me out. I'll stay for a while. I'll admit I am a bit curious to see how this works out. Just keep me in money, booze and women as I do so and I'll be fine."

"Well the women part is up to them but I can supply you with the other two." He chuckled and nodded "You civilized folks ways are strange to me but very well." he answered.

The rest of the men it was decided would work as bar tenders, cooks and cleaning staff. I had insisted that everything be cleaned regularly including my staff which caused some surprise but they agreed. Regular bathing would be instituted as a rule. I had rigged up a Bathing area in the building at great cost but felt it was worth it.

The building was massive and had already been set up so we decided people would live there for now, having been a former inn. Once things were settled and everyone was settled in we stopped by a general store to arrange for supplies to be sent regularly to the inn and then headed back home.

Nekochan set about preparing dinner. Which meant I got a chance to relax and reflect upon the day's events. I was now a brothel owner and soon to be the head of a semi-ninja clan. I didn't know how to feel about that.

Dinner was a feast. Nekochan took pride in her work and loved making amazing food. A few things I couldn't Identify. She also loved trying to broaden my rather narrow tastes. She was quite sneaky at times in doing it. I dined on what turned out to be Cow Tongue. It was surprisingly good.

After dinner I had a few things to do before we turned in. I had other plans and needed to start preparing thing for them. So I was lost in my Warehouse for most of the night. I was surprised when Nekochan said she would be heading out for a bit.

It wasn't entirely unusual for her to go out at night, she could see better than most humans in the dark and often would return with coin purses of criminals who had tried to bother her.

I told her to be careful but I was sure that warning would go unheeded.

It was hours later and she still hadn't returned and I was gathering my stuff to go look for her when she came in the front door and she wasn't alone. Behind her in a grey cloak was Anya, one of the girls we had freed. She had long honey colored hair, bright blue eyes, her skin was just a touch dusky and her figure was quite curvy. In fact I wondered if there was something in the water as I was not finding many women who didn't look like a fantasy pin up picture.

Anya looked a bit nervous. Her beautiful fine featured face looked slightly troubled.

"Ummm welcome Mistress." she managed. Nekochan merely gave me an amused smirk probably seeing the confusion on my face.

"Before you ask I thought we should train the girls properly to entertain their guests." she said smuggly

"Umm what?!?" I managed.

"Training? But don't you just lie there and let them do as they wish?" asked a very confused Anya.

"OH." I answered.

"See we have to train them in the art of seduction and the art of pleasure so they know how to tame their customers." Said Nekochan with a small giggle.

Anya crooked her head "But… aren't we all women? How is that supposed to work?" Nekochan's grin broadened.

"Well I am not exactly equipped for that part but I am sure Nekochan should be able to help." I explained causing her to blink curious and look over to Nekochan.

"Just come on lets head to the bed room." I said with a sigh.

"Wait!" Said Nekochan. "I need to set the mood." she explained and then was gone in a blur. I heard some stuff being moved about in the room. It was a minute later when Nekochan emerged with a large grin. "Alright please follow me."

So we did, The room was dark but lit by candles all around giving the room a certain ambiance. I could smell the sweet scent of incense being burned. I believed this was the stuff that Nekochan had bought after being told it's scent was an aphrodisiac.

Anya entered the room with some trepidation then gasped. Her eyes widened as she looked around at the romantic scene. She blushed deeply. I had to admit the innocent look she was showing was very cute.

"Alright for first part I would like you two to disrobe." Said Nekochan.

I blinked "Pardon?"

"Well for the next part you aren't going to be of much help so I want you to do this part."

I sighed and nodded and Anya obediently removed her clothes revealing a rather attractive body. Though it sported a few scars in different places. I guess life was really rough in this land.

"Alright now I would like you to seduce Anya here." Instructed Nekochan.

I coughed as my cheeks warmed "Alright."I said gathering my courage.

"Now if you ever feel too uncomfortable we can stop." I told her as I approached.

"Now the key thing is everyone wants to be wanted. You want to complement as much as possible even if you are exaggerating or lying. Say certain parts are so big and thick even if they aren't." I began as I reached up and caressed Anya's face who flinched slightly.

"Ah.. sorry I have never… with a woman." She explained.

"Shhh just calm down and relax." I said in a soothing voice. "Your eyes are such a wonderful blue, they like the sky." I said as I leaned in and kissed her softly.

At first it was just a soft kiss but soon she began to return it. I broke the kiss "mmm you feel so soft and warm." I told her running my hand through her hair."

Then something happened I didn't expect.

Anya began to cry. I pulled back "Ummm I am sorry are you okay?" I asked concerned.

"Why? Why do you have to be so nice… everyone just takes what they want. That's how the world is… why does the one time things are nice have to be with a girl and be a lie." She complained.

I frowned and reached over and hugged her

"Stop!"

"Shhh… It's okay, nothing I said was a lie." I told her which caused her to stiffen.

She cried "Why, why is it the first time I am being treated as a human being it's for some stupid lesson?" she continued.

"You are a human being to me. All of you were and I dearly want to see you treated like the woman you are. That's why I freed you. I am sorry about asking you to do this. Maybe we should stop for the night." I said slowly pulling away but surprised suddenly as Anya clung to me.

"I don't care. I don't care if it's a lie. Tell me that I am beautiful again. Treat me soft and gently. I want – I want to feel your warmth." she said eyes tearing up.

"Shhh, It's okay, you are wonderful and beautiful." I cooed softly in her ear as I held her tightly. "You are a wonderful woman who deserves love and to be treated well."

"I – I don't care, Man, woman, take me to bed, Just once… for just one time I want to be treated like a human being. I want to be cared about and held and kissed." she pleaded softly.

"Alright, though is it okay if Nekochan joins too. I don't see her being content to stand there all night."

With tears in her eyes she nodded "As you wish, just please keep… being nice to me."

With that Nekochan grinned disrobing. Seeing that Anya's eyes widened and she gasped.

Strangely nothing overly sexual happened that night, as we both held and cuddled and kissed Anya. We made a point to make sure she felt safe and warm in our arms. She cried a lot and kissed us and clung to us like she were alone in the middle of a great body of water and we were the drift wood keeping her afloat.

In the morning Nekochan woke early and prepared a feast for the three of us, many dishes that hadn't been invented in this world. I noticed Anya couldn't look at us without blushing and seemed to be smiling a lot. I had an uncanny feeling this wasn't going to be the last time we would be sharing a bed with her.

This suspicion was confirmed later that night. We took Anya back to the Brothel and were there to see how things were progressing it was still a few weeks before we intended to open but there was still a lot of work to get done. Nekochan and I also wanted to make sure that our rules on cleanliness were being taken to heart.

The girls seemed quite surprised to greet Anya back who was blushing and giggling like a school girl when she was talking with the other girls. When she was where she thought out of our earshot I heard her gushing about how sweet and gentle and loving that we had been. The other girls seemed shocked and in a state of disbelief.

It was later that day when Anya came to use blushing deeply, she asked a word in private.

"Ummmm well… It just seemed like you had wanted to do more last night but you didn't for my sake… umm how about tonight we finish with my lesson." she managed to get out turning beat red.

Before I could even speak Nekochan had already answered "Sure, that would be wonderful." leaning over and giving Anya a soft kiss. I was then surprised to find Anya's lips on mine in an eager kiss which I returned.

She rushed off to tell the girls she would be spending another night away.

"Umm are we doing this with each one? We might wind up with a harem at this rate" I asked Nekochan.

Nekochan grinned "Oh is it so wrong if I made you a nice harem? I think a bed full of lovely girls suits you quite nicely"

"And of course you would be happy to help out keeping them all satisfied."

"Oh but of course." She answered her grin broadening.

We brought Anya back with us to the mansion. She was eager and after a nice romantic meal we took her to bed with us. What was intended as a training quickly turned in to a love making session. She turned out to be quite passionate and learned very quickly as she was eager to please both of us. I can't say if it was the right thing to do as I laid awake with her between Nekochan and myself. It was quite clear she was utterly smitten with us, quite possibly in love. That scared me a little. I had wanted to go through this 10 year period without getting to close to someone. I didn't want to regret leaving anyone behind. As I watched her sleeping peacefully my heart kind of ached as I wondered if this was fair to her. I also wondered the odds that the other girls might respond similarly I had not set out to build a harem… not this way at least but I had a feeling by the end of this she might not be the only one pining for the two of us.

Over the next couple weeks The other 6 girls were brought to me to help train…

It was harder than I thought. These were some mistreated girls who were starved for kindness. Even with what we were doing just by being gentle, kind and showing the affection they became rather infatuated with the two of us. Jenna in particular who I refused to allow very serious training… it did not feel right to me for someone so young; Still she she fell head over heals in love with the two of us.

I did not feel so good when our brothel opened. We had 6 girls as I choose to keep Jenna to serving duties out front She protested that she was old enough to bare a child so she was old enough for the work. I think she was trying to impress us. I just couldn't.

Things started slowly as we only had 6 girls we could only accommodate a small clientele. However it seems showing kindness and affection turned out to be like magic in this world as people were starved for it. We quickly had to get more girls which meant freeing more slaves and training more girls within a month we had doubled the girls working for us and the bar part of our brothel was turning a huge business has patrons waited their turns.

There were so many people waiting I decided to set up a stage and hire entertainers to help pass the time. I wound up with a pretty successful bar on top of a brothel.

With the amount of money I receiving from the girls I was actually turning a profit. Strangely or perhaps not, the Bar turned a far greater profit and produced most of the money. The girls working for us often sought to lay with us again. This wound up being the reward for more personal training on stealth, information gathering, unarmed and armed combat training. Most of the girls proved passable in the combat training, a couple didn't see the need for it but went through the steps and a couple actually proved surprisingly capable. Jenna became like my shadow as she moved from just a serving girl to more my assistant and eyes when I was not around. Anya became the head mistress and helped to keep the others in line. They were making good money and many of them had not had much before so they tended to act frivolously getting drunk, going on spending sprees. Anya was like the big sister that curtailed some of that. So that they would have enough to live on and didn't get in to too much trouble.

It was a couple months later when a guy working as a guard for some weird group in the city complained of weird things going on to one of the girls. We wound up investigating it and found a cult that was abducting people for a mass sacrifice to summon their god. We brought down the cult swiftly and freed the captives. It seemed like it was just in time as it looked like they were waiting for the stars to align in a position they would soon be in.

We received several other tidbits of information, certain people in prominent positions sleeping with other peoples wives, Merchants in to illegal things. For those that weren't hurting anybody after they were verified I just noted them down in a book to keep should I need a favor from that person.

Eventually the impossible happened. Despite my odd business model not only was the Brothel paying for itself, but it was turning a decent profit. I also used some of the information gathered to get in on the ground floor investing in other business ventures that provided a huge profit.

At this point I felt things were going well enough to try for something bigger. Something hopefully of more impact to the world. Though I had to admit to myself that was going to be a lot harder. In my Warehouse I had a super computer. I had in it downloaded the entire library of congress as well as much of the internet that I deemed worth saving. It took me a good month to take all the medical books, and medical information, compile them then distill them in to a form that could be studied and understood by a person of this age. I loaded it on to a couple of tablets that I had brought with me for such a purpose. Thankfully I believed that they could be passed off as ancient lost magic we had recovered in our travels.

During that month though I had not been idle or rather my money hadn't I had purchased and had renovated a couple of large buildings that sat right on the border of the bowels and the gold district.

I hired a couple of the best healers I could find and I freed a bunch of slaves and charged the healers with training them. Training them to be their hands and eyes, for a time when they would be treating a lot of patients. I had them take aside those with particular talents in the field of healing to train to be healers working under them. I had the buildings used as impromptu schools for the time being.

I also hired apothecaries and gathered medicines for common ailments.

When it was ready I had the healers read and learn from the magic slates as I called the tablets. At first one of them wanted to argue that the knowledge he had for exceeded any that would be found from a lot civilization but throwing enough gold at him made him do as he was told. Eventually they came to realize these techniques were nothing short of magical in their insight. While I didn't expect to get fully trained doctors of the modern age I believed I could get better health treatment than what was available. I also freed a ton more slaves and had them trained in the fine arts of cleaning everything. Pounding the lesson in how important that cleanliness was to health.

It took 4 months in total until I was satisfied that my plan would work. It cost more than I cared to consider and I knew the I hadn't even hit the hard part yet. Maybe I was just stubborn but I refused to back down from this challenge.

4 months after starting this process my hospitals opened to the public. They charged on a sliding scale based upon what someone was able to pay. Which meant most people would be paying nothing. I was not surprised when it seemed that first day that half of the bowels seemed to turn up crowded around my hospitals this was planned for.

I was not surprised when half of the staff including the Healers wanted to quit after the first week. I had stashed away more money to throw at them with assurances things would calm down.

Previously to this medical care in the bowels was nearly nonexistent. If you got sick you hoped either to get well soon or die soon or you would likely drain your family in to starvation. That was if they didn't mercy kill you to put you out of your suffering. It was a harsh and unfair world. Also people who had lingering problems would just live with them and let them get worse until they eventually died because of from them. So that first week was hellish as people who had never been treated in their lives received treatment. The assistants handled what minor problems they could on their own, dealing with broken legs, nasty cuts, mild illnesses and such. They passed on the serious and tougher cases to the healers who had groups of assistants that would work on the cases as they would pop in and supervise to see how the treatment was going. In this way even though we had a handful of proper healers they could do the work of a couple dozen.

After the hell week things calmed down a lot. This whole venture cost me a lot of money and promised a lot more loss. Then word got out that we were treating things that most thought unrepeatable. Illnesses that had been death sentences before were getting cured. With that we actually started to get paying patients in. Some of whom payed a great deal not only to be treated but to be seen without waiting. That was where most of the money was made. I didn't post any signs that said pay a bag of got to the assistants to cut to the front of the line but I knew it would happen. While it wasn't the fairest system the money I made in bribes actually helped to keep the place going. I can't say it was a perfect system but it was a better one and in a barbaric age it was an improvement. .

I will admit that this had taken a bit of a toll on me. It was surprisingly stressful trying to change the way the world worked. One night I was pouring over some paperwork for the Hospital when Jenna came in. Jenna had become my Assistant. A role that she had proven exceptionally capable in. I was not surprised to feel her hands upon my shoulders. "You are working too hard." she complained to me softly as her skilled fingers began to work my poor tense shoulders. Another thing she turned out to be skilled out was as a masseuse. Nekochan had been a skillful one and had trained the girls and she in particular had taken to it with incredible vigor I would argue she was as good as Nekochan at this point. "mmm." I managed as I leaned back in my chair. "That's it just lean back and let me take care of you. Let the stress just slip away." she said softly I could feel her hot breath on my ear. Then I felt her lips on my neck in a soft kiss and nearly jumped.

"Jenna!"

I didn't have to see her to see she was pouting "Oh come on I am 15 years old now. I am perfectly capable of carrying a child and being a Mother. You can make love to me like the other girls." She complained her skillful fingers still working my shoulders.

I sighed "When you are 16 I will consider it." I retreated. "It's not fair, you know Nekochan says I am woman enough to lay with."

I cringed inwardly. I loved Nekochan dearly but she was too eager on some things. This had been a bit of a battle between us on when it was okay to take Jenna in to our bed. Nekochan was already teasing taking her with us when we left but I didn't fancy the idea of dragging a girl like her across what was mostly a harsh and cruel Multiverse. Though she was definitely special and I did want to repay her for her hard work somehow I just hadn't decided how yet. I already was planning to leave my empire to her when I left, should I not return but that was a lot of responsibility and truthfully she was probably the only one I had found that could manage things.

I laid back in my chair and sighed. "I come from a place where it's usually 18 to be considered an adult I am already making quite an exception for you." I answered.

She sighed and her hands stopped "Very well…" she said with a twinge of sadness but still resolve in her voice.

"IF I must wait almost a year than I want something special from you at that time."

I blinked in surprise. I had given Jenna tons of money and many perks but she had never specifically asked for anything. Considering all she had done I probably didn't have much right to refuse her no matter how insane the request was.

"If… If it's within my power I will consider it." I managed.

I heard her take a deep breath and hold it a moment I couldn't see her but I imagined she was gathering her courage.

"I want to carry your baby." she said finally and I about fell out of my chair.

"WHAT?!?!" I asked getting up and spinning around.

Those big pale blue eyes were wide in surprise at my sudden movement but to my surprise her face quickly steeled in to one of resolve.

"I said I wish to carry your baby. I wish to bear your child. I know I will never be as close to you as Nekochan and I have heard whispers between the two of you going away some day so I wish a piece of you for myself." She said.

"But-but I am not equipped for that." I said my cheeks warming

"I looked on the tablet or Magic slate as you like to refer to it for us and there are procedures for two women to have a child." She said pointedly.

In truth I had not known that such material was on the tablet. It had been a series of trying to grab stuff. It was practically the sum total of the medical knowledge of a place far more advanced than my world of origin, meaning there had been enough to fill a library or two. So trying to condense that down to something usable it maybe shouldn't have been a surprise if certain things were left in.

It was at that point that I let out a sigh. "I will discuss it with Nekochan. She may have feelings about this." I replied.

With that a slight grin crossed her face.

"Several of the girls have already approached her about having her child."

"What?"

"She said the same as you but I wanted your child. Not that I don't love Nekochan… however you have given me so much and put so much faith in me. I want your baby."

I coughed a bit. Nekochan had been pressing a bit more lately to have me bare her a child. That might have been the reason why. I would have to have a talk about the girls wanting Nekochan's babies later but right now I had a more pressing matter.

"Umm… you do know the process of two women having a child is rather… involved." I began.

"Yes you will need to remove one of your own Ovum I believe they are called, withdraw the genetic material from it, then remove one of mine to insert that genetic material in to then re insert the fertilized ovum back in to my womb. I believe that's what the tablet said."

I blinked "You really studied this didn't you?" I asked.

She nodded.

I sat back down sighing "Well as I said I will have to talk to Nekochan but are you really sure about this? Being a Mother isn't easy. You do have a lot of things to deal with." I explained.

"It will be fine I can still handle much of the workload and I can train and hire other people to help me. I was going to have to anyways with how you keep increasing what you are having me handle."

I couldn't help but smile. I will admit it fully I was proud of this girl.

"Well I have to finish this paperwork first and then go find Nekochan as we seem to have a few things to discuss. Why don't you go relax for a bit and I'll come find you afterwards. She nodded and left with a small smile. I guess she was happy that she knew I was taking her request seriously.

I sighed to myself as I turned back around and tried to get back to the joys of paper work. Sadly my mind was having none of it as it became impossible to concentrate. I got up and went to find Nekochan. I wasn't surprised to find her in the kitchen cleaning maybe it's strange for her wild nature, and perhaps it had a lot to do with me first employing her as a maid but she did an impressive job of keeping the place clean among all the other things she did.

She was scrubbing one of the counters as I came in. I noted she was wearing the Maid outfit that I had given her originally all those years ago. It was bullet proof and had many hidden gadgets in it but I think she had a fondness for it beyond that. In a strange way Nekochan was the sentimental sort.

"Ahh… Hey." I said, I kind of felt awkward and unsure how to start this conversation.

She looked up and gave me an amused grin "I see from the look on your face you just had a conversation with Jenna." she noted.

I was a little dumb struck "Wait you knew she was going to ask to have my child?" I blurted out.

She gave a small snort of amusement. "Well she did come to me asking a few questions if that was a possibility. I couldn't lie to her now could I?"

I felt my cheeks grow warm. "Well… What do you think about it? I mean surely you have to have some feeling about it."

That caused Nekochan to pause for a moment and then sigh slightly "You know I thought that if you ever gave a woman a child it would be me." she mused.

"What? I mean I thought you wanted me to be the one to bear the child between us." I managed.

"Yes, I will be honest I didn't relish the thought of giving birth and I think you would look adorable all big and pregnant. However you seem reluctant to do so." she said with a twinge of sadness.

I sighed "It's not that I don't want a kid. It's that I want a kid in a decent world. Also I want our child the be able the inherit our powers so they can survive tougher worlds. Right now despite being pretty strong for this world, we don't exactly have a ton to pass down yet."

Nekochan sighed and rolled her eyes "I have full confidence in any child we would bare. They would be more than enough for any world."

I winced "The worlds we have been to have been repetitively tame. We haven't visited any crazy anime worlds yet. We haven't even visited any major comic book worlds yet. I showed you that stuff on purpose. Worlds where people destroying a planet with their own power is very easy."

"So we have to wait until We can fight stuff that can destroy planets?" Ice creeping in to her voice.

"No… I just want to be a little stronger. I want to be a little more secure. Maybe I am being over cautious but this will be our kid and I want the best for them possible."

Nekochan sighed and rubbed her temples clearly not pleased with me at the moment.

It took a moment but she finally spoke "I understand you are overcautious. I understand you are afraid of loss. I just want to have that joy of being a parent with you," she said finally

I walked over and hugged her tightly. I was relieved when she hugged me back. "I promise we will have that. I look forward to having a child with you. I may be being a bit unreasonable but humor me a bit longer."

She sighed "Alright I'll give you a bit longer." She said with some reluctance.

"So what is your answer going to be for Jenna?" She asked me.

I sighed "I came to get your opinion on it, I mean it feels a bit hypocritical to give her a child and not you."

"Well you aren't wrong." She said which stung.

"Still she is a good girl and will make a good mother. I would have done the deed if she asked but she wants you." she paused and chuckled "She does have incredible taste if I do say so."

"Soooo… you are okay if I give her a kid?"

"Yeah. Though I consider it my kid too and I reserve the right to kick anyone's ass who bothers it."

"Say that reminds me I hear a few of the girls have been asking to have babies by you as well."

"Yes Anya in particular wants to bare my child. I was actually waiting for a good time to bring it up."

"Well I guess I'll answer the same then. You can do it but it's my child too and I reserve the right to destroy anyone who messes with them." I told her leaning against her.

"Well I'll try and leave something for you if that happens." she answered with a smirk.

"You do realize we are going to be leaving them behind right? That's alright with you?" I asked seriously.

"Just for a bit. We will be back for them once you spark. Then we can take Jenna, Anya and our kids anywhere we want without these stupid rules in the way." I noted her annoyance at the rules. I had to admit that living by them they were silly. They had encouraged me to not get too close to people as I would wind up leaving them. Something I had really only broken free of in this world.

"You know there is a chance that I won't make it all the way. We might wind up back in my world of origin, which wasn't a great world either." I told her only to be surprised to find her lips on mine in a passionate kiss.

"We will make it." she said breaking the kiss. "I have faith in you. You are stronger than you know and you even created me. You are capable of far more than you think. You are already transforming this world in to a better place and as you are so fond of measuring power I will remind you we are barely what you would call street level, well maybe a bit more with the suits." she told me.

I think I felt my cheeks warm in a blush "Yeah maybe I am a tad silly about that. I just am looking at the long way we have to go and all the obstacles that may lay in our path." I admitted.

"And that's your problem. Worry less about what may happen tomorrow or next jump or a dozen jumps from now and try and enjoy today. That's really all we have. Besides the best you can do is plant a solid foundation to work from, which you are already doing." She assured me rubbing my back. I sighed and rested my head against her large soft chest. "Yeah, I know your right."

"Then start acting like it." she told me giving me a playful swat on the rear which made me jump a bit and eep.

I let out a sigh "So…. I guess I have to go tell Jenna that I will father a child with her." I mused.

"Yep." Nekochan chuckled.

"You know I didn't think that would happen ever but it only took 3 jumps for it to happen."

Nekochan patted me on the back "It's for Jenna who I know you care a great deal about." She reminded me.

"Yeah I love the girls we have gotten to know but I don't think I would do this for anyone but her." I admitted. "Well I am sure she is waiting. I'll go give her the news."

With that I left. I found Jenna in the sitting room waiting anxiously as I entered she got up.

"So, what did Nekochan say?" she asked.

I chuckled "She is on board though she is considering this her child too.

I barely got the words out before I was in a bear hug from the young blond I hugged her back. I was not surprised to find her lips upon mine in a passionate kiss. I couldn't deny she was a good kisser. I broke the kiss but I had never seen Jenna smile like that "Oh thank you, thank you, thank you!" she said nuzzling against me.

I kind of noted that after a recent growth spurt she was now a couple inches taller than me. Being small was cute but looking up to talk to a girl in her mid teens was a little disheartening. At least my boobs were still much bigger. Though hers were getting rather sizable too.

"I hope you realize how you mean to us, I don't think we would have done this for anyone else." I told her.

"Then how come I have to wait almost a year before you will accept me in to your bed?"

"It's just the way of my people. It would feel weird for me. Look We will celebrate your 16th​ birthday with a wild night and then we can move on with impregnating you."

She pouted slightly but sighed and nodded "Alright." She surrendered "I guess I can wait a year."

Thankfully during the time with the hospital, the Brothel had really began to bloom. It turns out by using the secrets acquired by various patrons I was able to get in on the ground floor of several business investments. Not it was not only pulling in enough money to cover itself but supplying enough money with the other ventures to help make the Hospital much less painful to cover. Not to mention I had my hands now in several of the fastest growing businesses in the city. The girls too were doing quite well as I paid them well for the secrets they acquired when they were verified.

However that led to a small problem that was only natural. The work the girls were doing was far from glamorous. With them getting real money some of them had dreams of other things they wanted to do with their lives.

Elisa one of the eldest girls, who was a very lovely Brunet with long flowing silken hair that looked like it was spun of the night itself and very lovely green eyes; Had always had a passion for cooking. She decided that she wanted to open a Bakery. She had quite a bit of money built up for it. I was more than happy to lend my advice to her and give her some extra money to get started renting the building, buying the equipment. This arrangement served me well too as we agreed I would be getting the daily baked goods at a very good deal from her. Also I could offer things like Cakes and pies that I couldn't make with my current set up. It took a couple of months to set things up but soon She had a small but flourishing business.

She however was not the only one to decide to leave. Perhaps inspired by Elisa a couple other girls decided to team up to carry my business model with the brothel out. We discussed it and it was decided the city though large probably didn't need another brothel. So they made the hard choice to go to a nearby city.

It just happened to be that this was the time Crom was getting itchy to leave. I trusted Crom. He was a man of his word and had his own sense of honor. If paid to do something he would do it, and kindness paid to him was often at least repaid if not by more so. I convinced Crom to travel with and watch over the girls as I sent them off. By this time I did have a few contacts in the city they were going. Friends of friends really so I was able to arrange for their building to be purchased and the proper people bribed to allow the business to function in that city. I of course also invested heavily in the business with the understanding that secrets they uncovered would be shared with me.

The rest of the girls were enjoying the money rolling in, they were now dressed in fine clothes, several of them were looking in to buying property of their own and they strangely enjoyed not only a lavish life style but had gained a certain amount of respectability. They were looked upon something I would imagine as high class courtesans that would service kings and nobility. To be fair I did spot a fair amount of disguised nobles in my establishment on various nights.

I had been planning to start building free schools for children really after I did the Orphanage. However I had several things going on but with talk of children it became a high priority. I wanted a decent school system set up for the kids of the city. My goals were two fold first I would grant these kids new opportunities for jobs. Usually in this world you either did the job your father did, you apprenticed to someone if you were lucky or you became an adventurer of some stripe or another.

I intended to advance this world a great deal and would need skilled workers to do what I had planned. So it was time to start creating them. Thankfully with a lot of help from Jenna and other people I had helping me I could take on another big project despite managing the Brothel, helping start several new businesses, and running a hospital that consumed more money than I cared to think about.

First I decided what skills I wanted to impart upon these kids who would graduate from my school. Reading was of course a necessity to learn other things. I would give them a dash of academic teaching and later set up higher educational facilities to teach those that decided to go that way. I would offer them a dash of real world trade skills so they would so that they may discover careers they hadn't considered. Lastly I would have them taught self defense. This was a rough world and if I was sending them off in to it I would prefer they have the best chance possible of surviving.

I then set about finding a building, locating scholars and Tutors who were used to teaching rich kids. Supplying them with a tablet outfitted with all the data that I wanted to teach.

It was during this time I received a visit from Anya. It was a few days after we had confirmed she was pregnant. She was no longer working and hadn't been for a while so she was serving as sort of a Manager for the Brothel. She entered my office at the Brothel I was at my desk fighting the eternal bane of my plans – paper work. I got up and greeted her with a tight hug and kiss.

"Hey how are you doing?" I asked. She smiled at me but I noticed some sadness in her eyes and immediately began to get concerned. "Is everything alright?" I asked immediately.

"Ummm yes, yes I am doing alright." she said blushing slightly and breaking the hug. "I just – I just wanted to discuss something." she said. I noticed she was a bit nervous and also noticed one of her hands was rubbing over her womb.

"Oh of course. Please sit down." I said pulling out a chair for her on the other side of my desk.

She waited until I was seated at my desk to begin.

"Well I have been thinking about the future. I really love working here as strange as it sounds. I love the girls and of course I love working for you and Nekochan."

"Well we love having you." I said, I could kind of see where this was going.

"Yes, but I have been thinking and I don't think this the right job to raise a child in. I am truly honored that Nekochan gave me a child. In truth I love both of you. If you weren't so close to each other I would hope that you would take me as your wife."

I couldn't help but smile in truth I did love Anya, while Polygamy wasn't unknown in this world women marrying women was. That hadn't of course stopped Nekochan and I from considering ourselves married.

"Well I consider the child you are carrying to be mine too, if you don't mind me saying. You will be provided for if you work or not. If you just want to focus on raising our child I will certainly understand and support you." I replied.

That caused Anya to blush and smile "That -that is wonderful. I am proud to have you as another parent to my child. However I wouldn't feel right taking advantage of the situation like that. I do love working for you two and I was hoping to continue but in a slightly different capacity."

"Oh sure, just name it and we will be happy to accommodate you."

"Well I heard about this recent project you are doing… This School I believe you call it. I really love children and I was hoping to work there. I don't think I am especially bright or anything so I don't have much to teach but I also heard that you wanted to teach the children self defense like you taught us."

I nodded "I thought it was important in this dangerous world that they be able to take care of themselves."

She nodded "I quite agree. I would like if you wouldn't mind, to be the one to instruct the children in self defense."

I couldn't help but smile. In truth Anya was very good at the martial arts. At first I believe she was trying to impress Nekochan and myself but it seemed she had a talent for that. More than that she had helped a few of the other girls who had been having difficulty getting it. Honestly it was probably a natural fit.

"I understand it will take some time after having our child that I will have to be with them and care for them but when I am able to work again I would like to work there. Also I have taken already spoken to Auntie Em, since her Orphanage will be mostly empty during the day, she has already agreed to help look after our child while I am at work."

I got up to so surprise of Anya walked over and hugged and kissed her. She quickly returned the kiss "Of course I would be proud to have you as a teacher at our new school. It will take a while before we are ready to open anyways. I think the kids will be lucky to have you."

She smiled "Thank you. You know I am going to miss working here. I know it's not glamorous work. However I love the girls."

"Well they love you too, you have done a remarkable job helping them stay out of trouble. Suddenly getting money isn't easy and it can lead to a lot of problems for those not used to it. You helped keep them grounded."

She smiled "If you don't mind I think I will stop by once in a while to see how they are doing."

"That would be wonderful." I agreed then I took her hands. "Say since you are here. Would you like to move in with us? It's a huge mansion and most of it is empty. I think it would it set both our minds at ease if you were living with us."

With that Anya blinked and teared up a bit and then smiled and kissed me "That would be wonderful." she responded.

"Yes it would."

She then giggled a bit "So. I hear Nekochan isn't the only one who is going to be a parent."

I coughed a bit "I see someone hasn't hasn't been keeping her promise to stay quiet about that."

"Oh you have to forgive Jenna she was so excited when she told me that it looked like she was about to burst. I still don't understand how you can give her a child but I am glad."

"Well your baby will have a sister." She nodded with a smile. "Yes they will be sisters." she agreed.

It took several months to set things up and get them in order. The concept of a free school was very alien. The kids from the Orphanage were signed up because Auntie Em saw the potential in it and was rather happy with the idea. It was slow going at first with mostly the orphans attending but steadily it grew as kids from the Bowels at first but then the lower class of the gold district enrolled their kids too seeking to gain some advantage for the next generation.

The School itself was again at the border of the bowels and the gold district.

Though that area was seeing such a resurgence in part due to my efforts it was becoming just another part of the gold district. I was a little proud of that, I had intended honestly to bring some prosperity to the Bowels and make life better. Not only had my businesses helped but other businesses had opened in the area to help bring prosperity to it. Strangely even between the Hospital that was a money sink and the school that was entirely charitable with all the other investments and the Brothel I started to turn a decent profit.

By the time that the school was going well things at home had gotten complicated. We had settled in to life with Anya. We also moved in Jenna who seemed who at first seemed over joyed at the prospect of living with us full time. However I caught sad looks on her face when she thought I wasn't looking. Especially when looking at Anya. That is not to say she treated Anya poorly she seemed to respect her a lot and was there to help her as things became more difficult for her.

I had already resolved to talk to her at one point but I heard a soft sound of crying. When I went to investigate I found her looking up and looking confused at me. "Is something wrong?" she asked.

She was putting on a brave face but I could tell from the red puffy eyes she had been the one crying.

I wrapped my arms around her and held her tightly. It was strange but in these past few months she had grown considerably and now I had to look up to speak to her and her body certainly wasn't one that belonged to a child. In fact I dare say most women would envy her.

"What's wrong?" I asked. She blinked looking confused "N-nothing. Nothing is wrong." she said defensively.

"Then why were you crying?" I asked and her eyes widened.

She sighed and seemed to deflate in my arms. "I – I am sorry. It's just I see you with Anya and see Anya so happy and I want that so badly. I want so badly to be the object of your affection. I love you so much and I just want to be loved back." she admitted.

I took her lips in a passionate kiss which surprised her "I do love you. That's why I am giving you my child." she winced and looked ashamed.

"I-I know it's just I want to feel your love. You still treat me like a child. Women my age are having children all the time. I know you are not of this world. I know things are different where you come from."

"Wait you know what?"

"I have heard you talking about your home world, I admit I don't understand all of it but several of the girls have heard you talking about not being from this world."

I winced "I see. I guess we haven't done as good a job at keeping that secret as I had hoped."

"I don't care. I don't care where you are from, I don't care where you are leaving to I just want to be with you now while I still can." she said now with tears in her eyes.

I sighed and then kissed her. "Alright. I accept your feelings. Tonight you will be joining Nekochan and I in our bed and tomorrow we start working on making a baby."

"Really?" she asked in shock

I nodded and then was crushed in the bear hug of the young blond woman.

"Umm I have one last request though." she said which surprised me. "Oh?"

She grinned playfully "Nekochan told me you were the one who chose her name so I ask that you allow me to do the naming of our child."

I chuckled "Fair enough."

She kissed me passionately and then we agreed to part until that night as both of us had things we had to take care of.

That night was wonderful, it was Jenna, Myself, Nekochan and Anya showing our love for one another. The very next day I had Nekochan preform the procedure to remove one of my eggs to use for genetic material and once I recovered from the Anesthesia and was able to I preformed the procedure on Jenna to get one of her eggs. Through the miracle of science I then inserted my genetic material in to it fertilizing it. That done I inserted it in to Jenna's womb.

I was not Idle while we waited to see if the procedure was a success. I knew by this point that things were going to be busy around the house. I knew that it was likely going to be more than just Nekochan and I could manage.

I had however some resources that I had not tapped yet. It took a bit of work and repurposing but I became happy with the results. It was tough to get in the work between dutifully caring for the girls but I managed. You never know what you can do until you try.

So I called Nekochan, Anya and Jenna in to the warehouse and told them I had some people to introduce them too.

Anya and Jenna looked positively baffled by what was going on. Nekochan just war a smirk I am sure having already figured out where this was going.

I'll admit I liked to make a presentation of things so I gave them a moment to ponder what was going on before I called out. "Alright come on out girls It's time for introductions."

Anya and Jenna both gasped as 3 practical doppelgangers of me stepped out from the door. Each dressed in a maid uniform.

The only real difference in appearance was that Their hair color was different, one had black hair, one brown and the last was blonde.

The moved slightly mechanically something I had not had time to work out. But the smiled at us and bowed in unison. "It is a pleasure to meet you mistresses, how may we serve you?" the asked in unison.

"I would like to present to you Alpha, Beta and Gama. They are…" I thought for a moment.

"They are like fake copies of myself that I made in case I was in danger. Usually they wouldn't be smart enough to move and talk on their own but I have been working with them."

Jenna blinked and crooked her head "They are copies, so they aren't real people?" she asked.

"No they were created from my flesh but they are not real. They are only partially flesh and blood."

In truth they were made in a way similar to Nekochan's original body, they were part clone, part andriod. They had learning AI's which meant that in theory they could become self aware one day but that would be unlikely without a lot of work. For now they were intelligent enough to do simple tasks they were programmed to do.

"Oh my they look so much like you." noted Anya.

"Yeah they were made from me. I had to use some deep dyes to change the color of their hair to differentiate them from me. I didn't want to confuse the children"

"Well I think that more help is wonderful, but I have to ask, why didn't you just ask the girls from the Brothel for help. I am sure they would love to be maids."

I winced. "Well there is a lot going on here and while I do trust in their loyalty, I think we are going to need privacy in the coming months. I have experience with getting information out of loyal servants that don't realize just how much they are giving up in casual conversations. Also as you pointed out to me we haven't been as good at hiding our origins as I thought we were and that is frankly troubling."

Jenna nodded.

"Umm what can they do?" asked Anya eyeing them curiously.

"They can cook, clean, do household chores. They follow commands. They can even learn new tasks if shown. They are programmed in self defense though they were not created for combat, They are a bit tougher and stronger than they look."

"So Alpha is the Brunet, Beta is the Brown haired one and Gama is the Blonde?" asked Jenna to clarify things. I nodded. "I am sorry they don't have much of a personality yet, that may change over time. Aside from what knowledge they have been given they are like newborns so please treat them kindly." I explained, not that I thought that anyone present would abuse the help.

"So are those my spare uniforms that they are wearing?" Aksed Nekochan.

"Yes. I had to modify them a bit as I am a bit smaller than you." I was 5' and Nekochan was half a foot taller. "However yes, consequently the uniforms are still bullet proof but they aren't packing all the gadgets that your uniform had in the hidden pockets."

"Umm one more question. If they were created to take your place in a dangerous situation. Doesn't that mean you are leaving yourself vulnerable by using them for this purpose?" she asked.

"A bit but I can create more later. For now we need the extra help."

With that our newest help around the house were introduced.

It took two weeks to determine that the procedure had worked and Jenna was in fact pregnant. My heart skipped a beat when I saw the liquid in the Jar I had used as the impromptu pregnancy test change colors indicating pregnancy. Jenna who was right there watching with me screamed and hugged me tightly. I hugged her back awkwardly with one hand because I was holding the jar that among it's contents contained her urine. I maneuvered over to the table and set in down so I could kiss her passionately and hug her properly.

A few days later we threw a large party to celebrate at the Brothel. We set out a feast, we had a live band, we moved the tables so there could be dancing. We had flowers decorating the place. It looked wonderful.

Nekochan and I asked Anya to dance we took center stage as the band played and then after the band finished it's song we each held our partner there a little longer. We got down on our knees at the same time and pulled out a little box from our pockets.

It was wonderful to see Jenna's face turn from surprise to shock to Jubilation when I clocked open the little box and she realized what I was about to ask.

At the same time we asked Jenna and Anya to marry us.

There were tears and hugs and both said Yes as they clung to us and kissed us. It was romantic.

It took another month to set up the wedding. Again it was held at the Brothel. It took that long to get things set up. A month found Nekochan and I both in immaculate Tuxedos. I had wanted to wear a dress but Nekochan thought we should match. She told me she would make sure I got to wear a proper wedding dress soon.

The Brides both looked angelic in their flowing white gowns. The Gowns and the Tuxes were both very Anachronistic to the time, they took most of the time to have created but seeing them there in flowing white gowns I knew it was worth every cent I had spent.

For the person who was to Marry us we had a Judge that frequented the Brothel who was a friend, we asked him and while it wasn't legally binding he agreed.

So we stood before the judge. Jenna on my arm and Anya on Nekochan's though this was a foursome marriage. The judge asked us to give our Vows. I promised to love honor and cherish them both and thanked them for being a part of my life.

They thanked us for their freedom, for our love and for showing them a life they never could have imagined.

It ended with all of us exchanging kisses and exchanging wedding rings. I exchanged with Jenna and Nekochan with Anya. We were all announced as "Wife, Wife, Wife and Wife." It was a strange wedding but one of the happiest times I had up till that point.

Anya didn't understand why we wouldn't let her drink but shrugged and accepted it when we told her it was bad for the baby.

The party was wonderful and the short "Honeymoon." we had back at the Mansion was even more wonderful.

Then we settled in to our new lives. There is something about living with two pregnant women. Even though one was not that pregnant they need a lot of love and care. I lost count of how many foot rubs and back rubs I had to do. Riding out the mood swings because of the hormones was fun but I got to hold both women as they cried or cursed at me or cried while cursing at me until it passed.

It quickly became apparent that the old saying about when a woman is pregnant both parents are pregnant was very true.

This was not all I had to contend with though. I had gotten our chief Healer Samuel to look up the prenatal care and birth information in the tablet. Now Samuel was a lean man in his 50s with graying hair and dark eyes. He had swarthy complexion and tended to have constant stubble on his face. He usually sported a somber look.

Samuel was kind of a difficult person to work with. He had been the one who questioned the wisdom of using this uncovered knowledge in the tablets the most. He was the oldest healer here and rather proud of his work. It was strange to say that he was also the best healer here. He had grudgingly adapted things from the tablet after he was certain they were useful. He was the most demanding with the assistants but also the one with a knack for handling difficult cases and usually getting better results than expected.

"So are you certain you are prepared for this?" I asked anxiously.

"Well since you created this odd place I have actually had the chance to help some mothers give birth. As I am sure you are aware those were difficult cases. I am not trying to brag but I handled them. More often than not I was able to save the woman and sometimes even the baby. I have a feeling that's why you are coming to me."

I winced and nodded "Yes but I wanted to make sure that you are clear on the best information possible."

He gave a slight smile and sat the tablet down to look at me.

"You know as I understand it you have something to do with these pregnancies, I would imagine it has to do with some information that didn't make it to these slates but I will not pry. However that means that you are an expecting parent and I have dealt with many of your kind. I know you are concerned about your wives safety. That's natural. However there is something you must understand. Woman have been giving birth since humanity began. While this new information is helpful, I myself have helped women give birth before. Many of them hard cases and quite a few of those turned out better than expected."

I nodded "I understand which is why I chose you to handle this." I agreed.

"Yes, well that means that you are going to have to back off and allow me to do my job. I know you are used to being in charge of things. However as I have told many an expectant parent, You do your job and keep your wives calm. I'll do mine and deliver the baby."

My cheeks were burning slightly but I nodded. It was tough to accept things were not under my control. I think all humans have problems with that. Jumper's in particular I would imagine have it worse since so many things are in our control. It kind of made me wonder what I would be like if I ever got any real power. I might become a Tyrant, not out of ambition but just out of my own fear and good intentions.

Samuel looked at me with a smirk I don't know what was playing across my face but he patted me on the shoulder "Go relax for a while see if you can get some actual sleep. You don't look like you have been getting much."

I coughed and nodded. "Perhaps you are right. Thank you Samuel"

"I know I am right, now I am busy so if you will excuse me your wives are not my only patients." he said excusing himself.

It's funny how two opposing things can both be true. The time between then and the birth of my first child dragged on very slowly. There were long nights sitting up with Anya because she was crying due to her hormones, or she was sick or freaking out about being a mother.

When the time came though it seemed like the time had passed in the blink of an eye. It was the morning when Anya's water broke. My heart felt like it was going to pound out of my chest and I had never seen Nekochan so frantic as we tried to gather up Anya, with the bags we had previously packed for her trip. Thankfully Anya somehow was relatively calm and Jenna was absolutely calm. She got us under control and saw to it that we got the bags. Once we knew the time was coming we had paid to have a carriage on call. Jenna went and got the driver to bring the carriage around front for us. Jenna by that point was quite pregnant herself but Seemed to have a knack for keeping a cool head.

So we headed for the hospital as I held Anya's hand and cursed ever bump along the way. This was very strange in this day and age. Usually women would give birth with help of a Midwife at their homes. However my Hospital had access to techniques and technology far beyond those of a normal Midwife. I felt safer taking Anya there.

The Hospital was crowded but seeing me with Anya they immediately set us up with a room and sent someone to get Samuel.

Samuel arrived shortly and examined Anya informing us we likely had a long wait ahead of us. He told us he would have his best assistants keeping an eye on her and giving her herbs to dull the pain and help her through the process. We held Anya's hands and caressed her forehead and saw to her needs as ever few minutes the assistants would check back to observe Anya.

It took half a day until Anya was ready to give birth. Even with the pain dampening herbs it seemed painful as the 3 of us tried to comfort her. Then after an hour of hard work our child was born. They didn't have scales at the hospital to weight babies but Samuel declared the baby a healthy weight by feel. She had pale blue eyes, a full heat of pale blond hair and The ears and tail of a cat leaving no doubt who her father was. She cried loudly and was cleaned up wrapped in a blanket and given to Anya. Anya looked exhausted but had the biggest smile on her face looking down at the baby who cooed back at her.

They asked for a name for the baby. We had batted several names around, I had even contributed though they were usually shot down. Then Anya looking down at the baby asked us "What do you think of Angel? She looks so Angelic." None of us could really argue that so Angel was brought in to the world.

It was a strange name for the world as the concept of Angels didn't really exist. However we had brought with us many stories of our world and Anya seemed to like those. It seems to here this is what an angel meant. We were overjoyed that both Mother and Baby were doing well. As Anya shared with me later she had a couple brothers and sisters who didn't survive being born and finally her mother had lost her life in child birth.

It was a couple days before we could bring Anya back from the Hospital. Then we had a Baby, a new mother and another pregnant woman. Things were a bit hectic but I wouldn't have traded it for the world.

Little Baby Angel was a sweet child… when she wasn't screaming at the top of her lungs, urinating on me, or puking on me. To be fair everyone got to share in the joys of the new baby. She was adorable though and I wouldn't have traded her for the world. Though she sure did take a big bite out of my sleep schedule.

It was during this time that Jenna's skills at management and training really shined. With minimal help she had trained people to take over aspects of my empire should we be unavailable. While we received frequent messages and visits from them, they did remarkably well handling things in our stead. Which was good as we had our hands full.

The months passed slowly this time and it was hard work caring for everyone but I managed with help.

Finally the day came for Jenna to give birth. Instead of running around like chickens with our head cut off this time we not only had a plan but followed it. So things went much more smoothly. We got her in the carriage, got her to the Hospital and in to the room and things went as smoothly as they could go.

Samuel greeted us a few minutes later and examined Jenna declaring we had a bit of a wait and left us in the care of a couple of assistants. I don't know how long exactly it took. It was hours of comforting and holding her. To be fair she handled it like a champ, she was as calm as someone trying to push something the size of a watermelon through a hole way too small for that.

Eventually the time came my child announced her arrival to the world with loud cries showing there was nothing wrong with her lungs. She was cleaned up and wrapped in a blanket and handed to Jenna. She was adorable. She had bright green eyes and a little wisp of blonde hair on the top of her hair. She seemed to calm down very quickly looking around with sleepy eyes. Maybe it was just me but I thought I saw the spark of curiosity in those big eyes.

Again when asked for a name Jenna Surprised me a bit. She went with Alice. Which was fine with me. She would later tell me she liked the tale of a girl who found herself in a strange world and interacting with strange beings there because it reminded her of my journey.

I reached down and she took my finger in her tiny little hand seeming to examine it as she cooed.

After a while of bonding She was taken away to give Jenna a chance to rest. We were chased out after being given a chance to recover. I was reluctant to go but Jenna told me to go she would be Okay.

Again it took a couple days for her and little Alice to recover enough to return home. Alice it turns out was a perfectly healthy baby. Now we had two new mothers and two infants to take care of.

I was grateful for Alpha, Beta and Gamma. Not only did they do the cleaning, cooking and such but they helped to remind us to do things like eat and take care of our selves since that often got lost in the rush to care for everyone else. I thought I saw a bit of personality developing in them as they often looked disapproving at us when we were near collapse from lack of sleep. They helped out immensely with the babies too watching over them, cleaning them. We actually managed to get a few tiny breaks of sleep during this time.

It only took about a month after Alice arrived for Angel to begin crawling, she was well above average as she was only 4 months old. That was truly a joyous occasion but also meant we were quite a bit busier watching over her. She could crawl quite fast inheriting her Father's superhuman physique. We had "Baby-proofed" the mansion before they were even born. However little Angel still found ways to make messes. Knocking over potted plants to play with the dirt. She had a knack for getting in to stuff. At 6 months She was pulling herself up and at 8 she was walking, She was a little terror by then.

It took little Alice 6 Months to learn to crawl but a couple months later at 8 months as she was learning to pull herself up, she was also saying her first word "Mama." Since all of us answered to that I think she found it convenient. Her big sister Angel actually had said her first word one month earlier… but it turned out to be "FUCK." repeating after Nekochan stubbed her toe. She laughed about it too after she said it like she knew it was something she wasn't supposed to say. We were kind of shocked. We were proud that she had said her first word but it was a little awkward too. Somehow I had a feeling Angel was going to be a handful.

It's cliche to say that once a child is born it becomes the center of your life with all other things being pushed to the side.

It was a few rare moments that I was able to snatch away for myself to work on something during all this time. I managed to create a functional printing press. Now books were a rarity in this world usually possessed by the rich and were hand written. Even a blank book which were often used in accounting and such were quite expensive.

It was sad to say but the creation of this item if people knew of it would likely get me in trouble with the nobles of the city. Knowledge was power and they would understand this. Being able to mass produce books at cheap rate meant I could potentially sell them very cheaply, possibly at a rate where the unwashed masses could buy them. Now with my school it wasn't a certainty that only the Nobles and Wealthy could read. I think the school was allowed because it was something not most could not even contemplate at the time. They thought it was some silly experiment or game by some bored rich person.

However cheap books meant I could control the message. I could easily print something unfavorable to them and rile up the masses should I choose too. Considering all the good will I had with the masses it would very likely result in a revolution should I try. To be honest not only was I popular but I was starting to get to the level of popularity where creepy cults pop up. So I had to be careful about this.

After I had my Printing press secured and functional. I had to work through other's I purchased a company that made books and supplied them with more modern paper making techniques as well as book binding techniques to help them produce books at a cheaper price.

So I began to create books first medical books for the Hospital. The Tablets were great but there were so few of them and having to have them brought back to me every couple days or so to recharge was… not ideal. It reminded me when I got to a world that was more modern or magical to either make solar or magic powered tablets.

I had wanted to create school books as well for the school. It would be a dream for every kid to have their own book to read. It would improve the quality of education immensely. Sadly it would also be putting a target on the back of the school. So I just produced some books for the teachers to teach from.

I did use my new Paper company though to see that the children had access to paper while at school to be able to write things down. Previously it had all been pure memory. Ironically in this age people had much better memories for things because they didn't have a means of writing stuff down.

As happy as I was to finally be getting the books printed, thankfully the rest of my empire had not been dormant. Though my direction was limited. We continued to expand. The Bakery we opened turned out to be a roaring success making treats that should not have existed in this era, hence more bakeries opened across the city and even in neighboring cities. The business I invested in proved very successful and I was able to receive money just from them. The Brothel proved still very profitable, even with new girls that had to be hired to take the old one's place. Financially I was probably the richest person in the city not counting the King. I was very careful not to be too successful there or draw his ire.

For the most part the King was content to maintain the military to help protect against outside and inside threats and collect taxes as he let the nobles squabble among themselves. However he was a Descendant of a very powerful Mountain Barbarian who through will and his own strength had largest city in the world. He maintained his position through strength of arm and the fact no one wanted to make him an enemy. The few that had been foolish enough to try had met with messy ends.

Months passed and Little Angel and Alice both grew at an impressive pace. Both were incredibly smart. Talking and walking months before the average child. They both were very curious and a bit too clever about getting in to things at times. Thankfully we kept close eye on them because they could get in to places we didn't expect.

They certainly kept us busy. During all of this there was a building dread within me. I suppose I am the sort of person that can find a dark cloud in every silver lining. Normally the rules were loose enough to allow me to take children of myself and presumably companions when I left this world. However that would mean taking them away from Anya and Jenna which I could never do. They would leave as 8 year olds and come back as possibly hundreds or thousands of years older. I could take Jenna and Anya too thanks to Pods I had picked up but as strong and as clever as they were I felt like throwing them in to a greater multiverse would be cruel but leaving them felt cruel too.

One time Nekochan caught me sitting alone thinking.

"You are thinking about it again aren't you?" she said. There was no need to say what the IT was. I nodded.

She sighed softly and sat down beside me rubbing my shoulders. "You know if you live your life anticipating pain you will never get to enjoy the present. These are the times you should cherish not work yourself in to a depression because they have to end."

I nodded. I could not find find fault with her words.

"I know it's just I can't find a good answer to this. I want to take them but I don't want to risk them. I don't want to drag them from dangerous world to dangerous world."

She sighed and flicked me hard on the forehead… hard.

"Owww." I said rubbing my forehead.

"They aren't made of glass you know. They are smart. They are capable. They may actually be of some help."

I sighed "Yeah but…"

"You are letting your fears control you again. I know you want to keep them safe but do you really want to wait hundreds or thousands of years to see them again? Do you want to wait that long to see the kids?"

my heart sank. "No."

"Also isn't there something about respawning that you mentioned?"

I winced "I don't know if that is in effect and even if it is watching or knowing that they have died potentially many times would bother me."

"Well here is a suggestion. Sit them down. Explain the situation to them. You have explained most of it already and offer them a chance if they want to go."

"Well we both know they will say yes in a minute. They would follow us in to hell if that's where we were going."

"Well don't you think loyalty and love like that deserves to be rewarded."

"Yes." I said finally "Yes that is correct."

We called in Anya and Jenna, having the maids watch the kids for a bit.

"What's wrong?" Asked Jenna eyeing us both to try and read something from or faces.

"Nothing. Nothing is wrong. I have decided something though and I have an offer to make you.

You see you understand we will leave here in 8 years, well we should be able to manage it so we can bring you and the girls with us."

Both women gasped in surprise. "The problem is that I don't know exactly where we are going and if I had to guess it's probably not going to be safe. Not that I would call this world the safest place either, though I have been working to improve it."

"Would we and the children be getting new lives as I have heard you mention before?" Asked Jenna.

"That is a possibility for you two. I think I shall let the children grow up before we start giving them new lives."

I saw a distinct wince on Jenna's face. "Can you do it without the new memories and new life?" She asked.

"Well that is a possibility in most jumps. It's called Drop In."

With that both Anya and Jenna seemed relieved. "No offense but after what you and Nekochan said happened to you in the last world I think we would rather go Drop in." Said Anya.

"Umm what happens if we don't get a new life or go drop in, can we still enter the world?" Asked Jenna

"Well Yeah. You won't gain any new skills, powers or abilities but I can let you in to the world through the Warehouse."

"Also I wasn't so bad last jump." I added.

"Really now, I was there and you seemed an absolute mess to me." Replied Nekochan.

"I was seriously thinking of putting my foot down about taking drawbacks because it was not fun trying to keep you from brooding the entire time about the death of your parents."

"Drawbacks?" Asked Jenna and Anya at the same time.

"Oh yeah you don't know about those." Interjected Nekochan before I could reply.

"She can make things harder for herself in exchange for getting more power up front." She added

"That sounds bad. Especially if you are warning us about how dangerous the worlds can be." Said Anya concerned.

"It's not like that I try not to take more problems than I can manage. Also sometimes I need the extra power and abilities."

Both women sitting across from me looked troubled.

"I'll try and take it easy on the Drawbacks… at least until we are strong enough to deal with them." I explained. "If there is anything big I'll try and run it by you first." I assured them when my previous comment didn't seem to put them at ease.

"Alright that seems fair." Finally Anya agreed.

"I guess I can understand but I do hope you will be careful." Added Jenna.

"Alright so I guess that means you are both coming along." I stated with a smile. I felt a huge weight lifted off my heart.

I soon found myself embraced by the soft arms of both Jenna and Anya "Of course." they both said and each kissed me in turn.

I couldn't see Nekochan but I didn't have to to sense the smug grin on her.

"IF the next world we visit is more advanced like the first one I visited. I'll make sure to create some power armor for the both of you in case you need it."

"OH you mean that magic armor you have that flies and shoots magic lightning but isn't actually magic?" Asked Anya.

"Yes." I replied with a smile.

"I believe she refereed to it as Science, it seems to be related to the study of Alchemy and such." explained Jenna.

"Something like that." I agreed.

With that decided my heart was a lot lighter. However having more people traveling meant instead of only having eight years to be with them and enjoy their prescience. I only had either years to prepare them for whatever hells awaited us.

The kids were getting older so they didn't need as constant care. That freed me up a little but it turns out I would need that time to plan and arrange things.

Thankfully due to a stroke of luck my business empire was set up to now basically run themselves with minimal supervision.

Time passed as it does and so I began to train my daughters in the martial arts once they mastered walking and standing up. It was like a game. At first I focused on stances and basic things like how to throw a punch or a kick or do various martial arts stances to help their balance and technique. This cound me crouched down with a large cushion as Little Angel wailed upon the cushion for all she was worth. She punched and kicked with a big grin on her face. Each one I felt. The little girl was far stronger than she had any right to be. Her technique was still a little rough but her power and speed were considerable.

Feeling the need for a break I called "Alright I think you have had enough for a bit, Alice it's your turn."

Alice looked up at me uncertain with puffed up cheeks then gave a little sigh and got in to her stance.
She punched and kicked. Her form was a bit better and smoother than her Sister's but she seemed to look more discouraged with each strike.

"Honey is everything okay I?" asked. she blinked then sulked. It was strange to watch a 4 year old sulk. "I try really hard but I am not as strong or fast as Angel." she replied.

I set down the cushion and wrapped my arms around her.

"It's alright little one. We all have our own strengths and weaknesses."

"But I want to be strong like her." she complained.

"Well she has Nekochan's blood in her she is just very strong and quick naturally."

She pouted "I wish I had Nekochan's blood in me." She said upset.

I felt as I had been stabbed there.

I sighed "You have my blood. Which means you have to fight the way that I fight. You have to fight like Batman."

She looked up at me curiously "Batman?"

"Yes he a fictional character. He is a normal guy who fights along side gods and often is more valuable than them in battle. He goes in to every fight like he is the under dog. It means he has to prepare for every fight and constantly look for any little thing to turn the fight to his advantage. Your greatest strength isn't in your body it's in your mind. If you are forced in to a fight look for weak points to strike at. Look for weapons nearby to turn to your advantage. I won't lie it's not going to be as easy as Angel or Nekochan. They can just rush in and apply their strength and speed and usually win. However we will encounter things stronger and faster than them and when that happens you will be ready for it. Go in to each fight trying to find the plan for victory. Try to be ready for trouble before it rears it's head.

I didn't bother mentioning the metric ton of plot armor that Batman had. It was not valid here. What was valid hear was her using what she had to the best of her ability.

"But… if I am to think my way out of my problems why am I training like big Sis Angel?" she asked.

"Because sooner or later you are going to have to fight and these are good skills to have. The key though is how you fight as much as who you fight. I'll be teaching her a bit of this as well mind you but I think it's a good time to explain it to you. She is still just enjoying hitting stuff as hard as she can and feeling strong. One last thing though. Maybe this is the most important thing which I should have started with. Don't worry so much about what she is doing in comparison to you. Just try and do your best. Your technique and form are actually superior because she is still relying on her natural strength and speed. "

"My form is superior to hers?" She asked and I nodded with a smile "Your movements are smoother and you are using less energy." she blinked and smiled brightly. Then ran off after Angel "Hey Angel, Raven Mommy says my form is superior to yours!" I heard her bragging. I couldn't help but chuckle at that.

My daughters however were not the only ones getting new training. I took a break and headed out back to watch Nekochan working with Anya and Jenna. Both were skilled martial artisists in their own right but they had minimal training with weapons. That was an oversight that we wished to correct, in fact eventually I would be joining them for some training to brush up on my armed combat skills.

Currently both women were holding a wooden training sword we were rigged up. I noticed that Anya looked far more comfortable with hers than Jenna. All three ladieas were about equal height though Jenna was rather young and was likely going to wind up the tallest of us. I suspected she had Nordic blood in her.

"Do we really have to do this?" Asked Jenna a little annoyed as she held her wooden stick.

"If you want to come with us you do." answered Nekochan. "We are trying to give you the best shot at surviving these journeys."

Jenna merely nodded but seemed not very pleased with that answer.

"Alright I would like both of you girls to come at me, don't worry you aren't going to hit me but I want to measure the skills that you have." she instructed.

The girls exchanged glances with each other and nodded I saw them take a deep breath and charge forth with their sticks held high.

They Swung at Nekochan who casually blocked the swings of both women. "Not bad Anya, you may have a knack for this… Jenna you still aren't holding your sword quite right, you losing power from your swing raise your right shoulder a bit." she instructed as she practically danced between the girls attacks like they were nothing.

It reminded me that with her natural speed, strength and the skills she gained in this world Nekochan was a truly formidable force. Honestly I couldn't help but wonder if I could come up with something in time to save my own life should she be turned against me.

The mock battle ended with both women panting heavily as Nekochan planted her sword tip first in the ground.

"Not bad. I definitely see where we can make improvements but not bad for a first day. Anyways why don't you go and take a rest for a bit." she suggested. Jenna and Anya both nodded. Anya patted Jenna on the back and offered a few comforting words as they walked away.

Nekochan made her way out to where I was watching.

"So how are they doing?" I asked.

"Well training doesn't happen in a day, it will likely take months of hard work for them to be at a level I would call proficient but I can definitely see they have potential."

I nodded.

"So you hear anything from the guys you were asking to set up an Archery range back here." She asked.

"Yeah, they should be able to do it soon. It's not going to be elaborate, just getting some bows a bunch of arrows and some targets."

"Makes you wish you had brought some more guns in the warehouse doesn't it?" she asked.

"Eh not really the problem with training them with guns here is the limited ammo. Arrows we can make. Bullets right now we can't. I mean I suppose I could invent gun powder but I know nothing about loading rounds and you can't get everything from a book. I guess that was an over site on my part."

"So after all of this are you still worried about taking them?"

"Of Course, I am always going to worry you know me. However I guess there are a couple of things more we can do. The combat though is one of the big things."

She nodded. "You know usually I would say you are worrying too much but I can't see a real downside to training them as best as we can before they hit the next world."

I nodded in agreement.

"Well I think they have rested enough I'll go work them some more. I'll drag you out later when you are ready to join them."

"Alright." I agreed.

We trained, we trained and we trained some more.

Years passed and my little daughters were advancing quite quickly in the martial arts. It went from a child's game to my girls being incredibly skilled for their age. While I suspected Alice might have a bit of trouble fending off a full grown attacker still just do to her small size and strength. I was fairly confident she could give a kidnapper enough trouble that she should be able to easily escape.

I joined Anya and Jenna in training with the sword. We all got rather skilled. Though the girls lacked the actual battle training. That was likely the best we could do. I would have to say that of the two Anya had more talent with combat. Jenna was still capable but not to the extent that Anya was.

Archery turned out to be interesting, we all wound up somewhat capable Archers. We could hit a stationary object at a fair distance. It would take time to test how well we would do with moving targets.

Eventually it came time for the next step of my plan. A step I had been kind of dreading.

I found myself before a mountain of a man. His brown hair was wild and greying, His skin looked like tough leather that had been burned in the sun. His eyes were dark and examined me with curiosity. He towered over me in his simple clothes made of animal skins likely that he had made himself. He had a bushy graying beard that seemed to suit his appearance. He was the best hunter in the land that I could find. He survived by selling pelts when he bothered to come in to civilization.

This was Ol' Bear. Bear of course a nickname but no one I had found knew his real name so he went by Bear or Old Bear.

"So let me see if I have this correct?" he asked with crossed arms. "You want me to take you and your family deep out in the wilderness, train them everything I know about living in the wilds, Hunting, Trapping, and well surviving out there. In exchange for all that you are going to not only give me that huge bag of gold you are holding but will help me gather pelts to sell?"

"That is correct." I answered simply.

A big grin crossed his face revealing yellowed teeth. "Well That sounds fine with me but, You are going to have to do something about making your own shelter, I am afraid my shack isn't really large enough for all of you. Also I have to warn you city folk. It's not easy to live the way I do."

I nodded "I understand. I am sure it's going to be far from comfortable but sometimes you have to do certain things you don't want to."

"Well I don't really get it but I'll be happy to take your money and teach you what I can."

With that the bargain was made.

We learned much under the care of Bear the hunter. He was kind enough to help us build a shelter. It was a valuable lesson. We learned hunting, and trapping just as he said. We learned to catch and butcher our own food as well as remove the hide of animals and treat them so they could be sold.

He also taught us what plants were edible, even showed us a few plants that had medicinal purposes like preventing infections on cuts.

All of that said… It wasn't fun, I got used to it but my daughters I am sure came to hate me for this and Anya and Jenna were sorely tested by it. I wasn't a fan of Ice cold baths in the lake, or many of the other hardships we endured out there but nothing could be done. The only one who didn't seem to mind much was Nekochan.

It took the better part of a year before Bear came to me.

"Well I must say, I am impressed with how you city folk have survived. I expected you to run off after a couple weeks but you stuck it out. Thing is as grateful as I have been to have your help in getting pelts. I don't really have much else to teach you. My way of life isn't what you would call, complicated. It's just not easy to follow." he explained.

"I see, well thank you for all that you have taught us." I said simply holding out my hand which he took with his much larger rough hand and shook.

"You know, it wasn't bad having people around. I am not much for company usually but if you ever want to drop by for a visit I'll be happy to have you."

I smiled "I'll certainly considering it."

and with that I was able to tell the girls we were leaving which the cheered about and my Wives looked quite a bit happier too.

Returning home was like a dream. At first it had been a little hard to get used to roughing it in this primitive time but living with out those few comforts that this time afforded like a warm bed had made me long even for the primitive comforts I had.

It was very funny to have the girls both belly aching about the long journey back. However as soon as home came in to view their tiredness was apparently forgotten as both ran for the house eager to reach the front door and put this months long journey behind them.

The door opened before they reach rather large yard. The door opened and Alpha awaited us. She smiled brightly though that was almost her default expression.

The girls made it up the stairs and both of them threw their arms around Alpha who kneeled down and hugged them back. "Welcome home young Mistresses." she said.

I had to be amused at how happy both parties seemed. I had noticed some subtle signs of emotions in Alpha, Beta and Gamma in particular with the children. Angel and Alice were both particularly fond of the trio as they often served as care takers. "Oh Auntie Alpha we missed you." said Alice. "I missed you too little Mistress." she said.

We finally caught up with the girls. Alpha let go of the girls and stood up to bow. "Greetings Mistresses, welcome home."

"Greetings Alpha, I trust everything has been going well in our absence?"

"Yes Mistress we have continued to protect and keep the mansion maintained for your return."

"Very good Alpha."

"We have also been directing those that come for your assistance as you have been transmitting. Your empire seems stable though there are complaints of some sort of cult forming around you."

I had taken a small device with me on this camping trip to allow me to speak with the trio over long distances. It was tricky to create without any cell phone towers but I managed it.

I let out a soft groan as I face palm. "They were supposed to be stopping cults not starting them."

Alpha blinks but has no further response on the matter.

The last thing I had ever wanted was someone to worship me. This was a problem I would have to nip in the bud soon but not quite at the moment.

"Thank you Alpha you and your sisters have done an excellent job. Please get things ready so that we can wash ourselves. It's been a long journey, and please prepare a large meal. We have been hunting and gathering for so long I really want to taste some real food." Alpha smiled brightly "It shall be done Mistress." she said happily.

It was the next day. I cannot express how wonderful it is to have a real meal, a real bath and to sleep in ones own bed. It was like heaven. Perhaps it was good that I had such a wonderful night as at the moment I was doing something I found decidedly unpleasant. Nekochan and I were heading to the meeting grounds of the cult.

Apparently they must have had a collaborator on the inside because of all the information I got on possible cults this never came up before now.

"You alright, you are actually shaking?" asked Nekochan.

"Honestly? I have no idea, in my wildest dreams I never thought this would happen."

"I can handle this alone if it's too much for you?" Said Nekochan.

I gave her a look "By handle it you mean like we handled the other cults?"

"Well I would just try and scare them a bit."

I sighed "No… these people are just misguided I'll do it." I muttered. I felt her squeeze my shoulder sportively. "Just know you aren't alone in this."

I took a deep breath and continued on.

Apparently the cult had purchased a building that used to be a store. It was still closed but there was a side door that you accessed from an alleyway as we headed in I spotted someone watching from the rooftops. Apparently to make sure nothing happened to the people going in the alleyway.

I found the side door. It was a simple wooden door that looked slightly worn. I knocked on it and waited. For a moment there was nothing and I was starting to wonder if they had ran but then I hear "Password?"

I sighed "IT'S ME RAVEN, OPEN UP!" I declared loudly.

I heard the man behind the door stumble back and curse. There was movement behind the door and then it swung open.

A Skinny unfamiliar man in red robes looked at me in awe. "It's you! It's really you!" he said in awe and bowed. "Please come in, Come in."

There were a couple of robed women behind him, they looked somewhat familiar. I had seen them around a few times at my businesses but had never had occasion to speak to them. They looked at me with a mixture of awe and fear.

Inside the entire place was lit by hundreds of candles as the windows had been boarded up. My eye twtiched with I noticed several golden Idols most of myself but some of Nekochan as well around. I smelled incense burning as well. As we went deeper I noticed the candles were placed leading down to a stairway. I steeled my resolve. I heard voices coming from downstairs it sounded like preaching. I didn't catch all of it but I hear "She who came from beyond." as well as "She who brought knowledge and wisdom to this world." at this point my stomach was doing flip flops but I powered through. I entered down the stairs and found a couple dozen people in robes on makeshift pews As I stepped forward a silence seemed to come over the room as slowly they became aware of my prescience as I walked by the pews, at the back of the room was a stage and in front of a large statue of me and one of Nekochan there was a very familiar woman. Her name was Katrina She was a very lovely brunet with long curly dark hair dark eyes, a pale complexion and rather generous curves. She was one of the original girls from the brothel. She still worked there in fact. I remembered she was one of the girls who had asked to have Nekochan's baby. We had decided against it because there was just something off about her that I couldn't place.

She was also one of the girls that I had healed, I made frequent use of the Medbay to make sure the girls were not sick or carrying any disease. She actually had been found to have a genetic disorder that would have likely cut her life short in a few years. When I had told her about it she admitted she had lost her mother at a very early age which had lead to her becoming a slave. So I could understand in a way how she would view me in such a way.

As I approached the stage and she finally saw me and Nekochan she grew pale and silent. Seeming to back away uncertain. Her look reminded me of a child that wasn't certain if they were in trouble or not.

Finally she managed a "Welcome… umm this is unexpected. She who came from beyond has chosen to favor us with her prescience."

I could not hold back a wince.

I got up to the Stage. I didn't know what to do so I gave a wave. "Ummm I need a minute with your leader here. Just sit tight I'll have some words for all of you too."

Katrina looked rather afraid by this point as I turned her her "Katrina, what in the hell are you doing?!?" I shout whispered to her. She flinched.

"I – I just formed a group to spread your teaching and to make sure it's not lost when you leave. You saved my life in a couple of ways. I just wanted to repay you for your kindness."

"I am not a god Katrina. I am not someone to be worshiped like one." I replied.

"It's true you are far to kind to be a god of this world. I see you as a gift given to this world to bring about a golden age."

The gods of this world ranged from cold and uncaring to outright eldritch abominations born of nightmares. Some bestowed their blessings upon favored humans but just as often that lead to tragedy either for them of everyone around them.

I sighed deeply as I rubbed the bridge of my nose. Maybe in part this was my own fault for trying to change things. In truth I was… not very happy with Katrina at the moment but I couldn't truly be angry with her. Even though she was afraid the look she gave me reminded me of a puppy that just realized it was in trouble with it's owner.

"I am going to address your followers Katrina. I… Have a few words of wisdom for them."

"Of course, please.' she offered.

I took a deep breath in my first life I had maybe one gift that most people don't I could talk to crowds. It wasn't that I didn't get nervous it was terrible right before I started but as I started and got in to it I could turn that nervous energy in to just energy that could carry me through it. Thankfully I hadn't lost that trait as I looked out among the anxious and eager people watching.

"Well Hello. I honestly never expected to be addressing you all like this. Look I have to say something right off the bat. I am no god. I am no great figure to lift this world in to a golden age. I have merely acquired some knowledge in my travel that I have shared to improve the lives of those around me. I don't think a cult like this is needed but I also don't believe in telling people what to worship. Well unless it is hurting people. Then I would step in.

"Look I think it's good to preserve knowledge and wisdom as those can be lost over time. I appreciate that people wish to see my teachings live on even after I am gone. I don't think you have to go as far as a cult. Frankly I would lose the robes and the incense as all of that makes me a bit nervous.

Look all I have done is gather what knowledge I could and try to use it to make the world around me better. I think that is a goal we all should have, To leave the world a better place than we found it. The truth I don't see my self as that special. I have been very lucky to acquire great knowledge and resources that I used to try and help those around me. If you wish to carry on my work that that is a challenge I give to all of you. Both to learn and then to use that knowledge to make the world a better place. The statues are nice I will admit who ever did them, great job. However I don't know that they are really necessary as impressive as they are. I mean I guess there is no harm in keeping them but really the important thing is the knowledge and using it to help others.

I'll admit I didn't come here to let this cult continue, and I will be keeping a close eye on it from now on to see that it doesn't get out of hand. However a society to gather knowledge, protect it and use it to help other, could be of great use to this world. With that I think I have said all I needed to say here." I told them. I then turned to Katrina "We are going to have a talk later. I don't approve of everything you have done here, particularly behind my back. Certain things have been shared that shouldn't have." I told her before leaving.

After we were away from there and out of earshot Nekochan turned to me "What the hell was that? I thought we came to shut them down." she asked in a mixture of shock and annoyance.

I sighed, "Look I am not thrilled about having a cult but they don't seem to be hurting anyone and I tried to guide them in a direction that seems at least useful." I replied.

She sighed "Look frankly I think the people should be bowing down and kissing your feet after all you have done for them but I know you and you can't be comfortable with this."

"And I'm not. Look I tried to move the emphasis off of me to try and make it in to a secret society collecting, preserving and distributing knowledge to help mankind. Though I will admit those were some nice statues they had of us."

"Weren't they though, I don't know who they got to do them but they were quite talented. Quite an eye for detail too you think that it was one of the girls?"

"Huh you know I never thought to see if any of them had any artistic talent. It could have been."

Later that day we sat Katrina down and explained a few things like it was not appreciated that she had shared information about my origins with her little cultist friends. She fessed up she wasn't the only one of the girls from the brothel that was involved. Which meant we had a few more people to have discussions with. By the end I think we had impressed upon them enough that my business is not to be shared with others. It was kind of infuriating and scary with how much I had trained them in information gathering that I thought they would be better about secrecy.

Time passes for everyone even jumpers. My time in this world was coming to an end. I decided to wrap up affairs. I informed the girls we would be going somewhere new. They of course threw a fit as they didn't want to leave their school and many friends behind. I informed them that they would see them again some day. That didn't seem to calm them any. So currently the girls are both upset with me and my stupid chain. Such is the life of a parent I guess.

The business end of things had gone much better. The better part of the year when I was mostly not in touch with anyone except to slip communications back and forth with Alpha, Beta and Gama had shown that my little empire was set up to practically run itself. I really had to thank Jenna for that who had helped me delegate responsibility to people she chose and trained up for the job.

The Cult… my cult I guess continued on after the admonishment. They seemed to take serious the idea of collecting and preserving knowledge, to that extent I gave them the printing press and printed several books for them on thing to improve life there like how to build a sewer system, modern techniques for planting and growing crops. Maybe the first one was a little ambitious but I had faith eventually they would figure it out.

So that left me and Nekochan alone on the streets of the city a day before my time was up. We had left Anya and Jenna to take care of the girls. They had calmed down somewhat but I was still getting dirty looks.

I had several places I wanted to head. First place we headed was to the Brothel. It was busy but we got to say hi to the girls who were there, get a drink and chat a bit. I informed them I would be leaving for a while. They all seemed very sad to hear that. I told them that I would be back eventually but this was a matter I could not avoid. I was vague on details of where I was going just out of town, far away on a trip with the family. It wasn't exactly a lie.

We dropped in on Elisa's bakery. There were several in the city but this was the orignial. She still manned this store herself even though she probably made enough to not have to actually work and just manage. As I mentioned she liked to bake.

"Oh hello." The lovely Brunet greeted us with a warm smile.

"Hey how is business going?" I asked.

She gave me w grin "You probably know as well as I do. Thank you for all those strange recipes due to them we can barely keep stuff in stock."

I nodded "Say do you happen to have a lemon meringue pie?" I asked.

She blinked "I don't know those sell out pretty fast, let me check the back." She answered disappearing in to the back room for a couple minutes before returning with a pie in hand with a triumphant smile. "Last one. You are very lucky it was being held for a customer but they never showed."

"Thank you." I told her. She happily took the pie set it on the counter. As she did I looked down to see what other cakes and pies she had available. She had quite the selection.

"Say could I get these here too. Can you box them up, and box up the first pie seprerately?" I asked.

"You want all of those?" she asked to make sure. I nodded.

"Well alright." she said pulling out the various deserts placing them in wooden boxes for travel.

I reached for my gold pouch but she waved me off "Oh no you don't, you are the only reason I have my freedom or these stores." she said with a bright smile.

"Fair enough." I relented.

"So what is the occasion?" she asked


"Oh… well we are going on a long trip I thought the pie would be a nice peace offering for the kids as they aren't pleased with me about it. The rest… well I thought I would take it to Auntie Em's place as a surprise.


She blinked in surprise and I thought I caught a hint of concern in her face "Wow, that's very nice of you. Say you are coming back right?" she asked.

"Eventually." I answered. "It may be a while but I will come back." I assured her.

She nodded somewhat relieved "Here let me tie all of this together so it will be easier to carry." she said tying the boxes with rope.

Once they were Secure Nekochan took the boxes.

"You sure you got all of those?" I asked her?

"Yeah it's fine." she said handling the arm full of boxes like they were weighed nothing at al.

After a fond farewell we headed for the Orphanage.

The Ophanage was a large building. It was better constructed than many of it's neighboring buildings and had several kids playing in front of it being watched by one of the caretakers Auntie Em must have hired. I couldn't help but smile as I saw a little garden fenced off near by. It reminded me of her old place. The kids eyed us with the boxes as we walked up. I asked the Caretaker if Auntie Em was in. He said yes and seeing that Nekochan was carrying a bunch of boxes asked if we would like to come in. We followed him in and he told Nekochan that she could set the boxes down on a nearby table for now.

He disappeared deeper in to the building and returned a minute later with a surprised looking Auntie Em.

"I was hoping it was you two." she said as she first hugged me and then Nekochan. "How are you two doing?." she gave us a bright smile as she looked us over. "Are you sure you two are eating enough?" she asked.

"We are fine." I assured her. "We just dropped by to drop off those, I figured the kids would like them and well… we are going to be leaving for a bit, don't worry we have made sure that this will be taken care of. We just thought we would stop in to say goodbye before we left."

She blinked and crooked her head and examined us as if in a new light. A small flash of concern crossed over her face. "Well gone for how long? I mean you are coming back right?"

I forced myself to smile "It's going to be a while to be honest, I am not sure how long but it could be a rather long time. Don't worry though we will be coming back. You can count on that."

She frowned slightly "Well see that you do… and when you come bring those adorable kids of yours. It's been too long since I saw them." she said. Though I could see she was trying to put on a brave face I could tell there was a bit of sadness there too.

I reached over and hugged her and wasn't surprised when Nekochan joined me. "What?" asked Auntie Em confused.

"Heh, sorry I wanted to say thank you once again, for all the times you looked after us."

"Yeah we will miss you Auntie." said Nekochan.

"I'll miss you too. Please take care of yourselves and each other." she replied hugging us back.

"We will." I assured her taking the box with our pie in it.

"We should be getting ready for the tirp. We will talk to you when we get back." Assured Nekochan.

And so we left.

"How are you holding up?" asked Nekochan cautiously.

"Honestly… I am having a real tough time. I didn't think it would happen but I am going to miss this place. I going to miss our friends." I said.

Nekochan hugged me tightly and said "Me too." softly

The walk home was a long one. Something about having your own kids mad at you for an understandable reason felt terrible. I was about to whisk them off to who knows where, far away from friends they had made and the only world they had ever known. I had told them when I thought they were old enough and believed they could keep a secret. Even before then I had warned them that one day we would be leaving this place and wouldn't return for a very long time.

It's funny I believed I had done everything I could. I believed absolutely that this was the right thing to do… yet that brought me no comfort as I approached the door to my own home. I looked up at the massive mansion. It was reassuring that wherever I was going it would be there.

I was not surprised when the door opened a few steps before I made it there and Gama greeted me with a "Hello Mistress, welcome home. I hope your journey went well."

"It did thank you." I answered her.

As we entered we were soon greeted by Jenna and Anya. Both were smiling brightly but something about their eyes showed some slight fear or worry. The kids weren't the only ones being dragged away from everything they had ever known.

"Hey so how are the kids doing?" I asked, really asking if they were still mad at me.

Anya sighed slightly "They have calmed down a bit but still seem a bit upset about this."

I nodded "Umm here I got us desert to celebrate." I told her handing it to her. She smiled and took it. "Oh that's wonderful." Anya, Jenna and the maids were all making a huge feast for us this being our last dinner here. Anya and Jenna had insisted. They had trained themselves to be quite skilled cooks, mostly learning from Nekochan. In fact they had refused to let her help, I guess this was their gift to us.

I sighed "Well I am going to go talk to the kids." I said. "You mean we are going to go talk to the kids right?" corrected Nekochan. "Yeah." I agreed.

We headed upstairs to the second floor. The kids room was in the middle of the house. I had never told anyone but I had done that for defensive purposes. Perhaps it was the thief in me but I knew how easy a house was to penetrate by a world be kidnapper. I wanted them to have to take as long a route in and out of the house as possible where they would have to risk coming across someone else as much as possible.

We arrived at the door to the Kid's room and I knocked on it.

"Girls are you there?" I called.

"We are here." I heard a decidedly displeased Angel's voice.

I opened the door to find Angel waiting for us arms crossed pouting. It would have been adorable under other circumstances. Alice was sitting on her bed looking gloomy.

"We have decided we don't want to go." Declared Angel defiantly.

I sighed and keeled down "I am sorry but that is not an option." I told them.

She frowned "But we could live with Auntie Em with the other kids and she would take good care of us."

"Do you really want to leave us?" I asked honestly.

She frowned and looked down "No." she admitted.

"But why do we have to go aren't you happy here?" she said moving on to her second argument.

"It's not in my hands, I get 10 years. That's usually the number and then I have to move on."

"But can't you talk to your…" she searched for the word I had used for him "Benefactor. Maybe they will let you stay, maybe let you stay a few more years or permanently" she said hopeful.

"Well I could stay. However there are other people and things that I love that I would never get to see again if I did. After we leave time will freeze here so we can come back later."

She winced I guess she could tell from my tone I wasn't going to stay.

Finally her eyes teared up "But I don't want to leave."

I hugged her tightly "I'll miss this place too. It gave me you two and Anya and Jenna. I could never repay it for all the wonderful things it's given me."



"But…" began Angel only to be cut off by Alice.

"Let it go Angel. Can't you see this is tough for Mommy Raven too? Even Mommy Nekochan looks sad. They are doing the best they can. I told you it is hopeless."

"But… But… I don't want to go."

"I know." I answered. Letting her go so I could look her in the face. "I will try to make the next world an awesome one. I will do my best to make sure that you have plenty of new friends to make, new wonders to see. I will do everything I can to make things as good as possible for you."

She sighed and lowered her head "Fine." she surrendered.

I kissed her forehead. "Now, I you both are sad." I told them but hopefully to make you feel a bit better I brought home a pie for dinner.

"Is it lemon Meringue?" Asked Alice perking up as that was her favorite. I smiled and nodded. That drew a bit of a smile from her.

Dinner was a feast the large dining table filled with various foods that were favorites for all of us. The aroma was almost intoxicating. We ate deeply but there wasn't much talk except to commend Anya and Jenna on their cooking. The air was filled with tension as all of us were waiting.

The pie however did help to brighten peoples mood

"So this is it huh? Our last meal in this world." Noted Alice sadly.

I felt a collective sigh in the room. "Yeah, but we will have each other. No matter where we go or what we have to do we will have each other. That's more than many people have." that drew a nod from everyone present even Angel who seemed to be having the hardest time with this.

Once we finished and the maids collected and washed the dishes.

"So how does this work?" asked Jenna.

"Well I will get a message that it's almost time for me to go. That's a sign to take everyone and everything I am taking in to the warehouse and get everyone tucked away. Then I will feel when it's time. Usually I am in the Warehouse when everything falls away and my benefactor is there. I assume Nekochan and you and the girls will be there as Nekochan has been with me the next few times. We will talk a bit, he will give me some choices of where I can go next I'll pick from the ones presented and then we start making builds."

"And the children are not getting… Imported you call it, this time?" asked Anya

"No I want them to grow up naturally it will be the time after this before they get to get imported." I answered.

It was just then I heard "Okay you have 15 minutes." in my ear.

"And there we go, alright everyone to the Warehouse." I called out.

Everyone headed to the Warehouse even the maids. Technically they weren't sentient so there was no problem bringing them.

We had already loaded what we needed in days before. The girls grabbed their favorite toys and brought them in.

Jenna sighed "Are you ready for this?" she asked.

"Yeah I am. You?" I asked her

"We are about to find out." she replied.

The waiting once we were were ready was… almost painful.

The girls were starting to ask if this was going to happen when suddenly the world fell away we were standing in a place of pure white and waiting for me was my Benefactor.

"Ah I see you picked up a few people on your trip. Good on you." he said affably. And that was how I ended my time in the world of Sword and Sorcery.