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.

 

[Neko Arc]

Spoiler: PIcture

Chapter 4: A family outing in a radioactive wasteland

Jump # 4 Fallout 1
Age: 26
Gender: Female
Background: Wasteland Wanderer
SPECIAL: (+200)
*Heroic Endurance (200)
*Heroic Charisma (200)
*Heroic Intelligence (200)
*Heroic Luck (200)
Skills
*Unarmed
*Science
*Speech
Perks:
*Friendly Foe (0, Discount)
*Cult of Personality (150, Discount)
Equipment
*Starting Gear (0)
*Pip Boy 2000 (0)
Companions
*Import X 5 (250)

Companions

Nekochan
SPECIAL: (+200)
*Very Good Strength (100)
*Heroic Charisma (200)
*Heroic Agility (200)
*Heroic Luck (200)
Skills:
*Melee Weapons
*Unarmed
*Sneak
Perks:
*Quick Pockets (0)
*Slayer (300, Discount)
Items:
*Starting Gear (0)
*Pip Boy 2000 (0)


Jenna
SPECIAL: (+200)
*Heroic Charisma (200)
*Heroic Intelligence (200)
*Heroic Agility (200)
*Heroic Luck (200)
Skills:
*Small Guns
*First Aide
*Doctor
Perks:
*Friendly fire (0)
*Quick Pockets (50)
*Follower of the Apocalypse (150, Discount)
Items:
*Starting Gear (0)
*Pip Boy 2000 (0)


Anya
SPECIAL: (+200)
*Heroic Perception (200)
*Heroic Charisma (200)
*Heroic Agility (200)
*Heroic Luck (200)
Skills:
*Small Guns
*Sneak
*Outdoorsman
Perks:
*Friendly Foe (0)
*Quick Pockets (50, Discount)
*Desert Ranger (150, Discount)
Items:
*Starting Gear (0)
*Pip Boy 2000 (0)

Angel
Age: 8
SPECIAL: (+200)
*Heroic Strength (200)
*Heroic Endurance (200)
*Heroic Charisma (200)
*Heroic Agility (200)
*Heroic Luck (200)
Skills:
*Sneak
*Unarmed
*Melee Weapons.
Perks:
*Toughness
Items:
*Starting Gear (0)
*Pip Boy 2000 (0)

Alice
Age: 8
SPECIAL: (+200)
*Heroic Perception (200)
*Heroic Charisma (200)
*Heroic Intelligence (200)
*Heroic Luck (200)
Skills:
*Sneak
*Speech
*Small Guns
Perks:
*Toughness (0)
*Mr. Mayor (150, Discount)
Items:
*Starting Gear (0)
*Pip Boy 2000 (0)
*Fallout Merch (50)


I looked out in to overwhelming darkness in front of me. The mechanical whine and groan of gears echoed behind me as I both heard and felt the thud of the door to the vault close. Above me was the only light a small light illuminated my immediate area. In my hands held with a death grip were a large knife and a 10 mm Pistol. The only weapons I had been given on my journey. Once the movement of the door stopped there was a whine of an alarm signaling it was closed. Then there was nothing and I was alone except for the whirling maelstrom of memories and thoughts in my head.

I remembered many things, lives lived before this one. Life in a relatively cushy vault. I remember being at odds with the Overseer over my view that we couldn't hide from the outside world forever. I wasn't surprised when he had come to me. I noted that just a few years ago his hair hadn't been completely gray and wondered if our frequent butting of heads had been responsible for his beard and hair turning completely gray.

I remember he was quite cordial when he invited me in to his office. I never liked going to his office it was always too clean, too neat. He demanded everything be just perfect. It had a faint smell of anti bacterial soap. While I valued cleanliness this guy took it to extremes.

"I am glad you could make it." he had said offering his hand I took it and shook it. I was slightly surprised at the firmness in the handshake. I hadn't known him to do much work outside of pushing a pencil but apparently he was in better shape than I would have given him credit.

"Please sit." He told me and offered me a seat, the seats in front of his desk were much lower than the one he was sitting in making you look up at him. Being short as I was here was of no benefit.

"I am going to level with you. We are in bad shape." he had began folding his hands in front of him on the tidy desk. "The water purifier chip gave up the ghost. It was our last one. It's too advanced to make another one and we can't find a work around.

We figure we have about 150 days worth of water. After that people this vault is doomed." he said with a sigh.

"I need you to go out in to the wasteland. I need you to find a chip by whatever means possible and bring it back before we run out of water. I have checked our records and I have recorded the location of another Vault in to your Pip boy…"

"Wait you are just sending me? Alone?" I had asked.

He nodded grimly.

"Look I know we haven't always seen eye to eye but I honestly feel like you are the only one who can do this. You are the brightest, most charismatic and frankly toughest person I know."

"I am getting the feeling this really isn't something I can say no to."

"Well, we are going to need everyone else here. We need to make backup plans in case we need to leave the vault. Speaking of which I have your supplies. I truly wish I could offer more." he continued reaching down behind the desk and pulling out a large rugged backpack and placing it in front of me."

I hurriedly opened the backpack. I saw a gun, a knife, some ammo. Some flairs, a first aid kit, some canteens of water, a few stim packs and a couple weeks of food by my estimation.

"This is all you can spare?"

he grimaced slightly "I am afraid so."

"Can I at least have some of the Armor the Vault guards wear?"

A frown creased his wrinkled face "I am sorry, we are going to need all we have, as soon as it gets out that there are going to be rationing of water. We expect trouble."

"Yeah but I am trying to save the vault is there nothing else you can give me?"

"I am afraid that's all we could currently spare."

"This -this isn't much. You give me a job to go out in to the wastes to fight god knows what with a knife, a gun and a few bullets. You are placing the future of the entire vault on it."

He nods with a slight grimace as if he had expected this response "Yes, as I have said I am sorry we could not give you more."

I sighed "Fine… You are not giving me much choice here so I'll do it." I grumbled getting up.

"Look I am all for saving the vault. I grew up here it's home. However your giving me the equivalent of a slingshot and a sharp stick and telling me go master the outside world when neither you nor I know what's out there. This isn't a job it's a suicide mission." I declared.

The Overseer sighed and rubbed the bridge of his nose. I am sure he had expected this response." For anyone else I would say that you are correct. However I have faith in you. I can't make you do this… but we both know you are the one with the best chance of succeeding in saving the vault."
So there it was the other shoe dropping. If I didn't go it would be someone else who likely was going to die. We had previously sent a couple expeditions out in to the wild. Again both times one person and we never heard back from either of them. The overseer seemed to be a fan of sending one guy at a time and believing everything would work out.

I sighed "FINE! You want me to go do it I will do it. However when I get back I am asking for vote of no confidence. This should not happen. You are confronted by a crises and your plan is to send one person barely equipped in to god knows what."

He cringed and nodded. "I understand." he said resolved. With that I simply grabbed my gear turned my back on him and left.


With that and a few quick good byes and a last meal I headed out. It was terrifying. I had no idea what I would encounter in this new world.

So I stood staring off in to the darkness trying to gather up my nerves as my mind organized itself and I began to remember who I was beyond just another Vault Dweller of Vault 13. I had noticed not far away in the light there were the dry bones of some poor individual wearing a vault 13 jumpsuit. That did little to calm my nerves.

Then suddenly a feeling of warmth and calmness came over me. I let out the breath that I didn't even realize I was holding. I heard a familiar voice. My Benefactor's voice calmly telling me "Relax, I am going to send in your companions now and I wanted to make sure there were no friendly fire incidents on my account." in my mind. It was strange but I nodded and lowered my weapons.

My attention was then drawn to a section of the wall to the right of me. At first there was a pinprick of light that slowly grew in to a circle. I could see the outlines of my companions looking out from it and behind them the empty void that served as the meeting place between me and the Benefactor. I felt a strange shift in the air and almost an electric tingle from the portal.

The first to step out of the portal was Nekochan, who had motioned for the others to wait. She stepped out cautiously swords drawn and looked around. For a moment she relaxed when she saw me and no immediate threat. Then her face scrunched in disgust as she looked at me "Really this is where we ended up?" she asked. Then sighed and motioned for the others. Anya and Jenna stepped out guns drawn that they had apparently picked up from entering this world. The kids followed both holding knives cautiously.

Once they were all out of the safety of the portal slowly it closed and I heard "Alright that's all I am helping you for this jump. See you in 10 years." again in my head.

"Eww are we in… a hole?" asked Angel disgusted.

"Shhh." Anya silenced everyone. With everyone appearing I had forgotten the first challenge that await any would be Vault Dweller in the game.

From the shadows I saw a couple of pairs of red glowing eyes as soon a pair of rats that were bigger than a cat emerged from the shadows. Their coats were were a dirty gray that blended in with the color of the dirt and the cave walls. They were a dozen or so feet from us just entering the light when I heard a loud bang bang sound from the side, both Rats heads seemed to simultaneously explode.

"Wow that's so Cool!" said Angel who immediately dug in to her backpack and pulled out a gun. I moved as fast as I could which was fairly fast over to Angel. "Nope. No you don't give that to me." I told her and she blinked and looked up as I carefully took it away.

"What? Why?"

"Because, you haven't been trained in it's use."

"But we have skills." protested Alice, a bit to my surprise.

"Yes. You have the skills to use it properly without hurting yourself. You don't have the firearm safety skills to know when to and not to use it, and how to use it without hurting others you don't intend to. Don't worry you will be getting a lot of training in how and when to use a gun. However until you do. I am not going to trust you with one. Either of you." I said to the girls.

Both gave me the "Awww Moooom." I made a motion for Alice to hand over the gun I knew she had. She pouted but did so. I put on the safeties, removed the bullets and secured the guns.

"So… this place looks like it sucks can we go home now?" asked Angel.

"I don't think that's how it works." Said Alice sadly.

I sighed "Look lets get this out of the way right now. No we can't go back. I am sorry. Yes. This world is not the most fun. It was the best of what was available to me. Things have tightened up do to an indecent not involving us and so I picked the best jump available."

"Say you could have gone to that Girl Chan in paradise jump it didn't sound so bad." Suggested Nekochan. I cringed and shot her a look that made her wince. "NO. That is a terrible parody. It was so bad in fact it actually pissed me off watching it. I would rather go to some stupid Warhammer 40k jump and enjoy all the grim dark stupidity. I would be actually less likely to snap and try and reduce the world I landed on to a cinder".

"So no Girlchan and No Warhammer 40k I got it, so what's going on here?" Nekochan asked.

I sighed and explained both what happened to me before I "woke up." and the general plot of the game.

Nekochan sighed and rubbed the bridge of her nose and headed over to the console next to the vault door.

"Do you mind giving me your access code or whatever. I have to go have words with your Overseer." she said with an icy edge to her voice.

"Actually it's been disabled for 3 days in case I panic and want back in." I replied

She looked incredulous at that, her eye twitching "Alright… alright. So I am going to murder the shit out of that man when three days are up for sending you alone on a suicide mission."

I just sighed "Well he didn't have much choice. While I agree he should have sent more people out and had them better equipped this was going to be a dangerous mission no matter what. I'll deal with him when I get back but first lets just get this done. This is a world based on an OLD rpg, so we have to go a lot of places and do a lot of quests just to accomplish our original goal of getting the water chip."

"Can't you like make a new one? Nothing is tying us down to the plot of this world. You are a genius many times over." She pointed out.

"It's a definite maybe, I would need the right tools and materials. The Vault should have some of them though I think I may need to visit a place called the Hub to see if I can find some of the stuff I don't believe the vault has. If they don't the Brotherhood of Steel will definitely have them. Getting them to part with the materials will be difficult though."

With That Nekochan perked up.

"Alright then we should head for the Hub." she replied.

"Yeah… there are a few other things I would like to do though. There is an Army of Super Mutants that is going to ravage the land if we don't put them down. I need to find their base. I know who to talk to though at the Hub to get that. However we need a few things I am getting a plan.

"So it looks like we are heading to the Hub?" Asked Jenna.

"No I don't know where it is, I will find out at Shady Sands. It's a town on the way to the Vault I am supposed to visit. It's also the birthplace of the Main government that will rise up in this section of the world. I think I should lend a hand to make sure that happens too."

"Alright well I guess I can tolerate some of the plot. If we have to" Commented Nekochan seeming much happier.

"Well then it sounds like we should probably get going. We have a lot to do" suggested Jenna

"Well something I guess the skills I took is telling me that this time of year the desert area around here should be rather cool. In fact that may be a problem because the nights could get very cold. We are going to have to be sure to find cover and materials for a fire each day as none of us are exactly dressed for the occasion." Noted Anya.

"I'll take point." announced Nekochan gripping her sword "I'll clear out whatever else is in this cave. Try and conserve Ammo." she announced. With that we prepared to leave.

There were a number of Rats on our way out that saw fit to challenge the might and speed of Nekochan. However none survived getting within her reach as she methodically executed them.

"Um isn't it unusual for Rodents to be so aggressive, especially seeing so many of their kind die. It's almost as if they lack a survival instinct." Noted Alice.

"They are irradiated and mutated. We can't predict how that has changed these creatures." I answered.

Soon we found ourselves at the cave entrance. It was large and the light beyond blinding. I winced as I walked out in to the cool desert air. I winced and realized this was the first time this body had seen natural life. I blinked a bit as my eyes adjusted then noted something.

"Huh it's not to bad out just like you said Anya, though the sunlight is going to be a bitch for a while." I admitted.

"So do you have a map of where we are supposed to head?" Asked Jenna.

"Sorta." I said sheepishly taking out my Pipboy and showing her. I really wished these were the wrist mounted models.

"So all you have about the area is the coordinates of Vault 15." Jenna noted.

"Yeah as I mentioned if we head in a straight line we will hit shady sands in a few days.

"You seem to know a lot about this world. I believe you said you knew it from a game. How well do you know it?" Asked Jenna.

"Well I played a little I didn't get very far but I watched playthroughs of it. Also I saw many lore videos because I did play the later games in the series quite a bit."

Jenna nodded.

"Ummm actually I think I have the game on my Pipboy." chimed in Alice.

"Really?" I asked.

She nodded and gave a big smile "I thought if we were going here I might be able to get some information on what we were going to face." she explained. I patted her head. "Good girl. Good thinking."

I thought I heard Angel mutter "Show off." sounding more than a little jealous.

The trek through the desert turned out not to be as easy as we hoped. The coordinates led us away from the mountains and deeper in to the desert by the time mid day hit the temperatures had risen a bit. While still manageable, they were far from pleasant. We had all worked up a good sweat by then.

We were looking for a source of water or shelter in the desert. The desert was very vast. It did boast the occasional cacti or pile of bones that scavengers had made clean work of. We had little luck in finding much that would be useful until. We saw a glint of light far off.

There was some curiosity at that so we headed towards it. Soon a large old fashioned Semi Truck came in to view. It had seen better days. It was tipped over on it's side, the side mirror being what had caught the sun and caused the glint, the metal was rather rusted though we could still make out the emblem on the side of the truck. Nuka Cola. The Rear of the truck, the trailer had apparently been knocked open and broken bottles were strewn about the rear. It seemed to our good fortune that the truck had been abandoned since before the war.


"Oh hey we should check this out." I commented moving towards the truck with my gun drawn just in case.

"Nuka Cola is that supposed to be like Coke a Cola?" Asked Nekochan rather incredulously.

"Yeah this place is kind of oddly hooked on Nuclear stuff. Nuka Cola was basically their own version of Coke."

"Hmm it might serve as a useful spot to rest." Noted Anya.

"Yeah but the real prize is if there are bottle caps here." I explained.

"Bottle Caps?" they asked.

"Yep, that is what they use as money. Originally they used bottles of water but it evolved in to bottle caps. It's hard to carry around lots of bottles of water." I further explained.

"Bottle Caps?" Repeated Nekochan

"Hey in my world of origin we used paper to represent gold at first then a promissory note that the government would cover that amount of goods that was really only backed by their word. I am not saying Bottle Caps makes a ton of sense but if it gets us the supplies in town that we need I am willing to go with it."

"But… But what do they use to cap their bottles with?" She asked.

"Bottle caps." I answered.

She sighed and rubbed the bridge of her nose. "This place just isn't going to make sense is it?" she asked.

"Kind of… I mean it's a retrofuturistic post apocalyptic fantasy made real. This is the future that the 1950's imagined but post blowing itself to hell. Of course the Vaults that exist are really social experiments and the remnants of the American Government is hiding out on some oil rig somewhere waiting to be villainous in the future."

"Why is the American Government evil in this? I mean in the 90s I could see how people would see how the government was evil. Mistrust had increased but the 50s people were fairly patriotic?" Asked Nekochan.

"Ah but the game that spawned this was created in the 90s." I explained.

"Umm Say… you keep referring to this as a game. Does that mean that it's not real? Was our world real?" asked Alice suddenly concerned.

I paused and blinked "Ahhhh both worlds I believe were real. Everything is real. I am assuming since no offense to the Benefactor but he is a busy guy that in the infinite multiverse he found a place that just happened to match up to the game. Whether the game brought it in to existence or the reverse I can't say." I answered honestly.

She blinked and then nodded solemnly. "So things that we imagine might become real… somewhere?" she asked.

I coughed "Well… I suppose it's possible but… I would think it would require many minds focusing on it and a strong image to draw from. This is all speculation though. It's equally possible that the strong image that we think would spawn something was just someone picking up on something somewhere else in the multiverse. It's sort of a chicken and the egg thing. I can't really answer it definitively." I answered.

"So we should probably get to harvesting those bottlecaps. I am guessing your plans are going to require money at some point." Noted Jenna bringing me back to the current situation. "Ohhhh yeah. Ummm sorry this is probably going to be a bit a pain."

"Eh it's fine we will just have to fix this place like we did the last world." stated Nekochan as she began to pick up bottlecaps from the glass.

Some of it's contents were spilled near it shattered bottles scattered about and of course precious bottle caps. Thankfully a quick check inside revealed most of the bottles were not broken but the contents had long ago dried up. It took a couple hours but we managed to collect 10,765 caps.

After a couple hours of harvesting bottle caps the kids were both grumbling and honestly everyone else was a bit tired an achy. I was fine from having maxed out endurance which was an odd feeling.

While we were harvesting I was able to check the back doors. They had been broken open in the crash and sadly the lock was beyond repair with the items we currently had.

So that left me another option I climbed up upon the Semi truck and checked the door. Peering inside I could see the skeleton laying down in the cab still wearing his Nuka Cola hat and Jacket. For a moment I couldn't help but pity him that this would be his tomb.

Then I thought about what I was going to do. I could use the door here to open up my Warehouse but I had never opened it from above and likely if I did and things were situated as they were usually… I was going to create a really big mess. I dug in my pocket as I considered what to do.

Then just by a stroke of luck I looked up and from my raised vantage point I saw the apparent ruins of some homes in the distance. "Hey look at that." I called pointing out at that direction.

"Well I'll be damned. Hey we might find some shelter up there." Said Anya I was a bit surprised to find both her and Nekochan on the Semi. A look down confirmed that Jenna was holding Angel and preventing her from joining us. "I want to see too." she complained.

A ways away from us I saw some buildings. I could tell even from a distance that they were not in the best condition. They were bleached white from the sun. Some looked to be partially collapsed.

"We should be very careful. It's very likely that shelter in the middle of the desert would attract other things as well. We may find mutated animals or monsters there." cautioned Anya

I couldn't help but nod as that was fairly logical. We decided that Jenna would stay back near the truck with the girls until we decided that it was safe.

So we approached I honestly felt rather tense. The gun in my hands felt rather small and light I knew monsters like the Deathclaw and yao guai dwelt in these lands not to mention 8 to 10 foot tall green skinned mutants that would likely be heavily armed and take a lot to put down. If we encountered something like that we were fucked. Only Nekochan likely had much chance against beasts like that.

Likely the town that we were entering was small to begin with. So far I saw a half dozen structures still standing, the rest seemed either caved in or all that was left was foundation. A few rusted out cars dotted the land as well. I saw a the remnants of a painted sign over the front of one of the buildings marking it as a Store of some kind. The sun and the sand having done quite the job of removing any trace of paint from the buildings. The bare wood all seemingly being baked white in the sun, windows were broken and most of the doors hung open loosely on their hinges.

Carefully Anya examined the area. "Hmmm I don't see any signs of any large predator presence. In fact I don't see much signs of use in a very long time" She noted. With that I forced myself to breath easier and calm down. After we were sure that nothing was going on outside, we opened the door to what I assume was the general store. The door was surprisingly sturdy and still intact and I noted had a key hole for later. Inside it was rather dark, the windows while broken in places were dirty enough that they allowed no lights in the sections that were covered and there were a few small holes in the ceiling and walls that all out small areas of light but inside all I could see where isles of stuff coated in dust. In truth even with my rather good senses I couldn't make out much.

"Shit we don't have a flashlight or anything let me try this." I said taking out one of the flairs from my rugged backpack. I still didn't know why they didn't bother giving us a flashlight but I managed to push the annoyance aside activate the flair and toss it in to the room aiming for a spot on the floor that I could see that looked barren.

I was shocked when the Flair seemed to stop in the air, there was a bright flash as it activated and I had to close my eyes for a second and then blink. When my vision returned what I saw in the room now brightly lit about made my heart stop.

The room had many shelves covered in spider webs and crawling towards the flair now was the biggest spider I had ever seen. It's body was the size of a man's head not counting the legs. Now I am a bit of an arachnophobic. So I calmly reached for my gun and proceeded to empty ever bullet in the clip in to the monstrous abomination. A large chunk of the abominable beast exploded with my first shot the following shots tore the creature to shreds. I calmly kept trying to shoot more bullets well after the thing was dead, well after my gun was empty. I didn't stop trying to shoot it until I felt Nekochan's strong arm forcing my arms down.

"Are you alright?" she asked concerned.

"I – I don't like spiders." I admitted.

"Well yeah I sort of gathered that. Tell you what why don't Anya and I clear this place out just in case there are any more."

"Y-you going to be alright?" I asked uncertain about this plan.

"Yeah we will be fine. I just don't want you to freak out again."

I nodded.

It took a few minutes, I heard Nekochan swearing as she commented how strong this webbing was and what a bitch it was to cut through.

Eventually I was allowed back in. It was a very old fashioned general store, not very big. I noticed there were a few skeletons around on the ground. Nekochan had a pile of canned goods on the ground as well as a bunch of actual full bottles of Nuka cola a few bottles of beer and other spirits, and I noticed a couple of first aid kits.

"Did you find any flashlights?" I asked though I was doubtful as they weren't using them.

"Yeah… but they are ruined battery leaked." noted Nekochan.

"Well lets take them anyways I can probably rig something up with them." I answered. "Say did you find any of those… spiders?" I asked trying not to cringe.

"You don't want to know. I'll just say there are none here now." Answered Anya. "Why don't you let us check out the other buildings." she added.

"Nah, I am alright I was just not ready for the giant spider. I may have to put together a flame thrower should I find any more." I said though it didn't seem to assure them.

"Alright but let us go first." Nekochan strongly suggested.

"Sure."

The next place we headed looked to be a small single story home. Aside from the paint having long been removed by the rigors of the sand and the wood being bleached white by the sun the outside seemed to be in rather good shape. The windows had been boarded up. The door opened easily enough and looked surprisingly intact as well. We opened the door in to darkness. Light showed what was a surprisingly intact looking house. I didn't see an excess of dust or dirt. Anya threw a flair in to light the area lighting it up. The house was remarkably clean and neat. It would look almost like a house that had been in use except for the semi decayed corpse on the floor. For a moment things seemed peaceful but then the corpse began to move, we started to hear a hissing growl from it Anya screamed and a new hole appeared in the creatures forehead followed by a few more holes in it's face as she shot several more times. Mercifully the thing fell back stone dead to the floor leaking blood and gore.


"What? What was that?" she asked panting.

"It was a ghoul apparently a feral ghoul." I told her placing a comforting hand on her shoulder and squeezing. Something bothered me though. The place was too clean too orderly. We actually found an old lamp and lit it. We were in a living room, an old tv set dominated the room adjacent to it was a well worn but comfy looking chair next to the chair was a small end table with an open book on it, it seemed to be a journal of some sort. I headed over to that my heart sinking for some reason.

A sad tale quickly unfolded. A tale of a lone survivor of this place, this small town turned ghost town. He had been here since before the war. He apparently was not a young man as when the bombs dropped he chose to greet them sitting in his favorite chair figuring he had lived long enough. That turned to horror when he woke up changed his body decaying but alive, he wasn't in physical pain but he was alone. He was the last surviving being in this town. Seeing himself as a monster he decided not to go looking for more survivors. I read on as slowly it began to become apparent he was falling victim to loneliness, his mind beginning to slip away until the writing became unintelligible. I assumed we had ended his misery. He spoke of a well under this place saying the water was still flowing. He admitted to raiding the houses and buildings near by for what he could. He had felt bad for robbing his dead neighbors.

While I was reading Nekochan and Anya found a treasure trove of tools, blankets, and supplies. Even a shotgun though no bullets. There were a lot of electrical appliances that had been in the kitchen. Another thing this place boasted was a bed that was in semi decent condition. There were a few cans of food that were unopened I reasoned because he lost the capacity to know how to open them. We also found a small hand can opener. Useful for the canned goods we had found.

"Umm Anya why don't you go get the kids and Jenna, bring them here. This place should be good enough to spend the night." I told her, she nodded.

I went over and grabbed a Shovel we had found.

"What are you going to do with that?" Nekochan asked.

"Well after reading his journal I think this old guy deserves a better send off than this." I motioned to the corpse on the ground. "He wasn't always a monster. He became that over time."

She nodded solemnly "You know I want to chide you for wasting your time but really that's what I love about you." she admitted holding out her hand. "If it means that much to you I'll dig, I can get it done faster." I couldn't help but smile and hand her the Shovel. We wound up wrapping the man in an old blanket and burying him in a shallow grave outside of his home. We even found a large stone to erect a grave stone for him. I hadn't known the man but I felt I should say a few words after we were done "Well old-timer. I hope now you can rest in peace. May you be reunited with friends and loved ones in a better place now."

By the time we were finished the girls were waiting for us inside the house. We took a few minute break to relax after the burial then Nekochan, Anya and I went to check the other buildings They turned out to be mostly empty except for some rats that were quickly dispatched by Nekochan's sword. We found some old wooden furniture that could be broken up and used as fire wood for the night.

I was grateful to have found a closet with a lock on it, I could have used the front door for what I was planning. I used a special key I had been given at the start of my journey and opened the door to my cosmic warehouse and with that most of our immediate problems disappeared. In the accumulated stuff that I had picked up over the previous jumps I had several guns and a good supply of ammunition. I had rifles, shot guns, hand guns, Assault Rifles and even a machine gun. Nekochan gained access to her old maid uniform that had ultra light kevlar woven between the fabrics. It would protect her from everything but the highest caliber bullets. Little Alice and Angels eyes grew big as I pulled out the assortment of weapons from their storage. I hadn't shown them these as I had felt there was no reason.

"Oooh I want this one." Said reaching for an assault rifle before I interjected myself between her and it. "Not yet. I was serious when I said you need to learn some gun safety skills. I know the skills you probably gained because I gained similar ones but it's different learning how to shoot and when to shoot. Also I want to be sure you can properly maintain and store your weapon to prevent accidents."

"Awww Moooom~" she complained.

"Anyways there is more than just accumulated stuff here. Remember there is a working house here with a working shower. I thought maybe you all would like a chance to get cleaned up before dinner."

With that Angel and Alice's eyes brightened. "First." both said at the same time then glared at each other.

I sighed "Actually Alice would you do me a favor and let Angel go first I want you to spend some time on your Pipboy there trying out that game you got. I want to see if maybe you can find some stuff I missed."

Alice pouted at that and Angel grinned "Have fun playing, your game."

I smiled at Alice and gave her head head pat. "I appreciate you doing this it is an important job, the more information we have the better armed we are to deal with the world and I know you are just the one to trust with such an important task." I told her which drew a proud smile from her.

I asked Anya to take an assault rifle, close the door and guard it while we worked.

"Hey Jenna If I remember correctly you took some Medical Skills and can brew chems that are found in this world right?"

"Umm yes is there something that you would like me to make?" she asked.

"As a matter of fact yes. Since radiation is so prevalent I would like you to brew up as much Rad-X and Radaway as possible."

She nodded and headed for the chemistry lab I had set up.

I gathered up the electronics that we had gathered together as well as the ruined flashlights and headed back to my electronics lab area to clean and restore them. By the end of 10 minutes I had cobbled together 4 working flashlights. We had two stored in the Warehouse so we had one for everyone.

A little later Angel came out in new clothes with a rather large grin on her face as she ran her hand through her hair. "Ahhh that was wonderful, Just what I needed." she said.

"Alright Alice go ahead and save your game you can pick it up later. Why don't you get a shower in." I told her, She nodded turning of her pipboy and tucking it in a pocket before taking off.

"Well I think I'll go get started on Dinner since we have access to food." Said Nekochan. I began to open my mouth to say something "Let me guess you are going to ask about Pizza. Alright fine. The kids will be happy." She said with an amused grin.

"Ummm would you believe I was just going to tell you that I was going to be checking over the cars to see if there is anything salvageable?" I answered.

"No, not really I know you too well." she chuckled

"Fine but I really am going to go check the cars." I answered

"Don't we have a car already? I doubt those rusty heaps outside are going to have much." she replied.

"The Batmobile Prototype can only really fit two, and only one comfortably. Besides I have plans for that later. I would like to have a vehicle now though that we all can fit in."

Nekochan grinned "Driving where we need to go sounds a lot better than just walking through the desert, especially without a real map just vague points on that little computer of yours."

"Anyways I have to go dig out my Geiger counter to check the cars."

With that Nekochan blinked and crooked her head "Huh?"

"Oh, the cars here are mostly Nuclear powered. I guess gas became very hard to come by so they switched to atomic power." I explained

she blinked again. "This place is very weird."

"Yes, yes it is, and there is a reason I am having Jenna brew up some RadX; A chemical that blocks radiation in humans, There is a lot of radiation out there."

Nekochan cringed. "Well just be careful playing with that stuff. Why don't you take Anya with you to cover your back."

I nodded and agreed.

The worst thing that can happen to a car is to sit for a long period of time. These had only been sitting for 100 years or so… I had to admit to myself starting this little project that the odds on getting something out of it were slim. Still even in spite of that if I could pull this off it would be a big thing. I already realized I would need new tires, thankfully I had Acquired extra wheels, rims and other easily breakable parts for the Batmobile, even if it was point protected I realized that waiting around for however long for a blown tire to repair would be potentially fatal.

There were a half dozen cars that were in somewhat whole condition. Even approaching 4 of them brought the tail tail click click click from my Geiger Counter. Considering the half life of the materials involved that meant that only two of them hadn't leaked.

What fallowed was a great test of patience and will, getting in to the cars was quite a task, picking rusted locks was hard, inside was a mess the leather that had covered the seats had rotted away and there were gross things in there. Thankfully nothing big and living. Even getting the hoods open was a challenge when trying not to break anything too badly. What I found was a mess belts had rotted away, fluids had leaked, things had rusted away. To a lesser mechanic it would have been a complete loss. I salvaged what parts I could from one and started to use them in to other of course there weren't enough so I took some RadX and plundered the radioactive cars.

After a brief mandatory break for dinner where I was dragged away for and disappointing Nekochan who wanted to take a shower together but I pointed out that it would be useless to do so since I would be getting dirty again.

I worked as Everyone took shifts holding the flashlight for me as I wrestled with old car parts trying to fit them together in to something functional. Trying to add the few parts we had as spares for the Batmobile. I had to bust out the portable welding set to repair several things and had to make several modifications to get parts to work together.

In the wee hours of the morning finally we started testing the old Corvega Sadan. It was a large 4 door and built to be rugged apparently that rugged build had helped it stand up to the elements just a bit better than the rest. We had to use Blankets to improvise coverings for the seat as well as hot wire the car since we had no keys. Still After a few false starts the old car roared to life, the headlights even lighting up.

With that I signaled to kill the engine and closed the hood triumphantly. It was cold my body ached from hours of hard work, I was tired. Even my new Endurance had limits I guess.

"So. You think she will hold together long enough for us to make it to a town?" asked Nekochan somewhat skeptical.

"After all that work it had better."

She smiled "I am sure it will. So could you use some company in the shower?" she asked again.

"Ughhh no I am so dirty and disgusting right now I am not fit for human contact. I just want to get a hot shower in and head to bed."

She nodded a little disappointed. "Don't worry once we get things more together we will have plenty of time to spend together." I assured her.

"Oh by the way I have been thinking of a name for this place. Since there is apparently a well here I am going to eventually set up a small settlement. A place for Vault 13 to trade with the rest of the world without having to reveal itself. I dub this place Oasis."

The hot water of the shower was heavenly upon my cold and disgusting feeling body. I probably stayed in there far longer than I needed to. After the shower and drying off I slipped on a white cotton robe that felt very nice and headed for bed. My body felt heavy after a long day's work. I expected honestly everyone to have already been to sleep by then but found Nekochan waiting for me. At first her arms were crossed and she looked slightly annoyed and I thought for a moment I was in for some trouble but she saw me and her arms uncrossed and her face softened as she moved forward and wrapper her arms around me and took my lips with hers in a soft passionate kiss.

I will admit at that moment I felt the desire stirring within my body but it was outweighed by the weariness I felt. She broke the kiss the look on her face was almost predatory. "I really want you." she whispered softly still clinging to me.

"I know love but, I am sorry I need rest the spirit is willing but I have limits."

She gave me a soft pout and pulled an arm away to tease my belly.

"You know…" she said pausing for just a moment before a look of determination crossed her face and she took a breath. "I – I really want you to bare my child." she said. The words hit like a physical blow.

"What? I mean I want to of course but…"

She put her finger to my lips.

"I don't want to hear about it's not the right time or the world is too dangerous, you told me that last world and then we had a couple kids and it turned out fine." she told me more forcefully.

I sighed and looked down. "Alright." I said simply. Her eyes widened and suddenly I was in a deep passionate kiss with her I broke away, slightly reluctantly.

"Wait wait, however I want to get things set up here so I can protect our new child. Let me secure a home for us. Let me set things up so we can have a decent life even in this crazy world."

She gave a faint pout but had trouble keeping a smile off her face as her hand slipped against to caress my belly "I figured you would say something like that but it's fine. I understand your want for security."

I kissed her again. "Now I really must insist on heading to bed. We have so much to do I need my sleep." she giggled softly "Alright though I am eager to make love to you since it will be our first time in this new world."

After a long journey, a hard night's work and a nice relaxing shower a soft bed snuggling against my wives felt heavenly. I slept a deep and peaceful sleep. I was awaken by Jenna gently shaking me when it was well in to the morning. The Scent of breakfast permeated the little house within my warehouse. Grudgingly I arose to do my morning business then head out in to the kitchen for breakfast. Nekochan had prepared quite a feast of pancakes, eggs, beacon, and sausage. Everyone but Nekochan was already well in to their breakfast. I was greeted with a kiss and handed a full plate before She began to fix herself a plate.

Whatever minor chatting before I sat down to eat had been set aside so that we could discuss our plans.
"Well even with the car running I think we have too many people to fit in it, I am going to try to put you girls back in the companion stasis pods hopefully rendering you inactive for the trip."

"That's fine with me." replied Angel, the inside of that thing stinks I wasn't looking forward to the trip anyways." I couldn't disagree with her there, Though she had inherited her father's keen nose. I could not deny there was an unpleasant odor to the inside of the car, made worse by the fact none of the windows worked as the parts that had long ago rusted away. It promised to be an uncomfortable trip.

"Once we reach The Hub I'll retrieve the two of you." I continued.

"If I remember correctly we have to get the information of the location on the Hub from Shady Sands right?"Jenna asked.

"Yes we have to stop at Shady Sands for that and to get to know the locals we may help them a bit, As I said they are going to be the seat of the new government that pops up and I would like to help. Also while we are at it we can see if we can get location information on places like Junktown, the Brotherhood of Steel and Necropolis from them. We don't know what information we are going to need until we need it. Speaking of information how has your game been going Alice?".

"Umm it's going alright. I made it to the Hub, I have been exploring it extensively since we are going to be heading there. There is surprisingly a lot to do there." she added then paused. "Though I suggest we do not ask the old man take us to the Deathclaw cave." she added.

Deathclaws were probably one of the most dangerous enemies in the game. You could fight one very early if you talked to a certain crazy old man.

"Actually we may just visit the deathclaw cave. I need to see how powerful they are. We have power armor and I wouldn't mind getting a genetic sample." I replied. That drew a cringe from Nekochan.

"Say that reminds me why did you take a sample from the gho-old man we found here." She asked.

"Well Ghouls are kind of fascinating, they have a lot of downsides but they are immune to radiation, they are effectively ageless at least Physically and some of them can go for very long periods of time without food or water. I wouldn't want to be a ghoul but if I understand better how they work maybe I can engineer those traits In to other life forms without the downsides. I also will be looking to get some samples from the super mutants and other various mutated creatures of this world."

"Well just be careful. There are too many stories of people who weren't as smart as they thought they were who either created or turned themselves in to monsters. I know you wouldn't do that but… just be careful."

I winced. "I understand. If I ever progress beyond the theoretical stage I will be very cautious." I assured them. After all no need to get hung up by my own hubris. I had time.

Eventually breakfast ended, Nekochan took the dishes to clean up. It was time to put the girls in the pods "Alright Angel, Alice time to come along." I was surprised when they both nodded quietly and obeyed. Then again I wasn't expecting the ride to be pleasant. It was a miracle I was able to get the car to work at all.

"Alright kids. I promise I will bring you back as soon as I can." I promised them. With that the covers on the pods that served as companion containment units between jumps closed both looked as though they were sleeping peacefully.

Having them tucked away we left the safety of the warehouse and closed up the house we had been using. I was a little anxious about the next step. I knew it wasn't going to be fun.

The morning sun was already climbing in to the sky, the air was warm and promised to warm much more as the day carried on. We headed to the car. It had already been decided that Nekochan would drive and with her new skills Anya would be the copilot. She had a rather large rifle with her in case we ran in to trouble. I got to sit back with Jenna after some teasing about my driving. Nekochan apparently thought I drove like an old lady. Though Considering what my actual age would be… anyways I saw nothing wrong with driving cautiously but Nekochan did.

Inside the car was… not pleasant the seats were uncomfortable, it stank and the windows didn't go down so it promised an uncomfortable ride.

So we tried to start it. It a few times for the car to roar to life. Soon we were on our way. It wasn't the smoothest ride but watching the wasteland pass us by as we drove I couldn't help but not there was some beauty even here in the wilderness, we saw small plants an animals as we passed by. I suppose if I had been driving I would have missed those. It took us a couple hours but soon we saw a long white wall in the distance. Soon A small town came in to view. They had many adobe buildings some small obviously houses and some larger buildings that likely served some other purpose.

We drove up to the front gate. I couldn't help to notice a small crowd gathering at the front gate to look. I noticed many children were among them held back by the adults. They likely they had never seen a running car. A man in a long coat stepped out from among them. He was a slightly tall man with a weathered and tanned face that showed he was used to being outside, he sported a full beard and mustache. He approached towards us with obvious curiosity and a hint of caution. I didn't miss that his right hand never traveled far from his hip where a gun was holstered.


The first one out not to my surprise was Nekochan. She was wearing a cloth over her nose and mouth which she quickly removed and took a deep breath. "Ahhh that's better." she let out. To most observers she looked care free but I recognized her body was just tense enough to be ready to spring in to action if the approaching guy turned out to have Ill intent. Either way I got out as did Anya and Jenna.

"Well I have never seen one of those working." he noted to Nekochan as we walked up. "Did you, did you guys find that or fix one up?"

"Hmmm?" Noted Nekochan as if just noticing the stranger. "Oh that's all Raven. She is the one who got this working" She said waving a hand over to me. She said finishing stretching as we made it over to them.

"Well I must say that's quite a feat getting one of those working. Anyways the name is Seth, I am the head of the guards here at Shady sands what brings you to our little town?"

"Well it's a nice looking little town. I was hoping we could find a place to rest for a bit, maybe some supplies and if possible some information." I replied

He stroked his beard a moment "Hmm well it depends on the supplies we are a self sufficient little town so we don't do a ton of trading. When we do the bigger towns usually try and screw us sideways for it. We might be able to feed you and put up for the night somewhere. We might be able to spare some more common supplies if you have the caps and as far as information we will be happy to give you what we have."

"Thank you that's much appreciated. We are looking for a water chip for my Vault." I said pointing to the vault suit I was wearing. "I doubt you would have it but would there be any bigger settlements around here that might have one or maybe the components to make one."

"Hmm well you know there are a couple settlements but a lot of the people here came from a Vault like yourself. It was Vault 15 it sort of collapsed due to over population it's a few days east of here."

"Actually that's the one place I have on my Pipboy. They sent me out to find with that location." I said showing him my Pipboy.

"Wow been a while since I seen one of these. Well that simplifies a lot of things. Let me just enter the location of Junktown and the Hub. I gotta be honest with you. If they do have what you are looking for at either of those places you are likely not going to get it cheap. I would however try the Hub first as it's bigger and a bit nicer of a place. Personally I would hit the Vault first before them to save some caps."

"Awesome, thank you. So anything interesting going on around here?"

The man sighed "Well I don't know if I would characterize what goes on here as interesting to most folk. We are a small settlement that is mostly self sufficient so we tend to stick to ourselves. I would love to say that we don't have any problems because of that but that ain't the truth. We have a few problems. We have the usual problem with raiders. You should watch out for them there are a few bands around here, one group to the south is particularly nasty. However the real problem we have are with these damn creatures called Radscorpians."

"Radscorpians?" I asked.

He looked at us then motioned to the large gun Anya had slung across her back.

"Is that thing for show or do you lot know how to handle yourselves?" he asked.

"Oh she is quite skilled with it I assure you and the rest of us aren't any slouches either."

That drew a small smile for him. "Well then I'll tell you if you really want to know. Radscorpians are nasty giant bug creatures. They have been a problem since we got here. They kill our cattle and often poison our people, just last week they got my brother Jarvis. Our Doctor is working like crazy to try and find an antidote to their poison."

"That sounds terrible, would you like some help dealing with them?" I asked.

That caused Nekochan to raise an eyebrow.

"Well if you are offering sure, though if you really want to help you should talk to our leader Aradesh. He likes to talk to all visitors anyway. He is in the building to the south." he said motioning behind us to a large building amid the smaller adobe buildings.

"Sure I think I will go pay him a visit."

He nodded "Alright then please enjoy yourselves in our little settlement." he said stepping asside.

I however turned around and went back to the car. I popped the hood and flipped a hidden switch I had installed. I knew we didn't have a key to properly lock things up so I put in a kill switch that would prevent the car from running. I closed the hood. I then went and locked the doors and we continued on. I probably could have just disconnected some wires or something and been fine but one should never underestimate the cleverness of those around them.

"Was the kill switch really necessary?" asked Anya crooking her neck a bit curiously.

"Well if I was able to pick the lock it's very likely someone else could and they might just know enough to get it started and I would rather not have to chase down the car should they decide to go for a joyride." I explained.

As we moved closer the group of people watched us wide eyed as if we had just landed from a space ship. My sharp ears caught faint whispers about us on our approach.

"I thought we were trying to skip past all of the side quests to finish things up as early as possible." noted Nekochan with a hint of annoyance.

"Well these are good people just trying their hardest to live their lives and they have the possibility of becoming something great in time. I thought we would lend a bit of a hand. Besides it will give everyone a chance to get some experience in real battle with what we may be facing. After all only you and I have real combat experience." I pointed out.

Nekochan blinked and then nodded "Well you do have a point. You sure this isn't too dangerous to start with though?" She asked.

"Nah if some guy with a pistol can go and clear them out. All of us together with larger guns should be able to do it."

We walked on to the front gate of the Settlement where a bunch of people were gathered. There were men, women, and children. I heard several whispers through my sharp hearing of "Wow, So beautiful" "She is amazing." and "Is that a real Car?" I noticed one old woman probably in her early 60s with a particularly lovely smile. She was short and thin with gray hair tied back in a pony tail that reached the small of her back. She had pale blue eyes. She had smile lines on her face that showed she was someone used to smiling. She wore rugged and simple clothing. "Well Welcome to Shady Sands I am Katrina. I am sort of the town greeter usually. Though Seth beat me to it this time. I am usually the one that welcomes those that aren't hostile to our little town and answers questions." She explained.

"Oh wonderful, It's nice to meet you Katrina. Actually if you don't mind maybe you could help us. Seth mentioned we might be able to find some place to feed us and put us up for the night here. Would you happen to know who we can talk to about that? We are willing to pay if need be."

She blinked and then smiled a warm smile "Well I think I can help you with that. We aren't a big settlement but we should be able to find some food and a place to sleep for you lot. I'll find someplace for you myself."

"Thank you, That would be much appreciated. We are headed over to talk to your leader Aradesh." I explained.

"Oh alright I'll come find you afterwords then." she agreed heading off.

We continued on through the little settlement. While it was small it seemed most people around us were rather busy as they worked hard to maintain their quality of life.

The large Adobe building was a bit crude looking but sturdily made. We headed inside it was rather elaborate for what I was expecting of an adobe building boasting several rooms and one of the walls was covered with bookshelves. By it waited a man in rough tan robes. He had dusky skin and appeared in his 50s by the lines on his face. He had a lean build and average height as soon as he saw us he began to walk over.

"Greeting Strangers, I presume you were the ones with the car that I have been hearing about. That is quite impressive, what may I ask is your business in Shady sands?" he said with a slight accent. Which given the times and circumstances kind of threw me for a moment. Accents seemed like they should be a thing of the old world.

"Umm well you see I have come here from my Vault. We are in a bit of trouble, our water purifier chip is broken and we do not have a replacement so I need to find on in a relatively short amount of time lest it become uninhabitable. We came here looking just for a place to rest, a bit of food, maybe to pick up some supplies and information. Your townspeople have been very helpful with those."

"Yes my people are quite generous to those in need. I am glad they have been helpful to you. We are a small settlement and tend to stick to ourselves however this is a harsh world and we cannot ignore someone in need." he agreed. "Well stranger all I ask is that you not make trouble. I hope you enjoy your stay here. Good day"

"Thank you, I am sure I will. Good day to you too."

As we were leaving a girl in her mid teens approached us excited. She had dusky skin, short wild black hair and dark eyes. "Say is it true? They are saying that you are travelers that came here in a car?" she asked excitedly.

I chuckled "Yes, that is very true. It's probably more rust than car but I managed to get it working."

"That's so awesome! My name's Tandi, what's yours?" She asked.

"My name's Raven, it's very nice to meet you Tandi."

"So have you been anywhere than Shady sands?" she asked.

"Aside from a ghost town in the desert not yet. I am only a few days out of the vault."

"Wow you must be something pretty amazing if you got one of those old cars running in such a short period of time."

"Well I am pretty good with machines." I admitted.

"Well how do you like our little town? Bored yet?"

"It's not bad, I think it's nice to see a place like this doing so well."

"Well yeah it's nice, boring but nice. I mean it's home and all. We don't get strangers here often so I don't really get to talk to new people much. I wish I could travel like you are doing but no one here wants to leave. Worse my Father says he would have a heart attack if anything ever happened to me." she said with a little longing on the part of wanting to travel and a bit of teenage annoyance at not being able to.

"Don't worry I am sure you will get chances to travel. I would offer to take you for a spin in the car but I have to be honest it's not a pleasant trip. It was a rush job so I didn't get to work on anything for comfort or do anything about the smell. Also the windows don't roll down so it's not a fun journey." I explained.

Tandi nodded sadly understand. We said good day to Tandi.

As we walked out we were greeted by a smiling Katrina

"Well I found you a place to hold up for the night. It's not the most luxurious spot but but it's the best I could do on short notice." she explained.

"I am sure it will be fine." I assured her.

"She pointed to a small building at the corner of the town "That is where Carl is, He is an elderly man, used to live with his granddaughter but she recently married and moved in with her new husband. He has seemed a little lonely. It may be a bit cramped for the 4 of you but I think it could be good for everyone involved." I nodded "that will be fine thank you. Here please take this, I think you have more than earned it." I said as I handed her 100 caps. She looked surprised. "Wow this… is a lot are you sure?" she asked. "I thought you also needed supplies."

"We do but it's fine. We found a decent amount before we got here and we can always earn more with my technical skills and our firepower. I believe generosity should be repaid in kind."

"Well thank you." she said stunned.

"Say since you know what is available around here and it would save me time wandering around here…" I said taking out a small pad of paper and writing down a few items like some more Canteens, Some extra food either canned or highly preserved, a small tent, and a few other miscellaneous things.

Katrina took the list and blinked "A small tent? Are you sure?" She said looking at us.

"We have a couple kids that will be traveling with us, we were able to leave them at a secure location for a bit but we can't leave them there forever." I explained. She blinked and looked at me as if what I said made no sense but nodded anyways "Alright I'll see if I can gather this stuff up for you."


"Hey Nekochan, why don't you take Anya and Jenna to go meet Carl. I am going to go talk with Seth again." I explained.

"Oh are you sure you want to split up?" She asked.

"Well… What I have to do isn't going to be very interesting. I figure it would be better to let you all get situated first." She nodded and they left and I headed back to the front gate. I found Seth talking to a man of average height wearing leather armor that looked a lot like a one armed leather jacket only thicker. The man had long brown hair dark eyes and tan skin likely from a lot of time outside. I heard him address the man as Ian. I found that amusing as he was one of the companions it was possible to pick up in the game. I waited until their conversation was done before I headed over.

"Oh, back so soon?" asked Seth.

"Yeah, I was thinking of trying to take care of your Radscorpion problem or at least put a dent in it."

He smiled at that and nodded "Yeah I would love that. Only problem is we don't know where the damn things are coming from and no matter how many we kill there are always more."

I nodded, this was different from the game. "Well I have a friend who is very good at tracking things in the desert. Would you happen to know an area where you are more likely than not going to encounter some?" I asked.

"Hmm you know there are a few places where they are more common I am sure I can show you."

"Great would you be free tomorrow morning after breakfast."

"To get rid of these things, sure. You sure you're friend can find them?" he asked.

"Well let me put it this way, if She can't, no one can." He nodded.

"We, will meet tomorrow at the gate there, We can take the car, I warn you it's a bit of a rough ride."

"Well I am sure I can handle it."

I nodded "Alright well we will see you here then." I told him.

I then left and headed for Carl's Home. I would say that it was on the small side but all of the personal homes were on the small sides. I got the feeling these people tended to lead simple lives and not acquire much as far as material goods.

As I entered the house there was no door but rather a sheet that served the purpose I found my companions chatting with an old man with long grey hair and a grey beard his skin was deeply tanned as someone who spent much time out doors, he wore simple but rugged robes and had dark eyes that turned to me as I entered.

"Ah you must be the last one they said would be joining me for the night." he said merrily giving me a smile. "I truly am privileged to be spending the night surrounded by such lovely ladies at my age." Carl looked to be in his 60's probably late 60s. "Come in, come in, Welcome." The place was lightly furnished There were a few chairs that looked like they had been salvaged from a vault, a small round table in the room that I noted had a book under one leg. I also noted that there was a shelf with some old well worn books.

"So your friends tell me you are heroes out on a mission to save your vault. That sounds exciting."

"Well we have just started, hopefully I can find or make a new water chip without much trouble."

He nodded "Say did I hear right that you came here in one of them old cars?"

"Yes, yes I did. I found it and fixed it up in a ghost town. It was in remarkably good shape for as long as it had been sitting."

"You must be quite the mechanic."

I coughed "Well I do alright."

That's when Nekochan wrapped an arm around me "She does more than alright, she is a master, a genius with anything mechanical."

"Well I am happy to play host to you then."

"So Carl what is life like around here?" I decided to change the subject.

"Oh you know how it is, we work hard, It's not an easy life but we are mostly safe and keep our bellies filled. Not much really goes on around here I like to read myself, tales of the world before the war. Things would be pretty great if not those Radscorpions and Raiders." he replied.

"OH well we hope to help with the Radscorpions at least. We are going out tomorrow. To see if we can hunt down where they are coming from and get rid of them."

That caused the old man to raise an eyebrow "Now I think it's a wonderful thing you ladies want to help but are you sure? Those critters are awful nasty and there are a lot of people around here injured by their poison."

"We will be alright I have a plan." I assured him, he nodded but didn't seem convinced. "Well just be careful out there the desert is a harsh place. Before we found a suitable place to set up this settlement, we had to cross it as a group. Sadly the desert takes it's toll and we lost many good people along the way."

"Oh were you one of the one's from the Vault?"

"I am indeed."

"Say how was this place constructed?" I asked and the old man thought a moment seeming to question how he should answer that. "Well I guess it's not a huge thing. Our vault had one of those G.E.C.K.s or Garden of Eden Creation Kits. Heh I remember when we opened it, many
of us thought that it would be some sort of magic that would just create fertile land. That's how they sold it if remember correctly, the truth was it was just a suitcase with a bunch of seeds and tools to help build a place. When we opened it we were kind of stunned. A lot of people were disheartened. It was actually Aradesh that got people to snap out of it he was the one convinced us we could still make something with this. So we found the best place we could and started using what supplies were available to construct this place. It wasn't easy but I think we did a pretty good job." I couldn't help but nod.

"Say do you think he still has the remnants of the G.E.C.K.?" I asked Carl who scratched the side of his head. "Well Now most of it was put to use, the generator, the soil and seed, I figure about the only thing left by now would likely be some holotapes." he explained apologetically.

"Holotapes?" I asked.

"Yeah a bunch of information like how to use the stuff in the g.e.c.k. and stuff like how to turn sand in to a building material."

"Wow, that's actually something I could use. If things don't go well on the hunt for the water chip I think I know a place that might wind up a new settlement like this one. However I don't have the knowledge I need to establish one from scratch I think those halotapes might just be able to give me some valuable information.

"Hmm well you would have to talk to Aradesh, he would be the one with them. I don't see a reason why he wouldn't let you look through them at least."

"Thank you I will have to bring it up to him later tomorrow." I replied.

Soon we settled in for a humble dinner. In the little adobe home one part of one of the rooms served as the kitchen. There was a makeshift stove that seemed to run on methane. He apparently had been brought extra food to help to cover our being there. We wound up being served a beef stew with lots of vegetables and freshly baked loaf of bread. It wasn't my favorite thing though the bread was good but even a picky eater like me was able to finish. Anya, Nekochan and Jenna all seemed rather pleased.

It was some time after dinner that Katrina returned to us with a small cart filled with what I had asked for. She apologized that it had taken 200 caps to get it but I thanked her and paid her and extra 100 caps anyways.

She was grateful and very surprised to say the least. She was quite happy to deliver the supplies and to hear that we were well taken care of.

After she left Nekochan took me aside. "You know I have never questioned you about money, frankly we have always had plenty of ways to get it so I understand you want to be generous. However you paid that woman a good chunk of what we have, we are going to have to buy things at the places we are going likely. It seems a tad irresponsible because either we are going to have to do work, likely dangerous work to get the money we need or we are going to have to sell something that is worth way more money than what we are going to get for it."

"Hmm well normally I would say you are not wrong but where we are I am sure there are loads of small jobs that if need be we can do to get more money. I am a technical genius and people who can fix complex machinery are just not that prevalent in the wasteland. Jenna if I remember correctly what skills she took in this world is as good a doctor as anyone in this wasteland. Trust me there are no shortages of people who need a good doctor." I explained.

"Well don't small jobs usually pay small amounts?" Asked Nekochan.

"Not necessarily. It's all about finding the right people who need something and happen to have a decent amount of money to spend for it."

She nodded "Alright I will trust you know what you are doing. However I still think you should take it easy on spending until we get way more caps."

I shrugged. "There isn't much I really need, we have weapons, we have almost all the food we are going to need and unlimited water so long as we can find a key hole. The big expenditure I see is probably the pieces to make the water purifier chip and maybe the cost of parts to fix up the car a bit so it's not so difficult to drive around in."

Nekochan cringed at that last part "Yeah anything you can do to make that more comfortable would be welcome."

I nodded understanding. That night I headed out to the car. Now there weren't many key holes in Shady sands so little access to the Warehouse. I made an excuse to the guards that I needed to get something from the car and then used my key on the car door creating an access point for my warehouse. Once inside I headed to my lab. I needed a bomb and had to practically make it from scratch. Keeping bomb components around was a bad idea for a parent especially with inquisitive children such as mine. Thankfully Bombs aren't really the most complex things. I even rigged up a nice timer so we could set it and have time to run for it. I took my bomb and carefully locked up the car again. I put bomb in the trunk. Thankfully it wasn't so volatile that I had to worry about a bumpy ride until it was set. I waved to the curious guard who looked to be gawking a bit at what I had been doing as I headed in.

The morning came early as I found myself gently shaken awake by Anya.
"What time is it? It looks like the sun's barely out." I grumbled. My body feeling sluggish and heavy as I slowly came to consciousness.

"I'm sorry Raven, it's just Seth has already been by to check on you. You have to remember this is primarily a farming community, people get up with the sun or often earlier."

I sighed. No need to apologize. I should have been more specific about a time. Damn early risers".

"I am surprised Nekochan wasn't the one to wake me." I commended as I dragged my sorry rear out of bed.

"Oh, well Nekochan and Jenna are working on breakfast. It won't be a big one since they didn't have access to the warehouse." she warned. "That's fine I wasn't feeling that hungry anyways." I muttered as I headed for the small wash basin that stood before a mirror. Despite having irrigation many of these houses did not have indoor plumbing. Apparently when Shady sands was created they could not afford to give everyone indoor plumbing due to the expense and materials they had avialble. Only those that were especially well off or important had indoor plumbing. Carl certainly wasn't wealthy so I had to endure.

I washed my face and straightened my hair before putting on my vault suit so I could make a quick trip to the outhouse. I made a quick mental note to gather enough money and materials before constructing the settlement I had planned so no one would be subjected to having to go outside to do their business. While it wasn't a first time for me it wasn't very fun either.

We had a quick but humble breakfast with Carl. He seemed jovial today as when I had met him but I felt a twinge of sadness from him. I think he had enjoyed having people in the house again.

"Say Carl, I wanted to thank you for housing and feeding us. I really appreciate your courtesy." I said taking some caps out of my bag of caps."

He raised his had to stop me "That's not necessary. I was happy to have you kids here with me for a bit. I don't get many visitors these days so it was very nice to spend time with you. If you truly want to repay this old man then maybe drop by once in a while when you are out this way. I could always do with more stories of your adventures. Now you should probably get going. I hear you have a busy day ahead of you. Be careful now those Radscorpions are nasty critters."

I smiled "We will. Thank you again." and with that simple good bye we left.

We found Seth at the gate a pack on his back and checking his gun. He seemed to nod im aproval and holder it as we walked up. "Well good morning." he greeted us.

"Hey sorry I am not generally an early riser I was expecting this to happen a few hours later but, that just means more daylight to work with." I said trying to put a positive spin on it. The sun was only showed it was still early morning. My body still felt tired sluggish and half awake but I tried to ignore it and soldier on.

Seth nodded "Well sorry for the misunderstanding but it's better to get started soon as possible. We have a lot of ground to travel. Radscorpions are nocturnal so we are hoping to find them before they hunker down for the day so your friend can try and track them." He explained.

Anya nodded "If they are as large and predatory as you say they should leave quite the trail both of tracks and dead prey. If Radscorpions are like their smaller cousins then they will leave the drained carcasses of their prey."

"By the way um can we collect the tails of the scorpions. I think I may be able to figure out an antivenom if I have enough samples. Actually didn't you mention your doctor was working on that?" Jenna asked Seth.

"Doc Razlo is working really hard on that, I am sure he wouldn't mind some help." he replied.

While they were discussing that I opened the lid and clicked the hidden kill switch back to on.

We then loaded in to the Car, Seth got the shotgun seat as he knew the area. I squeezed in to the back. Thankfully I am small so it wasn't too bad.

Seth seemed seemed not to mind the trip much. If he was uncomfortable with the seating or smell he didn't show it. We drove for about a half hour as directed us. Wherever he was leading though we got cut short as off in the distance we saw one of the monsters clear as day. It seemed to be feeding on the corpse of a man. However it seemed to turn towards us just as it we noticed it.

The thing was huge it's body was at least 6 feet long not counting the tail. The tails was long and the deadly stinger was clearly visible. It was a brown color it's pincers were large and fearsome looking. The car stopped and we got out as fast as we could. Seeing us it started towards us. There was a loud crack of a thunderous sound as Anya whipped out her assault rifle and the creatures head exploded. It paused headless for a moment before falling to the ground. Seth whistled "nice shot." he said in admiration.

"Careful out here there might be more of them. Some scorpions are ambush hunters that burrow under ground and pop up to attack." Warned Anya.

That little nightmare in our minds we approached slowly with our guns out, cautious of any sudden movements. However we found none.

Once we were sure we weren't going to be ambushed. Anya went to examine the carcass of the creature and Jenna and Seth went to the dead body. Anya pulled out a knife and began hacking at the joints of the tail, the the creatures body proved rather tough as it took quite a few hacks to remove it.

Jenna and Seth were both examining the body, it was lightly dressed, it had been male, a tanned man he looked skeletal "Most of his organs have been liquefied and drained." explained Jenna.

Seth picked up a bandanna that had been on the corpse. "Hmmm this is the symbol of the Khan's the nastiest group of raiders in the area still a terrible way to go. I would imagine he wasn't alone. His buddies must have taken off after the thing got him, so much for loyalty." Commented Seth.


Having finished with the tail Anya walked over and examined the area around the body.

"Hmm Yes I can see multiple footprints here. And it looks like the ran in a hurry. I also see where the sand was disturbed this thing must have popped out and nabbed them before they knew it was there." she said

I bent down and picked up an empty 10mm pistol. I could smell that it was freshly fired. I noticed a pack that must have fallen off of him in the struggle near by and checked, there was some dried food a canteen of water, a half used box of ammo and a knife.

"So we might not only have to worry about Radscorpions but raiders too out here." I noted.

"Possibly but this far out I would imagine they were probably hunting." noted Seth.

"Ah, anyways Anya can you tell anything about where the Radscorpion came from" I asked slinging the pack over my shoulder.

"Well I can't follow tracks but if I look for area where they might be able to hunt I would say we should head that way." she said pointing north. "To conceal a creature of that size the sand and dirt has to be very deep, To the west the area gets mountainous meaning there is hard rock under the sand that they wouldn't be able to burrow under." She answered.

"Seems sensible." I commented. "Hey let me just lock up the car for a minute." I said heading over and doing my thing.

So we traveled on foot Anya and Seth at the lead with their guns out. We moved cautiously the fate of the raider we came across fresh in our mind. We passed some dry bones of animals that told us we were getting closer to their hunting spot when suddenly Anya raised her hand for us to stop. I looked around it was just a sandy desert to me with a couple of small dunes but Anya took aim with and with a thunderous shot one of the dunes exploded revealing another large Radscorpion. Everyone shot the thing it wound up crumpling over dead."

"How – How did you know?" I asked a little stunned.

"Oh the dune didn't look natural to me and I saw the markings near it where the Radscorpion had covered itself with sand." she answered before she walked over and began to hack off it's tail.

"Huh, sharp eyes I didn't notice anything." Noted Seth as the rest of us nodded.

We continued on as the heat of the day picked up, it was about mid day and the sun hung high in the sky. All of us had worked up a good sweat from the journey. The scene with Anya shooting a sand dune and a Radscorpion played out a couple more times. Though these times we were more ready for it. Less ammo was wasted dispatching the creature.

The path we took following the signs of the large predators took wound up taking us towards the mountains, it was a relief when Anya informed us that there wouldn't likely be any more ambushes as the ground became rocky.

"Say I thought they hunted by hiding under the sand and ambushing." I asked.

"That's usually true but I think we are getting close to the nest. For such a large species they can't just nest anywhere, I expect we are going to find a big cave filled with them." She said and then reloaded her Rifle. "Everyone should reload now I don't know how many we are going to find and going in to a predator's den is dangerous." I nodded and reloaded my gun. I wondered if she would have reached that conclusion even if I hadn't informed her about the scorpion cave in the game.

We continued our travel as more animal bones became apparent. Eventually we came to a small hill at the edge of the mountainous region at the base of the hill was a large cave opening. Anya held up her hand for us to stop.

"Alright that's it I see the tracks of many of those things. We are going in to a dangerous situation. Following a creature in to it's nest is usually a bad idea but there are likely eggs down there and if we want to stop the flow of Radscorpions we need to destroy everything in there. I'll take lead because I have the biggest gun. I shouldn't have to tell you but try and aim for the head." She told us. I nodded and marveled at just how much she had gained from those perks. "Everyone who has a flashlight now is the time to use them it's going to be dark down there." she said pulling out her own flashlight handing it to Seth. "I can't use this because I need both hands for my gun. Why don't you use it?"

Seth nodded and clicked it on as he held it in his offhand and pulled out his pistol making sure it was loaded and ready.

As we approached the cave I got an ominous feeling staring off in to the darkness. I suppose that is natural when getting ready to face a bunch of giant monsters who could easily kill you.

We entered the floor the cave sloped down. The sickening sweet stench of death permeated the cave. The walls and ceiling were rough cold gray stone. With every breath and every step I felt more tense as we walked along, thankfully there was plenty of room around us to maneuver. As we went deeper I noticed large piles of debris, I knew this cave wasn't the stable of caves though I doubted we would have problems just from gunfire.

As the natural light fled behind us and we were forced to rely more on the light of the flashlights my tension grew. I couldn't help but think I was a decent shot with a gun but maybe I should have picked something bigger than a pistol to fight these things… maybe I should have taken small guns as a skill. Unarmed wasn't likely to help me here I doubt I would be punching the Radscorpions.

We moved deeper in, right before the path split in two we found one. It was as large as the first one we had seen. It turned to face us and was about to move in our direction pincers raised when there was a thunderous boom and it's head exploded causing it to crumple to the floor. I winced the echoing sound of the Assault Rifle that Anya was carrying hurt my ears.

I was about to same something when Anya raised her hand to stop us then I heard something, something coming from up ahead.

There was the sound of something coming. A lot of somethings. We saw a half dozen of the creatures coming from each way. "Shit, Well they noticed we are here." Commented Seth raising his pistol and flashlight.

"It's alright we still have enough time, Anya, Seth you take the ones on the right, we will take the one's on the left." I said as I calculated things out mentally.

I saw Jenna grip her Pistol tightly and take a deep breath to calm herself. I noticed Nekochan smirk a little as she raised the ridiculously large pistol she had that was more a hand cannon. It had to be nice to be strong enough to not worry about kickback or the ridiculous gun breaking your wrist. I raised my gun and aimed.

The sound of gunfire rained out and the approaching monsters first slowed as the first few bullets hit them then dropped. It was first the ones at the front but then the ones trying to climb over their bodies joined them in death. Soon instead of the painful sounds of gunfire it was replaced with silence. I was going to go check on Anya and Seth but they walked back over seeming none the worse for ware.

"We get them all?" I asked though my ears were still ringing. Both nodded. "Yeah, Why don't you guys cover me while I get the tails from those things." she suggested. I nodded.

It was a little nerve wracking approaching a pile of giant scorpians, at least for me but Anya and Nekochan didn't seem bothered at all Anya with her knife and Nekochan with her sword proceeded to hack off the tails of each one in the tunnel. Nekochan having to push some off of each other to get at them. The process was repeated in the next tunnel. Thankfully we didn't see any further signs of life.

"Say I think I spotted a good point to set up the bomb." I told everyone.

"Bomb?" asked Seth surprised.

"Yeah we figured we might find the nest and there was a chance it would be too much to clear out by hand so I brought something to take care of it in such a case. I think I can collapse this tunnel. I found a weak spot. I'll set it out on the way out."

Seth nodded "Well I am a little light on Ammo after all that but are you sure that bomb will take care of it?" he asked.

"Well it should do a good job of trapping any that manage to survive the explosion." Anya explained. " while they are burrowing creatures they can't get through stone. It's doubtful there are any other exits as we are pretty deep down. We should be good." She added.

"Well that great, are you sure this is the only nest?" Asked Seth.

"Honestly I am not completely sure but from the number that were here I would say this was the main nest for the area. For creatures so large it takes a certain amount of territory to feed them and for as many as we killed both here and on the way here I would say Shady sands shouldn't have much more trouble with them, at least for a long while. Also with this many tails we should be able to create an anti-venom that will make them a lot less dangerous to deal with." he nodded and actually managed a smile. "Well then it seems we owe you a great debt of gratitude."

"Think nothing of it. I am glad we could help, we are neighbors after all so glad we could help." I added.

With that we started to head out I found a good spot for the bomb and set the timer for 10 minutes to give us plenty of time to be out of there.

A brisk walk later we waited a distance away watching the cave entrance. There was a loud boom and a massive cloud of dust and debris spilled out of it . We waited a few minutes for it to disperse. "You think it's sealed up?" asked Seth.

"Oh yeah after that it's sealed. Let's go take a look I suggested.

When we made it back to the cave and shined our lights in to it, we saw the cave was sealed off not to far from the entrance.

"Well that should be that, let's head back to the car." I said.

The mood of the car ride home was much lighter than it had been on the way there, Somehow my companions didn't even seem to notice the bouncy ride, the heat or the smell. We chatted among ourselves about our triumph and our actions.

It was well after noon when we finally made it back to Shady Sands and I think everyone had worked up a decent appetite. We pulled in front of the settlement to see again people gathering to catch a glimps of the car.

When we stopped we exited, Nekochan first seeming relieved to be free of the confines of the car. Seth and the rest of us exited after her. "Well girls, I really must thank you. I am sure we at least put a dent in our Radscorpion problem, if we didn't solve it outright. I am going to go check with my Deputies to make sure nothing happened while we were gone. I would suggest you go talk to Aradesh after some lunch. He will want to thank you for what you have done." Seth informed us before leaving.

"Hey Nekochan, would you mind helping me carry all of these tails to the local doctor here after lunch? I heard he was working on a anti-venom. With these and a little help from myself we should be able to brew something up in no time." said Jenna.

Nekochan nodded "Sure but let me go fix some lunch for us. I think we deserve something nice after all of that. Speaking of which, I should get started." she said poignantly motioning for the door of the car. "Actually why don't you get started with Lunch and the girls and I will go speak to Aradesh. That shouldn't take long. We can come back and then after lunch we can all carry Radscorpion tails to the doctor." I suggested.

"Sounds fine to me." agreed Nekochan. I took out my key to the warehouse and turned it, opening the door for her so she could go inside. At this point I didn't really care about the people watching or what they thought at that point it had been a long day and I just wanted to get stuff done.

"Hey why don't I hang out around here and make sure no one messes with the Car while Nekochan is working." Suggested Anya. I nodded "Good idea." I said, I was actually about to ask her if she would.

Jenna and I found Aradesh in the same building we had before. Upon seeing us he smiled as if greeting an old friend "Greetings Traveler. I have heard of your deeds. Shady Sands owes you a great debt for helping with those Radscorpions."

I couldn't help but smile "You are welcome but we were just glad to be able to help."

"Please there must be something that we can do to aid you in your travels." he insisted.

"Well. I heard this Settlement was created with a G.E.C.K. Now I know it's not some magic box that makes fertile land out of nothing but I heard that it came with several Halotapes on how to create a settlement like this. I was wondering if I could see those Halotapes."

Aradesh raised an eyebrow at that. "Hmm that is a peculiar request. In truth we haven't used those Halotapes in many years, while it would certainly cost us nothing to allow you to use them might I enquirer as to why you are interested in them?"

"Oh, sure. I am thinking of building a settlement of my own. I believe recent troubles in the Vault have shown that one can not ignore the outside world indefinitely. I figure it is safer to have a small settlement set up to work as a trading post with the outside world than it is to just open up the vault to outsiders."

Aradesh nodded "Very wise Traveler. I can see your point. Wait here I shall retrieve them. I do not know how much help they will be without the other supplies but I wish you success in this venture." he said before turning and heading deeper in to the building.

He returned a few minutes later with a slightly nostalgic grin holding a holotapes in hand.

"It has been many years since I laid eyes upon these halotapes. They carry a great sentimental value to my people. I have no problem with you using them them and but I must ask that you be careful."

I nodded "I will be."

I took the Holotapes and popped them in to the slot in my Pipboy and examined the data on them. One was about the construction and maintenance of a fusion generator. We didn't have the parts right now that had been included in the g.e.c.k. but it would prove useful in the future. There were a couple about the soil and seed samples that also gave the basic information of farming that also would be helpful later. However the real prize at the moment was the one that told of a chemical compound that was easy to access and cheap to make to create sandcrete a concrete like material primarily using sand. It also detailed the basics of creating a building. Lastly there was one that contained condensed version of the library of congress of this world. It was a treasure trove of knowledge. I downloaded all of it.

"Thank you. This has been very helpful." I said handing them back.

"I am glad that we could find something to do for you after you have helped us with the Radscorpions."

"Oh I am just glad I was able to help."

He smirked and nodded "Well I thank you again for your help and wish you the best of luck on your journey."

"Thank you, I am sure our paths will cross again, If you should happen to need our help just ask."

He nodded and with that we left and headed back for the car. We noted some curious guards as we passed as well as a few bystanders. At that point however I was done worrying about it. I just wanted lunch and to get stuff done so we could get moving.

I nodded to Anya who was waiting patiently next to the car, the door just slightly opened. "No problems so far though we are getting a fair bit of attention." she noted.

"It's alright we will be gone in a couple hours." I told her as she stepped aside and I stepped in. It was… a bit disorientating to step from an open car in to the warehouse. Though the warehouse was rather large I could already smell the sweet scents of food cooking. Breakfast had been rather light so I headed in to the house section of the warehouse.

Lunch was great. Nekochan had a true talent for cooking and more understanding the tastes of the people she was cooking for. She was an absolute master in the kitchen.

The way our food supply in the warehouse worked was that we had a constant food supply but only enough to feed 5 people. We had six so I had been collecting extra food both for when we couldn't access the warehouse but also to supplement for when the kids were back.

At lunch we discussed what I had gotten on my pipboy. I was surprised that the internal hard drive was not even half full after all I had downloaded from the holotapes. I was also surprised when I examined it and thought about transferring the data to one of the super computers in my warehouse the cable connection on the Pipboy changed to a standard USB from the standard connection used in this fallout universe.

"Wow did that cable just change in your hands?" asked a surprised Jenna.

"Yep being a Jumper is really cool sometimes I assume those of you that got one of these can do the same."

"But how did it do that?" she asked.

"With Jumpers… sometimes it's better not to ask how."

"In other words she doesn't know either." inserted Nekochan playfully.

"Err I know it's just that Jumpchain Fiat is not a very satisfactory answer." I replied "It's like giving the Tod Howard excuse of it just works." Which is ironic because usually his games didn't."

Both Jenna and Anya looked a little confused. "Sorry I sometimes forget you are from a different world. On that computer thing there is a game company run by a man named Tod Howard. The games were usually fun but didn't quite work as well as intended. Don't worry I feel it is my duty turn you both in to proper gamers at some point, you two will get to waste hundreds of hours in games that don't quite work the way they are supposed to but are still very fun."

They both shrugged and seemed to accept it was one of those things that they weren't going to understand yet.

Eventually lunch ended and I was able to download all the info I had gotten to one of the super computers as I had intended.

We then went and collected the scorpion tails. There were a lot of them, though Nekochan could have handled the entire load herself we split them up as I didn't want to take a chance of her scratching herself and getting poisoned.

We headed for the town Doctor, one Razlo as we were told. Razlo lived in one the larger buildings in the settlement. As we entered the adobe structure it became clear why. The front part of the building was set up for medical procedures. There was a table to lay patients on. There bottles of various chemicals and herbs that presumably medicine along the walls. I caught a strange faint smell to the place like herbs. There was a dusky skinned man in his middle years wearing a head covering and glasses along with the robes that many of the Settlement people wore. He had a long thin beard. He was at that moment grinding something up with a Mortar and pestle.

There was a dusky skinned woman with long brown hair and dark eyes, she looked also in her middle years though attractive, seeming to have aged well. She approached us holding a pipboy. "Welcome travelers, can I help you. Do you need my Husband's services?" She asked.

"Actually we thought we might be able to help your husband. You see we were out hunting Radscorpions and we brought back some tails. Also my friend here." I motioned to Jenna is also skilled with medicine, we were wondering if he would like some help with developing the Antivenom?"

Hearing us from the back of the room presumably Razlo set down the mortar and pestle and approached us.

"Um darling I will handle this." he told his wife. Seeing us he gave us a smile "Ah thank you, I am Razlo the settlement's doctor. I have been working very hard on the Antivenom, I need all the samples I can get. Also I certainly wouldn't turn down another pair of hands." he told us

"My name is Jenna I will be glad to help." she replied.

"It is very nice to meet you Jenna. I appreciate your help."

"Say would you like some help cutting out the poison sacs, I can do that if you want."

"Oh that would be very helpful if you could., Please use the space over there it can get a little messy." Suggested Dr. Razlo pointing to a small table on the side of the room.

"Do you want to try and help with the tails?" I asked Nekochan.

"Well looks like we have some time to kill and the sooner we get done the sooner we are done." I nodded as we headed over, Anya was only too happy to instruct us on how to remove the poison sacs.
So we were soon cutting in to tails and removing poison sacs. It was… gross but at least we got the job done relatively quickly. The whole process took about an hour and a half and then Jenna and Dr. Razlo both got very excited. "We got it! We have an antivenom." Exclaimed Jenna excited.

"I must admit it you are quite handy. It would have taken me the better part of a day working alone." The Dr. replied.

He turned to us. "Would you like us to brew up any Antivenom for you? With all of the poison you brought we should have an abundance, the process should only take about 10 minutes." he said still with a relieved grin.

"Sure we can wait around for that." I told him, I thought I caught a slight grumble from Nekochan.
While it wasn't the most exciting 10 minutes afterwords we had a couple of vials of Antivenom and were leaving for the car.

"Alright onward to the Hub." I said as I got inside.

"Isn't Junktown closer and on the way?" Asked Jenna

"Yeah but they are less likely to have what we need and I am trying to cut down on the side quests for Nekochan's sake."

"Thank you." said Nekochan emphatically putting a cloth over her nose to try and muffle the foul smell of the inside of the car.

So we got situated and said good bye to Shady Sands for the time being.

We estimated it would be a couple days before we reached The Hub. Even with Nekochan's super human endurance she would need to rest. Reluctantly she agreed to let me drive, though made it clear we were teaching Anya and Jenna how to drive too.

It wasn't long since leaving Shady Sands that we began to lose the light, the sun began to set dying the horizon a colorful orange. The Sky grew darker and driving grew a bit more perilous. We had to take things slower as we weren't always able to find an empty path.

Eventually we decided to stop for the night. We found a clear spot where we could set up camp and parked. As soon as the car stopped Nekochan shot out of it desperate for some fresh air.

"Ugh I swear can't you do anything to make that car more comfortable to drive in?" She complained not for the first time in the trip.

"Well I can pull out the door panels and replace the electronics it may delay us a bit but now that I have a chance to sit and work it will be fine though I am going to need someone to hold the flashlight for me while I work since it's getting dark.

"I'll do it." Jenna Volunteered.

"Alright I'll gather up some wood to start a fire, Nekochan why don't you get the tents set up." suggested Anya.

It had been decided we would camp out to keep better awareness of what was going on around us.

Nekochan nodded "I am just glad we will be able to crack a window. Say you are sure you can't rig up a chemical compound to get rid of that smell?" she added.

"Well I can try, it may take me a bit though to get something that isn't going to cause you any problems. I know your nose is a bit sensitive. Ideally I would like to remove and replace the seats and air it out Still just having the windows roll down seems like it should help a lot."

She nodded as I closed the car door and took out the warehouse key to turn it.

"Well anything you can do would be appreciated." she replied as we headed in to the warehouse.

It wasn't long before the tents were set up and there was a good fire going. Jenna it turned out was an excellent helper. I knew how important that was because in my first life I had been terrible at the job she was doing now. It was always trying to point the flashlight at something you couldn't see yourself.

The job went surprisingly quickly though, things were in better shape than I expected and I was able to get through it rather quickly with minimal replacing of wires and circuit boards. It was barely an hour in when I was finishing up the last door. I had to admit sometimes perks were overpowered. I hadn't been rushing I was taking my time and making sure things were done right. Had I rushed I could have probably gotten things done in half an hour.

"Okay Jenna try to lower and raise the window." I told her she nodded and it lowered and raised.

"Wait so all it took was an hour and you were able to fix the windows? Why didn't you do so sooner?" Asked a slightly irritated Nekochan.

"Honestly because I though it would take all day. It really should have. I was expecting things to be a mess but they weren't, and even with as good a shape as they were in, It should have taken a while to solder everything back in place and replace the cables that had rotted but I was able to do it insanely quickly. I mean I know I have a perk for it but I still expected to be limited by my own speed and ability to do things but apparently perks ignore that." I stated slightly confused.

"It's true it was amazing to see her hands work, they moved so fast and precisely." Stated Jenna getting out of the car.

Nekochan giggled "Well you always were good with your hands." she commented though I wasn't sure she was talking about how I worked with technology.

"Anyways I am just glad we are improving things, Say since we have a long trip is there anything you can do about the radio? I remember you saying you actually regretted that our Pipboys didn't have a radio function like the later models."

I sighed "Actually the radio works. I was rather amazed by that but it doesn't seem there are any radio stations playing which seems frankly wrong for a fallout world."

"Well there doesn't seem to be much of a civilization, it takes power and personnel to get a radio station going and keep it going. Let alone the armed guards you would probably need to stop raiders." Pointed out Nekochan.

"You are right though once we give civilization a kick start we are going to make sure there is a radio station."

"Anyways is there anything you can do about the seats, I mean they stink and are uncomfortable."

"Unfortunately I don' think they are covered by my Tech super speed perk and I don't have the raw materials to fabricate some. I am not sure how much more work I want to put in this car anyways as it doesn't quite meet our needs." I pointed out.

"What, except for the smell it seems fine."

"It's too small we can't fit everyone in here with the kids." I replied.

"Nonsense you are Tiny I can just stick you in the back with them and someone else and there is plenty of room. The real reason you didn't want the kids along for this trip is that they would constantly be complaining about the smell and the uncomfortable ride."

I opened my mouth to disagree but closed it. I had wanted them to be comfortable however the car was a large sedan and Nekochan wasn't exactly wrong. I thought about how the trip would have been with a couple of irritable kids bored out of their skull in a stinky hot car. "Yeah I don't think anyone involved would have enjoyed the trip like that."

"You know if you are so eager for a radio station you should probably just download some songs on to your pipboy to play while we travel. Or have one of us do it since you are using yours for serious stuff."

I winced for a microsecond. It was something so plainly obvious yet I hadn't considered it, I guess maybe I had a lot on my mind. "Yeah as much fun as it is chatting and relaying stories of the previous worlds to the girls that would be better."

Nekochan nodded "Yeah, lets be honest I think they have heard most of them by now a few times."

I couldn't help but nod. "Yeah I think we got through all the good stuff in the last world, now they are just being polite in listening." I replied.

"Hey it could have been worse I could have tried to entertain everyone by song." I added.

"Well yeah thank you for sparring us from that." Nekochan chuckled.

"Hey now my singing isn't THAT bad."

Nekochan looked like she was about to answer in the negative but then we heard gun shots from not far off. The others looked up too showing they had heard them.

"I'll go investigate." said Nekochan drawing her sword, she became a white blurr as she headed off in that direction.

"I'll grab my bag and go too." said Jenna obviously if anyone was hurt. She had putt together a bit of a doctor's bag from our first aid kits and medical supplies that she tried to always keep close.

Anya grabbed her gun and headed after them I closed things up grabbed my gun and followed along. I managed to catch up with Jenna and Anya due to a running perk I had but by the time We made it to where Nekochan was she was standing over several bodies of dead what looked to be raiders and a small man of average build and middle years was cowering behind a frightened looking Brahmin. Beside it was a large opened pack that looked like it had been torn open with what looked like junk spilling out.

Nekochan wiped off the blade of her sword on one of the dead guys before turning and smiling "Sorry I woulds have left some for you but they were about to kill the little guy there. I saw them about to unload and stopped them." She said proudly.

I nodded and headed over to the man cowering, he was pale and holding his arm, which I noticed was bleeding. "P-Please don't hurt me." he begged.

"It's alright sir, we aren't going to hurt you." I told him gently. I turned to Jenna. "Hey he is wounded, help him."

"That's alright I'll be fine." he said nervously.

Jenna came over "It won't be fine if it gets infected you could loose that arm or worse, let me take a look at it." she said gently.

"Alright." he agreed.

"What's your name?" I asked him.

"Harold. I am a traveling merchant, I also fix items for people and do similar odd jobs."

Harold was a short man of average build. He had a large nose, wore glasses and wore thick well worn clothes of mostly brown color. He wore a hat, that didn't really seem to suit him. He had a bookish face but the hat looked like it belonged to someone more rugged.

Jenna tore off the sleeve of his shirt to mild protests then winced "eww looks like it hit the bone, good thing it was low calibur. The bullet's going to have to come out but I can't do it here."

Strangely though Harold winced and looked like he was in pain he did not complain as she examined him.

"My home is not to far from here. If you could help me get there you may be able to work there." he said.

"Alright, umm Raven if you would hold this cloth against his wound. Nekochan why don't you and Anya gather up his stuff and put it back on the two headed cow there."

Harold grimaced a bit as I pressed the cloth against his arm. It was quickly turning red and growing wet and sticky.

"Careful with Bessy." He warned "She… is excitable and doesn't like strangers." as if to emphasize the point Bessy gave a loud Moo.

"So what happened here?" I asked.

"Ohhh ahhh well those are men from the Khan gang. Usually I pay them to leave me alone. In fact when I saw them I thought they were here to collect payment. However when I tried to pay them the usual amount they demanded more than I had saying the rate had gone up. When I couldn't pay they began to tear through what I had collected. I just had items I picked up to repair so I could sell so I didn't have anything I could give them in exchange. They became Irate and one of them shot me. I was afraid they were going to take Bessy but then your friend with the cat ears and the sword showed up and took care of them. I am so glad you saved Bessy, she is all I have left." he admitted.

As we walked we talked. "How does a wandering merchant like yourself survive. I mean the gangs are bad enough but this land is filled with mutated monsters."

"Ahhh well I have a laser pistol from back in the vault, I am a decent shot with it. I used to have a dog too that helped me but sadly I don't any more." the last part he noted with some sadness.

I nodded "I know how that is."

"SO where do you get your stuff to fix up and sell?" I asked.

"OH well there is a prewar garbage dump not too far away. They used to throw away a lot of things that could be salvaged, It's dangerous though there are a lot of monsters that live in that dump. I would be very careful if you go there, I only really go to the outer edges."

"Thank you" I told him.

It took a few minutes to reach the old Shack that Harold lived in. It had been put together by mostly scrap metal but I couldn't help but notice that the lights were lit within. I also notices there were a couple of old rusty turret guns that were perched on the roof their gun barrels swaying in our direction as we approached.

He grunted then said "Don't worry when I leave I don't have them armed. I came home once to find a body near the door and felt terrible about it."

We headed inside, it was small and cramped filled with lots of old world gadgets and electronics. Herald plopped down on an old couch. "Thank you for helping me. What brings you out here?" he managed as Jenna immediately got to work cleaning the wound injecting the area with something to numb the pain and then took out a scalpel and some tweezers and began to work.

He grit his teeth as she did but didn't complain about the pain.

"Well I am from a vault. Our water chip bit the dust and it was our last one so now I am trying to either find or make a new one. I am really trying for the latter."

He gave a small grunt of pain before answering in a remarkably composed fashion "well I would offer you the location of my old vault but I heard there was some problem with a collapse so I doubt it would be useful. However do you really think you can make a new water chip?" he asked.

"Yeah I do, with the right tools and the right materials. I am not saying it won't be tricky but I can do it."

"Huh, well after your friend patches me up I may have some stuff that will help. It used to be my job to maintain the machines of the vault. I know what a water chip is and I have a good idea of what goes in to making one. By the time the vaults were being made the materials for them were scarce and here they are likely even harder to come by but that wasn't always the case. I have a few things that have components that should be similar enough."

I had to be impressed with the man's pain resistance. Soon Jenna took took out a stimpack and injected him. Like magic, the wound began to heal. "Say why couldn't you just use that it looks like it is doing the job." Asked Nekochan.

"The bullet was embedded in the bone and might have caused problems if left in. I had to remove the bullet first." She said than had Harold put his arm against his chest and made an impromptu sling. "I would suggest keeping it still for a day or two. Despite the marketing it actually takes Stimpacks a while to do the job completely" she told him. He nodded.

With that finish Harold sat up carefully wincing slightly and got to his feet. "Well thank you for your help. I did promise you a few items I thought you could help. He said heading to a pile of stuff in the corner looking around. "Ah I thought I had one." he said pulling out a toy rocket much to my surprise.

"This old rocket is a wonder of the old world, made from a time when resources were abundant. The controller chip Ironically is very similar to the water purifier's chip, they are made of the same material." He said as he walked over and handed it to me.

"Lets see…" he said as he went to a completely different pile. "I found some old broken computer systems. Again from the old world. They experimented with several types of circuit boards trying to increase the computing power. Ah there it is." he reached down and picked up a circuit board. "This board is made from the same stuff as the Water Purifier Chip, more than that it's about the same size. It may take a bit of modifying but it should be possible to make it work as the base of the chip." he explained handing it to me.

"Wow… that actually helps a lot."

He smiled "It's the least I could do."

"Say, what are you plans now? Since the local gang is giving you trouble, it going to be rough traveling around."

Harold gave a sigh "You know. Maybe it's time I retire from being a Merchant." he said looking down at his arm in a sling.

"I guess I just really needed the solitude." he said a bit sadly.

"I wasn't always a crazy old hermit. I used to have a wife. We were both young and we had a baby on the way. Then there were complications. She didn't make it, neither did the baby. Since then I went in to self exile. I actually left the vault before everyone else because I just couldn't stand to be around people. However I don't think I can survive alone anymore."

I nodded sadly.

"Do you know Shady Sands?" I asked.

"Yes I have done some business there. I also sell to the Hub and to Junktown. A lot of the people in Shady Sands were from the same vault I was."

"Well I am planning on starting a new settlement. Unfortunately I think it's going to take a bit to get things set up. I have to save my vault first and deal with a few other problems that have come to my attention. Shady Sands seems like a nice place I am guessing with your skills you will be welcome there with open arms. I am also guessing you are from the same vault as most of the people there." I noted.

Harold gave a sad smile "Yeah I know the people there. I guess if I am not acting as a merchant anymore I need to find some place where I can retire too. I was never very good at growing crops. I tried. I never got anything. I usually traded for food and stuff that I needed."

"I understand. Say if you are going to go to Shady Sands I happen to know an old man who probably wouldn't mind some company. His name is Carl I promised I would visit him some time but I think he could use some company in the meantime."

"Carl, you mean old Carl." he said with slight smile "I remember him well. It's been ages since we talked. We both were kind of nerds about things from before the war. Yeah I may just pay Carl a visit."



"Oh say can I get the coordinates of the Dump, I may have to go there for some stuff." I asked taking out my Pipboy.

I saw Nekochan try and hide a look of disgust.

"Here I'll mark it on your map." he said pointing it out. "If you do go there be careful it's full of monsters. They seem to be afraid of fire, laser weapons really helped."

"Thank you I may have to look in to that it sounds like a treasure trove."

"Indeed it has kept me in caps for a while now." he replied.

"Will you be okay here alone?" I asked concerned.

"I should be fine, Your friend gave me some pain killer as well as a stimpack. Working with one hand may be a bit of a challenge for a bit but I should manage."

"Alright well have a good night then we should be heading back to our car. We'll see you later." I said as we left. Jenna asked him to be sure to take care of his arm and left him some ground herbs from the previous world that were a pain reliever if he needed it.

By the time we got out of there it was dark.

"By the way, I think we are getting a little side quest heavy don't you think?" asked Nekochan.

"Well maybe but we helped someone and they actually helped us a lot. I just need a few more pieces and the right tools and we should be good."

"You don't have all the tools you need in your lab?" Asked Nekochan rather surprised.

"Kinda… my lab is rather general purpose, I have tools that could probably work but it would be easier with some more specialized electronics tools and have a better chance of working."

"So is the plan still the same? Head to the hub?" Asked Jenna as Anya helped us to follow our tracks back.

"Ughh I hope so I am not hanging around an ancient garbage dump." groused Nekochan.

I sighed "We will try the hub first. The Garbage dump is a long shot anyways. Though we may visit it at some point, it could have some valuable materials for my plans." said before turning to Nekochan "And don't worry I will leave you out of that. I know you have a sensitive nose and really wouldn't be interested in digging through trash."

Nekochan sighed "Look it sounds dangerous, if you absolutely must do it I will help protect you." she relented.

We made it back to where Nekochan had slaughtered the raiders. For a moment bent down to search the bodies. Nekochan had done quite a job on them, they had been cut to pieces limbs were all over the place. She was not gentle in a fight. I stood back up quickly as I decided picking through the blood and the gore wasn't worth it.

"Wow umm Nekochan did you really have to… dismember them?" Asked Jenna.

Nekochan shrugged "Maybe not but I was pumped up on adrenaline at the time. It's easy to forget my own strength. Regular humans break far too easy sometimes."

"Well lets head back to the car." I suggested.

"May as well." Nekochan agreed.

It was a surprisingly quick trip back to the car. Anya was invaluable for her ability to track where we had been even in the darkness. We were grateful to find nothing had disturbed the camp. Thankfully the fire we had lit just burned out instead of causing a fire. We re-lit the fire. Nekochan headed inside the warehouse with my help to grab some food to roast over the fire. We decided to have a real authentic camping experience. It was a little strange, it was different than when we were roughing it and learning survival skills in the last world. This was kind of fun.

I was half tempted to retrieve the kids from Stasis but I didn't think they would appreciate going right back in after.

Dinner was nice and we chatted about plans and about things from the worlds before we met Anya and Jenna. They seemed rather surprised to find out that I had stored a small army of robots and power armors under the mansion but never used them because they were all power hungry. It was a bit annoying that our Mansion hadn't turned up yet, with the new battery tech of this world I could have solved a lot of the power problems I had.

Eventually it came time for bed, it was decided that we would take shifts on who would stay up to watch to keep things safe. Anya chose to take first watch. I wound up with the last shift. Which when it came time mostly was me tending the dying fire. Eventually the sun came up and it was time to wake everyone I got to hear everyone grumble groggily for once. Nekochan got up and began to work on throwing together a breakfast as the rest of us began to clean up the camp. After a quick breakfast we headed out back on the road. This time with music and rolled down windows things were a lot more pleasant.

I got a couple questions why I hadn't done this earlier, it's never fun to admit my mind too busy thinking about other things to consider trivial things like how to make driving bearable or even kind of pleasant. It was funny but with the windows down and the music playing even the seats didn't seem so bad.

We traveled the day taking breaks to stop to eat and do necessary things like that. Day turned to night and we camped out again this time without incident. One bright side of the trip was I got to introduce Anya and Jenna to the music of the 1950s to 1990s. I focused more on rock because that's what I liked but felt obligated to throw in the songs of fallout. A few songs from the Ink Spots, a few select songs like Big Iron. I had to admit Fallout had good music.

The night thankfully passed uneventfully and early on the next day a large settlement or maybe even something you could start to call a town came in to view.

It was more spread out than Shady Sands had been walls had been erected around the entire area. I could clearly see an old road in poor shape going through the center of it. From my vantage point in the car as we approached it seemed the buildings were old, left over from the old world. I could already see where patches had been repaired. I guess this was the ruins of a city that had been in good enough shape that people settled it and adapted it for their use.

Outside of the wall I could see several pens of Brahmin and an area for caravans to enter. There were two buildings outside of the wall one on each side. The one to the right was a small looking house or more accurately shack that looked like a recent addition compared to the old buildings I could see. It was near the Brahmin pens so I imagined it was likely the care takers place.

Th building to the left was much larger it looked like a remnant of the old world that had been patched up through the years. It looked like it was being used as a house as well though from the size I imagined it was for someone important.

In front of the buildings at the edge of the tattered road there was what a gathering of people and caravans.

These caravans were different than I had expected, they were cars that the hoods and fronts had been cut off of pulled by Brahmin like a cart. I could see them "Parking" the car part in a designated area and then unhooking the Brhamin and taking them to the pens.

We found a place out of the way some distance from the goings on. We parked and everyone got out and we secured the car.

As with Shady Sands we had drawn a lot of attention driving up and there were a few people approaching though most of them looked rather cautious. One man however strode confidently out towards us, he was a lean man of average with a dark hair that well trimmed mustache and beard. His skin looked like it had been baked brown by the sun, he wore a rag covering the top of his head and hair. His clothes looked sturdy and well worn but of better quality than most.

"Greetings friends. That is quite a machine you have there. I have never seen a car run, most people gave up on repairing them ages ago. Did you find it or did you manage to repair it?" he asked with he had a smile on his face. Something about that smile struck me as hungry and he didn't bother hiding any desire in his eyes though thankfully he was looking at the car and not us.

Nekochan smiled proudly taking the bandanna off her face. "Oh the car, that's all Raven. She is quite the genius. She was able to get it repaired and started in one night."

The man looked honestly stunned. "One night. That is amazing. You must be quite the mechanic to have done so. I will level with you. I had intended on seeing if you were willing to part with that machine. However it appears you are far more valuable a find if what your friend here is saying is true." he said offering his hand. "I am Armond a merchant. I travel far and wide along the land to find goods to sell. Your car in addition to being quite the novelty would be an amazing asset. However I make a good amount of caps in my travels and if you would repair and maintain cars for me I would see you were well compensated."

"Well I do thank you for your offer. I do not know how long I will be in town. I may indeed set up shop here for a bit. We might be able to work out something on fixing up a car, assuming I could find the right parts. However I am assuming you happen to be well acquainted with this settlement. I was hoping for some information I am looking for some things and I do not know where to go. It is my first time here."

"Ah well then let me be the first to welcome you to the Hub the largest settlement that we know of in the wasteland. It is the heart of commerce in this land. If you are looking for something and if it can be found likely it would be here. Also you assertion is correct, any Merchant worth their water is well acquainted with this place." he answered.

I nodded. "I am from a vault. It's water purifier chip has gone out and now we have a limited amount of time before it becomes uninhabitable. I doubt I can find a water chip here but I am looking for the components. I may be able to create a new water chip."

Armond listened intently "My that is quite ambitious. I am not an expert in such technology but I thought much of the knowledge of such pre war technology was lost after the war. You must be quite the genius to believe you can replicate such technology."

I nodded. "Well I do alright for myself." I replied "Anyways I am looking for some components. Above the line are just the components and below them are prewar items that I believe I can salvage the components I need." I explained as I took out a piece of paper. The latter was something added after my encounter with Harold when I realized it would probably be easier to find the components as part of something else.

Armond studied the list carefully seeming to think as he looked it over.

"Well I shall be truthful with you. I do not have what you need sadly. However, do not despair there is a merchant who lives in the Hub. Daren Hightower. He is…" he thought for a moment on how to put what he was to say. "A very shrewd man, very hard to deal with honestly. He is even hard to get a moment of his time. However I happen to be owed some favors and I believe I might be able to get you to him to ask for the items you are looking for."

I blinked in surprise "Wow, that's wonderful."

"Of course to expend such favors I would require something in return." He began in a way I was relieved that he was being upfront about what he sought.

"I wish to see a sample of your engineering prowess. I would very much like a car of my own like yours. I would take yours in trade however you seem attached to it. So I will take another car functioning as that. A large model like your would be preferable." He explained.

"Wait so we have to give you a car to even get an appointment to see this Daren Hightower. Who we have no guarantee that he even has the components we are looking for or that you will be able to get us this appointment aside from your word." Interjected Nekochan getting rather irritated.

"My lady." began Armond looking mildly offended. "A Merchant's work is their livelihood. It is not something I give lightly. If I promise that I can do something it is because I can do it, and should I break my word all of the other merchants will hear of it and will be reluctant to do business with me. While it is true a Merchant is always looking to get the best of any deal, a merchant that fails to deliver on what is promised will not be a merchant for very long." He assured her.

I raised my hand to stop any retort from Nekochan as I felt one coming.

"Well while I do not dispute you word, your request does pose some problems. I cannot produce a car from nothing. In fact I was very lucky to have found a car in relatively good shape and have the right parts available. I am afraid I am currently lacking both of those things."

Armond smiled slightly "That is not a problem. For you see, I happen to know of an Junk yard where old prewar cars were sent after they were no longer useful, many of the carts you see here were created from that."

I nodded "Alright I might be able to do something with that. However as this is a negotiation and you have said that you are well traveled in this wasteland. I would also like the location of a few places I have heard of. They may have tools or items which I require. One is Necropolis the city of the Ghouls and the other is the headquarters of the Brotherhood of Steel." I said holding up my Pipboy for emphasis.

Armond raised an eyebrow "I see, well I can do that, however I should warn you that neither group is particularly friendly. The Ghouls of Necropolis tend to stick to themselves and the Brotherhood can quite inhospitable to those who use the technology of the old world. I will give you the locations but would suggest caution in both cases."

He took the pipboy and entered the location.

"Umm while this isn't covered by our deal would you mind telling us a bit about the layout of the hub, we are also going to look at setting up shop for a bit and this places location makes it ideal for that to work on various projects."

"Hmm I suppose the easiest spot would be Suggest Old town that is in the east. It is an older section of town that serves as a residential and business district for some of the poorer people. You might find a place there though it can be a dangerous place too."

"Thank you." I told him. He continued to give me the information on the other sections. Apparently that Daren Hightower had his own section of town, he was that rich, and had many guards that patrolled it. There was the Downtown District where a lot of the big boy traders were stationed then there was the Water Merchant District to the south of them where the Water Merchants were stationed funnily enough. There was old town which he suggested and there was the entrance where we were.
He told me he worked out of a small place in the downtown district. He made it clear he was one of the independent Merchants though having clawed his way out of a place in old town.

With the mention of old town that brought another question.

"Say do you know a Harold that lives there, he tends to stick out he is a mutant with a plant growing out of his head."

That drew a good matured grin. "Yes most people know old Harold he has been there forever. He is like a landmark. The teller of quite some tall tales if anyone will listen." he answered then gave me his address.

With that we parted ways as Armond went back to his caravan.

I heard the sigh from Nekochan and looked to see the displeasure on her face. "You know it's bad enough we have another side quest but that guy looked like he was as trustworthy as a used car salesman. How do you know he is not setting us up to try and sell us in to slavery or something?"

I nodded "Oh I am sure he would if he could. The look in his eyes told me he was viewing me only as a way to get money. However I proved I was much too valuable to be a slave or rather will once we deliver the car."

"Are you even sure that we need this guy to talk to this Hightower guy? I mean I know you could probably talk your way in to anywhere if you put your mind to it."

"Oh I probably could get in to see Hightower myself now that I know who he is and where he is but I view the car as a small token of thanks for the information and helping me."

"You know I think you are being way to generous here, I mean if you are grateful for the information slip him some money or I guess caps. Don't give him a car that represents a lot of hard work."

I shrugged "Yeah it's a bit of work but hey because of the car thing we found out about a junkyard I mean that's going to be a treasure trove. I had wanted to upgrade the car anyways or maybe get something bigger. Hey maybe I'll even be able to build an airship, who knows?" I joked.


"Umm not to doubt your abilities but weren't you able to get the car running because it was in such good condition? Aren't the cars in the Junkyard going to be … well Junk." Asked Anya

"Oh no doubt it's not going to be as easy but it will have raw materials to work with."

I heard Nekochant grumbling about digging through trash.

"It's alright dear, you can just cover me while I do the work."

"No I will help if I can." she answered apparently feeling a little guilty.

We got back in the car. It was strange to drive through the city, It was slow going as people had to move out of our way. I don't think the streets were set up for cars. As we passed we got more attention than I would have liked. We passed through the downtown section which was busy there were many people going about. The buildings were well worn and well used but in generally good condition. Eventually we turned east and the buildings began to get a lot more dilapidated. The people moving about seemed less well dressed however one feature above all drew our attention there. There was a moment of silence in the car before I heard Nekochan say "Well I'll be damned."
"Hey I guess we don't have to look for a place to set up shop then." I commented.

Even visible from the rear of the Old Town section, virtually big enough to be it's own section, there standing proudly was My mansion from the other worlds. It stood there majestically even among the other buildings like a King standing tall towering over a gathering of vagrants.

"Why would he put it there?" Asked Nekochan.
"I do not know. Well let's just make the best of it. I suppose it's better than in the middle of the desert or attached to Shady Sands."

The old mansion to me had always resembled a Castle it even had a tower like structure at each side. Seeing it maybe I was struck by how much I had missed it. It too had become a constant companion. It was guarded by a gate and I could see the yard was green and lush just has it had been. It was something that did not belong in this world let alone this section of the Hub. As glad as I was to see it, I had no Illusion that it would be a very short time before I would have to defend it. I didn't know how it had been protected until now. It didn't seem to be occupied and things were in far to good of condition for this world

As we approached a man in ragged clothes stepped in to the road raising his hands to stop us. We weren't going fast or anything so it was easy to stop. Nekochan rolled down the window and stuck her head out.

"What the hell is going on?" she demanded.

"Wait, if you are going to that Mansion, I am warning you not to… Just don't. It's been there forever and like there is just something fucked up about it. In never changes and whenever anyone get too close to it they get these really strange and foreboding vibes. No one steps foot in that place. It's unnatural. Even the grass there is always perfect yet no one maintains it. Some people think it's haunted or cursed. I think it's an Alien base."

I couldn't see Nekochan's face but I could imagine the incredulous look she was giving the man pretty well. "Aliens?" she said simply. "Yeah they the mansion probably doesn't even really exist it's just an illusion that's why it never changes and the vibes people get are really Alien mind control so people don't go snooping around."

There was a pause from Nekochan "Aliens… alright well thank you for the warning if we find any aliens we will be sure to tell you. Now please step out of the way."

"You're funeral." said the man getting out of the way.

We continued on until we reached the gate. Anya got out of the front passenger seat as we pulled up and used the key to open the gate. Looking around I could see people starting to turn and look at the Mansion. There were looks of awe mixed with terror as the gate swung open and we headed inside.

"Strange it feels like forever since I was last here." I muttered as we headed inside. It was dark. During the last world we had extensively used candles to light the mansion. Anya headed over to the candles on the mantle and began to light them to light up the room.

"It does feel good to be back." she admitted.
"Yeah but how long until some dirt bags who live here decide that now that this place is accessible they are going to either rob it or try and take it from us?" asked Nekochan echoing my thoughts.

"Umm not to alarm everyone but are we certain that no one has been here? We should do a check around just in case. Even if everything is okay it's better to be safe than sorry." noted Jenna

I nodded that was sound logic and something I was considering.

"Alright we are going to need more bodies to do this efficiently. I am going to grab the maids from Stasis. Anya and Jenna you two can check the upper floors. Stay together. Nekochan usually I wouldn't send someone alone to look around but we both know if there is trouble you will be more than capable of handling it. I'll have a couple of the maids secure this room and watch the door. I'll take one of them down to search the caves under this place. Once you are finished ensuring the Mansion is secure come down and meet me in the caves. I have something to show you that should help us secure the yard for a while." I explained.

"Umm wouldn't having the girls out help if we need more bodies?" Asked Anya.

"I don't want to bring them out until I am absolutely sure that things are safe. Once we have totally secured the house I will bring them back out." I explained.

I went to a nearby closet and pulled out my special key and opened my Warehouse. It was huge and dark and I reached in and flicked on the lights which hummed to live revealing a rather crowded and sectioned off complex.

I headed in and passed many sections that had been set up and passed the companion pods, two of which were still occupied. There were thee pods next to them that were of a different type. They were charging stations. I had taking the design of the other pods in to consideration when making them. It looked like Alpha, Beta and Gama were just sleeping in the pods. All 3 shared my face as they were originally body doubles, the only difference was the hair color. While they were bio andriods and could function almost indefinitely on things like food and sleep the most efficient way to store them was in one of these pods.

I quickly set all three to activate and the front of the pods lifted and all 3 girls opened their eyes and stood up.

"Greetings Mistress Raven, how may we be of service?" they asked in unison.

"Just wait a second." I told them and headed over to the weapons storage section of the warehouse. I got a couple rifles and a shot gun and loaded them, putting extra ammo in 3 pouches before heading back.

I handed them out. "Now I have programmed you with the basics of weapon use. You know how to use those weapons. Alpha and Beta, I would you like you to secure the front room. If someone comes to the front door, answer it but keep them at gun point and inform them we are not taking visitors at this time and inform them to leave. Should they try and force their way in. Shoot to kill."

"Gama. You will be with me, activate bodyguard protocols. Come along." All 3 girls followed me out as I closed the doorway to the Warehouse. Nekochan had waited behind until she saw I had retrieved the girls and signaled she was taking off. I nodded and headed to the secret entrance to the caves. I went to a book shelf and pulled on a particular book. The book pulled out like a lever and there was a click as the section of bookshelf swung open like a door. It revealed a long set of stairs that led down in to darkness. I pulled out my flashlight and my hand gun and headed down.

We headed down quite a ways until we reached a rough stone floor. I shone my flashlight around to reveal a paradox what looked to me a large natural cave partially filled by a large metal multi story complex. A large sprawling building. We gave the rest of the cave a good checking over, there was nothing that we could find before we returned to the large metal building. The building itself as huge.
There were a few windows present but I knew those were made of Bullet Proof glass so think they were almost as strong as the steel. There was a short set of stairs that led to a couple stairs and a heavy steel door. To the side of the door was a bio-metric scanner for a hand and eye scanner and a screen and key pad. Not having had electricity for a decade though all of that was pretty useless. I put my hand a little lower and pushed as the hidden panel pressed in and slid away. There was an ordinary key hole, Along with the girls and the guns I had retrieved the key from my warehouse. It was currently dangling on a chain around my neck I leaned in and inserted the key and turned to hear a satisfying click, then pulled open the door.

It was a little eerie looking in to the dark complex. There the air seemed slightly stale after not being accessed for a decade.

"Gama, stay here guard the door until the others arrive and then tell them wait outside until I come to get them." I explained before heading in.

"It shall be done." she answered bowing to me as I left.

The complex opened in to a large room dominated by a 12 foot tall stout looking robot. He reminded me of a very buff barrel chested human with a small head. His face was featureless except for two black eyes that would glow red when activated. This was the Rocky. He was heavily armored and armed and too big to leave the room in one piece. He was there as a last layer of security. His form was simple yet meant to be intimidating. There were also a couple of turrets hanging down from the ceiling, one to the right and one to the left.

Behind the Rocky was a large double door made of solid steel. I walked behind Rocky and went to the door. It was meant to open automatically when there was electricity however now I had to pushed it open. I was grateful for the foresight to make it so that it could be pushed easily when the power was off. Past this point things weren't made for security. The next room was even larger than the first offering twin stair cases one to each side both heading to different sides of the upper levels. Another steel door awaited on the opposite wall, I bypassed the staircases and headed to the door.

Above were different labs, on this level was storage and the power room. I walked down a long hallway with several doors. I remember Nekochan used to be rather annoyed with me about the lack of human touches in this place. However it was made to be abandoned decades at a time, carpet would rot. Even chairs and furniture would rot given enough time. Comfort was not really what I had in mind when creating this place. Perhaps it was me descending in to my new mad scientist side. I thought I pushed to the side as I continued on I had stuff to do here.

I finally made it to the end of the long hallway and was greeted by a simple door. I went in immediately. The room was large and dark with several types of generators filling it. I couldn't help but reflect on my frustration at not being able to acquire a nuclear generator but even for someone of my wealth that proved too difficult. I walked past several of the dormant generators all the way to the back. To a smaller generator. This was the back up generator for the back up generators. This was for when I had absolutely no other way of getting electricity. There was also a door to the side and power cables. The idea of getting Electricity from my Warehouse while perfectly doable turned out to be not as efficient as I hoped. I turned to a couple of stout metal barrels beside the small generator.
The Barrels had a long hose curled at the top that emanated from the middle of the barrel.

Sadly most fuels didn't last long. The stuff in the barrels would last about 100 years but the materials were so rare that it was a pain in the ass to acquire even with all the money in the world. I took one of the hoses and connected it to the special generator I had and heard the liquid flowing in to the tank. I gave it a couple minutes and say the gauge on the side of the generator was filling rather quickly. So I hit the button to turn on the generator and heard it hum to life. Suddenly lights began to flicker on above me and I heard the hum of machinery starting to operate around complex. Sadly with one barrel it would only keep the place running for about 2 or 3 days, I had kept it for an emergency. This qualified. Anyways I wouldn't have to worry so much about power needs with the information I had acquired recently.

With my task done I began to the entrance of the complex. As I passed a still dormant Rocky I saw my companions waiting.

"Sorry everyone I just didn't want to take the chance that Rocky here would wake up early and not recognize you all. He should recognize Nekochan but if she got back a little late it could end bad." I explained.

"What is this place?" Asked Jenna.

"Ah this is my lab and storage facility. There wasn't much reason to come down here in your world."

"Just what are you storing?" She followed up.

"Ah let me show you come on." I motioned for them to follow as I headed back through the door behind Rocky.

"I'll have to add you all to the recognition program so that you can come here safely without an escort." I said as I continued to a section where there was a door on either side. I went to the right and opened it.

Inside was revealed a couple dozen still humanoid figures each was supported by a charging station the base of which was a box just big enough for them to stand on with a rod protruding from the back with a couple of hooks that hooked under the arms to support them, cables were connected from the pole and the base.

The figures were metallic in color they resembled the MCU version of Ultron. For some reason that shape seemed fitting.

"These are my combat driods I have several rooms of them. I haven't used them because they weren't built with the best of batteries, they should be charged and ready for action in an hour." I will have to write a quick patrol and defend protocol in that time." I explained I left out that I didn't use them often because of their lack of strength. They could deal with normal humans and even inconvenience or defeat super humans in enough number. Their primary function was as a deterrent or for a situation where I needed a horde of minions to throw at a problem.

"So if they don't have much battery life, how much use are they going to be?" asked Jenna.

"Well they should last a day at which point they will be relieved by the next rooms contents. I also have non combat general purpose drones for things like construction."

"Wow umm why didn't you use any of this in the our world?" Asked Anya.

I sighed "All of my creations are rather energy intensive. Until recently their use required a large source of electricity. I did have access to my Warehouse but I have found that's inefficient. However on our way here I gained access to Fusion technology. So now if I can avoid blowing myself up I should be able to solve all of my energy needs."

"Excuse me, what was that part about blowing yourself up?" Asked Nekochan concerned.

"Well that's very unlikely."

That drew a definite look of disapproval from Nekochan.

"Look it's going to be a delicate process. I am not going to say there is no risk but it is minimal risk. I will take every precaution, I have no interest in dying here but if I can create a fusion generator I can power this place for hundreds of years."

"I still don't like the idea of you doing something so dangerous." Stated Jenna with Anya nodding.

"Look don't worry it's a very small percentage that something will go wrong. I will be working with a small generator to get the process going then once I am satisfied building a generator large enough to power this complex and the house above. Trust me I can do this it will be fine."

That drew some uneasy looks from my companions but they eventually nodded "Alright I have faith in you." Stated Nekochan.

"Anyways I wanted to let you in on the plan first I will be writing up some programs for the combat drones to patrol and protect the yard. They should be online in an hour and I should have them ready at that time. Once they are ready I will begin to will continue begin work on my test generator and after that once I have a proof of concept I will be making the big generator down here. Or more accurately converting one the generators in here to be a fusion generator."

"So what do you want us to do?" asked Anya. "For the hour I would like you to keep the house secure. In teams of two patrol the house and make sure no one gets in. Sadly I don't have enough time to train you to use the power armors that are stored here but guns should be enough for now."

Jenna blinked "Power Armor, I thought you were going to make some for us, you already have some?"

"Yeah I have some old power armor, they are too bulky and require training. I wanted to make you something custom and of equal quality to ours. The old power armors served their purpose but not much else. They weren't like Nekochan's and my Power Armor." I explained I don't know that Jenna got the entirety of it but she nodded apparently getting enough.

So we decided to get to our designated tasks. I headed out and upstairs to the programming lab which thankfully was online by the time I got there. I did a quick input of Anya, Jenna and the Maids to make sure the machines would consider them friendlies. Then I began to make the programs for the driods to patrol and protect the yard. The process took about 10 minutes because I was ensuring that the chance of mistakes were minimal. It was tough to program in a code to make sure kids that got curious and climbed the fence didn't end up dead. I knew dwarves were a thing in this world but I figured I would chance it.

It took about an hour and a half to get my little army of driods patrolling the yard. I had to reload their built in weapons. Several were stationed watching blind spots where it would have been hard to see someone sneaking on to the grounds without being spotted the rest were patrolling and moving around.

I took note of Anya and Jenna's looks when I had brought them up looking to me as it to ask "Are you sure this is a good idea?" The robots were designed to be intimidating. I knew having an army of scary robots wasn't going to win friends with the neighbors but I wanted to feel safe.

"Well, if that's over with. I am going to go make lunch. I believe it should be safe enough to let the kids out." stated Nekochan.

I nodded "Lunch would be wonderful and I was just about to retrieve the kids"

I wiped my brow I had been working hard since I had arrived here. Even my Autism had limits. I took a deep breath and took out the key and opened the entrance to my warehouse, with a quick flick of the light switch near the door the halogen lights all hummed on above illuminating the complex.

I immediately headed for the pod section. The girls pods were the last two of the companion pods I went to Angel first the front of the pod lifted and she was revealed in a a mist. Her eyes beginning to flicker open as she gave a faint yawn.

"That always makes me feel like I am waking up from a long nap." she said stretching. "Ah so are we at that hub place you mentioned?"

I nodded "Yep, not only that but the mansion turned up." I added.

"The mansion?!?" she asked surprised then grinned "Great I was afraid we were going to have to make do with some house that was barely still standing again."

I nodded "Well why don't you go outside and get cleaned up I have to wake your sister."

She smiled happily and ran off.

Next I went to the last companion pod and again the front lifted and revealed it's the small girl. She gave a slight moan and slowly began to come awake.

"Rise and shine sleepy head it's time to get up." I told her.

She winced and rubbed her eyes and gave a yawn. "Ah, we must be at the hub then." she said a bit of excitement creaping in to her voice.

"Yep, not only that but we found the mansion." I answered.

Hey eyes opened wide now wide awake. "Wow, really?"

"Yep."

"Huh well I guess this is probably the best spot for it of the places we have been. I guess Mr. Benefactor did us a favor."

I gave a slight chuckle "a bit though, that in itself presents some problems we are working through. Anyways why don't you go get washed up Nekochan is making lunch.

That drew a smile from her and she nodded heading off.

I grumbled to myself slightly as I closed up the pods and turned towards the door. Being responsible sucked. I had already activated my robots and now I still had work to do. I was much too lazy for all of this since I had gotten here I hadn't been able to waste any time. Being a Jumper was a lot of work. I noted as I shook my head and headed out. That tears it, I decided after I get things sorted here I am going to spend a solid week just fucking around and enjoying what I had. I remembered having picked up some magic the gathering cards in the first world. A lot of them. Maybe I would teach everyone the rules and we would have a nice tournament.

Resolved to indulge in my laziness I headed off to go build a fusion generator.

It took 2 hours including a lunch break but I found myself in my underground lab with a small generator that was about the size of a car battery humming. It didn't put out much energy it could probably power a house if I pushed it. Though it could likely do so for a century. Though nice the true value was that it was a proof of concept and I could now build much larger generators. Since at it's core it was using hydrogen gas. It wasn't even all that expensive once I figured the containment fields out.

I was just stretching and yawning as I heard someone enter the room.

"So how goes reinventing the wheel?" Nekochan asked.

"Good news we are in business. I just have to make a bigger generator." I answered turning around and was surprised to find her lips on mine and her arms around me in a soft passionate kiss.

"What's that for?" I asked surprised.

"I think you have been working a bit too hard. I think you need to rest a bit." She whispered softly in my ear.

"Oh and you are going to help me relax?" I asked with a grin.

"Careful you might make me tie you to the bed again. Just take a seat." she said pulling up a chair facing it away from her.

I sat down as I was instructed and immediately felt her skillful fingers digging in to the muscles of my shoulders and back.

"Oh my so tense."

"Yeah this whole jumper thing kind of sucks. Who knew responsibility would come with all these neat powers and abilities… Boo!"

She chuckled as she continued to work. "I think you have been going overboard a bit with your need to feel safe. Though I certainly understand. Still I think you need a rest soon. Lean forward a bit." I did so and I felt her push on a part of my back and heard a loud crack that made me grunt strangely I felt much better after that.

"Yeah after all this securing this place nonsense and making the car nonsense I am taking a week off." I announced.

"I think that is the smartest thing you have said for a while." she agreed.

"I mean I suppose every jump is going to be like this with a lot of crap to do in the beginning and then I will finally be able to take things at my own pace as things are resolved and we are situated."

"Well if you follow the plot that's true but remember there is nothing that says you have to. We could leave the shitheads of the vault to their fate. We could find out the location of that military base, then give it to that brotherhood of steel group and let them take care of each other as we sit back take over this place and slowly expand out at our leisure."

I winced. There may have been some truth to that though I didn't like the idea of it as a whole.

"Don't answer I can feel your dislike for that plan." said Nekochan slightly annoyed.

"I will be using the brotherhood against the Mutants. I however don't feel right leaving the people in the vault out on a lurch. Many of them were friends, I am not a fan of the Overseer but I understand he was in a tough position. I don't agree with his judgment but that's something that can be taken up when we get back."

"Well I am just trying to say not everything falls to you to fix. Sometimes it's okay to let things happen or try and use one problem to resolve another. I just hate seeing you work so hard for things that aren't going to benefit you."

I sighed, there was a lot of truth to that. Still I felt there were things I had to or at least wanted to do.

"I'll… I will see what I can do. You are right. I don't have to do everything myself and I don't have to solve every problem." I admitted with a sigh.

"Are you really alright? you have been pushing yourself a little hard since we got here." she asked seriously.

"Yeah I am alright. Look don't worry now that I have the concept down I can make a fusion generator in my sleep. After that is in place and hooked up I'll take a break. We can worry about the Car stuff tomorrow or maybe the next day depending on how I feel."

That actually drew a smile from Nekochan who leaned down and kissed my forehead. "Alright. If you need any help just ask. I am not too shabby with technical stuff too if you remember."

"I know. I may take you up on that."

I actually did wind up taking Nekochan up on that, we wound up working together for a few hours. The work went a bit faster do to another set of hands and honestly it was kind of nice having someone there to help. I had been alone a lot lately and only through having her there did I really realize I had missed having someone to help.

It was early evening when we got the new fusion generator running. By my estimation the thing should last a few centuries before having to be refueled and would power the complex and the house above quite nicely.

Nekochan yawned and stretched "Well finally done. I think that is everything taken care of. Anya should have dinner ready by now. I told her to go ahead if I wasn't up in time. Well come on, eat up. I am tying you to the bed and making you relax for the rest of the night afterwords." She told me quite seriously.

I chuckled "Wow seems like you have my night planned out for me" I couldn't suppress a giggle.

"You have a lot of build up stress it's going to take more than a quick message to take care of it."

After dinner Nekochan made good on her plans, Anya and Jenna both helped out of course. It was fun and dare I say much needed.

The next day was peaceful. I taught the kids and the girls how to play magic. It was a fun little excursion. I also played a few roms that I had downloaded from the net. It was good I hadn't realized how much I missed just screwing around and getting nothing of use done. I kind of missed the internet and writing terrible fan fics but I didn't feel it was appropriate considering my current situation.

My mind also slipped to old friends and family I had left behind. It usually did in quiet moments and maybe that's why I had come to prefer to keep busy. I tried to remember that they were all waiting for me back at home. I would steal fire from the gods and bring it back to my world to make their lives and really everyone's lives better. I loved my new family, of that there could be no doubt but I still missed those I left behind.

The next day bright and early we set out for the Junkyard. We decided to leave Alice and Angel in the care of the maids. I didn't think they would enjoy such an environment. Honestly I was kind of looking forward to getting this over with and getting to that time off.

It took us to about noon to make it to the Junkyard.

The Junkyard itself was large, We could see many old cars stacked up on top of each other from a way off. As we approached we saw many cars and piles of junk around surrounded by an old rusted fence. There was even a rusted sign hanging from the fence saying Keep out private property.

"Well it certainly fits the Junk part of Junkyard pretty well." Noted Nekochan as we got out of the car. All of us had our weapons in ready access as we did not know what to expect here. Nekochan had a large backpack filled with tools over one shoulder. I was initially going to carry it but she saw I was having trouble and lifted it like nothing telling me she would carry it for me.

So began the search. At the center of the junkyard was a house or structure that looked like it was barely standing. Some name hung over the front but it was too rusted to read except for the word Yard.
I pulled out my Geiger counter and we began our search.

Finding a car that even had a body that was somewhat in good shape proved to be a challenge. Finally we found a car that was only half rusted. It was a large white Corvega Sedan.

By this point we had fought our way through giant rats, Radroaches and even a couple more of those large nasty spiders. The spiders I am proud to say I freaked out less about, thankfully they were quickly dispatched by my companions.

I held my breath slightly as we got the hood popped as I had no idea what awaited me or what shape things were in…

"Well I'll be damned." Stated Nekochan in surprise.

"Umm wow. Okay I can work with this." I commented.

After probably 100 years it looked oddly in good shape. Even the belts somehow had survived, A quick check of the tires showed they were salvageable. It was almost too good to be true. "Well behold the power of Luck perks." I muttered as I settled in and began to work.

It took the rest of the day and in to the night but I actually got it going. The salvaging of parts was minimal. It wasn't even in as bad a shape as our car had been. Though it didn't smell great inside it was not terrible, just stuffy. The seats weren't even that bad. I decided not to do the windows for Armond. He could be told how to do the windows and get it done himself.

We had a quick dinner, it was decided that we wouldn't be spending the night here as there were still critters about and it was too dangerous to sleep there. So we headed out for a few hours. I actually got to drive the new car. My driving wasn't great but it was good enough we took it slowly and then a couple hours later Nekochan pulled off the path and I followed. I saw her get out and got out myself.

She yawned and stretched "Sorry I am getting tired and need to rest. Why don't we camp out for the night since the girls don't know how to drive yet." she suggested.

"Sounds like a plan. I am still all grimy from the work on the car, I could use a shower." I noted, Honestly despite the work and the time I wasn't feeling all that bad thanks to the endurance perk.

We set up camp. I used the warehouse and headed for the showers. Having ready access to a bathroom really was not to be underestimated in a journey. Afterwords I felt much better. I couldn't help but reflect that cleanliness perks might not be a bad thing to invest in for quality of life.

Renewed and refreshed I headed back to the others to settle in for a night camping out.

The sun was beginning to dip behind the horizon and the temperature was already dropping so we set up a fire. Anya decided to handle dinner since Nekochan was tired from driving.

We had a nice dinner, Chatted about past adventures, by now I figure that Anya and Jenna must have heard the stories a half dozen times but they always seemed to enjoy them. Jenna offered to take first watch. Somehow I was not surprised to find the next time I was awoken was morning, Jenna and Anya having covered the entire night since as they put it they couldn't drive so they wanted to help out somehow.

After a quick breakfast we headed back to the Hub.

We drove straight to the location Armond had told us.

We found a rundown building, it was larger and better entact than it's neighbors. There were two men waiting outside likely guards from the large rifle one held and the hand gun on the hip of the other. Both looked at us wide eyed for a moment as we exited the cars.

"Hey is Armond here?" I asked them as they looked up "Tell him Raven is here with the car like she promised." I told them.

They looked surprised for a moment then the one with the Rifle a taller man well build with dark hair, eyes and tan sun baked skin told the other shorter man of similar coloring "Hey you heard the girl, go get the boss."

The shorter one nodded and headed in. A few minutes later Armond emerged with the man trailing him.

"Ah greetings it is good to see you again." He said with a bright smile, I could not help but follow his eyes as they went from us to the car.

"Ah she is beautiful, truly a relic of the old world." he said as he approached it. "I take it this one is mine?" he asked.

"Well it will be as soon as you make an appointment for us to see that Hightower guy."

"Ah yes, yes of course I shall do it very soon."

"Alright well when you do, we live at in that mansion over there."

"Oh you are the ones I heard moved in there, well how do I get past the Robot Army?"

"We will be posting something to handle visits from people. Just talk to whatever we put there explain your business and they will come get us."

"Alright it shouldn't take me more than a few days, I will call in some favors and I should be able to arrange things."

"Alright we will see you then."

He nodded and headed back inside.

Nekochan walked over and quietly said. "I still don't trust that guy. I mean what's to stop him from pretending he is setting up a meeting, and really be setting up an ambush to capture us to sell or use as slaves?"

"That is a very valid point however he knows we have robots, who are scary and heavily armed. Also when we go we will have Anya and Jenna in power armor. It will take some training but they will be there to look scary anyways. So he knows if he tries to pull a fast one more than likely he ends up dead."

Nekochan raised an eyebrow "Going to put those old suits to use, are you?"

"Yeah it's ironic I based them off of this universes power armor in looks, just a lucky break."

With that we got back in the cars and headed home.

There was some relief as one of the patrolling robots shut the gates for us locking the rest of the world out.

We had barely gotten in the door when we were tackle glomped. "Moms!" I found Angel tightly wrapped around my legs with her considerable strength, it seemed like she had no intentions of letting go any time soon. I reached down and ruffled her hair and she gave a soft purr.

I looked a bit behind her to find Alice with a faint blush. It looked to me like she had wanted to glomp us too but Angel had beaten her to it. "Come here." it told her and she did hugging me too as I patted her head.

"Sorry to leave you girls alone so long. We had business to take care of."

I got a soft "You always have business to take care of now a days." From Alice.

I bent down to stair her face to face, "I am sorry dear, It's been rough in this world. Look I am going to try and take a bit of time off. I'll try and spend some more time with you two."

That drew a smile from Alice. "Really, Awesome we can play together and have fun!" Interjected Angel happily.

I patted her head too. "Yeah sorry, Mommy gets a little silly with trying to secure everything sometimes." I admitted.

I felt a soft hand on my shoulder "You see now that you have acknowledged you problem you can fix it." Nekochan added in softly. I let go of the kids and got a faint pout from Angel who reluctantly let me go… which was good because she was cutting off my circulation.
"Hey Nekochan, would you do me a favor. I think I owe the kids some time but we need a doorman to handle guests. Get one of the utility bots slap in an acceptable AI, nothing too complex."

I was expecting a sigh or a little grumble but she smiled "Aw what the heck, You spend some time with the girls I'll handle it. You are too cute when you are with them. I'll go get that done back in a half hour." She said as she headed for the secret entrance to the underground.

I couldn't help but smile "Well girls how would you like to watch a little TV from Mommy's Home world?" I asked.

Their little eyes lit up at that. They were a bit young but I thought they were fairly mature. It was time to introduce them to Batman the animated series.

With electricity now we had access to things we hadn't in the previous world like electronics like TVs and DVD players. As a Jumper I had collected a rather extensive collection of DVDs and other media.
So we headed to the family room with a giant tv dominating one wall with a DVD player connected to it underneath. I found my collection of Batman the Animated Series and soon we were watching it together. I noticed Angel really loved the action but Alice seemed to be drawn in by the emotional aspects. I thought I saw her tear up watching the heart of Ice episode both kids were enraptured. The girls soon joined with a big bowl of buttery and salty popcorn, Eventually even Nekochan joined us. It dominated the rest of the night. Then I broke it to them that I had met and known a version of Batman or rather Bruce Wayne, that led to discussion of my time in Gotham.

At one point Alice seemed to note "Wow, it seems like you basically took over the city."
I coughed a little "Well yeah kind of…"

"Did Batman try and fight you?" Asked Angel Excited.

"No, actually while he kept and eye on me at first I think when crime pretty much disappeared he lost his purpose. He kind of tried to throw his efforts in to philanthropic endeavors but eventually disappeared from the public eyes."

Both kids gave me a sad "Oh."

"Sorry I guess not all my stories have a great ending." I admitted.

"I wouldn't say that. It sounds like you made a great deal of change in the city turning it in to a safe place to live." Jenna pointed out.

"Yeah not too unlike you did in our world." Anya added.

I coughed and blushed.

"Not every hero wears a cape." Noted little Alice.

I was at a loss for words. My face heated up.

"Aww she is so cute when she blushes." said Nekochan wrapping an arm around me and snuggling against me.

They had a good laugh at that. It was a nice family moment.

The next day we took the kids out back. I had Set up 15 cans on the top of a wooden fence for them to shoot and gave them each a 10mm Handgun.

"Now with guns you do not aim at something unless you want to kill it. They are not a toy. You must be careful with them or you can seriously hurt or even kill someone." I explained.

"Awww Mooom~ we already know." moaned Angel. "We want to shoot stuff." she added.

I sighed "Alright well it doesn't hurt to say that again. Anyways why don't you get back here and you can take turns shooting. Just go down the line. Once all of them have been knocked down we will set them back up and you two can step back a bit and we will go again." I told them. They got behind an imaginary line about 20 ft away from the fence. After a vigorous game of Rock, Paper Scissors it was decided Alice would shoot first.

The cans fell one by one and soon I was putting them back up the girls had accurately hit them. Then they knocked them down again and again I set them up.

This continued for a while until they were rather far away both were proving to be incredibly accurate at over 50 yards but eventually it was Alice who missed first.

"I missed?!?" she said astonished looking down at her gun then at the still standing can.

"Well looks like it's my turn." said Angel with a big grin, she took a shot and sent it flying.

Alice got a serous look on her face "it was just a fluke, maybe there is something wrong with the sight."

"Hold on I'll take a look." I told her I took the gun and looked down the sight and shot it hitting a can.

"No it's fine." I told her handing it back to her. She blinked and then looked crestfallen. "How? How did I miss. I even tagged small guns." she said visibly getting upset.

I sighed and patted her on the head and keeled before her. "It's okay honey tagging a skill just means you learn it faster. It doesn't make you start out better."

"But why, why can I never beat Angel at anything?" she complained.

"Is this what you are upset about?" I asked.

"It is she is always bigger and stronger and faster, no matter what I do I can't catch up."

I sighed I looked over to see that Angel looked a little hurt by this outburst but also concerned.

"We all have our own strengths. You have many that you should be proud of. You are very intelligent, a hell of a lot more motivated and organized than I am. Look Angel is almost as strong and fast as Nekochan, I can't compete with her and I am an adult." I said and thought for a moment. "Look I am going to level with you about life. There are often going to be people better at things than you are. Maybe not as many as in my first life but the best we can do is do our best and be the best person we can be. In the end that's all that we can really control. If we spend our lives trying to compare ourselves to everyone else that's just a recipe for misery. You have done amazing today and have a lot to be proud of. So there is no reason to be sad or angry. As long as you did your best you should hold your head high and be proud of that."

She blinked and looked stunned. "But I just wanted to beat her once… in something."

I smiled "I am sure you will find something you are even better at than her but that's not the point. This point is trying your hardest and doing your best."

She wiped her eyes and nodded.

After that we finished up and I gave them a little speech about proper gun care, about always keeping your gun clean and in proper working condition, not leaving it loaded when it's not a dangerous area and locking it away in safer worlds. While this world wasn't the safest it would fall to their best judgment on when to keep them with them and when to lock them away. I told them both I was putting a lot of trust in them and if I saw them abuse that trust I wouldn't hesitate to take the guns away. They were not toys after all.

Both girls nodded and seemed to take what I was saying seriously.

After I felt they had been properly taught I gave each of them a belt holster for their gun and a pack of ammo.


After that we had a big magic tournament. Sadly I didn't have much to offer as a prize so the winner got to decide what we had for dinner. Alice actually pulled off an upset over Nekochan as her mill deck managed to stall and deck out Nekochan's Dragon deck.

I was very proud of her, especially after she defeated Angel and her Force of Nature deck. She didn't gloat but congratulated her on a good game. Though she was clearly happy. Secretly I kind of wondered if Angel hadn't held back but either way Alice was happy.

Dinner wound up to be Pizza. I was very happy with that. For entertainment I introduced the kids to Star Wars. The original trilogy or the true Star Wars. I was never the biggest star wars fan but damn kids eat that up. "Can we go there! Can we go there next, Can we get Force powers?" I told them I would think about it if we got the chance. Even Anya and Jenna seemed interested in the world and the powers.

Alice and Angel both asked me if I could make them a light saber. I answered maybe when they were older. Honestly I may build them a toy version for their Birthdays, I hope that will satisfy them. A part of why Jedi were so deadly as I understood it is that they could use their force powers to manage to not cut themselves in to pieces with their laser swords that could cut through seemingly anything. Then again as bright as they were I hope they wouldn't decide to learn to make a plasma sword until they were responsible enough to use one.

The next couple of days were rather quiet, filled with introducing my loved ones to more geek culture. I started them off with some old somewhat age appropriate stuff like Pokemon, Sailor Moon and Yugioh. The latter I was sorry that I didn't have the abridged series available. They thought that the pokemon were cute and now wanted magical pets of their own. They enjoyed Sailor Moon and wondered why we weren't playing Yugioh. Unfortunately at the point I left that world Yugioh was at an unfortunate point where the same kind of deck dominated the meta and most of the cards were trash. I think they really just wanted to play with Hologram monsters anyways.

A few days in to my break I got a message from the Doorman on my pipboy that Armond had arrived. I told the doorman that I would be right there. I got some groans from the kids that I was leaving for a bit but I had to.

I headed out. I had considered getting Anya or Nekochan to escort me but I had a bunch of scary robots out there. I found Armond next to one of the men who had been gaurding the place we met him, carrying a large rifle. They were standing next to the doorman. Who was a sleek grey humaniod. It's shape was obviously male. It was mostly featureless except for the face and the eyes which had glowing blue cornia and black Sclera.

"Greetings Master Raven." It said in a soft male sounding voice bowing to me. "These gentlemen claim to have business with you." it added. It had told me as much when it contacted me but it's AI was not very advanced. "Thank you Doorman. That will be all for now." I told it and it went back to it's default station a few feet away.

"Well. I must say I did not know what to expect of someone living here but I did not expect this" stated Armond who clearly seemed uncomfortable. I saw his eyes darting between me and the murderbots patrolling.

"Sorry but I am sure you understand how important security is." I told him sympathetically.

"Of course."

"Well let us get down to business. I called in what favors I could and I have an appointment for you Two days from now at noon. Hightower says just to come to his section of the city, inform the guards waiting there and they will have been informed and walk you to his place. Daren Hightower Is a paranoid one. So expect any weapons you have with you to be taken by the guards and to be searched thoroughly. You'll get them back after the meeting. He also prefers you have no more than two people with you."

I listened and nodded "Alright that sounds fair. If you will wait I will go get you your car." I told him.

I knew Nekochan was going to be disappointed in me giving him the car at this point but there was a reason I had him come here. It was partially a show of force, with the implied message not to mess with me. I felt comfortable that had been delivered.

I left him at the gate and went got the white car and drove it up to the gate. Seeing me stopped at the gate, the Doorman quickly moved to open the gate. I drove out and parked in front of a waiting Armond.

"Come here I'll show you how to start it, and I will tell you how to fix the windows so they actually roll down."

He blinked but nodded I showed him which wires to connect to start up the Car and explained how to remove the door panel and have someone skilled with electronics repair what needed repairing there. I also explained to him the basics of driving.

He nodded and then smiled "I still can not believe that I shall have a running car. This shall prove very useful indeed in my travels. Normally we are limited by the speed of a Brahman dragging a cart."

"Well I hope it proves useful. I wish you the best of luck. It's been a pleasure doing business with you." I told him and held out my hand. He shook it. "Indeed, It has been a great pleasure doing business with you as well. I hope that perhaps in the future we might do more business."

"I think that is very possible." I told him drawing a genuine smile.

He got out of the car with his guard getting in the passenger's seat and very slowly and awkwardly they began to pull out and drive off. There were moments they went to fast or suddenly stopped but I was sure he would get the handle of it eventually.

Two days later noon was drawing near. We drove towards the Heights as the buildings became more well kept. We were stopped before two very large buildings by men with large guns.

"Stop right there. This is private property, you are not allowed here." said one. He was a large man in a leather jacket and wearing sunglasses and had a large automatic rifle strapped to his back. There were 3 other men similarly dressed behind him. They looked somewhat bored honestly.

"Actually I have business with Mr. Hightower." I told them leaning out the window of the passenger side of the car.

I noticed some eyebrows raise even with the sunglasses "Sure you do. You got a name?" the lead man asked.

"The name is Raven the meeting was set up by Armond." I explained getting out of the car. As I did I noticed the mens hands creeping towards their guns.

"No sudden movements." the man told me. "Alright we were informed that you were coming but you have to submit to a weapons check. Are those two coming with you?" He asked as Nekochan and Anya exited the vehicle.

"She is." I motioned to Nekochan. "Anya here is just going to wait with the car and our things. I was told we were not allowed to bring weapons so we are leaving them here with her. I trust that will be alright?"

"That will be fine." he agreed.

"Alright ladies please put your hands against the wall I have to pat you down to make sure you aren't smuggling any weapons."

I was patted down, I must say I didn't care for some of the places that were patted. I heard a faint low growl from Nekochan as she eyed the man murderously.

"Okay that's enough free feels get you're filthy hands off her before I rip them off." said Nekochan with enough force to make the man back up and go for his gun.

"Whoa whoa… easy we don't want any trouble. You are satisfied I am not smuggling anything in. What if my friend here empties her pockets for you. I don't think either of us will like if you try and give her a patting down." The man's eyes narrowed but he relaxed and let the gun slip back to to his back.

"Alright that's fair enough." he agreed still eyeing Nekochan.

Nekochan took out a small package she had from her pocket and showed them.

"This is all I am carrying."

"What is that?" he asked.

She looked to me.

"Just show him, I don't want to be here all day."

Reluctantly she undid the cloth and the sunlight caught gleaming gold.

The men gasped the lead one asking "IS is that gold?"

"Yep we brought it to barter with your boss." I explained. I noted the greedy look in their eyes.

"Don't do anything stupid, Your boss has been informed of what we are carrying, if this should turn up somewhere else he will know and he will know who screwed him over. From what I hear your boss isn't a person you want to cross."

The man looked at me for a moment with wide eyes as if wondering if I was reading his mind. "Anyways I think we have shown we aren't carrying anything harmful. Please take us to your boss."

I thought I heard the man grumble a bit "Alright, follow along and don't touch anything." he said and lead us in to a nearby building.

The building was set up as a rather elaborate house or more accurately a mansion. The decor though old was in great shape. I could see statues, paintings all of them remnants of the old world. Even the furniture we passed looked like high quality old world stuff. We were led to a sitting room. A place with a couple couches, a short table in the middle with a few magazines, the walls had fancy paintings on them.

"Take a seat I'll go get the boss." said the leader of the group and we did so.

The other two man in the group stayed to keep an eye on us.

Nekochan leaned over and whispered "You never told me that you told this guy you were bring a gold bar to barter with."

I whispered back "I never did, I just wanted to remove the idea of killing us and taking it from that guard's mind.

With that she gave me an amused smirk.

It took 5 minutes but the leader of the guards came back with a small wiry built in his middle years man with black thinning hair, glasses and a thin mustache. He was pale, he wore a business suit something styled from the old world.

"Ah you must be the Miss Raven I have been hearing about. The one that claimed the Mansion over in old town." he said extending his hand. I took it and shook it.

"And you must be Daren Hightower the richest of the water merchants and avid collector of valuable things. Especially those from the old world."

That drew a smile "Yes, well met. So I hear it took you quite a bit to arrange this meeting. I admit I am curious. What can I do for you?"

"I am a vault dweller, my vault's water chip has died and I am trying to build a new one. I am looking for the components to do so. I said taking out a folded up piece of paper and handing it too him. He took it and scrutinized it closely "Hmmm You say you are looking for electronic components but these are all complete Items of the old world."

"Yeah, I realized do to an early encounter I will have an easier time finding certain things are repurposing their parts for the water chip."

He nodded "Well some of these things are quite rare, I can get them but they are going to cost you."

"I have no doubt in fact I think I have something that will interest you. Show him." I told Nekochan to took the Bar out and uncovered it. As the light hit the bar of gold Daren Hightower's eyes widened. "Is that – Is that Gold?" he asked.

"Yes I would imagine it's quite rare around these parts."

"Well assuming it's real I will certainly be interested." he replied then turned to the guards "Go tell my wife to get the gold testing kit and the drill. Be quick." he said before turning back to me. The mention of a drill seemed to concern Nekochan but I nodded and motioned that it was okay.

"Assuming this is real. I believe that will cover the components quite nicely. It will take a couple days to get everything."

"Understood."

Soon a woman in her middle years in a rather nice dress came back with the guard carrying a small wooden box. The guard was carrying a rather large drill.

Could you two hold this at the ends carefully." he said setting the bar on it's side close to the edge of the table.

"Wait you are going to drill a hole in our bar?" protested Nekochan.

"Of course that is the only way to be certain it is pure." He answered.

"It's alright Nekochan I sort of expected this." I told her then turned to Hightower. "Though you do understand that once it is proven to be pure then I take that as an agreement to our deal. I have been told how much a Merchant's word means here." I told him.

He nodded "of course." he agreed.

He took the drill and with the men holding the edges very carefully drilled a hole through the center of the bar. He was careful to gather up the shavings, understandably. He gathered the shavings in a pile and took one and motioned for the woman who I presume was his wife to set the box down. She did and he pulled out a small thin flat black rectangle of stone setting it on the table. He then took a small glass bottle with a eyedropper like contraption at the top. He squeezed the top and then took the lid off, he set the gold shaving on the piece of black rock and dropped a drip upon it. There was absolutely no reaction.

"Splendid. The bar is indeed 24 carat, pure gold." he said with a rather large grin.

"We could have told you that." remarked Nekochan slightly annoyed..

"Well I believe that means that our side of the deal is done. I hope you won't mind writing a note explaining that owe us those components and signing it. It's not that I don't trust you it's that in this land you can't trust anyone." I explained.

"Absolutely. I agree absolutely."

He went and grabbed a piece of paper and a pen from the table. He scribbled a note and signed it before handing it to me.

"I am told you are the ones who moved in to that mansion in old town am I correct?" he asked.

I nodded.

"You know I was thinking of asking for that, for whatever you were going to ask but the gold bar will do very nicely."

"Good then we will be waiting for your delivery." I told him.

"I'll have my men see you out." he said and indeed we were escorted out and and back to our car.

Once there Nekochan sighed "Okay I don't get it, he ruins the bar, you let him, and then he gets to keep it. I mean I know it is still gold but, I thought part of the value was it was a bar of pure gold that some idiot hadn't put a hole in." she finally let out with heavy disapproval.

"How else was he going to test the purity?" I asked her and she blinked "I-I don't know."
"I have heard he is paranoid and understand why as I understand the only quests in the game either involve robbing him or killing him."

"Okay but why let him keep the bar, some words scribbled on a piece of paper is not going to be worth very much."

"It's fine he isn't going to screw us. We showed up with a bar of gold quite casually. There is a chance that we have more. That makes us a potential customer with something he is going to want. He is not going to risk a potential business deal in the future for just one bar."

She blinked "Well okay I mean if you are fine with it I guess it's fine. Well at least we will have all the components for the damn water chip."

"Doesn't drilling a hole in the bar make it a lot less valuable even beyond the lost weight?" asked Nekochan.

"Yeah but it was unavoidable I suppose he can have it melted down and remade in to a proper bar if he wants. I know most of the wasteland is on a water backed system but that won't always be the case and gold is always valuable. I am sure he understands that well too."

We headed back to the car. Anya asked if we got what we want and I explained the situation to her. I could tell she had many of the same concerns as Nekochan though she didn't voice them. I assured her anyways that everything was going fine.

The rest of that day we spent relaxing and having fun. Though Alice came to me and asked if she could go practice her shooting in the back yard. I thought another shooting session didn't sound bad so we set it up and joined her. It was very clear she had improved and this time she and Angel reached a stalemate. Neither could best the other, eventually they were so far out neither one could hit anything. Still Alice was quite proud with the draw and with the complements. Even Angel seemed proud of her.

A couple days later a couple men wearing armor and glasses showed up carrying a couple of large bags. Doorman informed me that they were there on behalf of Daren Hightower. Both men were rather rugged looking in their thirties and had sun tanned skin and dark hair. Both had a sidearm at their hips but that was pretty common for this world.

"Greetings gentlemen I trust that those bags contain the items I requested from your boss."

"Yeah." said one simply handing me his bag. I almost dropped it, it was heavy. I remembered I hadn't buffed my strength at that point. Nekochan moved quickly to help me set it down and shot the man a dark look. The other man handed his bag to Nekochan who took it without problem and set it down.

I bent down and examined the times in the bag. There was a few computer parts, A very old high class water filtration system, I checked the brand carefully to make sure it was exactly what I wanted and it was. There were a few other pieces of hardware. I smiled and stood up. "Thank you both for bringing this." I said taking out 50 caps for each of them and paying them as a tip.

I think I caught a faint smile one one of the men's stone face and they nodded and left.

"Nekochan would you take these down to the lab. Also I will probably be working late so will you bring dinner down to the lab for me. I'll eat there."

"Sure, but what happened to taking a week off?" she asked with a pout.

"Well I am going to have to work a bit but look at it this way. After this a big part of what we have to do is done."

She nodded but grumbled a bit as she took the stuff inside.

I headed inside soon after her.

When I got in to the lab I checked over the equipment. I had surmised it was already in good working order already but I got a chance to examine things thoroughly, particularly the Water filtration system.
It had been a piece that belonged in submarines. I had honestly been surprised that it had been able to be found. Only one company made it. It was very rare as even for the government it was considered expensive. It was only used for a short time until they switched to a cheaper less effective alternative. After the design was discarded, it was considered so ahead of it's time it was actually purchased by Vault Tech. What was sitting on my table, in a very real sense, was the grand daddy of the water filtration chip I had been seeking. Actually with this I could probably make a few Water Chips.


I took a second to marvel at the engineering of it then began to tear it open to get the components I needed. With all my science perks and knowledge I had gained an appreciation for a clever design.

The work was slow going as I was putting a lot of things together that were not originally meant to go. Also the sizes and connections had to be precise.

Nekochan came down with a plate of food and looked a little concerned. "Looks like it is coming together pretty well but maybe you should take a break to eat." she suggested. "You will probably have an easier time on a full belly than an empty one." she added.

I paused a moment. I noticed then I was hungry. I hated to get started on something, be working on it then have to stop to do something else before returning to what I was working on. Still I couldn't deny Nekochan.

"Alright I'll take a dinner break." I told her I leaned up and gave her a kiss before heading off to get cleaned up so I could eat.

"So how is it coming?"

"It's going alright, it's a lot of making sure things match up precisely."

She nodded understanding.

"So after this are we done with what we needed to do in the Hub? I mean you found the locations of stuff, you got the water chip." she pointed out.

"I just need to talk to Harold the Mutant to find the location of the Mariposa Military Base. Then we have done all we need to do here. After that we need to find a Super Mutant, likely kill it then take it to the Brotherhood and secure their help."

"What you are just going to strap one to the roof of the car and drive it to the Brotherhood base?"

"Well when you say it, you make it sounds silly. However that would be irrefutable proof."

"Yeah but having a 8 foot tall green mutant strapped to the car while driving through the desert isn't going to smell very good either." she pointed out.

"Sometimes sacrifices have to be made."

"So where are we going to get this Super Mutant body anyways?"

I paused a moment. "I don't know. We could go to Necropolis but I kind of want to avoid that because it will get wiped out if we do. Lets put that as a part of the plan I am still working on." I admitted.

She grumbled at that. "Anyways what happened to the plan to just drop the info off with the Brotherhood and let them have at the mutants?"

"Well I could do that but looking through the game data from Alice's game it seems that if you don't solve everything by a certain date different places get wiped out and one of them is the Brotherhood so there is a good chance they can't do it alone. After all they are not the main character." I pointed out as I began to get ready to eat.

"Great so we have to clean up the mess. Well I will admit we probably are the ones best able to. I just want to make sure you aren't biting off too much here."

I nodded. "Well we do have a lot of goals but things should calm down quite a bit after the mutants are gone. Everything else we can do in our own time."

"So how bad are the mutants?" She asked.

"I don't know in the later games they are just big ugly raiders. I am told by Alice though in this time they are quite difficult. Not only are they like some 8 foot tall muscle bound PCP addict they are like a 8 foot tall muscle bound PCP addict with miniguns and missile launchers. We are going to need our power armors to deal with them."

That drew a frown from Nekochan.

"It's alright after I convert them over to microfusion tech they should be much better."

"What about Anya and Jenna?"

I sighed "I am thinking of keeping them out of the final battle. I know they aren't going to be happy with me but I don't think I can properly equip them in time. I have too much to do anyways."

That drew a slight frown from Nekochan but she nodded.

"Well you are a genius, couldn't you just devise like some super bomb and I don't know launch it at the base?"

"That might take care of some of the upper levels of the base but I would imagine they are built very securely and anything important is probably deep underground and hard to get at. Besides if I make a non-nuke nuke I am going to become enemy number 1 of the Brotherhood even if it's to wipe out their enemies. Their who thing is a crusade against technology run amok and that's some scary technology. Hell even what I already have is going to make them uncomfortable with suits that are superior to theirs but I am going to share some tech in order to win them over."

Nekochan nodded "I am just sorry everything seems to fall to you. I mean even now you are supposed to be taking a break and having fun but instead here you are shutting yourself off to work."

I winced. "I'll tell you what after I am done with the water chip I will continue my vacation. We can talk to Howard when I am officially back on the job and then we can do everything else."

"Alright just… don't burn yourself out." Said Nekochan.

"I won't… say I should eat this while it's still hot."

"Yeah. I'll stay with you. I never liked eating alone myself so I'll keep you company."

"Alright."

With that she stayed, in fact she stayed afterwords and helped me work on the chip. It took us till late in the night to get it done. I could have finished it earlier honestly but I wanted to make sure it was exact and perfect.

By the time we were done things had pretty well shut down for the night. So we headed for bed.

The next few days were spent as I had promised enjoying spending time with my family and relaxing. I showed them many more things I had enjoyed, I was a bit surprised when I introduced them to Tenchi Muyo and admitted Ryoko was my first Anime crush that the overwhelming response was "Okay, when are we headed there to pick her up." I had to explain that while I would enjoy going there, I had no intentions of stealing Ryoko from Tenchi. I was unsurprising when Nekochan came back with, "Hey you snooze you loose. That guy had plenty of chances. He probably isn't even interested in women anyways, the way they keep throwing themselves at him and he shows almost no interest.

I was kind of sad when my little vacation came to an end. By nature I am lazy and I enjoyed not having a dozen things I had to do. I think maybe I had gotten a bit better about being lazy because I was so used to having to do stuff with the fear of death hanging over me. Even now out there was a huge mutant army of death ready to trample the wasteland.

So bright and early we headed out to go find Herald. I was quite surprised when I found him. He was in old town, many of the buildings were old and dilapidated. We found him in what could only be described as a shack that barely stood.

I knocked at the door which was not locked, I knocked very carefully as the old wooden thing looked like it was barely hanging on the hinges.

"Oh a visitor, come in."

And so we entered, the room was sparely furnished There was an old short wobbly table with an unlit candle in the middle of it, The room was dim illuminated by light from holes in the walls and ceiling behind the table sat Harold.

Now Harold did not look good. His skin was green and looked like it was pealing from his flesh, one eye was permanently closed, I didn't know if there was anything left in the socket, the other was a strange yellow with the white of his eye being kind of yellow too. He was thin, his green flesh hanging off his bones which in places you could see. His scalp was detatched from the rest of the top of his head where a the patch of skin that remained like a crown actually seemed to be growing grass.

When we entered Anya gave a gasp and a quick look showed me she had backed up and one hand was going for her gun. "Anya, don't." I said firmly.

There was a horse cough from Harold. "Heh, I don't blame her for that reaction, I ain't as pretty as I used to be." he said leaning forward on the table.

"You must be the famous Harold we have heard about. They say you are the oldest person in the Hub."

He broke out in to a deep belly laugh that was broken up by a hacking cough "Famous, more like infamous. They barely tolerate me. I guess maybe it's out of pity that they haven't driven me off."

I was surprised when Jenna stepped forward "Are you ill Mr. Harold? That cough seems rather serious.

Herold seemed taken a back before laugh "Well can't you see girl I am the picture of health, well just look at the green skin shedding from the bones." he joked "Ah don't worry about me I have been alive a long time and I doubt I am going to keel over any time soon, unless someone decides to help me to my grave. Sadly no one seems inclined to. Anyways I assume you have a reason for being here and while I must say I do enjoy the company and you all are rather nice to look at I must admit I am curious what brings you all to see me."

I took a small bag of caps, 200 I had counted and tossed them on the table. "I need information and I am hoping that you can help me." I told him.

He blinked for a moment and reached out opening the back and gave a sort of whistle, it was difficult for him as he didn't exactly have lips "Wow, well I don't know what a broken down old geezer like myself can tell you that would be worth that much but I'll tell you anything I know for that."

I nodded "I have heard from others that you weren't like this always, that you and a group of people were looking for the source of a bunch of mutants that were popping up to cause problems."

A got a far away look in is good eye. "Ah yes I remember that, it was a long time ago, though I couldn't tell you exactly how long." he began.

"I wasn't always this pretty as I told you, I used to be a Merchant in the old days, Mine was one of the first vaults to open after the great war so I do mean old days. Did pretty good too though with all the raiders and the damn mutants you had to have an army of people to do so. (Cough, hack) The mutants were everywhere, but mostly in the northwest.

Anyways things couldn't continue like they were, so we put together and expedition. It was led by a man named Richard Grey, one of the smartest men I ever met. It was him that found the source, so old military base. Ugh we lost a lot of good people getting in there. The place was filled with the damn mutants, had to be the source. Well we got pretty far inside, It was like some plant or something, unfortunately that's where it happened. Some robot crane crashed in to us. Sent poor Richard flying off in to some vat of acid and I was in pretty bad shape after that I passed out. I like to joke that that's where I died but it ain't too far from the truth, I woke up in the wasteland, I am not sure how I made it out but a few days later I was picked up by some trader. At that point I was already changing, they brought me here. Been here ever since."

"I see, thank you for the story, do you remember where the military base was."

"Honestly friend, I ain't real sure anymore I think it was in the west… no east? I don't know he admitted.

I was gob smacked.

"You don't remember?"

"Nah at my age I can't remember a lot of things." he replied. I nodded. I could feel all of my companions eyes on me.

"Say… umm I get to keep the caps right?" he asked concerned probably reading the look on my face.

"Uh, yeah it's fine. Though I would like to ask a favor and a bit more information."

"Friend for as much as you gave me I'll help you in any way I can."

I nodded. "Can you tell me about the Death Claw?"

He blinked "Now why would you want to know about something like that? That thing is deadly, If you want my advice don't mess with it."

"I have my reasons."

"Well alright, it's big, bigger than a man with spikes and claws that can shed even the strongest armor, but don't let it's size full you the damn thing is quick. It'll be only almost before you can think. It's a vicious monster. What's worse they say the thing can hypnotize you if you look it in the eyes."

I nodded.

"Now I mean it, a cute little thing like you has no business messing with something like that. Life is dangerous enough in this world there is no need to go chasing down your own death."

"I thank you for your concern." I told him

"Ah kids these days. Well I can already tell you are going to go messing with it, I guess… aim for the head is the best advice I can give, I would say shoot it's eyes out but again it can hypnotize." he said with some annoyance.

"Alright now for the favor."

He blinked with his one good eye and nodded "Sure what do you need?"

"I need a sample of your blood."

He crooked his head "Why? I mean I'll give it that's fine I just can't fathom any use it would be to you."

"I believe you were exposed to a virus in that place called the Forced Evolutionary Virus or FEV. It was created by the U.S. Military before the war to create super soldiers. I believe that is also the source of the Mutants. I am looking for all the information I can get before I have to deal with the mutants. Any Sample I can get would be invaluable."

"Ah I get it, you're one of those big brain fellas like Richard then. Not sure how you found out about this FEV but if It will help you do something about the mutants I'll be happy to help. I owe them bastards plenty for friends lost along the way."

I noded and Jenna went to him. She had her doctors bag with her and took out some tools and put a band around his arm and drew some blood. Pulled out the vial and stopped it. "We are going to need to get this on ice soon." she informed me.

"Wow I didn't feel anything."

That drew a smile from her and she drew a small bottle from her bag.

"This is a cough suppressant. I would like to give you a more thorough examination to try and help you but this should ease your coughing and breathing, I made it myself. Just take a sip twice a day during the morning and evening. I'll try and come back later to see if it helped. We are likely going to be busy soon." she explained.

"Well yeah sounds like you are going to go pick a fight with just about everything there in the Wasteland. Listen you kids be safe. I know you are young and think you are invincible. Take it from me. You aren't. I lost far too many friends and lived far to many years to have such delusions. This place is about as good as you are going to get in this world. I would think strongly of staying put if I were you." He advised.

"I appreciate your concern. Say should I survive all this craziness I have planned I am thinking of starting up a settlement. If you ever tire of this place or your neighbors get to be too much, I would like to offer you a place to live when we get it set up."

He blinked and then chuckled "You certainly dream big don't ya? Well if you manage to pull it off I'll be happy to go to whatever place you set up. I am more tolerated here than liked."

I nodded. With that we left.

I was expecting something from my companions that he didn't have the information we were looking for but instead we headed for the car in silence. I used my warehouse key to open the door and headed in. Jenna immediately went to the lab so she could put the blood sample in storage.

"You okay?" finally Nekochan asked.

"Hmmm oh… yeah I'm fine. I'm sorry apparently I was wrong about him knowing the location of the Military Base. Hell even the Crazy Old guy who usually hangs outside his place isn't even here I guess it was a total bust." I admitted.

"Nah we still have the Alice's game." She pointed out. It was funny I think I had inadvertently blocked Alice's progress by giving her all this other stuff to play with and watch.

"Even if she were able to find the location of stuff in the game, the map isn't exactly the same. I know where I have to go I just don't know the location of it."

"Hmm?" inquired Nekochan.

"It's a place called the Cathedral. It's a cult formed secretly by the big bad of the game. He wants to turn everyone in to super mutants so everyone will be the same and there will be no more war."

"Okay but that sounds dangerous."

"A little. I'll take Jenna and Anya with me when I go there."

"And me." she interjected.

"No. sorry but you stick out with those ears and that tail. I am afraid you are going to have to play backup for this one."

She got a displeased look on her face like there was a lot she wanted to say to express her displeasure but was fighting not to do so.

"I'll be okay just have to figure out how to steal some robes of this crazy cult and to find it's location."

"So who do we ask?" she asked finally.

I shrugged "Got to admit on this one I have no idea. I think I'll hit up Armond if he is in, he might have heard something, if not I'll just ask around."

After that we headed home. I was a bit at a loss so I decided to take a look at the samples from Harold. It was not hard to identify the FEV. As a mad scientist though I found it insulting on a professional level. It was the equivalent of hit someone with this mutagen add the right amount of Radiation and hope something beneficial happens. It was like working with Crisper; a virus that can be used to edit DNA, but if the person doing so was a complete idiot or just didn't care that much about the result. The mechanisms were admittedly fascinating but to get a decent result one would need to toss dozens of people in to a vat of it and hope for a single lucky break or they would need to actually do the work to refine it, and customize it for the targets genetics. Only problem with that is even if I did do that the error rating just of the top of my head would be unacceptably high. In other words not that I was planning to but to turn the FEV in to anything useful I would likely have to rebuild it from the ground up. As a Jumper who apparently was going to have many Companions soon it would be hard to power them up via my usual means of Import, Soon I would have to get creative, and while I still didn't fancy a super soldier serum It was something that was worth looking in to.

After a bit of science I washed up and had lunch and Nekochan and I headed out we walked to Armond's place. I sensed we were out of luck when there was no car nearby and I didn't see the guards outside.

I went and knocked on the door. I was surprised when a Dwarf answered, he had a scruffy beard he wore glasses, and what had to be custom leather armor, I noticed a gun at his side.

"If you are looking for Armond, he is out on a job." he said.

"Ah I am sorry I had a question for him, he seems to know a lot about what is around here. I was looking for the location of something."

The Dwarf looked contemplative for a moment stroking his beard. "The name is Sam, I am the brains of the outfit, I am the one who picks through the trash he brings to explain what's actually valuable. I may not know all the locations like he does but I'll help you if I can."

I nodded "We are looking for a place called the Cathedral." I began.

"The Cathedral? Don't tell me you want to get mixed up with those nut jobs, unity this, unity that. Ughh just what the wasteland needed it's very own cult."

"Oh no they may have some information I need, I quite agree they are not good news in fact I happen to believe their message is a lot more sinister than they are letting on."

"Yeah I'd believe that." he said with a nod.

"Some of those nuts came buy the Hub a ways back, trying to hand out flowers and trying to recruit. They weren't exactly welcome here. They did however give out some pamphlets with some directions to their place, trying to invite those interested. Normally I would have tossed it out, not even good to wipe my ass with but, something didn't seem right with those guys so I saved it in case we ever traveled to that area. I just got the feeling I was better off avoiding their little commune. Let me see if I can go find it." Said Sam the Dwarf disappearing behind the door for a few minutes. I heard sound of rummaging around. Then he opened the door again with a rumpled pamphlet in hand. "They have a small map on the back, right here." he said turning it over and pointing. "It's a little faded but if you look you can make it out." he said handing it to me.

"Umm don't you need this?" I asked him.

"You know as a trader, well as really a lot of things in this world we live and we die by our guts. Our instincts if you will. Right now my gut is telling me you need this more than I do."

I nodded and reached in to my pocket and took out 50 caps. "Thank you, you have been most helpful."

He smiled and took the caps "Nah thank you, I recognized your description the moment I came to the door, You are the car lady. Because of you we are looking to make a lot of money, maybe even break in to the big time just based on how fast we can get loads of goods from one place to another."

"I am glad to hear I was able to help." I replied.

"Well if you don't mind I have some work to do. Be careful with the nutjobs, there is something not right about them." he replied

"Agreed, good day to you." I said as he closed the door.

"So we have the location now what's the plan?" Asked Nekochan. "Well looks like I will be doing some Recon. They have to wash those robes at some point. I am going to steal some then we are going to infiltrate."

So we headed home, As I walked in to the door Alice came running up to us.

"Moms' I found out you were wrong, The Master isn't in the Military Base, he is in a place called the Cathedral." She exclaimed.

"What?" I asked surprised.

"Yeah I just beat the game, it was rather hard I wandered in to a place filled with cultists and invisible super mutants"

I blinked and nodded "Nightkin, just great." I managed.

"Hey this is great it means we can just storm the place in power armors and walk through it." Said Nekochan happy at the turn of events.

"I am afraid not."

That surprised Nekochan. "Why not?"

"Remember the thing we encountered in the basement of the last world, the Master has mental powers, he can fry peoples brain Psychically. Also I am worried that he is partially technological, he might have some way of doing something to any advance tech we bring."

"Well then how do we approach him." She asked confused.

"Sometimes the sneakiest and most unexpected way is to approach him out in the open."

"What?"

"We go to the Cathedral and ask to see the Master."

"That sounds insanely dangerous." complained Nekochan.

"Not as much as you might think. As long as we are unarmed we become an oddity, something curious enough to draw attention but not be considered a threat."

"But how do we kill him then?" She asked. "I mean I have my claws I can do the job if need be but I remember when I faced that thing, I couldn't do anything."

"It's not a problem all I need to do is talk to the Master to defeat him. Though you will be along as plan B. I can't account for everything and if need be I can distract the master for a minute to give you a shot if needed."

It's funny, Sometimes it's tough to know if what you are doing is incredibly smart or incredibly stupid. If I judged by the looks of my companions what I was doing was the later.

A few days hard driving had landed us in front of a large old prewar building. It was obviously a church. There were many people around, many milling about, some giving out white flowers or talking to other people.

Anya and Jenna were with us, they were both sporting some heavy combat armor, the trunk was full of enough weapons to storm a military base should trouble break out.

I'll admit I was keeping a brave face for the girls but… I was nervous. Nekochan as we made our way out of the car wrapped her arm around me. "Are you sure about this, you smell tense."

"Yeah, It will be alright." I said I don't know who I was trying to convince more. Nekochan gave me a slight smile "I know it will, I have faith in you." she said patting my back.

We headed towards the church.

As we did so I felt all eyes falling upon us. It probably didn't help that we were both inhumanly attractive or that Nekochan had cat ears and a tail clearly on display. A hush fell over people as we passed.

As we entered we found a perky girl, who was mildly attractive with her slight build and long brown hair flowing down the back of her purple robes, she had kind green eyes and full lips.

"Welcome would you like to join the Unity." She asked me with a bright smile.

"Actually I would like to speak to the person in charge here."

"That would be Mobius, but he is busy right now I am sorry."

"No I said the person in charge… look just go tell Mobius I wish to speak to the Master, Tell him I know what's under here and more importantly who is under here. Give him the name Richard Grey. You can tell him to check with the Master if he wishes first but I need to see him."

She blinked and looked shocked and a bit frightened. That made me feel bad.

"Right – Right away." she said running off.

"If people come out with guns be ready." I whispered to Nekochan.

Then we waited… we waited for what seemed like forever. Eventually the woman came back with a man in robes, he looked pale and slightly frightened too, he was a thin build man his cheeks were a bit hallowed and his face looked at one time handsome but marked by wrinkles, he looked to be in his 40s. He had dark hair peaking under his hooded robe and fierce intelligent green eyes that examined me closely.

"So… You two are the visitors then." he said careful as if he was trying to choose his words carefully.

"I don't know who you are or what you want, I have spoken to the Master and he wishes to speak with you. Please follow me." He asked his words carried a hint of fear and threat. I had no doubt if we didn't do exactly as he said there would be trouble. A hunch told me to look near them, for something… I caught something that I would not have noticed had I not been looking for it, there was a figure, a large one almost completely invisible. This was a Nightkin using a stealth boy, only because I was looking for it did I pick it up. I could also feel Nekochan's muscles tense beside me. She had noticed too.

"Very well, we will follow you and your large hidden friend." I informed them. The mine's eyes widened as he grew even paler.

"Who – Who are you?" he stammered.

"I am just a humble wanderer, so please lead on." I answered.

His eyes narrowed but it seemed he was not going to press it. "Very well, this way." he said as we walked to a door in the back of the large room filled with people. They looked at us curiously as he pulled out a key and unlocked a door he led us down a hallway then to a hidden door. Then down a few levels passed another hidden door in a wall until we arrived at an open vault door guarded by 8 foot tall green men who seemed to be made of muscle holding mini-guns. Seeing Morpheus they merely nodded and moved out of the way.

We traveled onward we went to an elevator and down a few levels then through rooms filled by Super Mutants until finally we arrived at a door which Morpheus unlocked.

"This is as far as we go. The Master has asked to speak with you two alone." he said opening the door and stepping aside.

We entered the hallway and what we saw was disgusting. Putrid flesh was growing out of the walls. Almost as soon as I entered I felt something in my mind. A tremendous weight as if someone were right through me. I saw Nekochan tense up too. "It's Okay I told her. Lets go." I said stepping out in to the hallway.

In the distance we saw something. We walked towards it past walls with disgusting flesh growing out of it, past doorways that went to who knows where we walked down that straight line and with each step our unease grew as that feeling in my mind increased and the thing at the end of the hall came in to view.

As we approached it became harder and harder to keep the food in my stomach in place. What awaited us could scarcely be called human, it was a thing, he head on melted flesh with a monitor protruding from its chest, it was melded in to a overseer's desk it had one tendril with and eye on it, to it's right and another tendril that went off to it's left and seemed to connect to the computer systems in the desk. At sides of the desk were two very large Mini-guns both pointed at us.

"Who are you?" The thing demanded

"My name is Raven, this is Nekochan. We have come to talk."

it's eyes narrowed including the one on the tendril

"How do you know that name?" It demanded then in a feminine voice repeated "That Name."

I sighed. "I spoke with an old friend of yours. Herald. He thought you had died in the military base but I figured out it was you from his story and a few other pieces of evidence I had collected."

That truly struck him he looked taken aback. "Harold, Alive?" he repeated Alive in a mechanical voice.

"Yeah he was hit by the same crane you were, he was in rough shape, he though you fell in to a vat of acid. He doesn't even know how he made it out. He is horribly mutated and living in a town called the Hub." I explained.

A small smile crossed his lips "Harold." he muttered.

"Anyways I am here to talk to you about the Unity."

He blinked and then frowned.

"What of the Unity, from your tone, I take it you do not wish to join." He said.

"There is a problem with your plan. The FEV virus leaves the subjects Sterile."

"Impossible! The FEV does not destroy the reproductive organs, you lie."

"No check with the Lieutenant at the Mariposa Base. I know you can contact him telepathically. He can tell you that I speak the truth." His eyes narrowed all of them and her grew silent for a moment, a long moment, then his eyes grew wide.

"You… you are correct." He said horrified. "He says he is working on it." he recovered.

"He won't be able to fix it. I studied the FEV myself that I got from a sample Harold's blood he was kind enough to donate." I then began to explain scientifically why it was leaving the Super Mutants sterile. "It's not the answer you were looking for. I'm sorry. The FEV is highly flawed, you would need to research and create a new virus from the ground up and you lack the research facilities and the tech to do so."

"Wait, With your Mind…" he began

"No." I shook my head "Even if you absorbed me, that's not going to get you the tech that you need. Also what would you do with all those you have already infected with FEV? Abandon them in favor of your new mutants?" I asked.

He seemed to almost deflate as I took his last hope away. It was strange I knew the thing in front of me was a monster but I took no joy in what I was doing. I was killing a dream. It was a dream born of madness, that had hurt and killed many but I was still destroying this creatures hope. Maybe it was because I thought somewhere deep down inside that sick mind of Richard Grey was a man truly trying to do good for the world.

""I – I see… It's truly hopeless then, my dream, everything I have done a failure." he said repeating Failure in an deeper angry voice. "I can't live with this, with all the people that I have hurt and all the terrible things that I have done. It was madness I see that now please leave… while you still have hope." he said then repeated hope in a feminine voice.

"WAIT!" That caused him to stop.

"If you are going to destroy this place at least let me get the people up top out of here."

"Do as you will… I will permit you as much time as needed. Just go." he agreed.

"Wait…" he then said in a soft and sad voice. "Please do not tell Harold what become of me, let him believe I died in that accident." He added.

I turned back to him and nodded solemnly.

Then felt Nekochan's strong arm grab my shoulder "Come on, we have to go this place isn't going to be here soon."

I nodded Nekochan and I ran for the door.

We made it to the door and found Morpheus looking shocked at us.

"We have to get everyone out of here, the Master is going to destroy this place." I warned him

"What? Why?" he asked.

"It doesn't matter just get everyone you can and get them a safe distance away." I commanded

With that we headed up shouting for everyone in the robes to flee the place, we got every human along the way to follow us, When we reached the top I expected Morpheus to speak to the people gathered instead he ran for the door like the place was on fire.

I sighed and yelled out "Everyone, this place is going to be destroyed you have to leave." There was a momentary pause before everyone started running for the door. Thankfully no one was trampled and it looked like everyone made it out. We then left and headed for the car I wasn't surprised to find Anya and Jenna pulling weapons out of the trunk.

"We have to go." I shouted to them.

"When we saw everyone running out we though something had happened and were going to go rescue you two."

"I know and we appreciate that but this place is about to blow." I explained their eyes widened as the tossed the weapons back in the trunk and we got in. It was a couple minutes after that that we heard the explosion as we were driving away a look back revealed a massive fireball of what was the Cathedral.

"So does that mean we won?" asked Nekochan.

I blinked when I realized "You know what, Yeah, I mean there is still clean up to do but without the Master, the mutant threat should be easier to deal with. The Brotherhood with a little help should be able to take care of it. We have the water chip. Everything else is clean up then whatever we want to do."

It took a few days to get home, when we reached there the Kids were ecstatic to see us. I honestly felt bad for as often as we had left them in the care of Alpha, Beta and Gama but it was a better alternative than bringing them. Still I decided then that since the major things we had to do were done, The could come along for the rest.

After such a journey we rested a day as I recounted the tale of our victory to the Kids. They were quite amazed that I had walked in to the enemy base unarmed, talked my way in to see the main boss and convinced him to blow himself up. Of course I pointed out that it was only because of Alice's help and forethought in choosing that game that this had taken place. She was practically beaming at that and even Angel seemed happy that she was receiving some praise.

Then it was time for the trip to the vault, that would take a few days which was good because I had to write up a report that would actually make sense, which meant being… creative about what happened including inventing a few encounters that never happened, faking some documents that were supposed communications between the super mutants and the church about the underground vault and the plans of the master. Fun Fact: Typing on a pipboy kind of sucks. It wasn't made for long messages, especially when your doing most of it riding in a car, but I managed.

Eventually we found ourselves in front of the vault. I was surprised when the door opened to see the Overseer standing there with a another guy. I could feel some tension from Nekochan and Alice. I had warned Nekochan how things ended in the game. Alice of course had played the game.

"Thank goodness you have made it back." he said a look of relief on his face. Did you get the Water chip?"

I nodded and handed him it wrapped in a cloth, he quickly undid it and looked in surprise. "Are you sure this is the right one it looks… different."

"It will work." I assured him.

He nodded and turned to one of the men, I remembered him as Brian from water maintenance. "Go. Plug it in." he ordered. Brian nodded took the chip and ran off.

"It's been rough here I wasn't sure we were going to keep it together." he admitted. "A lot of people were upset at my handling of the situation and at the situation in general but we managed to pull through. So do you have anything to report on the outside world?" he asked. I nodded and handed him my pipboy. He nodded and looked through it, his eyes growing wide and his face growing pale.

"I see… what you went through, what you accomplished was amazing. Nothing short, from the looks of it you saved not only the vault but maybe humanity itself. I can't tell you how proud I am of you. You did good." He said looking back as it to make sure that no one was there.

He sighed deeply. "You know had I been informed of this threat I would have been forced to send you out again but you managed to take care of it even without me asking. You are a hero, That makes what I am going to ask very hard.

Right now the only one who know the extent of your Heroism are, you your friends and now me. If everyone knew it would be a rather large problem, Everyone would want to talk to you, then the young ones would want to emulate you. They would want to leave, to adventure themselves. In fact they still might. Thankfully they don't know everything. I ask you not to mention much beyond you getting the water chip.

You know as I said we are lucky, Had things gone differently I would be here having to decide whether to banish you. If the truth got out it would lead to the best of a generation leaving the vault and that would kill us as sure as the lack of water would have. However I think we both got very lucky here. I am going to take this, copy the files and edit them a bit so that I can load them in to our database without causing a problem. Welcome home."

"Actually I still have a few things to take care of, I took out their leader but there is a base that is still churning out mutants. While without the leader I doubt they are as big a menace I need to take care of that. Also I would like to establish a town, a trading post of sorts near here. I am thinking it will help to serve as a place where we can interact with the outside world through so when something like the water chip situation happens we are not left in such a precarious position. Also we it will protect us from being too exposed to the outside world."

The Overseer blinked in surprise "Huh and here I thought you were coming back to take my job. Honestly I was ready to hand it over. After this I could use a good retirement."

I chuckled "You know when I left I was pissed and really was going to take it. I still might later but I have things to do. While we haven't always or maybe even often seen eye to eye, I understand you care about this Vault and it's people. So if you can hold off retirement for a bit I think you are the right person to to be at the reigns right now. It's going to be tough enough to get things back to a sense of normalcy."

He nodded "Well I have to admit I didn't expect that from you. I am still unsure on your plan to create an extension to the outside world. However I can't deny that it might turn out useful after these events. As long as you aren't intending to stock it with our vault dwellers I suppose I'll support it."

"Does that mean I can have the G.E.C.K.?" I asked hopeful.

"Ah no we must keep that for an emergency." He answered with a chuckle

I shrugged. "It was worth a try. Anyways that water chip should work better than the old one ever did. As I have said we have a lot to do. I'll return when I am finished."

"Alright, then let me go and download what's on this, I'll give it back to you and you can be on your way."

He disappeared back in to the vault and reappeared a few minutes later. "Here you go." he said handing it back to me. "Good luck on all that you are planning to do out there."

And so we headed back out.

"You know I was all ready for him to pull that Banishing crap, I would have pulled his head off and used it like a soccer ball." Stated Nekochan fiercely.

"Well then I am doubly glad it didn't happen. While I wouldn't have agreed with it I do understand his main priority is to protect the vault. I would have thought it was foolish and short sighted but I wouldn't want to see him lose is life over it. Unfortunately for him I don't think he is going to be able to keep everyone in the vault. There was an undercurrent before I left of people who wanted to check out the outside world. Now that I have been there and returned it's going to grow and become louder. Even though he said he wouldn't allow me to stock my outpost with Vault Residents, I see it as unavoidable that there will be many who will be joining my outpost. In a way I have been expecting that to happen and wanted a safer place for them to experience the outside world."

"So where are you going to get the rest of the people needed to sustain or even build the thing?" she asked.

"Well I have robots that can handle much of the construction and menial labor. We have the scrap yard to help throw together some more robots but I feel it's like the movie field of dreams said."

"Field of Dreams?"

"Oh, I forgot you haven't seen it. We will have to rectify that. The line from that is if you build it, they will come."

"Are you sure about inviting just random people. Most people in the wasteland aren't that nice." Asked Nekochan.

"That may be true but there will be a strong justice system in place for a reason."

She nodded. "So what is our next step."

"Well next we have to take care of the Military Base. We are headed to the Brotherhood of Steel. They may still know where it is even if they don't realize it. If they don't I have a plan B to find it."

"Alright, considering how much the love power armor I wonder how they will react to seeing our Power armor."

"Either they are going to be very happy that I am considering sharing tech or very concerned that my tech might end the world… again. Either way they should be willing to play ball with me."
Nekochan nodded and we decided the next stop would be the Brotherhood base. It took a couple days to reach it. I was surprised when we pulled up it looked like a large single story structure with a chain link fence around it. It was very nondescript. However the guards on each side of the entrance in power armor told us we had the right place. Each of the guards wore signature cold gray power armor that had become a trademark of not only the brotherhood but of fallout. I would place the version at T-51s.
Both them carried a rather large Laser Rifle which was aimed currently in about our direction as we got out of the car. I raised my hands to show I was not going to make any threatening moves as I approached.

When I got in earshot I heard a lout "Stop right there, State your name and your business here."

"My name is Raven. I have come because I wish to share some information and technology with the brotherhood of steel.

I couldn't see there faces but I could imagine some eyebrows being raised.

"Just what sort of information and Technology are we talking about?" asked the one on the right. I could tell he was very skeptical.

"Well as for the information we will get to that but the technology I wish to share is a design for a Power Armor. I have a working prototype in the trunk of the car. I would have gotten it already but I didn't want to be shot pulling it out. I am sure you can understand that."

"Thanks but no thanks nothing you have will be as advanced as what we are wearing right now." said the one on the right. However the one on the left walked over and nudged the guard and whispered something to him.

I thought I heard a laugh. "You know what, yeah why don't you show us your power armor?" he said now an an amused tone.

"Well I had hoped to have a bigger audience after all I didn't want to have to display the capabilities more than once but I suppose I do have to show that I have something worth showing off. Do be aware though that my power armor has built in weapons. I will be showing those off. I am warning you because I would rather no accidental alarms to be set off." I explained.

"It will be fine just show what you have." replied the guard. I shrugged and headed for the back of the car, and opened the trunk.

I took out the Power Armor in Suitcase form. I remember what a headache it was to engineer and I began to walk back towards the men.

"Wait, where is your power armor? What is that?" the guard asked raising his Laser Rifle.

"OH I am sorry this is my power armor I guess this is as good a place to show off this feature." I explained setting the Suitcase down and pressing the thumb scanner on the suitcase. There was a beep and the suitcase began to unfold. It quickly unfolded in to a humanoid suit of armor. Which looked like a form fitting Ironman armor. once it was fully unfolded I stepped in to it and it closed up behind me.

"HOLY SHIT, WHAT IS THAT?" Managed both of the guards.

"This is my power armor." I answered the voice amplifier kicking in. My sensors told me that both weapons had their safeties off.

"Uhhh shit. J-Just stay right there." said the one I had been talking to before turning to the other guard

"Keep her here."

He headed inside. It took about 15 minutes for him to return with about a dozen other people in armor including one middle age gentleman without a helmet and a half dozen people in robes including a bald woman.

The man without the helmet stepped up.

"I see, you are the one that has the power armor that was folded in to a suitcase. I heard that you mentioned it had other capabilities including built in weaponry. We would be very interested in seeing that would you please carefully show off the capacities." he said in a tone that seemed more a command.

"Yes sir, I shall start with the standard built in fire arms. I'll just aim off in to the distance so as not the cause a problem."

The man nodded and motioned to go ahead.

I chose an empty space as a target and fired of a few dozen rounds from the built in machine guns.

I looked back and the man nodded. "What else do you have."

"I have build in laser weaponry called repulsers. I will show them off. I will fire at a spot on the ground, this may cause a minor explosion." I informed him.

I then fired off the repulsors which causes a small crater.

I looked back and he nodded then rubbed his chin looking contemplatively. "Alright what else can it do?"

"I have some missiles I could fire but those are rather tough to come by, how about I show off it's ability to fly." I answered.

"It can fly?" he asked.

"Indeed." I answered.

"Please do so." he asked.

I engaged the thrusters and took off in to the air. I didn't like going very high or very fast so I stayed close to the ground. I flew around then landed about where I had taken off from.

"Excellent, and where did you say you came by this armor?" he asked.

"I know it's hard to believe but I was the one who created it." I explained.

"That is rather hard to believe. You mentioned that you wanted to share information about it?" he asked I could tell from his voice he was very interested.

"Yes I believe it would be helpful with the other information I wish to share, I also kind of hope that the brotherhood would be willing to help me with a few things involving it. It does not boast as good resistance to radiation as does your suits and I was hoping you could provide information on the coating."

"I am sure something could be arranged. Say… there is a moratorium on new troops but if what you say is true about the creating this armor I can already tell that would make an excellent Scribe for the Brotherhood."

"Well thank you I am honored, however I have many things going on right now I would prefer if I could think about that and give you a more definitive answer at another time."

He nodded "Understood."

I activated the suits disengagement mode and the back opened up and I stepped out of it for it to return to folding up in to a suitcase. Thankfully Nekochan was there to pick up the suitcase for me. The damn thing was heavy. She lifted it like it was nothing of course.

The man without the helmet walked up trailed closely by the bald woman in the robes.

"I am Head Paladin Rhombus and this is Head Scribe Vree" he said holding out his hand. I noticed Scribe Vree looked kind of pale and a little mystified.

I Shook his hand and Vree offered me hers after to shake.

"My name is Raven, This is Nekochan." I began then introduced the rest who had joined us by that point including the kids.

"A pleasure… um how… how does that work, that armor shouldn't be possible. I mean the materials alone should be too heavy for a normal person to lift." stammered Vree who was actually having a rational scientific reaction to the impossibility that she just saw. I was guessing she hadn't even noticed that Nekochan and Angel had cat ears and a tail yet.

"Actually I think I can clear things up." I said pulling out a holodisk and handing it too her. "There is the schematics for the suit, actually improved schematics since I haven't been able to convert mine to being powered off a Fusion Power cell yet."

She blinked "Wait what is it powered off of?"

"Oh it's got an electric battery, while it has relatively decent capacity, it has a very short life of active use of only a few hours. The Fusion cell should increase that time exponentially."

"And you built this?" she asked. "This looks like something that was manufactured prewar not something someone put together in a cave with a box of scraps. No offense."
"None taken, I was the designer of this armor. If I am honest it was constructed by other hands using my design."

"What did you stumble on to a prewar manufacturing site that somehow still had power?" she asked eagerly. I understood why if I had that was actually probably worth more than the armor or the design to them.

"Sadly where I had this made is no longer available." I told her to her disappointment.

"Well whatever the case please, come, we wish to introduce you to our Elder John Maxon. He is going to want to meet someone of such caliber." Said Rhombus.

"Ah good I have some more information to share."

He blinkd "Oh?"

"Yeah I am guessing you know of the Super mutants that are wandering around I heard there is an army of them amassing at a military base. Its the big reason why I came here. Because I couldn't handle that alone but figured you could with a little help."

Rhombus paled slightly "Yes please come this way." he said as more of an order as he led us in to the base.

We were led in to the base, while the outer building had seemed large the inside was rather spartan designed for a group of people living in to it and it was clearly only the top level as we were quickly led to an elevator that led us down a few floors.

We passed many people dressed in power armor or scribe robes until we were led in to a to an office where an elderly man sad behind a desk going over papers.

"Umm Elder… This is Raven, she just showed us a remarkable power armor she created, more importantly she says she has information on that Army you were looking for. Raven, this is Elder Maxson."

The man looked up at first in shock then nodded "Really?"

"Yes. I will let her tell you the information. Vree has already gone to parse the Holodisk that she gave us with the design of her armor."

I nodded.

"Well then it's a pleasure to meet you Raven, lets here the information that you have on this army."

"Alright this is a bit of a story but…" And then I told them of the Cathedral and what I found there, of defeating the master, I added in some stuff about having found a super mutant and done some experiments on it to find it was sterile. I made it sound as if I had snuck in by borrowing some robes.

He listened very intently until I mentioned hearing about them amassing an army at the Mariposa military base.

"Wait are you certain that they said Mariposa?" he asked. I nodded.

"Yeah I couldn't get close enough to find out where it is."

"Mariposa Military base, don't worry we know where it is, we have a history with it. Finally I have something to take to the council. They have to believe me now." He said getting up "Head Paladin Rhombus, assemble the council, we don't have time to waste, also get some scouts ready." He ordered.

"Sir haven't we lost every scout that we sent to that area?" Rhombus asked.

"Actually I think I may be able to help you scout. I have a device that can scan from the air and send back a picture to the controller. I brought a few of them as I thought they might be necessary."

Maxsom grin broadened "You know, We could use someone like you. How would you feel about joining the Brotherhood?" he asked.

"Well I am very honored that you would ask however I have several matters of my own that I must attend to so if you don't mind I would like to consider it and give you an answer at another time."

He nodded "Very well. Raven I would like you to come with me. I would like you to tell the council your story." he explained.

"Sure."

"I'll go tell the council there is an emergency meeting." said Rhombus.

About a half hour later I was speaking in front of a group of old men and women. I told the same edited story I had to Elder Maxson. A few of them asked me questions seeming a bit more skeptical about my adventures in the Cathedral but I was able to convincingly answer their questions.

Then it came time for Elder Maxson to talk again.

"The time to act is now if these creatures have a military base and are actively creating more of themselves. I am already assembling a scout team to head to the area and thanks to some help from Raven we don't have to scout it in person. I am asking for permission to mobilize our forces to crush these Mutant Creatures once and for all."

With that it was brought to a vote and overwhelmingly the council agreed.

After the meeting Elder Maxson came to me. "Again I can't thank you enough. Not only can we now take care of a problem that's been brewing for a while I am told by Scribe Vree that the blueprints you brought in were revolutionary and she already sees many applications where it can be used to advance our own armors."

"Well I am glad I was able to help. Do you need us to go with the scouts to work the Drones I gave you?"

"That shouldn't be necessary. Those drones seem to be fairly simple to fly and with the AI installed should be able to do what we need them to do. Hell with the heat imaging setting we should have a good idea what we are in store for when we get there.

Anyways I would like to give you something though for all that you have done for us. I honestly wish I could give you more but consider this a token the Brotherhood's gratitude." He said as a man in power armor walked up with a large wooden box and opened it reveling a ton of Bottle Caps.

"There should be 10,000 Bottle caps there I hope that will help in your endeavors." Stated the Elder.

"Thank you that should be a great help in some of what I am planning." I admitted.

"Well remember whatever you do you have the thanks of the Brotherhood and we always will have a position open for you should you decide to join us"

"Thank you I appreciate that."

After that I was given a holodisk by Head Scribe Vree, which she told me contained information that I had asked for such as the anti-radiation coating they used for their armors.

Shortly after that we that we left.

"So what kind of chance do you think they have against the mutants?" Nekochan asked as we loaded in to the car.

"I would say pretty good. It is way too soon for them to implement the stuff from the armor data that I gave them, that will take months for them to even begin to implement the changes. However with the drone and the data I would put their odds at excellent."

"Wait why did you give them the Power Armor data then? I mean if it wasn't to help with the Super Mutants?" She asked.

"Oh well in a few generations the Enclave is going to be poking their heads out. I figured I would give them a leg up on that, also it got me in the front door without searching around a radiation filled pit in a near certain suicide mission just to get their help."

"Wait and these are the people we are helping?" she asked a bit surprised and annoyed.

"Well you have to understand something about the wasteland, no group out here is really perfect. They become a mostly beneficial force in the wasteland."

"Ah so still trying to set things up for after we leave?" She asked.

"Yeah I usually try to. I figure it's best to always try and leave the world a better place than when you found it. I believe it's something we should all aim to do."

I couldn't see her smile but I knew she was smiling at that. "That is such a you philosophy. I think you have done pretty well by the worlds we visited so far."

After that we headed home. We had to plan. I had never set up a settlement.
After some discussion despite the plethora of skills I brought to the table and the skills of my companions we discovered that we were a bit lacking on some of the skills needed to build the settlement I had in mind.

I had done some metalwork but I was far from an expert and I knew nothing of building a functional sewer or water system. Nor did I have the materials for it just yet. I had a good relationship with Shady Sands and the Brotherhood right now loved me, The people of Shady Sands had actually constructed a fictional settlement. The Brotherhood likely had loads of people who had tons more experience on metal work. Calling them in for help wouldn't be hard but for one little thing. Currently I had was building a settlement for no people. I was doing things ass backwards. Now there was also the people of the Hub, though they likely had less expertise than the other two, I am sure I could find people with the proper skill sets and they wouldn't give a damn about building a settlement for no one so long as they were getting paid. Sadly they would charge me out of the rear.

I realized I had been thinking for quite a while when Jenna looked at me concerned and asked "Have you decided anything?"

I sighed "Yeah, We should head back to the vault. I had kind of wanted to make this an outpost for the vault anyways so we could secretly interact with the world without revealing our location. If I get some people it will be much easier to call for help from the people I need to ask for help. Also it will give me time to study up on how to deal with stuff like sewer, water and electrical systems. Maybe play around with them in some simulation programs to actually learn a thing or two. Bad news is breaking ground will be delayed quite a bit.

I could see Nekochan pouting at that, I knew I had made a bit promise to her and she wasn't happy with the delay.

I sighed then smiled to her "Hey Nekochan. I know what I promised. I know I promised we could have a kid after everything was settled and now it looks like things are delayed. However I have been thinking about things and I don't have to do everything personally. I can delegate. It's not like we are going to be doing a ton of fighting or anything. I suppose I can do what I need to do even while pregnant or a new mother without much problem, I just have to have faith in those around me to carry out my ideas." I explained.

Nekochan blinked and the disappointment in her face vanished as if it had never been there in the first place soon replaced by a broad grin and a certain hungry look in her eyes. "Well then. I think we have things sorted out here so lets get to work on the part of your plan you just mentioned." She said as she got up.

"Umm Nekochan?" I asked and then found myself picked up and carried over the shoulder. I noted Alice and Angel looking curiously and asking Anya and Jenna what was going on. They both said they would explain when they were older.

I was quickly carried to the bedroom. That was the official end of the planning session for that time. The rest of the night was spent preparing for something else.

It's funny how certain activities can clear your mind and make something obvious that you had overlooked.

Oasis, what I was going to call my town/settlement, was going to be built upon an old town… which had at one time had sewers so I didn't have to build from nothing. It would likely need a lot of repair after 100 years of use but It was one advantage.

I dug out an old laptop that I had from the first world I had visited, Ironically it was once a top of the line lap top but it was now 30+ years old and hadn't seen use in a while. Thankfully it powered on and seemed okay, I downloaded the information I had on city building, that I needed as I had a lot to learn about planning out this settlement.

With that we headed out to the Vault. On our trip back which took a few days I studied everything I could about city building particularly on how to provide water, electricity and install sewers. I had come to learn reading tiny text on my pipboy while trying to ride in the car wound up hurting my eyes. The lap top though not as convenient actually was easier to read.

We made it to the vault in a few days by that point I felt I had some good ideas on things and had a few things down at least in theory.

We headed in to the cave which was strangely nostalgic without the threat of Rats now and to the door. I used my pipboy to plug in and send a message that I was there.

It took a few minutes to be answered, when the door opened I was surprised to find the Overseer waiting.

He looked pale and tired, there were dark circles around his eyes. He greeted me with a hopeful smile.

"Ah welcome back it's good to see you." he said

"Is everything Okay? You don't look so good."

"Well I have to level with you. This job has gotten a lot harder since you left. Not only am I now having to fight to keep people from wanting to go to the surface, there is a group of people now claiming that I drove you away wanting to put me up for execution."

"Maybe we should come in then and try and settle this down before things get even more out of hand." I said as we headed in.

"Say is there any chance you will reconsider taking my job, That retirement is sounded better and better. I figure it's better to leave willingly than to be driven out."

I nodded "I will talk to people. How is the water chip working?"

He blinked "Oh that is working beautifully, It's better than the old one. We are producing more water even more efficiently than we should be able."

I nodded "You know I suppose a part of being a leader is being able to understand the moment. To be able to determine what the people want and the best coarse forward considering that." I stated.

"Well that's all fine but it seems like they want my head on a silver platter." he remarked.

"Well they want out, I understand we don't want to rob the vault of it's future but, I think it may be time to consider some limited exposure to the outside world. In fact I have been planning should this possibility should it turn up."

He Overseer sighed and wiped his forehead with is head. "There is something I should tell you. Something you will find out when you take this job. This vault wasn't supposed to open until 200 years after the bombs fell." he explained.

"Ah well there is something that I should tell you that I have found out from some friends called the Brotherhood who research lost technology like vaults and such. It turns out that by finding the ruins of Vaults and members who have left the vaults that they were a bunch of social experiments. We were never meant to be the inheritors of humanity. We were just ants in an ant farm for which they could come back out of hiding once the smoke cleared and collect the data on."

The Overseer paused and blinked the look he got on his face was as if I had told them there was no Santa Clause.

"Really?"

I sighed and then explained the cruel experiments that I knew of from various vaults. Like the one with the cloning device, the one that was supposed to subject it's residents to various diseases while hidden doctors would watch and let them succumb to them to study them. The one where they played music with subliminal messages designed to drive the inhabitants mad."

"Stop! Why, why in god's name would anyone do that?"

"They viewed themselves as humanity and everyone else as well… Cattle. My friends believe their decedents are waiting quietly somewhere probably off shore to emerge and retake the world."

He looked sick. "You know what, I think maybe I need a drink and to take some time to reconsider my future."

"Look you have done the best you could, you couldn't know that this was the group of people you were dealing with."

"No, you don't get it at all do you? The sending out 1 person at a time, it was because we were supposed to stay locked up for 200 years. I was trying to limit exposure to the outside world. I have done things I am not proud of and… and now I see that it was all a cruel joke. Look if you want the job it's yours. If you don't… I need to find someone else because I can't I can't stay in this position after what I have done."

I sighed "Well I understand your anger and pain but I truly believe that things may have worked out for the best for now. Why don't we go to your office and I'll explain my plans and maybe we can work things out so there is a peaceful transition to what needs to be done."

He nodded "You want a drink I kept the good stuff for myself."

"Oh I'll take some." piped up Nekochan.

He looked over and blinked "Say I didn't want to ask this I mean she is your friend and the little girl seems to have the same deformity but those ears and tail are real aren't they?"

I nodded "She was biologically engineered."

He blinks "Really I thought maybe she was just a mutant. Was it another vault experiment?"

"Nah we can't blame everything on Vault Tec. Anyways lets go discuss the future of this vault."

I explained my plan for Oasis, a settlement that would serve as an in between point for the Vault and the outside world. It could be a place for the people who want to leave the vault to live and work to get a taste of the outside world without being thrown to the mercy of the wasteland.

At this point he probably would have agreed to anything but he agreed to my plan and offered the G.E.C.K. It also turned out the entire vault was containing equipment to build cities. That was the Vault's Purpose in fact. The lower decks were filled with machines to construct cities and the database was filled with information on how to put together a modern city.

It was decided that I would take over the Duty of Overseer but as I would be out working most of the time, he would in essence work as the go between with Anya and Jenna serving as our assistants.

"Well Overseer…" I began.

"Please call me Jacoren. You are Overseer now I am just your assistant. Looks like I'll be working for part of my retirement. You know it's not so bad really stepping down. I always thought there would be some great sense of loss of purpose when the time came to hand it over. However I see now I have left the seat in better hands."

"Thank you… Well Jocoren. How should we do this?" I asked.

"Well I'll call everyone to the Atrium, I'll inform them of my decision to step aside, I am sure they will be broken-hearted. Then I will announce that you are my choice to succeed me. You can come up, make a little speech and inform them of your plans and well We will go from there."

It was an hour later, I found myself on the upper level of the Atrium waiting with my companions as Jacoren stood at the edge waiting for the murmor of everyone assembled below to quiet down.

"Please everyone quite down I have a few announcements to make."

With my exceptional hearing I thought I caught a few rude comments in response from the crowd.

Eventually things grew silent.

"I will try and keep this brief. The past few weeks have been among the most challenging of my career as your Overseer. They have shown a light on that maybe I have been in the Overseer seat a bit too long. I have decided it's time for a change."

That drew some cheers but Jacoren raised his hands to quiet people.

"I know, I know several of you are in agreement with me that I have been around too long. I would like to introduce my replacement. I am sure you all know her well. She is the one who saved this entire vault by venturing out in to the outside world and retrieving the Water Chip. I would like you to give a warm welcome to Raven.

And the crowd wend wild. I was surprised at the level of applause I received as I walked up to the edge. I was greeted like a hero. Perhaps in their eyes I was one.

"Thank you, thank you all I appreciate your warm welcome. Jacoren has asked me to succeed him as Overseer and I believe that there are many things that I can do to improve things around here. Now I know there are many of you who see my adventure as something to emulate. You wish to travel to the surface and seek your own fortunes.

Well I have an idea that may help those who wish to experience the outside world. I have found a spot that would be great for a settlement. It turns out that our Vault was equipped to actually create cities, we have a lot of heavy equipment designed for such purposes in mothballs on the lower levels. It may take me a while to get things going but I believe I can create a place on the surface that will be somewhat safe to live. I hope that this… Oasis I create will be a middle ground between both worlds allowing us to interact with the outside world but not put ourselves at risk. This should also allow us easier access to things should we encounter another crisis like the Water Chip failing." I gave a pause for the listeners to cheer. They did not disappoint.

"I will caution those who wish to explore though that the outside world is filled with dangers and going outside without a plan could easily lead to your death. I am not saying this new settlement will be completely safe but I will try and make it as safe as I can. Now for those of you who have no interest in the outside world and are worried that we will be sending the best of a younger generation out in to the wastes, This will not be a one way process from the outside world we shall bring back new ideas and items that could not be acquired otherwise. From the shelter of the vault, the world shall be our ouster. No longer will we be limited by just what was brought here ages ago when the bombs fell. As far as the losing the best of a generation, who says they are lost. I am sure those who leave here, some of them, may choose to return. Maybe when it comes time for them to have families of their own, they shall decide it's time to return to where they grew up. What's more they may bring now people adding to the genetic diversity of the vault and improving it's life span. I know not many people want to talk about it, but a lot of us are at very least distant relatives to each other. That's not genetically good. So this shall bring new life to the vault."

I paused there were less cheers this time but I expected that too.

Now the hard part. "I am affaid with this great undertaking I will not be able to be here every moment of every day. So I have asked Jacoren to stay on as my assistant, he shall be assisted by my Companions Anya and Jenna."

There was a bit of a murmer at that.

"I know many of you have a problem with Jacoren but I believe I have addressed those. The fact remains he knows this vault better than probably anyone and his knowledge will be helpful. I may not have always agreed with I'm but I always believed he had what was best for this vault in his heart."
There was a temped applause there for Jacoren. I was certain he would be accepted in time in his new role.

"Anyways thank you for listening. I look forward to serving all of you and making your lives better."

That drew applause.

With that began my term as Overseer officially.

Aside from handling the normal duties of an Overseer, planning for the future and settling disputes between vault dwellers I had a bigger job. I managed to get the equipment and materials out that I needed.

Building a city or in this case a settlement that had options to expand was complicated. A few weeks after I became Overseer I found myself at the site of Oasis. Nekochan and I were doing some looking around as I planned. We had to find the size of the well and the exact boundaries of it and determine it's depth so that we could determine how big a settlement that it could support. It turned out the well was rather large and deep, it would likely support a settlement of a few hundred people for a very long time. I had noticed that Nekochan seemed particularly smug that day. She had a grin that practically went ear to ear. I had asked her a few times what she was so happy about but she had said it was nothing.

"Alright you have been grinning like that all day. How about you let me in on the Joke." I said finally. The trip out and having to walk around in the desert heat had done little for me mode.

"Oh, are you sure you want to know?" she asked playfully.

I just grumbled "It's hot, This is honestly boring work and it's going a bit slower than expected. I could could use a bit of good news."

She chuckled and wrapped her arms around me. "Well… I can tell certain things about a person by their scent. I can tell sometimes if someone is ill by changes in their scent, I can tell many things…"

"And?" I asked curious.

"Well I didn't want to spoil it like this but you asked… You smell Pregnant." She said with a giggle.

"Wait, you can tell that by scent? Well I suppose it makes sense."

She nodded "I noticed it first with Anya and didn't know if it was just her, when Jenna became pregnant I confirmed it and over the years I have gotten pretty good at it."

I couldn't help but smile and hug her back giving her a soft kiss. "Wow… You know it's not really a surprise but it's still tough to get my head around."

She giggled "Yeah I wanted to wait and tell Anya and Jenna first, they are probably going to be upset about not being here for this."

I nodded, I actually felt a little bad leaving them behind. However we had jobs to do and they were managing the Vault while I was doing the groundwork here getting things ready.

"Alright well lets get this stuff done as fast as possible so we can get back quickly and tell them."

"Sounds like a plan… you know you smell very pregnant." she said taking a whiff of the air. "hmm we might be looking at twins or triplets from the amount of hormones you are putting out." She said with a playful grin.

"What?"

"oh well it just seems you are putting out an excessive amount of Hormones. You might have multiple babies growing inside your womb."

I was a little stunned. I had things planned out and an extra kid or two would… change things. Drastically. Not to mention having 1 kid was kind of scary enough but having multiple… that was a bit more than I was really expecting or ready for.

Nekochan looked at me and looked for a moment like she was fighting not to burst out laughing then apparently failed as she burst out laughing.

"Huh?" I said confused my brain still sort of rebooting.

"Relax I was only teasing. You I couldn't really tell at this stage beyond you being pregnant. I don't think. I can't tell if it's with multiple babies or not." she managed through deep belly laughs.

"That's – That's not very nice." I complained

"You are adorable when you pout."

"That was a bit mean."

"Awww would it really be so bad?" she wrapped an arm around me and held me.

"No… It just is a lot to drop on someone."

"It does happen you know, there still is a chance."

"And if it does we will deal with it, plans can be adjusted and well I'll have some months to get used to the idea."

She gently squeezed my shoulder "Alright. I am glad you are okay with it even if the family grows a bit more than expected. Anyways we should probably get back to work." she noted.

We wound up bulldozing the land except for the house where we found the ghoul. When I told Nekochan we were leaving that as is. She didn't seem surprised.

We used some tools to examine the sewer system, amazingly it was in good shape for being as old as it was. The G.E.C.K despite being proclaimed as much more humble than expected in the game really was full of wonder devices. Soil supplements that would make the soil able to grow crops. There was a mater energy replicator which allowed for the creation of simple tools and materials there was even a canister of chemicals that when used would shoot in to the air and stabilize the local atmosphere. Hell it even had a diagram on how to build a force field. It wasn't just a device where you pressed a button and you got perfectly hospitable lands but for those willing to work. It really did offered a great deal to anyone trying to found a settlement.

We got the soil supplements mixed in to the soil, We fired off the Atmospheric stabilizer and we built a Small structure on the edge of where the Settlement was going to be to store the cold fusion generator and set up a charging station for the robots. We actually had a couple of Guards from the Vault overseeing the site, supplied with very large guns by me to help scare off anyone who would be trouble and to oversee to robots. Manpower and travel were beginning to get to be an issue for us. Sadly I couldn't use robots for everything and as for the travel I was considering maybe building an Airship. An aerial vehicle would cut down on travel times considerably, sadly I was kind of in the middle of too many things as it was.

We had brought the general purpose robots from the mansion to use as our labor force. They were programmed with jobs and to do the jobs, things were in place and we got it to a point where we really didn't have to be there so we headed back to the vault.

Things at the vault seemed to be going well. I knew Jenna had a head for management and Anya had begun to train people who wanted to try living on the surface on the various aspects of doing so. There was an excitement in the vault that honestly I had never seen.

I called Jenna and Anya for a meeting in my private residence bringing the kids of course. Nekochan wore a rather large proud grin as we gathered. The private residences tended to be small and more utilitarian, the Overseer's residence was a bit bigger though. Currently we sat around a round white table, that was one of the perks of being Overseer.

I don't know why but feeling everyone's eyes on me made me feel a little nervous as I looked around the table.

"I suppose you are all wondering what this is all about…" I began.

"You're Pregnant right?" Asked Angel.

"What? How… I mean yeah I am but how?"

"The way Mommy Nekochan is grinning and the fact you guys have been trying. I heard it being talked about."

"Ah… I was thinking the same thing but I just didn't want to say it because you wanted to announce it." Stated Alice.

"Well umm yeah I guess that makes things a lot easier yes I am pregnant You two are going to have a new little sister." I explained.

"That's awesome." Said Angel.

"Oh…" stated Alice seeming a bit troubled.

"Umm don't you want a little Sister? I asked Alice who blinked and then blushed.

"Well yeah…"

"You don't seem very happy."

"Well… It's just…" she began and took a deep breath. "I know I am not normal like Angel or this baby is going to be. I have looked through the records and I know the science. I know I am a glorified mixed clone of you and Mommy Jenna." she explained.

For a moment I was stunned there were tears in her eyes. I god up and walked around the table and wrapped my arms around my little girl kissing her on the top of her head. "You are my daughter, I don't care that there was a bit of science involved so we could have you. Hell everyone is effectively a mixed clone of their parents." I said and then got down next to her and looked her in the face "I don't want you to ever feel that you are less than anyone else because of the circumstances of your birth. You are my daughter, just as much as this child growing in my womb and I won't love you any less." explained.
By now she was crying and hugging me back, soon everyone was hugging her. "Where did you get such a messed up notion that you were any less my daughter?" I asked.

"I just I read some medical records and found some stuff about me. I just felt weird because I wasn't naturally conceived like Angel." I kissed her forehead. "You know, Nekochan started her life as a bioandriod who's body was half artificial parts, parts cloned from me with a bit of Cat mixed in. I never considered her any less of a person." She blinked "Really?" she said dumbfounded.

"Yep."

"How? Oh… she must have been made flesh and blood through stuff that happens when we jump." she surmised.

"That is correct. So do you feel any better now?" I asked.

She nodded.

I reached over and wrapped an arm around Angel who gave a squack in surprise "And you are my Daughter too. I don't care if it's by blood or not I don't want you to feel left out either. You both are my worlds. My world is just getting a bit bigger." Angels hugged me back, even though she wasn't trying I was surprised at the kid's strength. She really had inherited Nekochan's strength.

"Anyways this is a celebration lets celebrate. Lets get some food, and drinks to enjoy it!" I told them.

In the months that followed that much had changed. I received word that the Brotherhood had wiped out the mutants at the Military base with minimal losses thanks in part to intel they were able to gather from the drones I provided them.

Oasis really began to take shape, we got our first batch of settlers in there starting on planting crops, we bought a few Brahmin from the Brahmin Baron in the hub. They would help provide milk and fertilizer for the crops.

I managed to hook up a rather large fusion power plant. That combined with some wind turbines for a bit of extra energy would provide for our power needs for a good long time.

Both Harolds came to live in my settlement, The Mutant one at first had trouble with some of the residents who were not used to such a thing. However I was able to get them to give him a chance and it turned out Harold was a great storyteller and had many tales to tell. He had a long life and had seen many things which he gladly passed on to anyone who would listen.

The other Harold actually was a godsend. He was an expert and technology and quickly became indispensable to the settlement keeping things going with his technical knowledge.

Soon my little Settlement was up and growing fast, it boasted both electricity and running water, that made it time to do another project of mine that I wanted to implement.

It was a bit of a luxury but I managed to get a broadcasting tower up and put up the first radio station in the wastes. We played the classic 50's music but we also mixed in some stuff from the 60's. Also Harold the Mutant wound up getting a show telling stories of his life and found new fame.

At first we were just broadcasting to the settlers of Oasis but soon people in other settlements started to hear and started to dig out or acquire radios and soon our little station had quite the following across the wasteland.

Time passed and pregnancy hit in full force. There is much I can say about being pregnant. It was a very uncomfortable time, it was hard with stuff like morning sickness and mood swings. The mood swings in particular made it tough to lead but thankfully my companions were quick to pick up when I was off. It was difficult and yet… I wouldn't trade it for the world. All the pain and difficulty, it was all worth it. Of course we cheated a bit, Little Rachel, that's her name decided to come a couple weeks early. She must have somehow sensed that I had things intricately planned and decided to have had none of that.

I have to admit giving birth was scary, it was hard, I was doped up pretty good by Jenna so I didn't have to deal with the pain too much but still, I was panicking, everyone around except Jenna was panicking too. It was a challenge for everyone but everything went alright in the end. Little Rachel was born with a full head of red hair and cat ears and a tail showing who the other parent was.

Being a new parent again meant I had to act mostly through others. I heard that Shady Sands had a problem where the girl we met Tandy had been abducted. I sent Anya and Nekochan out to go deal with the Raiders. They got back Tandy and gave thankfully few details about what happened to the raiders beyond they were just gone.

It wasn't long after that that Aradesh himself came to our settlement with a suggestion of forming a pact of mutual protection. Apparently despite our newness and relative small size we had made quite an impression. So we agreed and soon the other settlements banded together. It was a humble birth for the New California Republic.

I managed to get the Brotherhood to make a custom suit of Power Armor based on the designs I gave them for Anya and Jenna. I also gave them a design for a small sized airship on the condition they would build me one. They humbly agreed and I got my airship. Though it was too big for my Warehouse with all the other stuff I had in it, it was nice to have.

Time passed as it's want to do. It seemed like a very short time for Angel and Alice to grow from preteens to young adults. Little Rachel grew in to quite the precocious young girl. At first I was a little worried that she never seemed to take anything too seriously. However I came to realize that she was a lot more than what she seemed. She just happened to be upbeat and playful.

Eventually the time came to move on. We gathered in the house section of the warehouse as we had before to wait. I couldn't help but be anxious as the minutes slipped by. There was no telling what new world we were headed too. This hadn't been the nicest world but I had made great strides in improving it. In a strange way I would miss it but I was satisfied that I had left my mark on it.

I felt the change a moment before it happened the world except for us went white as the walls and furniture seemed to vanish except for the chairs we were sitting on. We found ourselves in an endless white space that too me was familiar.

"Wow, neat trick do it again." called a very amused Rachel, reminding me none of us had warned her that would happen.

"Hmm I see that you have added a new member to your group. Who may I ask is this young lady?" asked my Benefactor appearing before Rachel looking down curiously.

"Ah my name is Rachel." she said brightly. "Say are you going to give my Mom magic yet, she keeps complaining you never give her any magic."

I was a bit taken aback at that.

The Benefactor merely chuckled. "Well I have actually offered her several times jumps that have magic, She has just made other choices. She has even been to a jump that offered magic but again chose something different."

I coughed "Umm sorry, you know how kids are." I interjected.

He merely chuckled "Yes, I do indeed." he said turning to me with a grin.

"Well a few more of the problematic Jumpers have ended their chain and the last few that I feel would be a problem should be ending theirs soon so I should be able to be more open with the Jumps I offer without the fear of unleashing a monster upon the multiverse."

"Wow, You aren't even pretending to be impartial here." said Nekochan amused.

"When did I ever claim to be impartial?" he answered "Hey since one of the Jumpers proved dumb enough to try and attack me and steal my power, it kind of made me realize I have a certain responsibility for those Jumpers I send out in to the multiverse. I am not actively trying to kill anyone but holding off on handing out some of the higher power jumps until those I know can't handle it take their leave doesn't sound too unreasonable. Anyways I think you all tend towards the less problematic side so I'll try and ease up a bit with you." he said and the options of which jumps I could choose appeared in my mind.

"Huh a Jojo jump. A stand could be fun." I commented.

"Actually that's before they had Stands, everything was about Hamon and Vamperism at that point."

"Oh Hamon that's that Sunlight powered martial arts that lets you stretch your arm and walk on water." I replied.

"That would be the one."

"Hmm" As I thought harder on it I felt something like a window on a computer screen open up on my mind, it showed the various options on a selection screen for lack of a better term along with a list of my current choice points. I scanned the various perks and items available but as I saw one particular I knew this would probably be the one I selected but not being too hasty I closed it and mentally opened up the others and examined them. There were a few interesting options there as well.

"I guess we are heading to Jojo." Finally I announced.

"Ah excellent. That should be an interesting one. Watch out for Dio."

"Who the hell is Dio?" Asked Nekochan.

"Dio is a psychopath, the problem is not only is he smart but he has some grand density. Unlike most Psychopaths that just believe that they were born for greater things, he actually was."

"OH alright so kill Dio and everyone lives happy then. Got it." Said Nekochan.

"That's not what I said."

"It's close enough I mean am I wrong?"

"Well… no probably not."

"So what's the problem?"

"We are going to start out when he is a kid."

"Eh, I am guessing he is already a psychopath by that point I am not seeing a problem here."

"Look we are not killing kids, if it can be avoided. If he tries to kill someone… You do what you have to do, otherwise. We will try and manage the problem."

"So if he is a few years older and a psychopathic piece of shit it's okay, but if he is a little shit already who is destined to kill people he is safe… I fail to see the logic." Said Nekochan frankly.

"We'll figure it out." I said finally.

"Alright but don't expect me to take it easy on him just because he is a kid. If he is a danger I'll deal with him accordingly."

"That's fine." I agreed.

With that we closed the door on the world of Fallout for this time. A new world and new wonders awaited us.

 

[Neko Arc]

Spoiler: PIcture

Chapter 5 Life vs. Ideals

Jump # 5 Jojo's Bizarre Adventure Part 1 Phantom blood
Age: 12
Gender: Female
Species: Human
Origin: Joestar
Perks:
*Birthmark (0)
*Hamon Training (400)
*Hero's Journey (0)
*Sono Chi No Sadame (300, Discount)
Items: (+100)
*Wedding Rings (0)
*Sword of luck and pluck (100, Discount)
Companions:
*Weird Band X 3 (300)


Nekochan
Species: Human
Origin: Joestar (Drop In)
Perks:
*Birthmark
*Hamon Training 200 point version
*Survivor
*Hero's Journey
*Sono Chi No Sadame
Items:
*Wedding Rings
*Sword of luck and pluck

Jenna
Species: Human
Origin: Lovable Sidekick
Perks:
*Guardian Angel
*Nose for Evil
*Hamon 200 point version
Items:
*Saw Hat
*Ogre Street

Anya
Species: Human
Origin: Brando (Drop In)
Perks:
*Birthmark
*Sendo Style
*Survivor
*Hamon 200 point version
*Luck of the Devil
Items:
*Coffin
*Wedding Rings

Alice
Species: Human
Origin: Brando (Drop In)
Perks:
*Survivor
*Hamon 400 point version
*Cunning
Items:
*Coffin
*Sword of luck and pluck

Angel
Species: Human
Origin: Joestar (Drop In)
Perks:
*Hero's Journey
*A True English Gentlemen
*Built Different
*Hamon (200 point version)
Items:
*Wedding Rings
*Jumpstar Mansion


Rachel
Species: Human
Origin: Brando (Drop In)
Perks:
*Survivor
*Luck of the Devil
*Hero's Journey
*Hamon 200 point version
Items:
Coffin
Poison

"His name is Dio Brando. His Father saved my life as well as yours and Jojo's when you were just babies. We owe his family a debt I can never repay. His Father has recently passed I would ask that you treat him as your new brother." Explained The man who my mind was coming to recognize as my new father in this world as he leaned down to speak to me face to face. He was George Joestar a very wealthy and powerful man. He was large and broad shouldered he had dark hair and wore a neatly trimmed mustache. He wore a fine brown suit. "He shall be arriving later today. I hope that you and Jojo will get along with him. I have already informed Jojo, I believe he is already outside waiting."

My memories were flowing back to me as I truly began to awaken. Even without them fully I knew this Dio Brando was bad news.

I nodded "Don't worry I'll do my best to make sure he feels at home here." I promised. He smiled and leaned in giving me a kiss on the forehead. "Thank you. I appreciate that." he said warmly.
I forced myself to smile as he left.

When he was out of earshot I let out a soft sigh. Dio Brando. The Man I would have to kill in this world. I knew he was as rotten as they came but… I did not relish the job. Nor would I push it off on a companion. If I felt it needed to be done I would do it myself.

I straightened out my fine green dress. We had dressed up today for my new brother's arrival. We didn't know when he was getting in but we knew he was coming. Johnathan, my brother in this life whom everyone including my father called Jojo; was such an earnest soul he had gone out to wait for the coach that would bring Dio. It was ironic I remembered a conversation about not wanting to kill Young Dio because of his age but still I found myself wishing for some coach accident in which Dio would parish. I felt a little bad about that but I knew who and what he was. I wondered if that counted as hypocrisy.

I wound up waiting a while in the house to ready to greet my new brother when he arrived. It gave my mind a chance to settle as I fully awakened.

Eventually my Father came back down from upstairs with a butler and maid in tow. "Come I have been told a carriage has been spotted not far off. Let us go and greet our new family member." he said with a bright smile. So we headed out only to find Johnathan my brother looking like he was about to duke it out with another young man our current age. He had long blond hair, a handsome face he wore a blue suit with a red tie. I also noticed Jojo's Dog Danny on the ground unconscious by Dio.

"What's going on here? Demanded George Joestar.

"I am sorry sir, the Dog jumped at me it was a reflex." Said the young man who was apparently Dio.

"Ah I understand it could happen to anyone." exclaimed My Father.

"Is Danny alright?" I asked my brother.

Jojo seemed to relax and bend down. "I think he is coming too. He should be fine." he told me.

Unconcerned about the dog Dio walked up to me and took my hand "Ah you must be Raven Joestar. Truly your beauty is stunning, how kind of you to show concern for that animal." he said before leaning over and kissing my hand.

"I am Dio Brando, it is a pleasure to meet you."

I felt a mixture of shock and true revolution from this kid and I felt like pulling back my hand, however I forced a smile "Ah the pleasure is all mine, It is nice to meet you Dio." I managed. Thankfully he released my hand.

A quick side glance at Johnathan showed me he was apparently disturbed by this turn of events as well.

With that we continued on inside. My father told Dio he was a member of the family now and informed the Staff who had gathered by now to treat Dio just the same way as they would me or my brother.
Dio thanked him for his generosity. Then he motioned for Jojo and I to come and placed his hands on our shoulders as he stood behind us. "All of you have lost your Mothers and are of the same age, you should get along well"… he then asked Jojo to forget what had happened with Danny and he agreed.

Then father told Dio to follow him to show him up to his room. I stayed downstairs a moment. Johnathan saw Dio's bag at the bottom of the stairs and reached for it only for Dio to rush and grab his arm twisting it. "No one touches my bags." he said then realized I was there and let Jojo go. "I mean please let the servants take care of it." he said straightening his tie. It was at that point our Father called to us because we were falling behind.

Dio was shown his new room and was ever so polite and grateful seeming.

Jojo offered to stay behind to help him unpack but was told that would be unnecessary.

Then my Father took me aside.

"Well it seems young Dio is quite the gentlemen." he said with a smile.

"He seems nice." I exclaimed.

"You know he seems quite fond of you." There was a knot forming in my stomach, it had started ever since my father took me aside but it was rapidly growing worse by the moment as this continued.

"Ah, I thought he was just being polite." I managed feigning ignorance.

My Father grinned "Oh I think his interests are genuine. I was just curious what you thought of him."

I felt my cheeks warm a bit, my Father was checking my interest in a potential suitor. One who I knew was actually human garbage but couldn't tell him that.

"You know, I really don't believe that we should make snap judgments about people. I really would like to take a while and get to know him better before I make such a decision. Dio seemed nice but I would like to give him a chance to settle in before I fully decide what I think of him. After all this is a difficult time for him, not only has he lost his Father but he is in a new situation with new people. I wouldn't be surprised if he were still in shock." I exclaimed.

My father smiled at that. "It is very kind of you to take that in to consideration. You have a good heart just like your mother." he said warmly.

I couldn't help but smile at that. She had died before I had gotten to know her but according to my Father she was the kindest person to ever walk the earth. Any favorable comparison to her made me feel proud.

"Well for now all we can do is try and help him feel at home and make sure that he has everything he needs in this tough time." I found myself saying.

He nodded and gave me a slight smile. "Indeed, that just what we shall do."

It was shortly after that that I found my brother Jojo sitting alone looking rather downtrodden.

"Is something wrong?" I asked.

"No… no it's nothing."

"It's Dio isn't it?" I asked sitting down beside him.

"Well… It's just I have tried to make friends with him. I have tried to accept him as our new brother but when he got me alone he became quite hostile. He even made it clear that hurting Danny wasn't because of fear but out of a dislike of dogs."

I listened nodding.

"I see, so it is unfortunately as expected." I said causing Jojo to blink in surprise. I wrapped a comforting arm around him.

"Look on the surface Dio is very polite but I am a bit worried that's not who he truly is. Be careful of Dio. I know we are supposed to make him feel at home and to feel like one of the family. I am going to do my best to fulfill my promise to Father. I will not however do so blindly. Look just be careful. I don't trust him, keep your eyes open and watch your back."

He gave me a sad smile "Thanks Sis. Are you really certain Dio is a bad guy?"

I sighed "I can only go by my gut right now and it is telling me to be very careful. You have to do what you believe is right. Right now though all I can do is trust what I feel inside."

"So what do we do now?" he asked.

"We try and make him feel at home and welcome but we keep our eyes open. Trust is supposed to be something earned anyways. So far he has brutalized our dog and threatened you when he got you alone. He is not doing great on earning it"

"You really think Dio is rotten don't you?"

I wanted to scream YES!!! from the top of my lungs.

"Ask me in a few days. Just be sure to be careful with him." I told him before heading off.

Time for dinner came, It was our first dinner as a new family with out new addition. The servants had prepared quite the meal for us. We used the long dining table which was rather strange as it was only the four of us. I sat beside my brother Jojo. My father sat at the head of the table and Dio sat across form Jojo and myself.

The Cook had gone all out tonight as the scent of the food was heavenly. I hadn't realized how hungry I was until I smelt it.

"Well Dio I hope you are feeling at home here. I trust that everything is alright?" asked my father.

"Thank you for your generosity, so far everything has been excellent."

My father said grace and the meal began.

Now there is something that must be pointed out my brother Jojo has the table manors of a barn animal. Father had often commented on it trying to get him to correct that. Tonight, Jojo true to form dove in to the food like it was going to run away from him. He so violently attacked it that he knocked over his glass of wine.

Father slammed his fist down on the table giving everyone a start. "Jojo, you call yourself a gentleman, where are your manors?"

He then stood up snapping his fingers to call the help "Clear Jojo's place." to which my brother gave a cry of shock.

"No dinner for you." he said angrily

"Look at Dio, I see I've spoiled you. I've been a shameful Father! Dio's table manners are impeccable" he commented.

Then my brother got up and ran away from the table in tears.

I heard Dio say quietly "What an Oaf."

I found myself standing up to "Umm I think I should go check on Jojo, to see if he is okay."

"Jojo is fine, dear if you want you can check on him after dinner." My father replied.

I wanted to say something but I realized now was not the time. Dio tried to engage me in small talk but I wasn't in the best mood. Once the meal was over I went to my father.

"Hey, can I have a word with you?" I asked.

"Certainly. Though if this is about Jojo please understand I may be hard on him but it's because I love him and I wish him to do better."

I nodded "I understand and you had every right to do what you did, you have told him a million times to use some manners at the table. However I don't think it's wise to compare him to Dio. Things are rather new and it's going to be tough enough. I know he was just an example but really I believe Jojo knows what he should be doing and doesn't need an example. I just don't want to see any ill will grow between them because Jojo feels that he is competing with Dio in some way."

My father listened and then nodded "Very well I suppose you are right. The last thing I would want is to create hard feelings between them.

"Thank you father, I'll go see how Jojo is doing."

"I am quite certain he is fine. It's just one meal. He can do without it, especially if it leads to him bettering himself."

"I am sure you are right but still showing a little kindness is never a bad thing. He did leave the table quite upset. I don't think checking on him is a bad thing."

My Father thought and nodded "Very well."

I nodded and headed to Jojo's room and knocked on the door.

"Jojo, can I come in?" I asked.

"Raven? Well alright go ahead." He replied his voice sounded slightly horse like he had still been crying.

As I came in I found him on his bed. He was looking at a picture that I knew to be of our mother.

"How are you doing?" I asked concerned.

"I am alright." he grumbled "I can't believe Father would do that." he complained to me.

I went over to the bed "Mind if I sit down?" I asked he set the photo aside and sat up offering me a spot.

"Well I was a bit surprised too but I think tonight was kind of important to him and he really wanted to make a good impression."

"On Dio?" he asked.

"Well, yeah, I mean I am not saying he is trying to impress Dio but I think he really wanted us to be on our best behavior as we were welcoming a new member of the family. I know you two have had many, many discussions about your table manners but tonight was just a night when that boiled over." I explained.

He grumbled a bit.

"Look I don't mean to kick you when you are down but, it might not be a bad thing if you just took a meal a bit slower, take some time to enjoy your food. I know you were excited tonight but you have to learn to calm down at the table."

"I was just hungry and the food smelled so good."

"I know but just in the future try and take it slower. I am not expecting a miracle, but at least try. I am sure Father will appreciate even a little effort towards doing better."

"Alright." he said. "As a gentleman I shall try and show better manners at the table." he swore. Being a Gentleman like our father had always been important to Jojo. Maybe that comment from my father had hurt as much as sending him away with out dinner.

Satisfied that he was good I decided to head for the library for a bit to see if I could fine some reading for the night. Thanks to my Body Mod having always been a part of these lives I had read pretty much everything in the library. I had a photographic memory. In fact it was a challenge for my Father to keep me in books but one he seemed to relish as he was quite proud of my intellect. I found a book to read. There wasn't much in the way of entertainment in these days. Even the book I had I had already read but it was relaxing to reread some books. So I made my way back to my room only to find my room ajar. I opened it to find no one inside. However I noticed a few drawers in my dresser had been disturbed. I checked them and found that it seemed like some of my panties were missing. That was peculiar. I decided not to worry so much about it and wound up reading for a bit.

I then sighed to myself as I had some less than pleasant business to attend to. I went to my closet that thankfully had a lock on it. I pulled out a rather ordinary looking silver key and "unlocked" my warehouse. It was a large building on to itself filled with many sections and many wonders but I headed straight to one of two doors at the back. The other door led to an actual little house. This door however led to the medbay. I opened the door in to the room which was always too white and too bright for my taste. It always left me with a vague sense of unease. There were many sci fi looking machines in here for various purposes of putting a person back together from various states. I headed to a machine which had an arm band protruding. I stuck my arm in the band and felt a weird tingle. This machine was meant to remove toxic substances from the blood. Somehow it did this without actually draining the blood and manually removing them. I saw the screen of the device say that not toxins detected. I hadn't at this point expected any.

Dio as it turns out had a habit of poisoning people. He had poisoned his Father to get rid of him. In a different timeline he would try and poison my Father to get rid of him. It was not beyond the realm of possibility that he would decide to poison me. Thankfully he was a clever little bastard and preferred a slow low dose poisoning to mimic and illness. My stupidly strong constitution would likely let me endure that with little harm. However it would serve as a warning should something turn up. It would tell me Dio had turned from trying to woo me to get me out of the way.

The next day I spoke to the maids about my apparent missing undergarments and they seemed rather surprised. At breakfast Jojo seemed to be trying to put some effort in to not eating like a wild boar. I wouldn't say his table manners were perfect by any means but the improvement was appreciated. Our Father even commenting that he was glad to see the effort.

After breakfast I decided to head out. Both Dio and Jojo headed out to the town to do… whatever they were going to do. I however headed out with a purpose. I needed a couple of things. First I needed my companions, they had all chosen the drop in route. The handling of that was not clearly defined so I had no actual idea of where they were.

The second thing I needed was access to my own mansion or rather the Underground lab there. Thankfully in this jump I knew right where it was. There were 3 Mansions that were kind of neighbors to each other. The Joestar Mansion which I currently resided in. A mansion that was owned by a mysterious owner whom we had never met. It seemed well tended despite never seeing anyone there. With my new memories I knew that one was mine. Finally there was the Mansion that had belonged to Reginald Cuftbert. He was an old very eccentric man who had passed away a few years ago. It was now owned by the Cuftbert family as I understood it though the only ones there to my understanding were staff who maintained the mansion.

My mansion and the Cuftbert Mansion were right across from each other. With the Joestar Mansion being a bit further off. I had to pass between the two mansions to get to town. I was actually kind of hoping I would find my companions in my mansion. It would make sense.

I had let Jojo and Dio go a fair bit ahead of me to do whatever they were going to do. As I preferred not to have any witnesses of me going in to my mansion.

As I walked down the street between the two mansions I looked around to see if anyone was looking then turned to go head to the mansion only to be surprised by some familiar voices calling my name from behind me. I turned towards the voices only to suddenly find myself held in strong arms and lips pressed upon mine in a passionate kiss. Thankfully I was used to such a thing as I realized Nekochan was the one holding me. She broke the kiss with a smug smile. "You know you are adorable at this age." She said, Soon I felt my other companions joining in a rather large group hug. Eventually I was let go.

"Look Mom, I'm older." said Rachel happily.

She was a few inches taller than me and as a girl just getting in to her teens she was quite developed for her age. From the looks of it she had picked that up from either Nekochan or myself. She smiled brightly and her cat tail wagged like a puppy's. A little quirk I had noticed when she was happy.

I smiled at her. I kind of felt a little bad that she had aged a couple years in the transition to the jump. I was glad she was happy about it though.

"We would have come to find you sooner but Jenna suggested we wait for you to come looking. We arrived here yesterday and we had to practically tie Nekochan down from heading over to the Joestar Mansion. Still we didn't know what the situation was so it was decided that we would wait for you to come looking for us. Actually it's a good thing you happened by when you did because Nekochan was about to head for to the Joestar Mansion to get you." Said Anya

I couldn't help but chuckle at that "Yeah I am surprised you were able to stop her yesterday." I replied Honestly.

Nekochan sighed "I decided to give them the benefit of the doubt this once. I don't care about any stupid plot or what the people of this world will think about me. I am just here for you. Also I am not thrilled about you being in the same mansion as that Dio guy if what you said about him is true."

I winced slightly "Actually Dio seems to be fond of me. I think he is trying to woo me to work his way in to the fortune."

Nekochan looked disgusted and slightly angered. "Where is the little shit I'll go take care of the problem right now." she said looking around.

I sighed "Look I can handle Dio for now. It's not like I have any interest in him what so ever."

"And what happens when he finds out his plans aren't working?" Nekochan pointedly asked.

"Well, he is likely to start trying to do me in I would imagine. However without becoming a vampire he is just a normal kid."

Nekochan's eyes narrowed. "I am going to go find him and make him disappear. I told you the moment he becomes a danger to you he is done. I am not waiting for him to try something."

I opened my mouth to stop her then shut it as suddenly I realized she was absolutely right. "Okay." I said.

"What?" Said a shocked Nekochan.

"I said Okay, you are absolutely correct. The only thing I would ask is that you let me take care of it. If someone has to do it, it should be me."

Nekochan blinked then flicked my forehead.

"Oww… what was that for?" I asked rubbing my forhead

"Quit trying to be so damn noble. You made me to protect you so now just get out of my way and let me do my job. You are much too nice and too good to have this walking shit stain's blood on your hands."

"Actually we should head inside. We can discuss details. I don't know where he is but I know where he will be tonight." I answered.

"Well I am not used to you being this reasonable. Okay lets go in." She said opening the gate for me. So we went to go plot a murder.

We got in and wound up heading for the Kitchen table. "Umm Angel, Alice, why don't you take your sister and go play." I suggested.

"Aww mom I really wanted to help." complained Rachel puffing up her cheeks.

"Hey we are adults too. Why can't we stay?" asked Angel.

I just sighed and looked her straight in the eyes. "Look. I don't want to be here doing what we are doing. I don't want you all mixed up with this, It's not a matter of age, I just am not proud of this and don't want you to be a part of it."

"Umm if you are not happy doing it, then why are you doing it at all?" Asked Rachel in that innocent way of children that cuts straight in to your heart. I winced at that.

"Because sweetie life is some times very unfair and sometimes we have to do things we really don't want to do to prevent worse things." She blinked and looked a little confused but nodded. With that they left to go play video games. I very much envied them.

That just left us to discuss doing the deed. It left me feeling bad In fact I felt rather terrible. I told the layout of mansion, where Dio's room was and what time we generally went to bed. There was a balcony attached to his room, that had a pair of doors that would open to it. The lock on the doors was a flimsy thing, a simple thin firm item like a credit card could unhook it. She would do the deed and take the body. There was a forested area nearby. It should be isolated enough that there were no witnesses. We had chemicals to dissolve a body. My companions would be digging a hole while he was dissolving and would pour the remains in to the hole and cover it up. There was a heaviness in my heart and a sickness in my gut. I had taken lives when I had to but this was the first time I was committing murder. It would take place in a couple of days. A spot had to be picked out, a hole dug… at some point I had to excuse myself. I went to the bathroom to splash some water on my face.

I was surprised though maybe I shouldn't have to find Anya awaiting me.

"Are you okay." she asked. At first I was going to answer I was fine but I couldn't manage it "No." I answered. Anya wrapped her arms around me. "I know this is hard, I know it hurts like hell. I am not thrilled about it either but I also know Nekochan is correct."

"Yeah… doesn't make it any less terrible. Dio may be the worst human being ever to walk the earth but he is still a child. I still wanted to give him a chance to I don't know… change. Maybe if…"

"You said he murdered his own father. He has already made his choice. He has already started to try and ruin Jojo's life as you mentioned. Sometimes people are just born bad and we have to make peace with that. It's not worth risking you on a chance that he might suddenly see the light and become a better person."

I sighed and nodded. "I know… It just feels bad. I have never been part of a murder before."

"Then it's good that it hurts and you feel terrible. It is a horrible thing we have to do. I don't want it to become a common thing either but I agree he is dangerous enough that he has to be dealt with as soon as possible."

I nodded. I didn't know what to say so I just nodded. Anya hugged me tightly "I know." she said softly. "Why don't we go for a walk. I think the others can finish up the planning. You look like you could use some fresh air."

We headed past the table where plans were being discussed.

"Hey we are headed out for a bit for fresh air." said Anya. Everyone nodded. They didn't seem too surprised.

Outside the sky was a nice pale shade of blue, the sun hung lazily in the sky, the birds were singing and the trees and grass were nice shades of green. It was an idyllic scene. The tranquility of the world outside seemed quite in contrast with the feelings I was feeling inside.

"You know if this is too much we could try and find another way. Maybe we could bribe Dio to leave or something else." she said finally concerned.

I shook my head " I don't know. I have tried to think of some other way. Bribing, getting him arrested, All of them just have too great a risk of turning out badly. I just… I don't want to do this. Taking lives in the moment when you have to is one thing but this planning it out. It's actually making me sick. Even if Dio is the worst person in the world I am not sure that murdering him is right. If it was in the moment to protect myself or someone else I could do it with no problem but I just… I don't know how to deal with this." I said honestly.

I let out a deep sigh.

It was then I heard a familiar voice shouting "Hey wait up." I turned and was surprised to see Nekochan walking up.

She looked at me and sighed slightly she put her hand on my shoulder and said "I thought you might be having trouble with this. From the look on your face. I can see I was correct."

I looked down I just couldn't answer.

"Do you remember the first person you killed. Way back in our third jump; That horrible merchant who was about to slice up a kids face for fun?" She asked.

I blinked and nodded "Yeah I remember, I felt kind of disturbed because I didn't feel upset for doing it."

"Dio is that guy. He is sick and twisted and enjoys hurting others. Had you found out what that merchant was doing, What would you have done?" She asked.

"I would have killed him to protect the innocent people who he would inevitably hurt."

"This is the same thing. Before you say he is only 12 years old, do you really think he is going to change?"

I had to look away.

"Look. Look at me." she told me and reluctantly I did. I looked her in those big red eyes I saw not only determination but a fair amount of concern.

"I am the one doing this. I take away any responsibility that you feel because I am doing this whether you want me or not. You understand? I understand you are a kind person, that wants to help people and make the world a better place. You are not really suited for this, So I am taking it out of your hands."

I was a little stunned.

"Do you feel better now?" she asked.

I sighed, I probably shouldn't but I did a bit. It was really not a big change but heaven help me it made me feel better. "Yeah." I admitted.

"Say why don't you go home for the day. I mean I know this is rough on you. Just try and relax." she suggested.

I nodded in agreement, I felt tired; as much as I wanted to be with them. Resting sounded good. "Alright I'll come by the other mansion bright and early tomorrow." I said.

Visiting with my companions to my surprise had taken only a little over an hour. I tried to put what was going to happen to Dio out of my mind.

I had been home a little while when I heard the door open and someone come in, I was in the study near the front so I went to look. I was surprised to see Jojo enter looking quite battered and bleeding from near the eye.

"Jojo, what happened to you?" I asked rushing over to him concerned.

"Dio happened. I fought him in a boxing match and lost, what's worse is now he has everyone convinced that I will tell all of their secrets so now no one wants anything to do with me." he complained obviously upset. I took him to where we kept the medical supplies and started cleaning him up as I got the full story. Apparently Dio had used a counter boxing style to defeat poor Jojo and then offered to show the other kids but asked them not to teach Jojo because he couldn't keep a secret. Maybe Nekochan was right and Dio should be killed I couldn't help but ponder

I got the bleeding stopped. "You know I happened to read a few books on unarmed combat. Perhaps I can help you."

He chuckled "Thanks but no I mean a woman wouldn't know anything about fighting." he replied. I reminded myself he was a child of the Victorian age and his views were because of that.

"You know that's not actually true, back in ancient Greece occasionally they would have women train the athletes. They were so good in fact that they had to outlaw it and make rules that the people training the Athletes had to be naked because people were sneaking women in to train them. Women are very nurturing, why is it a surprise?"

He blinked at that "Huh."

"Why don't you show me your boxing stance and throw a punch and maybe I will see what's wrong." I suggested.

He did and I winced.

"Okay well I can tell you already that you are leaving yourself very open to a counter attack. Let me guess Dio focused on dodging and then hit you when you were open."

His eyes widened "How did you know."

I wanted to say it's what I would have done. "I read that there is something in boxing called counter punching It's built upon the premise that people are easiest to hit when throwing a punch. So you have to focus on blocking or evading first then when they are out of position you hit them. Also You are just throwing arm punches, your true strength comes from your legs. You want to sit down on your punches." I explained and showed him throwing a punch. You have much more force behind your punches because you are throwing all of your weight behind it."

He blinked "It is rather surprising that my Sister knows this much about fighting."

"Well let me ask you should something happen would you prefer that I be a delicate flower requiring others to help or that I be able to help myself should the need arise."

He thought for a moment. "I would prefer it that my sister not have to have or use such skill honestly. What kind of books are you reading?"

"Anything I can get my hands on honestly. But that's besides the point do you want me to help you or don't you?"

He sighed "Fine, what you have said makes a certain amount of sense."

"Good now try throwing a punch again this time sit down on the punch put your full force behind it."

He did.

"Good, good. Now I want to show you how to throw a Jab…" and so I continued to teach my brother how to fight. He seemed mildly disturbed by the situation but his mood was much better than it was.

We spent the better part of an hour together by the end of it I was fairly certain he could handle himself in a fight. I was also fairly certain he was questioning several things about me but such is life. It came time soon for Jojo to have lessons. Father had an instructor come to the house for Jojo.

Our Father used to have me partake in lessons until I actually outpaced the instructors that he would hire. He even had a friend from the nearby university give me a few lessons until it became clear I had picked up all he could teach. He had instead switched his focus on getting me advanced books on a plethora of subjects until I was old enough that some prestigious university would take me. It was a rarity for women to get an actual education in this age but thankfully my Father had taken note of my Intellect and was bound and determined not to let it go to waste even if I was a girl.

Later I went to my room and noticed that the door was open. I went inside and confirmed that my underwear drawer had been left open and it seemed a few more of my undergarments had been stolen.

I went out to talk to one of the maids who was talking with Dio.

"Excuse me, have you seen anyone going in to my Room? Some of my underwear seems to be missing again." I asked.

The maid seemed quite shocked and Dio without missing a beat sighed "So that must be what he was doing in there?" he stated.

"Who?" I asked surprised.

"I am sorry to tell you but I saw Jojo go in there a little while ago. When he came out he was shoving something in his pocket." Dio told me.

At that moment luck would have it Jojo happened by. "Excuse me, did I hear my name?" asked Jojo.

"It pains me to say this but check his pocket." suggested Dio.

"Check my pocket for what?" Asked Jojo confused. "There is nothing in there…" he began and reached in to his Pocket then his eyes grew wide "what is this?" he asked pulling out a pair of my underwear. He blushed and immediately dropped it as if it were radioactive.

"What? How did that get in there?" he said utterly surprised.

"I am sorry that I had to be right, as you can see the culprit is Jojo." said Dio seemingly ashamed.

I just sighed and shook my head "Look, whatever just have the maids wash them when you are done."

All 3 gathered Jaws dropped at that. There was a look of shock on all 3 faces. It was hard not to laugh but I just turned and headed for my room rather than elaborate further. I knew my brother and trusted him, Dio had very likely reverse pick pocketed the panties in to his pocket as part of a ploy to create tension between us. There was no way of proving that though so the best I could do was make it not a big deal.

The next day I headed out early. My Father was in a foul mood as he had heard from the maid about my brother apparently pilfering my panties. There was not much I could really do to aid my brother. Unfair as it was he would likely be punished quite harshly for it. I just resolved to keep my door locked while I was not there so Dio couldn't do it again.

I headed to Angel's Mansion. It was a large building pale green in color with white trim. The front was supported by several pillars that had ivy growing around them. It was rather nice looking. I was greeted by a middle age man in a suit, obviously a butler. "Ah you must be Miss Raven Joestar. Please come in the little Mistress is awaiting your presence inside." I nodded and he escorted me through through rooms decorated in high class art and furnished with very expensive furniture. We headed to a dinning room where Angel, Alice and Rachel sat around a long table drinking tea.

"Mo- Raven!" Shouted Rachel who got up and ran and hugged me. I hugged her back. "Hey little one." I mussed her hair which was a little awkward as she was a bit taller than me. I had valued my short and cuteness but it's a little disheartening when your child is taller than you are.

"So whare is everyone else?" I asked.

"Ummm…" Began Alice who was a bit hesitant to answer.

"They are out running some errands." Said Angel.

"Ah Errands." I noted. I kind of suspected where they were to begin with but that all but confirmed it. They couldn't say they were out preparing for a Murder in front of the help anyways but I had the distinct impression I had been cut out of this. Maybe that was for the best.

"So would you like to have some Tea?" asked Alice.

"Yes thank you." I said even though I wasn't a fan of hot drinks.

We chatted for a while. Angel was very proud of her mansion. She was just telling me all the cool rooms and things that it had when Nekochan came in trailed by Anya and Jenna both of whom looked tired. I greeted them all with a hug and a kiss as they took a seat and Alice poured them some tea.

"So you feeling any better about what we discussed yesterday?" Asked Nekochan.

I sighed and nodded "Yeah. I know I am being silly. I know it has to be done. I don't like it but you are right it has to be done."

Nekochan nodded "Good. Well everything is set. Things should happen in a couple of days."

I nodded somberly.

Nekochan reached over and squeezed my shoulder "It will be okay." she assured. I nodded.

We spent the afternoon together. It was nice in a way. I just tried to keep certain things out of mind. Eventually It came time for me to leave.

"I'll see you tomorrow." I told them as I headed out.

I was kind of tired already when I got home but I was stopped by my father. "Ah good you are home there is something I wish to discuss with you. Please come with me to my study." he said, he did not look pleased I swiped a cloth napkin from a nearby table and discretely deposited in the pocket of his Jacket as I follows along.

We headed to his private study his usual neat desk was crowded with papers scattered about. He sat down behind his desk and offered me a chair on the other side of the solid oak desk.

"I wished to speak with you about your brother's conduct last night. First let me say that behavior is unacceptable in this household and I will not stand it. I find it further disturbing that you did not immediately condemn what your brother was doing and seemed accepting of it."

"May I say something?"

that gave him pause he blinked. "Very well I will listen to what you have to say."

I decided to cut to the chase. "I trust my brother, I trust him completely. I can't say for sure he if did anything wrong and even if he did I would say it was just the curiosity. However seeing his face when he pulled my underwear out of his pocket I believe him when he says he doesn't know how they got in there."

That seemed to confuse my father, his face grew more gentle. "I appreciate that you have such faith in your brother but surely you must accept in the face of evidence that he was up to no good."

"Actually I don't. If you will check your left pocket you will find proof that we don't know for sure what happened."

He paused and reached in pulling out the cloth Napkin. "Where the devil did this come from?" he asked.

"I planted it on you with a simple trick of slight of hand. I taught myself a few magic tricks to entertain myself." I explained.

He then looked slightly concerned "You – You didn't plant your underwear on your brother did you?" he asked.

"No. I am just showing just because there was something in his pocket it doesn't mean that he was the one who put it there."

"But then who did."

"That I am not sure. I don't have any hard evidence to accuse someone right now. Honestly I would prefer that you let the matter lie. My brother if he was responsible knows that that behavior is unacceptable. I am now locking my door so that it can't be repeated. I would ask that you advise the maids to lock their doors as well when not in use.

He thought and nodded. "Very well." he said with slight relief "I was looking at applications for boarding schools. Honestly I wasn't going to send him away but I did want to put the thought in his mind that if he didn't do better… well. I am glad that matter is resolved." he stated.

"Actually while we are here there is something else I would like to discuss."

That caught him off guard he had already gotten up but sat back down. "Yes you sound quite serious, what is the matter?"

I sighed "It is about that old mask we have hanging on the wall. I have discovered something troubling about it… actually maybe it would be best if I showed you. Could you go get it and bring a knife too?" I asked. He pulled out a small knife he used as a letter opener and sat it on the desk. "Very well I shall return momentarily." He said and a minute later had come back with a rather disturbing looking white stone mask that depicted a fanged fearsome face.

"I have had this piece in my collection for almost as long as you have been alive. In fact it was returning from a vacation where we picked up this mask that we had the carriage accident that claimed your dear mother." he said setting it on the table.

I took the mask and examined it before I cleared an area of papers on the desk and set it down. I took the knife in hand and stuck out a finger above the mask.

"What are you going to do?" My father asked suddenly concerned.

"If I am wrong about this then I fully accept whatever punishment you deem fit but If I am right you will lock this mask away and make sure not can get their hands on it until you can find some more information about it." I said before poking my finger. I made sure it got a good drop of blood and let the blood fall on the mask. Almost immediately it jumped off the table as sharp inwardly curving blades emerged like legs.

My father's eyes widened as he grew pale. "My word, what in the devil just happened."

"I am not sure but it seems whenever blood touches it that is what happens, it would be much worse if someone was wearing it at the time. I believe this mask is South American. It was likely used on one of their ritual sacrifices." I explained.

"Good heavens. I am not sure it's safe to keep this thing in the house. I honestly feel like having one of the servants take a hammer to it." he commented.

I blinked and sighed "You know what maybe it would be best if you did just that. I wouldn't want someone to get hurt with that thing."

He nodded "It shall be done tonight. Now if you will excuse me I have to have a talk with your brother. Perhaps I was a little harsh with him." he admitted, he then turned to the mask and picked it off the floor carefully. The "Legs" had retracted. "This I shall lock away until I can get someone to dispose of it properly. Though I must admit I am curious about it, I think I shall do more study on the matter later."

"Alright father, I think I am going to head up to my room." I said.

"Are you alright, you seem troubled." he asked.

"I suppose I am just a bit tired"

"Are you feeling well?" He asked.

"I am alright, I am sure all I need is a good night's rest."

"Alright well take care of yourself. If you don't feel well just tell me. I'll have the doctors take a look at you."

I nodded and hugged him "Thank you." I said before leaving I decided to rest until dinner.

The night went by quietly. I think even Dio sensed I wasn't in a mood to socialize so he let me be. At dinner things between Jojo and My Father seemed much better. It seemed they had put the earlier issue behind them.

That night I went to bed early as much as I didn't want to admit it. The pending murder was wearing on my a bit. As much as I tried to sleep it would not come.

As I lay in my bed I heard some tapping at the entrance to the balcony. At first I was a little unnerved but I went to check it out. I was only slightly surprised that it was Nekochan. Honestly I shouldn't have been surprised at all.

I quickly opened the window and she slipped in. "What are you doing here?" I whispered.

"I am getting to know the lay of the land." She said and then got a cheeky grin "You look cute like that, you know I our bed feels so empty without you." she teased wrapping her arms around me. I leaned against her.

She nibbled my ear and her hands went places "mmm I wonder what I can get away with before you get too loud." she said with a soft giggle.

I coughed as I felt my cheeks warm.

I rested my head on her soft cleavage and sighed.

"None of that now. I know what you are thinking and this is no longer in your hands." she said running her hand through my hair.

"I know I am being silly…" however she put her finger to my lips.

"None of that now. I know you. No beating yourself up over what needs to be done." she told me.

I nodded "Yeah you are right."

"I usually am you know."

"Yeah I know."

She sighed "Well I better get out of here I guess. If I don't leave now I am not leaving until your family throws me out in the morning." she said with a mischievous grin. "Though it would certainly be worth it."

I couldn't help but chuckle. "I'll see you tomorrow."

"Oh wait, before I go, where is the mask. I'll swipe it when I do the deed."

"Oh… actually the groundskeeper took a hammer to it after dinner. I showed my father what happens when the Mask comes in contact with blood. He decided it was too dangerous to keep around."

She blinked and then grinned "Ah now you see. You did good. I am proud of you. You took care of the problem before it became a problem. No more vampires."

I nodded "Yeah, no Hamon either. I haven't asked but we payed for stuff that we didn't get. I am guessing it's because my benefactor intended for us to get that during our stay. I may have just screwed that over."

She grinned and snuggled against me "Nah, I don't think you are going to let that get in your way. You will find a way for us to get it"

"Well it does exist in this world and there has to be someone who knows, I am not exceptionally familiar with the plot but yeah I'll find it."

She smiled and leaned over me sneaking a kiss. "Well I guess I better get going for real this time. Plans to make and all that."

"Yeah." I agreed.

She stole another kiss and then vanished in to the night.


The next day was rather peaceful. I got out bright and early and got to spend some time with my companions. The looming plans seemed nearly forgotten. We chatted played some video games and enjoyed spending some time together. It was almost painful when it was time to leave. I promised that I would invite them over soon.

When I got home I got a bit of a surprise. It seemed that my brother had made a new friend. She was a girl from near by named Erina. Now I had not had any siblings in previous worlds but I knew instinctively here it was my duty to tease my brother.

"So you have a new girlfriend huh?"

It was cute to watch him blush "She is not my girlfriend. We are just friends."

"Suuure. So what is your girlfriend's name?"

"She isn't… ughh her name is Erina."

"Oh, so what' is she like?"

"She is very nice, she is a sweet girl. She is very kind."

"How did you two meet?"

He cleared his throat. "Well apparently we met a while ago. She was being bothered by a couple of older boys and I stepped in to put a stop to it."

"Oh dear defending her honor. I must say that is a way to win a woman's heart."

The blush deepened. "She is not…"

"It's fine. So when are you going to invite her over for dinner?" I chuckled

"What?"

"Well I mean I would like to meet her, to get to know my brother's new friend."

He cleared his throat. "Soon. I am not sure about bringing her around Dio."

I winced "Yeah I quite agree. However I would still like to meet her some time." I tried not to think how Dio would be gone soon.

It was a couple days later when Dio didn't come down for breakfast.

My Father sent the maid up to go wake him but she came back looking pale. "He is gone. I can't find any trace of him."

"Gone are you certain?" My Father asked concerned.

"Yeah his bed doesn't look slept in. She replied.

My Father's face grew troubled. "Ask the servants if they have seen him since last night. Then have them search the house for him." he told the maid. She nodded and headed off to do so.

"You kids stay here. I am going to go look around and see if I can find him."

"Are you sure Father, we can help." Offered Jojo sincerely.

"No we already have one child missing I would prefer to know where the two of you are."

I watched and listened to all of this. Ironically I felt stunned by it. There was something that didn't even feel real about it.

I watched as my Father's concern turned to panic.

I watched as the police were called in.

I watched as dogs were brought in.

All to no avail.

During a search of Dio's room the Police uncovered a suspicious bottle. It was later confirmed that the bottle contained a very rare poison usually found in the Orient. When our father heard this and heard the usual symptoms of taking it something seemed to dawn on him as he ran to the study. I followed him to see him pulling out an envelope and reading the letter within.

A mixture of emotions flashed over his face but seemed to settle on Anger as he crinkled the Note then took it down to the Cops.

Apparently the Symptoms of the illness that Dio's Father died of matched the symptoms of the poison exactly.

Dio's Father hadn't been in the ground that long so he was exhumed and his blood tested. Sure enough it turned out that Dio had murdered his own father.

Dio of course would never turn up. The case would remain unsolved for all my time there but around the house, concern for him ended that very day. My Father felt he owed a great debt to Dio's Father. However having murdered him, even had Dio turned back up he was no longer welcome with the Joestars.

Later a strange feeling hit me. I had not known the plot well but it was now entirely gone. Now all that remained what whatever I made of the world.

In the following months I introduced my companions to my family. I was introduced to Erina who seemed like a very nice girl. We even became friends.

It was my brother finding a girlfriend, even if he didn't call her that at first that spurred a conversation with my father.

One day he happened by when I was reading a book that I had read few times before.

"Say what do you think of Erina?" he asked.

I closed and set aside the book. "Oh she seems like a very nice girl. I am very happy for Jojo." That drew a smile.

"I quite agree though it's a bit early I think she will make a fine bride for him."

"Wow that is a bit early." I agreed.

"You know it might do you some good to get around some young gentlemen."

Inwardly I winced. I should have seen this coming. "Father…" I began I paused for a moment trying to think how I was going to say something. He waited anxiously to hear what I was going to say.

"What would you do if I said I was not particularly interested in boys?"

He blinked in surprise then sighed taking a seat next to me.

"Well I would have to say that shouldn't be a surprise with as much time as spend with your friends. I couldn't help but notice quite a closeness there." he commented.

"I suppose I would have to ask if this is really what you want? I mean it's going to be harder and there are many people who will disapprove."

"Yeah I suppose there will. However I have to ask if it's really right to choose an easier life to please others but doesn't really suit you."

He sighed "No. It's times like these that I really wish your mother were around. She was much better at discussing these matters. However I believe she would say that you should follow your heart in such matters."

"Mom was very wise wasn't she?"

"She was. By the way the one who you have your heart set upon. It's the girl with the white hair isn't it? I believe you call her Nekochan."

I nodded.

"I see, well I should like to get to know this Nekochan a bit better then. I would also advise to keep this as quiet as possible. There is no sense in creating trouble for yourself that you don't have to." he commented

"I understand." I replied.

"Tell me this, why does she have the ears and tail of a cat?"

A few months later I noticed my youngest Rachel had been someone down from her usual self. I was about to ask her what was wrong when she came to me.

"Mom, I need to talk… I don't know what to do." she said with a slight blush.

"Oh, Well I'll help any way I can honey, what's the matter."

She sighed "Well there is this boy. His name is David, He is cute and smart and really nice." she began.

"Oh well that's nice dear."

She sighed "I really like him but I am… you know different."

I winced I kind of sensed that's where that was going. "Yeah..."

She sighed in frustration. "It's so unfair."

"Now there is nothing wrong with you. You are absolutely perfect the way that you are. Look I don't know this David but maybe you should have a talk with him about the issue. Just as you wouldn't want him to prejudge you over something. Maybe you should give him a chance and give yourself a chance. Even if he says no. I am sure you can find someone who will accept you."

She sighed "But what if he gets upset, What if he starts causing problems?"

"Then Nekochan and myself with go have a talk with him and straighten things out."

She blinked and seemed to look more hopeful.

"However even if he does accept you… I don't want you to rush in to anything. Take your time to get to know him better. Also if he does accept you I want you to bring him around here so we can meet him. I really would like to know what he is like."

"Okay Mom."

I was greatly revealed the next day when Rachel told me that she discussed things with him and he was willing to give things a try. It wasn't long after a new boy made started coming around our little gathering. He was cute as my daughter had said, golden hair bright blue eyes, a charming face. He was a bit short for his age which I could relate and seemed rather skinny. By his clothes he seemed from a poorer family in town I decided in short order to make sure to put some meat on his bones. I also decided to see that his family came in to a nice windfall to see that he was properly taken care of.

It was a few months after that that my Father called me in to his study, he was not alone. With him was a man of average height but muscular built he had tan skin, his hair was dark and curly and he wore a thin mustache. He wore a white suite and had a a checkerboard patterned top hat in his hands.

"Raven, this is Mr. Will Zeppilli. Mr Zeppilli this is my Daughter Raven, she is the one as I told you found out there was something wrong with the mask."

Mr. Zeppilli smiled "Ah it is a pleasure to meet you young miss. I owe you and your father a great debt of gratitude."

"Mr. Zeppilli was just telling me that he had a history with that very mask. If it hadn't been for what I saw that day I don't think I would believe it." My Father admitted. "In any case it seems destroying the mask was the right choice."

"Yes, I had been chasing that mask most of my life. You are most fortunate to have uncovered one of it's secrets without the need for tragedy to strike." he said and then went in to his tale. He explained his father and he had been aboard a ship. Somehow his father had gotten a hold of the mask and it turned him in to a monster that craved human blood. He only barely survived and was the last survivor on the ship but the mask had eluded him. He told us of taken esoteric training in the east to combat monsters like those created by the mask. He also told it was quite by chance that my father's inquires in to the nature of that mask had reached him.

"As you can see even without knowing you have done me a great service. I truly wish there were some way I could repay you." he said earnestly.

"You said you learned to fight creatures like the mask created?" I asked.

"Yes most people wouldn't believe it but it is something called Hamon which strengthens the life force of the user to fight such creatures."

"Would you mind teaching me and my friends?" I asked. "Umm I mean I have an interest in the martial arts It seems like a rather rare form if what you say is true."

Mr. Zeppilli blinked in surprise "Well I do not know if you have the capacity to learn and I warn you up front it is not easy even if you do. I of course would require your father's permission to do so."

My father looked deep in thought before he answered "Hmm I had been told you seemed to know more about fighting that I would have liked. I suppose though if you truly wish to learn I will allow it though." he told me with a sigh. "As much as I would prefer you not to have to use such skills if what Mr. Zeppilli says is true and monsters do exist it might prove beneficial. Though understand I do not wish you to chase after monsters. This is merely for self defense."

It was decided I would begin learning lessons with Mr. Zeppilli the next day. He did ask that the first lesson be in private though. I didn't understand why but when I showed up or that lesson he punched me in the chest so hard I thought I was going to die. At first I couldn't breath but soon my ability to breath returned. It seemed I wasn't the only one surprised when I looked up Mr. Zeppilli was looking at me almost in awe.

"Most impressive, I have never seen a reaction that strong." he said motioning to the ground and I looked around me. All around me grass was growing and flowers were blooming. "You seem to have a very high potential. I had intended to just show you the basics as you do not have a true need for Hamon. In truth I am doing this as a sort of gratitude for that mask being destroyed. Now however since I have found such a talented student I fear it is my obligation to work you very hard and see that you progress as far as possible."

I couldn't help but wince as I rubbed over my diaphragm where he had stuck his finger with the punch. "Is that really the only way to teach someone Hamon?"

He chuckled "Yes I am sorry I am afraid that I couldn't even warn you. That trick is tough enough but if a person knows it is coming they tense up and it makes it even more likely to fail."

"I understand." I commented.

"Alright first I shall show you how to walk on water." he began and the grueling lessons soon began.

We wasn't a gentle teacher by any measure, looking back on it I don't think he could have done it gently but I learned. I learned to walk on water, I learned to stretch my arm out to attack, I learned many things. Eventually after a few months he came to me.

"You have been a most impressive student. You have learned both the breathing aspects of Hamon and the Martial arts Sendo like you were born for them. In fact I don't think there is anything left for me to teach you. If you are interested in continuing your learning I would there is a Temple in Tibet where Hamon is taught. I would suggest you look in to continuing your training there. You are truly gifted and such gifts are rarely given without a reason."

I bowed to my teacher "Thank you. I truly appreciate what you have done for me. What will you do now?"

He blinked and then thought. "You know many years ago in pursuit of the mask I left behind a family. It was unfortunate but after witnessing such horror I could not rest until it was dealt with. Honestly a long time ago when I started training I was told I would meet with a horrible end if I continued my training. I chose to continue on as I felt it was that important. Now I feel somehow I have avoided that fate. I think I shall try and reconnect with my family now that the mask has been dealt with. In truth I missed them dearly there was not a day I did not think of them."

I nodded "Well it hasn't been easy but I thank you for your training. I shall try and continue my growth to see that your hard work doesn't go to waste."

During this time David, my daughter's boyfriend had acclimated himself to our little group. It Is funny how fast one can become accustomed to something like the presence of someone new. We all became friends of his. I sort of Adopted his family, I discretely helped them with money. David's Father was a farmer, David was one of 5 children who helped out on the farm. We started purchasing food grown there and soon His family was able to buy a neighboring lot of land to expand. I knew all of this was probably a mistake. In now about a little over 8 years we would be leaving this world and David behind. I was worried what impact that would have on Rachel but I couldn't deny her. Being a Jumper isn't easy some times. Sometimes it's very easy to see trouble on the horizon but hard to avoid it. I tried to force the thought what if she chooses to stay with him at the end of this from my mind but that troublesome thought never strayed far from my mind.

It was some time after Zeppilli had left I began to train my companions and my brother in Hamon. Note: I got a few harsh comments for how I surprise punched/poked people. As he was there I included David in this. I had no idea if he had any potential to use Hamon at all but I figured he and my daughter could practice together. At this point they were practically inseparable. Thankfully he showed a good amount of potential as much as some of my other companions. Things were relatively quiet except for that.

Years passed I managed to get My father to decide to take a trip to Thailand and to bring all my friends along. We actually got to study with Mr. Zeppilli's Master and expanded our Hamon abilities even further. We learned of a Race of beings that had existed in the early days of humanity. They were fearsome beings that wielded great power and were all extremely malevolent and difficult to destroy. Their biggest weakness was the sun and the energies created from Hamon. I was thankful I would likely never meet one such being as they seemed very bad news.

Eventually we returned to England and I enrolled in University. It was strange for a woman to do so but the University was practically salivating to have me. As expected I wound up with several degrees from that. I went on to create a Pharmaceutical company and release several treatments and cures for various illnesses. Through smart investing I became one of the richest people in the world and advanced what was known about medicine by many generations.

However perhaps because of some lingering guilt, perhaps because it was just what I did at this point I endeavored to help others. I payed to open several orphanages and several charities to help the underprivileged get back on their feet. I gained some measure of celebrity for this much to my chagrin.

It was about the time that I finished University though that A rather large problem arose.

Rachel came to me she looked Upset and a bit excited.

"Mom, Umm I need to talk to you."

"What is it dear, is there something wrong?" I asked.

"No… Yes, Kind of." she began.

"Umm why don't you take a deep breath and start from the beginning.

"David proposed to me. He wants to make me his wife. He said he would have done so earlier but he wanted to earn enough money to get a ring."

"Ah…" I said I knew this would happen some day. I wasn't looking forward to it but I knew… "What did you say?"

"I… I told him I would have to talk to you. He didn't understand but said okay. He looked hurt though."

I sighed. "And… what do you want to do?"

"I want to marry him." she said bursting in to tears. "I- I know we are bound by these stupid rules but I don't want to leave him. There has just got to be some way…"

I hugged her "Shhhh… It's okay sweet heart we will find away."

She looked down at me with teary eyes. "Really."

I couldn't help but smile "Really, You got tell him you accept. We are going to throw you the biggest wedding this land has ever seen."

She gave me a bone crushing hug and ran off and I prayed somehow, someway I could deliver on my promise. I would love to say that I didn't know why I had done it. I didn't know if I could pull things off but… it was my daughter. I couldn't say no.

I told others I didn't know what to expect from their reactions but I didn't expect Nekochan to give me a big bone crushing hug and to tell me she was proud of me.

"What why?" I asked her.

"Because you are finally going to stand up against those stupid rules. He even knows the rules are stupid. Just ask him I am sure your Benefactor will do something."

I sighed. I wasn't so sure but I had to try. Everyone else though agreed with Nekochan on this. I guess I was going to have to swing somehow convincing a cosmic being to bend an agreement they had already made.

It was shortly after that that that I asked to speak with David alone.

"You wanted to see me Raven?" he asked. He was smiling so brightly it hurt.

"Yes. I need to talk with you about a few things. You know we are a bit different from normal people."

He blushed and nodded.

"Well thing is… actually come with me." I said as I led him to a closet that had a lock. "What I am about to show you doesn't get leave this group." I told him. He nodded looking very serious.

I showed him the Warehouse. I explained that I had made a deal with a very powerful being and traveled through dimensions. I explained that in each new world I was given a new life and new abilities and that I was asking him to come along with us. He agreed almost before the offer was out of my mouth.

"Good. Now I need to tell you something. I am not sure I can take you." his jaw hung open at that. "A deal is a deal and I am at the limit of those I can take. In a few years my Benefactor will pop up and I am going to have to convince him to allow me to bring you along. That part everyone in my family knows. This next part everyone except Rachel Knows and please don't tell her." He looked concerned but nodded. "The rest of the family and I have discussed things, extensively. Together we have come to decide that tearing the two of you apart is something we just can't. do." I said. My throat tightened as I said that. The tears were already flowing down my face and my voice was already starting to crack even though I was trying to hold myself together the best I could.

"If I fail to get my benefactor to agree to take you. We are leaving her here with you." It was a fight to get those words out. I gave a deep sigh. "I am entrusting you to care for her. Ideally we should be back for her. To her and you it should seem like no time has passed at all. If that doesn't happen than something has gone wrong and I want you to give this to her." I said pulling out a rather thick envelope. "This is our good byes and our apologies. Understand I will fight like hell to get back to my baby but even I have to acknowledge I don't know how hard the road ahead is going to be or if I can do this."

He nodded Somberly and reached out to take the envelope. I hesitated for a moment to give it. Doing so meant that this was finalized. Through great force of will I managed to let it go.

"I will take care of your daughter. I will do everything in my power to make sure she is happy." he swore. I nodded "Good." I hugged him. "Thank you." I said before letting him go. "Now if you will excuse me I could some time alone." he nodded seeming to understand.

Being a Jumper sucks sometimes.

We had a wedding. It was a large and beautiful affair. We had many people, The Joestars were quite well known in the area and though only the immediate family knew there was a direct connection between the Bride and the family. The rest accepted we were throwing it for close friends of the family. My daughter looked like an angel in the flowing white gown. Her husband looked quite dapper in a fine tux. The day was nothing short of beautiful. Still I could not set aside to growing dread that was building in my heart.

It wasn't the only wedding around that time. My brother had finally worked up the courage to ask his long time sweet heart to marry him. She of course said yes. It was shortly after my daughter's wedding that we had an even larger one for them. It was a grand affair. Quite the social event. I was forced to be a part of it. I was one of Erinna's maids of honor. I never liked big crowds and parties like that were not my thing. However I was proud to be there for my brother. It wasn't long after that, that I learned I would soon be an Aunt. It was the beginning of what would be a large family. My Brother wound up becoming the proper gentleman he always sought to be. He became a family man. It made me slightly proud that instead of being killed by Dio, he lived a full and happy life.

However for all the good times I could never shake that dread that grew in my heart. With each passing day, each passing hour and each passing minute it grew. I wished I could will away and prevent the passing of time purely by wishing it. Sadly reality coldly reminded me that was well beyond my abilities. I had gotten David a job at Angel's Mansion. Her mansion entered the jump already staffed. I was hoping at least through a loop hole I could get David to come with us. Honestly as everyone at the mansion seemed to have some memory of this world I doubted it worked that way but it was worth a try.

Eventually the dreaded day came, I put on a brave face for everyone but I was fighting not to throw up. We put everything back where it goes and my small family waited anxiously in the little home in my Warehouse. This time though it included David.

As expected the time came and everything around us fell away leaving only an empty white void around us that seemed to go on forever.

"Well it seems we have a guest among us." Said my Benefactor who appeared in front of David causing him to jump back in surprise.

"Ah yes. This is David, he is my daughter's husband." I explained as Rachel moved over to him grabbing his arm protectively to emphasize the point. I noted she was already eyeing him with pleading eyes. Large puppy dog eyes I knew from experience were nearly lethal. Even the Benefactor had to look away.

My Benefactor blinked and looked to me in surprise. "I See… You do know that both of your stasis pods are occupied." he pointed out.

I sighed. "Look. I know the agreement, I know the rules. However life sometimes doesn't go along with our plans and rules. I don't have a good reason to ask this. I did make David here one of the servants for Angel's Mansion if that helps but I am asking a favor. I really don't want my daughter to lose her husband and I don't want to risk losing my daughter."

For a moment the Benefactor looked away, he looked almost pained as if remembering something he would rather not then sighed.

"Yeah I know how life is. I would rather you not lose your daughter or your daughter lose her Husband. I dislike seeing women cry. so I'll grant you a small favor here an amendment to the deal. I will allow once in a while for you to bring along a normal human or mostly normal human. So no getting close to Superman and expecting me to let him come along. We will call them a special sort of follower.
I'll let him come. However he is not a companion. He will age normally, and if he dies all I can do is allow him to be revived in whatever world you are capable of doing it in."

I couldn't help but smile I reached out and hugged him "Thank you. From the bottom of my heart, thank you." I told him. He looked surprised at the hug but then looked away trying not to show he was smiling "Alright well now that that matter has been resolved I think it's about time we see where you all are going next. Good news by the way, the last of the more problematic Jumpers has ended their chain. So I feel I can be more generous with the Jumps I offer."

I was amazed when I got the selection. There were a lot more. Some powerful jumps too. One in particular I had been waiting for, Overlord. It offered a lot of stuff I wanted. I wasn't ashamed to say I would jump it for the power. However there was another that surprisingly drew my Interest.

"Wow, you finally gave me Overlord. I am happy about that."

"Oh will you be heading there then."

I sighed "Actually I am wondering if you could let me keep it for next time. As much as I want to go there. As useful as it would be to me. After this I kind of need a break. I think next we are heading to CATastrophe.

He raised an eyebrow at that. "You do realize you have someone coming along that you can't import and they are going to be pretty lost not speaking the language."

"Yeah but there is a perk for that isn't there, and he can learn the language."

He nodded "Well It's not like if you reject a jump it's gone for good I may offer it again, however sure you can reserve one for next time, that's not a problem."

"Alright then I think we have all earned a long vacation. This jump was a bit harder than expected in several ways, Up next the tropical paradise of CATastrophe." I said.

My Benefactor nodded then pulled a can of soda out of nowhere and turned to David and handed it to him. "Drink this so you can breath where they are going." he said.

David was taken aback but took the Can. Rachel showed him how to open it and he drank deeply "Huh that's pretty good."

The Benefactor turned to me "We will just call that one of your purchases. I didn't think you wanted him to suffocate at the beginning of the first jump."

"Actually you kind of beat me to the punch. I was just about to ask if I could have that before we left for the same purpose." I admitted.

"Anyways I think if you are all finished with your builds I will get things started…" he said as suddenly everything began to fade to white.

 

[Neko Arc]

Spoiler: PIcture

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Chapter 6 Vacation

Jump # 6 CATastrophe
Race: Kitsumi
Age: 19
Gender: Female
Identity: Merchant (0)
Location: High Tech Settlement
Perks:
*Spliced (0)
*Trustworthy (0)
*Fox Cunning (0)
*Hot Buns (300)
*The Appraiser (100, Discount)
Companions:
*Full Party (100)
Shinies:
*Spliced Soda + Kemomimi additive (100)
*Old Rod (0)
*Snorkel Mask (0)
Property:
*Manor (100)
*Private Island – Biggest Island (300)

Nekochan
Race: Nekomi
Perks:
*Spliced (0)
*Cat's Grace (0)
Moving Shinies
*Biggest Boat (300)
Drawbacks:
*Vacation (+ 0)

Anya
Race: Inumi
Perks:
*Spliced (0)
*Dog's Ears (0)
*Rabbit's Food (200)
Shinies
*Advanced Rebreather suit (100)
*Old Rod (0)
*Snorkel Mask (0)
*Sea Side Shack (0)

Jenna
Race: Kitsumi
Perks:
*Spliced (0)
*Fox Cunning (0)
*Clever Kitty
Shinies
*Old Rod (0)
*Snorkel Mask (0)
*Sea Side Shack (0)

Angel
Race: Nekomi
Perks:
*Spliced (0)
*Cat's Grace (0)
*Shinies Galore! (100)
*Find the Shiny (200)
Shinies
*Old Rod (0)
*Snorkel Mask (0)
*Sea Side Shack (0)

Alice
Race: Kitsumi
Perks:
*Spliced (0)
*Fox's Cunning (0)
*Cat's Grace (200)
*Trustworthy (100)
Shinies
*Old Rod (0)
*Snorkel Mask (0)
*Sea Side Shack (0)

Rachel
Race: Nekomi
Perks:
* Spliced (0)
* Cat's Grace (0)
* Earless Herald (300)
Shinies
*Old Rod (0)
*Snorkel Mask (0)
*Sea Side Shack (0)

I heard the soft lapping sounds of the waves crashing against the beach and the distant cries of sea birds. I smelled the salty spray of the sea. My eyes were closed but I felt the heat of the morning sun and the cool breeze coming off the ocean. I sighed softly as I slowly opened my eyes and saw the morning sun reflected off of crystal blue water. The sand was white and everything seemed so beautiful and peaceful. There was only one word for it Paradise.

Paradise was my island. I had inherited it from my parents who were lost at Sea when a sudden storm came in and the boat they were traveling on vanished assumed swallowed up by the deep blue. They had been merchants both, very successful ones. They had ambition a rare trait in this world. They had claimed this island when it was just a wild tropical isle. They had gambled everything they had that they could tame the isle and make it in to something. Their gamble had paid off. The isle was almost strategically located between several key settlements. Because of that fact the isle boasted not only a steady flow of shinies from ships passing by but many salvaged technologies unearthed from the deep blue.

I found myself on the beach at morning hour because it was peaceful and quiet. The people of this world were not exactly ambitious and climbing out of bed before noon was seen as an oddity. It was strange because in every other world I was not an early riser. As I watched the perfect blue ocean I noticed something. It started as a dot on the horizon. It quickly grew larger and larger until through my keen sight I could see a ship. It must have been the biggest ship I had ever seen.

Ships were not uncommon we relied upon trade with other settlements for many things. However this one felt important. I decided to head down to the docks.

My mind was adjusting to this new world and new memories, I kind of wondered when my Companions would turn up. I was actually a little concerned because we had a someone along with us who was not only new to this traveling dimensions thing but was a special case and didn't get many of the benefits that everyone else was getting.

I found the Docks rather quiet, again the dock workers wouldn't be up for a couple of hours. The Docks were rather primitive. They were of simple make, made of wood. They boasted no cranes or anything like that to help unload large cargo. Still the simplicity had it's own charm.

I waited as the ship pulled in to port. It was absolutely massive ship the size of a cruise ship. Standing at the front of the ship I was not surprised to see Nekochan, she was smiling rather proudly wearing a captains hat.

Once they dropped anchor Nekochan leapt off the bow of the ship and landed with gracefully and lightly upon the dock. I wasn't surprise when I found myself embraced by strong arms as Nekochan gave me a passionate kiss. She broke the kiss and smiled down at me.

"Well this place looks rather nice. I am kind of relieved after some of the places you have taken us." I couldn't help but wince at that slightly. "Well I am glad you like it. I think we will enjoy this place."
I wasn't surprised to see the rest of my companions climbing down the ladder on the side of the vessel.

I noted David was the last to make his way down. Rachel had gone just ahead of hit to be sure he didn't need any help but he managed on his own. I couldn't help but wonder how he would be accepted. He would be an earless a creature from legends here. To make matters worse until he learned the language he would only be able to talk to my daughter Rachel who would act as his interpreter.

I was not surprised to find myself in the embrace of the rest of my companions. David stayed back a little. I embraced my companions who were all very happy to be reunited with me. Eventually I was released.

"Wow, Do you think the boat is big enough?" I asked Nekochan. Who chuckled "Hey if we have to go some where across the sea we may as well go in style." I couldn't help but chuckle. Though if I were honest having a ship this big limited it's usefulness is a way but now as the proud owner of an island I was happy to have some transport to and from the other islands.

"So what exactly is going on around here, what is the plot?" Asked Jenna as usually trying to get some feel for what was going on.

"This really isn't a place with a plot to speak of. I own an island and am a somewhat successful Merchant. Do to good positioning and good deals that have been made; Palacio del Sol the town at the heart of my island is a pretty nice place to live. We have solar power that actually works so we have electricity. A lot of places don't." I explained.

"So what is your plot, what do you intend to do?" Asked Jenna.

"Well. I don't really have one." I admitted. "I sort of chose to come here as a vacation. I suppose I will build up my Island. A little super science wouldn't hurt." I added.

Jenna smiled at that "I think that's good. I think you deserve a rest. Every world you go to you work very hard. A decade off should do you some good."

"I don't know if an entire decade is a good idea but I am definitely going to enjoy some time to relax." I agreed.

I turned to David. "How are you doing?"

I waited for Rachel to Translate and him to give a response and her to translate back. "He says he is doing alright. He says this place is very beautiful and he looks forward to enjoying it."
I nodded. I couldn't help but realize that it was very important we learn to communicate with him quickly as this process of translation was too slow and might get someone killed if it was an emergency.

"Well this place is rather beautiful and peaceful but it's going to probably get a bit more crowded and noisy in a short amount of time. How about I take you all and show you my new mansion."

"Another one?" asked Angel surprised.

"Well I have always wanted my own little town. Not one I purchased from points but just made from buildings, companies and shops I have purchased. It will follow me around and I will always have stuff available where ever I go." I said my cheeks warming.

"So you are playing Monopoly in real life then." Noted Alice.

"Not to far off really." I admitted.

I led them up the trail as the terrain turned from beach to a well worn path through a Forested. There was a plethora of trees and plants on both sides some sporting beautiful flowers of vibrant colors. Some even sporting strange fruits. The sweet scent of nectar hung heavy in the air as we walked past.

Eventually the forest thinned out as we approached the town. The town itself came in to view. The town was a little peculiar. The outer ring of the town was mostly crude wooden huts though the roofs of some of them sported Solar panels. As we moved toward the center the buildings got bigger and more elaborate as we passed businesses and the houses of wealthier merchants. Finally we reached the heart of the town where 3 great mansions loomed large. One was My mansion from the second world that always reminded me of a palace or castle. One was Angel's Mansion and the third was my new mansion. Around it was well kept grounds that included a hedge maze. In front of the fountain it had a large 3 tier fountain with a cat eared and tailed cherub with a bow and arrow. The mansion itself a sprawling white building with pillars holding up the front, It was massive both in height and in over all size. The main house itself was huge but it had a wing building attached to the right and left of it.

There was always a warmth at returning to some place I owned. There was a comfort there. They were familiar in this new life. As we headed up the walk way to the door I was mildly surprised to find it opening. We were greeted by Iris. Iris was a fair skinned blonde Usami or rabbit girl with big bright blue eyes. She wore a simple blue bikini that showed off her rather shapely body. She had been on this island since she was born, She was about my age. We had grown up together, she was probably my closest friend on the Island. She served as my servant and even occasionally did a bit of work. Her family had come here with my parents to work to tame the island.

Iris yawned then smile "Morning Raven, Oh you have guests?" She asked then I spotted and eyebrow raise as she looked them over. Something told me we would be getting the surprised look a lot. She quickly recovered giving a bright smile.

"Ah yes these are some of my friends form off the island. They will be staying with us." I answered then introduced everyone.

When I got to David, Iris leaned over "Umm what's wrong with your friend there. His ears are funny and he doesn't have a tail."

I sighed slightly "Don't make too big a deal of this. David there is an Earless."

Iris of course gasped her eyes grew wide. "That's amazing. Oh I have never met an Earless." she said and then went over to David. "Oh where are you from, wow this is amazing, I thought there were no more of you guys, are there more of you?" she asked enthusiastically. Poor David stared at her blankly and Rachel began to try and translate.

"Umm Iris, David only speaks an Earless language." I explained. "My friend Rachel there is the only one who can speak with him currently."

She blinked in surprise and crooked her head "Is that so. Huh." she said a little surprised.

"Yeah. It's a little complicated. On the good side though it's a good opportunity to learn an earless language."

She chuckled "Well you do love learning things don't you? Say since you have some new friends that sounds like a great reason to throw a party." she suggested with a big grin.

I couldn't help but chuckle "Yeah but doesn't just about everything sound like a good reason to throw a party, like when I am down or like when we get in a big shipment of shinnies?"

"Yeah well am I wrong?" she asked

"No I think you are absolutely right, I would love to show my guests a good time. Why don't you start making the arrangements."

"That's wonderful I'll tell the cooks to start prepping for tonight and see if I can get the band to play. Oh and I have to invite a bunch of people. I should get started. Oh and I'll be sure to tell the Cook we have guests and to make some extra food too." she said with new energy as she headed off.

"She is cute I like her." Stated Nekochan she said with a particular smirk.

"No." I said simply.

"What do you mean no. I haven't said anything yet." She asked annoyed.

"You're thinking of luring her to bed with us. That girl is like my Sister. It would just be to awkward. Besides I think she prefers guys."

"Really? Well that's a shame. Oh well anyways why don't you show us inside?"

I nodded and did so. Furnishings in this world were a little strange. While the house was furnished by Sculptures and Paintings of important people… They were at best wearing Bikini or swim trunks if that. There were also many more plants as the people of this world were much closer to nature. It gave the rooms a somewhat floral scent as fresh flowers that were well tended grew in each room. The furniture was also more akin to wicker or simply made as solid wood of quality most would build from was slightly rarer.

Nekochan grinned at the rather more explicit art furnishing the mansion "Oh my, I like the decoration here. Maybe we should decorate the other places like this."

I couldn't help but chuckle. "Well I do find the island style relaxing but if you are talking about the statues and paintings, we have some nude statues in the mansion." I reminded her.

"They aren't stacked like that and somehow even without clothes they manage to be too tasteful."

"I'll think about talking to some artists around the island to decorate the mansion then." I answered amused.

She smirked at that "Sounds nice so how are you holding up? Usually when we go some place you know some plot or at least have some goals."

I shrugged "I don't know. I am not sure what exactly to do but I am here to relax anyways. Hopefully just enjoying some quiet time will be nice."

It was about then a Maid; A young brunette cat girl named Rose came in yawning. Rose was on the short side though still taller than me. Her hair was very dark and reached her shoulders. Her body was more slight than most. Her bust was only what I would call average. However once one reached her waist her body became anything but average as she boasted quite exceptional hips and rear. She wore the usual uniform of a black bakini top and bottom and a white frilly headband to help keep her hair back. "Oh Miss Raven, I see you have friends with you. Will they be staying with us?" She asked.

"Yes, they will."

"OH I'll have the staff set up the guest rooms." She offered. She then blinked "oh the Chef says that lunch should be ready shortly." she informed me before heading off.

I showed off more of the Manor for a few minutes until Rose came and got us to tell us that Lunch was ready.

We headed to the dinning room to see a huge meal spread out over the long table that served as the dinning table. There was a lot of fish based dishes, lots of vegitables and fruits, there were loves of bread.

As soon as Nekochan saw it she blinked and looked stunned. "Umm they do know who they are working for, correct?"

"Well yeah…"

"I mean you hate seafood and it's almost a literal fight to get you to eat anything green." she stated bluntly.

I coughed.

"Well it's what they have and what I grew up with. I mean it's still not my favorite but when that's all they have it's that or starve. I mean I guess my tastes have broadened a bit by necessity."

She smirked "Well for that alone I would say this world was worth coming to." she said taking a seat.

"So what exactly do you do here?" She asked.

"Well, I buy and sell things brought in from ships, Mostly though since I own the island I live off of the Shinnies and goods that people pay me to live on my Island. It's not a bad deal actually since we have things several places do not. We have constant electricity which is a big thing. We have some Doctors on the island, though people tend to be pretty hearty and healthy they are good to have around. Also we have an abundant supply of food and fresh water. People grow the crops here or fish and I get a percentage of it. Also try the fried Skitterbugs they are like amphibious shrimp. They are very nice" I invited.

"Skitterbug?" Asked Anya curious.

"Yeah they are like amphibious Shrimp, they run around getting in to everything and cause problems but they are pretty tasty. Sadly they aren't too hard to find around here."

So we dined, the food was good and it was nice to be with my companions. Even though I had just remembered them I hadn't seen them in 19 years. I think I a part of me had missed them.

After lunch I decided to show them around the island proper. We visited the power station which collected the solar energy from the panels everywhere. It was a large Squat building that didn't really seem to match the others. It more would have fit in with the boxy buildings of the Earless ages ago. It was a white building with glass windows. Next to it were an entire field of solar collecting panels that reminded me of a field of crops. The truth was that the building took in much more energy than we actually needed we were able to store it for nights and for long periods of storms but even beyond that we were well below capacity. I viewed that as future proofing though for when I advanced the island.
I introduced them to the small but strangely diligent crew that worked there. Honestly most of them were kind of nerds who were fascinated with the technology. I couldn't help but wonder if any of them were mad scientists in the making.

After that, since it wasn't the most exciting of trips I took them down to the largest freshwater lake we had. While most of the nearby lakes were used to supply the island with fresh water. This one was used for boating and swimming. A part of it was sectioned off for a small fishery. While most of the fish came from the sea, it was decided a while ago to copy some of the bigger settlements and actually raise fish to eat should there be a problem with the food supply.

"What is that?" Asked Angel pointing at a small birdlike creature a pair of cat eared children were playing with.

The creature was small and penguin like creature except it had a zebra striped coat of fur. It was cutely waddling around as the kids gave it treats.

"Oh that's a Waddler. They are like the cats of this world. They can be quite clever and even understand what people are saying, when they want to that is. They are kept as pets and can help keep the Skitterbug population down." I explained.

"Can I pet it?" she asked.

"Well why don't we go ask?" I suggested as we headed down.

The kid's paused as we approached.

"Hey, My friends are new here and they don't have Waddlers where they are from. Is your Waddler friendly, do you mind if they pet it?"

A little girl who was probably about 10 years old blinked "No Waddlers? That's terrible." she declared.

"This is Waddles our Waddler. He really likes fish." she said proudly. The other kid a boy of about the same age nodded shyly.

The girl handed Angel a small fish. "Here he will be your best friend if you give him this." she said. Angel gave a bright smile and nodded "Alright. Hello Waddles. Have a nice fish."

Waddles made a chirp like sound and waddled over taking the fish from her hand and greedily gulping it down before giving a few more chirps that I guessed meant it was happy.

Angel reached out and pet the bird creature which it seemed to enjoy. Soon my other companions joined in with petting and getting to know Waddles. It seemed the little bird creature was in it's glory. When David reached in to pet it the girl gasped. "What happened to your friends ears and tail?" She asked concerned.

I cleared my throat "Umm you see my friend David there is an Earless. Please don't make a big deal about it though."

"But- but My mommy said that earless went extinct a long time ago." she asked confused.

I chuckled a bit "Well I guess you could say my Friend David here is just very special. Probably the last of his kind. Sadly he doesn't speak our language yet, thankfully my D- I mean my friend Rachel here speaks his language."

She looked at David with new awe.

David looked slightly sheepish at the look of awe from the girl as Rachel did her best to translate.

Feeling a bit of sympathy for him and noting that the sun was starting to creep lower in the sky.

"Well we should probably get back to the mansion Ivy will be unhappy if we are late to the party. I am sure by now she has quite the bash planned." I noted.

Waddles was given a few more pets by everyone and we said good bye to the kids before we headed back to the Mansion.

By the time we made it back to the mansion people were already beginning to arrive. In the back yard of my manor tables had already been put out, there was food being laid out. I could hear the band getting set up with their instruments.

We were greeted at the door by Iris. "Oh good your back. I just wanted to tell you that everything is going smoothly. The main party as you can see will be here, then we will have an after party on the beach. They have already set up a spot for a bonfire." she informed me.

"Uhh that's nice." I said perfectly content to let her handle the party stuff. I still was not a fan of lots of people and when she threw a party it was a rather big affair. Still it was good for the moral of the island. It was a big social event and as it happens the people of my island were very social. Also I did want to celebrate being reunited with my friends.

"Sounds like fun, don't think I am letting you skip out of this without a few dances." Nekochan said to me with a grin.

"Oh someone's actually going to make Raven have fun? I have to see this. She usually hides in a corner during these things." Noted Iris

"Well I am not much for crowds." I muttered.

"The only way to get over that is to face it head on." countered Nekochan.

I could already feel my skin crawling at that. I had gotten better over the many years at tolerating crowds. I could withstand the noise, the fact there were too many people too close somewhat. It was still distracting and irritating to me though. Still I sighed and resolved myself for a few dances. I could do that for Nekochan, she was after all trying to help me.

"Alright I guess I can manage a few dances." I muttered.

"Wow you really are good with her." stated an impressed Iris.

Nekochan gave a smug smile "I have plenty of experience with introverts. It just takes practice." she assured Iris who was looking on as if she as mentally taking notes.

"Anyways is there anything I need to do?" I asked Iris.

"Nah I got things pretty well on hand. People are already wandering in and we are just waiting on the booze from the distillery."

"Oh, what kind are we having?" Asked Nekochan who enjoyed Alcoholic beverages more than I did. I was very certain despite her fleshy body she still was as immune to hangovers as when she was a bioandriod.

"Well we have a good amount of kegs of beer coming over and quite a few barrels of rum and other spirits. We will have a couple bartenders to serve and make drinks so they should be able to make up what you want."

Nekochan grinned at that though she didn't care much for beer she did like some drinks that burned as they went down and at various times had fun drinking much bigger people under the table because her liver was absurdly efficient. Anya, Jenna and the kids all perked up too as they had acquired a taste for spirits. Even David's face brightened when that was translated by Rachel. Honestly I felt kind of the odd one out. I would accept wine or fruit drinks now but had never really acquired a fondness for strong drink.

"Well since there is nothing for us to do maybe we should go relax and wait for things to get started." I suggested.

Nekochan nodded with a smile "Sure. I am glad to see you relaxing." She noted.

The party actually took a bit to get started. The sun was setting Torches were lit casting things in a hazy light. There were people, hordes of people. They may have had animal ears and tails but it still made my skin crawl. We heard the music start to play it was very tropical as a mater of fact I recognized their first song as the Disney song under the sea.

As things started to really kick in to gear Nekochan wrapped her strong arm around me. "Come on, I am holding you to those dances you promised."

I resigned myself as we headed out to the dance floor. People were moving and swaying to the beat. Even though it was an earless song and not may people understood the words it had endured past the apocalypse and if I recalled correctly was fairly popular.

Nekochan guided me to the heart of the dance floor as people parted way for us. So we began to dance. Nekochan wrapped her arms around me and we moved and danced to the music. Strangely as much as I protested… feeling her against me as we moved and hearing the music… it wasn't a bad experience, in fact it was… nice. I suppose it was because of who I was with but the crowd didn't seem to bother me much, the world sort of was muted as it was me, her and the music.
We wound up dancing through a few songs. Eventually my other wives cut in and we switched partners. I was a bit more nervous with them but it was still nice. Still too many people but I managed. Eventually I needed a rest. My body was strong but being around people seemed to drain me.

So we found ourselves a nice quiet spot at a table off to the side and we watched as people danced and enjoyed the party.

"I saw that?" Said Nekochan with a smirk.

"What?" I asked honestly confused.

"You were smiling you are enjoying yourself."

I couldn't help but blink. She was right, usually with these parties I was trying to find a rock to hide under once I had my fill of food but this wasn't bad.

"Yeah, and what if I am?"

"I think you have grown." she noted. "You have come a long way."

I was kind of struck by that. I hadn't really thought about it but maybe I had. I suppose I wasn't the same exact person I was when I first started this journey all these years ago.

"I suppose it's even possible for someone like me to change." I agreed.

The night passed surprisingly quickly.

"Say I think I may take up playing an instrument. I actually used to have a guitar. I tried to learn it, I could play by ear but I wasn't so good at reading music."

"Well I doubt there are any music sheets here" Nekochan replied.

"Yeah I think most songs are done by memory."

"Maybe I should learn a musical instrument, we can form a band. Before you ask, no you can't sing."

I feigned a pout. "Awww alright. One of these days I'll get a perk for singing and I'll show you." I said sticking my tongue out at her playfully.

She laughed.

Our first night was… fun. Surprisingly. In the days that followed it was quiet but nice. I made good my Idea to learn to play an instrument. I learned the guitar. I got somewhat good, We actually did make a little band, I can't say we were even as good as the band the island had but it was fun and when we played people seemed to enjoy it. I also learned a bit of cooking at the side of Nekochan and Anya. Everyone learned English or the tongue of the earless so we were able to communicate with David again. He seemed very happy when we were able to communicate with him, as a bonus he learned whatever language we were speaking so he could communicate with others.

Months passed like this. Over time something strange started to happen. My body felt lighter somehow, I didn't feel like I had to constantly fight to survive. I could enjoy myself. I wasn't out to save the world or improve it, I was just living. I found aches in my soul I had been carrying around with me without knowing seemed to fade.

However after months of all of this as good as I was feeling I was also starting to get a little bored. Maybe I had grown used to adventure in my travels. Also though I didn't want to say it to the others I didn't want to fall in to the old trap of laziness.

So with renewed vigor I gathered my Companions together. They were kind of curious as they gathered around the long table in my mansions dinning room that I was using for my presentation. I even had a tarp covered blackboard in the front that I had stuff written on.

"I know you are wondering why we are gathered here." I began.

"You have some big project planned and you want us to help." Interjected Angel.

"Angel." Admonished Anya.

"But Mom, we all know it, hell we even bet on when it was going to happen. I guess Nekochan won by the way."

I noted the smirk on Nekochan's face at that statement.

"Wow… umm didn't know I was so predictable but yeah, I had an idea for something." I said. "Well since there is no real suspense here I am just going to remove this." I said taking off the tarp showing the blackboard with images of the Rocket I had designed and a Satellite.

"Well I guess I will spare you any big speech, I want to launch a satellite so I can see what the world looks like now. Maybe observe weather patterns and such."

"Ah that actually would be a good idea. I hear the storms can get pretty nasty with the hot temperatures of the oceans here." noted Alice.

"Exactly, I thought having some warning might be nice." I noted.

"Umm though there is one thing I am wondering about." She added.

"Hmm?"

"Well I did some reading about the space program of the early worlds you went to. To create a rocket to launch as well as the satellite itself it's going to take specialized materials. It will take light weight metals that are strong enough to survive the rigors of the trip and it will take a heat resistant coating to withstand the trip as well." She noted.

"Yeah that is a problem I can whip up something to make the outside of the rocket heat resistant but getting the metals and the right one is going to be difficult. However it's not impossible. I have gotten materials that were space craft specific before. I believe we are somewhere near Florida where America had it's primary launch site. The place where they have pulled up the specific metals we will require."

It was Nekochan who spoke next "Well I am guessing you have not gotten enough acceptable metals to build yet, so am I correct in that we are going to be heading down in to the deep blue to salvage materials?"

I sighed "No, actually we are going to higher a salvage crew once we have found the approximate area." I said drawing a look of surprise and confusion from Nekochan.

"Look I know we are not averse to danger but diving under water for such an operation is a bit different. A few months of training under water is not going to prepare us for a very complex search and salvage operation a thousand feet down. It's going to cost us and arm and a leg to do this but this is something you want professionals for. These are people with specialized subs and specialized ships to bring up large salvage material. If it weren't so deep and we weren't dealing with materials like this I might consider a crash coarse in deep diving. I still might after this since it would be beneficial to have a team here to do stuff like this."

"Really? I mean with our situation this seems… overly protective." noted Nekochan slightly disappointed.

"In my original time such operations were very dangerous and accidents happened. Now we are dealing with mutated sea life, left over robots and such I don't see the upside on taking the risk. I have no problem taking a risk if it's necessary but I don't believe it's necessary here. We will be using your ship to lend assistance to the crew and so we can eye the salvage they pull up."

"I mean, while yeah you are being logical, we have luck perks we should be fine." She noted.

I sighed "Ummm Nekochan about luck perks. We are luckier than normal, luckier than any one person should be. However Luck has a funny way of running out and in practically every luck perk it says it doesn't work all the time. I see no reason to push our luck so to speak. We can help out the salvage team from above."

Nekochan shrugged "Alright but I am holding you to the thing about learning to dive. It seems like a valuable skill here and we should pick it up."

"Agreed but I don't want a rushed job that is just a few months, we take our time learn properly from experts."

She smiled at that. "Well I understand you are cautious. Probably with good reason here. Sounds fine to me." She agreed.

It took a few weeks to contact the salty sea dog salvage fleet. Radio contact in the great blue was spotty at best while high tech settlements and high tech ship had radio equipment they often had limited local range. So I was stuck sending out word of mouth to the various ships that were coming in and going out of the island. It took a while before I had a response that they would be by in a few days.

So I sat in the dinning room across the table from the Captain Rupert Merdog. He was an old mariner. Most people in this world only showed age towards the end of their life do to genetic engineering. The salt and pepper hair under his captains hat and the wrinkles around his eyes showed he was in his later years. He was tall and well built but slightly stooped from many years of hard work. He had the ears and tail of a dog, he had large droopy ears that stuck out. Her wore a full beard which was a strange choice in the great blue as most men preferred to go clean shaven. His skin was the shade of tan that showed he spent long periods out in the sun, Where as most people just wore a swim suit he wore a thick short sleeve shirt with a small radio in the front pocket. He wore think pants and shoes. It was evident this was a man used to hard work.

The servants laid down a feast before each of us before leaving.

"Mmm well not that I don't appreciate a good meal. However I must ask what business you have with us?"

I couldn't help but smile. Somehow I wasn't surprised he wanted to get to the point. "There is an area I would like you and your fleet to salvage. I have found the approximate area of the salvage." I gave him the area.

He nodded "What kind of materials will we be salvaging."

"Well they will be large light weight metal that is fairly strong. It was used by the earless to actually launch stuff in to space."

He nodded listening along though at the launching things in to space he did raise an eyebrow. "Hmm interesting. So now what about payment. This sounds like a rather large job. I am somewhat familiar with the waters around that area, they are fairly deep." he noted.

I clapped my hands twice a signal for a couple maids to enter, one held a drone and a controller in their arms. The other a small wooden box about the size of a cigar box.

They set them on unused parts of the table.

The Captain eyed them rather curiously. I took the wooden box and opened it to reveal a half dozen syringes with liquids in them.

"These are Stimpacks. They are filled with chemicals that stimulate the body to heal a wounded area. They are very useful for traumatic injury and if they work as is claimed can even help with a heart attack."

He nodded "Well unless I can see one at work I am afraid I can't really count that for much."

I nodded and took a large carving knife "I was hoping you would give me a bit more faith but if you must see a demonstration."… I laid my left arm out and raise d the knife in my right hand.

"Wait!" Said the Captain almost jumping out of his seat.

"If you have that much faith in them I'll take your word on them, while they will be helpful I'll still need a lot more. This does seem like a rather large job."

I nodded and took the drone from the table. "This is a drone. Normally these could fly through the air and as you can see from the controller here." I said picking up the controller and showing that it had a screen. "It can show you a visual from the Camera on the front. However this one has been rebuilt so that it works under the sea and in the air. It should be good for up to depths of 1 kilometer.

The Captain coughed a bit in surprise "Well that's quite a gadget you have there and I see many uses for when I don't want to send men or a sub down just yet."

"I am willing to give you 4 such drones."

"Can we test one out?" He asked.

"Sure we can go to the docks and test them after our meal."

He thought for a moment rubbing his beard. "Well I suppose I have much to consider, we lets eat." he noted. I set the drone and the Stimpacks aside.

After the meal and getting to play a bit with the drone… which was amusing to see an older man as giddy as a kid as he looked at the depths around my island, He seemed ready to finalize the deal.

"Well I must admit miss Raven that you have given quite a bit for this."

"By my estimations it should be a rather large job. I need a lot of the material that's down there. So I am paying quite a bit for it."

He nodded

"I will also be accompanying you in a ship of my own if that is acceptable. I wish to check the salvage on sight to see that it is what I am looking for."

with that I caught his face sour a just a bit "Well I am not a great fan of having someone watch over my shoulder as I work but I suppose as long as you stay out of the way and don't make pest of yourself I can allow it. However I do have a stipulation. You may be paying for the job but out there I am the one in charge. This is dangerous work and if my authority is questioned it can lead to injuries or deaths. You can observe, you can inspect but while the actual work is going on I expect you to stay out of the way."

"That is acceptable." I agreed.

"Good."

A week and a half later found me aboard Nekochan's massive ship as we trailed a small fleet of boats Captain Merdog's salvage team. There were a couple of Barges to haul recovered materials, there were a couple of large ships with massive cranes that would haul up the finds, there were a couple of small subs to help locate the salvage and there was a large ship with captain, the and a bunch of divers as well as the crew to actually work on the salvaging.

The day was clear which I was thankful for as I was still getting used to the rocking of the boat. I tried to concentrate on the salty sea air and the cries of the sea going birds as we traveled.

"Not getting sea sick are you?" asked Nekochan wrapping an arm around me grinning down at me playfully.

"No… it's just all this rocking is not having fun effects on my stomach." I admitted.

"How is that not Sea Sickness?" she asked.

"I haven't thrown up… yet." I protested.

"Are you really okay?" she asked.

"Yeah… yeah I'll be fine, Anya made me some ginger cookies. Ginger is good for sea sickness. It was a good thing we thought to grow some herbs and spices in my Warehouse" I noted.

She squeezed me tightly in a hug "We are almost at the area so a big part of the trip is done." she tried to comfort me. "You know you could have stayed home, we could have left this entirely to the salvage crew." she added.

"Nah I want to see what I am paying for and make sure I get what I want."

"You really think they will find anything it's not like NASA left a few rocket on the runway when the waters were rising."

"I have a few pieces of the exterior of rockets from this area and as you pointed out we do have luck perks. I give it a good chance of happening."

"And what if they turn up nothing?" She asked.

"Well then, I guess I chock this up to a loss. I guess I can go work on some other ideas I have."

"I am surprised you are going to give up that easily."

"Well, not much I can do without the right materials. Hell even with them this is going to be difficult. I doubt we are going to get enough for multiple attempts this is going to be a one and done attempt with a lot of things that can go wrong." I admitted.

"Wow it's not often that I have heard you admitting such a high chance of failure." She noted.

I winced. "Well I don't love failure obviously but I suppose this is worth the risk. If I can observe weather patterns it gives us a heads up on some of the worst things that can happen. I can even help other settlements when we get a radio network established. Warn them of potentially big storms coming their way."

Nekochan smirked at me "Still trying to save the world?"

"Eh old habits die hard, though I see this as more reasonable foresight and helping out some neighbors. We have a nice thing going here, however if a big storm hits we could be in trouble. We might need help from other settlements to recover. Having friends isn't a bad thing in the Deep Blue. This is a paradise by most standards. That doesn't mean bad stuff doesn't happen."

Nekochan looked like she was going to say something but it was lost over a call from the crew of the ship that a message had gone out that they were stopping to start looking for salvage material.

"Well I hope those luck perks we got actually help." I noted.

"Oh I am sure they will." replied Nekochan. "Well it seems like we are going to have plenty of time on our hands, what do you want to do?" She added.

"Wanna get the girls and play video games?"

"Sounds good." She ageed.

What followed was a serious of stopping as the subs and drones would skim the bottom of the ocean for signs of things. They found mostly nothing and then they would move on. Thankfully there were video games and card games to take up my time. It was nice but I was was surprised mid day the second day we were out there when a call went out as I was requested to travel to the main ship to see the Captain.

The Captain's ship was the largest vessel of his little fleet, it was a Large ship. A dull grey hulk amongst the others, it looked old but well maintained, the sides had little cranes to hoist up the subs when they weren't in use. I couldn't help but be impressed as I climbed aboard the deck of the ship and saw everyone working diligently, apparently the captain instilled a strong work ethic in his crew.

I was greeted by a tall cat man "Umm mam, the Captain is waiting for you come along."

I was led over to the bow of the ship where the Captain was grinning looking over the screen of the controller to one of the drones I had paid him.

"Well I think we found something but wanted you to take a look. We have already had our divers out there uncovering it but I wanted your input before we started to dig it out so it could be hauled up." He said looking up before handing me the controller so I could see the screen.

The sight that greeted me was a surprise. It was not a rocket but a craft. It looked far more advanced than any rocket I had seen. My mechanical knowledge kicked in as I turned and moved the drone around careful of the workers.

"The fuck…?" I muttered. The propulsion units were unlike anything I had seen. It was half buried, One wing protruded horizontally clearly showing the symbol of NASA on it. Something in my brain reminded me that this wasn't the world of my time that suddenly suffered a catastrophe but one of likely far more advanced than any world I had known.

"I'll be damned I think, Captain, That is a space plane. I was just looking for a rocket but yeah that will do. Bring her up. Lets see what kind of shape she is in."

The captain smiled broadly taking a small clay pipe from his pocket and stuffing what I presumed was tobacco in it before taking out a match, striking it on the wall of the ship to light it and lighting his pipe. He took a deep satisfied puff and let it out before reaching out to take the controls back.

"Whatever it is, it's not small it may take a couple days to dig out and bring up but we will do it. Since we found what you were looking for I am concluding any more searches. We will take it back to your island and that would conclude our services." he informed me.

"You can show miss Raven back to the transport." he ordered the Cat man who saluted and motioned for me to follow. I did so.

The team worked quickly and efficiently but it was quite a job. That added up to a long and mostly boring wait. We passed the time with video games and card games.

Eventually the brought the Space plane up. It was in relatively good shape for being at the bottom of the Ocean for such a long time. It was missing one wing but I would probably manage something. It looked like with a little touching up and applying some heat resistant coating I could probably get it air tight as it had to be. The back of it had a section that opened up for releasing Satellites. That was a bonus.

All of this was good but it left a problem that had been mulling over in my mind since I had seen it. Who was going to pilot the plane. When I got back I brought that particular problem with my companions.

"Well it seems rather obvious since only one of us is a trained pilot." Noted Nekochan. She had taken flying lessons on our first world as she thought it was something good to know.

"Well here is the problem with that, You are okay to fly private planes, I am sure you could even figure out how to fly larger aircraft but I am afraid a space plane is something a bit different. Its going higher and a lot faster than anything we have seen".

"It's alright I have faith in you to figure something out. Worse comes to worse you use it like a rocket. Have robot's pilot it. it drops it's payload and we are done."

I winced "Yeah I thought about that, but it seems such a waste."

"Look the electronics are probably shot in it anyways. So why not stop looking at is as a space plane and build your own space ship from it. Just use the body and instead of trying to rebuild it as it was, Stretch a bit and make something even better from it."

"That's… not as easy as you make it sound. I mean a spaceship is something more than just a rocket or a space plane. Honestly if I were to do a space ship, it would be bigger because you need supplies to get where you are going."

"What about the warehouse?"

I blinked "Shit, you are right. Well I have been kind of toying with some theories about how to build a functional spaceship. You know stuff not involving using absurdly powerful combustion to leave the atmosphere. It will take me a few months to whip up a prototype, maybe double that time to get this thing running. It's going to be a bit riskier in a lot of ways than just getting the space plane going but it should be easier to pilot if my ideas work."

Nekochan just grinned at me. "So I knew with a little prodding you could overcome the problem."

It took three months many False starts, many failures, a few minor explosions but I finally created a functional prototype propulsion system. It used a mixture of magnetism, artificial gravity generation, and comic book physics to create. It was a system that allowed for absurd propulsion, hovering in place indefinitely. It was something that would have driven most physicists insane by abusing loopholes in physics that I had to discover myself.

An so I stood in the back yard of my Manor showing my companions the device that was hovering in mid air, it was the size of a microwave, it looked a bit like a flying saucer that spun on the bottom and on the top it had a dome with lights around it that spun slowly in the opposite direction than the bottom.

Jenna "That's amazing, ummm how does it work?"

I winced a little "Well… it generates it's own gravitational and magnetic field sort of like a miniature planet only the fields are much much stronger than they should be for their size. It moves by rapidly altering the position of the fields."

"Umm how did you manage that?" asked Alice. Who I could see was trying to work out a solution to what I had explained in her head.

"Well let's just say I discovered a few new fields of physics to make this work. Some of it I stumbled on by accident, some of it I had really crazy theories that I tried that actually wound up mostly working and from that I put together this."

"But doesn't gravity require mass like planet sized mass to create much gravity?" she followed up.

I sighed "Most scientists would believe that but I found a loophole of sorts. I sort of pushed the boundary of physics. I could spend a few hours explaining it but I am sure the not so scientifically interested among us would prefer I didn't. I have the explanation on a tablet I can show you later." I assured her.

Some of my other companions seemed relieved I didn't go in to greater detail.

It took another couple of months to get the Space plane space worthy, build a Satellite, make more of my propulsion devices and attach them to the plane and replace the electronics to the plane so that everything came together. We took another couple to create space suits. So in total it took a half a year but I finally was sitting in the co pilot's seat next to Nekochan as we were doing the rundown of the systems before we began our very first flight.

"You sure that force field generator you attached to this baby is going to hold once we hit space? It is likely filled with a ton of junk." she pointed out.

"It will do fine." I assured her. "It's not a true force field it a field designed to push stuff away but yeah as long as we don't crash in to something big at max speed, it should hold."

"You know you don't have to come for this. If something happens and you die our journey is over." she pointed out.

"I am not letting you or any of my companions die, just because they are supposed to come back. It's not something I want to go through. Especially if they are dying in my place." I replied.

"Well I guess we are ready then. Do you want to do the honors of the countdown?" she asked.

"Sure." I took a deep breath and tried to dispel the ice that gripped my heart and push away all the thoughts of maybe I was wrong about this or that. There was a time when you had to accept you did the best you could and take whatever outcome came your way.

"10." I began as we started to activate various controls for the flight Slowly but at a set pace I counted down as we finished activating the systems we needed for flight. "One and Go!" I said finally.

Slowly at first we started to rise in the air as I watched the rest of the island slowly start to shrink away.

"We are 1000 feet up and hovering. Get ready we are about to go to space." she warned.

"I am ready let's go." I replied.

It was strange there was no feeling of movement what was outside the window became a blur until we found ourselves in a blackness with the distant light of stars all around us.

"Well here we are in space. We are in what should be a stable orbit around the earth. You can release the Satellite any time." Nekochan informed me.

I nodded and pushed a few buttons and flipped a switch. The Ship shuddered a bit as I knew the cargo doors opened and the machines inside began to jettison the Satellite.

We watched on a screen on the control panel The Satellite's main body was a sphere, It had a pair of long series of solar panels that looked sort of like wings to me as they slowly began to extend. It had a bulbous growth like section on the bottom that was surrounded by 4 thrusters that were currently being activated. The growth at the bottom was a series of cameras and communication systems, on the front of it was a Satellite Dish so we could communicate with it by sending signals. It took a couple of minutes for the Satellite to clear our orbit.

"Are we getting any signal yet?" I asked.

"Let's see.." said Nekochan looking at one of the many screens on the control panel. "Yep, seems everything is good. You should see the view of the earth from up here." she told me. I leaned over to see. There was something beautiful and majestic about seeing the planet earth from a distance. Though this earth looked a bit different from the images I had seen of it. Most of the land was gone covered by deep blue oceans.

"Well we should probably get back. We have already drifted quite a ways from your island so it's going to take a while to get back there. I am going to drop back in to orbit so we don't plow in to any space junk"

"Sure, but how is the propulsion system holding up?"

"It's fine, you did an amazing job."

"Yeah as soon as I figure out a long range scanning system for large objects and an AI system fast enough to react to things that might be in our way, we will have a real space ship."

"I don't know it got us where we needed. Want to take a quick trip around the moon?" Asked Nekochan.

I blinked "you know what, hell yeah lets go. Maybe we can spot the flag."

"You think it's still there? It's been a few thousand years."

"Sure it is, there is nothing to disturb it in the vacuum of space."

"Shit, now I wish we had a flag. I would claim the moon for us."

"That's fine I think it's a little early in the journey to be claiming moons or planets as property." I noted.

"Oh you would rather conquer the planet your on first then." teased Nekochan.

"Ughhh no I am not cut out for ruling a planet. Too many people always bitching at you wanting something. I'll stick the property and companies. Frankly I don't get the people who want to rule the world at all. It just seems like a massive headache."

"I don't know you seem to do a pretty good job of ruling from behind the scenes, maybe stick a figure head out there to take the flack while you make all the important decisions."

"Ehhh I don't know. It seems like a lot of work. I suppose if it were a messed up world like the fallout one maybe I would give it a try to make things at least function but if it's a world that is doing alright I prefer to let it continue as it will."

The little chat continued as we made our way around the moon.

"Hey look down there." I said pointing.

"Yep there is the flag, still there after all these years. Kind of amazing what mankind has accomplished huh?"

"I think it's pretty amazing what you have accomplished." Stated Nekochan.

"Eh everything I have done was because of perks."

"Oh and what perk made you able to discover new fields of physics and create a propulsion system that is something out of a science fiction book?"

I felt my cheeks warm a bit. "Well that did take a bit of work." I admitted.

Nekochan smirked "You still want to cling to that everything is due to perks. However you have worked pretty hard. Hell you can even spar with me for a few minutes and not get knocked on your ass. Also lets not forget you created me. While the perk may have helped you are the one who worked on me and made it work."

"Well yeah… I mean you are right."

"So why don't you drop the "it's all the perks doing it" line and take a little pride in your work. They give you a baseline but you have worked your ass off to get where you are."

"Well… I suppose you are right." I admitted.

"You know most people don't have to be talked in to taking pride in their accomplishments." Nekochan pointed out.

"Well isn't that better though I mean don't you worry if I don't try keep myself humble I might become an arrogant asshole with all this power."

"Nah if I think you are getting too full of yourself I'll kick your ass to bring you back down to earth. Honestly though, I don't mind you being humble, I think it's one of your strengths in fact, I just want to make sure you enjoy your successes. I want to see you hold your head high and be proud. Not telling yourself this is all some perk that let you do this."

I couldn't help but chuckle "Fine. I'll try and take more pride in what I do. It's not all about the perks I take." I admitted.

"Good. Well I think that's enough of a field trip. Let's get back home." Said Nekochan.

It took a while because of the movement of objects in space to get home. As we approached the area we cleared for the launching pad I saw that my companions and friends were still there waiting. I realized I would probably be hearing it for taking our time getting home.

The landing was soft a little jolt but practically nothing. We unstrapped from our chairs and headed out. We had to wait for a minute. The stairway extended from the body of the Ship and the hand rails rose telescoping out from the sides. When everything clicked in to place a light above the door lit up telling us that it was safe to go down. Nekochan went out first I followed along. My companions seemed rather excited. However Anya met us at the bottom of the stairs.

"Welcome back, you took your time up there we couldn't help but notice." she pointed out.

"Well... yeah Nekochan suggested a trip around the moon and well I couldn't really say no."

A slight hint of disapproval appeared on Anya's face.

"Well While I certainly understand the desire, however we were worried down here. We don't yet have a means to communicate with you up there."

I winced slightly "Well sorry yeah. Look sorry we worried you." I said apologetically.

Anya sighed but hugged us both "We are just glad you two are back."

She patted us on the back and led us back to the others. We went back to the manor and had a small celebration.

Iris who had been up on what we were doing though I doubt she really understood it much had a massive celebration planned for later that night. She had the Back covered in ornaments of stars and moons. It was rather nice. I had during all this time grown to accept being around lots of people. My skin no longer crawled though it still took a bit of effort that left me exhausted by the end of the night.

Dare I say it was kind of fun, I liked the music, I danced a little, I was told I was actually pretty good at dancing. It was a nice night.

The next day of course began the real work. I had added a section to the power station where most of my resident geeks were to try and get signals from the Satellite and decode them. However Satellites orbit the earth, The amount of time when we could get Data was very limited. So it required scheduling to test the equipment to get the signal. Which required waiting on my part. Being a jumper you tend to have lots of options. There is nothing however to the best of my knowledge that deals with cutting down wait times. It took about a full day but we successfully got a signal from the Satellite.

The signal had a great deal of information, it gave us a better map of what the world had become. It gave us news on where various settlements that we might be able to trade with were. However it's main purpose to track the weather pasterns yielded some troubling results. There were several storms forming. We were just entering the stormy season and, this one in particular was looking to be a bad season already.

Nekochan watched as a I read over the information on the tablet I had downloaded it too.

"That bad?" she asked concerned.

I sighed "Well it's not good. I can't say too much for what is going to happen this is a snapshot at best but we have a couple of potential hurricanes brewing. I have no idea where they are going to hit but it seems it's going to be a rough season." I explained.

"Well alright I'll start on getting people to gather food and supplies for the season." She said uncharacteristically serious.

I nodded "Alright It looks like it's going to be a rough season. I am going to start fortifying and securing our Mansions. They will be the evacuation points should we need them. I also have to seal up the underground lab as… It's not going to do well otherwise.

Nekochan nodded understanding. "We can get the utility robots to help board stuff up." She suggested. It was not a bad suggestion but, Robots tended to be seen by most people as bad news as they were usually encountered in ruins and were almost always hostile.

"Well we will just have to warn people they are working for us." I added.

Time yet again was one force which I held no sway over. I anxiously awaited the next report. I had hoped that maybe it looked like the storms weren't going to be as bad as I thought or maybe there was some sign that it would turn and maybe we wouldn't be directly hit.

As I looked over the tablet the next day I could feel Nekochan grimacing next to me. "That bad huh?" she asked.

I sighed and scrolled over the tablet. "Well you see this tiny little dot of land here?" I asked. She nodded. "That is us, that's our island." I then scrolled back to the massive storm that was forming. "You see this massive storm here that looks like it's coming straight for us?"

"Yeah that looks bad."

"No you don't quite get it yet. You see the longer it is over warm water the more power the storm is going to pick up and so it is going to be much nastier by the time it gets here."

I looked up and she was blinking and looking pale. "We should get out of here."

"No. I am not abandoning my people who have put their faith in me. You don't have memories of this world but we have survived some nasty storms before. We lost a lot and had to rebuild but I am not going to run away."

"But wait, we have luck perks, shouldn't that be helping?"

"We can't rely on luck perks for everything, sometimes they stop bad things from happening sometimes they just mean you survive what ever hell you are about to go through." I explained.

"So what do we do? How long do we have?"

"We have a week and the plans that I have devised are pretty much all we can do. I think my 3 mansions are the sturdiest buildings we have, they are all on the highest point of the island. We have already been gathering food and fresh water. We are boarding things up. I would have liked more time but, it looks like we should be able to save everyone on the island… well as long as there are no Tornadoes." I added.

"What if there are Tornadoes?" asked Nekochan.

"If there is one and it hits, we are fucked." I answered honestly.

"We should escape to space when it hits, just the companions. That way your… our survival is assured." she suggested. I was keenly reminded that she had once told me she would watch the world burn before she let a single hair on my head be harmed. In a way it was touching as she looked at me with pleading eyes.

"No through this storm people are going to need a leader, someone to comfort and guide them and I couldn't look them in the eyes if I ran off to space to save my own ass and people here died. No I appreciate thought, but I can't."

She sighed "Fine…" she said in a tone that said it really wasn't.

"Look nothing is going to happen. We are taking precautions now so bad things don't happen and as you pointed out we have luck perks on our side. The storm might be big and scary and destroy a lot but we will make it through." I said hugging her, she sighed and hugged back "Alright. I have faith in you just tell us what to do and we will do it." she told me. I asked if she could dispel her boat for the duration of the storm. Best she could do though was park it at another island, though she asked why and I told her honestly the boat in a storm like this was like a really big projectile.

Thankfully as people used to island life, especially during the stormy season, my usually lazy populace understood the benefits of preparation and hard work when it came to dealing with storms. Killer storms were a fact of life, so it was easy enough to get them motivated to work and gather needed supplies and materials just with the word a giant storm was coming.

In fact I was slightly proud to see them all coming together. They gathered wood to cover windows. Those that were too young for that gathered and carried food and water. People even worked hand in hand with the strange robots that appeared to place boards over windows and to help seal the places up. An absurd amount of sandbags were filled and placed around each mansion.


Delegating responsibility can be tough. It became apparent that if we had 3 mansions we needed to split the party so to speak. I would have to assign people to control the other two buildings.

It was decided I would stay with the my original mansion it was the key to the back up power grid we had from the underground lab that would keep power going to the other two mansions. Nekochan insisted on being there with me. While I was glad to have her, I couldn't help but wonder if she might have been a good choice to head one of the other mansions.

Angel's Mansion that we acquired in the last world would be headed by Anya. Angel protested this a bit but Anya had better people skills. She and Alice would be helping out.

Jenna manned the Manor I got in this world. The manor was the toughest to secure of the 3 buildings as it was far more spread out. In fact we decided only to worry about the main house. Helping her though were be Rachel and David. Honestly Jenna was a great manager with a head for organizing. Even though it was a tough job I felt reasonably sure she could handle it.

Still even though I had faith in my companions. I still felt doubts nibbling away at me. Life tended to take many many unforeseen turns.

It was still a rather difficult feat even with as large as the 3 mansions were to split the population between them. I had some trusted people on this island like Iris who I sent out to help manage things.

The true problem was, no matter how much planning or how prepared we were these were going to be a rough number of days. A bunch of people cooped up in a stressful situation wondering if their homes were being destroyed even as they waited out the storm. It wasn't going to be easy.

Eventually the skies grew dark and foreboding as days passed the wind began to howl and the rain came. It was just a normal light rain at first. By this point we started the evacuation to the mansions.

So I found myself at the door to my home as a line of people entered it. I was dressed in thick, heavy clothes foreign to this world, designed to fight the rain and the wind. I got several curious looks as people passed by.

"Are you sure you should be out here? There is no need for you to be out here. We can handle things." Nekochan told me, she was also dressed in heavy clothing not native to this land.

"No. I want to see to it that everyone gets in okay." I answered, while that was partially the case, I hated to admit to myself a part of it was just anxiety. Things were going to get bad here, right now I was grasping at whatever I could to still feel I had control of the situation. Also I hoped that my presence there was comforting. People huddled under umbrellas and rushed in, often with arms full of what belongings they held too precious to be left at home. Eventually we got all of the villagers in that were assigned to be here, the crew that had volunteered began to move the last sand bags in place sealing off the path the people had used to get in.

Despite pestering from Nekochan I waited until they were finished and headed in to close the door. Nekochan and I were the last ones in.

As I entered I did so to a sea of animal eared and tailed humanity and I instantly felt all eyes upon me.

"Alright everyone. I thank you for coming, as I have informed you and as you saw outside a very dangerous storm is coming. This is one of the three safest buildings on the island to ride it out in. We have all the water, food, hygine and medical supplies we might need to ride out the storms.
We have 3 floors above this that we will be using. We have blankets you can use to sleep on the floor. I know this won't be fun, it will be a hard 3 or 4 days but this is what will be necessary to survive so I ask you all to remain calm, to work with the peoples beside you and to be patient.

The crowd had been silent listening to that point but I began to hear the murmur of questions and complaints.

"Okay one at a time." Announced Nekochan. "We will hear your questions now, if you have complaints. Keep them to yourself. Raven is opening her home to you and if you are disrespectful you will be leaving. You will be leaving even if I have to throw you over the wall of sand bags myself." That somehow got people to quiet down. I took questions after that… lots and lots of questions. Some I had already answered in my little speech, a few about how I knew all this was going to happen. I gave a quick and dirty explanation of what a satellite was. Anyways I answered many questions quite a few of them multiple times and in slightly different variations. By the end of an hour I had answered so many questions, I was spent, Nekochan escorted me to the top floor. To help organize things people had been assigned not only a mansion but a floor. We also had people I trusted assigned as Floor Captains to handle any problems that came up and field any questions and complaints. Nekochan was the captain of the 4th​ floor. We had other people I knew assigned as captains of the 2nd​ and 3rd​ floor. The first floor was left empty in case of flooding. We had used similar systems in the other mansions.

I was the overseer of this little operation and things that couldn't be handled by one of them were to be brought to me. That was the plan at least.

However I was exhausted after dealing with all the questions and wound up curling up under some blankets on the floor. Sadly I had decided to lock up my room to prevent people going in there during this time. I listened as the rain went from a soft rhythmic thumping on the ceiling to a much harder tapping and was joined by howling of the wind and the loud cracks of thunder as the storm began to hit with full force. We felt the winds against the building, we felt the loud vibrations of the thunder.

They days dragged on slowly. I had to step in to settle a few disputes, some people had smuggled in Alcohol and got plastered and made a problem of themselves. There were fights that had to be broken up. A few people even made the mistake of getting upset with Nekochan. It took a lot of talking down to get them not physically thrown over the wall. It was a long 4 days before the rain stopped and the skies began to clear. So we opened up the doors and people were quick to leave, not only to embrace the freedom to do so but also to survey the damage done.

Nekochan and I quickly headed for the center of town between the Mansions. At the center of town was a rather simple dirt crossroad with a wooden sign that said "Welcome to Palacio del Sol.", we had thought about putting a fountain or something greater however we decided it really didn't fit with the rest of the town.

It wasn't long as people began to pour out of the other two other mansions, a swarm of people passed us on their way to check the outer areas past the mansion. People looked both relieved and worried as the past but looked in relatively good shape. A bit dirty, a bit disheveled but healthy and with all limbs intact.

Eventually we saw Anya, Angel and Alice following the crowed, seeing us their pace quickened as they slipped through the crowd to greet us with big hugs. It was a few minutes later we saw Jenna coming from the other mansion trailed by Rachel and David. Iris was walking with them chatting. Seeing everyone else they quickened their pace and made it to us.

"So how is everyone?" I asked finally seeing as my companions and Iris were all together.

"Oh that was nuts. People were losing their minds by the end. We had to fight to convince people to stay in." exclaimed Iris interjecting herself. Jenna blushed quietly.

"Really?" I said surprised.

"Yeah you guys didn't have that problem?" she asked.

"Ah, no. We had a few drunks however after I had to convince Nekochan not to throw the couple of guys she was dragging by the scruff of their necks out over the wall, people started to behave for the most part."

"Wow, that's amazing, I am kind of sorry I missed it." said Iris impressed.

"Yeah… Angel had to break up a few fights too. She almost threw a few people out herself but after we got them fixed up we decided they had suffered enough." stated Anya.

Jenna sighed "I see, I guess I needed someone to scare people in to being good." she noted.

"Nah, it's okay Jenna, you got everyone under your care through this relatively whole. The fact people got irritable was just a fact of having a bunch of people in a stressful situation." I explained.

"Yeah…" Jenna mostly agreed, I hugged her. "You did good. Hey every group is different." I told her.

"Umm we should probably go survey the damage around the island." stated Anya trying to change the subject.

"Yeah not a bad idea." I agreed.

So we decided to check out the the damage. It was… extensive. Most of the village lived it small huts. Those were almost to a one flattened and we were lucky if we could see where they had been. The nicer houses and shops fared a little better a little under half were still standing though those that were would still require a good deal of repair.

"Shit." said Nekochan who summed it up pretty well in one word.

"It's alright the people made it through. We have robots to help rebuild and I think it's time we rebuild things a bit sturdier to withstand storms like this." I suggested. After I had built a town in Fallout I had studied a bit of the ins and outs of constructing buildings. It was a good skill to have I decided. We hadn't been in Hurricane country of course. However I did have some ideas on how buildings could withstand great amounts of wind and water.

"Well it looks like we will have to set up tents, salvage what materials we can for building materials. Jenna and Iris I would like you two to set up a kitchen close to the center of town here so people can get some hot food." I said both people blinked in surprise "Umm sure I'll be happy too." Jenna said snapping out of her funk. "I am going to go see how the power station made out and see how long it's going to take to get energy back up and see if they are operational enough to get any more reports on incoming weather. It's clear now but this is storm season. Nekochan, I am leaving you in charge please direct everyone to help where they can best be of use." I told her.

"Wow, not even taking a moment to rest?" asked Angel.

I gave a mirthless chuckle "Just because we survived a Hurricane doesn't mean we get to take a break. There is work to be done, we will rest later tonight. Right now we have to see to everyone's needs. Get tents set up. I would like to get a bathing area set up. They aren't too shy for communal bathing." I added before I left.

The energy station was still abandoned of course, it was… well the structure was sound. The rows of Solar energy collection tiles were mostly gone or looked damaged, the large Satellite dish we had erected was gone as well. I mentally added that to the list of stuff that needed to be repaired. I had held off from the temptation of putting a couple fusion generators here because there was too much of a chance that someone would mess with it. I couldn't help but feel maybe it was time to rethink that. It would be a pain in the ass to secure but hopefully it would be more stable. Also cables under the ground. That would be better than trying to link things through the air. It would be difficult, a project for later but something to do. All in all my head was abuzz with new ideas, ways to make improvements to what had been. It would take a bit. However we would build something better and stronger in the ruins of what had been. After all it wasn't about how many times you get knocked down, all that mattered is how many times you get back up.

As I went to return back to the mansion I passed the area where, they were erecting a rather large tent to serve as the impromptu kitchen, The robots were already out clearing debris and helping people dig through homes to recover belongings. While things looked bleak there was an undercurrent already of hope and starting a new day.

I went back to my room which had been locked up during all of this and sat down and began to design little economy homes for those who had lost huts. A few rooms, a bathroom, a kitchen. A cozy little place for a person or a small family. Given the right materials… well it should be able to withstand a considerable amount of force.

It took weeks to clear away debris, repair the damage to the buildings that were salvageable and dispose of the belongings that were lost. We made sure to get the power building up as soon as possible, I wound up making a couple small fusion generators to get things going. We needed periodic charging stations for the robots to work.

Thankfully do probably do to all the people with luck perks wandering around the weather decided to cooperate and we had bright sunny days to help dry out the island and work. We began to move to construct the homes and buildings I had designed. We employed the Sandcrete I and learned to make from Fallout. It was a form of Concrete made from sand. We used it to provide a solid foundations for the rows of little homes. Our little village took on a more uniform look. I overheard that we had lost some of the character of the village when the homes went up however that was a price we gladly would pay.

It took a few months to get most of the houses built, we worked quick and efficiently with the robots that could work night and day without rest or breaks. During that time we had a few more storms thankfully nothing like the killer storm we had endured. Just minor nuisances really. By the end of the season things were already well on their way to recovery.

At the end of my first year there the Island was fully recovered and I felt better ready for any other storm. I felt secure in doing my next project. I started a Radio station to both provide music for everyone and a network of communication. This one though I decided to make a bigger task as I launched a few satellites and started to work with other nearby islands to build a network that would cover the area.

Radio turned out to be a big hit, we played old earless tunes now one had ever heard and it started a renaissance in music as we gave shots to local musicians who wrote songs and played music to be heard by more than just a few people. My little island gave rise to the first major stars of the land that were known by more than just their local island. We wound up having to build a few more mansions with all the shinies that some of them were bringing in.

I also started to build on other islands, I build recycling plants to turn junk that was found in to useful building materials. It was hard as hell to get people to actually work in those plants. To encourage people I had to open hordes of shops and nightclubs and pay exorbitant amounts of shinies to work there. Oddly it turned in to boomtowns with all that was invested in them. With all the money flying around it drew people from other islands hoping to make it big by working in the recycle factories or in adjacent businesses.

It had an unforeseen effect though on those islands. People began to plan for the future rather than living for the day, they began to want more out of life than lounging around on the beach all day. People started to build a work ethic (And maybe increase their focus on materialism). The latter part I wasn't sure was good but well It got me loads of new metal and plastic to work with.

With people coming and going to my island, people took notice of the sturdy buildings that were mostly used. At first I heard there were complaints that they were ugly and soulless but when people found out they didn't have to be rebuilt periodically because they were destroyed in a storm and the luxuries they provided. People began to want them. So I started a building business. My little houses spread throughout the islands of the deep blue.

With prosperity spreading throughout the islands I even started a television network. It was strange to the people of this world at first. It was a novelty to see images as well as sound. It took a bit for people to figure out what sorts of shows to make for the new medium. There were lots of concerts, some sporting events. Even something that passed for news. The biggest hit turned out to be a variety show that encouraged normal people to come on and show off their talents.

Some went on and were purposefully bad, thankfully the host knew how to play to the audience and make it entertaining. Some thought they were good and weren't. Even a few of the people had talent and a few stars were discovered.


I hadn't set out for it but, by a few years in I was stupidly wealthy and was winding up with an empire. I got teased a lot by Nekochan about not being able to escape my old ways but I just wanted to improve the lives of the people around me.

Time passed, I had opened schools to cover the science and building techniques. It was nice to spread learning but I needed some skilled workers to manage my expanding empire. Sadly it would take years before people would be ready.

All and all I brought a technological renaissance to the land and maybe a cultural one. "New" inventions were being created instead of just found and salvaged from the remains of Earless ones buildings deep under water. By time my time in the world was reaching it's end I heard of experimentation with airplanes. It seemed for better or worse I had left my mark upon the world.

Eventually my time in the world ran out. My Companions and I waited patiently in the house in my Warehouse. Looking back, it had been kind of fun in the world of CATastrophe. I had relaxed some, I had improved the world. It wasn't bad. However next up would be my most challenging jump yet. Right as the clock struck midnight the world around us fell away leaving us in a familiar white void.

"Well I hope you enjoyed your vacation." came a now familiar voice as my Benefactor appeared before us.

"It was nice, I needed that thank you." I told him.

"Well I guess if there is nothing else we should see about where you are headed next. Do you still wish to go to Overlord?" he asked.

That wasn't as easy a question as I had initially thought it was going to be. My mind spun for a second remembering the craziness that world invited and I would be plunging myself head first in to it and facing things a lot stronger than I had faced up till now. Also I would be rubbing shoulders with legitimately evil characters. Ones who I couldn't just kill. Ones that do to drawback I wouldn't want to.

I sighed "Yeah, it will be fine." I told him. He looked slightly concerned and raised an eyebrow slightly. "Well if that's what you want." he told me. I had a distinct feel maybe he didn't think this was a good idea. I couldn't help but wonder if maybe he was right.

"I'll manage." I added.

He nodded and a floating holographic display appeared before me. It had a representation of everything in the jump, I picked my selections."

"Hmm only importing Nekochan this time? And Creating a new Companion."

"Yeah…" I said looking at Anya and Jenna who nodded.

"There is no drop in option and they refuse to have their or their children's minds messed with by importing. Also since she is kind of unavailable in her home jump, I thought now would be a good time to get a Ryoko expy. You know like from Tenchi Muyo?" I asked.

He chuckled "I know the one. You know, you would not believe how many expies I have had to make and of who. Virtually any female anime character that was someone likable and well known I had to make an expy of. Some I had never even heard of before but, I drew the images of what they wanted from their mind and usually they seemed happy with it."

"Well that's what happens when you cater to the 4chan crowd." I joked.

"Yeah." He agreed.

"Well I won't hold you up. I hope to see you in another decade. Good Luck." he said and the world around me began to fade to white.

 

[Lichanon]

Good to see you here.

 

[Neko Arc]

Thank you. I figured I may as well come here while 4chan is down.

 

[Grim Dark Fantasy]

So, I don't really have much experience in terms of Jumpchain, and thus can't really judge if this is actually good or bad.
The character seems like, well, a lighthearted (and possibly light headed) SI who just picks up whatever they want and don't touch much else. No drawbacks to overcome, no big enemies to fight through several Jumps, really just nothing but a multi-decade sort-of slice of life.
It's not exactly bad in terms of narrative, and I like slice of life stories, I would prefer to focus more deeply on each Jump. Spending a single chapter on 10 years worth of story feels disappointing.
Although from what it may look like, the main story would start after returning home.
Watched, but only temporarily.

 

[Neko Arc]

Well first let me say thank you for your reply. I appreciate when someone gives me feedback I figure it helps me to improve in my writing. Unfortunately I am not sure what to do about what you said. I never ever ever thought someone would say that I was not writing enough about each jump. That is one thing that surprised me. I mean I could try breaking the jumps up in to multiple chapters but those chapters are awful chunky. I have with 6 chapters here already written a novel's worth of writing. Honestly I am not sure how to fill 10 years worth of story, I write what is the most important parts usually in the beginning to set things up and then a bit of what happens in the meantime then try and wrap things up.

Another problem is that what you said is very correct. This has wound up largely a slice of life. It's just based on how my jumper who is a bit of a SI would handle things. Not everyone would go super action hero. Usually in a story the antagonist sets the tone but in Jumpchain as the protagonist has information and powers that they shouldn't have they tend to get to set the tone and handle things the way they want.

As for after the chain... This is intended to be a long long chain I had intended 100 jumps. Originally this was based off of a challenge requiring 100 jumps written up. The reason the jumper however is intending putting off finishing their chain that long is they are intending to play the long game and gather as much power as they can before heading back home and dealing with the shit show that earth is going to become. I have no idea if I am going to make it to 100 jumps, it would be nice but since 6 wound up being a novels with and 2 of them honestly were a bit skimmed over I think I may have to adjust my plans. Perhaps I should alter the description for this story. I kind of didn't know what to put so I put that and maybe it wasn't the best introduction for the story.

If you decide to keep watching thank you. If you don't, still thank you you have given me some things to mull over.

 

[Lichanon]

Honestly I am not sure how to fill 10 years worth of story, I write what is the most important parts usually in the beginning to set things up and then a bit of what happens in the meantime then try and wrap things up.

Click to shrink...

I think you're doing all right, if you want to cover your jumper in one hundred settings instead of just one you're going to have to choose what you go into detail about and what you summarize.

 

[Neko Arc]

I am really bad at picking and choosing what to go in to detail on and what to summarize. So for now 100 jumps is a goal, I have no idea how far I will make it. I am not a fast writer and it takes a while just to do a chapter but I figure as long as I am having fun with it I will continue. It will be fun to see how far I get.

 

[Grim Dark Fantasy]

J

Well first let me say thank you for your reply. I appreciate when someone gives me feedback I figure it helps me to improve in my writing. Unfortunately I am not sure what to do about what you said. I never ever ever thought someone would say that I was not writing enough about each jump. That is one thing that surprised me. I mean I could try breaking the jumps up in to multiple chapters but those chapters are awful chunky. I have with 6 chapters here already written a novel's worth of writing. Honestly I am not sure how to fill 10 years worth of story, I write what is the most important parts usually in the beginning to set things up and then a bit of what happens in the meantime then try and wrap things up.

Another problem is that what you said is very correct. This has wound up largely a slice of life. It's just based on how my jumper who is a bit of a SI would handle things. Not everyone would go super action hero. Usually in a story the antagonist sets the tone but in Jumpchain as the protagonist has information and powers that they shouldn't have they tend to get to set the tone and handle things the way they want.

As for after the chain... This is intended to be a long long chain I had intended 100 jumps. Originally this was based off of a challenge requiring 100 jumps written up. The reason the jumper however is intending putting off finishing their chain that long is they are intending to play the long game and gather as much power as they can before heading back home and dealing with the shit show that earth is going to become. I have no idea if I am going to make it to 100 jumps, it would be nice but since 6 wound up being a novels with and 2 of them honestly were a bit skimmed over I think I may have to adjust my plans. Perhaps I should alter the description for this story. I kind of didn't know what to put so I put that and maybe it wasn't the best introduction for the story.

If you decide to keep watching thank you. If you don't, still thank you you have given me some things to mull over.

Click to shrink...

Okay, so for the amount of words — never actually checked that it was actually almost 150k words. Read through it all in, like, half a day. I can be a bit of a literature glutton sometimes, eating through dozens of thousands of words in a single sitting when I may have a bit of time.
As for planning 100 Jumps... Yeah, I wouldn't really go for so many, for two reasons.
Firstly, synergy. A lot of Perks can be synergised and wind up with interesting combinations. When you have a hundred Jumps worth of them, you can be pretty sure you would forget at least some.
Second, character development. 10 years is a lot of time. Me who I was that time ago and me who I am now are two different people. 6 jumps is almost a lifetime worth of experience. Even without perks, items, drawbacks or companions, you have taken different masks, lived different lives. I have a barely written snippet in the desk, where a Jumper, who finally caught a moment of respite, reflects on themselves. How they have changed, how they have done, and after returning home, how they will answer those who were close to him before signing the Chain contract.

 

[Neko Arc]

Well 100 may have been an unrealistic goal from the start. However I do think I will try and keep it a somewhat long chain for as long as I am enjoying it. There are places I want to take my jumper and scenes for them that I already have in mind. I don't know exactly how many jumps that will be but I think I might start moving those jumps up. as for remembering all the perks, items and various things that is going to be a challenge I don't have the greatest memory but I will try and get by with notes and cheat sheets. It makes sense for Jumpers to have favorite perks and items they like to use, and to have stuff they save in case things go bad. I tend to like having my jumpers hang on to the really powerful stuff to use in case of emergency. As far as the character development goes you do make a good point. Though part of the interesting things with jumpers is the effect of time. A person can change a lot in 10 years how will they be after 100 years? Anyways thank you again for your reply and for the good points you made.

 

[Grim Dark Fantasy]

Well 100 may have been an unrealistic goal from the start. However I do think I will try and keep it a somewhat long chain for as long as I am enjoying it. There are places I want to take my jumper and scenes for them that I already have in mind. I don't know exactly how many jumps that will be but I think I might start moving those jumps up. as for remembering all the perks, items and various things that is going to be a challenge I don't have the greatest memory but I will try and get by with notes and cheat sheets. It makes sense for Jumpers to have favorite perks and items they like to use, and to have stuff they save in case things go bad. I tend to like having my jumpers hang on to the really powerful stuff to use in case of emergency. As far as the character development goes you do make a good point. Though part of the interesting things with jumpers is the effect of time. A person can change a lot in 10 years how will they be after 100 years? Anyways thank you again for your reply and for the good points you made.

Click to shrink...

I do get about having preferred perks and items, I had several that were integral in the resulting build for the End Jump. But the "less is more" approach, combined with my experience with World of Darkness ("there is always another way of using this ability"), skewers my way of taking more Jumps. That is why I've gone for 10 Jumps before sparking out (either Ward or Abyss of Choice, if you know those).
As for the effects of time, I've rarely seen such, unfortunately. A lot stay relatively same after millenia, aside
from incestuous debauchery that would make Crusader Kings players weep in jealousy.

 

[Neko Arc]

Wow 10 jumps isn't much. As far as End Jumps I am going to use the DBZ end jump. It's not great. Honestly it's kind of bad but the sparking condition is at least simple. Fight strong guys, get overwhelmed break your limits and spark. I can work with that. I am not aware of the jumps you mentioned but I know Tenchi Muyo is practically impossible unless you act very quickly. I know there are other End Jumps but I am not so familiar with them. With all of that said despite DBZ being simple my jumper is going to need some build up to it because she has been focusing more on building a solid base of skills and abilities rather than just punching people in the face.
As for changes over time and character growth I hope to show some, I think in fairness to most stories like these while a person may grow and learn through their life I think the fundamental parts of who they are, are established rather early on. Though it will be interesting to see how long until my jumper starts claiming she is 17 when asked how old she is like Yukari. Probably around the time her companions start teasing her about the tops of her birthday cakes becoming a fire hazzard.

 

[Grim Dark Fantasy]

10 Jumps may seem like little, but it is length that makes up for it, as well as the worlds, and the tribulations. It ended up about 1500 years worth of time, and could be described by the phrase "We, the unwilling, lead by the unknowing, are doing the impossible for the ungrateful. We have do so much, for so long, that we can make anything with nothing". It is centuries of miracles done through Herculean work, of being a hero not through fighting some kind of supervillain, but through countless days of doing what you do. Become the greatest necromancer in Nechronica, by literally necromancing the entire world, bringing it from the long, long death. Pull a Furina in Danmachi, for there are no Gods to descend, and do the job of defending the world through empowered heroes. You can possibly say it's like in Gurren-Lagann, the power of Will, Belief and Hope breaking the limits even without dozens of skills. Also, I've found out that a lot of Jumps don't really provide that much in terms of building the base of skills, talents and/or powers, and stacking them feels a bit meaningless.
Ward end-Jump is also kind of simple. You have to commit deicide of a super-intelligent multiversal god-virus. The problem is, your mind is almost certainly seeded with a larvae of this god-virus, constantly compromising your mind, integrity and sanity. It will press each of your buttons and weak points, because it want you to play by its tunes. It will try and force you to be a constantly conflicting creative violent killing beast, guided by Pavlovian responses of more power in return for "doing right" and giving it away, even harming you if you don't.
Abyss of Choice is very much personal, in the "personal Hell" kind of way. There are remnants of places you visited, but twisted and dangerous to you. People you have cherished, or maybe hated, your best teachers, your biggest failures... They are not them, but they will test your mettle. Be it fighting, or talking things out. And the final challenge is the Truth. What you have become. The choices, the consequences, everything. Or there may be another contestant, that simply wandered into your own realm, and the finale would be a battle of transcending godlings for the ultimate prize. And the biggest question, "what are you willing to pay for it?" What are the sacrifices you are able to make? It really felt fitting for a "suufer your way to victory" type of chain I have in plans.

 

[Neko Arc]

Well I am not sure how far this chain is going yet. I tend not to plan so much as just write. I may have some scenes in mind but it's an adventure getting to them. Also sometimes those scenes wind up on the cutting room floor frustrating enough. All I know is I am enjoying things and I am in no hurry to end them, there are certain things I would like to do with my story and I hope to be able to do so with them.
As for the two end jumps you described both sound interesting. I don't know them well though. I believe ward is the sequel to Worm. I tried reading worm a bit, it was okay but didn't get very far in to it. I do wonder is Abyss of Choice a OC setting it seems it would have to be if it focuses on your jumpers past achievements and failures.