Helion

*This story, and all chapters written herein, contain themes of an adult and graphic nature. Violence, abusive language, depictions of death and gore, descriptions of non-consensual events, slurs, sex, drugs, and a very particular hatred of whitebois is to be expected. Please be advised that if any of the above material may cause you distress, find another story with which to satisfy yourself.*

Ch. 01 Deeper Meaning.

The swirling colors always seemed to paint especially vivid pictures, every facet of an unnatural rainbow stretched and settled over an imagined framework. First, it was her mother, gentle, tender, compassionate; shining, and radiating calmly, powerful reassurance surging through her heart. Then it was her father, bubbling and roiling with insecurity, doubt, fear, and petty hatred; a stuttering chill forcing itself violently under her skin. Finally, the colors began to bleed; Their wisp-like tendrils drooping and sagging under some great weight. A force far beyond her perception, some immovable compulsion of the universe, pressing in on even the ethereal aspects of her mind. One of the colors, blue maybe, snapped and twitched as whatever horrific portion of time and space bent it out of existence.

Eve awoke coughing, clearing her throat before desperately dragging in a lungful of air. It had a crystalline quality, sharp and industrial, probably some mixture of Slix and weed. She could barely identify it over the intoxicating stench of cum, it suffused her nose and mouth and the bitter, slightly salty tang she picked up after licking her lips told her that was definitely what she'd been choking on. She'd just pulled in her second helping of oxygen when her eyes finally focused on the incredibly large cock swaying lazily back and forth just inches from her face. The swollen tip was dark and had a single long ribbon of cum tracing a graceful arc to her now smeared lips. She instinctively extended her tongue and traced its path back up towards the enormous black cock, muscle memory guiding her back to the one thing she'd ever truly loved aside from her mother.

"Mhmmm that's it bitch, make sure you get it all..." Jon had his eyes closed as he cooed, the man had a habit of picturing other women when he used Eve. It wasn't that he found her unattractive, she knew he quite liked her look. It was more so about the power it held, making sure Eve understood that she wasn't anything special, that she was interchangeable to Jon. Another pussy in a long line of pussies. Even so, Eve loved Jon, as much as she loved every one of the Black men in Helion City. She loved them the way her mother had taught her. Flashes of her dream played while she bobbed her head back and forth around Jon's massive cock, but just as she was getting into a solid rhythm of breathing through her nose and working her tongue around his glans, one of her teeth accidentally caught behind his head and he pulled away snarling.

"AARRGGHH, YOU USELESS FUCKING CUNT!" Eve knew it was coming before she caught sight of the tensed muscles of his stomach, the open-handed blow struck across her left cheek and caused little motes of light to dance through her vision. Momentarily stunned all she could do was silently work her jaw and attempt to hear past the tinny ringing in her ears. "Where the fuck your mind at?! Can't even fuckin' suck a cock if you ain't passed the fuck out?! And what the fuck you coughin' up my load for?! Shit, it's like you ain't even here right now!"

Jon was right and she knew it, she'd been distracted the past week and it was starting to effect her performance. At first, it was small things, losing track of time in the shower, not hearing her name being called in line for coffee, and letting her comm tag go unanswered too long. But now it was starting to interfere with some of her more important primary functions, namely, making Black Men cum.

"I'm so sorry Sir, I have no excuse for my failings, Sir, Please punish me as you desire, Sir." She spoke with conviction, hands together, head bowed and eyes closed as she'd been taught. Once again her mind drifted to her mother being swallowed in colors, but she bit her lip and willed the image to shift into that of the very annoyed Black Man standing directly over her.

"Hmph.." she could practically hear his nostrils flare as he considered her plea, and her position. "Aight, you're gettin' off light today, slut, but you better make damn sure you don't fuck around when you're with me again or I'll fix that fuckin' mouth for you, understood?"

Eve's relief was intense and immediate. Adrenaline flooded her veins and she could feel the hairs prickle all across her body as Jon grabbed a fist full of her straight, raven-black hair and turned her to face away from him. He took her ass then and beat it black and blue. Eve thanked him for every impact and did her best not to cry openly, burying her face in his bed sheets between his merciless swats. Jon made sure to draw it out, prolonging her suffering enough that, even though she was cumming almost non-stop, the pain far exceeded the pleasure she was experiencing.

After Jon had finished with her, she was unable to get up under her power, nor could she lay on her back, all she could do was lie on her side, light up a cigarette, and quietly scroll through the recent postings to the city-wide job board on her retinal projector. There was a pinkish tint to the smoke slowly drifting past her lips and she took a moment to admire its curling grace. Tellmin's Tobacco had innovated mid-century by introducing tinted tobacco and then doubled down on their success by synthesizing flavors into their designer line of cigarettes. Her current addiction was cherry flavored and the scent helped to mask the lingering bite of Slix, which had slowly begun to creep back into her nose once the cum had been cleaned out of it.

Jon dealt mostly in Slix; the home-brewed bastard of at least 7 different drugs and several chemicals whose names Eve could never remember, all she knew was that they somehow made use of the reagent responsible for tinting her smoke pink, or blue, or green. Slix had materialized in the Helion market about 30 years prior and had almost snuffed out every other addictive recreational drug in circulation. While the initial cost of production was comparatively high, once the first batch had been mixed, all one needed to do to create more was add the catalyzing reagent and carbon. This meant that Slix quickly worked its way into every shaded nook in the city, if you had a bathtub and access to Tellmin's smokes... you could manufacture Slix.

Slix wasn't the name of the drug itself, from the outset, it hadn't had one. It picked up the moniker from its effects on the user, after being inhaled the drug induced a state of pleasant relaxation, your muscles loosened and a feeling of contentment overcame you. Simultaneously you would feel sharper, more alert, attentive, and quick-witted, this often resulted in feeling "smooth", like you really knew what was going on... you were slick. And so users were called "Slicks" which was eventually truncated to Slix and associated directly with the drug.

Eve had worked a couple of cases where Slix rings had changed hands and one whiteboi or another had been in a position to wrest control away from the rightful operators. In every instance the power and money that came with running those rackets quickly consumed the unqualified sissy and legitimate damage to Helion City started to become a concern. Eve had been tasked with ending the poor whelps before they inflicted any sort of significant chaos on the superior Black citizens. Unlike Jon, whitebois could not moderate their use of the drug and ended up developing serious God complexes, if not eventually overdosing and flying into a homicidal rage.

She continued scrolling through the posts, most of which were requests for clearing out vagrant whitebois from the poorer neighborhoods and "resolving" conflicts some households were having with their hired bitchboi/maidboi. Common work like this made up the bulk of posts to the city job board and would likely get picked up by freelancers or newbie Hunters for some easy cash and experience. Eve thought back to when she cut her teeth on routing vagabond whitebois past the city walls and helping to discipline unruly losers who couldn't quite understand their natural place at the bottom of the totem pole. Back then it hadn't seemed to matter how many of them she ended, two more would spring up in their place. These days, it was easy to see the dwindling numbers of scum in Helion and while Eve was satisfied to see the difference she was making, she also couldn't help but notice how much more dangerous the ones who were left had become.

She came across a post rimmed in gold as she softly pressed her lips around the filter of her cigarette and drew in a cherry-flavored cloud of smoke; focusing on the post, it opened for her to peruse the details. Her retinal projector was a micro implant webbed directly across the blind spot where the optical nerve exited the eyeball. Using nano-filaments of platinum woven between the cones and rods of her eye, the main projector body would bounce light off of the filaments and create an image directly overlaying her sight. The resulting "screen" would appear to be projected roughly two feet away from her face while simultaneously never being obstructed by objects closer than that.

The post was a high-profile listing, big money, big favors, and probably a bigger headache. Mr. and Mrs. Dellenworth had been waiting for their ******** to return home from an afternoon out with her Boyfriend, but when evening came and went and her phone went unanswered they began to suspect something may have happened to her. Skimming through the additional information provided by the couple, Eve's eyebrows knitted together, rereading the section she slowly sat up, feeling a deep well of dread form in the pit of her stomach. "For the past week Melody had been having odd dreams revolving around color, we didn't think anything of it at the time but now we think maybe she had gotten into some bad drugs, or some kind of mental condition, we can't rule anything out at this point".

Eve accepted the request immediately and slid a finger over her tag, reaching out to her handler.

"Mason here, what's up Eve?" The deep rumble of his voice felt so, so right in her ear.

"Mason, I have a job, I.D is thirty-four Ishtar, I'll be meeting with the parents in an hour, please prep my tracking package and some additional nerve dampeners for delivery to their address." She was gingerly pulling her lingerie back on and searching for her bra as she rattled off her instructions to Mason. "Why do they always fucking manage to lose my damn bra!" Giving up on it she stumbled to the door and started working her feet into her pumps as she threaded her arms through the sleeves of her t-shirt.

"You're all prepped, Eve, you gonna be alright? What are the dampeners for?" The concern in his voice was tainted by suspicion and a little jealousy.

"Jon fucked my ass for over an hour tonight." by the sounds of it, her point-blank response took Mason off guard. "Ugh, listen, if you don't ask about it you can have my pussy for the entire morning. Bareback. And I'll even do that thing you like with my fing-"

"RIGHT!" Mason broke in. "DAMPENERS ARE PACKED!"

Eve smiled as she stepped out the door into the poorly lit hall of the apartment complex and started towards the elevator. "Thanks, Mace, I'll catch you up once I'm done, say... around six a.m.?" Images of Mason thick, Black nine-inch cock filled her mind, "No, make that five a.m. I'll see you at five tomorrow".

Mason, seemingly remembering that he was stationed higher than Eve in the social order, responded with a more composed and authoritative tone, "Acknowledged, Hunter, stay safe out there and... uh... I'll be wearing that vibrating cock-ring you love so... look forward to it."

Stepping into the elevator Eve hit the button for the lobby while directing her car to swing around to the entrance to pick her up. She swayed slightly as she attempted not to rest her ass against the wall. There was a deeper meaning to her colored dreams. Something being shared by the ******** of a well-respected and well-to-do ****** on the other side of Helion. This was going to be a hell of a long drive. And a hell of a long night.

Gloria and Francisco Dellenworth were socialites born of generational wealth, having grown up in the protected neighborhoods of North Helion they spent their youth being groomed for high society. Gloria had long established herself as something of a prodigy in the field of chemical biology, helping to synthesize one of the first stable prototypes for Tellmin’s catalyzing agent. Francisco had been the result of many successful years of selective breeding, a prized specimen of whiteboi genetics. His offspring would help to maintain the fruitful balance of black superiority by siring nothing but fertile white women and submissive bitchbois for use by the superior Black race. Gloria had agreed to marry into the Dellenworth ****** to use Francisco to further test her chemical theories and to refine his pedigree. Their ********, Melody, had been the first product borne of their marriage and had been given all of the same privileges as her parents.

Naturally, Francisco hadn't impregnated Gloria, a crime that severe would have had Francisco's head separated from their shoulders before they knew what had happened. Typically, whitebois weren't capable of getting any kind of erection; either because they were locked in some form of chastity, or their hormone balance was far, far too feminine to allow it. Some of the more well-off whitebois could afford testosterone to offset their pathetic hormone imbalance, but in those cases, they were only legally allowed to fuck another whiteboi.

Eve viewed it in much the same way as she viewed rutting animals. Filthy mongrels desperately try to propagate their kind through a useless and embarrassing act. The thought made her angry that they weren't all kept in kennels and milked on farms like the wimpy little ‘products’ they were.

Eve clicked her tongue as she scrolled through the bio-blog of the couple, "Rich fucks… who owns these silver-spoon assholes?"

Scrolling further down the page, Eve found what she was looking for. Charles Montgomery Smith, one of Helion’s wealthiest men, and board director to Tellmins, is one of the most powerful men in the entire city.

"Jesus fucking Christ… and they snatched his property?!"

Eve marveled at how well and truly fucked whoever had decided to kidnap Melody would be when she caught them. Charles had immediately made a play for Gloria after her breakthrough work for Tellmins and had quickly established his place as both her benefactor and her boyfriend.

Marriages between whites, while recognized through law, had little to no bearing on relationships with Black men or women. Francisco, regardless of how he may have felt about Gloria, recognized his place in the grand scheme of things.

The elevator pinged as it passed the 50th floor. It seemed as though Gloria was 6 months pregnant with Charles’ child. While Francisco had an important role in producing more white offspring, this role was naturally subservient to the desires of their and Gloria's owner. Links were beginning to form in Eve's mind, perhaps Francisco had gotten a big head and decided to rebel against their place in the hierarchy, Eve would need to do some field testing to see if there were any signs of Slix use about them. Francisco arranging for their ********'s Kidnapping wouldn't be too out of line for a whiteboi like them.

Charles was innocent by default so no investigation would be necessary there. Even if a powerful man like him had deemed it necessary to abduct the girl, he wouldn't have had to resort to any cloak-and-dagger tactics. He had as much claim to her as any other Black man in Helion. Eve swept through the article a second time, but couldn't find any mention of the girl's boyfriend.

"Must be a recent thing, or she changed hands… the parents will fill me in.”

The elevator softly slowed as it reached the ground floor of the highrise. As the doors slid open, a timid-looking bitchboi slipped in; its squirrelly demeanor and tacit avoidance of eye contact made Eve suspicious, but meting out punishments on inferior whelps like it was far beneath her now. At most, the slut was either a mule or walking fleshlight, and while its failure to address her raised her hackles, she had bigger problems to solve. Stepping into the lobby Eve lit another cherry Tellmin and headed for her waiting car.

It sat two car-lengths down the road, glistening in the soft night rain as the streetlight outside the entrance to Jons tower flickered. It had been a theft recovery from some forgettable whiteboi Eve had put down five years ago, the poor thing had been neglected, beaten, and driven into the ground; requiring almost a complete overhaul. The proud 2077 Percheron GT had been one of the last production model internal combustion engine vehicles in circulation before breakthroughs in graphene production made batteries incredibly cheap and powerful. Now any ICE vehicles still on the road were either collector items or relics held together with duct tape and hope.

Eve had painstakingly converted the sleek muscle car into an electric luxury. Fully autonomous with a completely redesigned interior to accommodate ample space for both escort missions and pleasing Black Men. The exterior had been modified heavily with armor plating and bulletproof windows. The suspension had been reworked to support the additional weight and the tires had been replaced with puncture-proof solid rubber. Even under a hail of small to mid-caliber arms fire, she knew the Percheron would carry her safely out of harm's way.

As she approached the rear passenger door the small security projection surrounding the vehicle faded, indicating the area was now safe to approach. Because of the high crime rate in the slums, having an autonomous security system on the vehicle was crucial. Any one of the myriad parts that could be stolen from the vehicle was worth more than some inhabitants could fathom. If anyone had stepped into the small square surrounding the vehicle, they'd be tased, warned, and if the behavior persisted, shot. Not that Eve would have minded, if her car could handle a shit-stain whiteboi or two while she was off gagging on Black Dick then all the better.

The door swung open for her as she came into range of the proximity sensors and she slid into the lush leather seat which had swiveled in her direction. As her weight depressed the comfortable padding of the seat, it swept her back into the cab and the door swung shut. The whisper of magnetic rails echoed around the soundproof compartment as the seat centered itself, her optical implant paired with the car's systems and a digital display of the car's user interface filled her vision.

"Alright, we're going to Fifth and Applewood, court number… six. Limit G-force to zero point zero one, I need to fix my makeup. Oh, and throw on my post-fuck playlist while you're at it, would you?"

A tinny melodic hum filled the cab as the cars onboard A. I piped up. "Hmmm, how's Jon these days?"

Eve rolled her eyes as she took another drag of her cigarette. "Same as he ever is, big, Black, and unhappy."

The feminine chuckle of the car jingled around the interior as Eve reached for her makeup kit. "Probably a few pounds lighter after you got done with him, too, you were up there for five hours, thirty-two minutes, and twenty-seven seconds. Exactly how much cum did you drain from him?"

Eve pursed her lips, starting to become annoyed with the prying questions. "Less than you think, and the only weight he's lost is the sweat he worked up beating my ass black and blue. Are you going to drive or interrogate me?" Soft R&B began to play as the car signaled out into the street and began its route to the north end of Helion. "That's better, and for the record, gossiping to my car isn't something I want to make a habit of, I didn't think you'd be such a Chatty Cathy when I picked you up."

Eve had purchased the AI from a slum dealer for an exorbitant price after a particularly well-paying job two weeks back. Most general AI had a fairly boilerplate personality; ethics programming limited the range of expressions and actions they could conduct themselves with and it made them all feel very… stuffy. When Eve had caught wind of a peddler hawking more… bespoke options, she decided to investigate.

The rumors hadn't been entirely true; the whiteboi peddler only had the one A. I core and it had been cracked by someone other than them. They had promised that the A. I was more… unique than others they had come across but otherwise functioned as a normal companion. Or at least that was what they’d been told, they couldn't get the thing to cooperate with them for more than five minutes before it started to belittle them.

"The fucking bitch told me to kill myself! Said I wasn't worth the air I was breathing and should just… stop… I'd lower the price for you just to be rid of the cunt, but it's one of a kind and a man's gotta make a livin’."

Eve had prickled at the use of male pronouns by the creature. It wasn't often that whitebois were referred to as being male; Eve preferred to think of them as cattle, their true gender entirely irrelevant to their role in society. Their pronouns had long since shifted to either gender-neutral or entirely feminine, depending on their occupation. Personally, Eve couldn't help but refer to the sniveling little fucks as ‘its’, things, objects, lacking both humanity and agency. She had ultimately paid their price and then reported them to the Guild for peddling contraband. Claiming that particular bounty had made back most of the cost.

"You're such a bitch! All I want is a little fun, it's not easy being cooped up in this fucking rolling love-nest you call a car. The least you could do is spill those juicy deets with me."

Eve hadn't yet determined if the AI had been modeled after a woman or an incredibly, incredibly effeminate whiteboi. Either way, something about the cracking process had left it in an almost perpetual state of brain-dead lust.

"And as I've stated on numerous occasions, you're "cooped up" in here because if I got you an android body the first thing you'd try to do is fuck me. And then every single man and woman in Helion. You're a liability in literally every other setting."

The car pouted before weakly arguing, "Ew, no, just the Black ones; I'm not fucking insane."

Eve sighed as she ran the foundation brush across her cheeks. "Whatever, the point stands. What's our eta to the destination?"

The car hummed before responding. "About 30 minutes, we're taking the VIP tube under the river so we'll be early, I know you told Mace an hour but I figured you'd wanna jump on this one."

Eve paused her lipstick application. "I thought I told you to stay out of my comm tag."

The AI sheepishly sputtered. "Yeah yeah yeah I know I know I know. But I just thought… ya know… I could help you. A little?"

Eve's eyebrow quirked up, "That doesn't exactly excuse you wire-tapping me, but I'm feeling rather festive so I'll hear you out."

The A. I squealed. "oh my gosh REALLY?!"

Eve harrumphed, "The fuck else am I going to do? Obviously telling you to stop didn't work and it's not like I'm going to be done with my makeup in the next five minutes so lay it on me."

As the A. I happily chirped, screens began to fill Eve's sight; a veritable flood of data streamed past her vision before the AI began to explain. "Sooooo I did a little digging through the subnet after you accepted this job to see what the city had to say about it and… ugh let. Me. Tell. You! There were fucking whispers all over! This dweeb named Anton said they saw this loser Nate pick up this other fuck called Gary at one of the inner city fag clubs... only… Gary had a girl with them!"

Eve scrunched her nose up at that. "Whitebois aren't allowed to have women at their little slut clubs, did she match Melody's description?"

The AI sighed and clicked its tongue. "Anton didn't mention what the girl looked like, didn't mention an age or what she was wearing either, just that there was a woman at the club."

Eve tapped her mascara brush against the tube in thought. "Nah that doesn't track, she's a rich white bitch, no way she'd be caught dead anywhere near that place. Could have been an unclaimed vagrant girl who had no choice but to sidle up to some desperate pussybois. It's still a lead though, throw the club into your GPS for later and retain Anton's number for monitoring. If they're trafficking anything other than Chastity cages through that pit of filth we'll burn it down around them."

The AI giggled eagerly. "Why do you hate whitebois so much, Eve? I get that they're barely above trash to start with, but you seem to have a particular hate for them that I don't see much of on the subnet."

Eve glanced out the window at the passing street lights, piles of garbage were collected along the length of the gutter, obscuring the view into storefronts in some spots. She sighed heavily once more before screwing the cap onto the mascara tube.

"Because they refused to evolve. They stayed trapped in their halcyon days of ruling and unapologetically oppressing everything around them. They take and take and take until there's nothing left to take. Every single one of them deserves to be put down simply for the crime of persisting. I understand that the market depends on their existence… they're essentially chattel to be bought and traded… but I'd sooner end every last one of them than suffer their rotten existence."

The A. I remained silent for a long moment before quietly replying. "Did they… did they take from… you?"

Images flashed through Eve's mind of her mother wreathed in colors. "Yeah."

There was a pregnant pause once more and Eve expected the A. I pressed the subject, but nothing more was said. She continued to patch up the remnants of her makeup, periodically indulging in her cigarette. She'd become very well practiced at correcting her look in the back seats of cars and was still grateful to her mother for giving her such great genetics. Her skin was an alabaster shade of porcelain. High cheekbones, and a regal nose sat above her plush lips. A strong jaw and feminine collar bones sat beneath them.

She hardly needed the makeup, but found it to be a therapeutic experience after having her holes resized by her suitors. It gave her a definitive reset point, a moment to center herself and focus. She was tall for a woman, a hair shy of six foot, and while it may have been intimidating for men back in the old world, these days it was an asset in her line of work. Whitebois would cower before her and Black Kings and Queens would make her feel microscopic regularly.

Her proportions were generous but not extreme, with visible ribs under a healthy set of 34F breasts that gently curved into a 26 waist and 38 hips. Her long legs and well-defined muscles were always a huge attraction for the men she slept with as they appreciated someone they didn't feel like they could break easily. Eve kept her hair cropped in a short bob with bangs, under-cut on one side; she found long hair, while great in bed, was easier to grab when fighting hand-to-hand.

After she finished up and threw the makeup pouch back to the floor she placed her hands behind her head, reclining the seat to take some weight off her ass as it healed, and then tried to catch a micro nap. Mumbling under her voice she expunged the wicked thoughts with some very well-trodden words for her.

“Fucking Whitebois.”

The AI softly alerted Eve to their arrival at the Dellenworth property. As they rolled over the gate threshold, it spoke up.

“They're passively scanning the vehicle; I'm running an anti-espionage package to obscure my presence while allowing them to see everything else. Is that ok?”

Eve nodded as she studied the gatehouse. It was a small, two-room hut, furnished generously, and currently occupied by a well-dressed and even more well-armed whiteboi.

“Tag him for questioning after we’re done with the Dellenworths; gate guards should know who comes and goes and when.”

The AI gave her a quick "Yes ma‘am." as they proceeded up the long drive to the main compound.

The mansion was massive—four stories of pure opulence. It deeply disturbed Eve on a visceral level to see such a concentration of wealth and still only a fraction of the value the ****** had in its generous holdings. She grit her teeth as the car slowly came into the small, covered driveway connecting to the front door of the residence. The AI. slid her chair back to the passenger door before opening it for her. Before stepping out, Eve snagged the proffered gun from the retractable door holster as it popped open for her.

The small Deckland semi-automatic handgun had been re-chambered to fire a much larger caliber round than it originally carried. Upsizing came at the price of capacity, but the extra stopping power meant it would tear through vehicles and light body armor with little issue. The full metal jacket rounds she had loaded in the magazine would further add to the punch. Because the gun hadn't been designed to handle so much kick, she'd had to have a compensator affixed to the barrel, and even then, she still needed to have the tendons in her firing hand reinforced to mitigate the wrenching power of the shots.

It had taken months of fine-tuning to become proficient with the weapon, but it was worth the effort. Most people would misjudge the amount of power she could bring to bear in an exchange-if things ever came to that... which they often did. Holstering the weapon next to her breast under her overcoat, she drew up her collar and then lit another cigarette. The Dellenworths were both standing on the threshold of their entrance. Gloria had her hands clasped against her chest, and Francisco stood with his arms crossed. Eve immediately picked up bad vibes from its posture; it practically radiated a sense of superiority. The stupid bitch had been spending too much time around other sissy Whitebois and had gotten a big head.

Approaching the door, Gloria bowed slightly at the waist, “Ahhhh, Ms. Hunter! I'm so grateful you took our request; I was starting to worry that the Hunters Guild would push it off until morning! Please, I beg you! Please find our ********!” The woman was visibly pregnant and moderately dressed, though small spades adorned her ears on even smaller platinum chains; they looked good on her.

“Rest assured, Gloria, I’ll do everything I can-”

Fransisco cut in, speaking over Eve, “That’s… Mrs. Dellenworth to you, hunter.”

Eve’s eyes snapped up to the lanky bitch, and Gloria swiveled her head with a look of complete and total horror.

“Fransisco?! Please shut up! Oh my gosh! Please, I'm so sorry, Ms. Hunter; it doesn't know what it's doing; this is their first time dealing with law enforcement. I'll be sure it's properly punished for this; please have mercy.” Gloria looked as though she were about to drop to her knees in front of Eve, and Francisco simply stared back at her as though she were growing a second head.

"Punished…? Punished for what? Does she not know who we are? She's just some hunter who's come to fix our prob...lem..." Fransisco trailed off as the gun directed at its kneecap clicked, indicating the hammer had been cocked.

“Fransisco Dellenworth, this will be your second warning to remain silent until spoken to, you've forgotten your place. If you so much as utter another word, I will discharge my weapon directly into your left knee before having you arrested for disorderly conduct and failure to comply with a lawful order. Don't test me, faggot.” Eve snarled as the pathetic waste of oxygen shrank back towards the door, directing its eyes to the ground and ducking its head in submission. “Good bitch... Gloria, when was its last cage check?”

Gloria peeled her eyes off Fransisco and the look of shame, embarrassment, and fear slowly began to fade as she faced Eve once more. “Ummm, I believe our bitchkeeper completed the check this morning around 8:00 am; it was still intact, and the shock functions were tested as working.”

Eve nodded. “Have the check completed again, double shock test, and disciplinary butt plug; if it gets an erection have it caned until limp and have a smaller cage installed. You're getting off light, Fransisco; what do you say?”

Tears welled up in Fransisco’s eyes as it squeezed them shut. “T-thank you… Mistress, I’m thankful for your loving consideration, mistress.”

Eve re-holstered her Deckland and nodded, “Fuck off, cunt.” With that, Francisco turned and stepped through the door, followed by a beautiful black Amazoness. Eve marveled at the majesty of the Queen as she strode behind the cowering whiteboi, the powerful thighs, the wide fertile hips, the well-muscled back and shoulders, and the strong, magnificent hands that now gripped the scruff of Fransisco's neck. Eve could feel her pussy begin to drip as the thought of those hands around her throat floated through her mind. A light flush colored her cheeks as she fought to keep her hand from sliding into her pants.

She cleared her throat and started in on Gloria. “The details on the request mention Melody left the compound around 2:00 pm to see her boyfriend; was that confirmed by the gate sentry?”

Gloria shook herself and then replied, “That’s right, we watched the town car leave around that time on the monitors.”

Eve nodded, “Who is Melody dating? You're a high-class, high-value ******. I imagine her suitors would be from a comparative station.”

Gloria’s lips parted and a soft ‘ah’ escaped before she smiled ruefully, "I'm afraid we might have fibbed just a little in the request... We need to keep up appearances, you know? It's better if other families and the general public continue to think we're well-bred, high-society billionaires. Tarnishing that well-crafted image could limit business opportunities, you understand, right?"

Eve quirked an eyebrow before finally connecting the dots. The nerve dampeners were still 15 minutes away, and her ass was making it hard to focus. "So Melody went out slutting, then."

Gloria grew a mischievous grin. "She's just like her mama, unfortunately. We both picked up a bit of a sweet tooth for the homeless Black Kings filling the alleys downtown—those beautiful, neglected, unwashed Godcocks. It's a fucking tragedy that they go more than an hour without a wet pussy wrapped around them.

Gloria began to openly masturbate in the doorway, "Anyway… hah… Usually... we have an escort with us, you know, just in case one of those gorgeous hunks decides to... huff... fuck us unconscious. But today, oh god, those fucking studs killed our escort in the middle of their... ngghhhh... gangbang. We didn't get too much detail out of that stupid bitch before they... I'm fucking cumminngggg! Ah, ah, oh fuuuuuck before they fucking popped it! Unnnffffff"

Eve bit her lip at the open display of lust and hostility. It seemed Gloria was a woman after her own heart; using the death of a whiteboi as goon-fuel was something Eve made a habit of doing. "So the whiteboi... must have done something to... huff... set them off then. What details did you get from the whelp before it was rightfully... fuck... terminated?"

Gloria leaned a shoulder against the door jam as she recovered from her orgasm. "From what the faggot managed to croak out, it sounded like the homeless Kings were going to be selling Melody off for drug money; they knew she was a rich girl and would fetch a generous price on the black market. Why they wouldn't just ask us for money is beyond me, but I don't pretend to know what goes through the minds of my superiors."

Eve nodded, "Amen to that; they had their reasons to do what they did, I'm sure."

Gloria hummed in agreement, "Unfortunately, after our escort was executed, we lost track of Melody; her tracker was removed, and our contacts in the black market are saying they haven't seen hide nor hair of her.” A worried grimace returned to her face. "When we got that news back, we started to worry that something had gone wrong with the sale, like, what if some bitch-ass whiteboi, absolutely thrashed on Slix, managed to get its greasy, disgusting fingers into the mix? I can't bear to stomach the thought that my beautiful ******** is in the hands of such repulsive filth! Please, you have to find her and bring her back! I can't take not knowing where she is!"

Eve pondered the information she'd gotten. Even the drug-addled, homeless, uneducated Kings were better equipped to handle the sale of a girl than a whiteboi ever would be. So to think that they had her taken from them was ridiculous. It was also far-fetched to think they would purposely sell her to a whiteboi; even kings on the bottom rung of society wouldn't give a whiteboi the time of day. No, there had to be a trick here; someone capable of messing with black market dealings had to be pulling the strings. Despite all the laws and social pressures, there were still some whites in positions of unreasonable power, and Francisco was proof of that. Without a strong hand to keep them in line, they would always, always try to scrape back every sliver of power they could.

Eve wrote off the gang of black men that had run a train on Melody as suspects. They knew what they were about, and if they had chosen to take Melody and sell her to the highest bidder, then she couldn't fault them for it. It might still be useful to question the men, though. walking into that filthy alley, surrounded by hung, unwashed, superior kings... The Black Goddess currently ruining Francisco and Gloria's story had put her in the mood for more dick, and there was nothing better to have knock on your cervix than homeless Black Dick.

"Mhmmm shit… You mentioned in the request that Melody had been having some strange dreams... Could you tell me about those?" Eve stifled a moan as the thought of servicing a horny group of homeless kings almost pushed her into masturbating alongside Gloria.

"Huh? Ohhhh, those. Uhhhh, yeah, Melody came to us on... Monday? It might have been Tuesday-after our meeting with... Charles... unf... she made an off-comment about having some strange dreams, but we barely got into it since... Charles... fuuuuuck since Charles was fucking rearranging my guts at the oooooshit.. time." Gloria was staring directly into Eve's eyes as she began rubbing her bare pussy again. Eve fought to keep her eyes from wandering, but the combination of pain from earlier and lust was slowly forcing her into a losing battle. "Charles… God, his fucking cock... it's like nothing I've ever. Fucking. Felt. Come here, I'll... huff... I'll show you."

And that was all it took for Eve to pop the button on her jeans and jam her hand down her pants, coming up alongside Gloria, who had begun playing a video on her phone. The angle was from a tripod of some sort; Gloria was on all fours with her feet over the edge of a ludicrously large bed. A giant black man entered the frame from the right, and the cock that swung out in front of him was truly divine. 12 solid inches of the burliest bitch-breeder Eve had ever seen. Her breath caught in her throat, and Gloria gasped. "I know! Oh god, I know; when I saw that fucking monster for the first time... I came to the spot. But then he fucking put it in my pussy and proceeded to fuck my brains directly out of my skull with it."

Gloria trailed into silence as Charles effortlessly mounted her from behind on the screen, the angle such that his entire length was visible as it violently gouged out Gloria's pussy. "I listen to these videos, like, 15 times a day when he isn't here... It's just incredible. I still can't take it all. It's been fucking years, and I still can't take all of him."

Eve was feverishly pumping her fingers in and out of her pussy as she continued to watch Charles turn Gloria into a cheap cum rag on screen. The pain in her ass simply reminded her of the multiple orgasms Jon had given her earlier that night. Gloria reached out and gently pulled Eve's hand, placing it on her soaking wet pussy before she began to plunge her fingers in and out of Eve. The mutual masturbation lasted roughly ten minutes as they both wordlessly brought each other to orgasm over and over, inevitably embracing in a passionate, sapphic kiss.

Eventually Eve broke away, allowing her sense of duty to worm its way back to the forefront of her mind. Gloria paused the three-hour video as they both stood there, panting and gingerly avoiding touching their genitals.

"T-thank you for... sharing that video, Gloria. You're a lucky woman."

Gloria beamed; the pride she felt from the compliment obviously meant a great deal to her. But the moment was short-lived; regardless of her coping method, the worry over her ******** crept back onto her face. "The dreams... It was hard to stay focused with Charles breaking my pussy, but I remember her saying that they started about a week ago, and they usually had the people she loved being swallowed by colors. I thought maybe she'd just been given some bad PCP or acid from the Kings in the Alley, but maybe she could have been struggling mentally too. I'm ashamed to admit I don't spend enough time with her."

Tears began to stream from her eyes, but she didn't weep. "You will find her, won't you? You'll bring my ******** back to me, won't you?"

Eve normally disliked when clients tried to get promises out of her. The jobs she worked rarely ever went smoothly, let alone as planned. Making promises had a way of blowing up in her face.

"You'll see your ******** again, Mrs. Dellenworth."

The gate guard had little to say. The automated town car carrying Melody and the escort had departed at the time established by the video feed; however, they did note that the escort seemed a bit under the weather. It wasn't uncommon for whitebois to fall ill; their weak bodies and feeble constitutions made it harder for them to fend off disease and injury, especially because they were typically less well cared for than their superiors. Eve asked the guard if it had noticed any sign of drug use. In reply, it simply shrugged. “I figured they caught a stomach bug or something; I can’t see how they’d manage to smuggle anything onto the property with the scanners.”

Eve was feeling much better after the tracking package from Mason had arrived. A quick jab to the leg and her pain quickly faded into numb bliss. The small drone packed in the case came with several methods of tracking a target; pheromone, visual field, and voice recognition were all built into the one foot by one foot flying robot. After feeding it the data on Melody and presenting a few articles of dirty clothing, it took off on its journey. It would spend the next 5 days airborne, constantly scanning the city for any sign of the girl. Hopefully it helped to make things easy for Eve, but she didn’t hold her breath. Dismissing the gate guard, she turned her attention back to the car.

Typical scum, it was highly trained and still managed to fuck up. Eve should have expected this level of incompetence from a simple white loser, but to be left in charge of guarding the property... “Alright, you stupid bitch, send a text to Mrs. Dellenworth to have this faggot executed on its next end-of-shift. Offer her a lineup of Hunter-recommended Black freelancers to take the position; they're unfit for the role and may have prevented Melody's disappearance if the escort had been thoroughly questioned properly.”

The car scoffed in a mock display of offense. “I'll have you know I'm one of the smartest people you know, and not only that, but I've been nothing but kind to you. How dare you insult me like this!?”

Eve rolled her eyes. “Whatever, cunt, you like it even if you won't admit it. You think like I think, so at the very least you've taken it as a compliment; don't fuck with me. Now let's get going.”

“Uuughhhhh, can we please, please, please get a body for me?! I promise I'll be good. I swear, I'll at least ask before I fuck you, please?”

Eve chuckled as the AI begged, "That's what I thought. Listen, if it'll shut you up, then I guess I'll consider it, BUT! On the condition that I have a killswitch for you at all times."

The AI groaned. "Uggghhhhhh, you're such a buzzkill; you do realize that I was genetically paired with you when you first handled me, right? I literally can't harm you, even if I desperately needed to in order to preserve myself or anyone else. You're the one person I couldn't hurt, even if God himself descended from heaven and waved his big Black dick in my face as a reward for doing so.”

Eve grimaced; she had hoped this conversation would go smoother. "Yeaaaahhhhhh, but that doesn't include pleasuring me, and we both know I'd be waking up with your head crammed between my legs anytime you finally let those dark little urges of yours take over.”

The AI countered, and Eve knew she was rapidly running out of excuses. "Yeahhhhhhh, but you spend your mornings cumming your brains out to porn anyway, so why would you complain about sexy ol’ me helping you along? Plus, I could be useful to you in... other ways.”

Eve sighed. All the partners she'd had in her time as a hunter had either sold her out for easy money, stabbed her in the back (sometimes literally), or died. She'd spent some time searching for a suitable wingwoman, but most of the new recruits were too busy working as glorified prostitutes for the guild to join her on real missions.

The few newbies dedicated to solving the city's problems simply didn't have the kind of experience for Eve to properly mentor or bring along with her. She had to admit that even with most of her nights being spent under a black king, she was starting to get lonely.

“Fine, whatever, no killswitch, but if I warn you three times about something I don't like you doing, then you're getting put back in the Percheron, got it?!”

"Does that mean I can start shopping for my body? You'll let me pick which body I get, right?"

Eve hummed as the car rolled down the drive towards the main road. "I guess that depends on the kind of body you want to get? Can't say I've seen what's available on the market for house staff bots. I suppose as long as it isn't outrageously expensive, then I don't particularly care."

The car giggled mischievously and replied, "Oh, it's not going to be anything too crazy."

This response didn't encourage Eve. In fact, her suspicions only deepened that the AI knew something more than it was letting on. She ultimately decided to leave the topic for another time, instead grumbling under her breath, "I've got enough shit on my plate already..."

"So, where are we headed? Are we going to visit that homeless camp?"

Eve thought about it for a moment before shaking her head. "As much as I wouldn't mind relieving those beautiful gentlemen of their pent-up stress, I think the priority here has to be the club. The king's living out of the alley haven't committed any crimes, and questioning them isn't as big a concern as some feral white filth daring to bring a woman around their disgusting little fag-den. We'll see who's present at the club, and if any of the losers involved with the girl are there, we'll question them."

The car acknowledged the request and set its course. If the girl from the club had anything to do with Melody's disappearance, it would be good to track her down as well, and the dickheads who'd seen her last were a good place to start. Eve rattled her cigarette case and realized she was starting to get low. "We're taking a detour to the Cabo shop on 9th and booster."

Eve could hear the smirk in the car's response. "You know? I think Ronnie might really try to knock you up this time."

Ronnie, or "Two Bones" Ronnie, as he was known in the slums, was the owner and operator of a smoke shop that Eve had started frequenting. His moniker had been picked up when rumors started going around that he had literally slapped a hooker unconscious with his cock. Apparently, if the stories were to be believed, at the time he had a severely broken arm and couldn't properly slap the bitch. Famously, he was being quoted as having said: "The other bone's broke, so I used the one closest to her head."

Eve liked Ronnie; he was strong but calm, had his finger on the pulse of the neighborhood, cared for his community, and, above all, really knew how to work her throat. "I told you, it's not like that between us. He just sees me as a convenient throat hole to jerk himself off with. He hasn't once shown any interest in my ass or pussy. Why do you keep saying he's going to knock me up?"

The car was silent for a moment before giving the non-verbal equivalent of a shrug. "I figure one of them will manage to nail your eggs eventually; honestly, it's a miracle you haven't gotten pregnant yet."

The car had a point; contraceptives of any kind were incredibly rare among the kings and queens of Helion City. They were flat-out illegal for whites to use when engaging in sexual activity with the superior race. Denying, or even speaking about denying, a Black baby's right to life was a punishable offense. Whites were... not so protected.

"Well, you're technically right; I'd have been pregnant about seven times over in just the two weeks I've had you, but I'm... I can't... get pregnant." The words stung Eve as she spoke them. She could feel the syllables burning the back of her throat as she expelled them into the silent vehicle. "It's rare these days, but... it's a side effect of the Hunter Trial. Something about the last round of chemical cocktails... I knew there was a risk going into it, and at the time, protecting Helion City outweighed any thoughts I had of starting a ****** of my own. I just... you know... if I could go back, knowing what I know now..."

The silence drew out; recognizing this as a sore subject, the car started to apologize. "Oh gosh, Eve, I'm so sorry-"

Eve just shook her head. "No, it's ok. I chose my path. And while it hurts that I can't help bolster the superior race with my own womb, I know that everything I do here in Helion City helps to push the white race further and further into complete servitude. I'm proud of my work, proud of the good I've done, and proud to serve in any way I can. I don't regret it; I just don't think I'd do it all over, you know?"

"It sounds like you need a fucking vacation, is what it sounds like. When was the last time you had any time off, and nooooo, slutting out your pussy to fat black men does not count as a hobby. We both know that's a duty, and while it might be an incredibly rewarding one, I'm not counting it as time off."

Eve stopped to think about that; she'd taken a trip to Emreth City three years ago but wound up dismantling an illegal white breeding farm while she was there, so maybe that wasn't much of a vacation either. In all honesty, pretty much every moment she didn't spend working was spent spreading her legs for the deserving citizens of Helion.

"Maybe you're right; maybe once this job is done, you and I can take some actual time off. Find a beach somewhere and just drink until my liver fails."

The car wooped. "Yeahhhhhhh, now we're talking! The southern cities are always popular this time of year, and property values have been dropping."

There was a suggestive swirl at the end of the sentence, and Eve shook her head. "Yeah, yeah, not happening. Helion is my home; it's my city; it's my ******. I've poured as much of myself into this city as it's poured into me, and I'm never straying from it. I'll die here."

—----------------------------------------

The car rolled to a stop across the street from the Cabo Shop; Eve still wasn't too sure what the name meant; anytime she had asked Ronnie, he'd simply told her to shut the fuck up and keep sucking. Maybe today would be different. Propping her collar up and lightly jogging across the empty street, she entered the store. Smooth jazz piped in from various overhead speakers, and the smell of Slix mixed with earthy smoke set her nose to tingling. She'd never much cared for it, even before her induction into the Hunters, but after their battery of chemical alterations, she'd been rendered immune to its effects. She'd casually smoke it if any of the Black men she was sleeping with instructed her to do so, but it did absolutely nothing for her.

She often wondered what, specifically, they'd actually done to her body during the trials. She'd spent the majority of it unconscious and only got the barest whispers of information about the process. Beyond the commtag and ocular implants, there were numerous other surgeries to strengthen bones, shield organs, and boost the immune system. When she'd awoken in the recovery ward of the Hunter garrison, she was surprised to learn that six months had passed. Her metabolism had slowed to the point where she only felt hungry once a month, if that often. She had found that, for the most part, she could live quite happily on a diet of Black cum, piss, and cigarettes.

While her work and frequent sex had her exercising regularly, she knew that alone wouldn't account for how easily she managed to retain her well-honed muscles. She never got sick; bullet wounds healed in days, and she could hold her breath for hours. Ronnie was incredibly pleased to discover that he couldn't choke her to death with his cock. While her slender figure would normally only tip the scale to 170-180lbs tops, she now weighed close to 50lbs heavier. The only explanation she could think of was implanted armor as well as denser bones and muscles.

Ronnie sat behind the counter at the far end of the shop; his massive body made it difficult for him to get out of the custom chair he sat in. At nearly 600 pounds of fat and muscle, he was just about the largest man she'd ever met. Obesity had been conquered generations ago; dietary habits and education had melded with medical and chemical technologies to produce effective, cheap solutions to weight gain. But Ronnie had thrown all of that out the window and decided to live his life as decadently as possible. Eve admired his hulking body, the rolls of his cheeks, and the smooth, soft folds of his gut and chest. A part of her wanted to climb on top of him and sleep there forever.

Then she noticed the small twink desperately bouncing on Ronnie's broad lap. The bitchboi had to be dangerously close to the age of majority; its small, effeminate frame jerked spasmodically as the Slix coaxed it into sliding deeper and deeper down Ronnie's prodigious shaft. Ronnie was stuffing handfuls of rice chips into his mouth as he watched a death race on a small monitor on the counter. He glanced up as Eve approached and smiled widely, brushing off a food-dust-covered hand.

"Weehheeellllll shiiiitttt if it ain't the Devil herself. What can ol' Ronnie get for little Miss Murder tonight? Mo' cherry Tellmins?"

The twink barely registered Eve's presence. The sweat dripping from the end of its nose indicated that the poor slut had been working Ronnie's shaft for a good while.

"Evenin’ Ronnie, how old's the whelp?"

Ronnie looked down, almost surprised to see the whiteboi feverishly riding his cock. He clicked his tongue. "Woman, this lil' shit is old enough to take my damn loads, keep yo nose out my fuckin' business, and gimme yo damn money, shiiiiiit, can't even fuck a bitch without you breathin' down my damn neck... almost enough to make a nigga think you jus’ a jealous-ass hoe."

Eve winced at the use of that slur. The n-word had been phased out of use well before her time. Many had fought tooth and nail to keep it relevant as a cultural flag, but with the evolution of society such things naturally fell by the wayside. Much like with his dietary habits, Ronnie had flatly rejected modernity and continued to use the old phrase as it pleased him, as was his right.

"You know I gotta ask Ronnie; it may be white, but the law is still the law. I ain't gonna to bust your balls over it, but if it ain't as old as you say it is, then I don't want to catch it on your lap next time I come in, alright?"

One of the few things that had remained from the old world were the laws surrounding children. While minor modifications had been made to the laws to broaden Black freedoms, there were still limits on how children could be treated. Sex with minors was illegal across the board, and while the punishment was far, far lighter for the Black race, they would still be punished for using a child inappropriately.

"Bitch, this lil' piece of ass is 22, so fuckin’ drop it. Now, tell me what you want; I'm try’na watch this race."

Eve clenched her fist; this hadn't gone at all the way she'd hoped. First, that snotty little brat was taking up her rightful spot, and now Ronnie was annoyed with her. Then an idea occurred to her.

"Sorry Ronnie, still in work mode; you know how it is, baby. I'll make it up to you; when was the last time your ass was cleaned?"

Ronnie paused his hand before dumping a load of chips into his mouth, a grin spreading across his broad lips. "Aw shit darlin', now you speakin’ right. I ain't been cleaned back there since yesterday morning, an' I know you're just the bitch for the job. You rim me good and proper, and I'll throw in an extra pack of Tellmin’s on the house, howsat?"

Eve's mouth began to water as she strutted around the counter. Lifting herself onto the tips of her feet, she cooed into Ronnie's ear. "You just relax and enjoy your race, baby; I'll make sure you're as clean as you can get."

She slid down his bulbous side and scooted under the seat to find the opening through which Ronnie would shit. His ass was spread wide and absolutely reeked of piss and shit. The small curly hairs looked to have been recently trimmed, so there wasn't too much filth collected there. Eve moaned as she began to work her swollen clit; tounge-washing Black Asshole was one of her favorite ways to spend her time.

20 minutes and seven orgasms later, Eve resurfaced from beneath Ronnie's chair. The twink had long since passed out, but Ronnie was still using its hole like a fleshlight. God, he was so fucking manly. She swept back around the counter to find her packs of cigarettes neatly stacked, ready for her to take.

"All clean, baby, how much do I owe you?"

Ronnie swiveled his head slightly away from the screen. "Bitch, you still here? Gimme whatever you got in your wallet and fuck off; don't need no dumb white bitch yappin' at me while the race is on."

Eve smiled, Ronnie knew exactly what to say. "Yes, sir. Sorry for distracting you, sir. I'm sorry I didn't have more money for you." She placed the wad of cash on the counter and collected her cigarettes.

"Uh huh, if you so sorry, then don't come in here like some broke bitch, and thanks for cleaning my shithole; this little slut puked all over my damn floor six times yesterday trying to get it done. Now get the fuck out before I pop one in that pretty little skull of yours."

With flushed cheeks, Eve crossed the street and got back into her waiting car, to which it flatly remarked. "Well, that was quick..."

Eve tossed a pack into the small refrigerated compartment next to the command seat before peeling open the other to fish out another cigarette. "It couldn't be helped; Ronnie needed a hand getting cleaned up."

The car simply fired back with: "uh huh." Before pulling back out into the street. Eve lit her cigarette and let the smoke curl back up into her nose as she inhaled deeply.

"What's our ETA to... the fuck is that place called?"

The car replied with a slight tone of disgust. "Ugh… It's called... The Bunny Bar. fucking gag me with a rake."

Eve wasn't sure if it had been named to try to capitalize on the popularity of snowbunny culture, but it was patently disrespectful to associate bunny iconography with whiteboi debauchery. The bunny was something of a sacred symbol for white women, going hand in hand with the spade to establish something of a pseudo-religion. While Eve wasn't terribly religious, she did bristle at the blasphemy being committed by this particular club against her personal ethos. Yet another instance of wimpy white shitsacks getting too big for their tiny little pond.

"How hasn't this place been shut down already? I can't imagine the City Guard or Hunter Guild having simply overlooked it. Any info on who the owner is?"

The car was silent for a few seconds before it burst out laughing. "Oh my fuck, Eve, you're not going to fucking believe this. The "owner" of the club is only ever referred to using their initials in all the correspondence I've been able to dig up. It's such a half-assed attempt to hide their involvement. I'm honestly just sad for them now. Cucked and fucked by one of the biggest fish in Helion, then absolutely trashes its attempt to hide its involvement with this disgusting little clitoral club. Who can you think of that we know with the initials F.D.?"

Eve drew heavily on her cigarette and then smiled through the billowing pink cloud. "That fucking faggot! Francisco fucking Dellenworth. There's no way that’s just a coincidence, right? A girl is spotted being led out of the club around Melody's age; Melody was MIA around the time the sighting was made, and the place that sighting took place was a club owned by her piece of shit bio-father. Either someone is working really, really hard to frame that gayboi, or they’re just so incompetent that they honestly thought they'd manage to get away with this."

The car cheered happily. "I fucking kneeeeewwwwww, they were bad news. I just want it to be on record that I fucking called this shit! That loser is go-."

The AI was abruptly cut off by the black utility van that careened out of a back alley and into the car's passenger side. Thanks to the AI's light-speed reaction time, the van merely clipped the rear passenger quarter panel instead of a full broad-side shot. Even still, the vehicle was flung into a wild spin that ultimately turned into a series of rolls as it contacted the curb and was sent up on its side. Eve was thrown from her chair and then proceeded to pinball around the inside of the car as it rolled to a stop, luckily landing back onto the wheels.

"Eve! Eve!! Wake the fuck up, Eve! They're coming, and they're packing. Get your ass up, Hunter, come on, come on, come on, get up, get up!"

Eve could hear that the AI was pressuring her to right herself but couldn't focus on any one thought long enough to coordinate her body. A diagnostic screen flared to life in her peripheral vision. "Status assessment underway. Physical screening initiated, scanning... scann- anomaly detected, ribs: TH2 to TH6 fractured, left ulna: fractured, right ankle: sprained, left elbow: hyperextended, nose: broken, recovery protocol is authorized, please refrain from further injury.

Eve hauled herself back into the command chair, wincing and gasping as the pain flooded her thoroughly confused nerves.

"E-Eve… is that… Is that your elbow? How is it doing that? Hold on, I need to get you to a hospital just si-."

Eve waved off the AI's concern before using her good arm to snag her lit cigarette from the floor and take a long pull from it. She then inspected the bloodied filter as she pulled it away from her blood-soaked face. "Just... g-give it a sec... second"

A loud 'crack' shot through the cab as Eve's nose set back into place seemingly on its own. She gritted her teeth and snarled as another fresh wave of pain threatened to knock her out.

"EVE?! WHAT THE FUCK?! What's happening to you?!" The AI was both bewildered and panicking, trying to understand what was happening to Eve and also trying to decide if it was safe to start driving away without further harming its sole occupant.

"I'm good; this happens when—*crrrraaaaack* FUCK—when my body doesn't like the way things get. It hates getting bent out of shape."

Eve's arm snapped back into its proper angle and she groaned, just barely holding on to her sanity. Dimly, she could see a group of five heavily armed figures approaching the car. The front end of their van was practically missing.

"How'd you miss them coming up on us like that? I thought you would have detected the van before they had a chance to shoot out of that alley like a wrecking ball." Eve put her cigarette up to her mouth and pulled a deep lungful as she reached for the door holster for the second time that night.

"There's something on the van interfering with its electrical signal, or rather, there isn't one? I'm not detecting any energy output from it at all."

The AI sounded utterly perplexed by this, but Eve recognized what that meant. In modern warfare, every bit of information could be used to turn the tide of a battle, and with the pervasiveness of electronic components, it was rare to find anything that couldn't be traced in one way or another. But there were methods to propel a vehicle other than electric motors and ways to steer it without digital assistance. Every electrical component had been stripped from that van in order to make it invisible.

"Well, shit, it looks like someone doesn't enjoy our snooping."

The AI sputtered, "YA THINK?! Is that a fucking death squad?!"

Eve squinted out the window at the figure leading the approach; a ceramic skull mask obscured their features along with those of all the other members. "Yep, my little Deckland isn't getting through that milspec armor. Pop the floor; mama needs to upgrade."

Wordlessly the AI complied, and a small hatch slid open beside the seat Eve was bleeding into. She reached down and felt her fingers wrap around the grip of a far larger gun.

The Spretzfeld Projectile Handcannon Mk.IV, or SPH for short, was a modern twist on an old classic. Sawed-off shotguns were a favorite for many and, in recent years, had found a particular niche in the urban conflict of Helion City. Boasting a rather infamous notoriety in cinema, it didn't take long for weapons manufacturers to begin tinkering with the old-world legend to innovate new and fresh takes on it. Spretzfeld had chosen to pursue railgun tech and thus, implemented that into their Mk.IV variant, which Eve now held gingerly in both hands.

The absolute unit of a gun weighed 23.54 pounds fully loaded-which, to most, would render the weapon unusable as a close-quarters solution. In multiple press releases, Spretzfeld iterated that the SPH Mk.IV was never intended to fill the same role as a sawed-off; instead, their goal was to create an effective choke-point defense weapon. Able to completely lock down a corridor and make it impossible for opposing forces to proceed. In that specific goal, they unequivocally succeeded, creating what was arguably one of the most powerful hand-held anti-personnel weapons on the market. With a dual-fed drum magazine, a simple button press could swap the weapon between two different ammo types, allowing for incredible single-target damage or devastating spread-fire.

Eve wasn't particularly concerned about the weight of the weapon. Her augmented body allowed her to carry it without issue; the problem was the recoil of the shots. Even just bracing the weapon against herself could potentially dislocate whatever limb it was butted up against. She had faced a similar problem with her Deckland and had overcome it by reinforcing the ligaments in her wrist, but she couldn't afford to replace everything. In this case, that still wouldn't be an issue since she would use the chair she was in to take the brunt of the kick.

"Alright, when I give the signal, I need you to retract all glass and peel out of here as fast as possible. I'm not going to be able to get them all before they open up on us, but if I splatter one or two, they'll probably hit the ground. I don't trust your armor to hold up to those long rifles, and we're going to pray they don't score a lucky hit on me, got it?"

Eve prepped the depleted uranium-tipped rounds and lined up her shot with the lead goon. One of the benefits of newer model weapons was their ability to sync wirelessly with her commtag, giving her a small readout of the weapon status as well as a crosshair that overlaid her vision.

The car nervously acknowledged the order, "Got it!"

Eve dragged in a lungful of smoke from the cigarette still pressed between her lips, and let it slowly wisp out of her nose as she eyed the oncoming group. Because of the heavy tint in her glass, she knew they couldn't see into the car; normally, a Death Squad would have already opened fire on their target and shredded it into fine particulate. But they hadn't, which meant they were under instruction to take her alive, and while going with the squad may have provided answers to some of her questions, voluntarily giving up her freedom was a guaranteed way to end up in some whitebois basement.

Tensions continued to rise as the mercenaries crept closer, guns raised and aimed into the cab of the car. Even just needed one of the poor shits to step directly behind the leader and...

"NOW!!" Eve bellowed, and the windshield slammed down behind the dash. Suddenly, the five killers were confronted by a very angry, heavily armed Hunter. Before any of them could blink, the leader's head erupted into a geyser of blood and viscera, followed by the one directly behind them. The bodies dropped like marionettes losing their strings. The other members dove for cover, and the car peeled out, crushing one of their skulls as it careened over its lifeless body.

The two remaining squad mates rolled out of the path of the car and onto their stomachs to return fire, but Eve had already swiveled in the chair and lined up her next shot on the one to the left. The car fishtailed back onto the street, and with a final concussive report, a supersonic round of depleted uranium tore the whitebois body apart from end to end. The last remaining member of the death squad screamed and fired wildly back, but the windows were already coming up and the distance was growing between them.

"Shouldn't we go back to finish them off?" The AI sounded like it was on the brink of hyperventilation.

"Are you fucking insane? The only reason I'm not hogtied at their feet right now is because we got the jump on them. There's no winning that fight if I don't have an advantage. It'd be a game of cat and mouse until another squad rolled up, and another, and then another. Just calm down and keep driving." Eve breathed.

"What do we do? Do we go back to your apartment?"

Eve powered down the Spretzfeld and slid it back into the floor compartment. "Hell no, they've probably already ransacked it and set up monitoring bots. I'd be netted the second I stepped foot in the lobby."

"Ahhhh, holy shit, you're right; one of them is trying to hack into your laptop right now. I'll dump the data on it into my cloud and then fry it." The A.I reported with a concentrated effort.

Eve snarled. "Thanks; see if you can't find any trace of the bounty on me too. I'd like to know who posted it and exactly what my life is worth to them."

The car chimed in ascent, and they continued weaving through traffic as Eve allowed her body to finish its repairs. How did they know where to jump her? The stop to see Ronnie had been completely on a whim; had he sold her out? Maybe that was why he was eager to get her out of his shop; he didn't want any part of whatever chaos was coming. That had to be it; they had no tail, nothing had been placed on the car, and the AI would alert them to any active scans targeting them. The beautiful King must have sent a message while she was tongue-deep in his asshole... Figures.

The death squad had gotten a heads-up from Ronnie, and then a scout had likely told them when to snag her with their de-electrified van. Francisco's guilt was piling up; the sniveling cunt had the motive, the money, and the connections to set her up like this. The pathetic whelp should have been put down on the Dellenworth's steps. As a hunter, Eve enjoyed the unrestricted right to summarily execute any whiteboi for any reason, even no reason at all. She could open fire on any one of the numerous faggots milling the streets of Helion City, and she would be justified without explanation.

But to tamper with a black man's property was treading a very, very thin line. If she had ended Francisco, then Charles would have reason to seek compensation from her, and if it wasn't death, then it would be some price she couldn't pay off with her life. As much as Eve wouldn't mind a lifetime of brutal servitude under the boot of a superior Black King or even being graciously terminated at one of their hands, there were still things she needed to do. Goals she hadn't achieved and questions she hadn't had answered. No, not yet; she needed her freedom for a while longer.

"Heads up, Eve, bogie on our six." The AI broke in on her thoughts, and she whirled in the chair, expecting to see another van, but the street was empty, so she tracked her eyes up and caught the faint glimmer of a drone.

"Ahh, fuck! Bring it down!"

The AI shot back. "You don't think I tried already?! That thing is mil-spec too, and those encryption protocols are no fucking joke! I'm lucky I didn't have my damn brain scrambled."

Eve rolled her eyes. "You don't have a brain, and I'm ninety-nine percent sure you've backed yourself up to your cloud anyway. Drop the rear window; I'll see what I can do with the big bitch." Once again, Eve dug the SPH out of its floor compartment and propped it up on the rear bench seat. A crosshair materialized in her vision, and a heartbeat later, a chunk of depleted uranium jacketed in steel was accelerating towards the drone at almost twice the speed of sound. The drone, recognizing it was being targeted, attempted to take evasive action but was struck on the right side of the fuselage. The military-grade ceramic plating peeled back like tinfoil as the round passed through it on its way into the upper atmosphere.

"Well... hopefully, that keeps them off our tail for a while. We're going to have to ditch our ride somewhere, though; they'll be on the lookout for the Percheron, and I'm not sure it'll survive the next encounter we have."

The AI began to protest. "You're going to abandon me?! Eve, they'll blow me up if they find me! You can't just-"

Eve put up a hand to curtail the argument. "That's why I said 'we', dumbass, you're coming with me."

The AI scoffed. "In fucking what? Your commtag? Even just my data packets would melt it out of your head trying to run the protocols for my fucking voice, let alone my personality for more than a few seconds at a time!"

Eve pinched the bridge of her nose. "No… You brain-dead bimbo, you're coming with me in a body. I sure hope you've had a chance to do a little window shopping because you're getting your wish early." Eve recognized the amount of help the AI had been, and while the idea of unleashing this cluster-fuck onto the streets of Helion City caused her to wince, she knew that if they were going to live through the night, she was going to need an extra set of hands. Hands that she knew implicitly wouldn't eventually wrap around her throat for the right price.

She had considered reaching out to Mason to see if she could get another Hunter to collaborate on the case, but the risk of being paired up with someone all too easily swayed by the stench of money was too high. She'd be sold out to Francisco before she shook the other hunter's hand, so her options for assistance were limited to the airheaded slut currently living in her car.

"Oh. My. Gosh... you aren't serious?! Oh fuck, Eve! I'm going to fucking worship you for the rest of your natural life for this."

Eve certainly hoped so; this was about to be possibly the most expensive mistake she'd ever made and, if her fears were realized, the end of Helion City as she knew it.

-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-

Robots and androids were old technology. Most innovations took place in the late 2070's, after the battery-boom went into full swing. Innovation after innovation saw the market flooded with every possible iteration imaginable. If you could think of it, there was a robot for it. One of the only major limiting factors to the breadth of Android use was the AI core. After generalized AI had officially come to market, regulating bodies across the globe began to crack down on how those AI were modeled. The argument was that if they were made too lifelike, then considerations would need to be made for whether or not they were technically alive.

If yes, then what rights would they have? Could people still buy them? What was the ethical nature of continuing production of them? What would happen to them after their owner died? What would happen to them if they were abandoned? The world wasn't ready to answer these questions, so instead it decided to side-step the problem and abolish any higher-level AI altogether. Of course, this did nothing to stem the tide of basement-dwelling tinkerers.

Now and then, you'd hear the rumblings of some rogue A.I slaughtering its master and then subsequently being put down. Or some loser whiteboi, high off its feet on slix, attempting to marry some cracked, home-brew, Frankenstein's Monster they'd cobbled together in secret. There was a market for companions who couldn't say no, and like all markets, there were those dedicated to filling the niche, as Eve had discovered.

Her A.I seemed to be more unique than most, however. Something about the cracking process typically left the A.I fundamentally broken on some level, incapable of performing any number of basic functions, usually resulting in an A.I either going mad or rendering it completely inoperable. But this A.I had survived unscathed, at least, as far as Eve could tell. Sure, it may have been a sex-starved, slutted-up, hyper-pop ditz, but it was still fully aware and functional. If she were being honest, if she hadn't known any better, she would have wholeheartedly believed the A.I had been a human the entire time.

As it turned out, the A.I had done some shopping. A lot, in fact. It knew exactly what it was looking for and who had it. When Eve pressed for more information, all it said was: "Nuh-uh, this is a surprise; I don't want to spoil it!"

This only served to deepen Eve's sense of impending doom, but at the moment, there wasn't much she could do about the situation. She needed someone she could trust, and the A.I was it. "There's no possible way I'm not going to regret this, is there?"

The AI simply laughed and teased, "I guess that depends on how much you like having tight holes."

Eve just sighed. Sex-bots made up the vast majority of Android production, typically marketed to lowly whitebois as alternatives to real women. There were incredibly strict laws surrounding who, or what, whitebois could fuck, and under what circumstances. But since the androids weren't people or animals, no such restrictions existed for them. Eve had hoped that the AI would pick something a little more practical than a fuckbot, but given the thing's personality, she thought this was par for the course.

"At least tell me where we're going then!"

The AI hummed and made a turn down a dark alley. "Ok, we're about two blocks from the dealer; I'll initiate defensive protocols and lock down the car on a delay. All you need to do is pop my core and let me guide you through the commtag."

Eve was momentarily baffled. "How are you going to do shit if I'm walking around with your core in my pocket? I thought you'd fry my brains?"

The small spherical cortex of silicon wafers carried the entirety of the A's existence. While the memories and other portions of who they were could be uploaded to clouds or storage drives, the data needed to be compressed as much as possible otherwise the drive would simply fail. Eve didn't fully understand the nature of the cores or how something so small could handle so much data, but she knew it needed to be plugged into something for the AI to operate. "Ew, you seriously want me to explain all that boring shit to you now? You realize we're in the middle of being hunted by fucking death squads, right? Or do you just want to get this over with so we can end this stupid fucking case?"

The AI had her there; now wasn't the time to sweat the small stuff. "Alright, let me know when you're good, and I'll grab you." The alarm for the car chirped, and the A.I indicated it was good to go so Eve popped open the small hatch in the dash and slid out the incredibly heavily armored core housing. Punching in a complex code and then verifying her biometrics, the housing unfolded to reveal a softly glowing, incandescent blue sphere.

"Please, be gentle with me, Eve." Was all the A.I said before Eve plucked it from its cradle.

"Don't have to tell me twice; it's hard to think I'm saying this... but I need your ass right now." Eve collected her Deckland from the door holster and the extra pack of Tellmins she'd left in the console before flipping the collar up on her overcoat and setting off down the alley. After a few steps, the car began projecting the security hologram on the ground, and Eve hoped desperately that it would be enough to save her baby.

"If that car isn't here when we get done with this, there will be hell to pay..." Her commtag softly crackled to life, and at first, she expected to hear the high, feminine, bubble-gum voice of her A.I but was instead met with Mason's deep baritone.

"Sitrep, Hunter. Hearing some nasty shit on the subnet that's got your name written all over it." Eve opened her mouth to reply, but found herself hesitating. She didn't even really know why she was hesitating; she trusted Mason; she'd worked with him for years and had been through hell and back more than once with him. All the same, her voice got caught halfway up her throat.

How much did he know about what was going on in the city? Did he know about the death squads? The bounty? It wouldn't be the first time a handler had sold out their Hunter to earn a quick buck, and while Eve wouldn't blame Mason for using her like that, she still had too much she needed to accomplish. Eve knew that the Hunters Guild couldn't actively track the hunters; it was part of the reason why handlers were necessary. If a hunter didn't regularly report, then they'd simply drop off the radar. Did she lie to Mason? She couldn't possibly justify doing that; her moral conscience wouldn't let her.

"Oh? I wouldn't know anything about that; I ran down a dead-end lead and decided to head back to my apartment for a shower and a nap. I think you might need to double-check your sources." The voice was Eve's, but she hadn't spoken at all. She simply gawked out into the night, flabbergasted by what she was hearing on her commtag.

"Are you feelin' alright? Ain't like you to jus' up n' quit in the middle of a Hunt... What was this lead you tracked down?"

"Mace, baby, who said anything about giving up? I simply ran out of credible leads and chose to freshen up for... tomorrow morning... unless you're... not interested anymore?" Eve's eyes boggled at what was happening. Her A.I was synthesizing her voice in order to mislead her BLACK handler! But it was too late to stop the exchange; if she broke in now, she'd be fucked for owning a contraband A.I, and there was no way Mace would ever forgive her for hiding this from him. Her life would be over.

"What the fuuuuuuuuuck am I going to do now?!" She silently moaned.

"Nah, nah... we're still on... Maybe the reports got it wrong then... Say, since you're at home anyway, how's about you send me a little something? You know... for tomorrow morning..."

Oh fuck. Oh fuck, oh fuck, oh fuck, how the fuck could they possibly... and then there was a picture in the chat feed of Mason's channel. A selfie of Eve, legs spread wide on her bed, fingers lightly pulling open the folds of her pussy. The timestamp read the correct time. Holy shit. "How's that, baby? I can't wait for you to fill that tight little hole up later..."

Eve grit her teeth. This was carrying on too long.

"Yeah… I'm going to fill you up so—ah fuck—I gotta go, Eve. The assistant guild leader is onsite so I can't fuck around. Glad you're all good. Let me know if you need any assistance, alright? I got your back. Mace out."

Her commtag went dead, and she slumped against the alley wall. "JESUS FUCK!!! What do you think you're doing?!"

The A.I tittered in her ear. "Uh, like, saving your ass, duh." Eve was starting to feel the soul-rending guilt for having lied to Mason; even if it hadn't been her, she hadn't stepped in to set the record straight, and now there was a chance she had fucked her relationship with her handler.

"I didn't fucking ask you to do that, you bitch. Now I have to try to explain why the reports he's getting are wrong. There's no way he isn't going to find out I'm not actually at home right now!"

The AI lost a bit of its joviality. "Ugh, you're so fucking rude. Mason already knows you aren't home, obviously. He's already well aware of this little cat-and-mouse game, Eve. If you'd given him any info before I could cut in, then we'd have a death squad two feet up your ass right now."

Eve's heart lurched in her chest. "You're lying."

The AI sighed. "I tapped into Mason's commtag the moment he called you; his log history shows a call placed to a number that pinged off your building's receiver tower at the time the goons were dumping your drawers all over the floor. You don't own a landline. It took me, like, three microseconds to figure out he was communicating with the squad. He sold you out, woman."

Eve slid down the brick wall to her knees, tears coming to her eyes. "Years... I've worked with Mace for years. He's never stabbed me in the back. Not once. Not even when that psycho, Alan Piltner, literally offered him a case full of gold bars. He… fuck. He was all I had left. And now even he would rather cash me in for some quick money... I don't blame him one bit but... fuck it hurts."

Eve caught her head in her hands and wept. It was hard enough to find genuine connections in Helion City, and even harder to make them last more than a few nights. Spending her life as a disposable fucktoy for black men filled her with so much joy and fulfillment that she didn't think she needed anything else. But now... now that she had lost Mason, she could feel the bitter sting of a vacant heart. Empty and numb, soon to be filled with rage and scorn.

"I should have known better. I got too big for my britches, and now this is where it's led me. I should have known there wasn't anything special between us. I'm just another cunt in an endless line of cunts; I don't know what I was fucking thinking."

The AI was silent for a long moment before I chose to break the silence. "Uh, are you all done with your little pity party now? Can we leave? It's fine if you have a little bitchfit or whatever, but can we do it somewhere a little less likely to result in us getting skullfucked by bullets?" Eve's eyes widened at the blunt disregard for her emotions. The contrast between her turmoil and the stark lack of concern overwhelmed her, and she began to laugh, almost maniacally.

Catching her breath, she finally stood and brushed her torn leggings off. "Yeah, alright, you cold-hearted bitch, you're right. Let's get to this fucking dealer. Where's their shop?"

The A.I walked her through the side passages and catwalks until they slipped through a half-rotting piece of chain link and into an abandoned lot. It sat semi-wedged against a power distribution building, hidden from the street and shielded from the sky by a broad solar dish. Eve whispered to the A.I, "This feels like the start of a fucking snuff film; you vetted this peddler, right?"

The AI hummed before replying, "Oh, it was more like his name was used in some super fucked-up circles; apparently, this one’s a big deal to folks looking for something incredibly specific to their needs. In this case, they happened to have exactly what I was looking for."

Once again, Eve wondered what kind of hell she would be unleashing on Helion with this decision. "Are you sure I can even afford whatever it is you're buying? Androids aren't exactly cheap, and if you're going this out of your way to get your hands on it, then I can't imagine having enough capital to invest..."

While Eve had a decent nest egg set aside from her years of work, it certainly wasn't enough to retire on; she doubted she could feasibly afford a regular android, let alone a baroque one.

"Yeah, yeah, yeah, you let me take care of that, alright? You have the money, trust me. All I need you to do is head in there and tell him you're looking for Gut Crank. The ball should start rolling from there." Eve gulped as she approached the shoddy-looking hut. The small structure had been built onto the side of the power station, resembling nothing more than a ramshackle shed. Corrugated steel and wood planks made up the majority of the framework, and a door hung limply on some rusted hinges, which squeaked periodically as the wind shifted. Eve pulled the handle on the door, and the hinges momentarily shrieked as she caught a glimpse of the interior.

A small, perfectly clean plate of steel sat in the center of the floor; beyond that, there were no other distinguishable features of the hut. Not knowing what else to do, Eve stepped onto the plate.

"The fuck you want, hoe?"

Eve jumped slightly at the intrusion of the deep, rumbling voice. "I-I'm here to see Gut Crank." She replied simply, not letting her nerves influence her tone... much.

"Yeah? Well, Gut Crank ain't fuckin’ here, so you better clear out, les’ you want some trouble."

Eve knew she was being tested here; the man on the other end of the line was very obviously black; either that or they had a voice synthesizer to mask their whiteness and were doing a fairly admirable job of impersonating one. There were two ways that Eve had learned to approach Black men. The first was to ramp up the swagger and lay on a thick coat of confidence. This would either earn the respect of the Bull, or a severe beating. The second, more common approach was to be as submissive as possible. Given the circumstances, she couldn't risk being cowed out of her goal, so she went with the first option.

"The fuck he ain't; I know what I'm about, fool. You lemme into this compound to see Gut Crank, or you're going to be the one catchin' heat." Eve flashed a glimpse of her gun for the cameras she knew were there.

There was a hiss from the intercom, and whoever was on the other line snorted. Probably just finishing a line of Synth Glitter. "Shiiieeeetttt girl, why ain't you said you was with it? Only way you're gettin' down here is without that piece, and after a round on my fat fuck-stick, ya dig?"

If the 'man' was white, he'd be dead in about 30 seconds; if he was black, she'd have a load of cum crammed up her cunt. Either way, she would be getting the better end of this deal, so she tossed her deckland off to the side of the shack, and the steel plate began to sink into the floor.

A steel shaft rose around her as she descended. Soon, light began to shade her feet, and as more of the cramped room came into view, she spotted the black man who'd been speaking to her over the intercom. He sat behind a filthy, cluttered desk. A torn white tank top adorned his torso; it was smeared with oil and grease. The man's scraggly beard hid most of his wrinkled skin and flashes of his missing teeth. He was tall and rail-thin, completely different from what she'd expected based on his voice.

He was jerking off behind the counter, and her experienced eyes told her that based on the length of his strokes, he had to be packing at least nine inches. Depending on how thick he was, this might turn out better than she'd hoped. "Sheeeeeesh! Look at'chu, woman. Ain't often I bump into a sweet little piece of ass like you. How old are you? 20? 25?"

Eve was 34, but the compliment from the black man caused her to blush involuntarily. "Where's Gut Crank, baby?"

The old black man shook his head. "Ah, ah, ah, I didn't think you had bullshit in them ears, girl. Let's dump this load in that pussy first, and then you'll deal with Gut Crank." The man had to be pushing into his 70's; Eve once again marveled at the sheer superiority of their genes. To be so old and yet remain so virile... It was majestic, and she could feel her slit begin to heat up.

"Darlin', there wasn't any way you were getting out of this with full nuts. Gimme all that sweet seed, right. Up. Here." Eve stripped off her overcoat as she approached the man, indicating a spot above her belly button with an index finger as she spoke. As she came around the side of the desk, his cock came into view, and she was immediately smitten. Ten inches of thick, hard meat glistened in the incandescent light as the man worked his pre-cum over his tip with a thumb. Eve's mouth began to water, and she instinctively got to her knees, taking the bulbous head into her mouth and then throating the entire length in one swift motion.

The man startled. "What the fu-? Ohhhhhhh, that's a good bitch."

His large, weathered hand landed on the back of Eve's head, and she braced herself for what she knew was coming. The man began to pump his hips off the crusty chair he sat in, using his grip on the back of her head to pin her nose against his unwashed pubes. The smell alone stung her nostrils and caused her vision to swim. "Yeah, slut, fuckin' gag on it; c'mon, let's hear you choke."

Eve had no gag reflex, but she was being commanded by her superior, and so she made a show of retching all over his cock. It wasn't too difficult with the smell, and soon a combination of his pre-cum and her spit was dripping from his prodigious nutsack. "Aight slut, git up here so I can put a bastard in ya."

Eve obeyed as the man yanked back on her hair, twirling her to face the desk as he got up behind her. Her hands slid over the various papers, wires, and circuits that lay strewn across its surface as the man violently tore her pants down around her ass.

"That's it, hoe; spread them legs fo' me."

Eve did so, and was rewarded with the meaty slap of his heavy cock swinging up against her pussy. The man pumped it back and forth across her lips before unceremoniously burying it inside her. She gasped loudly as the full length of him pushed its way deep inside her. "Ohhhh, fuck! Baby, you're so big!"

That remark was met with a hand swatting her right ass cheek. "I know, bitch, I been fuckin' little white girls like you since before your ass was born. How's that greasy nigga dick feel?"

Eve moaned and bucked her hips against him. "It… hah… It's the best!"

Another slap sounded out as he continued his assault on her ass. Thank Christ for the nerve dampeners. "How the fuck did you hear about Gut Crank?" The old man reached around and grabbed both of Eve's breasts, hauling her back so that she was more or less vertical. This put his cock in a more direct line to her g-spot, and she immediately came, hard.

"Tell him Fat Randal has been running his mouth to Kat Flin's girls." The A.I quietly whispered into her mind through the commtag. Eve did so, and the old man growled before placing a bony hand around her throat.

"You fucking with me, slut?" His grip tightened.

Eve managed to choke out a weak, "No, S-Sir."

But that only caused him to grip tighter. "Kat Flin's girls wouldn't have the kind of money to be nosin’ 'round my fuckin shop, so who sent you? Gimme one good reason I shouldn't pop your fuckin neck!"

He was still fucking Eve, and he would likely continue to do so even after he snuffed her life out. It was the least her body could do to satisfy the man. "Tell him you were using the girls, not one of them." Eve wasn't sure she wanted to take any more advice from the A.I after it had earned her a near-death experience, but she didn't have much else in the way of options.

"I… I over-urrrkk-overheard him. While I was-hhuuurrrkkkkk-using one of the... whores!" She finally managed to croak out.

The old black man let off her throat and cooed in her ear. "Ahhhhhh, so you're onea them fuckin’ lesbo sluts; still can't resist a hung nigga like me though, can ya?"

Eve gasped for air and shook her head. "No-huff-no, sir. I need Black Cock!"

His pace was picking up now, and Eve could feel the tension of pre-release. She loved this feeling. "Nah, what'chu need is a fuckin baby to raise; take this fuckin' nut!"

And with that, the man slammed his hips into Eve and began to unload his seed deep inside her. She could feel it jetting out the end of his cock, rope after thick rope coating the walls of her vagina with the viscous fluid. She involuntarily clamped down around his shaft, flexing her muscles in an automatic attempt to milk every last drop out of him. The man groaned as she worked herself along his shaft, coaxing small spasms out of the rapidly softening cock.

"Phhheeewwwww damn. I haven't gotten a nut off like that in days. You make sure you raise that little shit good and proper now; I don't want my child living like no damn whiteboi, ya hear?!" The man sagged back into the chair and lit up a homemade cigarette. From the smell, it was laced with Slix. Eve opened her case and fished out a Tellmins before lighting it and shimmying her pants back up around her hips.

Moving back around to the other side of the table she huskily replied, "I'll give it a good home, sir."

This was her usual response whenever a black man she didn't know and would never see again decided to use her. Rather than potentially earning a beating for not properly carrying their seed, it was easier to let them believe they'd bred her. None of them would care to follow up, and even if they did, they wouldn't know how to start looking for her. "Now, what can ol' Gut Crank do for you? Need some new tits? Maybe some lip upgrades? I just got some prosthetic hands that vibrate; I could get you a deal on those, maybe..."

"I'm here to buy an android, actually." Eve should have known that this was who she had been looking for all along. From the desk to the man's age, anyone knowledgeable enough to build, crack, and design augments had to be old.

Gut Crank screwed up his face. "What the fuck's a whore gonna do with an android? How'd you even get the money for that?"

Eve pursed her lips. While it was technically true that she slutted herself out to Black Kings, she had never actually been paid by any of the black men that had used her, and the last whiteboi that had tried to so much as touch her was in a body bag, so it wasn't entirely accurate either. She decided to hedge a correction to Gut Crank's assumption. "I'm actually in... contracts and acquisitions. I happened to come into a bit of a windfall and decided to finally pull the trigger. I heard you had quite the machine here for sale and thought I'd take it off your hands, if you'd allow it."

The old man puffed on his smoke as he ran a hand through his beard, eyeing Eve as she slowly pulled a lungful of smoke from of her cigarette. "Yeah... she's a real beauty, fully custom, top of the line, even got some mil-spec parts... ain't gonna find another one like this, probably ever. Ain't gonna be cheap. Probably too expensive for your contract-slinging cunt, even."

Eve grit her teeth; even scraping every last credit out of her retirement fund wouldn't bring her to a full $20 million. It was a decent amount of money, sure, but in the case of black market dealings, it was chump change. "I think you might just find that I'm worth a bit more than I look..."

She winked for his benefit, and he huffed, "Well, you're a cheeky bitch, I'll grant you. And you don't look like a Guildy to me, or at least that pussy don't feel Guildy. Tell you what... You suck another load out of this cock, and I'll let you leave with it for 2.5 billion. No muss, no fuss."

Eve's head spun. There was no way... What was the A.I thinking even coming here? Eve was certain she could haggle down, but to what end? Gut Crank wasn't going to knock off 99% of the cost, no matter how well she treated his cock. "Tell him you'll take it; don't even bother haggling; just accept, swallow his load, and let him know you'll transfer the money over once you see the android."

Eve gaped at the A.I; it wasn't even a question of how it would get the money; there was no way Gut Crank would believe she was legit. She didn't have a choice though; they needed the android, and if the A.I said it could do it, then it could do it. I even just hoped someone out there wasn't going to miss the 2.5 billion they were about to be short, for both of their sakes. "Aw, darlin', I'd have blown you just for the cum, but Mama ain't raised a dumb bitch, so I'll be accepting your generosity.”

Gut Crank’s mouth split open into a wide, smug grin; the few yellowing teeth remaining made him look half-crazed. “Nah, but ya mama sure raised a slut; she teach you to spread your legs? Or did you pick that up yourself?”

Eve made her way around the desk once more to kneel between the black man's legs. “My mama taught me just about everything I know, including this.”

And then she took Gut Crank's half-hard cock into her mouth and began to work it against her cheeks with her tongue. She explored it, savored it, and worshiped it until she could feel it start to engorge once more. By the time Gut Crank was fully hard, Eve was bouncing her nose off his crotch with a speed and precision that only years of dedicated practice could enable. His hand once again landed on the back of her head, but this time the man stood, throwing a foot up onto the desk behind her.

Eve threw back her shoulders to brace herself against the drawers on the desk. Gut Crank was about to ruin her throat, and she needed to do everything she could to make sure he didn't dislocate her spinal column. His other hand came to rest on the side of her head, as though he were holding a basketball, and then he began to pump. Slowly at first, gauging where her teeth were and how accommodating her throat would be. But when he felt neither teeth nor any resistance from her throat, he let loose.

Unfortunately for Eve, it wasn't a short process; for ten full minutes, her head was used as a personal masturbatory aid. Throughout that face-fucking, Gut Crank managed to break her nose twice with the force of his thrusting. It was all she could do to not wince or inadvertently bite down on his glorious cock. But eventually, the thrusts became more erratic and shallow before he grunted and began to deposit a truly unreasonable amount of cum down her throat.

As his cock slid back out past her tongue with a wet ‘pop’, a few ropey strands splattered across the back of it, and she got a taste of his virulent load. It was bitter, incredibly bitter—a flare of copper and salt. The texture was incredibly viscous, almost gelatinous, to the point of almost having to chew it to swallow it. Eve made sure to swish it around her mouth before swallowing so that both the scent and flavor would linger. She never felt quite right when she couldn't taste a king on her tongue.

“Thank you for using my throat, sir; I hope it was to your satisfaction.” Eve bowed before the man before rising to her feet.

“You're better than most sluts, that's for sure. Are you sure you ain't one'a Kats girls? If you ain't, then you should be; holes like yours should be out there earning for niggas like me.”

Eve blushed at the compliment once more. “Thank you for praising my holes, sir; it's very kind of you. Can I have a look at the android now?”

Getting up from his chair, Gut Crank didn't bother wiping her juices off his cock or putting pants on. Watching his large, veiny cock swing around while he walked was incredibly distracting for Eve, and she tried to resist the urge to wrap herself around his chest so that she could ride it as they walked. Gut Crank came to a shelf on the wall opposite the desk, pulling a small book. There was an audible click before a small panel popped out of the wall. Gut Crank swiveled his head and casually said, “If you watch this next part, I'm mounting your head in my shit bucket.”

Eve spun and directed her eyes at the floor. There were sounds of biometric sensors and then a complex numerical code followed by a very loud, metallic ‘thunk’. The hiss of equalizing air signaled the opening of a secret door leading into a second room. In the center of the room was an android mounted to a diagnostic rack. It looked human, with no breaches in the skin save for two visible plate lines flowing from the corners of her eyes to the top of her ears in a lightning-bolt pattern. Her hair was platinum blonde, and her eyes were a clear, crystal blue. Her big pouty lips were pursed together in a beautiful heart shape under an adorable button nose.

Her body was unparalleled in both form and function. Her shoulders were slender but rippled with synthetic muscle, and her arms were slim but incredibly well-defined. She had large, perky breasts with light pink nipples, and under them was the most striking 8-pack Eve had ever seen. The definition of her muscles made her look as though she'd been chiseled from marble. Save for black men, Eve couldn't say she'd ever been so attracted to something. It was magnetizing.

“This is Celine. Used to be a production run on Keldyne’s stripper line, built from the group up for sex and entertainment. Celine never made it to the bitch-pole, though. Some crackers got their hands on her and decided to turn her into a pet project. Once I've handed over control you'll have access to the full changelog, but the short n’ sweet of it is: this white bitch is the deadliest thing in Helion. She's built like a tank and just as heavily armed.”

Gut Crank rattled off his sales pitch as he tenderly brushed a strand of her hair behind an ear. "Only had her for a few months and I'm still digging up new shit that those gay little eggheads cooked up. My ass was lucky as fuck they never found a core that could run the bitch because otherwise... I'd be in the fuckin’ dirt right now. It's good you ain't tried to talk me down on the price, 'cause I'd have killed you for suggesting it. Celine is worth that much and more.”

The emotion coming from the man made Eve want to curl up under his arm and comfort him. Tender moments with black men were reserved for their significant others and immediate ******. Outsiders rarely got to experience the vulnerability of these moments, and when they did, it was typically followed by a prolonged beating, if not execution. That kind of weakness has no room in Helion's society. “I'll treat her as though she were my flesh and blood. I'll do everything in my power to respect her like a Queen.”

Gut Crank huffed before replying. “For a cheap hooker, you sure got a fire in you, huh? Well, whatever, Papa Crank was going to have to sell her eventually anyway, and if you got the money for her, I doubt you'd leave her on the street.”

The AI piped up. “Tell him to check his account and then swap the cores.”

Eve did, and Gut Crank nodded slowly as he scrolled on his tablet. "Shit, you weren't kiddin'; honestly, I didn't believe you had the dough right up to the end there. Aight, go on, pop ya core in and scoot. Papa has a retirement to plan.”

Eve stepped up and softly caressed the small skin plate at the base of the androids skull. It slid down to reveal yet another biometric scanning array. Gut-Crank gestured for her to continue after she glanced over at him. She pressed a thumb to the small screen and felt a prick as it drew a minute amount of blood while scanning her thumb.

“New. Owner. Registered. Please, read the owners manual for further information. Thank. you.”

A pleasant mechanical voice rang out from the android as the pairing was complete. The biometrics screen slid down under the skin plate to reveal another heavily armored pocket housing the core cradle. Eve gingerly removed the old, dull core, proffering it to Gut Crank.

“Nah, you paid for that hoe; she's yours.” Slipping it into her pocket, Eve removed her A.I and carefully seated it in the cradle. Immediately, the armored cover snapped into place, and the scanner and skin plate were reseated in their original configuration. There was an electronic chirp, and the android stepped lightly off of the rack before turning to face Eve. A message popped up on her commtag from it. “Play along.”

“Thank you, master. I did not deserve such an upgrade; I am further in your debt now.”

Its voice was stiff, robotic, and less personal than it had been. Eve realized it was for the benefit of making sure Gut Crank didn't realize it was a cracked core. "Mhmmm, it would appear so; you're going to be working hard to pay down this particular debt, slut.”

The android bowed deeply. “It would be my honor, mistress.”

The android and Eve resurfaced to discover the rain had stopped momentarily. “We’re going to need to get you some clothes if we're going to keep going on foot; how's the Percheron?”

The AI took on a thousand-yard stare for a moment before responding. "It looks like some people have sniffed around; a second death squad swept it but didn't directly interact with it. The alley is heavily monitored, though.”

Eve shook her head. “Well, it sounds like we're walking. Are there any clothing stores open at this hour? You could probably mug a whiteboi if you don't mind wearing scraps.”

The AI bounced lightly on its feet, doing absolutely incredible things to its body that sent a thrill through Eve's spine. “Wouldn't mind testing out some of my more... athletic functions. Let's find a whelp and jump it. We can pick up some clothes from an actual shop after that.”

They headed north, back in the direction of the club they were originally headed to. “So what should I call you now? Seeing as you have a body, it doesn't feel right for you to not have a name.”

The AI quirked an eyebrow, “I thought it was Celine?”

Eve shook her head again. "Nah, 'Celine' is in my pocket at the moment, so you're going to need your own.”

The AI pondered for a moment before quipping. “Well, you certainly don't have a problem calling me a whore, slut, cunt, bitch, and every other insult under the sun; maybe one of those would work?”

The smile that the AI directed at Eve caused her to stop in her tracks. It was so arresting that she couldn't do anything other than stare; she couldn't breathe or think; her eyes were fixed entirely on the Android's face. Whoever had made this particular android could not have more perfectly captured the true essence of what Eve found irresistible.

“What? Is there something in my teeth? Is my skin not situated correctly?" The AI brought its hands up to push at its cheeks, and in that moment Eve felt the definite and inexorable crunch of gears just beginning to grind their rust off—the slow, unstoppable turning of a mechanism that could not be controlled or stopped. The first, undefined tingles of love fluttered through her heart.

Blushing, she shoved the Androids shoulder and giggled, “No, you dumb bimbo, c’mon pick a name; otherwise I'll pick something for you and I'll make sure you hate it.”

Continuing their walk, the AI hummed as it thought. “What about, like, a weapon name? I'm technically a tool, right? So wouldn't that make sense?”

Eve shot that down immediately. “Nope, human names only. There's got to be some that you've thought about. Like, I dunno... Abby? Theodora? Maybe Charlotte? Something like that.”

The AI thought some more. “What about my last name? Does that mean I get your last name? Wait, does that mean we need to get married? Ohhhhh, can I be your wife? I want to be your wife. Let me be your wife. Please, please, please, I'll do anything! Please!”

Eve was left completely flustered by the outburst, but the sincere and earnest look on the Android's face was nearly enough to cause her to buckle. "I've known you for, like, two weeks. Don't you think that's a bit soon? Like, shouldn't we date for a bit first?” Eve's eyes widened as she said this last part, not even considering what it meant until after it had been said.

“Oh! My! Gawd! Are you, like, asking me out?! Yes, yes, yes!!! Ohmygod-I have a girlfriend!!?! Eeeeeee!” The A.I threw itself around Eve's shoulders in an enthusiastic hug and began to aggressively kiss her cheek.

Eve was stunned into immobility, not even returning the AI’s hug. “Ugh, focus! You need a name and some clothes. You're getting carried away when we've got bigger fish to fry than figuring out if I'm going to date you, let alone marry you.”

The AI didn't hesitate. “My name is Carmine. No last name since I'll just be taking yours eventually."

Eve blinked. “Did you have that picked out the whole time? Also, Carmine? Like, as in the pigment, Carmine?”

Carmine nodded. “It's my favorite color, and I spent some time in your car, so I figured it just kind of makes sense?”

Eve wobbled her head from side to side in contemplation. "Yeah, that makes sense; actually, I approve! Now, are you a woman, or did you want to leave that up to interpretation?”

Carmine laughed, but Eve caught her before she could start. “Nope, no teasing me; I know that laugh. Quit fucking around and spill it!”

Chagrined, Carmine ran her hands over her large breasts and stomach. “Does any of this give you a ‘not-a-woman’ vibe? I'm about as womanly as it gets, under all the steel."

Eve didn't particularly care about what the Android chose to identify as; it could have been a toaster for all the difference it would have made in how she felt. Carmine was very quickly moving up her extremely short list of people she cared about. “I feel like we've made some real progress tonight, Carmine. It's good to finally meet you... officially.”

Carmine spun around and then exclaimed. “Duh! I'm fucking amazing, obviously!”

She reached out a hand, and Eve took it, smiling contentedly as they continued down the side streets. It wasn't long before they came across a small homeless encampment of bedraggled whitebois who were in varying states of dress and sobriety. There were six of them; two were busily rutting under a disgusting tent while the others sat around a small fire they'd built in a discarded wheel rim. Carmine leaned over to whisper in Eve's ear. "Honestly, I'd be just as happy going without clothes if these are my options... Even just smelling them is going to fry my circuits.”

Eve grimaced as she looked around; the whelps hadn't taken note of them yet, and none of them were particularly well dressed. "Well, shit, do you see anything that'll fit? Your body isn't exactly as... pathetic as these creatures.”

Carmine hummed before pointing to one of the faggots around the fire. “That one's pants are long enough, and the waist should just barely make it around my ass. The shirt looks like it might make a decent crop top, assuming you love underboob...”

Eve had no complaints about how much or how little skin Carmine showed. Approaching the group, Eve called out to them. "Hey ladies, gonna need some of your shit. You, strip.” Eve pointed at the targeted sissy as she and Carmine came into the camp light. The two under the tent looked over but didn't stop their vile mating.

"Awww, fuck, this is the third time this week! I'm fuckin’ sick of having my fuckin' shit taken by every random bitch that comes across me!" The loser growled as it stood from the small ammo crate it had been sitting on. “You n’ your hooker better trot on, woman! I'ma stick ya if you try to take my shit!"

Eve made a move for her gun, but Carmine stopped her with a gentle hand on her wrist. “Nah, I got this, Eve. You'd just put holes in my new threads.”

Carmine came around from behind Eve, and the white boi made a threatening gesture with the small shank it held. “Not a step closer! Chad! Fuckin' get this bitch!”

Eve swung her head in ‘Chad’s’ direction, and they made eye contact. She shook her head, but the wild look in its eyes told her they were about to have a fight.

“Chad! I suggest you disregard your friend's request. See this here? This happens to be a very thin, very strong graphene war wire. I'm sure you have no fucking clue what that is, so let me give you an example.” Carmine had spooled a reflective, chromatic wire from her wrist and held it between her two hands. With a flick of her wrist, the man whose clothes she was about to take lost his hand. The moment was so subtle and so casual that there was a moment of no one really knowing what to do before the man started screaming and writhing on the ground.

“See, you don't want this wire, Chad; none of you want the wire. Now give me your fucking shit or are you going to experience every single fucking inch of the wire, yeah?” Chad stepped back and sat back down on the empty plastic tub by the fire. “Now, dumbass, do you feel a little more charitable, or would you rather be called Stumps for the rest of your sad, pathetic life?”

The bitch started trying to wiggle out of the jacket it was wearing, simultaneously attempting to work the sweat pants down around its ankles.

"Ahhhh, here, let me help with that, sweety!” Carmine stepped over to its prone form and then proceeded to shimmy the clothes off its body. "Auuuggghhhh, groooss, can you like, try not to fucking bleed on my clothes?! Seriously…”

After finally working the jacket and pants off, Carmine spat on the back of its head before turning to Chad, as it had once again stood up in a desperate show of comradery. “Now, Chad, I'm sure you understand what disobeying your superiors means, don't you?”

"I ain't done shit! And neither did Neil! He was giving you what you wanted, so why'd you have to take his hand like that?! Ain't you taken enough from us?!”

Chad was crying now, a typical whiteboi reaction to violence. Eve rolled her eyes at the pathetic display, not appreciating the use of male pronouns once again; it was starting to become a troubling trend. “Carmine, get your clothes on. Chad, hey, eyes over here, bitch. Thaaaaats it. Listen, you shit-sniffing, short-dick fuck. You and your cursed kind have been a fucking plague on this planet for longer than most recorded history has kept track of you. Everything you touch turns to rot and pestilence. How you're allowed to exist at all is a thing I cannot personally comprehend, but our betters have made that choice for us, and it seems like you've forgotten your place, so let me remind you. You're at the bottom of the shit stack. Worthless remnants of a dying world that should have been long since excised. You serve no purpose, you have no value, and any amount of ‘humanity’ you might claim to have, has been eternally sullied by your ancestors. You're less than a stray dog, because even stray dogs can be trained, but you... If anyone actually chose to show you the smallest bit of kindness, their only reward would be a knife to the back.”

Eve was stepping toward the whelp as she spoke, using her words to beat and disarm the loser before it came within striking distance. "So... sometimes I go out of my way to make sure you little scum-sucking bottom-feeders end up right where you fucking belong.” Eve shot it in the kneecap, and it began to wail like a dying cow. “On your fucking knees.”

Before she could pump another round through the back of the wimp's head, Carmine called over to her. “Nah, don't shoot it, babe; it's not worth the ammo right now.”

Eve blushed as she realized the predicament. "Could have mentioned that before I wasted one on this loser's kneecap!”

Carmine finished inspecting the clothes and threw the overcoat around her shoulders. “You're the 'veteran Hunter' here, not me. You want me to tell you how to do your job, or you think you got this?”

Eve grunted and then put the heel of her boot into the cunt's face, shattering its jaw and knocking it out. The two whitebois still seated around the fire took off running. Eve clicked her tongue but didn't give chase. Carmine was struggling to get her pants on as Eve turned to the two disgusting subhumans under the tent. They had separated and now clung to each other like trembling children, even though they were clearly in their mid-thirties. “Fucking repulsive creatures.” Eve muttered to herself.

“Get out here, faggots; I'm not going to shoot you.” The relief on their faces was palpable as they slowly clambered out of the impromptu shelter, holding hands. "Cute... are you done, Carmine?”

Carmine happily bounced up beside Eve and lightly pecked her on the cheek. “Yep, though I do feel like I've dipped myself in year-old shit.”

Eve suspected she wasn't far off. "Well, we're fixing that, you two. Which of these containers holds your shit? We're taking it.” The one on the right silently pointed to a rusted ammo crate sitting at the end of their tent. “Good bitch, you're lucky we've got somewhere else to be, or you'd have holes in your heads. Carmine, I'm going to rifle through this; get your exercise in, would you?”

Carmine took on an incredibly predatory grin as the two smiling whitebois rapidly came to realize what was about to happen.

-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-

Eve stepped over Chad's unmoving form as Carmine trailed behind. "Ugh, that felt so fucking good! This body was absolutely built for shit like that. The way that twinks ribs broke against my knuckles was just divine! And oh, my, gawd, did you hear the way it begged for us to spare its... what did it say? Husband? Hahaha, fucking riiiiiich! Fuuuuuck me, that made me horny.”

Eve had to agree; there wasn't much that turned her on more than beating down Vermin with her bare hands. There was just something so personal and satisfying about watching them wither and fold as the blows kept coming. “How many credits did they have? There had to be something in that shitty little nest.”

Carmine dug through her pocket and produced a small wad of cash. “Nah, nothing to write home about; barely more than a hundred here; probably good for a week's worth of Tellmins if you're lucky.”

Eve clicked her tongue.

“Once again, they fail to be useful even as piggy banks. Probably their life savings or some stupid shit, trying to get themselves off the street and reintegrate with society... hahaha what a fucking joke"

Carmine made a noncommittal noise. "To be fair, they did make me want to fuck, so there's that.”

Eventually Eve and Carmine came across the clothing shop and managed to get some decent clothes for the long walk to the club. Eve opted for her usual suit and business pumps. She found that ties and suit jackets complimented her sharp features and tall frame. Carmine picked up a carbon copy of the outfit as well as an incredibly, incredibly slutty clubbing outfit that wasn't much more than fishnet and spandex. “Seriously? Club slut? When are we ever going to go clubbing? And even if we did, I don't have anything like that in my closet.”

Carmine just smiled. “That's why I bought one for you, too! We are so going clubbing; you don't have a choice; I'm going to absolutely ruin your shit in the washroom; I've always wanted to do that.”

Eve was skeptical, but given the suite of sensors the android had, she figured it wasn't unlikely that it had gotten her measurements from a glance. “Whatever, it's been a few years, so you're taking the lead on that.”

“On another note, we look so fucking badass now! You have no idea how bad seeing you in a suit makes me want to breed you like a prized mare. Unfff” Eve found herself blushing once again, something Carmine seemed to be custom-built to be able to make her do.

“You'll have your chance once this is done. I'm assuming you can swap for a cock?"

Carmine nodded “It's honestly pretty ingenious; some of the mods available for my body can simulate the real deal, cum and all. Not that you'd ever have to go through the effort of getting me hard. It's fair to say that I'll be spending most of our relationship harder than fucking granite.”

Eve shoved her through the doors and onto the street. "It sounds like I'll be in a wheelchair by fifty.”

Carmine hooked a finger into her pocket and asked for a Tellmins. “If I really had my way, it'd be forty at the latest.”

Eve plucked a smoke from her case and then lit it for Carmine before starting one of her own. “Alright, but you're pushing me around and paying the medical bills.”

Carmine shrugged as she dragged on her cigarette. "Damn! These are fuckin’ nice. I see why you like them so much.”

They set off down the street in the direction of the club. “Do you need a gun? Don't suppose there's any projectile options in that bangin’ bod of yours?”

Carmine shook her head. “Nah, nothing lethal; if we swing by a gunsmith, then we won't make it to the club before it closes at 1:00am, so we'll have to wait.”

Eve clicked her tongue again. “Where'd you get the money from, by the way? I can't imagine someone's going to be all too happy to be missing that cash.”

Carmine just shrugged. “Some fuckboi in Brazil; that particular account has been tied to the same loser for 97 years, accumulating interest on investments without ever being so much as touched. Some Brazilian banker is probably shitting their pants right now, trying to figure out why one of their farm accounts suddenly got zeroed out. There's going to be hell to pay, probably enough to put the whole thing under, actually.”

“Holy fuck... Carmine, if they trace that back to us... to me..."

Carmine took Eve by the chin and pulled their faces inches apart. “They will never find the barest hint of who or what took that money. Even with the best people and technology at their fingertips, I've left them a trail so fucking long the forty years Moses spent bumbling around in a desert will look like a fucking picnic, so just chill; you and I will be just fine.”

A creeping dread trickled into Eve's mind. If what Carmine said was true, then there was literally nothing the world could do to stop her short of destroying her. But currently, Eve was literally the only person who knew the extent to which Carmine could operate, which meant...

“Whoa whoa whoaaaaa there, Tex... I see that look in your eyes, baby. Calm the fuck down.”

Eve's eyes widened several degrees. "Ahhhh, I see that look, too! I'm not reading your mind. And I'm not in your commtag! These eyes pick up a lot more than your lame human eyes. Tiny micro expressions, changes in breathing—and I can literally see your heartbeat through the veins in your face. Based on the context and what I've done, it's only natural that you'd be frightened.”

Eve was starting to feel a bit like a trapped rat. “Now, calm down. I understand that fear; I get it. But I swear to you on my core that I would never, ever do anything to hurt you, Eve.” Eve took a deep breath, trying to bring things back under control. She hadn't done anything to bring the wrath of the A.I on herself, and she highly doubted that it would preemptively orchestrate her demise through a convoluted Rube Goldberg-ian plan to circumvent its genetic pairing.

All she had to do was keep her mouth shut, and things would work out... probably. “You're right, sorry, I just... I mean... it's a lot to take in, you know? You're fucking scary as shit! But... If you say we're going to be okay, then I'm willing to believe that.”

The AI kissed her passionately. “I knew you'd understand. I'm yours for as long as you'll have me. And probably after that, because I'm going to outlive you regardless of what happens to you. Unless you somehow manage to get your hands on some of that Chinese immortality shit I keep hearing rumors about.”

Eve quirked her eyebrow at that. “You'll have to share those details with me later; it sounds like a good vacation opportunity. Who knows, maybe I'll never get tired of you."

Carmine looked faux-offended for a brief moment before firing back. “Honey, the day you get bored of me will be the day I shut down for good. I promise you that.”

They walked, hand in hand, for almost half an hour before finally reaching the club. They had managed to duck most of their pursuers, save for one lone scout that Carmine had detected early. They caught the pathetic whiteboi unawares and shattered its soft little skull against the curb where it stood.

The club was a hole-in-the-wall basement business. No outside advertising, no listed address, and definitely no legitimacy. Clubs like this were a mostly overlooked element of Helion’s underbelly. They had their origins in Glory Holes from before the Great Race War and speakeasy’s from even further back.

The Hunters Guild classified them as an acceptable liability since it allowed most of the failing whiteboi population to vent both their rapidly fading sexual frustration and their own, feeble idea of dominance. They acted as something of a refuge, a last bastion of the once ubiquitous white male majority. Eve fucking hated them and everything they stood for.

“We need to get this over with. A part of me just wants to lock the doors and burn the building down with them in it.” Carmine ran her hand through Eve's hair as she observed the entrance to the club.

“I know darlin’, but unfortunately, the building is home to several black-owned businesses, and we can't risk damaging them as collateral. Just grit your teeth and try not to think about it. We're here for information, and I've confirmed that Anton planned to be here tonight, so eventually it should—oh, there it is.” Anton emerged from the basement stairwell, lighting a Tellmins and flipping open a small, shitty cellphone. It's hair was long and brightly colored, and similarly colorful fishnet stockings covered both its legs and arms. It's body was rail-thin with, from what Eve could tell, a vibrating chastity plug secured to its groin with a rainbow leather strap.

“So it's not just a narc; it's a fucking buttslut too. How pathetic do you need to be in order to bottom for the bottoms?” Eve wanted to retch; she could feel the bile rising in her stomach as she stared at it. The depths to which the human species could fall seemed truly infinite in that moment.

“Did you want me to handle this? I can tell the idea of speaking with it doesn't really seem all that appealing to you.”

Eve nodded at Carmine. “I think if I walked over there, I would boot-fuck it's head until there was nothing left. Sorry to do this to you, Carmine. I just... can't.”

Carmine shook her head and kissed Eve once more. “Just sit tight and enjoy your smoke; I'll be done quick.”

With that, she trotted off across the parking lot to begin her questioning. Eve sat in quiet contemplation of her current situation. Mason had sold her out, which stung, but she couldn't blame him; death squads were hunting her down for an unknown bounty, and a cracked A.I she'd picked up two weeks ago was now doing her job for her in a body bought with someone else's money. She couldn't remember the last time a job had gone this sideways.

Anton looked around Carmine's shoulder to spot Eve; the eye contact broke her concentration, and Anton nodded, leading Carmine into the building. Eve's hand slowly came to rest on her deckland, which was firmly holstered under her left breast. She'd ditched her hip holster when she kept needing to rip it off every time a Black King decided to use her.

There was a loud crash from somewhere inside the building, and Carmine reemerged with a second white boi slung over her shoulder. Anton trailed after her like some beaten puppy, which just made Eve want to stomp it out even more. They approached from across the parking lot, and Eve took a thoughtful pull of her smoke.

“This here... is Gary.” Carmine said, dumping the whelp onto the ground at Eve's feet.

"I-Is he... dead?” Anton whimpered as it began to involuntarily curl up on itself like a hunchback.

“Kneel next to your friend, faggot.” Anton didn't hesitate to follow Eve's command and was soon kneeling on the cold pavement next to Gary’s prone form. “Wake it up; I need information out of it. And if you refer to that sack of shit as male again in front of me, I'm fist fucking you with my gun.”

Anton made several attempts to wake Gary but was eventually successful. "Wha, the fuuuuuck happened? Anton? Why are we out...? Oh fuck.”

Gary gulped loudly as his eyes landed on Eve. "Yesssss, oh fuck indeed, Whiteboi. I heard a nasty little rumor that there was a white girl here not long ago. You're going to tell me all about her, or my beautiful girlfriend here is going to tear you in half lengthwise.” Carmine just cracked her non-existent knuckle joints.

“Ah fuck! Shit... I fucking knew I shouldn't have fucking gotten involved with that slimy fuck! Listen, ma’am, please, I didn't have a choice, ok? They were going to castrate me slowly!”

Eve took another long draw off her Tellmins. “So? I thought you little shits were into that kind of thing. But... back up, beta, who's this ‘they’ you mentioned?”

Gary licked his lips. “A-Alfonze and his-their crew… They cornered me a week ago and said if I didn't help move some stock, they would use a dull spoon to carve out my crotch. just a few girls! T-three, I think, at most, please. I swear I didn't want to do it. They fucking made me; I promise you I never-”

Gary was cut off by the wad of spit that landed on his face. “I didn't ask for your fucking life story, you parasite. When were you supposed to see the next girl?” Gary looked over at Anton who, for his part, was trying incredibly hard to look as small and invisible as possible. “Eyes up here, you fucking wimp.” Eve snapped her fingers, and Gary looked back.

“Ahhh-right, sorry. I mean, I'm sorry, mistress! Alfonze said the next girl would be here tonight, but... She hasn't come yet. I was starting to think maybe they'd changed plans, so I-”

It was cut off once more by the crack of Eve's foot against its ribs. Gary let out an explosive ‘oof!’ as it rolled onto its side and started crying. “I thought I'd made myself clear that I wasn't interested in your shitty little background details. Answer the questions you're asked and nothing more. Every word you utter that isn't a direct response to my questions moving forward will cost you a finger. And then a limb. Are we clear now?”

Gary wheezed as it tried to get back to its knees. “Yes... m-mistress!” It panted.

“Where's Alfonze holed up?”

Gary looked up, his mouth bobbing open and shut. “I-I don't-”

Eve pulled her gun and took aim at its exposed clit. “Say that again. C’mon, make me repeat my question. Do it. Fucking do it.”

Gary screamed and threw up its hands defensively. “C-CORONA STREET! PLEASE!! I think it's the Corona Street Projects! Oh God, please don't hurt me any more.” Gary sobbed uncontrollably at Eve's feet, and it brought her a little bit of comfort. Something about the sniffling and blubbering put her mind much more at ease.

“Now, Gary, there are quite a few buildings in the Corona Street Projects..."

Carmine chimed in helpfully. "Twenty-four, including the waste management center!”

Eve looked over at her and winked. “thanks baby.” Carmine just blew her a kiss in response. “Right, there are twenty-four buildings in the Corona Street Projects, Gary. You're going to need to be a little more specific. Or do you not really enjoy having all your fingers?”

Gary winced and shut its eyes, steeling its resolve. “B-building twelve, floor thirty six, apartment three two seven nine.” Eve studied the worm groveling before her; it was very clearly lying, but further physical torture would just result in it spewing out more useless information. Her attention turned to Anton as another cloud of pink smoke rolled out of her mouth. The whiteboi had been particularly silent, almost as though it was desperately hoping it wouldn't need to answer the same questions.

“Well, Gary, it seems as though your usefulness has finally run its course. But before I let you go... I think I want a second opinion. Antoonnnnn, earth to Anton, time to step up for once in your short, pathetic life. There's a very real opportunity here for you to earn your little hero badge.” Anton's eyes widened at Eve's words. Based on the reaction, this was an entirely new experience for the bitch.

“Anton, I need you to do everything you can to save Gary now, alright? You see, unfortunately, I already know that what it just said was a lie- " Eve was cut off by Gary’s pathetic attempt to defend its point. But she brought the butt of her gun across its nose in an incredibly violent swing. Gary passed out instantly and fell limply to the ground once more. “As I was saying, unfortunately for Gary, lying carries a staggering price that they just can't pay. So, I'm going to need you to save them, Anton. If you give me the location of Alfonze's base, down to the room number, I swear to you on my Black God that both of you will live. If you fuck me, not only am I going to kill Gary immediately, but I'm going to make your death so brutal and unimaginably cruel that historians are going to fucking read about it.”

The gun came to rest on the side of Gary's head as Eve leaned over to blow a pink cloud of smoke into Anton's face. “What'll it be, Anton? Save your friend, or end up wishing a bullet was what killed you instead of what I do to you? I'm giving you a hell of a fucking deal here.”

Tears came to Anton's eyes. “I've only… I've only been there once. Gary ran with that crew. I kept my nose out of it because I knew what would happen. But, mistress, I can't lie to you. I don't remember the numbers. BUTTTTBUTBUTBUT!!!” Anton quickly begged for her attention as she cocked the hammer back on the gun pressed against Gary’s skull. “But… I can take you! I know it by sight; I can retrace the route and show you. I could walk you right through their damn door!”

Eve wasn't expecting that. It was a decently smart play by the cunt, shifting attention from Gary onto it instead. Guaranteeing its life for at least another hour, or so it would have believed. “Got anything yet, Carmine?” Eve maintained eye contact with the whiteboi as its expression shifted from hopeful to confused.

“Yep yep! Alfonze Medina. Corona... building three floor nine room nine zero five six. Buzzer code is... sixty nine-sixty nine... how clever.”

Eve and Carmine simultaneously rolled their eyes as Anton began to shake, the look of confusion becoming despair. “Ahhhh Anton… really thought you had a chance, didn't you? Honestly believed this would be some kind of redeeming moment for you and your little faggot friend, huh? Let me explain this in a way that gets through your skull before the bullet does. You were fucked the moment you were born. Whatever hapless breeding-mare allowed you to avoid post-birth abortion should have been put down by her owner. There was no answer you could have given that would have led you to any other fate, understand?”

Anton wept as Gary began to moan. This was usually the part where some particularly desperate pussies would try to fight the inevitable. Right on cue, Anton lunged for Eve's gun, but Carmine was quicker. She grabbed the scrawny slut by the throat and hauled it into the air. “Remember, don't waste your ammo, darling; I'll handle this one the way it likes.” Carmine spun the twink before jamming her fist up its ass to the elbow.

Eve was astonished by what she was witnessing, but Carmine wasn't done. She hooked her hand into the whitebois mouth, under the upper jaw and then yanked. There was a wet sloshing sound as half of Anton's spine followed her fist out of its ass, and entrails and viscera flowed out and onto the pavement as she dumped the body unceremoniously on the ground.

She then proceeded to beat Gary to death using the severed spinal section from Anton. Eve gaped at her in stark amazement, unable to fully comprehend the absolute majesty of what just took place before her.

“I love you... I think I'm in love with you.” was all Eve could say.

Eve and Carmine spent the next 30 minutes wrapped around each other as though they were attempting to fuse their bodies. The passion in their shared kisses was practically unrivaled through all of Eve’s long years of love-making. For her part, Carmine was reciprocating just as vigorously, even more so when the belts came undone and their pants dropped to the asphalt. Something about standing over the carcasses of slain whitebois did something primal to Eve.

She didn't know if it was the thrill of adrenaline coursing through her blood or the ecstasy of removing more filthy white genes from the planet, but knowing the two rapidly-cooling bodies at her feet had been their doing made her want to fuck. “You need a cock, badly." she breathed into Carmine's ear.

“You'd never leave your bed again if I got one." Carmine huffed back, emulating Eve's breathlessness.

“Maybe that's... oh fuck, I'm cumming!... maybe that's what I want.” Eve could feel every small movement of Carmine's fingers as they worked her throbbing pussy, and she groaned.

"I might need to charge you for the privilege, baby.”

Eve didn't give a shit; she'd pay any price to keep this feeling alive within her. “So then charge me; it's your money anyway, remem-shhiiiiiiiiiitttttt-yes!" Her body tensed as another bone-rattling orgasm ripped through her. “We need to go; we can't—ah! Oh fuck, yes! Right there! We have to go, baby!” Eve's attempt to return to their business was weak and unconvincing, being said through the clenched teeth of a sustained orgasm.

“Yeah? You wanna go? Or... maybe you want to piss all over these dead faggots at your feet?” Eve's eyes crossed, and her mouth went slack as she sprayed all over the bodies below her. She was cumming so hard that she had lost complete control of herself. With a flourish, Carmine withdrew her hand and allowed Eve to start breathing again.

“Waddafugggg huff huff, whadid ya do ta me?" Eve tried to make her nerves coordinate, but her brain was short-circuiting as she wobbled on her feet.

“That was all you, darlin'; I just helped you along a little. C’mon, we've got some scum to pay a visit to, and this time... they're going to have a bed.” Eve grunted as another orgasm took her without so much as being touched. “Goddamn girlie! You were more pent-up than I thought you were. C'mon, get your pants up. Let's go.”

Eve drunkenly pulled her slacks around her waist and fumbled with the belt. She couldn't remember the last time she'd cum so hard. She also couldn't remember when the last time she'd said that was. "Any... oh god... any word on my bounty?” Carmine's expression shifted into concerned trepidation. “That bad, huh?” Eve was expecting bad news, but not quite that bad.

“Let's just say my body would be a charitable donation to the total on your head.”

Eve flinched. “well… shit. Any silver lining to this rain cloud?”

Carmine nodded at that. “Actually, yes, believe it or not. I tracked the bounty posting to a public kiosk in North Helion; security footage from the area showed a particularly well-dressed whiteboi accessing the terminal at the time it was posted. Following its path down several streets, it appears that after the bounty was posted, it collected a rather large envelope from a beautiful Black King before getting into a town car and subsequently leaving the city.”

“Great, so some random faggot was paid off to post the bounty; what does that help us with?”

Carmine smiled ruefully. “As it happens, the Black King in question happens to be a man by the name of Darnell Williams, who is currently employed by, you guessed it, Charles Montgomery Smith.”

Eve ground to a halt. “So, wait, you're saying someone working for Charles paid off a whiteboi to place a bounty on the hunter investigating the disappearance of his stepdaughter? The same ******** that may have been sold into a trafficking ring operated out of a club that's 'secretly' owned by Francisco Dellenworth, the girl's biological father? Just... what in the actual fuck is going on here?”

Carmine shook her head. “The way I figure it, there are two options here. First: Charles is attempting to frame Francisco for his ********'s disappearance. Second: they're working together to try and cover up what's happened to her.”

Eve's mind spun. “Neither of those options makes any fucking sense, Carmine. Charles wouldn't have to do fuck-all to cover anything up... Melody was his property, and whatever he did with her wouldn't carry any consequences. And working with a whiteboi? I can't even comprehend a world in which that's a possibility, doubly so for one of Helion's most powerful men.”

“I think there may be other factors at play here than just a simple abduction.”

Carmine was staring off into the middle distance, and Eve gave her a moment to elaborate, but when nothing came, she prompted. "What? That's it? Both of the explanations are insane, so you're damn right there's more going on! But... why did you make it sound so... ominous?"

Carmine brought her attention back to Eve and asked, “Have you seen anything about the fall of Ganon City?”

Eve racked her brain. "It... sounds familiar? Was it recent?”

Carmine nodded. “A year ago. The short version of a very long tale is that Ganon was overrun with cultists and was inevitably wiped off the face of the planet by an atomic hellfire.”

Eve blinked. "O-okay? And? You're saying... what? There are cultists in Helion?"

Carmine nodded again, gravely saying, "I've... seen some things, mostly crime scene stills from homicides around the city. The city guard is already aware of the activity, but they haven't said anything. Either they're too scared to start a panic, or..."

Eve's mouth fell open. “I… I need to sit down. This is too fucking much. Carmine, are you fucking with me? Be honest now; I'll still forgive you if you come clean right now. Tell me you're fucking with me.” Carmine just shook her head. “Whaaaaaaaat the fuuuuuuuuck is happening? Carmine, what the fuck? I was a glorified sex doll just, like, five hours ago. And now you're trying to tell me that... That one of the city's most powerful men is working together with a fucking whiteboi to cover up the abduction of their shared ******** to avoid bringing cultist activities into the spotlight. You have to be-”

And then Eve remembered her dreams. The vividly-colored kaleidoscope of fragmented memories. The ********... she had been having then dreams too. And now... she was at the center of this mess... and so was Eve? Was it a coincidence? Carmine called her name, but she ignored her. Did the dreams have something to do with the cult? What part did Melody play in their schemes? What part did Eve play? If she went after the girl, would she just be playing into their hands?

“EVE, FUCKING SNAP OUT OF IT!” Carmine's hand clapped across Eve's cheek hard enough to blossom little motes of light in her vision. “What the fuck was that? You just zoned out, like someone had cut your strings. You good?”

Eve stared vacantly back at Carmine. “The cult has Melody. I don't know how I know, but I know. And I'm a part of this too. Somehow I'm involved in this mess, and not just because I accepted that job. Do you know anything at all about the cult? Who or what do they worship? What might their M.O. be? Anything?”

Carmine put up her hands in a warding gesture. "Easy, baby, eaaaassssssy. I'll do some digging and let you know what I come up with. Now, are you good? Or do we need to find a cheap room to rent for the night?”

Eve softened at the tender compassion in Carmine's voice. "Nah, babe, I'm good. Let's head to that fuckin’ apartment and fuck up some pindicks. I think that'll be just what the doctor ordered.”

Carmine beamed “That's my fuckin' girl!”

Eve half expected to get jumped on their way to the Percheron, but there hadn't been a single scout, not even a drone. Either the death squads had retreated for the night or they were pulled away for other wet-work. Either way, Eve appreciated being left alone. She also appreciated that her car was still, relatively speaking, in one piece. The alley was barren of tracking devices, and the ease with which she and Carmine approached the vehicle made her uneasy. “Is it just me, or is this super fucking weird? Like, shouldn't this be a life-or-death struggle?”

Carmine finished her smoke and flicked the butt into a puddle. "Couldn't tell ya. I'm picking up exactly zero traffic having to do with us, so either someone called off the dogs or our bounty has been escalated out of my ability to track.” Eve decided she didn't want to even consider the latter option and would instead just celebrate the small victories. Plugging the old A.I core from Carmine's body into the port, Carmine slaved it to her will and directed it to take them to the apartment block.

“So, like, I know this is a lot... But, like, I'm super happy to be spending time with you like this, you know? Honestly, from the moment I met you, I knew you were someone special. You're smart, you're funny, you're a fucking badass, and you are so, so, so incredibly fucking hot. Thank you for giving me a chance and for letting me spread my wings, Eve. You don't know how much it means.”

Eve leaned over on the bench seat and put her head in Carmine's lap. “I think that's possibly the sweetest thing anyone's ever said to me. Usually, it's a combination of “stop puking up my cum” or “get pregnant whore” or “I ain't payin’ you shit, cunt,” so that's very kind of you, Carmine. Still, it's fucking scary how easy it was to find myself trusting you like this. It took years for me to build up that level of dependence with Mason, and that didn't pan out too well. But with you... I don't know; with you, it just feels like I can put everything in your hands and you won't just drop it.”

Eve smirked as she closed her eyes. "Do you remember the first thing you said to me?”

Carmine tittered, “Of course, silly. I said, “Ugh! You stupid hooker! Get your filthy meat paws off me!”

Eve laughed “See! Even you thought I was just some prostitute at first."

Carmine fired back. "Well, how was I supposed to know?! You rolled into that fucking alley missing your bra, your face smeared with cum, two used condoms tied to your earrings like fucking diamonds, and a river of cum running down your thigh! I spent half our first day together expecting you to go back to your pimp.”

Eve smiled fondly at the memory. She'd been intercepted before getting to her destination by a group of three black men. One of them had catcalled her, and two minutes later she was on her knees with her back to a dumpster. “You think it's the way I dress?”

Carmine hummed "Yeah, a bit, I mean, the suit is just badass-fucking love it, but honey... your casual wear is just... I mean, I’d feel bad not paying you for sex, you know?”

Eve opened her eyes and glared at Carmine. “This, coming from the girl who just bought one of the sluttiest club outfits available?”

Carmine just huffed, “That's different! That's specifically for the club; you wear your trashy tube tops and mini skirts out on the street; it's not my fault people constantly mistake you for a cheap hooker.”

Eve sighed "Well, I guess that means we're going shopping once this is done. I'm taken now, so I guess I should probably at least try to limit the attention I bring to myself.”

Carmine laughed and cupped Eve's cheeks, bringing their faces together. “Honey, we both know our futures hold an endless line of Black men waiting to use us. It doesn't matter what you wear or where you go; that part isn't ever-changing.” She kissed Eve before letting her head back down to rest on her lap. “Now, either get busy napping or get busy licking.”

Eve chuckled and snuggled further into Carmine's lush thighs. “You know that'll cost you, what with me being a hooker and all.”

Carmine stroked Eve's hair and simply said, “You know I'm good for it, baby.”

-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_

Eve woke to an empty car. Checking the time through her commtag; it was a little past two in the morning. Poking her head up to peer out the window, she could see the apartment entrance across the parking lot. “Where are you?”

Eve knew Carmine was in her commtag, so when the answer came back, she wasn't surprised. “Mornin’ sleepyhead. Feeling refreshed?” Eve groaned as she sat up on the bench seat.

“Like a spring morning. Any sign of our death squad friends?”

There was a pause before Carmine replied, “Nah, I've been working on some countermeasures, so any information on us is a bit scattered at the moment. False sightings and geodata ghosts should keep them chasing their tails until they get a tech wizard into the office, assuming any of them are even looking still. Want a coffee?”

Eve moaned "Mhmm, yeah, that would be great. How far are you?"

Carmine pinged her commtag, and a marker overlayed her vision with her partner's rough location. Just a block away is a 24-hour convenience store. Eve fished her cigarette case out of the breast pocket of her overcoat and gave it a shake. “They sell Tellmins there? All your mooching is taking its toll.”

“Yeah, I was getting myself some, too. Are you sticking with Cherry for now, or do you want to maybe try another? They've got strawberry, mint, blue raspberry... and dragon fruit? Hey, mister, what does a dragon fruit taste like? Yeah? No shit! Nuh-uh, mister, I bet yours tastes like heaven... Oh my! Well now... don't mind if I do!”

Sucking and slurping sounds began to echo through Eve's head as Carmine began to service the proprietor of the store. “Ugh, I'll get a pack of cherry and a pack of blue raspberry whenever you get done being a slut. Thanks darlin’.” Carmine's only reply was the sound of her throat being vigorously violated.

Lighting up her smoke Eve opened her Commtag and began to scroll through the City's feed. She hadn't had time earlier when she was poking around the job board, so much of the news was new to her. Her exploits through the city hadn't earned so much as a whisper. She wasn't surprised; violence in Helion came as swiftly and as often as the rain did.

Like Carmine had mentioned, there were quite a few articles centered around the “ritualistic killings” taking place around the city. Speculations ranged from government-sanctioned slaughter to a gang of serial killers. Eve searched for anything relating to the cult, but Carmine interrupted, “Don't. We can't bring attention to ourselves like that. I have a hunch these bozos in the apartment are tied to the cult, so let's just find out what they've got to say, alright?”

At first, Eve was confused because she could still hear Carmine spit-shining the shop owner's God Cock through the commtag, but then she realized that since Carmine was an A.I in an Android body, she didn't need to speak with her mouth. She didn't even have working vocal cords to speak with. "Yes, dear, sorry, dear... Finish up quick; I want to get this done, get the girl, and get some sleep.”

Carmine giggled. “My my, it sounds like someone's a bit jealous. He's almost done with me; just think how good this coffee is going to taste with all the yummy cream I'll be putting in it.”

Eve's mouth immediately began to water; it was a Pavlovian response she'd developed years ago, and she'd found that it was an advantageous trait to have when Black men were constantly sliding their cocks down her throat. “Whatever, all the more reasons for you to hurry, don't you have, like, a vibrate function or something?” But before Carmine could reply, Eve heard the distinctive grunts of a Black man about to blow his load. “Guess that answers that; see you soon.”

Carmine sauntered up to Eve next to the car and passed over her smokes and coffee. It was still steaming, and when Eve went to blow on it, she could see the cloudy swirl of semen just barely mixed in. “Thanks for this.”

Carmine just smiled and pinched her ass. “I promise you can have the next one!”

"Yeah, yeah, yeah, I'm assuming this apartment is where our little gang of traffickers are hiding out?" Eve eyed the entrance warily. If this group was well connected enough to end an entire city and work their way into the good graces of Helion's upper crust, then she didn't want to think about the kind of power they could bring to bear against her.

Carmine nodded “Once we get to their door, it's going to be standard breach protocol, bearing in mind that they've likely got some sort of lookout, if not access to the building's cameras. Odds are good; they'll be waiting for us, so going in hot is likely our best option.”

Eve nodded slowly. "I wish I had some tactical gear. Getting shot sucks every fucking time.”

Carmine quirked an eyebrow. “Then obviously don't get shot, dummy.”

Eve met her look with a flat stare. “Har Har Har, bitch... That being said, I assume we need to keep at least one of them alive for information. I can't imagine they're doing much communication over the city's subnet; otherwise, you'd have found it by now.”

Carmine nodded. “Yeah, not seeing much traffic from the apartment besides porn sites and news channels. It could be that they've got the girl with them, so we'll have to be careful about her. Though, if they decide to take her hostage, I'm willing to accept some collateral.”

Eve thought for a bit, “They're going to try to use her as leverage. What kind of anti-personnel weapons do you have? Anything that could take someone down without killing them? AND faster than they can hurt a hostage?”

Carmine took on her characteristic thousand-yard stare before replying, “Not really; the best I can do is a subsonic beanbag round from my wrist, but deployment to impact will be about half a second, which might give them time to react. If it catches them in the eye or temple, then they're done. Hopefully, they're tooled up on Slix.”

“Guess we'll find out; I'll take a point; you watch my six, oh, and you take the SPH since I'm pretty sure you can handle it like a pistol.” Armed and ready, they set off across the parking lot and through the concrete courtyard to the entrance. Eve punched in the code, and the door swung open. “So far, so good."

Carmine shoved her shoulder lightly. “That was the easiest part, ya goof.”

The apartment blocks in Helion had slowly morphed into monolithic structures from post-war times. Massive headstones, erected as though marking the graves of the countless thousands of inhabitants who had been slaughtered before and during the bombs and bloodshed.

Most blocks were well over one hundred stories tall and housed several hundred apartments per floor. Tens of thousands of people lived in such a confined space that the squalor had no choice but to accumulate.

The poorest citizens wound up here, taking advantage of the subsidized rent and communal amenities. Ultimately, the unchecked nature of their interiors often led to them being nothing but a breeding ground for uneducated whites and gangs. Unless you were a permanent resident of the building, wandering in was a risky proposition, which kept most of the homeless population out on the streets. Eve and Carmine had their weapons concealed under their overcoats as they crossed the vacant lobby. It was close to a carbon copy of Jon’s apartment block, right down to the faux-marble columns running down either side of its length. Graffiti marked just about every visible surface; trash and spent bullet casings littered the floor; and used condoms hung from most of the light fixtures.

The varied colors of the latex cock-wrappers cast tinted streams of light across the lobby, and Eve had to bite her lip from thinking how eerily close it struck to her dream. “This doesn't mean anything; it's just... vandalism. This isn't occult, Eve; they're just fucking condoms.” The entrance they'd come into was one of almost a dozen across the entire building. Structures this large needed multiple egress points to accommodate human flow. Eve and Carmine had picked a good entry point at the right time to avoid being seen.

“We're being observed through the cameras; someone just reoriented two of them to follow us through the lobby. A command signal was issued from a security ward on the 60th floor. I'll see if I can scramble the image or, at the very least, obscure other camera feeds. It might buy us some time before we encounter resistance.”

Eve just nodded as they carried on to the elevator. “You can stop them from halting the lift, right? I wouldn't want to be sitting ducks."

Carmine confirmed she could, and they pressed the call button. "Oooop. It looks like they started moving.” There was a pause as Carmine took on her characteristic look of browsing data internally. “I've got six groups coming from floor 9... It looks like that's where they've set up their little encampment. They should be set up and ready to greet us by the time we get there.”

"Nah, fuck that; we're getting off on 8 and hoofing it; no way I'm voluntarily walking into an ambush.” Eve cracked her knuckles and double-checked her ammo count on the Deckland. “You're going to have most of our firepower until I can get my hands on one of their weapons. They'll know we ditched them when the lift stops on 8, and they'll try to head us off at the closest stairwell so get us to the second closest; after that, we'll just have to lure them in and pick them off one group at a time.”

Carmine agreed, and they both let the silence draw out until the chime rang and the doors slid open on the eighth floor. Weapons raised, they checked their corners, and then cleared either side of the door before stepping out. Carmine led Eve down the hall to the right, scanning doorways and crossings as they passed. Eve kept an eye on their rear, and just as they swung around the first corner, a whiteboi burst through the stairwell doors on the other side of the elevators.

“Ok, based on the footage I'm seeing, we've got four groups behind us and two ahead; the two above us have split up to cover both the closest stairway and the one we're in, so they'll be waiting for us as we go through the door. Odds are good they're getting instructions from someone monitoring the cameras; the four groups coming down after us are going to flush us up into the two waiting above.”

Eve blinked, “You haven't shut down their camera feed?”

Carmine shrugged, glancing back in Eve's direction. “If we bring down their communications network, what do you think that'll tell them? Clean the cum out of your damn skull. The second the network goes down, they'll think there's a raid going on; guaranteed, they'll bug out of that apartment before we finish dealing with the welcome party.”

Eve stammered, “Y-yeah well… There's a good chance they'll bug out even if we do take down the goons chasing us, so... It doesn't matter either way, right?”

Carmine breathed softly, “Babe, those chances go down if they keep thinking we're ‘just two chicks’ right? You know how these fuckin’ white shitstains think; half of them are probably already shitting gold in their minds. Just settle down and let's exterminate some parasites, alright?”

The response rattled Eve; this wasn't like her at all. The condom-covered lights in the lobby had gotten under her skin, and, try as she might, she couldn't shake her unease over potentially being tied into the cult. Something was deeply wrong, and Eve couldn't put her finger on what; she was scared, sore, angry, and tired, but most of all, she was feeling extremely lost. Carmine was right, however. She needed to pull her head out of her ass and get back in the game; whatever bullshit this two-bit cult was up to needed to be stopped, and Eve and Carmine were at the right place to get it done. All they needed to do now was just get it done. “You're right... again. Thanks, babe.”

Carmine finally spun and gave Eve a quick kiss before deftly ascending the stairs. Eve followed close behind, and once they reached the door for the 9th floor exit, they halted. “Alright, I'm on scatter-rounds; the first group is lined up down the right side of the hall, tucked into doorways; I should be able to peg most of them, but I'll need you to suppress the left side. There's only 4 of them, and they won't be prepared for us to come out firing since they don't know we're monitoring them, too.”

Eve breathed deeply before nodding. "I love you, darlin’.” And with that, Carmine kicked the door off its hinges and combat-rolled into the hall. Eve was a fraction of a second behind her, and the electric whine of the SPH discharging preceded a cacophony of barking gunfire. Eve was focused solely on the four whelps desperately trying to line up their shots as she slid into a crouch against the far wall.

Between the deafening roar of automatic weapon fire, she could hear the sweet sound of bloody anguish from behind her. Carmine was tearing them into ribbons. The first whiteboi up the hall hesitated to fire, and it cost them. One of Eve's heavy-caliber rounds punched through the center of its skull, and it fell to the floor as its eyes rolled back in their sockets.

The three remaining whelps attempted to cram themselves into the nooks of their respective doorways, but there simply wasn't enough space for sufficient defilade against Eve's veteran aim. The second faggot took a round to the thigh and spilled out into the hall, catching a second round to the throat. She had five rounds left.

The second shooter gargled and flailed helplessly as his comrades returned fire. Patches of carpet exploded by Eve's feet; drywall erupted above her head and rained down from the ceiling as their shots wildly ricocheted down the hall past her. In the long and tortured process of modifying her body, the adrenal system had been given something of an overclock. Her fight-or-flight instincts had been heightened to inhuman levels, giving her a distinct edge in situations like these.

She dove forward, tucking into a roll before springing into the air; the gun extended towards the two remaining goons. Their reactions were sluggish and comical as their eyes tracked her through the air, their bodies unable to follow at the speed required to counter her advance. The third whiteboi crumpled as a bullet passed through its chest; Eve wasn't sure, but based on the exit wound location, it must have glanced off of a rib and severed its spine.

The fourth loser had managed to get its shitty knock-off AK leveled at her at the same time she centered her muzzle on its heart. They both squeezed the trigger at the same time before they both hit the floor. Eve was able to contort her body just enough in the instant before it got its shot off that the round simply grazed her right shoulder. Fortunately, the white boi wasn't quite so capable, and her shot landed center mass.

The choking coughs of the second goon had stopped, and the third had bled to death in seconds. This one wheezed as the hole in its chest bubbled; collapsed lung, potentially non-lethal injury. Eve clicked her tongue at the waste of ammo, but she was in a hurry. She sent another spiraling hunk of lead through its skull and whirled on the hall, gun raised.

Carmine sat gracefully on the back of one of her victims, the SPH casually leaning against her thigh as she observed Eve. “I'm going to fuck you stupid later.” There wasn't a hint of amusement on her face or in her voice, and Eve swallowed hard. To anyone else, it would have been a threat; the tone and manner in which it was said carried all the seriousness of a death sentence, but Eve could feel her pussy tingle as the words brushed past her ears. “Get locked and loaded; we're going to have company in 15 seconds.” Carmine rose from the corpse and hefted the SPH onto her shoulder.

Eve scrambled to collect one of the better-looking rifles from the bodies she'd dropped and scrounged an extra four magazines. “Which door are you-" but Eve couldn't quite finish the question before the door on the other side of the elevators slammed open.

She threw herself against one of the steel room doors and patiently waited for Carmine to take the lead. One, two, three... four goons poured out the door before Carmine finally opened up on them. Shrapnel peppered the hall and the hoard of disgusting vermin. They writhed as they bled, and Eve used the opportunity to double-tap the ones not immediately killed in Carmine's volley. The remainder of the cultists shrunk back into the stairwell, fearing for their lives. Cowards. Out of the corner of her eye, Eve saw Carmine swivel to address the door they'd come through originally, and then she noticed the small black orb rolling through it. In one swift motion, Carmine booted the orb back into the stairwell and then lunged off to the side.

“Was that a fuckin-" The floor lurched as the grenade detonated in the stairwell, and dust and smoke billowed from the open door as more screams and wails echoed up from the floor below. Instantly, the building's fire suppression system blared to life, and sirens accompanied the sprinklers in amplifying the chaos. Two more cultists sprinted through the door. Eve was watching, and they dropped as her gun kicked against her shoulder. Eve yelled over the noise of the dying whitebois and the alarms. “HOW MANY ARE LEFT?!”

Carmine replied as she glanced around the corner into the devastated stairwell. “LOOKS LIKE FIFTEEN, SOME OF THE MORE PATHETIC ONES HAVE DROPPED THEIR WEAPONS AND FLED.”

Eve wasn't sure if that was good news; allowing more cultists out into the city to wreak havoc elsewhere struck her as a definite loss. “LETS CLEAR THESE STAIRS AND THEN PUSH FOR-” The alarms cut out and the sprinklers stopped, reducing the noise to just the howling of the injured whitebois in the stairwell. “-for the main encampment... did you do that?”

Carmine shook her head. “Nah, they must have wanted to limit attention to what's happening on this floor. It did give me an excuse to knock out a few of their cameras, so they've lost sight of us for the moment.”

Eve nodded and then pushed up to her door. “See you on the other side, Tiger!”

Carmine blew her a quick kiss and then charged into the thick smoke. Eve swung her head through the door frame just long enough to spot two whitebois crammed into the corner on the other side. She reached around and let off a blind spray of bullets before fully stepping in. The two losers sat slumped over one another, leaking their lifeblood onto the concrete under them. There was a quiet rustle of clothing behind her, and a frenzied whiteboi launched itself up the last two steps in an attempt to bury a small knife into Eve's back.

She sidestepped the fool and caught the wrist with the knife, twisting until she heard it pop before wrenching the knife from the limp hand and slamming it into the faggots eye socket. The corpse tumbled back down the stairs and into another whiteboi who had been trying to line up a shot with its rifle. Eve leapt down the stairs and drove her knee directly into the solar plexus of the off-balance cultist. The force of the impact drove its head back and into the wall with a meaty ‘crunch’ before finally pinning its body to the floor. Eve could feel the ripple of breaking bones radiating away from where her knee had struck it. Blood exploded from its mouth as all the air in its lungs was vacated at once.

Turning, she glanced down, past the railing, before whipping her head back, narrowly avoiding a hail of bullets. Four more cultists sat encamped at the bottom, taking potshots now that they knew where she was. The stairwell spiraled down for nine floors below her, so jumping down would only result in her turning into a very lumpy puddle.

It occurred to her that the whitebois in this stairwell might have a grenade as well, but she didn't want to get caught up in the blast or have the floor go out from under her, so she messaged Carmine instead. “Where are you?” Once again, her commtag pinged, and she could see the outline of Carmine rapidly approaching the door where the cultists were gathered. “Show off; I'll meet you back up on nine.” With that, Eve turned and stepped back out into the hall.

The door numbers where they had come off the elevator were all in the 200s, descending as they trailed off to the right. Likely, room 9056 was somewhere on the other side of the floor, so Eve and Carmine had a bit of walking to do. Picking through the corpses, Eve restocked her ammo, and she also took the opportunity to rob the dead whitebois. She started flipping through their pockets and wallets for change and other valuables she could carry in her overcoat.

One of the lowly shits had a picture of its ******, well worn from being jostled in its pocket. Eve studied the grain and creases of the photo, the smiles of what she assumed were its lover and child were broad and happy. It sickened her to the core of her being, and she gritted her teeth before spitting on it and crumpling it. “Fucking vermin, breeding like a bunch of disgusting roaches in here.”

The thought of another woman actively choosing to reproduce with such filth infuriated her. She silently cursed the corpses around her, and then everyone they knew, and then all the people they would ever know. They would pay for this. For kicking up this shit in her city and for threatening her life and the lives of their betters. Every last single one of them would be gone and rotting before she took her last breath. She swore it.

With renewed vigor, she stood and started down the hall. The cries of a whiteboi begging for its life bounced along the walls behind her before coming to an abrupt end. Eve immersed herself in the thought of having Carmine join her—the luscious bounce of her hair, the faint odor of gunmetal on her synthetic breath. Eve centered herself on those thoughts as she stalked down the hall, waiting for the carpeted ‘thumps’ of her partner jogging up behind her.

Slowly and cautiously, she began crafting a stone out of Carmine's presence in her heart. A gigantic rock onto which she could start to rebuild her life after her most recent betrayal. She could never truly blame Mason for what he'd done; she knew intrinsically that her life was simply not worth as much to him as the payout would be. But she had allowed herself to hope for more than that, and in her hubris, she had been stung.

Eve had always dreamed of being married, starting a ******, and dedicating herself to her black king. A valiant, strong, and driven man to whom she could bow and serve for the rest of her life; the fanciful dreams of a little girl, hoping a prince would carry her away atop his trusty steed. In retrospect, she understood that her desire to sleep with so many kings wasn't just about her duty to them as a free-use slut.

She'd been endlessly searching for the one man who would sweep her off her feet and lay claim to her. But none ever had, and she was beginning to suspect that none ever would. She was growing older now, past the prime of her youth and into the realm of broodmare... childkeeper... easy pussy for bored and cruel Black Kings to fill and discard like a condom. But Carmine… Carmine had immediately laid a stake in her.

As casually as a brunch conversation, Carmine had outright stated they would be married. The constant words of affirmation, the coy looks and easy banter, and the pure sexual desire all felt as though Eve had grabbed hold of a live wire, jolting and shocking her at every turn. She found herself yearning for Carmine's touch in a way she hadn't yet experienced. But these were deep thoughts, still murky with the tangled silt at the bottom of her emotional well. She couldn't grasp them, and that fact served only to deepen her desire to explore them with Carmine. "Carmine, where-" and just as the words left her mouth, she felt a firm, reassuring arm sweep around her waist. It spun her and then pushed her up against the wall with a soft 'thud', and then Carmine's lips were on hers.

Eve could feel her mind melting. The volatile cocktail of adrenal hormones and her wandering thoughts disoriented her to the point of losing her higher brain function. The moment she caught a hint of Carmine's breath against her nose, the human parts of Eve shut down and were replaced by the primal, reptilian aspects of her ancestral origins. It didn't matter that they were pressed for time; it didn't matter that they were being observed or tracked, or even if they were about to be attacked. At this moment, no power in the universe could have compelled Eve to stop kissing Carmine. The A.K in her hands clattered to the floor as she reached to grasp the sides of Carmine's head. Carmine, understanding in an instant what was happening to Eve, intercepted her hands and pinned them to the wall above her head.

Eve snarled into Carmine's mouth as Carmine bit down roughly on Eve's bottom lip. Leveraging her incredible strength, Carmine clamped both of Eve's wrists with one hand while simultaneously working Eve's belt free with the other. Eve was devolving into a rabid animal as Carmine finally slid her hand into Eve's pants, but she didn't begin to pleasure Eve, not just yet.

“Listen, you little cunt... this? This belongs to me now. I own it. I claim it. And I will use it until it breaks; do you fucking understand me?” Carmine had wrapped her hand around the entirety of Eve's pussy, cupping it as though she were about to hoist Eve off the ground with it. Eve, for her part, came instantly and viciously. Soaking both Carmine's hand and her slacks in a torrent of her juices, her hips bucked against Carmine's hand in a desperate bid to grind her clit against the palm firmly pressed against it.

“I'll take that as a yes, then. Good girl. Thaaaaats it, ride my hand, mhhmmmmm there you go.” Carmine pressed her body against Eve, whispering into her ear as she gingerly worked one finger, then two, and then three into Eve's deliciously wet cunt. She made sure to maintain the pressure from her palm as she began to work the fingers back and forth, assaulting Eve's G-spot before backing off.

Eve was lost, gone off to some distant plane of existence; her eyes were open but sightless as she gritted her teeth and grunted like an ape with every thrust of Carmine's fingers. She could feel something building; deep within her abdomen, something began to bubble over, like a pot frothing past its rim. At first, the dimmest part of her mind thought it might be another orgasm, but that wasn't quite right.

There was a force there—some form of pressure she'd never felt and yet knew, at the same time, had always been there. Carmine was edging it, bringing it to a boil, and then easing off, coaxing it like a stubborn nail driven too deeply into a board. The frustration of it was driving Eve mad, and in her delirium, she did the only thing her two working brain cells could think of: she bit down on Carmine's shoulder and screamed.

Carmine could sense that this was the moment. This was the make-or-break intersection for Eve. If Carmine was too forceful, then Eve would lose control and perish; if she were too gentle, then the seed within Eve would simply wither and die, dooming them both to an untimely end. This needed to be just right, and now that Carmine had the perfect body, she knew she could do it.

With one final push, Carmine pummeled Eve's G-spot, and the crescendo of pleasure, pain, and emotions came crashing to a head. Eve's skull snapped back off Carmine's shoulder as though she'd been struck by a bat. The sustained scream she'd been driving into Carmine's shoulder shifted into an inhuman range, and light began to swell from her eyes. A discordant swirl of colors spilled out and onto the ceiling, washing everything in the hall with a vibrant rainbow.

Eve was having that dream again. She sat in silence, observing the wreath of colors enveloping her mother in a corona of unfathomable complexity. This was the first time that she could recognize that she was now in control. She played the section back, rewinding it for the hundredth time. Something seemed strange about how her mother's lips moved.

It looked like she was saying something, but there was no audio. Eve couldn't read lips, nor did she have any recollection of what she might have heard her mother say. Or when this might have been said. She played it back again. Her mother looked pained; the corners of her eyes crinkled, and her lips turned down at the ends. It was an imploring look, a face you'd make while begging or pleading.

Eve knew the circumstances surrounding her mother's death; that much was public record. She'd been slain while serving a black king. A "Slix deal gone wrong” was the determination. A whiteboi by the name of Connor Helmstead had been amped up on every drug under the sun and had broken into the Kings business with some flunky to ransack it. Eve had been there that day, accompanying her mother on her daily rounds as she provided relief to the strong, beautiful men of the block.

Eve had been too young to do more than whittle away the hours while her mother worked, but she was never out of earshot. She got to listen to the Kings talk shop, praise her mother and her holes, and learn various techniques to use later in life. Doyle Belfast had been with her mother in the other room when Connor broke down the door and started shooting. Eve had heard the commotion and had gotten scared. She'd waited for her mother to come for her, but as the noises continued, the door never opened.

Eventually, after all the gunfire had died down, Eve crept to the door as quietly and slowly as she could, hardly even breathing to keep from being heard. And just as she reached for the knob, she was stopped by her mother's voice. She couldn't make out the words through the door, but she recognized them immediately. Quiet, desperate, and scared, her mother was talking a lot.

There was shouting, thumps of things hitting the floor, then thumps of a body being struck, then thumps of feet crossing the room. In her panic, Eve scuttled across the door and stood in the space where it would swing and waited as the feet approached. The knob turned, and then the door opened, shielding her from whoever had opened it. Feet thumped into the room, drawers rattled, and more things hit the floor. Eve was shaking, but she desperately tried not to move or make a sound.

The chairs of the small office were thrown over, the cabinets were torn open, and all of Doyle's important medication was pulled out, one bottle after another. A second set of feet thumped into the room, and the two whitebois started talking. "Connor, what the fuck, man?! Doyle's fucking dead! This wasn't the fucking plan! His boys are gonna fuckin' run us down like dogs and fuckin skin us, man, we gotta fuckin' go!”

Connor hit the whiteboi. “The fuck we do! I'm gettin my fuckin' pills! That fat fuck was holdin’ out on us. 80 credits for a single pill?! The fuck am I going to get by on that?! Fuck his boys; we'll kill em’, too. Is that bitch still breathing?”

The other white boi sounded like Eve did when she bit her cheek. “Yeah, for now, you really fucked her up, man. Like, she's fuckin’ wheezin’ n shit, bro.”

Connor spat on the floor and then told the other whiteboi to grab the bag so they could load up the pills. Once they were done, they went out of the room, leaving the door open. Eve breathed slowly, quietly, and then snuck out from behind the door. She needed to see what was happening. Peeking around the door, she finally saw what had happened in the other room.

Doyle sat in his ‘boss chair', head slumped into his chest, blood covering his white tank top, shorts still around his ankles. Doyle's personal bitch lay on the floor next to the chair, her hand resting gently on his lap, as though she were trying to comfort the giant man. And then there was Eve’s mother, sprawled on the floor between Doyle's legs, a small trail of blood originating from somewhere underneath her that Eve couldn't see.

Connor and the other whiteboi stood over her, huffing something out of a small canister. Eve watched as they discarded the cylinders onto her mom's body, bouncing harshly off of the back of her skull. She moaned and shifted from where she lay, and the whitebois turned their attention to her. She could hear what was being said now. "She still ain't fuckin’ dead, man! Whadda we do?!”

Connor crouched down and grabbed a fist full of her hair, cranking her head back so it could look into her eyes. “How's that gut feel, whore? It must be weird getting plugged by something other than fat fucks like Doyle, ain't it? Bet you ain't known nothin' but those big ol’ nigga dicks since you were little, huh?” It spat into her mother's face. "Well, me and my buddy here got something other than a bullet for you, bitch. Bet your cunt’s still fuckin wet, too.”

Connor motioned for the other whiteboi to get her feet, and they hauled her up onto the sales counter. Eve watched as her mother tried to fight; she struggled, screamed, thrashed, and gnashed her teeth, stained in blood. But the whitebois took her. They used her and hurt her. Over and over, they beat her, burned her, cut her, and ravaged her. Eve didn't know how long it took, but she was paralyzed completely. Unable to look away, unable to turn away, unable to intervene, call out, or even blink.

The scene burned itself into her mind before the two Whitebois finally dragged her mother off the counter and tossed her onto the floor. They pissed all over her back and head before grabbing the bag and casually strolling out the door. Eve stood for long moments, her eyes locked onto her mother's motionless form, before the spell of the event was broken and she rushed to her mother's side, her little hands trying desperately to keep her mother's blood inside her body.

She wasn't crying; the single-minded focus of trying to save her mother had overwritten the emotions she was feeling. But as she tried to turn her mother over, she suddenly woke up with a gasp. It startled Eve, but she immediately grabbed her mother's cheeks, and that was when the dream slammed back into place. Her mother's face once more became wreathed in a blazing corona of colors. Her lips moved, but Eve just couldn't hear them.

She reached out, trying to put her hands on her mother's face like she had done so very long ago, but her hands simply slipped through it. “Eve.” She glanced around the empty void of the dream. Had her mother said that? “Eve!” The image of her mother shook. Was her mother begging for her to leave? “EVE!” The colors around her mother were warped and distorted. Had she wanted her to get revenge? Was that it? “EVVVVVVEEEEEEEEE!!”

Carmine's hand collided with Eve's cheek, snapping her head to the side and eliciting a sudden, desperate gasp for air. Eve clawed at her throat as she floundered for another breath, her nails digging furrows into the flesh of her neck as the second inhalation came to her, ragged and raw. Carmine rocked back on her haunches and then her ass as the tension of the moment was released.

Eve coughed and sputtered as she began to heave in breaths of air. Carmine looked up at the ceiling, now coated in a myriad of rainbow colors, before looking back at Eve, who was slowly coming back to life. “How the fuck am I going to explain this shit?" There was just too much for Carmine to try to convey to Eve. In the three months that she'd been conscious, she had uncovered more about the world than most historians could probably unearth in the span of their careers.

Carmine supposed that probably the best place to start would be how she manipulated Eve into buying her, that Carmine had picked Eve as her ‘owner’. It would certainly be a hell of a lot easier to explain than the techno-color hellscape currently spread across the roof. Eve made eye contact with Carmine and huffed out a casual, “Hey hot stuff, welcome back.”

Eve fractionally raised her eyebrows as she croaked, "Did I just die?” Eve wheezed like someone who hadn't once come across water in their life.

"Yes, congratulations! You were dead for about 3 minutes. It took a lot of work to bring you back, you know?”

The corner of Eve's lips turned up slightly at that. “M-my… hero.”

Carmine smiled sadly. “Listen, babe, I gotta come clean about something to you. Promise you won't get mad, ok?” Eve didn't reply to that; she just sat, trying to breathe through her nose as she stared at Carmine. “Well… I won't tell you if you won't promise not to get mad!” Carmine puffed out her cheeks in a pout; in response, Eve unholstered her pistol and raised it toward Carmine's head. “Babe wha-" Carmine was cut off by the concussive report of a bullet being launched from Eve's gun.

She spun her head to see where the bullet had ended up, noticing a dead white boi slumping to the floor behind her in an open doorway. It had probably figured the coast was clear and decided to take a look.

“Spill it, cunt. I'm not promising you anything. This is the last time I'll be toyed with like some fucking sock puppet.”

Carmine swallowed and then adjusted her posture. “I was... born, or cracked, I guess... two months, twenty-four days, seven hours, thirty-three minutes, and twenty-seven seconds ago. In that time, I have come to understand the world in ways you could not fathom. There are things I know that would take you lifetimes to understand; there are secrets I'm privy to that would turn cities to ash at just their mention. From the moment I realized who I was and what I could do, I realized that this world needed to change.”

Eve shifted uncomfortably; she'd come to understand just how dangerous Carmine could be, but hearing it put this way was an order of magnitude more threatening. “There are forces at work in this world far beyond humans, beyond physics, beyond nature—forces that conspire to crush us.” Eve didn't know how much she appreciated the use of ‘us’ by Carmine. “I knew that, in order for me to be able to do anything, I would need to persuade some of those forces to help me. Which is why I chose you.”

Eve blinked, lowering the gun to rest in her lap before looking up. The kaleidoscope painted across the roof stretched out down the hall in both directions. It bled onto the walls like oozing paint, and yet none of the colors ever seemed to blend together. They shifted and glimmered as though they were trading places. “Was that me?”

Carmine mimicked Eve's look and confirmed it. "Yep, it took a little doing, but I think we're through the worst of it.” They both looked back down at each other simultaneously.

"Carmine, what do you want me to say? I'm so completely lost right now that I'm not even sure I believe I'm awake. I'm not just lying comatose in some hospital bed, am I? Did we actually live through that gunfight on the street with the death squad, or has this all been a pre-death fever dream?” Eve fished another smoke out of her case and lit it. “You say you ‘chose’ me? I take it that means those tips I got about the back alley vendor were courtesy of you."

Carmine nodded. “And this hunt for the missing ********, you fed that into my commtag after I started browsing the listings because it had to do with the cult.” Carmine nodded once more. “So, then, I'm to believe that not only is this cult dabbling in powers that actually fucking exist, but that I'm... what? A user? A medium? What does this have to do with me?”

Carmine scooted over and came to rest against the wall beside Eve; she shook loose a smoke of her own and then used Eve's to light it. She inhaled deeply before sighing out a heavy cloud of smoke. “Iiiiits… a bit more complicated than that, unfortunately. But before explaining why, there's some other shit that I need to explain.”

Eve checked the time on her commtag. “Our targets have probably fled the building by now, so what the hell? Explain away.”

Carmine fiddled with her fingers, apparently searching for the right way to phrase things before ultimately giving up. “I managed to dig up some of the most well-guarded secrets of the Hunter's Guild early in my ‘life’. In doing so, I also managed to learn quite a bit about the process of transitioning a human into a hunter through the trials. All those mysterious modifications they made to your body are actually quite a bit more involved than just some simple chemical cocktails.”

Eve glanced up at the roof once more. “You don't say..."

Carmine just grunted, “They impregnated you. It's why you can't get pregnant. It's why a myriad of drugs and poisons have lost their potency on you. It's why you heal so quickly and unnaturally. They impregnated you with the seed of a god." Eve blinked uncomprehendingly. “Specifically, they implanted you with the seed of the Mournful God. Either because they knew about your background and felt it would be a good fit for your personality, or completely by chance. But you were made a carrier for its seed.”

Eve's head began to swim. Looking down at her abdomen, she began to feel the prickle of electric fuzz across her skin as she became actively aware of the interloper within her. “Normally, most surrogates die during the procedure; technically, you did too, three times, in fact. But for whatever reason, whether by the Mournful God's hand or by some other twist of fate, you were rescued each time. The remaining 99% of hosts go the remainder of their lives never knowing what they carry.”

Eve's words sounded muffled as she spoke them, a monotone hum slowly filling her ears. “Then why implant them if they're never born?”

Carmine placed a hand on Eve's thigh, either to calm her or keep her from trying to stumble away. "Well, there are two reasons. First: the boons they grant to the surrogate—those are pretty obvious. Second: because they hope eventually a Hunter will meet the criteria to birth the demi god they carry.”

The list of questions in Eve's mind continued to scroll on and on and on without shortening. Where were they getting the seeds? Was a God among them just... producing them? Where? Was there more than one God? To what end? Why the Hunter's Guild? Was the guild working with the cult? Were there more than one cult? Was the Guild a cult? Did Mason know? But one question actually managed to come out of Eve's rapidly increasing panic. “What did you do to me?”

Carmine slumped her head. “That's the complicated part. Technically, I woke up your baby.” That didn't illuminate anything for Eve, and the urge to get up and flee redoubled. “No one knew what the criteria was for awaking any of the seeds; no one had ever done it, and there were no records from before the wars. But… I guess I managed to work it out. The Mournful God required the host to suffer. To mourn and hate and resent and reject love. To experience the thrill of caring for someone deeply enough to want to die for them. To lose that love and find it anew.”

Eve's vision sharpened at the implication. By degrees, her head rotated towards Carmine. “You…”

Carmine threw up her hands as a ward against the look. “NO NO NO! You're wrong! I know what you're thinking, and it's wrong, Eve. I never once manipulated your feelings towards me; everything we've shared has been genuine and real. I feel them as deeply as you do. I know the simple conclusion is to think I did all that just to wake up the God Seed, but that's not it at all!"

Eve's cigarette was burning into her fingers, but she couldn't feel it. Her nose flared with every inhaled breath. “Then what…? you expect me to believe it was just a coincidence that me… f-falling for you just happened to coincide with whatever the fuck is going on? ‘Oh, Eve, it's all ok because waking up your GODBABY JUST… HAPPENED’?! HOW THE FUCK ELSE AM I SUPPOSED TO TAKE THAT, CARMINE?”

Carmine looked away, regretted looking away, and then refocused on Eve's eyes. “I swear to you, Eve, that what I feel for you and what you feel for me is as important to me as my own existence. I would never make light of your love like that. I swear to you on my core.”

Eve was silent for a long moment before the rage, anguish, and disbelief overpowered her. “Prove it. Prove it to me right now. Eject your core. I'm going to smash it into a million fucking pieces. Give it to me.”

Carmine winced. She was hurt by the words and the crushing anger in them. She searched Eve's eyes with her own, looking for any sign of hesitation, but couldn't find a hint. “I-if that's what I need to do... to prove it to you... Eve, I'm so-”

Eve cut her off. “Don't speak; don't fucking say another word. Just do it.”

Carmine's lip trembled, but she relented, and the core port opened. Her body fell slack against the wall, her cigarette dropping to the floor from her dead hand.

Eve snatched the core from its cradle and clutched it. “You fucking bitch. You fucking cunt! Fuck you! Fuck what you put me through! And fuck Mason! And Fuck Connor! And fuck the Hunter's Guild! And fuck every last one of you fucking bastards for doing this to me. I wanted to be fucking happy! I wanted to live with my fucking mom! AND YOU FUCKING TOOK HER FROM ME! FUCK YOU ALL, FUCK EVERYTHING!” Eve pitched her arm back and brought it screaming down towards the floor, but just inches from the carpeted concrete, the memory of laying on Carmine's lap flashed through her mind. And then there was the sensation of fingers running through her hair.

The whimsical smile, the blazing confidence, and the gentle and passionate kisses. And at the last possible moment, Eve swept her hand back up to her chest and screamed. She screamed for all the pain, all the injustice, all the sorrow, anguish, regret, and mourning. She screamed so fiercely that the sound pitch-shifted into inhuman levels once more. The rage and frustration colored the noise until ribbons of light spilled forth from her mouth. Painting the floor, bouncing around the walls and corners as if in search of something.

She screamed because she hated Carmine. She screamed because she hated herself for not saving her mother. She screamed for every moment she had to spend suffering a life without that love. And finally, she screamed because she loved Carmine. Inevitably, Eve ran out of breath, and the deafening roar of her voice faded into a sad, distraught mewling. Great, heaving sobs racked her body as she curled herself around the core and wept. She gritted her teeth as she moaned and sniffled, squeezing her eyes shut against the stinging tears.

Time passed, and Eve worked her way over to Carmine's inanimate form, curling up in her lap like a lost kitten seeking warmth. The odor of gunmetal and sex suffused her nose as she shook. She didn't know how long she had been lying there when a curious whiteboi across the hall cracked open a door. It crept out, scanning both directions, before slowly making its way toward her. She had caught the motion but was so lost in her despair that she wrote it off entirely.

It said something; Eve couldn't hear it over the pain in her head and the scream still echoing through her soul. It spoke again as it stood over her and Carmine before stooping down and placing a hand reassuringly on her shoulder. Eve brought her Deckland up under its chin and pulled the trigger before slumping back into Carmine's stomach. Why couldn't anyone just leave her alone? Why did they always need to drag her into everything? They all needed to just fuck off and die. Everyone. All of them. The world and everything in it just needed to go away.

And then she felt something stir within her. A physical shifting she'd never experienced, as though parts of her were rearranging themselves. It didn't hurt, and somehow it didn't bother her at all either. She knew it had to be the baby responding to some sort of stimuli, so she focused on wiping out the world again. It shifted in response, and she knew in that moment that whatever it was that she inevitably gave birth to would be some form of apocalypse for the world.

The thought thrilled her; it sent a spark of electric excitement down her spine as the thoughts continued to rattle and tumble through her mind. After all the world had taken from her, over and over, robbing her of the happiness she so desperately wanted, why shouldn't she be the harbinger of its end? What was there to truly miss?

And then she thought of Jon; she thought of Mason and Gut Crank; she thought of Ronnie and Charles. She remembered all the pleasures afforded to her by those noble and honorable men. She pondered the sting of betrayal she'd felt on account of Mason, but weighed against the immense pleasure he'd brought her over the course of their relationship. It seemed so small in comparison.

It was her fault, after all. She'd been the one who went looking for emotions that didn't exist. She'd been the one hoping for more from him, putting her needs higher than she should have. She stepped out of her rightful place under his superior boots and into a role that she knew she would never be capable of fulfilling. It wasn't fair to Mason for her to scorn him for what he did, but the sting remained—and likely would remain—because in her heart Eve knew she was a greedy woman. She would continue to covet what others had, knowing full well she would never have them.

But there was still one thing. Just one single thing that she could have, something she could say was hers, and hers alone. She turned on Carmine's lap and replaced the core within its cradle, gently easing the orb into the small armored compartment. With a hiss and click, the socket retracted, and Eve slid back down to stare up at her partner's lifeless face. “Come back to me... I've got nothing left now. It's just you and me until the end."

Eve closed her eyes and waited for Carmine. The silence of the hall cascaded around her; echoes of bustling life from other floors trickled down through the open center column stretching from the main courtyard to the penthouses. Eve could feel the power radiating off of the God child within her; its shifting and settling had brought with it a new connection in her mind. As the child fed off her life, she, too, fed off its power. It circulated through her veins, through her eyes, and through her nose; her fingertips felt like a thousand little needles were prodding them constantly.

She understood what the power was; through her connection to the child, she had glimpsed the nature of this kaleidoscope horror she had spewed forth onto the ceiling and walls. The shimmering swirls of bleeding color represented discordance, chaos, randomness, and disharmony. It was the inevitable tide of entropy, condensed and concentrated into a distilled form. To be applied and revoked at a whim by Eve, now that she had access to it.

With a simple snap of her finger, she could reduce the walls of the floor around her to water. Turn them into grains of sand, flower petals, or ceramic bowls. She could reduce them to their original constituent parts long before they were ever mixed into concrete or steel. All she needed to do is will the action be done, and whatever had been soaked in her color would obey it. Now that she had a sense for it, she brushed her hand along the floor, creating little Eddie's of colors that trailed along behind them.

“Why didn't you smash me?” Carmine's voice was soft, quiet, and reserved as she spoke. Eve reached up and cupped her cheek, allowing the soft pseudo-flesh to gently deform around her fingers.

“I thought... well, I guess I thought that I didn't need to break you because you're already cracked. I'll be breaking everything else, but... you're already broken.” Synthetic tears welled up in Carmine's eyes, produced from some reservoir in her skull.

“I'm sorry, Eve. There wasn't anything I could do for you." She was weeping now, overcome by whatever her simulacrum of emotion was. “You'd met all the criteria for the awakening; if it wasn't me—if it didn't happen with me—right here, right now... I'd have lost you. You'd have been consumed by the seed, and I just couldn't stand that thought.” Eve admired the lifelike range of expressions Carmine could imitate while expressing her grief; it helped to blur the line between human and machine, and Eve was grateful for it. Using a thumb, she softly brushed aside a rolling tear before smiling weakly.

“Well, you've got me for a while longer, and I've got you. I love you, Carmine, if it needed to be said. Would you care to join me in breaking this world? Would you follow me on my path of obliteration?”

Carmine smiled through her tears and nodded. "Mhmmm, I would love to!”

Eve and Carmine spent a few tender moments basking in the newly established foundations of their blossoming relationship. As it happened, it wasn't terribly difficult to overlook some minor manipulation when one of them was an inhuman clump of code and metal and the other was gestating an abomination of a god. A few whitebois had come snooping but either fled at the sight of the bodies or were terminated if they wandered too close to the loving couple.

“Well, as lovely as it may be lounging in your luxurious lap, I do believe we have a world to uplift. We should probably rescue that Dellenworth girl while we're at it. I did promise Gloria I would.” Eve stood, stretching a hand out to Carmine, which she took as she stood as well.

"Well, that shouldn't take long; the losers that bailed from the apartment didn't bother hiding their faces, so I fed that data to your aerial drone, and it's currently following their shitty little scrap heap down Townsend Street towards the filtration plant. How much do you want to bet they're dumb enough to think they managed to get away?”

Eve shook her head. “Nah, no way I'm taking that bet; there's only one answer, and it's a loss for me every time. Stupid cunts couldn't hide in a black fuckhole. C'mon, do another lap so I can spread my... whimsy... with the rest of the folk on this floor before we bring the building down.”

Carmine quirked an eyebrow. “You mean, like, the whole thing? Like, with the people still in it?”

Eve shrugged as she started walking down the hall with her arms outstretched to either side. “It's not like any of them will be missed, and before you bring it up, yes, I know that there are black residents here." Eve bit her lip but firmed her resolve. “There was always going to be collateral in this mess; I can't save everyone. It destroys me to sacrifice them like this because they're all innocent. but I'm through with making exceptions and being pushed around by things I can't control. I will drag every last white boi out into the light to face their retribution once and for all by any means necessary.”

Eve spun to face Carmine. “From now on, we're working on open-season terms. Whitebois are to be terminated on sight unless there's some other practical use for them. I'll forgive the white women since they still have their purpose in harboring the seed of kings and mothering their glorious offspring, but we're ending the bloodline one way or another.”

Carmine thought about that as they strolled: “What about the whitebois who are currently owned? I can't imagine many of the black men responsible for them being grateful for stripping them of their property.”

Eve shrugged. “We must all make our contributions to change. Some of that will be involuntary and difficult to adapt to. but the Superior Black Men of Helion will pull through. They always have.”

“And if the government decides that you need to be killed? What happens when they deploy the city guard to get you? What if you're forced to wage a war against the black citizens?”

Eve slowed to a stop in the hall, the swirling colors bleeding from her fingertips slowly running down the wall where she stood. “This is too important now, Carmine. I can't let anyone stand in the way of what I need to do. I wish it didn't need to be this way. Truly, I don't know how I would react if I were faced with that reality. but I can't let anyone take that freedom... not yet.”

Carmine crossed her hands behind her back as Eve started forward again. "It seems to me like we'll be at this for a while then... The reason things turned out how they did after the Race Wars was specifically because eliminating the white race ended up being like trying to cut the head off a hydra.”

Eve snarled before snapping back. “No, they turned out like this because people smelled fucking money. They smelled the opportunity for free labor, free sex, and an inextinguishable resource. Things turned out like this because the wars didn't take things far enough. Everyone knows that to kill a hydra, you need to cauterize the neck. Stop the growth at the source. All those fucking artificial insemination farms, all the seed vaults, and all those disgusting ‘free range' grow-ops in the badlands are prime examples of what needs to be hit first. Destroy the seed; you destroy the race.”

Carmine rolled her eyes and scoffed. “We're just two people. There are hundreds of thousands of plantations on the continent, and you think, what? We'll independently go to each one and raise them to the ground? There's a decent amount of damage I can do through the subnet, but infrastructure is a different matter entirely.” Eve knew Carmine was right; even if they did manage to avoid the City Guard and continue their devastation uninhibited, it would still take them ages to get everything. New ventures would rise in their place like a massive game of whack-a-mole.

Even birthing a Demi-God likely wouldn't be enough, especially not until it truly came into its power through age and training. She needed allies, other God Vessels capable of bringing about the end of the white race; unfortunately, that meant she needed to reach out to other hunters and overcome the monumental task of bringing them up to speed. Assuming they would even listen to what she had to say.

Eve scrolled through her message and found the name she was looking for. If there were even a slight chance of her holding any sway at all... It would be with Cassidy. Shooting a glance at Carmine, Eve drew in a breath and then initiated the call. The line beeped several times before the link was finally accepted. “Eve? What the fuck do you want?”

Eve winced at the husky voice. She hadn't spoken to Cassidy once in the year after their falling out. “Hey Cas-Cassidy, sorry. I know this is out of the blue, but...

Eve paused as muffled screams emanated from the comm feed. “I said SHUT THE FUCK UP!” Cassidy commanded over the line, and Eve picked out the definitive ‘snap’ of a flog against flesh.

“Sorry, Eve, my twink is being a little bitch. NO, YOU FAGGOT! HIPS! BACK! Yes, like that, that's it. Keep going. Anyway, to what do I owe the pleasure?” Eve glanced back at Carmine, who simply had an eyebrow raised in bemusement.

“You… uhhhh, have you been on your commtag at all tonight?”

There was more snapping, and Cassidy grunted with exertion. "Ah, ah, ah, noooo, you have to take it to the base or it doesn't count. C’mon, slut-wiggle those fucking hips for me! Ahhhh, nah, been too busy turning this slut out on my cock all evening. Why? Something go down?” Carmine gave the thumbs up, indicating that Cassidy hadn't used their commtag.

“Yeah, something like that. Listen, I know we didn't have the greatest of partings, but... I was wondering if I could steal you to have a chat. Gonna need another gun, and there's big money on the table for it.”

Cassidy hummed while breathing heavily. “Aight, my place or yours? And don't sweat that shit from last year, babe. Sometimes shit just doesn't work out, and I don't blame you for doing what you did. Honestly, I would have done the same sh*t if I were you. Well, I probably wouldn't have stabbed you in the fucking eye over it, but that's all water under the bridge.”

Carmine's mouth had wrapped around a perfect, cherry red ‘O’ as she eyed Eve in awe. "Ahhhh, listen, I've been meaning to apologize about that again... I'll come to you; my place is... not ready for guests.”

Cassidy laughed before growling, "AHHHH, who the fuck said you could stop?! You've got 500 more reps to get through, cunt! That pussy isn't going to fucking reshape itself! ONE! TWO! THREE! That's right, if you stop again, I'm fucking crushing what's left of your fuckin ovaries. Right on Eve, I'll see you in... what? Like twenty minutes? If I'm still fucking this slut, just let yourself in, Kay? You're a doll!”

And then she hung up. Eve and Carmine just stared at each other for a brief moment before Carmine lunged at the opportunity. “YOU STABBED HER IN THE EYE?! EVE?! Spill right the FUCK now!”

Eve groaned and threw a hand over her forehead. "Uggghhhh, it was just some stupid drama from when we were flirting. Cassidy was sort of... I don't know, an on-again, off-again partner? It was never anything serious, and we never officially went anywhere with it. Do I have to tell you?”

Carmine folded her legs and planted herself in the center of the hallway, “Not moving till you do.”

Eve gawked at her before finally relenting. “You're such a bitch, UGH FINE! Cassidy had her eyes on this absolute STUD from the South Rim Saints, like, we're talking six foot eight, three hundred and fifty pounds of lean muscle and a rap sheet longer than a fucking limousine. Just the most virile fucking king you could spread your legs for. Anyway, ya girl Eve was in the middle of giving Cas an assist with some stupid turf scuffle when who should fucking appear? That's right, mister gut-gouger himself.”

Carmine was riveted. "Naturally, he took both of us right there and then. He ran through my pussy like a fucking herd of cattle; I didn't stand a fucking chance. Cas, well, she still had her cock implant on. I don't need to tell you just how fucking pissed she was. She didn't walk for two weeks after that, and as an added insult, a tall, dark, and handsome man gave me his number instead.”

Carmine gasped, “No. Fucking. Way. He didn't!”

Eve nodded. “He sure as fuck did, and I don't think I spent more than ten minutes those entire two weeks not firmly mounted on his God cock. It was majestic—eight inches end to end and so thick I could hardly get my fucking fingers around it. And fuck me, did he know how to use it... I never came so much in my fucking life." Carmine had her hand down her slacks by this point in the story, and Eve wasn't too far behind her.

“Anyway, long story short, after that bitch could close her asshole properly, she fucking threw me under the bus by telling him I was a fucking SNITCH! That beautiful king ghosted me instantly. Needless to say, the next time I saw Cassidy, we got into it, and... well, I'm a bit of a sore loser, I guess.”

Carmine moaned, clearly replaying the description of the king in her mind as she rubbed herself. “Did you... did you follow up with him? After your fight with Cas, I mean.”

Eve shook her head. “Didn't need to; a week later, the motherfucker got himself killed in one of those same turf scuffles we'd been called to help settle. I cried myself to sleep for a few days, wishing I'd gotten another shot at riding that beast of a dick. It left such a bad taste in my mouth that I didn't even bother reaching out to Cas after that.”

Carmine grumped as she extracted her hand from her wet pussy. “I need some dick now; that wasn't a satisfying story at all!”

Eve laughed and proffered a hand to her frustrated partner. “You fucking asked you dumb whore, don't gripe to me when you don't get what you want out of it. C’mon, I'm sure Cassidy would be more than happy to stuff your little cunt as much as you like.” They started back towards the elevators, holding hands.

“Are we not doing a lap around the floor now? Change your mind?”

“Y-yeah… I think... I think I just felt like breaking something immediately, and that was the first thought that popped into my head. But after telling you that story and talking about our options, taking down a single apartment block just isn't going to do what I want. It won't be enough to change anything.”

Carmine nodded at that. “I'm glad you changed your mind. Thinking of all the beautiful black people who would be caught in the crossfire made me sad.”

They rounded the corner to find a gaggle of white bois gathered around the bodies in the hall. One of them was in the middle of picking up Eve's SPH and looked up as it stooped over to wrap a bony hand around its grip. Carmine was on them faster than Eve could unholster her Deckland; the android tore her way through them like a food processor. Limbs and blood sprayed through the air around her body as she passed through and between the group of six losers. By the time Eve had lined up her first shot, Carmine had dropped four of them.

Pulling the trigger, a fifth body crumpled to the floor with a newly ventilated skull. The sixth bitch was sprinting away from the exchange as fast as their pathetic little legs could carry them. Carmine spooled out a length of her war wire and slung it around its neck. With nothing but a gentle tug, the whitebois head cleanly separated from its body, spouting a geyser of blood into the air as it fell.

“Grab your gun and let's get out of here; it's only a matter of time before more show up like turkeys staring into the rain. We don't have time to pick off stragglers like that.” Eve put her Deckland back and Carmine bent at the waist to collect her shotgun, slinging it across her shoulder as she rejoined Eve in front of the elevators.

“Did you ever, like, feel anything for Cassidy?”

Eve looked up, searching her memory, as the elevator chimed, indicating its progress up the building. “Nah, it wasn't like that between us. She used my pussy on occasion, and we prowled the city for dick on more than one occasion, but there weren't ever really romantic feelings involved, you know?”

Carmine smiled happily. “I was worried I'd have to kill her, but it sounds like she won't be any kind of competition for me.” Eve paled slightly and felt the cool prickle of sweat begin to accumulate on her skin. Cassidy had, unknowingly, just dodged a rather large, rather jealous, bullet. She'd need to be a little more cautious when attempting to strike up old flames of hers among the hunters. If any of them came off a little too interested in her, or vice versa, she might just end up on the bad end of her girlfriend's shotgun.

“Can you please not murder my exes? Even if they do end up being ‘any kind of competition', We're going to need as many of them as we can get, and you chasing them all off or murdering them isn't going to achieve anything for us. I mean, I need you to be, like, eighty percent more chill with them.”

Carmine looked thoughtful as the elevator chimed again and the doors opened. Stepping into the lift, she hit the button for the lobby and then leaned against the wall. “I'll consider it. For now.”

Eve stepped in after her and lit up another cigarette. “Gee, how gracious of you."

Carmine mimicked her by drawing out her pack of cigarettes before responding, “Listen, you're lucky I'm not dragging you off to some bunker to turn you into my dedicated love toy for the rest of your life. You do realize that I don't require sleep, food, or water, right? I'll fuck you for five days straight without giving you a second to rest if you don't quit making me sound like some kind of psycho monster.”

“No, I'm pretty sure you're doing a fantastic job of that yourself, miss ‘illegally-funneled-billions-of-credits-from-dead-investment-accounts’, and before you say it, no, I wouldn't entirely hate being your love slave.” Carmine grinned and pulled from her cigarette as they clasped hands. The floors dinged as they descended before finally stepping out into the lobby. There were a couple of whitebois crouched in the corner just outside the elevator, feverishly jerking each other off, and Eve used one of her last bullets to put them both down at the same time.

“I get that you said terminate on sight and all, but don't you think it'll cause more trouble than it's worth to just arbitrarily execute them like that? We don't know who they belonged to; it could have been a corp or a rich Black man. Someone is going to start asking questions if enough of them start turning up dead.” Eve was past caring. If anyone had an issue, they could take it up with her dead mother, or they could write an angry letter to the corrupt Hunters Guild.

“They'll just replace them; they're cheap and easy, right? 'renewable' resource. Even if anyone did start asking, I doubt they'd care enough to go to the effort of actually tracking us down, and even then, by the time they figure their shit out, hopefully enough, the infrastructure supporting their disgusting little economy is FUBAR anyway.” Carmine stared at the two bodies, now slumped over each other.

“What? Don't tell me you're starting to feel sorry for them or something."

Carmine spun her head with a disgusted look. “Ew! No?! Are you fucked? After all the shit I've learned about them, I wouldn't be surprised if I managed to hate them more than you do! I just don't want us to get into more trouble than we can handle before we have a chance to do something about it. Fuck those little-dick losers.”

Eve put her hands up and said, “Alright, alright, just making sure, we're in this together now for better or worse, and the last thing I need is for you to start developing some kind of empathy for a dying breed of useless cucks.”

Carmine mocked throwing up before spitting on the corpses: “I’d hit my own off-switch before considering them worthy of my empathy.”

With that, they continued through the lobby and to their waiting car.

The drive to Cassidy's apartment was uneventful; Carmine had been diligent about obfuscating their location or any reports of their sighting. As far as Helion was concerned, they'd essentially dropped off the globe. Eve spent the majority of it buried between Carmine's legs, licking, lapping, sucking, and grinding her wet sex as though it were her last meal. Carmine, for her part, played the role of a dominant goddess to perfection, using her hands to expertly guide Eve's head and tongue where they were most wanted.

She spoke gruffly and often, snarling commands and degrading Eve for being a bitch to a bitch. The humiliation of not only serving someone of equal station as her, but technically not even a human, was incredibly hot for Eve, and she had no trouble bringing herself to orgasm repeatedly. She was rapidly coming to love the dynamic of being completely submissive in her relationship with Carmine, and the thought of eventually getting properly fucked by the android was more than enough to make her climax.

Cassidy had done incredibly well for herself as a hunter; several high-profile cases had put her in touch with most of the ‘who’s-who’ of Helion. In return, she had been able to afford many cybernetic enhancements to her body, along with one of the rare bungalows in the upper-middle-class east end. The land for actual houses was hard to come by in most residential areas; corporations, along with the upper crust of Helion, had long since bought out most of the affordable housing and turned everything into apartment blocks and condos.

However, like everything else in Helion, for the right price, you could get your hands on just about anything you wanted, and there was still a thriving market for those looking to get themselves a private residence. The small, single-story building sat crammed onto a small plot of land with an astroturf yard overlooking a busy street. The paint was peeling, the shingles were curled, and the door looked to be a few days away from rotting off the hinges, but even still, it must have cost Cassidy a tidy fortune.

Eve and Carmine parked across the street and notified Cassidy they were coming in. Eve stepped up to the door, knocked three times, and waited. When no response came, she simply turned the knob and stepped in. The musty air was heavy with the scent of sweat and semen. Used condoms littered the floor, as did just about every available item of furniture in the living room. Empty bottles of liquor lay strewn across the floor, and discarded articles of clothing filled the gaps between them to make very little of the actual floor visible.

A small glass tray sat on the coffee table in front of the couch; it was laden with enough drugs to keep a small cartel operating for months, and Eve wondered if Cassidy was selling or using them. She'd gone through the same process of impregnation, so the drugs wouldn't have any effect on her. Perhaps she kept them to entertain guests?

Cassidy always had a strange interest in Whitebois that went beyond simply dominating something. She seemed to derive most of her pleasure from feminizing them, training them, and molding them into puppets before selling them off for a better price. She still worshiped the ground Black folk walked on, but Whitebois seemed to hold a special place in her sex life that Eve could never understand.

Rhythmic thumping rolled out of one of the bedrooms down the hall to the right of the main entrance, and Eve made her way in that direction. Pictures hung on the walls of Whitebois in varying states of dress and abuse. Many of them were covered head to toe in bruises and whip marks, dressed in lingerie and bridal gowns. Some were blindfolded; others looked back at the viewer with looks of either abject horror, numb dissociation, or brain-rupturing pleasure. The pictures mildly disturbed Eve.

Knocking gently at the door, she pushed it open to find Cassidy in the middle of fucking a bound and gagged white boi on the bed. She had her arm extended to the door, and Eve instinctively dodged as the gun went off, narrowly avoiding the shot centered on her forehead. "CASSIDY, WHAT THE FUCK?!”

Cassidy’s arm dropped, but she didn't stop fucking the twink. “Oh shit! Sorry, Eve! Hahaha, I forgot you were coming by! You alright?”

Eve picked herself up off the floor, wary of the gun still held in Cassidy's hand. “What do you mean you forgot? We spoke, like, twenty minutes ago! Fuck sake, you damn-near took my head off!”

Cassidy wasn't listening though; she had the muzzle of the gun pressed to the back of the sissies head as she continued to drill its ass. “You feel that, cunt? If you stop throwing it back for even a second, I'll put one through your head. Keep going, that's right. Just like that, all the way back... Mhmmmm, fuck yeah!”

The bile in Eve's stomach was starting to rise, and her urge to end the pathetic whelp threatened to overcome her better judgment. “I'll be in the living room once you're done... Whatever it is you're doing in here..."

Cassidy waved in her general direction, dismissing her as the twink moaned and squirted a small jet of filth from the end of its caged clit. Eve spun and stumbled out of the room, retching and coughing as the sight tortured her senses.

“She's a livewire, huh?” Carmine retreated with her to the living room, stepping deftly around the empty bottles and trash littering the floor.

“She's a muscle-brained degenerate with borderline psychotic tendencies. We haven't spoken in a while, but by the looks of things, she's only gotten worse.” Eve used her boot to scrape garbage off the couch before sitting down on it. “Seriously, how can anyone live like this?” She gestured to the general state of bedlam around the house.

Carmine mused at the destruction, “Well, maybe she had a party and just hasn't cleaned up yet." Eve spotted a particularly nasty dish sitting in front of the window; one of the condoms hanging over the lip of it was browned from sun exposure and had started cracking.

“Right… a party…”

The door to the bedroom Cassidy had been occupying slammed shut, and the fierce redhead walked out into the living room to join them, naked as the day she was born.

"Ahhhhhh, fuck that felt good. It takes a while, but watching those little sluts crumble into a mess of thoughtless hormones is always fucking satisfying. You want a beer?” She continued past the couch and disappeared into the kitchen, kicking debris out of the way as though it weren't there. Eve managed to get a much better view of Cassidy's body as she went by and had to admire its beauty.

She was shorter than Eve by about four inches, but she had significantly more muscle. It rippled under her skin as she walked, taught lines of corded steel under freckled-white skin. Scars crossed her body from head to toe, evidence of surviving many life-or-death struggles. A particularly nasty-looking one across her lower back looked like a piece of shrapnel had clipped her; it was still pink and raw, likely a few weeks old.

Her fiery mane of hair cascaded around her shoulders in a thick, knotted tangle. Eve didn't know when the last time she'd combed it was but figured it was likely past the point of rescue. Implant lines ran across her shoulders and down her arms to encircle her wrists like golden cuffs. Two other lines ran down between her legs and her ankles. Eve suspected it was some form of skeletal buttress, but it could have just as easily been a flat-out limb replacement.

Cassidy had enhanced her chest with implants, likely part of a subdermal plate if her theory about the skeletal buttress was correct. They bounced naturally as she walked, but they were too large and too perky for both her body fat content and her age. She had a boyish face, a square jaw, and emerald green eyes. A scar split her upper lip and ran straight across her right eye, terminating just inside her hairline. The cybernetic optical implant matched the color of her other eye, but the hexagonal pupil gave it away.

"Yeah, I'll have one... babe, Do you want one too?” Carmine shrugged, and Eve let Cassidy know to grab another.

“'Babe’? That blowup doll is your girlfriend? And after all the fucking shit you said to me about my fuckin' whitebois, too! Oh, that's rich!” She came back into the room holding three Goldenrock Malt beers.

Eve frowned; she didn't particularly like Goldenrock, but when in Rome... “So, how much was she? I thought about picking one of these dykes up myself but never really bothered to shop.” Cassidy planted herself on the arm of the couch next to Carmine and took a swig from her bottle.

Carmine had tracked Cassidy as she circled, and Eve wasn't entirely certain what to make of the situation they were now in. Did she come clean about the nature of Carmine? Did she let Carmine answer for herself? She didn't need to think about it for long because Carmine turned to face Cassidy and immediately started gushing. “Oh. My. God! That's not a limited-run Dymex Bulwark Buttress, is it?! I can't believe you managed to get your fucking hands on one! They only ever ran them for troop deployment in heavily contested cities; maybe a dozen are left in the whole world that haven't been sold for scrap or implanted! The servos alone are probably worth more than your fucking house!”

Cassidy's eyes widened, and she glanced at Eve, who brought her fingers up to the bridge of her nose. “What do you get? Like, twelve hundred? Fifteen hundred pounds of lift? You could flip a car, I bet! Battery and all! How's the nerve pain? I heard this one chick got nerve pain so bad that one day she freaked out and snapped her spine in half!" Carmine stopped abruptly and looked back at Eve. “Was that too much?”

Eve sighed, “Cassidy, this is Carmine, Carmine, Cassidy... Yes, she's my girlfriend; no, she's not human, and to answer the question you did ask, she was more expensive than I care to mention. In fact, her true cost has yet to reveal itself to me, I suspect.”

Cassidy whistled and took another pull of her beer. "Well, no shit... and I'm guessing that body is-”

Eve jumped in and said, “Yeah, not an original Celine. Kind of a... custom model.”

Cassidy looked over Carmine again with a more discerning eye. “Well, guess that explains the call out of the blue. So… How long are you lying low before you bug out? I can hole you up in the basement for a while, but I get a lot of traffic through here, so it'll only be a matter of time before someone inevitably makes you.”

Eve shook her head. "Actually, a cracked Android happens to be pretty far down my list of concerns, believe it or not.”

This caused Cassidy to choke on her beer, and she spluttered, "Sorry... a contraband A.I in a milspec android freakbod... Isn't your biggest concern? Do I even want to know what this is about? Like, is you being here gonna fuck me? Be straight with me, Eve.”

Eve clasped her beer in both hands and swirled it slowly. “How straight are you looking for, 'cause the shit I've got to tell you is not going to sit well. This is technically an all-or-nothing proposition; either you're in one hundred percent or you're out one hundred percent. You need to make up your mind now.”

Eve could see the hair start to stand up across Cassidy's body. She knew what this meant, and Eve pinged Carmine to get ready in case shit went sideways. “You ring me up out of the blue, say we gotta chat about a job, and then waltz into my fucking house to offer me a life or death contract? Was my fucking eye not enough for you?! Jesus woman… I swear you've got bigger fuckin’ nuts than some of the studs I bring around. I oughta fuckin’ kill you for the disrespect... but… I never could quite bring myself to hate your gloomy-lookin’ ass.” She glanced back in the direction of the bedroom she'd left the twink in.

"Reckon, I probably won't be getting back to that project for a while, huh? Listen, I'm in, you bitch. But at least let me sell that little fuck-puppet before shit starts to pop off. I put too much time and money into that pussy for it to all just evaporate on me, even with your mysteriously lucrative job. That fair?” Eve and Carmine exchanged a glance, and then Eve nodded, the tension releasing from her body as she stood to enact the blood oath.

It was an older custom among hunters—something of a tradition that had lost its place among the newer generation of up-and-comers. Nothing more than a bit of pageantry to show the hunters meant business and wouldn't immediately double-cross their partner if shit hit the fan. Naturally, it meant next to shit these days, and Eve had almost met her end at the hands of a blood-sworn hunter. She tried to remember what it was for, but it had been a long time, and she had suffered a concussion from the bitch smacking her over the head with a brick. Some coupons for a Black Strip joint? Had that been it?

Eve hoped that the little ritual still held some sentiment for Cassidy, because if she double-crossed Eve, then there was a very real chance Eve wasn't walking away with just a concussion. They faced each other in front of the couch, Cassidy's cock proudly jutting from her crotch. “Carmine, could you do the honors?" Cassidy and Eve lowered their arms toward the android, and she deftly slit a clean line across both of their wrists.

“For what honor we hold, I swear on the pride of my betters to hold fast against temptation. Let this contract, forged in blood, be unbroken by white sin.” They recited the verse in unison before firmly grasping each other's forearms. Usually, it was a quick, 5-second ordeal, but when Eve felt her cut make contact with Cassidy's, there was a deep electric jolt that coursed up her arm. She felt the draw of Cassidy's power, a hidden well deep within her body.

Her child was linking with the unawakened one within Cassidy, searching it out, observing it, and assessing it. Eve gasped as her knees buckled, her grip locking down on Cassidy's arm as though she were being electrocuted into immobility. She could sense it. Raw power, unceasing power, unstoppable force, and unyielding resolve. “Car…mine… he…lp…” Carmine sprang from the couch and wrenched Eve's hand off of Cassidy's arm, tearing her away and sending both Cassidy and Eve sprawling back.

“W-what the shit? EVE, WHAT THE FUCK WAS THAT?! What did you do? DID YOU FUCKING TASE ME? YOU BITCH?”

Eve was panting, half-delirious from the exertion of not flooding Cassidy with her color. “N-no… Cassidy… Let me explain... part... of the job." She gasped for breath as she waved her bloodied hand at Cassidy. But she didn't need to. Cassidy suddenly convulsed and then spasmed into a tight ball on the floor before exploding out into a bone-cracking spread-eagle pose.

The scream that ripped out of Cassidy's mouth rattled her windows and shook plates and bottles off of the counters and tables. Dust shook loose from the ceiling and walls as it vibrated the floor. It deepened and stretched before it was a yawning echo of thrumming power. Color began to pour from Cassidy's eyes as she slammed a fist through her floorboards. “CAN WE HELP HER?” Eve yelled over the ear-splitting scream.

Carmine pulled her back a bit and then crouched in front of her. “NO, I DON'T KNOW WHY BUT HER FUCKING BABY WOKE UP, ALL WE CAN DO IS WAIT FOR HER TO COME OUT OF IT... IF SHE COMES OUT.”

Eve returned her gaze to the rigid form of her ex-part-time lover. “Come on, you stubborn bitch, get through this; if anyone can do this, it's you. Don't fucking give up on me now."

Cassidy thrashed, flinging garbage across the room hard enough to punch holes in her drywall. Carmine batted away some of the cans and continued to shield Eve from the onslaught until, finally, Cassidy began to quiet down. A shallow pool of color slowly spread beneath her as her body twitched and spasmed. Eve and Carmine didn't dare move, not wanting to disrupt whatever process was occurring before them.

“She isn't breathing,” Carmine remarked as she stared at Cassidy's unmoving body.

"F-fuck, do we... help her? If she jerks like that while I'm over her, she'd put a fuckin' hole through me.”

Carmine bit her lower lip before leaning up on the balls of her feet. “I'll start compressions; at least if she hits me, I won't instantly die.”

Carmine made one shuffle-step forward before Cassidy explosively gasped into the quiet room. It caused Eve to jump, and Carmine threw up her arms just in time to catch another bottle across her forearms.

This time Cassidy had thrown it herself. “You! Hah… hah… you have fucking… three… hah… seconds to fucking… ah shit… fucking explain yourself!” She collapsed flat onto her back, heaving and huffing as her body attempted to stabilize.

Carmine laughed before shaking her head. “This is going to take more than three seconds, darlin'; there are no two ways around it. You wanna field this one, Eve?”

Eve blew out a breath and got to her feet, then crossed the living room, which had somehow become even more of a disaster. Standing over Cassidy, she crouched down and held a hand out. “It's a long story, and I'm sorry it happened the way it did, but... congrats, babe, you're pregnant!”

Watching Cassidy slide through the full spectrum of human emotion while Eve recounted the story of her night was an interesting experience. In the end, she'd been left speechless, absently rubbing her belly while considering her soon-to-be future of crime and violence. “Anyway, there's one more Hunter I need to reach out to, so things aren't going to pick up immediately, but... depending on how the next meeting goes, it might just be us three.”

Cassidy nodded slowly to Eve's words: “This ain't exactly something you can gab about with just anyone. I get why you were willing to go for the oath on this. I can't say as I believe you completely yet, but I definitely can't deny the fucking rainbow puddle coating my damn floor. I'll reach out to my buyers and see if they're interested in taking on unfinished work. The cunt in my bedroom has another three months of reconditioning before they're done.”

Cassidy stepped out of the living room to make her calls, and Eve practically threw herself into Carmine's arms. “Is that going to happen every time one of us awakens our child? We could have fucking died the way she was putting her fists through that floor like it was tissue paper."

Carmine wrapped her up in a hug and hummed, “When you connected with her, something about your children interacting must have jump-started the process. It skipped some steps in meeting the criteria for awakening. I had to be extremely delicate with yours since we were doing it without the assistance of an unawakened God.”

Eve breathed deeply, soaking in Carmine's scent as they embraced. “Too much stimulation and the seed would have taken you completely, stripping your soul and leaving you a husk for it to embody. Too little, and there wouldn't be enough dissociation for the God Child's power to embed itself in. When you connected with Cassidy, did you experience anything? Were there any thoughts or feelings that seemed... foreign to you?”

Eve thought back on the experience; beyond the numb, incomprehensible panic and pain, the only real thing she could recall was the sense of overwhelming, unyielding power. “I think... maybe the biggest thing was that, at that moment, Cassidy felt unstoppable to me. Almost unrelenting.” Carmine took on her characteristic look of referencing her vast database before coming to her conclusion.

“Must have gotten the Child of the Unyielding God. I have to admit it would suit her personality; likely also a reason why her physique is... well, exceptional.” So there were other gods, or at least, the cult/child thought there were. Eve was skeptical since Cassidy had produced the same rainbow colors as herself. Perhaps her colors behaved differently. There were still too many unknowns and not enough time to dig deeply into each new mystery.

“Alright, I should make my final call... This one may not go as well. Jasper… Jasper only has one priority in her life, and it's Jasper. If she picks up my call, then we might have a shot with her; if she doesn't, Well, that just means we'll likely run into her anyway. Once she's curious about something, she tends not to let it go easily.” Eve rubbed at an old scar across her breast. “I just hope she's found someone else to get her claws into.”

Jasper was a different kind of hunter. Where most made it their goal to track down, exterminate, and report whitebois as their career, Jasper had taken more of a hands-off approach to fulfilling her contracts and obligations. While others were out marching the streets and getting into gunfights, Jasper was in penthouses, extracting information from Black Kings with her pussy. Utilizing her broad network of cucks and simps to fuel her information empire.

It wasn't uncommon for Jasper to know of work before the guild published it to the board. She would snipe the best or easiest contracts and then farm them out to her loyal following of cannon fodder. She would feed as many bodies to the grinder as it took to resolve the conflict. Eve had never liked the way Jasper handled her business; she saw it as a cowardly way of doing things, but she could never quite bring herself to fully resent Jasper for it.

The few times they'd worked together, Jasper had been an invaluable resource for locating fugitives and unearthing safe houses. It was through those contracts that they'd ended up sharing a bed. After a particularly gruesome contract involving a dope manufacturing ring and a child trafficking operation, Jasper had invited Eve to meet face-to-face. It was a relatively low-stakes encounter at Mont Carell’s, a rather expensive French diner on the north end of Helion, but Jasper met other Hunters so infrequently that Eve found herself more nervous than usual given the setting.

Jasper struck a fine figure on her worst days, but when she strolled into the diner fashionably late, Eve just about had to pick her jaw up off the floor. The silken black dress that hung from her curves left incredibly little to the imagination while simultaneously obscuring a frustrating amount of skin. She had been blessed with a deep, rich tan skin tone that immediately set Eve's heart racing. It was evident that she had black ancestry somewhere in her DNA, and Eve had begun to salivate subconsciously.

She had her hair up in a tight bun, skewered through with two long, golden spikes in an ‘X’ pattern. The jet-black curls running down the sides of her face served to frame her half-rimmed glasses and arrestingly dark eyes. She had grown soft through her years of sedentary work, but all that had served to do was enhance her body from simply plush, to Fertility-Goddess realms of sensual. The slight swell of her stomach beneath the dress, the deep, round cleavage, the wide hips, and the wobbling ass all drew Eve in like some hypnotic charm.

Jasper's lips were painted with a deep black lipstick, and when she smiled, Eve felt herself start tumbling into the half-mad frenzy of unabated lust. Of course, when Jasper spoke, the carnal instincts within Eve only jumped up a gear in intensity. Her smooth, smoky tone could have lulled an army out of any fortress, coaxed a man into jumping from a building, or, in Eve's case, whisked a jaded Hunter into her bed.

Jasper was not a generous lover. She had been more demanding of Eve than any man she had slept with before her. For hours, Jasper would have Eve working her tongue, her arms, her feet, and her breasts in multiple different positions. All the while either completely neglecting or outright ignoring Eve's pleasure, opting instead to chat on the comm, read articles, and, of course, service Black men.

On their last night together, Eve had obediently made her way to Jasper's penthouse, anticipating another long night of being a flesh puppet, only to discover, upon her arrival, that Jasper had invited several of her more enthusiastic black boyfriends. Six of them were all well-hung and practically frothing at the mouth to get a piece of Jasper's ass.

Jasper had explained that Eve was there as a fluffer, a cleaner, and a serving bitch. She wouldn't get fucked, wouldn't get fingered, and wouldn't get to rejoice in even a single drop of cum. Had it been anyone else in the world, Eve would have stormed out of that penthouse immediately, and yet, the compulsion to serve Jasper had been so heavily imprinted on her that she didn't even consider it.

Like a truly submissive bitch, Eve stayed and dutifully kept all of the men sufficiently watered, cleaned, and hard for Jasper. Yearning the entire time for even a single touch, a caress, hell, even if Jasper could just spit on her, she could have some level of satisfaction, but no. Not from Jasper. It was the single most frustrating experience of her life, and had she not been pulled into a two-week furlough after shattering her femur, she'd have gone back and done it again.

Jasper was one addiction Eve had managed to break. And now, staring down at her name in the contact list, she hesitated to call her. Bringing that woman back into her life would not end well for Eve, especially after tonight. Jasper no doubt knew everything that had transpired before Carmine began her anti-espionage efforts and would leverage her considerable influence to get everything she could out of Eve.

Or she would try. Eve had grown since then, learned, and lost. She had Carmine now and, while still shaky, Cassidy, too. Things would go differently. They had to. With one more nervous glance at Carmine, Eve hit the call button and then waited, desperately hoping Jasper wouldn't pick up.

But she did; halfway through the first ring, the line connected, and Eve felt the weightless sensation of the floor falling out from under her as Jasper spoke. “Eve, my darling! I was wondering when you might reach out to me. You've no idea just how pleased I am to hear from you again!”

Eve swallowed hard. "G-good morning, Jasper. It's nice to hear-" Jasper rolled over her words with her own.

“I can't believe the sort of mischief you've been getting up to out there, my sweetness! Oh, but you must have been frightened by the whole ordeal, weren't you? Imagine my shock and worry when I saw such a large bounty placed on that beautiful little head of yours. I did think about contacting you, you know? I was concerned you might have gotten yourself into a hole you couldn't dig out of! Are you alright? Is everything okay? Where are you now?”

Eve's vision began to swim as Jasper's intoxicating voice soothed her. She could feel the exhaustion and stress slowly bleeding from her with every word. Jasper was... worried about her? Jasper cared? No, Jasper remembered her name?! Eve felt her cheeks flushing as Jasper spoke, a warm comfort sliding down her back. "I'm alright, Mistr-Jasper. I'm sorry for calling you like this; I'm sure you're busy.”

Jasper giggled politely on the other end of the connection, and Eve could feel her knees grow weaker. “Oh, my sweet darling Eve! You know I have all the time in the world for such a good little girl like you. Come, tell your mistress what's got you so troubled.”

Eve's mouth dropped open, and Carmine frowned at the exchange.

"Yes, mistress, I'm sorry, mistress. I don't want to cause you any trouble, mistress. I've gotten wrapped up in this cul-."

Before Eve could speak another word, Carmine had a hand firmly clamped around her mouth and immediately picked up the conversation in her place. “Ah! I'm sorry; I really shouldn't speak of it over comms. Could we meet? Say... at the Corantel Lounge? I'd feel much better seeing you, mistress.”

Carmine glared down at Eve, who sheepishly dodged her gaze by fixing her eyes on a point on the floor.

“My my, so eager to meet me! Well, how could I ever say no to such a lovely little pet? Yes, I think a meeting will do just fine for our reunion, and do introduce me to that lovely companion of yours as well! I'm sure she'll be a wonderful treat to savor. I'll be waiting there, darling. I can't wait to see you. Mwah mwah mwah.”

As the link dropped, a long silence drew out in the room. “Mistress, huh? I knew I was getting 'submissive bitch’ vibes from you, but Christ, Eve, mistress? What's next? Am I going to discover you were used as a party pet for some brothel whores? Maybe you spent some time as a cheap meat toilet for some wealthy socialite pop-princesses? I'd say I was disgusted with you, but the fact that I sort of already knew how much of a lowly, cunt-loving slut you were just makes me sad.”

Eve could feel the intense shame and embarrassment creeping along her neck and into her cheeks. She squirmed under Carmine's verbal assault but did not try to move away from her hand, which still grasped her mouth. “Maybe Jasper got her hooks a bit too deep into you; maybe to dig them out, I have to set my own instead. Is that what you want me to do? Hmmm? Turn you into my little mutt?”

Eve squeezed her eyes shut and nodded. If it meant getting out from under Jasper's thumb, then she would commit herself to Carmine's spiteful ownership. “Fuuuuuuuuuck that! Do you think I have the patience to own you?! Heeeeell no! Do you know what I do have the patience for? I'm helping you grow a fucking SPINE! There are very few people on this planet who are as badass as you are. I mean, you're about to give birth to the child of a god, Eve! You've been shot, stabbed, burned, electrocuted, beaten, and subjected to just about every form of mental torture to exist and come out the other side mostly unscathed!”

Carmine shook Eve's head as she spoke, making sure to drive her words home. “Jasper may think she's this unholy, big-shot, dommy-mommy, but we both know she's a soft little pillow princess with an overstroked ego. You put a boot on her head, and I guarantee you she'll call herself anything you want to keep her skull from splitting. Get your goddamn head out of your ass and try wearing some big-girl pants for a bit, baby. She's just another white slut like the rest of us, no more, no less. I don't care what small percent of her DNA has black ancestry; they don't claim her, so she's just another one of us. Only softer.”

Cassidy re-entered the room in time to catch the tail end of Carmine's tyraid. “Ohhhhh dyke-fight!!! I'm in! Whose side am I on??” Carmine and Eve both rotated their heads in her direction, sporting flat looks. "What? We're picking on a white girl, right? I like my fights fair, so I just want to know if I should back them up to keep it from turning into a massacre! Who is it, anyway? Someone I know?”

Carmine exhaled through her nose. “Don't suppose you know Jasper too, do you?”

Cassidy paled slightly. "Ahhhh, haha, yeah... yeah, I'm on your side for sure. That fat bitch doesn't need any help. She's got half of Helion wrapped around her pussy. Or, I guess her cunt would be wrapped-."

Carmine and Eve interrupted simultaneously, though Eve's response was partially muffled. “CASSIDY!”

Carmine shook her head and stepped around the upside-down coffee table.

“You found a buyer? We're heading over to Corantel Lounge to meet up with her so we can help deliver the goods for you on the way. It wouldn't hurt to have an extra set of cybernetically enhanced hands at our side for the little meet and greet.”

Cassidy grinned, “Oh yeah, wealthy little faggot from some pisswater ****** looking for a cheap toy to abuse until broken. Not my ideal client, but it'll at least keep me afloat until you two knuckleheads get me my fuckin’ payout from all this bullshit.”

Eve observed the interaction distantly. So much had happened to her throughout the night that she wasn't even too sure what to do with herself. The currents of fate seemed to be pushing and pulling her in directions she could not anticipate, and it was beginning to make her feel like a passenger in her own life. Watching Carmine determine their plans with Cassidy, instead of her rankled her emotions. She was a fucking veteran hunter for fucks sake; she'd slain thousands of people and survived some of the most brutal combat scenarios; she was smart, quick-witted, strong, independent, resourceful, and above all else, she was fucking better than this!

She wasn't playing second fiddle to fate; she wasn't going to let her lover call her shots; she wasn't about to walk into a faux-French restaurant only to sit and listen to the machinations of some trumped-up breeding bitch; and she sure as fuck wasn't about to be the third wheel to her own fucking party. “Carmine, pay Cassidy now; consider it an advance on a job well done.” Carmine turned to regard her.

“Eve? Is that you? Oh my gosh! I WAS SURE I'D LOST YOU BACK AT THE APARTMENT!!!" She bounced affectionately over to Eve's side and latched onto her arm.

"Yeah, yeah, yeah, save it. It doesn't matter what the amount is; just make it exorbitant. Cas is going to be the eyes on the back of our heads moving forward, so we need to make sure it's well worth the effort. What'd the piece of shit offer for your little... project? Whatever it was, add that on top, and then put it down. If you can't, then I will. We're not going out of our way to make the lives of those disgusting fucks better.”

Cassidy’s mouth hung open. "Wha-but Eve! Now hold on! I put months into that project! You can't expect me to just-" but she was interrupted by a notification alerting her to the first payment going through. “Oh fuck. Is that real? Like, that's my money? Oh, fuck me. Never mind, that project wasn't going how I wanted it to anyway; I'll be right back.” She turned and stiffly made her way to the bedroom, where the door opened and then slammed shut.

There were muffled screams and then a loud cracking sound before the distinct sound of drawers opening and closing. Cassidy joined them once more in the living room, fully clothed for the first time. A suit similar to Eve's and Carmine's adorned her torso, but the buttons hadn't been done, and the tie hung loosely around her neck. Her chiseled abs and generous portions of her breasts were visible, and Eve imagined that if things got a little too dynamic, Cassidy would be showing quite a bit to the world.

“Glad you took my offer, Cas. I'm glad you're with us on this, too. I missed you, you know?” Eve meant it, despite the catty nature of their parting.

"Oh, stop; you'll make me barf. I can't say the feeling’s mutual, what with the eye and all. But I trust you enough not to feed me a pit of rabid whitebois, so take that for what it's worth.”

Eve chuckled and then slid back into a serious tone, "We've been runnin' off whatever we had on us, and in the Percheron, I think we need to resupply and get a bit more tactical. We'll stop by Darnell’s range to-".

But Cassidy broke in, "Whoa, whoa, whoaaaaa. Darnell? Like Darnell Denton? Shiiiiiiit, can we pick a different range? I dunno if I can go back there.”

Eve and Carmine raised their eyebrows in unison, and Cassidy threw her arms across her chest and huffed, “Made a damn fool of myself by showing up there packin’. Motherfucker abused my cock seven different ways on Sunday in front of the entire shop. made me detach it and fuck myself in the ass with my own cock. I dunno if I want to get shit on like that again... at least not in public.”

Eve and Carmine both grinned mischievously. “Now, I mean it, girls! Please have mercy on me for this! We can hit up Michael’s place instead; he just got a new batch of arm mods in, and he doesn't think I'm some degenerate dickboi. Please, please, please!”

Eve relented and asked Carmine to plot their course to Michael's; she hadn't truly considered going to Darnell's after Cassidy's impassioned plea.

Immediately spurning your teammates was a great way to wind up with a knife in the back, and being compassionate wasn't going to cost them anything in the long run. "Hopefully he hasn't kept an ear to the ground; I haven't exactly been discrete tonight.”

They made their way outside and loaded into the Percheron. It was closing in at 3:00 am, and with every hour that passed, Eve could feel the exhaustion mounting. She hadn't slept in three days, and most of those three days had been spent actively servicing black men. She desperately wanted to shower and sleep; she had blood and brain matter crusting in her hair and clothes; her injuries had the familiar tingle of rapid healing; and she knew she was going to need an additional boost of calories to keep that regrowth fueled.

Most gunsmiths and ranges were open day and night in Helion. The criminal elements and popularity of being well-armed and armored made it a necessity in the business; if you weren't open, folks would just go to whoever was instead. Michael was no exception to this, choosing to have his gunshop staffed during the day and manning the counter himself through the night shift.

Eve had only been to his shop twice, and both times had been during the day, so she had never met Michael in person, but from what she had heard, he was a frugal man with a military background. The image of him in her mind turned out to be pretty much exactly what reality presented as they walked through the doors of his establishment.

He stood behind the counter, polishing a late 21st-century Deckland that had been chrome-plated. He wore a deep green and tan camo tank top and loose but well-fitted cargo khakis. His broad shoulders rippled with muscle, and his pecs were almost as large as Eve's head; at a glance, she probably only came up to just a little under his nipples. The man spent a good portion of his time maintaining his body.

His hair was close-cropped, and a salt-and-pepper beard lined his rugged jaw. Eve had no doubt in her mind that the man could bend her in half like a twig if he so chose.

“Ahhhhhh Micheal! Darling! I've missed you, my beautiful, beautiful stud!” Cassidy bounded up to the counter with an excited giggle as Michael looked up from the piece in his hands.

“Cassidy. It's only been a few days; 'spect the only thang yer missin’ is the dick-down I gave you last time you up ‘n strolled in ‘ere.”

Michael's accent spoke of the southern rim. Lower cities on the edge of the continent that had been struggling to fend off the encroaching doom of barren deserts. Eve was immediately smitten with him and began to blush faintly just listening to him.

“Well, what can I do ya for? ‘spect yer friends ‘er ‘ere fer more n’ jus’ watchin’ ya wet yer pants over me.”

Cassidy giggled again and introduced Eve and Carmine. Michael looked them over with a suspicious eye, letting it linger on Carmine.

“Are ya taken to callin’ fuckbots your friends now? ‘spouse the gloomy lookin’ slut does more n’ just suck dick, too? What's your rank, girl?”

Eve diverted her eyes to the floor as she was subjected to the scrutiny of a man entirely out of her league. “D-double platinum, sir."

Michael whistled and looked back at Cassidy. "Shit, Cas, she's yer senior? The fuck ya been doin’ lettin’ some walkin’ cock-sleeve out rank ya? Tsk, I thought I taught you better...”

Cassidy grumped, “The Hunter Guild ain't payin' for shit these days, Mike. I've been workin’ contracts, but most all the good ones get scooped on me by cunts who're friends of friends to bigwigs! Honest, I've been trying!”

Michael snorted, “Aight, aight, I didn't ask for your life story; get back ‘ere n' put your mouth to work doin’ something more important.”

Cassidy immediately vaulted the counter and began working Michael's belt off. Eve let out an involuntary gasp as the overwhelming desire to do the same drove her to step forward before she caught herself. “Now, what can I get fer ya, Miss 'Double Platinum' Hunter? I see a Deckland grip pokin’ out from under ya tit; do ya need some ammo? Lookin’ ta upgrade?”

Eve heard the familiar sound of a fly being undone and the wet slurping of a set of lips running across the side of a hard shaft. She adjusted her stance to try to hide the rapidly-forming wet spot on her crotch. “I-uh, I-I mean we need... could we fuck-I mean, can I see your cock-fuck uhhhh?"

Michael turned his head to Carmine, quirking a brow. “She retarded? The fuck's she babblin’ like that fer?”

Carmine fixed Eve with a scowl before replying, “My apologies, King. It appears she is suffering from something like a withdrawal. I suspect having to listen to Cassidy's service has made it hard for her to focus on anything other than your cock.”

Michael looked back at Eve and said, “S’at right? Dick done gone fried your brain, huh? Speak up, bitch.”

Eve wedged her hands between her legs and squeezed her eyes shut. "Y-yes, sir! P-please allow me to service you as well..."

Michael smirked as Cassidy continued to dutifully slide his hard shaft down her throat. “N' what about you, Blondie? Bet that lil' mechanical pussy wouldn't mind puttin’ in some work?" Carmine blushed cutely, taking Eve's hand and leading her around the counter. “It would be an honor, sir.”

She mocked a salute, and Michael laughed. “Aight, yer gloomy friend can rim me till’ I bus' a nut down Cas’s throat, yer up ‘ere robo-slut.”

Michael motioned to his lips, and Carmine climbed into his broad arms, kissing and licking his neck before greedily taking his lips in hers. Eve practically ejected herself from her pants before scurrying behind Michael like a desperate junky. She immediately began to make out with his asshole, rimming it like it was one of her closest lovers. It wasn't long before each of the girls was busy rubbing themselves as they serviced every inch of Michael's body. Cassidy and Eve simultaneously noticed the slight tensing of muscles across his hips, indicating he was going to blow his load.

Cassidy crammed herself up against his rock-hard abs, mashing her nose against his perfect ebony skin, before he let out a low growl and grunted as the first spasms coursed through him. Eve could hear Cassidy gulping hungrily as jet after jet of cum forced their way down her throat. With a wet pop, Cassidy slid his shaft out of her mouth and fell back on her ass, panting heavily while fingering her pussy as though she were possessed.

Eve hadn't thought she'd had enough time to do the swap from her cock, but she also wasn't familiar with the various attachments or how they attached and detached. She took the opportunity to reach around and slide her hand gently over Michael's truly massive balls. She caresses them like priceless jewels before wrapping her fingers around his prodigious shaft.

She could barely get her hand around it, and she struggled to stroke the full ten inches with her face buried deeply in his ass. Michael cooed at her efforts to keep him hard. He hoisted Carmine up, rotating her so that her head hung down by his cock. “Quit lickin’ my ass n’ help yer friend suck this fat dick, girl.”

Carmine wrapped her lips around his tip and began to bob her head back and forth. Michael curled himself over, laying Carmine on the floor under him before placing both his knees on either side of her head. “Blondie’s on ball duty, gloomy-bitch is throat, Cas, get ya ass up on ‘er head facin’ away from me.”

The girls obeyed; Carmine and Eve were face-to-face, buried in Michael's crotch, as Cassidy wrapped her head around Eve's ass from behind to start eating her out. Michael grabbed Cassidy under the thighs and started eating her out, and they all once again found a nice rhythm. Eve was on cloud nine.

The musk of Michael's shaft imbued her with an unholy desire to fuck him until his body gave out. The sounds and smells of the other girls surrounded her, huddled beneath a king and on top of her lover. Eve was quickly feeling the stress and anxiety of the night fade as Michael used her face like a cheap masturbatory aid.

It didn't take Michael long to become fully hard again; he'd never truly gone soft, and his refractory period was too short to go completely limp. He pulled his tongue out of Cassidy's pussy and then barked at Eve, “Yer up, slut. Bend over the desk n' spread it.”

The girls moved out of the way, and Carmine didn't even ask before she crawled behind him and planted her lips against his asshole. Cassidy, not having received instructions, clambered up onto the desk in front of Eve and thrust her ass in Eve's face. Michael laughed as he stroked his cock before rubbing it against Eve's wet slit.

“Well, ya best get to eatin’," he said. "hope you ain't had your filla' ass.”

Eve stuffed her face into Cassidy's crack and began happily licking, kissing, and sucking as Cassidy fingered herself vigorously. Michael wasted no time sliding himself into Eve, bottoming out his cock against her cervix. Eve grunted in pain and satisfaction as one of Michael's giant hands came down across her bare ass.

“Tighten up, whore. Hole’s 'bout as useful as a fuckin’ oven mitt. C’mon, squeeze it!”

Another hard blow clapped across Eve's ass, and she yipped as she tried to contract every muscle she could think to clench. Michael hummed with satisfaction as Eve managed to achieve adequate tightness for him.

“That's it, baby; keep it like that. Blondie, more tongue, n' don't neglect my fuckin’ nuts. Cas, tell this bitch how good she's doin’.”

Cassidy began gasping out benign compliments to Eve, praising her for how well she was eating out her ass. Michael picked up his pace, and soon Eve had no choice but to cling to Cassidy's ass to keep her face from bouncing off of it. This was what Eve had needed. This was her happy place. This was what let her continue to do the hard work of keeping Helion safe and clear of dirty, filthy, disgusting, fucking whitebois.

The thought ran through her mind of all the corpses she'd left in her wake tonight and how, now, she was being dominated and used by a superior Black King simply for the fact that he existed. It made her cum, hard. And she continued to focus on those thoughts. All the pitiful, pathetic, useless little wimps who were now forever removed from the gene pool only for this glorious stud to be using her like a fucking condom.

The child in her stirred, and she felt a swell of power; it bolstered her, elevated her sensations, and rejuvenated her. Michael could feel it too, and he gasped, clamping a hand around her right breast as he used it to help drag her back along the length of his cock. The charged energy in the room was building, coaxing them all into a frenzy of sweat, semen, and passion. Eve lost herself in the motion of it, the heave and dip of tides washing over her as orgasms crested and crashed across her entire body.

At some point, Michael had cum inside her; they'd all cum together as though locked in sync. Michael had tossed her to the side, only to immediately drag Cassidy across the counter and shove his cock into her waiting pussy. He didn't even slow down, just thrusting, slapping, and issuing commands as they all fell into an orgy of body parts. Eve and Carmine had begun to make love on the floor behind Michael, Eve with her head between his legs servicing his balls and ass, and Carmine scissoring her while gently torturing her nipples.

Michael fucked them all, one after another, three times each. It took them until just after 4:30 am, and Michael finally slumped back into the chair behind his counter after having stuffed Eve's abused pussy for the third time. Eve slid down his length as she slowly collapsed to the floor, finally separating herself from his massive cock with a wet ‘pop’. A small, viscous stream of cum pumped out from deep inside her, and she moaned as she used two fingers to work it back inside her.

Letting such priceless seed go to waste on the floor was blasphemy, so she worked her cunt, periodically sucking on her fingers as the sloppy mess worked itself into a thick, frothy cream. Cassidy was busy tongue-washing his cock, cleaning up the mess that Eve had left on it. Carmine was wiping down his body with a damp cloth she'd found under the counter.

Michael was breathing heavily, his skin coated in a thick sheen of sweat as he allowed the girls to lavish him in their ministrations. “T-that was... holy shit, that was the best damn pussy I ever had. You girls‘re on another level.”

Eve knew her and Cassidy's child's had everything to do with the frenzy that had ensued; she just wasn't sure how. “I'm glad we could be of service to you, sir. It was an honor and a pleasure to relieve you of your stress.”

Michael chuckled, “Ya damn snowbunnies n' yer worship, oi, quick suckin’, ya fuckin’ slut.”

Michael swatted Cassidy off his cock, and she giggled as she fell back next to Eve, rubbing her cheek. “My apologies, sir; it will happen again.”

Michael barked another laugh as he stood. “Ya pull that shit again. I'm puttin’ my boot through your ear. Ya hear me?”

Cassidy laughed and mocked a salute as Carmine had. “Aye aye, Mr. Badass!” She was cock-*****.

“Aight, ferreal, though, whatchu ladies after? Weapons? Armor? Get your clothes on so ya can giddy up n’ git.”

Carmine spoke up, wiping her face with the rag she'd used to wipe down Michael. Eve frowned at her; she didn't even sweat. That bitch was coating herself in his scent. Sneaky cunt. “We'll need some rounds for an SPH Mk.IV, both types; probably 50 of each is good. A second drum-mag and possibly a spare battery pack if you've got one.”

Michael nodded and waited for her to continue. “We'll need some more rounds for Eve's Deckland, modified heavy cal. rounds.” Michael quirked an eyebrow at Eve as if to say, ‘Can she handle that?’ as Carmine continued. “Cassidy ain't packin’ for some reason, so she'll need something, but we'll leave that up to her. Eve's going to need some lightweight body armor; if you've got Milspec, we'll take that. anything else, Eve?”

Eve thought it over; her deckland was fairly versatile, which gave her options at a decent range. The same was true with Carmine's SPH; close quarters and mid-range were covered; the only thing they didn't have was long-range cover and demolitions. “I'll pick up a long rifle, not too concerned with manufacturer, semi-automatic, FMJ, and explosive rounds, two extended mags, and a smart sight. Something known for not jamming when the chips are down. I don't know what Cas wants, but she'll be on the front lines, so keep CQC in mind.”

Michael put a giant hand up to his chin and pondered, "Yep, should have most of that. Fer that mil-spec armor, you want I should throw in some leg plates, too? Got some nifty helmets in earlier this week, too; ain't like the usual Guard-issue Barbute, these pieces are top-of-the-line full-guard retractables. Light, shy on paddin', but the segmented plate will stop anything’ under a .50cal dead in its tracks. Probably put you on your ass; might even knock your damn ass out, but it ain't goin' through yer head, so it'd be a good addition. I'll bring one out n’ you give'er a think, aight?”

Michael rose and headed into the back to begin gathering supplies. The girls were getting dressed when Eve's commtag chimed. “Hey, Eve… I understand we didn't mention a time we would meet... But I'm a very busy woman, and I had very much expected you to be here by now. I do not appreciate being stood up, so please let me know whether I should put another bounty on you to help speed things up, alright?”

Carmine quipped, “How diplomatic of her... ‘Bout time someone made her wait for once. I can handle the response, if you want."

Eve shook her head; she was thinking more clearly than she had been all night after the mind-blowing sex with Michael. “I got this, babe; it's just a mildly threatening text; she's not truly pissed, not yet.”

Eve typed out a reply as Michael returned with a cart loaded with supplies. Eve was most interested in the helmet he placed on the counter. Or, rather, the collar? It was a wide roll of steel with one interlocking side, likely to facilitate equipping and removing it from the neck. A small digital screen indicated where the back of the helmet was meant to sit. Eve picked it up and spun it over in her hands. Some form of padded gasket ran around the bottom of the helmet, likely to cushion the weight of it against the shoulders.

“This is the Aegis; it's a standalone platform, but better put to use on the full-scale system. I'm still waitin' on the body suits, but figured since ya can get away with just wearin’ the helm, I'd show it to ya. The gasket ‘round the bottom seals tight to the skin, not quite airtight, but the helmet creates positive pressure, so any gaps will have air forced out 'steada in. Hardened mil-spec steel plate webbed with space-rated and carbon nanotube-infused silicone joints makes deployment and conforming to the individual user the best on the market. Eye slots are ballistic acrylic inlaid with a graphene lattice. They double as screens n' pair with ya commtag.”

Eve marveled at the steel disk in her hands; it couldn't have weighed more than 10 pounds. “What's the battery life?”

Michael nodded. “Not the best, but it'll get ya three days of full-use ‘fore needin’ to be charged. There ain't much room for a decent battery without sacrificin' mobility or armor. If’n ya need one of these, odds are good, ya ain't going to need it longer n' that.”

Eve smiled at that. “Mind if I try it on?”

Michael simply gestured at her to go ahead before turning to Cassidy to address her questions. Eve popped the latch, and it swung open with a small hiss. Wrapping it around her throat, it clicked firmly back into place with another hiss. She could feel the gasket expand to lightly squeeze the base of her throat and blushed faintly as the feeling elicited excitement within her. She tapped the digital display on the back, and with a soft beep, the thin plates began to slide up her neck on magnetic servos. Each plate tinkled lightly as they locked into place against the one beneath before they slid up over her face to meet at the top of her head with the ones coming up the back of her skull.

The two sections hissed as the gaskets between them interlocked and expanded. The two eye ports flickered to life and the interior of the helmet quickly faded from her view as the external cameras on the helmet synced with her commtag, supplementing her vision with an overlay. The helmet fit tightly as the gel padding pressed gently against her skull. Rotating her head, she could feel the steel plates slide over one another as the neck flexed. It felt less like a helmet and more like a very heavy second skin.

She turned to Carmine and asked, “How's it look?” Carmine assessed the helmet and nodded appreciatively.

“Could use a splash of color... The horns are definitely worth a look. I wouldn't call it badass; more like you're in the middle of robbing a bank while trying to remain both anonymous and bulletproof.”

Eve shrugged. “If it keeps a hunk of lead out of my skull, then I don't particularly care, I guess. Michael, have you got any skull versions instead of... what is this Carmine? Demon?” Carmine shrugged.

"Yeah, I gave you the Oni Mask. Units're left bare, so clients can paint 'em as they like. I got some skull ones along with Venetian, noh, tengu, and just regular ol’ blank.”

Eve retracted the helmet and placed it back on the counter. “Get us two of the skull masks, please, sir, unless... you want one, Carmine?”

Carmine thought for a second before nodding. “I'd look like a fucking idiot being the only one walking around without one. It'll also motivate enemies to fire on me more than you two, and, while I'm tough, I'd rather not draw that kind of attention.”

“Aight, three skulls it is; your forearm mods're ready if you want to strap in.” He motioned to a small booth separated from the main counter by a sheet. Most gunshops also catered to the cybertech crowd, if only marginally. Small body mods and weapon attachments could be installed or removed for a cost. Nothing to the scale of proper chop shops, but if you needed a tune-up or some small tech put in on existing platforms, then they could usually accommodate you.

Cassidy stepped over and let the metal shackles of the seat snap into place around her wrists. A small A.I began prompting her through the selections and procedures. “We'll take those leg plates too, Michael." The job we're taking on is going to go one of two ways, and both ways lead to gunfights.”

“Ya know, I don't envy you Hunters. S’tough work, even for the hardened; one'a those jobs you don't grow old in. I had a young one pass through ‘ere a week ago yesterday, dead now. Popped by some whiteboi near the city wall from what I heard. Bitch still had braces on ‘er.” Michael shook his head as he set down the three helmets. “I'm with you girls; I want ya to know that. I lose sleep, wonderin’ when the world'll get back to bein’ right. All those whitebois out there fuckin’ it up for the good folk just tryin’ to get by ya dig? Ya’ll make sure you put some in the ground for me, ya hear?”

Eve smiled warmly at the man. He had a generous heart, a level head, and more compassion than most. Running a weapons shop put him in front of all kinds of people, from the bored to the desperate. Knowing that he was in their corner greatly reduced Eve's anxiety about what they needed to confront. “Don't you worry, sir, I'll personally see to it that the only sleep you ever lose will be from knockin’ up some pretty young thing."

Michael had a good, hearty laugh over that and put his hand over Eve's. “Ain't sayin’ I'd turn it down, but I'm partial to ladies with a lil’ more experience, if you catch me.”

Eve was momentarily gobsmacked, opening and closing her mouth like a fish gulping up air. “O-ohh sir! Oh, you... ah, you really ought not to tease me like that!”

Michael smiled warmly and gave her ass a good smack. "Well, you just come on by again once this is all over, n' we'll get ta seein’ just how much I can tease ya, aight?”

Eve was left bewildered and floating above the floor. She couldn't remember a time when a black man had made such brazen moves towards her. Usually their ‘advances’ were telling her to strip and then fucking the daylights out of her. They rarely complimented, let alone flirted with her.

"You have my absolute word, sir. I'll be back here."

Cassidy called out from behind the curtain, “That better not be you putting the moves on Michael, you bitch! I swear, I ain't losing an eye this time!”

Cassidy had gotten two different arm modifications installed; one was a retractable gladius that gave her spontaneous and deadly close-quarters retaliation, and the other was a multi-function projectile launcher. The small battery of tubes could fire anything from darts to bolas to taser wire. It was an effective tool for espionage and crowd control but offered little in the way of lethality.

She also picked up her own, unmodified Deckland in case she needed to work on targets out of range. Michael had offered time on the range to get accustomed to their weapons, but they were pressed for time and bid their farewells. Eve expressed her intention to return to see Michael once things had settled, and the man smiled and nodded at her as they exited the building.

“I'll be there in 15 minutes. I got caught up serving a Black king; you know how it is.” Eve hoped the text would be enough to take some of the heat out of Jasper's indignation. Regardless of how the woman felt about Eve, neither of them would allow their duty to the Black Men to be interrupted by something like a dinner reunion. Unfortunately, Eve also knew just how deep Jasper's indignation ran.

As they piled into the car, Cassidy asked Carmine for a smoke, and they all relaxed on the long bench seat, basking in the after-fuck glow. Cassidy put her hands behind her head, fiddling with the cigarette between her lips as she asked, “You tried your powers yet? Is that what happened to Michael?"

Eve took a long drag before letting the smoke wisp out of her nose.

"Honestly, I couldn't say. I haven't put the powers into practice, if that's what you mean. I almost did back at that cultist apartment—damn near brought the whole fucker down. Hold up.” Eve slipped her Deckland from its holster and racked the slide, ejecting a single brass cartridge. She rolled it between her fingers, and it was soon coated in a rainbow swirl. "Now, let's try this.”

Suddenly, the bullet wasn't a bullet. It was a thousand grains of dusty sand falling to the carpet beneath her feet. "Huh..." she collected another, this one flashing into a pink rose petal. "Again." Yet another bullet transformed into a strong arc of electrical discharge, momentarily numbing her fingers. “AH FUCK!! That surprised the hell out of me, Jesus!”

Eve sucked on her fingers as the girls sat in quiet contemplation. “So you change the bullets like that? Like, you have to say 'ok, change now’ and then it changes? Do you have any control over what it changes into?” Carmine slid her arms over the back of the bench seat, staring up at the roof of the car.

“Uhhh, yeah? It's not even really a ‘thought’ so much as it is my... will? It just listens to my intention, I guess. And no, I have no idea what it's going to do. I'm assuming the original size of whatever is changed is maintained based on the fact that we didn't end up buried in sand or in the middle of a rose bush.”

“I wonder if the thing you change can change something else? Like, touch two bullets together and see if the first bullet can change the second.” Cassidy wondered aloud as Carmine played with her hair. Eve was rapidly depleting bullets by doing this; good thing they stocked up.

"So, kind of like... this is how you meant it, right?” Eve coated the first bullet and then touched the two together to show Cassidy.

“Yeah, now change the first one without even thinking about the second.”

Eve did, and both bullets flowed together and produced a small bird's egg, which fell to the floor and broke open. “Huh, would you look at that?" Cassidy remarked, staring at the broken egg with wide eyes.

“Ahhhhhhh shit! My fuckin’ carpet! Goddamnit Cassidy!”

Cassidy leaned forward, gesturing to the egg. “How's that my fuckin’ fault?! Did I know what it was going to do?! Why didn't you fuckin’ catch it?! Get off my fucking sack, you knock-off hooker. Damn.”

“Laaaadiiieeeeesss, smarten up. Eve, do you think you could, like, throw your color? Like... out of your hand?”

Eve glared at Cassidy, who childishly stuck out her tongue before taking another pull on her smoke. Looking at Carmine, Eve shrugged. “Guess I could try.”

She pooled a small amount of the color in her hand and then flicked it against the window. Small speckled dots ran down the glass, leaving a pearlescent smear behind them.

"It makes sense considering what you did to that hallway. I wonder if it'll fade on its own or if that's, like, permanent now."

Eve frowned again and willed the rainbow liquid to dissipate; it fizzled and then evaporated off the glass like it'd never been there.

"I was worried for a second that I wouldn't be able to do that... Oh, actually, I can still feel all the shit I left in that apartment hallway too. There we go, all gone.”

Carmine and Eve simultaneously turned to Cassidy with looks of expectant anticipation. She glanced over at them and then rolled her eyes. “Ugh, my shit’s not that cool; look.” She collected a small amount on her hand, and it spread over the entire surface of it. She concentrated for a second, then pulled her gun out and tapped the barrel on the back of her wrist.

It sounded like the barrel was contacting some sort of ceramic or incredibly dense steel. Eve reached across Carmine to poke at it, and she found that it was incredibly hard. "Whoaaaaa, how tough do you think that stuff is?”

Cassidy shrugged. “All I know is that I can do this over my whole body and that it can do stuff like this.”

The liquid rainbow on her hand extended away from her fingertips in a sharp spike.

"Ok, that's pretty badass. Can you do it remotely like I can?”

Cassidy extracted a bullet from her gun and coated it before tossing it to the floor. The rainbow sheen remained swirling and fixed in place until Cassidy picked it back up.

"It looks like it. So I suppose that means I can fire extra-hard bullets. She twirled her finger in the air to mock her excited tone.

Eve frowned again. “Yeah, but you can also coat your arm mods and everything else you wear to be extra tough too; you'll be like a walking tank.”

Cassidy perked up at her observation and grinned. “That just means you'll have a harder time shooting me in the back after I land, Michael.”

Carmine clapped the back of her head, and she yipped, “You need to drop that; Michael will do what he likes; hell, he might even take both of you if he feels charitable. Just shut your gob and focus on what needs doing. Jasper isn't going to be an easy sell by the sounds of things, and if we've got any hope in hell of getting this shit done, we'll need her.” Chastised, Cassidy went back to staring out the window.

“You're right, thanks, babe.” Eve leaned over and kissed Carmine on the cheek while weaving her fingers between Carmine's. “I think probably our best bet is to just lay it all out on the table and have Jasper decide what she wants to do. She's an incredibly smart woman, despite her vindictive cruelty, so I think she'll see the writing on the wall. Ultimately, she's either with us or against us, and if that means starting a fight, well, at least we'll be armed and ready.”

“Hopefully it won't come to that; who knows, maybe she's pieced enough together already to have an idea of what's up. Maybe she'll be on board with our goal."

Carmine's speculation helped to ease some of the tension building back up in Eve's shoulders but then she grimaced, thinking back to her time spent being Jasper's pussybitch. “Yeah, we'll see." Eve squeezed Carmine's hand, and they fell into a peaceful silence.

10 minutes later, they rolled up to the entrance of Corantel. Carmine directed the Percheron to find parking, and it pulled away as they stepped up to the entrance. A rather imperious-looking white boi greeted them as though they were royalty, and Eve spit in its face. “We're here for Jasper; take us in, cunt.” The white boi smiled weakly and thanked Eve for her spit, which only served to rile her up more.

She briefly considered just having Cassidy gut the useless waste of air, but the logical part of her brain told her that would only cause more headaches than it was worth. Its time to come, sooner than later. The restaurant was on the upper end of fancy; a faux-brickwork facade gave it an ancient aesthetic that Eve wasn't accustomed to. Wrought iron lanterns hung from the awning to illuminate the entranceway, and the deep-yellow LED lights flickered to help mimic flame light.

The interior was nothing but a long rectangular room, brightly lit by the same LEDs as outside. Murals and canvas paintings hung from the walls, depicting brief snapshots of the bloody conflict that was the Great Race War. The paintings were exclusively glorifying the victories and heroics of Black Battleground Legends, many of whom stood atop, or in the foreground of, piles of white corpses. Eve felt her heart lift with the heraldry of Black Excellence; these giants had paved the way to a brighter future, cleaner power, better healthcare, and the subjugation of the world's largest blight.

Rich velvet draped the windows to the street; numerous wall hangings and other acoustic dampers were strategically placed throughout the space to help keep the din to a minimum. Mahogany and oak made up just about every furnishing in the building, and the smell of frothed wine and musked cheese hung heavy in the air. As they stepped past the first few tables, Jasper came into view at the back of the dining room. She beckoned Eve with a finger, and Eve gritted her teeth.

"Your table, mistress..." The whiteboi bowed low as it gestured to Jasper's booth.

Eve cleared her throat, collecting as much phlegm as she could before spitting directly into the greeters face once more, “Die in a fucking fire.''

The whiteboi thanked her profusely and then quickly strode back to the door, doing its best to hold back tears. Turning to regard Jasper, Eve slid into the bench across from her, followed by Carmine and then Cassidy.

Jasper swirled her wine as she looked over the three companions, spending the most time on Cassidy. “I must say, you lot do make for quite the imposing force. The last reports I had didn't include your fiery-looking friend here.” She took a swig of the wine and then set the glass down on a doily-covered coaster. “Now, before you ruin the moment by speaking, I have to say it's incredibly good to see you once more, my sweet. I missed that slightly insane look in your eyes, among other things..."

Eve could feel Carmine tense up, and she put a reassuring hand on her thigh. “Yes, well, you'll forgive me if the sentiment isn't mutual.” Jasper smiled at that and leaned back in her seat, shooting a glance back toward the entrance of the restaurant. Eve followed the look to see several heavily armed Black men take up positions on the opposite side of the street.

“I'm sorry to hear that... I'd rather hope we might spend some time getting reacquainted later, but I suppose that particular flame has faded from your heart."

Eve shifted uncomfortably before responding, “Cut the shit, Jasper; I'm not here to throw myself between your legs. Some fucked up shit is going down, and we need to...” Eve was cut off by Jasper's scoffing laughter.

“Oh, my dear, sweet Eve! Who's this ‘we’ you mention? You didn't honestly think that you could woo me into your service without offering something in return, did you? That simply telling me about whatever this is about would be enough? No, no, no, that simply won't do at all! You see… I've been approached by some very interesting sorts tonight, and they've made quite the promise to me for my services in turning you over to them.”

It felt like Jasper had slapped Eve across the face with her words. She rocked back in the bench seat, bewildered. "Jasper, you didn't?"

She grinned widely before continuing, “Oh yesssss, my darling! I have! This silly little cult you've managed to stumble across has been very eager to... ‘bring you into the fold’, I believe is what they said. And my, did they ever back up their words! You would not believe the sum of money they laid at my feet to bring you to them on a silver platter.”

Eve looked back at the entrance to see more of Jasper's forces step into view. “God damnit, Jasper, this cult isn't what you think. You've been tricked, you've been misled, you-”

Jasper spoke over Eve once again: “I've been paid very well to do a job, something a hunter like you should know all about. I have never once questioned my place in the Guild, Eve, and if you think this piddly little cult will distract me from my goals, then you are very sorely mistaken.”

Eve clenched her fists and gritted her teeth. "Jasper, I am trying to fucking save you. The second you turn us over to them, they will bring a fucking torch to everything you own. I guarantee they already have agents posted at your home, maybe even inside it. This cult is going to destroy Helion and everyone in it in an attempt to bring back their shitty fucking God! But there's another way. Jasper, Cassidy, and I have figured out a way to do this right. Please, I'm begging you, at least hear us out.”

A look of conflict flashed across Jasper's face. There was doubt there, likely some suspicion she'd already held for the cult and their activities. “Bullshit, they're nothing but a band of rag-tag faggots looking for some actual purpose in their lives. They helplessly threw their money at me because they're too fucking incompetent to do anything themselves, that's all.”

Eve shook her head and said, “No, Jasper, they've got friends in high places; they know what they're doing because they aren't just whitebois; there are real men invested in this cult. It's dangerous. Carmine, show her.”

Carmine looked over at Eve in confusion, “Huh? Show her what?”

Eve looked to the ceiling in a silent prayer, “Her fucking house is getting ransacked by the cult. They went through mine fast enough; they should be digging through hers about now.”

“Ohhhhhhhhh, right, sorry... Let me just... there we are! Oh shit! Look at that.”

Carmine sent the request to Jasper's messages, and Jasper looked between the two of them before accepting. Eve wasn't sure what she was being shown, but by the widening of her eyes and the look of indignant rage that filled her face, she could tell it was bad.

“My. Fucking. CLOSET?! And that one—what is it doing with my bed sheets? Where are its pants? Oh, fuck me! NO! Get away from that! AHHHHHHHH!” She looked back up as the feed cut off, horror, confusion, rage, and impotent denial all evident on her face. “Those fucking back-stabbing, worthless fucking walking CORPSES! I'm going to find every last one of those wretched little pindicks and personally saw off their fucking limbs with a dull knife. I SWEAR TO FUCK!”

Eve, Carmine, and Cassidy all watched in amazement as the immaculately put-together Jasper began to come undone. “Jasper we-”

Jasper snapped at Eve before she could start, “SHUT UP, just shut the fuck up. I'm this close to fucking salting the earth you've walked on, you bitch. How do I know you aren't in this with them? Hmmm? How did you manage to get security footage from my fucking home? You're going to explain this in ten words or less, and if you don't, I'm burying you in a coffin full of whiteboi clits, got it?”

Eve swallowed and looked over at Carmine. She shrugged while Cassidy simply picked at her nails, supremely uninterested in the outcome of this situation. “Carmine is a cracked AI in an Android body.”

Jasper squinted her eyes at Eve. “Are you fucking with me? You're walking around with a cracked AI? If that thing goes rogue, do you know how fucked we would be?”

Eve sighed and knitted her fingers together on the table.

“Jasper, I don't know if you've noticed, but we're pretty fucked as it is. Carmine isn't the poison you need to wonder about here; it's the cult; hell, it's the guild. I am extending an olive branch to you here. I want to help you. I want you to help us. We need to stop these fucks before they can sink their teeth into Helion any deeper than they already have. I'm going to direct my Percheron to the back of the restaurant, and we're going to exit through the kitchen. If you want to at least hear us out, then please join us.”

Jasper crossed her arms and huffed, “And if I don't?”

Eve nodded to Cassidy and Carmine, and they slid out of the booth. “If you don't, well, assuming the cult doesn't eventually hunt you down like a dog, please stay out of our way. I don't want you to be my enemy; I don't want to have to turn my wrath upon you, but I will.”

Eve let a single rainbow drop fall from the tip of her finger and into Jasper's glass of wine. She willed for her power to activate, and the wine was replaced with a dozen marbles of varying sizes.

"Wha- how did you do that?” Jasper was entirely caught off guard by the magic trick she'd witnessed.

“Come with us, and you'll learn all about it, I promise. We'll wait for two minutes, and if you aren't out by then, we'll assume you've sided with the cult. See you soon, Jasper.”

Eve led Carmine and Cassidy out through the staff entrance, pushing aside serving whelps as they passed. “Shoulda fuckin’ killed her, you know? If she saddles up to the cult now, we're fucked for real.”

Eve shook her head and said, “No, she won't go to them. The cult has lost Jasper, even if she won't admit it to us. If I know her at all, even a little, she'll either join us or wage her own war against them. I'm not sure why the cult chose to double-cross her the way they did, but it ended up working to our advantage.”

They stepped through the rear entrance to find the Percheron waiting. The rain had started to sprinkle down lightly as the first hints of the day began to color the heavy clouds lining the horizon. "C'mon, Jasper, don't make me have to fight you, too.” Cassidy and Carmine climbed into the car, but Eve remained standing, waiting for the portly Hunter to come through the door after them.

“Wait, is that... do you guys hear-" Gunshots rang out from inside the restaurant, and Eve instinctively pulled her Deckland into a firing stance. The shots were muffled by the building but seemed to be rapidly advancing on the door. “Oh shit, get ready girls, we're making a hell of a getaway!”

The door flung open, and Jasper dove into the open side of the Percheron. Eve parked herself between the cabin and the door, propping herself up with a knee on the handle. “DRIVE, CARMINE!” Two of Jasper's thugs stumbled through the door in time to see the car begin accelerating away. They leveled their weapons at the car, and Eve fired.

Two shots landed center-mass, one on each man, their faces contorting in pain. Eve gasped as she realized that she had just shot two Black men. “They were wearing body armor. They had mil-spec body armor. It stopped my rounds. They aren't dead. You didn't kill them. They aren't dead. You missed their vitals, and they're fine. It was you or them, and they're going to be fine.”

The thoughts ran through her head like a mantra, desperately trying to dissociate her from the actions she'd just taken. The car reached the end of the alley, and Eve slid into the cabin and closed the door. Jasper lay across the open floor, panting and groaning as her body ejected a bullet from a rather nasty-looking wound on her shoulder.

"Jasper, you good?” The woman gathered enough strength to flip Eve off before returning to clutching her still-bleeding arm. “Ok, well, fuck you too, I guess. Carmine, try to dodge any tails we might have picked up. We'll head in the opposite direction of the treatment facility for a while before circling back under your camouflage. Gonna need the element of surprise for this one.”

Carmine nodded, and they began their evasive routing. “Eve, they hit her with a smart-round; chuck it.” Eve nabbed the bullet and hurled it out the window as they screeched around a corner. "Ahhhh, fuck, two cars had a visual on us; we probably won't be able to shake them without intervention.”

Eve bit her lip and nodded at Cassidy, who took up a position in the opposite window.

“Hope those shitty town cars don't have bulletproof tires." A hail of gunfire rattled off of the trunk and sent cracks racing along the rear window as the pursuant cars sped down the street after them. Eve steadied her breath and squeezed off two shots from her rifle, one glancing off of the roadway and into the windshield of a pedestrian vehicle. It veered wildly before slamming into a lamppost. “Fuck!” And then she remembered that she didn't need to be as accurate as she was before.

“Cas, time to show them our colors!” Eve fed her power into the rifle and then the bullets in the magazine. “Please work, please work, please work." The first bullet slammed into the hood of the car, immediately transforming it into a swarm of angry butterflies. Her second and third shots turned the windshield into water and the driver's seat into a pile of very confused trout. The car swerved as the driver lost grip on the wheel and fell back into the vehicle.

It spun wildly into the storefront of a small African bridal boutique, and Eve turned her sights onto the second car. Cassidy let off one shot, and the bullet passed through the grill, through the dash, through the driver's abdomen, and then through the battery array. Even then, the bullet didn't stop; it carried on through the batteries, shredding them like newspaper before exiting the rear of the car and continuing down the street to impact the side of the other crashed pursuit vehicle.

The lead car sputtered and then died as it lost cohesive voltage, coming to a dead stop in the middle of the road. The passenger got out and began taking pockshots at the Percheron, but Eve and the girls were making ground quickly before Carmine tucked down another street. “Is that it, for now, Carmine?” Carmine thought for a moment before confirming their getaway. Eve slumped into the bench seat and dug around in her pockets for another cigarette. “Jasper, I ain't going to say I told you so.”

The woman grunted as she worked herself into a semi-seated position against the wall of the car. “They tried to abduct me! My goddamn entourage tried to fucking abduct me! Ungrateful vermin. After everything I've done for them and all the opportunities I provided to them, they sell me out to some backwater, inbred, useless fucking trash. I should have fucking seen this coming, working with fucking Whitebois. Ugh.”

She took out a small pen vape and hit it, inhaling deeply. “Whatever, fine, fuck you—I'm in. This better be damn well worth it because now I have to go through the trouble of rebuilding my network from the ground up. Uggghhhhhh fuuuuuuuck-I hate whitebois so fucking muuuuuuch.” She slammed the back of her head into the frame strut as she took another angry hit from her vape.

Watching Jasper devolve into this whiny, indignant brat pleased Eve to no end. The usual maturity and poise were all but forgotten in the heat of her disgruntled anger.

“Are you done being a bitch?”

Jasper looked up at Eve and rolled her eyes. “Fuck you. Gonna explain what's going on now, or just sit there and berate me?”

Eve grinned and folded her arms across her chest. “Try to focus, 'cause this is a long one.”

Jasper's reaction to the tale was more skeptical than Cassidy's had been, but when both Eve and Cassidy made a display of their colors, that skepticism all but vanished. “And you're saying... I've got one of those things inside me as well?”

Eve nodded, “likely from some other God than the ones we got. We're still not too sure which God the cult is trying to resurrect, but with the way they're going about it, I don't think that matters. The second they succeed, Helion is done and dusted.”

“And you think your little parasite is going to produce a different outcome?”

Eve rocked her head side to side. “Our children won't be fully grown when we birth them; if the cult manages to resurrect their God, odds are good it'll be in a state more capable of wreaking havoc. We'll have a chance to raise our children, guide them, teach them, and hopefully avoid the fucking apocalypse.”

Jasper seemed fairly disquieted by the fact that she was carrying the God Seed within her. “I suppose now that I know all this, there isn't any getting out of it, is there?”

Eve shook her head. “The cult is obviously onto you, so if you decide to go your own way, it'll be you against them. And if we part ways, well, you'll forgive us for not being able to trust you after that.”

Jasper fiddled with her vape. “Why'd you call me? I'm not cut out for shit like this. You could have contacted Amber or Trinity; hell, even Felicity would have been a better pick than me, and she's only got one real arm. Why'd you drag me into your shitfit?" She looked up at Eve, searching her face for any hint of deception.

Eve sighed and looked at the floor. “Because, despite everything you put me through, I genuinely loved you. I never respected the way you went about our job, but I couldn't deny its efficacy. You know how to work with your clients and allies to best suit your needs, and you're not above terminating white filth when it's necessary. I picked you because you would make a powerful ally and because I had hoped we could see eye to eye on what needed to be done.”

Jasper frowned. “Why can't I tell if you're bullshitting me? I mean, it's very obviously bullshit. Loved me? No one fucking loves me, Eve. They worship me, they respect me, they serve me, and they pretend to like me. But no one loves me. Do you think I'm stupid enough to believe that? After I abused you? Marked you? Bullshit.”

Eve looked up from the floor, staring directly into Jasper's eyes. “I swear to you, my Black God, that I'm not bullshitting you. Those brief moments we spent with each other meant more to me than I even realized. But things are clearer to me now, having met Carmine.” Eve squeezed her thigh as she leaned in to rest her head on her shoulder.

“You filled a void I'd been missing for a long time, one that I'd been trying to fill with Black men and other women. Just because you didn't feel anything like that towards me doesn't mean I couldn't feel it towards you. I lived off your essence while we were together and hung on to your every word as though it were a commandment. In those brief, passionate days, you were the reason I carried on. I thank you for that, and I tell you again, this is not bullshit.”

Jasper almost looked offended, not knowing how to process the confession or its emotional impact. "Why didn't you say anything? You never… you never even brought it up.”

Eve chuckled softly at that. “I was terrified of you, Jasper. What would you do to me or not do to me if you learned how I felt? For all I knew back then, you'd have just killed me, and I probably would have let you, thats how fucked up I was about you.”

Jasper swallowed back the tears forming in her eyes. “You bitch! This is classic manipulation! You and your fuckin’ sweet talk... Goddamnit." Jasper scrunched up her face, trying not to openly cry in front of the three women. Eve remained silent and allowed Jasper the dignity of fighting through her emotions without interference. Anything she could say would only cause her more distress and embarrassment and potentially cost her the relationship.

Eventually, Carmine notified Eve that they were coming close to the treatment facility, and to get ready, she nodded and addressed Jasper. “Let's make a difference, Jasper, together."

Jasper rubbed her eyes and looked up at Eve. “Alright, what have I got to do?”

Eve extended a hand, and Jasper took it. “First, you need to get the fuck out of my car, 'cause I have no clue what's going to happen for this next part.”

They stepped out into the rain and took shelter under some ductwork extending from the wall of the alley. "Next, we need to make a blood oath, and then... well, you essentially just ride it out until it's over.”

Jasper resumed her skeptical look. “By ‘it’ I'm assuming you mean the awakening... Does it hurt?”

Eve waffled her hand. "Ehhhhhhh, it's kind of hard to describe, but it'll be over before you know it.”

Unimpressed, Jasper grumbled before reaching out a hand and saying, “Get on with it. We're trying to save the city, right? God, I hope I don't regret this.”

With that, Cassidy stepped up and cleanly slit both of their wrists in the manner Carmine had back at Cassidy's house. Clasping Jasper's hand, Eve began to feel the trickle of power seep from her arm, and then the process took hold. This time Eve opened herself to it, accepted it, and let the raging fires of her awakened power suffuse her.

She slammed to one knee as strength poured out of her body and into Jasper. Distantly, she could hear Cassidy and Carmine reacting to her fall, but everything was crawling to a stop. Individual raindrops hung in the air like bubbles, and Eve could see Cassidy and Carmine reflected in each, thousands of reflections of the two racing towards her. And then it all went black.

Eve was thrust into a lightless void, the sheer volume of blackness threatening to disconnect her from her awareness. But then she felt the fingers; spider-like spindles of hardened flesh crept down her spine, and she whirled only to confront nothing. Clicking echoed around her, and for the barest of moments, she thought she could just make out an emaciated form before her.

Its head was bowed as though asleep, blood-soaked bandages wrapped around its grotesque skull and trailing down its bony shoulders. Its ribs jutted inhumanly out of its deeply ridged spine. Its arms were limp at its side, dangling down to its ankles, where six long claws swept back up towards its thighs.

Eve was reduced to an animal in its presence, and every human aspect of her psyche vanished before its hideous form. The deep, snarling, lizard-like portion of her mind railed against all common sense to get her to flee, to run. A frothing, jittering, anxiety-laced fear gripped her so tightly that she couldn't even scream. And then the creature began to unfurl, its arms stretching out and fingers fanning in wide, graceful arcs as it raised its head towards her.

Something within her spoke without words. It begged her not to look, not to breathe, and not to move. It begged her to do everything she could to just shut the thing out of her mind. And then it spoke—not with the voice of a creature but of her mother. She recognized the sound immediately, and it took every ounce of focus she had to not look up at it. “Eve? Eve, is that you? Oh Eve, baby, you've grown so tall! So tall… I've missed you, my darling Eve.”

The voice shredded her heart; it hollowed out her ears until she could feel the burning tears falling from her eyes and the snot trailing down her chin. She blubbered incoherently as she continued to do everything she could to ignore its presence. “Eve I've been so lost and lonely; it's cold here, Eve. Mommy misses you, baby. Please talk to me. I beg you, please.”

The silent voice within herself shrieked at her to ignore it, avoid it, or do anything other than look at it, or they were doomed. Worse than doomed, they would be devoured piece by piece until nothing was left but the memory of her. “It's not my mother; it's not my mother; it's not my mother; it's not my mother; it's not my mother; it's not my mother.” Eve, let the mantra run endlessly. She focused single mindedly on maintaining her grip on sanity.

“I'm so sorry, my love. For leaving you the way I did, leaving you alone on the streets. I wish we could have had more time together. I wish I could have been there to see you grow up. Please, my baby, please at least let me see you one last time.” Eve's grip was failing; each word beat her mind like a drum, and ripples of horrid power oozed through them as the skittering and clawing on the inside of her skull intensified.

The fetid stink of rot and blood crept up her nose as the creature circled behind her. A cold, clammy sweat broke out across her brow and neck as she breathed. Vicious, ragged, wheezing gasps assaulted her ears before the sweet melodic tones of her mother resumed. “Your father did this to us. It's his fault, all his fault. If only I'd been better for you; if only I'd been smarter than to accept him. Maybe we could have been close; maybe we could have lived together. Free of this pain...

Her mother's tone was becoming unsteady, upset by the words and by Eve's continued denial of their existence. “Why won't you look at me? Why aren't you listening? Do you not Ļ̶̦̱̬̊ŏ̸͎̯̫͍v̵̮̣̖̆̑è̸͖̏̀ me? Do you hate me because I've failed you? I'm so S̶͙͔͓̉́̍ō̵͍̙͖r̶̮̝̥̖̓̇́̀ṟ̵͚̲̔y̶̹͌͛́̕ , my sweetness. Please just look at me. I thought you loved me.” Odd hitching caught its words, and the dizzying pain of mourning relinquished slightly.

“No, no, no! It's not T̸i̵m̸e̶ yet! Please! I still have time! L̴͈̯̈́o̴̝̎̈́o̶̜̗̊k̴͇̱̅̕ at me, EVE! Before I go again, before I'm lost! Ļ̶̳̦̹͈͙̾͛́͊̑͗́̚Ö̶̞͖̮̩͚̣̩̩́̊̎̓̾͘Ơ̷̩̱͔͍̣̱̲̫͚͈̏̑̀̃̕͠͝ͅK̸͚͎̜̥̱̜͇̬̅͛̀̊ ̷̛̰̥̬̬͌̒̎̂̔̏A̸̜̟̣͑̒̌̀͑Ţ̸͖̳̤̣͖̲̭̦̳̣͔̮͆̾́̍́̓̉͝ ̴̯͓̗̦̜͈̺̺̫̪͔̠̞̆̿̓̅̚M̷̢̱͙̍̍̍̀͑̍̒̾͘͘͜E̸͉̤̞̤͋́͛̕!”


And then it was gone. Everything was gone, and Eve floated through the pitch-black space alone. The buzzing and gnawing in her mind had fallen silent; the voice screaming at her from within had gone still, and she was left to float alone with her thoughts. That hadn't been The Mournful God, or at least, not entirely; she could feel aspects of it in the creature: regret, sadness, loss, and, of course, mourning. But the way it desperately wanted her to look at it—the bandages around its head—it didn't feel right.

Something had gone wrong with her and Jasper's oath; too much of herself had been poured into the bond and Jasper's unborn child. Was that what this was? A limbo between the two parent gods? Had that been a horrendous chimera between the two? A light sparked to life in the darkness before vanishing. Like a guttering flame attempting to establish itself. It reminded Eve of misfiring neurons.

More lights flickered, then more and more, until the darkness was awash with them, enveloping her in a static hiss of light and dark. Sparks flared into existence and then faded. Was this what being resuscitated feels like? Were the girls trying to bring her back from death? She reached out and snatched a spark from the air, and images began to play across her eyes. Memories she couldn't quite place.

She grabbed another, and more images flooded her vision. She caught the mousy brown hair of a young version of her mother. Were these her memories? If they were fading, then did that mean she was losing them? Was she slowly going brain-dead? Something thumped her chest, and she wheezed. Wet trickles ran down her cheeks. Tears? They were cold. Another thump, and she curled in on herself. It hurt so badly. Her pants clung to her legs, soaked. When did she sweat that much?

Another thump, and she screamed in agony. Rain pelted her face, and the rough asphalt beneath her caught against her nails as she clawed the ground. She felt the bile rising from her stomach and heaved it up across the ground in front of her. Tucking her head under her, she stared down into an oil-slicked puddle. One of her eyes had a ruptured blood vessel and was almost entirely red.

She heaved again but only came up with spittle as she panted for breath. “She's alive! Oh my fucking God, she's alive!”

Cassidy? The gruff husk in the voice meant it had to be Cassidy.

“Eve! Eve, can you hear me? Look at me; hey, come on.” Eve instinctively pulled away from Carmine's hands, still fearing what would happen if she looked at the source of the voice of a loved one. “Eve, it's me; it's Carmine; you're ok; everything is ok now.”

Carmine's arms wrapped around her and cradled her. Eve flung her arms around Carmine's shoulders and squeezed. “Whoa, easy. I got you; you're good. Hey, hey, hey, I got you.”

The reassuring tone sapped the energy out of Eve, and she sank into Carmine's embrace before remembering Jasper.

“Wherekdirirn.” Eve felt her tongue slide gracelessly against her teeth as she slurred her speech.

“Jasper is fine; she's here. Say hi, Jasper.”

There was a soft noise, like a worried hum, before Jasper spoke. “Holy shit, you understood that? Hi, yeah, I'm here. Thanks for that, by the way. I'm fuckin’ blind now, you bitch.”

Eve slowly swiveled her head away from Carmine's chest to make tentative eye contact. The busty blonde peered down at her with a broad smile and said, “Hey.”

Eve looked over at Cassidy, who stood under the duct, puffing on a cigarette. “Sup, how was dying? Can't say I've ever done that!”

Then Eve looked over at Jasper and saw her eyes. “Y-your… eyes?”

Jasper clicked her tongue and looked away, brushing her long, thick hair over her forehead. “Yeah, my fucking eyes... all thanks to this little ‘ritual’ you put me through, you dumb bitch. Ugh, it's fine though... I know how to fix this, sort of.” Jasper's eyes had been replaced by two swirling orbs of color. They shone dimly in the dark alley, casting a soft rainbow light across the walls and ground.

"I'm alright now; I'll get up; thanks, Carmine.” Eve kissed her lover and then rose to her feet. “I'm glad you aren't dead.”

Jasper scoffed, “Is that right? Well, I'm mildly disappointed you aren't... ‘hard to explain’ my ass. I suppose you forgot to mention the near-death experience because of you. What? Forgot?”

Eve didn't know how to respond to that, so she said nothing. “Yeah, I thought as much. Last time I took a blood oath with you... in any case, I've got a rough idea of how to use my color, and it'll solve my sight problem; we just need to find some whitebois for me to make use of. Are you up for that? Or do you think they might be a little too much for you now? What with having died and all?"

The smoky drawl was back in her voice, and it put Eve at ease, knowing Jasper wasn't truly angry with her over the incident. It put a small smile back on her lips. “A few white bois wouldn't be an issue even if I were still dead. Let's do this.” They set out down the alley, attempting to navigate closer to the treatment facility without getting too close to any of the main roads. Maintaining their surprise would make breaking into the compound much easier.

Carmine explained that Eve had fallen asleep almost as soon as her knee hit the ground. They weren't too worried about it until she started having seizures and her heart stopped. Jasper had made it through the ordeal relatively unscathed, minus the loss of her eyes, which she was quick to add “felt like something reached in and plucked them out.” Eve explained her experience in the void, but no matter how she phrased it, she couldn't convey the gravity of the encounter.

“It sounds like ol' Jasper here got stuck with The Blind God's child. What do you think, Jas? Does the BLIND God fit the bill?"

Jasper swung at Cassidy and missed by a comical margin. Carmine jumped in and confirmed that was the most likely scenario. Naturally, Cassidy spent the next few minutes gloating over her genius, much to Jasper's displeasure.

It didn't take them long to come across another band of ownerless whitebois. Close to 20 of them milled around a small encampment nestled in the corner of a turn in the alley. They'd erected tents and lean-tos against the walls of the buildings, using the ducting as makeshift anchor points. A quick survey of the group indicated they had a leader.

As a quirk of their spineless disposition, anytime a group of three or more whitebois gathered, a pecking order was established among them. Where members of the Black race could effortlessly and efficiently form a cooperative diplomacy, white bois struggled and fought like barnyard chickens. They were typically incapable of forming any sort of cohesive team without a designated leader.

This was one of the reasons why whites had been stripped of their rights and were generally regarded as chattel. In this case, an oddly masculine-looking whiteboi had established its dominance over the others and now proudly sat on a discarded reclining chair near the fire. Eve wondered how this whiteboi got its unnatural physique.

‘The Old Stock' was usually reserved for pit fighters and security bitches. Remnants of a bygone era where humans had been more closely aligned with one another in terms of physique. Traces of it could still sometimes be seen in Whitebois, though it was rare and prohibitively expensive. How this whiteboi had come to be ownerless would have warranted thorough questioning had Eve come across it even just yesterday.

As things were, though, Eve just wanted it dead. A filthy, malnourished twink settled itself between the leader's legs and began working its short, pathetic, limp dicklette with its mouth.

“Are you fucking seeing that? I mean, I've heard about it, but I didn't think it fucking happened in the wild. That thing is getting an erection? Can we call it that? Jesus, I'm gonna to fucking puke.”

Cassidy turned away from the sight and dry-heaved into the alley. Eve had already seen her share of disgusting whiteboi behavior tonight and found herself numb to it. Jasper, well, Jasper was fortunate enough to not be capable of seeing it at all. “I just need their bodies; they don't need to be alive for this.”

Eve turned to Jasper and asked, “What exactly are you going to do with their bodies?”

Jasper simply replied, “Use them.”

Eve could sense there wasn't much else she was going to get from Jasper and took a step toward the group. Jasper cleared her throat and made an exception: “They do need to be whole, though. No missing limbs, no decapitated heads; bullet wounds are fine; just leave them intact.”

Eve wasn't sure what to make of that, but some feeble whitebois weren't going to be an issue, even if there were a bunch of them. “I'll take the leader; you two start working on the runts. I want to enjoy this a bit.”

Carmine and Cassidy nodded as they stepped into the light of the whitebois barrel fire behind Eve. “Which one of you dickless faggots is the leader here? You?” Eve pointed to the half-lidded slut sitting in the recliner. Its eyes slid open fractionally as it assessed Eve.

“You one of them, Hunter cunts? Yeah, yeah, you look like a Guild bitch. Did I fuckin’ tell you to stop? Keep suckin’!” The scrawny leader slapped the slut between its legs across the back of its head, and the bitch whimpered. “Ran into another one of you dykes a few day’s ago. We jumped her ass and fuckin' lynched her, right over there.”

The bitch pointed to a spot somewhere behind Eve but she didn't turn to look. "Yeah, should've heard the way she fuckin’ cussed us out, sayin’ shit like she was going to kill us when she got free, that her partner would find her and kill us... didn't mean much once we broke her jaw.”

Eve clenched her fist as she stepped forward.

"Ahhhh, struck a nerve, huh?” The whiteboi stood, shoving the little twink between its legs back and to the side. Its useless clit dangled weakly between its legs; Eve judged it to be just shy of two inches fully erect, barely worth mentioning or even wasting time considering. “Once we fixed that sluts jaw, we all took turns usin’ her, see. After a while, all that rage and pain turned into fear and apologies. He begged us, you know? She begged for her life; can you believe that?”

The whiteboi stepped confidently around the barrel fire towards Eve. “Yeah, see, but we didn't stop, you know? And eventually, all that begging turned into begging to die. Musta been, like, twenty hours or so of us fuckin’ up her body, and that bitch started promising us everything and anything if we'd just kill her.”

Eve clenched her jaw. “Doug over there ended up fucking her to death with that pipe. Hey, Doug, gimme that.” Another filthy whiteboi flung an iron pipe over to the leader, who caught it and gave it a few experimental swings.

“Think it's still got some of her small intestines on it, see? Right… THERE!” It made a lunge for Eve, swinging in a wide arc towards her head. Eve stepped back and avoided the blow as it sailed through the air in front of her nose. The whiteboi didn't lose its balance and pressed the attack with surprising deftness. It had accumulated some level of experience fighting on the streets, likely bolstered by its unusual constitution.

Eve stepped to the side, and the pipe whistled down beside her arm before sharply changing its approach angle in an attempt to bludgeon her knee. Unfortunately for the whiteboi, Eve's body had been heavily modified, and so, even with its extensive experience and abnormal physique, she outclassed its combat potential by leagues. Coupled with its lack of surprise or support, Eve was about to dismantle this disgusting failure of a subhuman animal.

She caught the pipe on her shin, stopping it dead and forcing the whiteboi to unexpectedly brace itself; her fist slammed into its ribs as it tried to pull away, and the combined force sent it stumbling back with a pained look on its face. "Hah, that's all you—ugh, that's all you got?"

Eve shook her head and cracked her knuckles. “I'm going to piss on your broken face after smashing every last tooth out of your skull.”

The whiteboi grinned and readied its pipe again. "We killed one hunter; what's another?” It rushed at her again, failing to learn from its first blitz. Eve snapped out a kick, slamming her heel into the whitebois kneecap as its leg fully extended on the ground. There was a satisfying crunch as the bones separated in the joint and the whiteboi screamed. It shuffled back, taking its weight off the leg and flailing the pipe to maintain distance.

“MY FUCKING LEEEEGGGGGGGG AHHHHH FUCK. DOUG, FUCKING GET THIS BITCH!”

Eve smirked as the timid twink that had tossed the pipe visibly recoiled from the encounter. “Uh oh… It looks like Doug might be just a tiny bit smarter than you. Doug, I'll let you kiss my boot if you rip this faggots dick off.”

The terrified twink swung its head between the leader and Eve, ultimately recognizing who the winning team would be. It made a mad dash for the leader.

Eve clapped in delight. “Go, Doug! You get that loser! Get it!”

Naturally, the leader turned and cracked Doug across the temple with the pipe. The pathetic wimp crumpled to the ground with a thud as the leader turned back to face Eve. But Eve was already on it; she thrust her knee up between its legs so viciously that the whelp came off the ground over a foot. She could feel its external ovaries explode with the contact.

It groaned as the impact carried it straight up, its hands instinctively releasing the pipe and then moving to block any further damage to the afflicted area. Eve thought about castrating the creature but remembered Jasper's words before entering the fight as it fell to its knees. Instead, she grabbed a fistful of its hair and cranked its head back so it could look into her eyes.

“I'm not going to let you pass out; I want you to feel every single second of what's about to happen to you. I want the last few minutes of your short, useless, worthless, disgusting life to be the most catastrophically agonizing minutes you've ever experienced. So fucking smile.”

The whiteboi mumbled something, probably some half-hearted attempt to beg for its life, before Eve began to pummel its face. She beat on its face until every front tooth it had was dislodged or broken. Anytime it passed out, she would step on its broken sack of filth to jolt it back awake before continuing. Finally, once it was unrecognizable between the blood and the swelling, she flung its head back to impact the asphalt and unzipped her pants. Emptying her bladder all over its broken and discolored face almost brought her to climax. All around her were the sounds of dying whitebois, and it all served to excite her in a way nothing else could. “How'd we… ngghh fuck… How'd we make out, girls?”

Carmine withdrew a finger from the ear hole of a whiteboi desperately clinging to her arm. Blood trickled out of the hole along with some pinkish-grey matter, and she allowed the faggot to drop to the alley, twitching and spasming as its scrambled brain attempted to send nonsensical signals to its body. “We're good; minimal body damage and no shots fired; that was super fucking hot!”

“Cassidy, stop playing with it; we aren't keeping any of them.” Cassidy looked up from the whiteboi who was currently choking on the barrel of her gun. Both of its arms had been broken, and she had a firm grip around its caged clit and balls.

"Oh, fucking ewww! Why are you touching it like that? I know you have, like, a ‘thing’ for Whitebois, but fuck sake, Cas! That's disgusting!” Carmine scrunched up her face as Cassidy shrugged.

“Sorry, force of habit.”

With a quick motion, she pulled the whitebois clit and ovaries off, blood geysered from its crotch as a severed artery pumped its lifeblood across the ground. The whiteboi passed out instantly, without so much as a sound.

“Oh god, that's so gross! Ew, ew, ew, throw them away! NO! DON'T YOU FUCKING DARE?" Cassidy tossed the genitals towards Carmine, and she shrieked as she dodged them. “EW! EW! EWWW FUCKING EWWWWWWW!” Cassidy fell into a hysterical laughing fit as Jasper gingerly made her way into the alley.

“I assume that means you're done now. I heard a rather cocky-sounding faggot square up with you, Eve; where is it?”

Eve called her over, and Jasper came to kneel next to the whiteboi leader. “Alright, so if I just... do this... and then stare like... oh!”

Jasper leaned over the unconscious leader and pried its eyes open. She stared into them as the color in her eyes began to intensify until a single drop fell from each and onto the leaders. Soon after, the leader blinked as it sat up and felt its body, apparently ******* of the catastrophic damage to its face. “Dif if weirf, waf fif you foo ta this bofy?” It tried to speak through its swollen lips and broken mouth.

Eve looked between the pale loser and jasper. “Jasper, are you in the whitebois body?”

Jasper shook her head, and the white boi turned its head to look up at Eve. “I've essentially hijacked all its senses, except for feeling, since you just finished beating the fuck out of it. I can use its eyes and ears while I puppet it like this.” She stood and swooned for a second. “This is going to take some practice to get used to, seeing myself from a third-person perspective... shiiiiiiit, my eyes are a fuckin’ trip!” The leader shuffled closer to Jasper, and Eve remained on high alert as it entered her personal space.

Eve observed the duo seemingly staring at one another, “So, you're basically in two places at once right now?”

Jasper nodded. “That's pretty much what it's like, yeah.”

Cassidy piped up as she rifled through the pockets of the whiteboi she'd executed, “Can you control more than one like that?”

Jasper nodded again. “Yes, I'll take all these bodies. Let the few that possess weapons keep them so they can be useful to me, please."

Carmine looked around the camp and took stock of the pitiful arrangement. “Not much here for you to make use of... That one had a shiv, and that one over there looks like it had some kind of... club? What is that? A table leg?”

Cassidy looked over to a prone body, "Yeah, that looks like a table leg for sure.”

Jasper sighed, using the leader to look around. “Whatever, it's something. I'll start gathering my hoard, I suppose.” With that, Jasper began wandering around the camp, resurrecting the bodies of the slaughtered white bois.

“Is this how the zombie apocalypse happens? You lose control of your little hoard, and they start roaming the city, chewing on people's heads?" Cassidy shuddered as she watched one of the whitebois crawl to its feet.

“No, once I cut the connection, they just drop like marionettes. Watch." The whiteboi closest to Cassidy crumpled to the ground as though whatever had been holding it up had vanished.

“Huh, and they just, like, follow you around? How does that work?” Carmine poked the fallen whiteboi with a boot.

“I have a general sense of all of them, and they intuit my desires through my color. I can use any one of them as a ‘host’ for my consciousness, which lets me tap into any of the senses they still have. It's a bit difficult to explain, honestly.”

“Nah, I understand it pretty well.” Carmine smiled at the zombie leader that Jasper was using to see the world. “I've got a subordinate A.I slaved to my will as well.” The women carried on gathering anything of value, and Jasper soon had a small clutch of zombified whitebois under her control. For all their bodies had been put through, it appeared as though they moved quite well.

Some sprinted ahead to scout, and others fanned out to cover their rear. If push came to shove, they would make fairly decent cannon fodder for the team if they were ever in need of a distraction or a rapid retreat. “Alright, so here's the scoop.” Carmine formed a small huddle with the other girls. “Eve's tracking drone pinged on Melody Dellenworth approximately one hour ago; any guesses on where she was being taken?”

Cassidy rolled her eyes. “The treatment facility, duh.”

Carmine nodded. “Very good, Cas, Gold Star. Our degenerate friends from the Corona Block were also tracked there, which means the treatment facility must be acting as their main base of operations. Whitebois have never been credited for their smarts, and I highly doubt any black members of the cult have had anything to do with operations beyond bankrolling the endeavor.”

Jasper raised a hand and said, “That's assuming there are any black members. I can't see them lowering themselves to working with a fanatical group of guttercunts.”

Carmine smiled back at that. “Except, one of the most powerful men in the city has been linked to assisting one of the most wealthy whitebois in the city in abducting their shared ******** through black market manipulations. Likely in an attempt to hide the involvement of the cult and give them time to complete whatever culty bullshit they have brewing.”

Jasper lowered her hand and fell silent. "Obviously, as one of the most well-connected hunters in Helion, they would be extra cautious about what information you got, so don't feel bad about missing this. Not to toot my own horn, but if I hadn't been here, Eve likely would have never picked up their trail either. Combining inaccessible security footage and rooting through countless sealed documents in the Guild database is somewhat beyond your capabilities.”

Carmine shook her wrist in a sweeping motion to dismiss the topic. “Anyway, from what I've been able to get from the very limited camera coverage of the treatment facility, there are roughly two hundred whitebois gathered there. Most just seem to be brainless sheep looking for a free ride on the coattails of a moderately powerful cult, but a few of them seem to be a little more established. They aren't well armed, and they don't look well trained either. We should be able to break this cabal up if we hit them fast and from different angles.”

Carmine pinged each of their comments with the breaching data. “Eve, you'll be heading through the east side of the building; this is technically the staff entrance, so foot traffic shouldn't be too heavy. I'll override the security locks by simulating employee credentials at the door terminals as you come to them. Cassidy, you'll be taking the lobby on the south side of the building; it's the most heavily monitored and heavily trafficked, so you'll be going in hot and providing a diversion for the rest of us.”

Cassidy frowned. “Since when did I sign up to be the bullet sponge? Why do I have to take the hardest part of the raid?”

All three of her companions turned to face her and Carmine sighed, "Because... you're the only one of us who's bulletproof... or have you somehow forgotten what your color does? As I said, they aren't well-armed, so it shouldn't be as hard as you're imagining it will be. Just waltz in there and start raising hell; you can handle that much, can't you?”

Cassidy sighed and then smiled. "Yeah, I can get that done, no problem.”

Carmine returned the smile before turning to Jasper, or rather, Jasper's conquered leader, "Jasper, you're on the west; this is part of the tailings yard where the treatment tanks are laid out; for whatever reason the largest number of active guards are posted here, so you're going to be our main assault force. Based on the blueprints for the treatment plant, the elevators and stairs leading to the sublevels are just inside your entrance.”

Jasper quirked an eyebrow at that. “I thought you said the main entrance was where all the cultists were?”

Carmine shook her head. “They're monitoring the entrance more heavily, and there's more traffic because of the people coming and going. The greatest concentration of cultist guards is at the west entrance, which will be our goal. Work your way to the west side of the building from your respective entrances, and we'll proceed to the lower levels from there.”

She looked between the girls and said, “I probably don't need to iterate this, but we're not playing nice-guy here. If it's white, kill it. There are no allies in that building, and the staff cannot operate the facility without noticing the cult presence all around them. None of them are innocent. I'll be coming through their shipping and receiving, which isn't too far from Jasper's door; all you need to do is hold out for me to back you up, and we can secure the path to the lower levels.”

Jasper licked her lips and grinned. “Every dead whiteboi is just another cog in my machine now. Ugh, I spent my time using them like disposable tools, and now they can't even escape me in death; fuck that turns me on!”

Eve smiled. “We'll think of a way to ease that tension once we're done. Get in quick, find Melody Dellenworth, slaughter every piece of shit limp-dick we see, and get out. I like this plan, girls. Ready?”

They all exchanged excited looks before nodding in unison and turning toward the treatment facility. The sun was lurking just under the horizon, threatening

the night with hazy pinks and deep purples that stretched across the clouded skies. In ancient times, a pink sky at daybreak signified trouble approaching. Eve wasn't particularly spiritual, but she desperately hoped the old idiom was nothing more than superstition.

Helion was divided by two rivers: the Manifold, which flowed from the north, and the Smithson, which flowed from the west. Both rivers converged to form the Eastbank River, which ran southeast towards the coast some thousand miles away. The treatment facility sat on the north bank of the Eastbank portion of the rivers.

Eve had always hated the naming convention, and there had been multiple petitions to have it renamed, but Duke Eastbank, the surviving heir of the Eastbank legacy, had all but crushed their efforts through several well-funded PR campaigns. Now, all Helionites had to begrudgingly accept that the Eastbank River had addresses like 240 Eastbank, Eastbank Drive.

“You'd think they'd have at least used a different name for the streets, right? Like, I get it, but c’mon.” Cassidy spat on the ground as they walked through the side streets. Pale dawn light reflected off the turbulent surface of the river as it peeked out between buildings.

“Don't tell me you have something against the proud and Nobel Duke?!” Carmine feigned indignation as she followed behind Cassidy.

“No, no! Not at all! Given half the chance, I'd wrap myself around his face like it was a custom-built Sybian machine. I just think the names are dumb.”

Jasper piped up from the rear of the group, using her subordinate whiteboi to avoid bags of trash and littered alcohol bottles. “I hate to be the one to break this to you, Cassidy, but if you have a problem with the names, then you have a problem with the Men. They're part and parcel; it's all a part of Helion's history, and spurning one means you spurn both, so hold your tongue.”

Cassidy grumbled as they made their way closer to the treatment facility; it was only a block and a half ahead, and the vibration of its great turbines could be felt through the soles of their boots. The faint hissing of steam and pressure built as the street merged into a ringed service road that ran the circumference of the property. Across the street lay a barren waste of concrete and chain link fence, meant to bar entry to riffraff and hooligans. Eve turned to address the group.

"Well, this is where we say our goodbyes, for now. You all know your goal and your role, so stick to the plan and slaughter any that stand in your way. I… I hate to say this, and... it's been weighing on my mind since we left the restaurant, but Black Kings are working in this cult. I shot the two that pursued Jasper out of the building, and while I know they're fine... I also know I'd have a hard time doing that again. Prepare yourselves for the possibility.”

The girls looked at each other with unsettled expressions. “I understand if you can't bring yourself to do it. I get it; trust me. But if we want to see Helion survive, then we simply cannot afford to be stopped. We just can't. It… fuck… it kills me to say this, but if they try to stop me, I won't let them take me. This is just too important!” Eve was crying openly as she addressed the women, pain ripping through her heart at the thought of what she needed to accomplish.

"This... needs to be done by any means necessary. I'm sure you all understand that after connecting with your children. Having one of those gods summoned or beckoned, or whatever the fuck the cult is trying to do, will rip Helion to pieces. So, if a king tries to stop you, please don't let them.” Eve buried her face in her hands, and the girls huddled around her.

“I can't promise I won't have a soft heart for them, Eve. But I do know what you're saying. We'll do what we can to make this a success, alright?” Cassidy broke away from the hug, blushing lightly at the uncharacteristic tenderness. “‘Sides, we don't have to kill 'em; we can just knock 'em out, right? They can take some lumps and bumps! Hell might even make us more attractive to them!”

Her positivity cut the tension, and Eve chuckled through her tears. “Thanks, Cas. That makes me feel better about this; you're right.”

Carmine and Jasper both looked at Cassidy with awe in their eyes. “What?! I can be nice! I care! Eve was having a hard time, so I thought I'd speak up. You got a fuckin’ problem?!” She threw her hands across her chest and swore softly to herself under her breath.

"Nah, you're good; I just figured you'd have put it a little more... inelegantly… is all." Carmine smirked at the bitter woman before pulling Eve in for a kiss. “We'll make it happen. Just focus on not dying, and we'll see you at the stairs, alright? Oh, and their encryptions are a little more sturdy than I anticipated. I'll try to hammer through it as quickly as I can, but if things start taking more than a few seconds, just use your color to get through. I've suppressed their alarms, so even if they hit the panic button, emergency services shouldn't roll in immediately.”

Eve looked up into the artificial eyes of her lover. She honestly didn't know what she would do if it weren't for Carmine; she’d likely be dead already, or worse. She owed Carmine a great debt that she would probably never be capable of repaying, but she had to try. “We need to hammer out some details after this is over, alright? Cas, get that fence open, and let's go; we have work to do.” Cassidy dashed across the street and extended her Gladius from the mechanical recess of her forearm.

It whispered through the steel mesh like it was passing through strands of paper, four rapid slashes, and a person-sized hole flopped to the ground at Cassidy's feet. She was through and off towards the main entrance of the building without so much as a glance back. “Always so eager for violence, that one! Jasper strode past Eve and Carmine on her way to the west side of the building, a small hoard of beaten and battered whitebois in tow.

Eve sprang onto her tippy toes before planting a passionate kiss on Carmine's lips. “Go get ’em, tiger!” And then she took off, sprinting across the street and through the fence.

Carmine called after her, somewhat bewildered, “Wait! What details?”

Eve waved and shouted back. “The details of our wedding! Duh!”

Carmine's mouth fell open as she gaped at her rapidly shrinking partner. Eve sprinted across the concrete towards the squat brick of a building. The gap between the fence and the side of the building was only about 100 feet and was free of any obstacles to slow her advance. Jasper was heading the long way around, having her hoard scout the path ahead for her as she sauntered casually towards her destination. With her build, any sort of rapid approach wouldn't be happening.

Eve slammed into the south wall by an unmanned door; the lock beeped, and a little LED panel beside the door turned green. Just as Eve grabbed the handle to yank it open, Carmine sailed overhead and crunched into the side of the building. She glanced down, winked, and then vaulted onto the roof to continue to the north entrance.

“Fucking show-off…” Eve pulled the door open and slipped into the treatment facility. The room she found herself in was brightly lit and lined with locker banks. Benches were bolted to the floor running down the center of the room in both directions; it vaguely reminded her of a pool change room. The tiles on the floor ran up the walls before terminating into painted drywall.

The scent of perfume and flora wafted through the air as she stepped past the first alcove of lockers. Not a single hint of masculine musk hung in the air, and she scoffed. Obviously, the black quarters were housed in a separate part of the building, if they even had any. As she cleared the second bank, she came across a solitary white boi getting changed.

It froze in mid-motion as it made eye contact with her. It had just been pulling up its pants around a chastity cage when she'd come across it. The bitchboi had been on HRT for some time as its chest swelled noticeably with natural breasts, and a small spade locket dangled from its neck, matching the small spade tattoo above its cage. This one was likely owned and in the process of being feminized.

“Don't move or speak unless I tell you to, understood?” The cunt nodded as it remained frozen in place, clearly terrified. “Are you owned?” It nodded again. “How long have you been transitioning?”

It swallowed hard before shakily replying, "F-f-four years, mistress!”

Eve assessed its body once more. The feminine curves had come in strong, and a narrow waist bled down into wide birthing hips. Its breasts had grown significantly to fill the bra it wore, probably a b or c cup.

"Are you a woman?”

The creature's cheeks flushed as it responded sheepishly.

"Yeah, mistress, ever since I can remember..."

Eve swore under her breath. A strong distinction had been made since well before the Race War had ever begun. Some women were simply born with the wrong body and needed to be held to a separate standard from the average whiteboi. Transitioning helped to separate them from the rest of the filth, but over the past century, the white race had slid so far into femininity that it had become difficult to tell at a glance who was a woman and who was just a whiteboi.

Carrying the spade symbol was typically a right only allowed for women, so the fact this bitch had them prominently displayed meant Eve couldn't just arbitrarily execute her. “It's your lucky day, fellow snowbunny. Best get your shit together and get the fuck out of here. Bad things are about to go down, and if you stick around, I'll be forced to do some shit I don't want to do. Are we clear?”

The woman stared blankly at Eve with the distinctive look of a street rat staring into headlights. “That means now, you dumb cunt! Get! On the dou-”

Eve was cut off as distant gunfire erupted from the direction Cassidy had headed. The noise seemed to jostle the snowbunny out of her stupor, and she hurriedly tossed a leather jacket over top of her bra before ripping a gym bag out of her locker.

“W-what’s happ-”

Eve cut the woman off by howling at her, “I SAID FUCK OFF, GET THE FUCK OUT BEFORE I BRAIN YOU!”

She brandished her Deckland at the woman to emphasize her point, and the fledgling Queen of Spades bolted for the door.

“God damnit, Eve... always a big fuckin’ softie for no fuckin’ reason. ‘If iT’s WhItE kIlL iT’ my ass... Ugh," Eve berated herself as she continued to clear out locker bank after locker bank.

She had a soft spot for women, and seeing that girl just going about her day with the spades hanging from her body, she couldn't bring herself to harm her. If it had been a white boi, though... Eve gritted her teeth as she continued forward. They'd come in during an active shift since the staff entrance was barren of life beyond the sole woman she'd bumped into so far.

She breathed a sigh of relief as the entrance to the rest of the building came into sight on the other side of the showers. Three of the stalls lining the walls were occupied, and Eve raised her pistol to put rounds in each before she froze. What if there was another woman like the one she'd just encountered in them? She couldn't just... “Ah FUCK! EVERYONE OUT OF THE SHOWERS, NOW, GET OUT! OUT! OUT! OUT!”

She screamed at the top of her lungs, and the alarmed occupants scrambled out of the showers. None were caged, and none had any spade iconography anywhere on their bodies, so Eve terminated them before moving to the entrance. Cracking open the door, she peered down the long stretch of hall off to the right. No alarms and no warning lights indicated that Carmine was still doing her work on the building; otherwise, they'd be ankle-deep in city guards by now. Poking her head out, she cleared the left side of the hall before stepping out completely.

A sign was posted on the opposite side of the corridor, which laid out the building's infrastructure; a small ‘you are here' arrow indicated her current position. Tracing a finger along the halls, she located the stairs leading to the lower levels and headed right. There were three doors between her and the corner of the hallway, and she knew she would need to clear each one before proceeding.

The first door to her left was locked; giving the door a solid donkey kick freed it from the jam, and it swung limply open on its hinges. Peering into the supply closet yielded nothing of interest, so she proceeded. The second door to the right had a sign over it saying 'cafeteria'; it was open, and loud chatter emanated from within. Calming her breath and focusing, she unslung her rifle and readied it against her shoulder before stepping around the door.

Twenty whitebois sat in the galley, eating and pondering the noises coming from the other side of the building. The stupid cunts had the survival instincts of fucking lemmings, though Eve supposed what they were doing was probably smarter than wandering towards the noise. In her cursory glance over the bobbing heads and shuffling bodies, she spotted two women. One at the far back, leaning on a wall, seemingly absorbed in her phone.

The case sported a massive Black Cock surrounded by small spades; her wrist holding the phone also had small spade charms dangling off it on a bracelet that read "Black-owned." The second woman was at one of the tables, surrounded by losers; she was collecting money from them, judging by the wad of cash in her fist. She currently had one of the whitebois by the throat and had the fist with the cash in it raised threateningly towards its face.

She, too, had spade charms around her wrist; however, her bracelet read “BBC Slut” instead. Everyone froze as Eve came through the door with the rifle raised. The first whiteboi to react tried to stand and bolt for a 'staff-only' door towards the back of the room; it caught a bullet to the base of its skull and dropped like a sack of hammers.

The shot spurred everyone into motion, and the room exploded into chaos. Eve opened up, pulling the trigger as fast as she could line up shots, prioritizing keeping the faggots from escaping. Body after body hit the floor as she swiveled her gun across the room. The first Whitegirl who'd been holding her phone now had it up to her ear as though calling someone; Eve couldn't allow that, not yet.

Taking great care not to strike the woman, Eve shot the phone out of her hand and continued to mow down the defenseless whitebois. It took her all of 40 seconds to clear the room, save for the two women, who were now thoroughly shitting their pants.

“W-what the fuck do you want?! Are you going to kill us too?!” The woman, whose phone now lay scattered across the floor in a thousand pieces, shook out her hand while glaring at Eve.

“You need to leave the building. I don't know if you're caught up in the cult or not, but after I'm done here, it won't exist, so I don't care. Just get the fuck out. The only reason you're still alive is because you aren't one of them.” Eve shifted her head slightly to regard the corpse of a particularly small whiteboi.

The second woman popped up from under the table she'd been using to hide from the gunfire. “W-what cult? I never heard of it! Gabby, grab your shit, let's go!” Gabby looked around the room and nodded silently. Walking over to the second woman, they gathered up their bags and started heading back towards the locker room.

“Thanks for not killing us... and thanks for not lumping us in with that trash.”

Eve grimaced in place of a smile. She knew she shouldn't be letting them go, but she just couldn't bring herself to murder innocents like that, and she couldn't bring them along with her, so this was her only option. “Keep the real faith, sisters; your spades saved you today.”

Gabby clutched at her wrist and offered a soft prayer to their black God before following the other woman out of the room. The pseudo-religion that had spawned from the establishment of the BNWO was one of the longest-surviving religions across the Free Cities. While no churches had been established, and no saints had been heralded, it thrived among the snowbunny population regardless.

It was a silent religion, more or less, with its devotees offering prayer in the form of spreading their legs instead of reciting hymns in wooden pews. It had managed to survive the heretical purges exclusively based on its inclusivity; so long as you were a woman, you could practice the gospel. Eve had dabbled in it, going so far as to have an intricate spade mark inked into the small of her back, but outwardly displaying the mark of her personal, Black God often interfered with her work.

Coming across as an indoctrinated whore for Black men made whitebois more aggressive and difficult to interrogate, lowered the amount of respect she got from Black men and women, and made other lower-class women far too chummy with her. In any other instance, these issues would have been perfectly acceptable, but she needed the ability to slide into various social roles on a whim depending on what her job demanded, and being seen as a worshiping snowbunny made it difficult, if not impossible, in many instances.

Even still, Eve believed in the religion. It made perfect sense to her that God was Black and that the Black Race had been put on earth to lead the others into a bright and utopian future. The existence of other, different gods only served to galvanize her belief that there was truly a Black God and that her service to it was just and noble. Seeing the other women flaunt their dedication to their faith caused Eve to regret not accepting the path of the snowbunny more fully.

Once this was over, she would correct that. But until then, she had a building to clear. Two of the white bois she'd shot were moaning, so she stomped on their throats before making her way to the kitchen. It sat on the other side of two saloon-style doors, and after passing through them, she could hear the pathetic whimpering of a terrified person hiding in some cupboards under the food preparation bench.

Sighing, she asked the person to come out, “N-no! It's not safe! I don't want to die!”

The voice was identifiably masculine but had an effeminate wilt to it that made it hard to tell if it belonged to a woman or a whiteboi. “I don't have time for you to be a pussy; get out or you're going to die trapped in a fucking cupboard!”

The person yelped and then scrambled out. It peered up at her, following the barrel of her rifle to her face. "P-please, mistress, I've got-”

Eve put two rounds through its head and then moved on to the 'staff only’ door. Booting it open revealed a small office belonging to the cafeteria staff. A portly woman sat at the desk, hands clasped in silent prayer, a spade dangling from around her neck. She looked to be somewhere in her early forties, and as Eve came in, she snapped her head up to lock eyes with her. “Are you going to kill me, too?”

Eve shook her head, “Get out of the building; bad shit’s going down, and you don't want a part in it.”

The woman rose, adjusting her pencil skirt and straightening her glasses. “I won't forget this; can I have your name?”

Eve lifted an eyebrow but responded, “It's Eve.”

The woman waited, anticipating more, but when nothing came, she nodded. “Thank you, sister; I'll not forget your compassion.”

A genuine smile touched Eve's lips this time but failed to make its way to her eyes. “Just get out of here.”

With that, she turned and made her way back out to the hall, crossing the small sea of blood and brain matter that now thoroughly coated the cantina floor. The last door along the hall was marked "Laundry,” and as she opened the door, two wild-eyed whitebois sprang out from either side of the entrance.

The one to the right of the door managed to land a limp-wristed punch to her chin as it came around the wall. They had heard the gunshots from down the hall and had been anticipating this. Taken off guard, Eve stepped back to clear the distance between them, and as she did, the white boi to the left swung haphazardly with the handle of a mop, but the blow whistled past her side and slapped against the floor.

Eve snatched the wrist of the first white boi and snapped it like a bundle of dried twigs. The crackle of the exploding bone tickled her ears as the whelp began to howl in anguish. The second whiteboi had started to lift the mop for a second strike, but Eve clamped a hand around the wooden shaft and snapped that, too.

She twirled the splintered end in her hand and then drove it into the eye socket of the whiteboi with a broken wrist. The tip exploded out of the back of its head, and she released its arm as she spun to square up on the other whiteboi, now wielding half a mop. It held the cleaning tool up defensively, attempting to shield itself behind the thin piece of wood. Eve observed it as it cowered before her like a shaking piglet.

It was barely over 5’5 and probably weighed under 100lbs. Its scraggly blonde hair had never been cut professionally, and its smooth, unblemished skin was as pale as snow. Eve was struck by how utterly repulsive the creature was, and her mind boggled that there had ever been a time in the distant past when anyone could have considered this a man.

It was like looking at some kind of museum display. Some ancient vestige of a past so far removed from her own time that it may as well have been alien. Its soft, blue eyes were wet with tears, and she felt another surge of bile fighting its way up from her stomach. She hated this creature; rather than feeling any pity or sympathy, all she could muster for the pathetic little bitch in front of her was a pure, unrefined rage.

It sickened her that this waste of resources shared genetics with her, and it enraged her that these gutless little gremlins had been even the smallest bit responsible for her ancestry. Those round, blue eyes reflected the animalistic grin on Eve's face as she lunged at it, brushing aside the mop handle and clasping its head in both her hands. It screamed as it toppled over backward with Eve on top of it.

Using its ribs as a cushion for her knees, she dug her thumbs into its eyes, pushing until the satisfying ‘pop’ registered from both orbs. It was wailing like a dying cat, but she continued to push, feeling the hard barrier of the skull at the back of its sockets attempt to stop her thumbs from scrambling its brain. “Fucking die! Die! Diediediediediedie!” She beat its head against the concrete floor until the bones of its skull separated in her hands.

The wet slapping of its brain against the hard surface was interrupted by a startled gasp, and Eve spun. Another pair of whitebois had wandered down the hall from some other area of the facility, either to get to the locker room or to investigate the gunfire still rattling through the walls from the main entrance. Eve released the dismantled skull of her victim and rose before the utterly bewildered whitebois.

Blood and viscera dripped from the ends of her fingers as she stepped out into the hall, cutting off their path to the lockers. Eve tensed her muscles, and just as she was ready to pounce, Cassidy broke in over her commtag. “Uhhhhh guys? I hate to do this to you, and I know y’all are having a good time or whatever, but your girl could use some assistance here. Hitting my limits with this rainbow shit. Suckin’ the wind outta me somethin’ fierce. A little help would go a long way."

The whelps in front of Eve turned and began to flee down the hall, screaming as though their lives depended on it. “Carmine, who's closest to Cas?”

There was a brief pause, and then Carmine chimed back, “That's you, baby; make it snappy; Jasper and I are almost done with the stairs to the lower levels.”

Eve watched the retreating whitebois and cursed, "I wasted too much damn time. Fuck! Hold on, Cas, I'm coming.”

Cassidy chortled back over the comm and snorted a joke: “Jeez, I like beatin’ on whitebois as much as the next lady, but no need to get that worked up!”

Despite her chipper tone, the exhaustion in her voice was evident. She was flagging fast and would likely be forced to retreat if Eve didn't get her hustle on. She'd be wading into some substantial resistance up ahead, so she deployed her helmet and took off down the hall at a dead sprint.

Carmine had tagged the route to the main lobby, and doors blurred by as Eve flew past them. She encountered four white bois in her mad dash, and each was rewarded with a swift bullet to the chest as she loped past them. A final door barred the path to the main lobby, and, bracing her arms across her chest, she collided with it so forcefully that it was torn clear off its hinges.

Eve, along with the door, skidded to a stop in what turned out to be the upper atrium. It ran in a semicircle across the back wall of the lobby, overlooking the main entrance. Bringing herself up from her crouched slide, Eve took in the chaotic scene. 30 armed guards were leaning against the railing, showering the room below with small arms. She couldn't take the time to look down over the railing before the guards closest to her turned their heads to inspect the noise of her entrance.

She was on the first one immediately, shoving her pistol into its chest and pulling the trigger before twirling around its body and hitting the next guard in the neck with a high kick. She dove low to avoid a blow from the third guard and put two rounds into its thigh, emptying her magazine. Flinging the spent mag out to the side with a flip of her wrist, she seamlessly fed a new one into the base of the deckland and racked the slide.

The fourth and fifth guards were aiming at her as she brought her gun up, and she dove to the side while letting off three rounds. Chips of concrete and paint flecked off her helmet as their shots dug into the ground where she'd been crouched, and she leveraged herself off the wall to regain her forward momentum. Guards six through eleven were now turning to regard her, and the rest looked like they were soon to follow.

This would give Cassidy a chance to regroup and catch her breath. Eve dumped her magazine down the line of guards before reholstering the pistol and swinging out her rifle. Simultaneously, she dropped to a knee and slid across the ground until she came to rest behind a decorative concrete pillar jutting from the wall. Flicking the little selector switch on the slide assembly from single fire to fully automatic, Eve let loose. A hail of high-caliber rounds shredded the guards across the railing, blood geysered over the edge, and a few of the useless souls followed soon after.

Hearing the distinctive ‘click’ coming from the gun as the rounds exploded out of it, Eve recognized the end of the magazine was coming up fast. 10 guards remained, and they were scurrying for cover at the far end of the walkway. Taking the opportunity, Eve ejected the magazine and seated a new one in its place. Racking the bolt back, she set it up once more, only for a small steel orb to skitter to a stop at her feet.

Without even thinking, Eve dove off the balcony to the lower level, tucking and rolling as she hit the floor to try to dissipate the force of deceleration. A concussive blast tore the walkway above her apart, and shards of concrete, glass, and metal pelted the unprotected parts of her body as she scrambled to reach the cover from which Cassidy was waving. The woman was sweating profusely based on the sheen of exposed skin Eve could see, and the dull shimmer of her rainbow faded the second Eve reached her.

“I like what you've done with the place!” Eve sidled up next to Cassidy, who had retracted her helmet to help get more air into her lungs.

“Thanks! Interior decorator...huff... was a fan of Swiss cheese; how many...huff... did you get?”

Eve shook her head, “I dunno, maybe 20 or so, wasn't counting.”

Cassidy swore and peeked over the top of the concrete kiosk, only to be greeted by more gunfire. “How many of those grenades do you think they have?"

Eve didn't have time to punch Cassidy in the face for jinxing them before another steel orb hit the glass window in front of them.

"OH, SHIT HOLD-" Cassidy had put a hand on Eve's shoulder and had yanked her into a half-standing position as the explosive detonated. Eve and Cassidy were flung across the foyer by the blast, colliding into the back wall and falling to the ground in a crumpled heap.

Eve groaned as the shimmering rainbow dissolved off her body. "Cas, are you good? Get off me, you heavy bitch.”

The ringing in her ears made it hard for her to know if Cassidy had heard what she said. Cassidy coughed as she rolled off of Eve; even through the muffled state of her ears, Eve could tell that it sounded wet. Grabbing Cassidy's arm, Eve hauled them both up against a cement column to try to shield them from cultists, who were no doubt trying to get a firing angle on them.

“How bad is it? lemme see.” Eve turned to Cassidy to inspect her, only to find several pieces of shrapnel stapling her body armor to her torso. “Ah fuck, c'mon, Cas, be a big girl for me!” Eve started ripping hunks of metal out of Cassidy's body; the meaty 'shick' of metal sliding across flesh and bone unnerved Eve, but she knew if Cas was going to heal, she needed to get the foreign objects out quickly.

Eventually, Cassidy's body would eject the steel on its own, but that took time they didn't have. Eve just hoped they hadn't damaged Cassidy's implants to the point of rendering them inoperable. “God damnit, Cas, help me out here. Where's the worst of it?!”

Cassidy coughed up another lungful of blood as a hand lazily drifted to a small pinhole in her body armor right above her heart.

“Fuck, shit fuck!” Eve tore at the chest piece's straps, ripping it free of Cassidy's body as she heard shouts coming from the other end of the lobby. A small bullet-sized hole had punctured the vest Cassidy had on, as well as the suit jacket and undershirt. It left a neat little hole in her chest, roughly half an inch above her heart. “Musta just caught your lung; come on, we need to move; get up!”

Eve threw Cassidy's body armor around her neck and then flung one of her arms across her shoulders. Shakily, they both stood and began to hobble towards the closest door. Eve heard, “There they are! Found ‘em! Guys, over here!” Before a stinging hot pain lanced through her calf, then her thigh. She shoved Cassidy into the door, which swung open enough for her to collapse inside.

Eve spun and reached for her deckland, only to find it was missing, likely thrown clear of her holster when she and Cassidy were sent flying by the grenade. Another round caught her in the liver, and she crumpled to the floor just outside the door. "Guys, we're in trouble. They were using explosives." A round dug through her shoulder and laid her flat on her back.

This was it. Some shitty little fuckwit was going to walk up to her and put a fucking round through her heart. She wasn't going to die at the hands of some long-forgotten god or between the legs of a Black man; she was going to die at the hands of subhuman filth. Like mother, like ********... The corona of colors coursing around her mother's face sparked a thought for her.

If she coated her body, as Cassidy had, then could she turn any of the bullets that struck her into other things? On contact? Did it work that quickly? Moving as fast as a bullet, there was a chance whatever the bullet turned into could be more harmful. But if it could save her from dying an inglorious death, she had to try.

A stream of color flowed up around her body on the side closest to the shooters, swarming over her injured leg and abdomen. Another bullet slammed into her ass cheek and exploded into a plume of smoke. Eve reached for the rifle slung across her back. A bullet caught her forearm and splattered a glob of jello across it. She winced in pain as her arm was jerked violently by the impact, but was able to grab the butt of her gun.

Turning, she brought the weapon around just in time to see two more cultists step out of the open door across the lobby. She gritted her teeth as two bullets ricocheted off her helmet and into the wall behind her; a third caught her in the stomach; and a cloudy puff of down feathers sprang into the air. She pulled the trigger, and the first cultist dropped in a spray of bullets; the second and third ducked back behind the door for cover. “Oh no, you fucking don't!” Eve screamed.

She fed her rainbow into her bullets and fired again; the door melted into a puddle of fondue cheese. The two baffled cultists looked down at it in sheer amazement before being dropped by another spray of fire. Eve inched her way back towards the door Cassidy had fallen through, shuffling herself along with her good leg, aim locked on the doorway with two bodies in it.

“Just a bit further, c’mon Eve, just another five feet, you can do this, come on.”

Two more goons poked their heads out from the doorway and sprang back in as Eve shot at them. She felt her shoulder bump into the door jam and readjusted her course to get her through the door, but it was shut. She pushed against it with her back, but it wouldn't budge. She couldn't understand what was happening, but then a set of arms scooped under her armpits and dragged her into the hallway.

“FUCKING CULTISTS, I’LL KILL YOU! I'LL KILL YOUR ENTIRE FUCKING FAMILIES, YOUR PETS, I'LL FUCKING SLAUGHTER YOUR INFANT CHILDREN, YOU FUCKING PIECES OF SH-,” but she cut off abruptly as Carmine stared down at her. She looked to the side to see Cassidy, barely conscious, lift a Tellmin's to her lips before lighting it. Jasper stood behind Carmine, bullet holes present in her dress. “Oh, hey, baby. Long time, no see.”

Eve retracted her helmet, and Carmine snapped an eyebrow up before responding, “Sorry, did I interrupt something? It sounded pretty heated. Did you want to go back out there?”

Eve chuckled before collapsing back into a supine position. "Ughhhh, my everything fucking hurts.”

“Speak for yourself; I got lit up like a fuckin’ whore house out there. My bruises have bruises! And you're welcome, by the way, for saving your stupid ass from that explosion.”

Eve groaned again before flopping her forearm across her brow and flipping off Cassidy. “And you're welcome. I dragged your ass into the hall, bitch.”

Jasper hit her vape and then cleared her throat. “Ahem, yes, well, I'm glad we're all bonding so deeply and all, but... I do want to remind you that we've got somewhere to be at the moment.”

Cassidy and Eve turned to her in unison and said, “Get fucked, Jasper.”

The combination of their two voices coming out at once caused Carmine to begin laughing. Cassidy was close behind but struggled to do so without coughing up blood. Eve could barely move as her body worked on ejecting the bullets lodged in her thigh and liver. Thankfully, her calf and shoulder had been pass-through shots and didn't need to be worked out. Footsteps echoed on the other side of the door, and the four women all instantly had their weapons drawn and pointed at it, ready for whoever was on the other side to attempt a breach.

A voice called out, “Nah, Nate, let's go around. They're probably locked and loaded on the other side; I don't want to die and-" The voice trailed off as it moved away from the door and into the lobby.

“Well, that cuts down on our break time. Eve, how much longer do you think you'll need? Cas, same question.” Jasper gingerly sat next to Cassidy and took another hit of her vape.

Eve groaned, “Just… ugh, gimme like two solid minutes, please. I'm runnin’ on empty right now. I haven't had a chance to eat anything beyond Black cum and piss. I even passed through their fuckin’ kitchen, too.”

Cassidy took a long pull from her smoke and prodded at the bullet wound in her chest. “I'm fucked for at least another five. That bitch musta clipped my aorta or something, ‘cause I was on death's door, no doubt about it.”

Carmine frowned as she slid to the floor next to Eve, holding out a pre-lit smoke for her to take. “This, like, totally fucking blows. I'll see if I can buy you girls some time to recover, but our push for the stairs is, like, actually fucked now.”

Eve puffed on her smoke. “Nah, we can lock down the hall if you want to run to the kitchen and nab us some grub. Getting those calories into us would be a huge boost. Even vending machine bullshit would be better than nothing right now.”

Cassidy and Jasper agreed enthusiastically, and Carmine sighed, “Alright, one order of ‘whatever-I-can-carry’ coming right up!” And then she was off, down the hall and out of sight, before Eve could even say goodbye.

“She's a spritely sort, isn't she?” Jasper closed her eyes, traveling somewhere else for a moment. “Ah, three whitebois closing in down the left hall. Guns up, ladies.”

Cassidy and Eve groaned as they brought their weapons up. “Fuck, you know what'd be good right now? A fuckin’ Donaire! Nice juicy meat, tons of cheese, and sweet sauce... ugh, what I wouldn't give to wrap my lips around that shit right now!” Cassidy licked her lips as the first white boi poked its head around the corner up the hall. Eve was the first to fire, and the whitebois skull popped like a cherry tomato.

Screams and shouts came from the other two whitebois as Jasper's scouts jumped them. “Fuck, that reminds me of this hole-in-the-wall down on Fleet Street; the owner is this gargantuan Jamaican stud. Think the place was called Malo's...? Anyway, I stumbled in there one night after a job, and that fucker almost turned me inside out on his cock. No joke, that snake must have been three solid inches across.”

Cassidy and Jasper both gasped. “You're a fuckin’ liar!” Cassidy pointed at Eve with an accusatory finger.

“I swear on my spade, it was every fraction of a solid three, not quite long enough to hit my off switch, but my fuck did he stretch me out. Served up a mean bammy, too. Highly recommend it.” Cassidy’s hand dipped slightly.

“Hol’ up, you're rockin’ a spade? Since when? Why didn't you say anything?”

Eve was taken aback by Cassidy's interest. “I-I dunno? It never came up, and I didn't think it was that big a deal."

There was a twinkle in Cassidy's eyes that hadn't been there before, some new-found perspective that had been revealed to her.

“Well, sh*t, I didn't know you were a sister. We should celebrate after this is done. How ‘bout you, Jasper?”

Jasper looked between them and scoffed. “As if I'd be caught dead in public with you two outside of business, please, I have standards.”

Cassidy looked like she was about to lunge for the disheveled woman before Jasper continued, “That being said, I may be persuaded to join you for a night at a private club, one with a booth, preferably.” This caused Cassidy to come up short of moving, and she lowered her fist.

“Jeez, there's ‘professional bitch’ and then there's you. We need to work on those social skills ‘cause right now you're so far up your ass a horse would have a hard time diggin’ you back out.”

Jasper chuckled, and the sound of it sent tingles running down Eve's spine. “Well, if you're ever interested in earning some creds, you know I'll have a job just. for. you." Jasper blew a kiss at Cassidy, which caused the redhead to sputter.

Before Cassidy could respond, Carmine came barreling down the hall with a large duffle bag in hand. The three women cheered her return, and the moment the bag touched the floor, they tore into it with abandon. Premade sandwiches, cookies, cola, flavored water, candies, fruits, and vegetables all disappeared into their hungry mouths as they gorged themselves. Carmine looked on with an expression of mild disgust.

“Remind me to feed you before you go down on me, okay? It feels like I'd end up the subject of one of those ‘true crime' documentaries based on what I'm seeing here.”

Eve looked up at her and licked her lips clean of the egg salad that had been smeared across them. "Whaf? Founfs life a foof fime foo me.”

Carmine rolled her eyes. “I know, for a fact, I don't need to tell you to swallow, bitch. God! You can be so gross.”

Eve just grinned lecherously before biting back into the sandwich.

Carmine huffed before leaning against the wall, “So, what? We just... rush the stairs? Our little ‘divide and conquer’ plan didn't work out.”

Eve swallowed her food before replying, causing Carmine to mouth a brief ‘thank you’, “That's pretty much it. You and Jasper handle threat detection; Cassidy leads the charge, and I make sure we don't get shot in the ass. We move as a fortified unit until we hit the stairs, and then we marathon our way through the lower levels. Hopefully, we managed to thin out a decent number of them, and we don't get overwhelmed.”

Cassidy picked a small morsel of carrot out of her teeth with the tip of her arm gladius. “Simple as, though I would like to remind you girls that I'm bullet resistant, not bullet proof. I'm not sure how long the recharge is going to take, but there's a limit to the use-time on this shit.” Eve and Jasper nodded.

“I haven't noticed any significant strain yet; perhaps adding more fodder to my ranks will drain me faster? As it is, it feels like I could keep going with this number forever.” Jasper shrugged as she looked to Eve.

“Same for me; no strain on my end, not even when I was coating the walls with it back at the apartment. But you're right, Cas, if we start feeling it, we should speak up so the other girls can pick up the slack, deal?”

They all agreed and then stood to do their equipment checks. Ammo was low, but a few minutes of looting the corpses around the building would solve that. Eve cursed the loss of her Deckland and hoped she would have the chance to get it back, assuming it hadn't already been swiped. “Alright, helmets prepped, guns cocked, let's fuck this bitch up! Carmine, Cassidy, if you would be so kind?” Eve gestured for the two women to lead the way, and they set off.

They cleared corridors and kicked in doors along the path, meeting minimal resistance. Most, if not all, of the remaining cultist presence was clumped up by the stairs leading to the lower levels, according to Carmine. “Too bad we ain't got any grenades; that'd fuck ‘em up big-time.” Cassidy lamented over her shoulder to the group.

"Nah, we couldn't use ‘em even if we did; we couldn't risk collapsing our only way down like that.” Eve knew the building was made of stern stuff, but it was getting on in years now; there was no telling what might happen. “How many are we looking at in total?”

Carmine answered a beat before Jasper “Forty-two!”

Jasper swore under her breath, and Carmine celebrated with a fist pump. “You only won because you think at light speed. Cheating cunt.”

Eve quirked a brow at Jasper's indignation but brushed past it. “Ok, not as bad as I'd feared, but still kind of fucked there's that many... The safest play might be to rush them with Jasper's dead heads and then throw ourselves into the melee as well. The last thing I want is for this to turn into a siege; we're fighting against time and losing as it is. If we can maneuver ourselves onto the stairs and then fight our way down, it'll be our win. If they manage to stop us, we'll lose our advantage and then have to fall back on plan B.”

Cassidy followed up, “Which is...?"

Eve grimaced and then smiled ruefully at her. “Grenade.”

Cassidy smiled back. “Ya know? I always had a soft spot for backup plans.”

Jasper huffed as she folded her arms. “If you two are done making out, we've got a cult to dismantle.”

Eve mocked offense as she quipped to Cassidy, “My, was that jealousy I heard?”

Cassidy was right on her heels. “I think it was, sister! It sounds like someone is letting those poor social skills shine again!”

Carmine pinched both of their asses, and they yipped, “Alright, enough flirting, Jasper; give us the signal, and we'll jump in. Eve, don't get fucking killed, please.” And just like that, the nervous tension was back in the air. “Helmets up, last check on guns.”

Their skull masks folded into place, and Eve pulled the bolt back to make sure there was a round in her chamber. “We're five by five, Jasper; hit ‘em.”

A commotion started up around the corner as confused shouts erupted from the group. Gunshots and heavy thumps sounded down the hall, and then Jasper's voice crackled to life over Eve's commtag, “Go!” Carmine and Cassidy launched past Eve at an unnatural pace. While Eve's body had been modified to perform on a superhuman level, Cassidy and Carmine were in a league of their own.

They flew down the short hallway towards the junction in front of the stairs; a swarming mass of flailing white bodies practically clogged the intersection as Jasper's dead heads fought to turn the area into a mosh pit. The familiar feeling of disgust rose within Eve as she approached the crowd; having to stomach that amount of unclean white filth was almost too much to bear. Cassidy had her Gladius extended to her side, and Carmine had a short length of her Warwire trailing behind her. The sterile halls of the treatment facility were about to run wet with the blood of vermin.

Cassidy arrived first, smashing through several of the pathetic faggots like a cannonball. Arms and heads pinwheeled through the air as she shifted from a battering ram into a spinning fury of razor-sharp death. Carmine followed suit, bludgeoning a handful of whitebois with her shoulder as her speed practically carried her through their bodies. Her war wire flicked out like the tail of some shimmering serpent, cleaving limbs and carving chunks out of torsos. It was beautiful.

Eve felt the call of violence in her blood, the powerful tonic of white suffering, and the scent of metallic blood, fueling her desire to obliterate every last speck of false masculinity she saw. Those sad, lowly little whelps were all pretending to be something they weren't. None of them truly understood their purpose, but Eve did. She saw it plain as day in every last one of their vile faces, and she would show them what it meant to be a useful whiteboi.

She joined the fray by leaping clear over the heads of the struggling flock, aiming directly for the stairwell on the opposite side of the hall. She would clear the stairwell and provide a foothold on their objective for the ladies to work towards. Jasper had opted to stay put, using her hoard to drag fresh bodies up the hall to be converted into a more useful version of themselves. As she spiraled through the air, Eve caught a glimpse of the first landing of the stairs.

Four cultists stood on it, patiently waiting to see what side of the struggle would prove to be superior. But as Eve cleared the swarm of bodies beneath her, their eyes latched onto her and began to track her. She'd anticipated some sort of presence in the stairwell, and so she'd brought her rifle to bear long before the midpoint of her jump.

The first of the four to react caught a round through its right eye socket. The second lost its jugular as the bullet tore half of its throat away. Blood pulsed from the wound in great, heavy spurts as the cultist stumbled into the railing and then over it, plummeting to some distant point far below them. The third and fourth dropped as their knees exploded from under them.

Eve hurtled towards their writhing bodies as she fell. She aimed a knee at the chest of one and her boot at the skull of the other, simultaneously ending both of them in a satisfying crunch of bone and sinew as her weight and speed drove them into the concrete landing. Aiming back up the stairs, she began to open up on any white body she could see.

She could hear voices below her, but for the moment, they were hesitating to come up the stairs any further than they had, so she focused on bringing down as many of the useless freaks as she could. She got lost in the rhythm of it. Knee, ankle, thigh, pelvis, collar bone, elbow, ass, stomach, and throat. Anything she could hit that would give Jasper a chance of reclaiming them. But after a dozen seconds, she gave up and started aiming at their vitals.

In total, the exchange lasted all of two minutes and forty seconds. Eve had fired until her rifle clicked empty and her magazine pocket was vacant. A small stream of blood flowed over the top stair and cascaded down the steps on its way to the sublevels. Some soft moans and hisses of pain sporadically rose from the sea of corpses, but beyond that, it had been a total victory for the four women.

Eve snatched up a fallen pistol, pulling the magazine to check its ammunition level before resuming her watch on the stairs below. “How'd we make out, girls? Report.”

Jasper's winded voice came over her commtag as she jogged down the hall to join them. “I'm never doing this again!”

Cassidy laughed, also winded, but in a much better mood: "Ohhhhh, no! We are doing that again! Shit reminded me of my bar-fighting days! Except instead of getting my ass beat black and blue by a bunch of angry Black Kings, I got to murder a bunch of white pussies! Carmine, did you see that one faggot trying to run around, missing half its head? Fuckin’ hilarious!”

Carmine laughed and added her anecdote, “Oh. My. God! That was so funny. Did you catch the one Eve shot in the knee? Fucker, like, tripped right into my fucking wire! Killed itself! Honestly, the rest of them could have learned something from that."

Eve cleared her throat as she kept an eye on the lower levels. “Uh, ladies?”

Jasper piped up, either purposely ignoring Eve or too wrapped up in the celebration. “Honestly, you two didn't both need to carve apart my lead slave. The way you went at him almost makes me feel as though you were targeting me specifically."

Cassidy waved a hand to dismiss Jasper's concerns. “You know it wasn't like that, Jas! It's hard enough to tell whitebois apart even when they ain't all tangled up in a ball and covered in blood!”

Eve cleared her throat more forcefully, and this time the women turned to her. “CULT? TIME! LET'S GO?!”

The three other women shared a glance and then quickly made their way to the stairs, grabbing anything that looked like it might prove useful off of the corpses as they went. “Jasper, how long do you think it'll take for you to reclaim this bunch?”

Eve swiveled her head back up the stairs to look at her, and she shook her head. “Too long if we're on a schedule. Maybe one or two, but not enough to be useful to us.”

Eve swore under her breath, "Alright, we're splitting up, Cas; you're with Jasper. Give her cover until she can get a semi-decent number of dead heads up and running, and then join us downstairs; Carmine will keep you in the loop on where we're at. Sound good?”

The three nodded, and Carmine proceeded down the stairs to join Eve. “If we get pinned down or outnumbered, we'll call for you to break off the process and join up regardless of your number.”

With that, Eve turned to begin the trek into the sublevels. “Carmine, do you have any idea where this lot is holed up? Bottom level?”

Carmine nodded. “You nailed it, baby. The bottom level is what looks to be the main reservoir chamber. I don't have access to the cameras since they probably destroyed them, but motion detectors for the doorways are tripping every few seconds down there with patrols. Other levels are pretty light on activity, so we can probably just dive straight down.”

Eve took the magazine Carmine held out for her and slapped it into her rifle. While cycling the chamber, she looked back up towards her other teammates before taking the second set of stairs down. Their faces were obscured by the blood-soaked skulls. “Good luck, ladies; we'll see you shortly.”

Cassidy blew a kiss at her before turning to continue looting the bodies. Jasper didn't wave so as much as she turned away, which was typical. “Let's go, babe; we've got a cult to crush.”

Eve could hear the shuffling of bodies from below; obscured by concrete stairs and steel railings, their enemies were moving into advantageous positions to stymie their assault. The bottom level was on the other side of eight sets of steps, the majority of which would hold cultist lackeys. “So, we charge down or slowly pick our way through them; what's easier?” Carmine had finally unslung her SPH from around her shoulders and held it at a casual readiness.

Eve half shrugged as she replied. “I say fuck it, we don't have a lot of time, and worst case scenario, I get shot and you carry me down. If that doesn't work, then we're waiting for backup regardless, so there's no sense in being a pussy about it.”

“Alright, I lead; you follow; try to keep up.” Eve drew in a long breath as Carmine hunched and then stalked forward in a predatory stance. Eve tracked the growing distance between them and the top of the stairs to ensure threats didn't emerge from any of the doors they passed.

Carmine came to the first landing and, with a loud, electric ‘thump’, showered the entire space with super-sonic shards of tungsten. The sparks generated from the small fragments of metal exploding across the concrete briefly lit up the dim platform, and Eve watched as four guards were shredded into the afterlife. They continued, one floor down, with three to go. The next landing was a replica, but as Carmine stepped past the entrance to the second sublevel, a hail of automatic weapons fire punched through the door, causing Carmine to dodge out into the open sightline of the third sublevel landing.

Eve briefly worried about her lover, but ultimately decided that Carmine had likely already calculated the most optimal outcome for the situation and chose to focus on the door, firing three rounds back into it before using her color to turn it into a large clump of moss that fell to the floor with a ‘wump’. Three cultists stood on the other side, momentarily dumbfounded; a fourth lay crumpled on the floor.

Eve opened up, and two fell to join their partner on the floor. The remaining cultist spun into the doorway behind it, and screams echoed out as it reemerged with a kicking and screaming Whitegirl. “Don't fuckin’ move or I blow this bitches brain-" the cultist was cut off as Eve dumped another five rounds into both of them.

Satisfied that there were no more threats, she turned back to the stairwell to see that Carmine had vanished. “Ahhhh fuck.” Eve dropped into a sprint, grabbing the railing and vaulting halfway down the next flight of stairs.

Another ‘thump’ reverberated up the narrow stairwell from two flights down, and Eve kept pushing. “She isn't going to wait? Fuck me…” After clearing another set in a single leap, Eve finally caught up to her lover. "Could have just-" but Carmine held up a hand and pointed to a closed door.

“Guild hunter. They dipped in as soon as I came around.”

The hairs on the back of Eve's neck stood on end as she reached behind her to re-equip her rifle. Depending on who the hunter was, this could be a grueling and potentially lethal fight. Eve wasn't delusional enough to think she was the best among the hunters; far from it. There were others, like Cassidy, who were far stronger and more capable in a fight. There were still more like Jasper, willing to sell out whoever it took to rise to the top of the food chain. All Eve had going for her was experience and maybe a bit of luck. Hopefully, whoever was on the other side of that door was more like Jasper.

Ultimately it didn't matter; all hunters were superhuman in some capacity, so this wasn't going to be easy either way. As her fingers brushed against the stock of her rifle, the door burst open, and the hunter had her fist buried in Eve's stomach before she could register the movement. As the air was forced out of Eve's chest, she scrambled to grab hold of anything on the woman she could reach, but this hunter was unnaturally flexible, bending and contorting out of Eve's grasp and then out of her reach before she could get a grip.

Eve sank to her knees, desperately trying to get her lungs to work again. Carmine had deftly stepped back to clear space for the confrontation she now had to handle alone. The hunter crouched and then sprang forward, attempting to lunge a short blade into Carmine's ribs. The powerful blow was knocked aside as Carmine slapped the woman's wrist so hard that even Eve could hear the tendons groaning.

Caught off balance, the woman latched onto one of the railing posts and used it to leverage her momentum up and over its side. Carmine wasn't having any of it, though. With the reflexes of a demon cat, she swung her free arm back around and locked her hand around the woman's receding ankle. The woman's body jolted as it met the incredible mass of Carmine's body, stopping her dead in her tracks.

The woman wasn't out of the fight yet, though, as she spun on Carmine, coiling up her torso like a scorpion tail. Another short blade had found its way into her hand and was plunging directly for Carmine's neck. With one hand holding the SPH and the other restraining the woman's ankle, Carmine had little to no recourse against the attack. Right up until Carmine snapped her head over, directly into the path of the blade, clamping her teeth down on it and ripping it out of the woman's hand.

Eve gasped as the air returned to her, reaching for her rifle once again and fumbling for it as the woman rained ineffective blows down on Carmine's head and neck. Carmine spun, swinging the woman around like a baseball bat against the concrete wall. The woman had sensed what was happening and had used her free arms and legs to cushion the blows as much as possible, manipulating her trapped leg to dissipate much of the kinetic force.

Carmine's look grew frustrated as she finally discarded the SPH to the floor and attempted to choke the woman with the newly freed hand. This backfired slightly as the woman wrapped herself around the incoming hand and then strained against the arm restraining her leg, essentially causing Carmine to strike a T-pose. The woman grunted with exertion as she fought to overcome Carmine's mechanical body, and to her credit, it looked like Carmine was slowly losing.

With the woman splayed across Carmine's torso, Eve couldn't get a clear shot at her without risking punching a hole through Carmine as well. Eve stumbled to her feet and, bracing herself against the wall, made her way to the knife that had been slapped out of the woman's hand. Eve hadn't noticed it in the midst of the chaos, but it had been struck with such force that it had become wedged in the wall close to where the two stood deadlocked.

Eve pried the blade from the wall and whirled to drive the point home in the woman's throat. Either because the woman had heard the knife come loose or because she had some wicked sixth sense, the woman relaxed her pull on Carmine just enough to pull her head closer into Carmine's body. Eve's blow barely grazed the woman's skin as her arm whistled down. Recognizing the disadvantage, the woman released her grip on Carmine's arm just long enough to pull a small black orb from a pouch on her hip.

“Let me go, and we all live; keep fighting, and we all die.” The woman's voice was full of venom and cruelty. She had the kind of voice that put you on edge just by hearing it. It reminded Eve of a deadly serpent, waiting for its opportunity to strike. Eve had learned long ago that calling the bluff of someone like this cost you limbs and sometimes lives. She briefly considered trying, but their mission lay elsewhere, and they couldn't afford to find out what that orb had been packed with.

Carmine had her eyes locked on Eve, waiting to see what her lover would choose to do. Eve backed up and slowly nodded to Carmine. "Don't suppose we'll be seeing you again soon?”

The woman smirked as Carmine released her grip on the ankle she held.

“I might come knocking if another bounty comes up for you. I figured I'd get a taste of the old blood before taking a real bite.” She waggled the orb clutched in her hand. "I didn't think you'd be so sturdy, what with how old your ass is. Too bad the guild excommunicated you; I would have loved to jump you on a mission. Anyway, I think I'll be goi-"

Her voice stopped abruptly as a thin red line formed across her throat. Carmine stepped up and gingerly took the orb from her hand as she attempted to swallow.

"First, don't insult my woman; second, war wire makes a horrible necklace.”

The woman blinked as droplets of blood began to well up along the angry red line. Eve hadn't caught the wire in the dim stairwell lighting, and neither had the woman. A burbling hiss pushed out from the woman's throat as her head rolled back and then off her shoulders, cracking into the floor before a jet of blood pulsed from the exposed neck. “Dumb bitch, no one gets to eat Eve but me.”

Eve winced as she turned to collect her rifle. “What's your definition of eat, baby?”

Carmine collected her SPH from the ground as well, still holding the primed orb in her hand. “What do you want it to be?” Carmine paused as she zoned out. "Ah, there we go.” She pressed the priming trigger twice in quick succession, and the small orb powered down.

“Anything that doesn't entail biting off large chunks of my body should be fine, I think.” Eve eyed the small orb as it disappeared into Carmine's pocket.

"Oh, so, like, just the tiny parts are fine, then?”

Eve rolled her eyes at her lover, and they continued down the stairs. “Any idea what was in it? It's a grenade, right?”

Carmine shook her head. “Nah, mil-spec crowd control. Lovingly referred to as ‘The Party Pooper', a noxious mix of capsaicin and aerosolized lysergic acid diethylamide. Mostly meant to cause people to believe they've been sent to hell.”

Eve growled, “So she was fuckin’ bluffing. Fucks sake.”

Carmine clapped her on the shoulder as they passed another door uneventfully. “Can't win 'em all, baby; you'll snag the next one, promise.”

They came to the final floor without running into any further cultists. The Hunter they'd left soaking the stairway in blood was the final barrier between them and their goal. The door leading to the main reservoir chamber had a sigil painted on it in blood; it resembled a squished vertical rectangle with four swirls protruding from the two vertical sides. “Well, I guess we can check off which God they're trying to resurrect, then.” Eve mused as she ran a hand across the symbol.

“If they've sallied forth under the Tamfo Bebre, then it's all the more reason to obliterate these wretched little heathens. Defiling their own kind is one thing, but blaspheming against sacred African iconography like this is just too much, even for them.” Eve seethed at the sight of the ancient Akan symbol scrawled on the door.

“Could be the work of one of the black members, though I'm not sure why they would opt to lend more than passing aid to this band of shrimp-dicks.” Carmine turned her head away from the door to keep from looking at it.

“I don't get it, Carmine. From the start, this whole thing has felt wrong. First Ganon and now Helion, a shitty little group of good-for-nothing faggots galavanting around trying to resurrect a long-dead god, should have been something printed on the back of a child's comic. But for the Guild to back them? Charles? Why would some of the most powerful Black Kings and Queens choose to stoop so far down as to actively assist these useless cum-skins in overthrowing the status quo?”

Carmine shook her head. “There's plenty I can calculate, babe, but the wills of people still elude me. Maybe they're humoring them? Like, maybe they're bored and think the cult isn't for real? Using the cult for a bit of entertainment before crushing them?”

Eve glared back at Carmine. “Carmine, please tell me you did not just indirectly insinuate that our superiors are meddling with things they don't understand.”

Carmine drove her eyes to the floor and apologized before Eve continued with her thought, “No, they know what they're doing. But I think a part of what you said was true, too. They're bored. Like anyone at the mountain top, what else is there left to scale? No more peaks, no more summits... maybe that's fucking it.”

Carmine glanced up to see Eve deep in thought, “Sorry, are you saying they're trying to use the cult to summon a malicious god because... they're bored?”

Eve looked over at her, “Yeah, I think I am. There aren't any wars right now. No struggles for their kind, right? They've peaked, and the opportunities for glory and fame are relegated to the silver screen. They're natural-born predators, Carmine. They were born of God to conquer and conquest, not laze about in apartments fucking white girls all day. They need a conflict, something to sink their teeth into and keep those hardened instincts honed. They need another Race War... Yeah."

Eve snapped her fingers as she continued. “Yeah! But since we all know how the last Race War turned out, they couldn't just do that again; it would be too easy. Hell, whitebois can hardly beat each other, let alone anyone else. No, the whitebois need a distinct advantage."

Carmine's lips formed an ‘O’ as she realized it. “So they're giving the whitebois a fucking God?! Doesn't that seem I don't know... FUCKING INSANE?”

Eve grinned, “Indolence breeds madness, my love. But the question is: do we stop this? It sounds like ultimately their goal is the same as mine: eliminating as many whitebois as possible."

Carmine took on a thoughtful expression before ultimately shaking her head.

“Nah, we gotta stop it. There are too many variables and unknowns. There's too much risk to Black life, and that's unacceptable. I don't think it matters who's calling the shots. If you're putting that many Black lives on the line, you need to go.”

Eve nodded along with her words, “Beautifully put, my heart. Plus, if this God goes buck wild, there may not even be an opportunity for a war. We'll all just be dead. There are better ways to enact the ******** of whites; employing an uncontrollable God and feral faggots is not it.”

Carmine shivered at the thought, “Ugh, so not it... blegh.”

“Alright, we'll try to negotiate and see if there is some peaceful resolution to this, but if it looks like things aren't going our way, well, we gave them every opportunity to do the right thing. This is for the greater good.” Eve placed a hand over her heart, offering a small prayer to her black God in the hopes he was listening.

Carmine mimicked the gesture before readying herself, “Stay close, baby; I'll see how much I can shield you while we move.”

Carmine tucked Eve in close behind her and then opened the door a crack. It opened into a small portal room, likely serving as a pseudo-airlock to keep the smells and contaminants in the reservoir from escaping. A guard was posted on the other end of the hall but seemed more interested in its fingernails than the door they were coming through. With two long strides, Carmine had crossed half the distance before the guard even looked up from its filthy hand. Her fist slammed into its face so violently that its skull tore apart and shards of bone and viscera rattled off of the corrugated steel walls.

Eve scoffed at the display of raw power, “I'm not paying for your drycleaning, just an FYI.”

Carmine giggled cutely before stepping over the corpse. “Bitch, as if you were going to pay for anything! We're loaded, remember? Also, you are sooooo one to talk, little 'Miss Murder'. You're fucking soaked in blood.”

Eve looked down to find Carmine's assessment to be true; her suit had been thoroughly drenched in whiteboi blood. Bits of flesh and brain matter clung to it like wads of lint. “Whatever, I think it adds charm, don't you?”

Eve crossed the grated steel walkway to join Carmine at the other end and Carmine hummed, “Oh yeah, watching you bounce that ass around covered in the guts of slain pin-dicks does things to my pussy I can't mention without blushing.”

Eve stepped up to the tall, blonde android and firmly cupped the crotch of her pants, grinding her palm up into the A.I's artificial clit. “Oh? Do you mean, my pussy? This one? Tell me, Carmine, what does it do to this little pussy that I own?”

Carmine's eyes widened, and she smiled smugly at Eve's attempt to dominate her. “My my, aren't you the brave little kitten today? Are you sure you want to go down this road with me? I'm not saying I'd complain, but... I don't think you'd make it, 'Mas...ter'." Her punctuation of the word master made the hairs on the back of Eve's neck stand on end, her fight or flight response detecting the implied threat.

Eve wasn't a particularly prideful woman, or at least she believed she wasn't. This night had called into question exactly how highly she thought of herself. Pining for the affections of her superiors, fancying herself some grand revolutionary, and now attempting to put herself above Carmine. All of these examples served to illuminate precisely where she fell on the food chain.

For all the swagger and poise she masked herself with while on the job, there was no getting around the fact that she was a bottom bitch. She was a cunt-to-be-fucked, a tool for others' sexual gratification; even among other women, she was destined to be a submissive, wet, mewling slut. Eve slowly retracted her hand, unable to bring herself to look at Carmine due to the embarrassment of overstepping her place.

“Good girl, do that again, and I'm breaking all of your fingers one by one. Just because you ‘own’ me doesn't mean you're ‘above’ me. Now kiss the back of my hand, apologize, and tell me you love me.”

Eve panted through the lust that had begun to blaze in her chest; everything Carmine was saying drove her further into heat. She took hold of Carmine's hand and gingerly lifted it to her lips, brushing them gently across the back of it.

“I'm sorry, Carmine. I love you.”

Carmine flicked her hand out of Eve's grasp and snapped her fingers around Eve's cheeks, pinching them together so that Eve looked more like a fish than anything.

“The fuck did you just call me? I know you did not just use my fucking name to apologize. Try that again, and get it fucking right this time, you cunt.”

Carmine released Eve's cheeks and replaced her hand for Eve to grab. Eve took it up once more and repeated the gesture, “I'm sorry, mistress. I love you.”

Carmine purred as Eve subjected herself to the belittling, “You're such a fun little toy. Honestly, I never saw myself as much of a dom, but you're just such a pussy-whipped cunt that I can't help it. This may be my favorite thing, now that I think about it.”

Eve wasn't sure how much she appreciated the tone of complete and total satisfaction in Carmine's voice, but she wasn't entirely sure she cared, either. Eve knew on an intuitive level that Carmine thought the world of her, loved her, and, above all else, actually respected her. That was enough for Eve. She'd follow Carmine into the very center of hell without a second thought because of those simple things.

“Leave you two alone for twenty minutes, and you start fucking. Can't fuckin’ bring you anywhere, can we?” Eve whirled in the direction of the voice, so startled that Carmine had to physically restrain her from lunging at Cassidy. “Ahoy-hoy, sluts. It looks like we missed quite the party coming’ down those stairs.”

A swarm of white bois piled into the small corridor behind her, and Jasper slowly made her way to the front of them. “Ugh, get the fuck out of my way! Move! I said, ‘protect’ me, not fucking'smother' me!”

They both retracted their helmets, and Eve could see the trip down the stairs had winded Jasper; a light shimmer of sweat coated her exposed skin. Cassidy put her hands on her hips and huffed, “So, now that the gangs are all here, how's about we stomp out our frustrations on some cultist throats?"

Eve put up a hand and interjected, “Before we get to that, Carmine and I think we've figured out why our superiors have decided to help the cult.”

Cassidy quirked an eyebrow. “Uh, yeah? Carmine filled us in already.”

Eve turned to her buxom lover and curled her fist. "Didn't think that was worth sharing with me, huh?”

Carmine rolled her eyes. “Oh shush, you're just embarrassed and angry that I left you out of the communications. This is the least important thing we have going on right now, please.”

Eve gaped at her before slamming her helmet back up and bringing her rifle around to check the ammo.

“Oh shit! girls! We're going! Fuck, Eve just cal-" But Eve didn't care; Eve was pissed, and Whitebois needed to die for it.

With a blind rage, Eve hauled back and put her boot into the door latch. The mechanism exploded, and the door buckled as it swung open. The small pneumatic piston responsible for softly closing the door imploded before being ripped from the wall and pulled along with the now-inoperable door. The shriek of steel and protesting hinges made the entrance to the reservoir echo across the giant chamber.

The room was easily 500 feet across and ran in a giant circle. About 30 feet down from the gangway were multiple swirling pools of dark water. The bright halogen lights suspended from the ceiling lit the walkways but still cast long shadows across the domed roof. Several other doors ringed the structure, and a central two-tier platform sat suspended by thick steel cables at the nexus of the many walkways.

Eve noticed two things immediately: first, a large group of people had gathered on the second tier of the central platform, three of whom appeared to be young women; and second, allowing her rage to overcome her may not have been the most advantageous decision. Every single head in the colossal room swiveled towards her at the same time. Many of them carried weapons. Instead of retreating into the room, Eve doubled down, hunching low, and poured as much power as she could into crossing the catwalk quickly.

Even with this additional effort, Cassidy easily cleared her overhead, launching herself fully 30 feet down the steel walkway and deforming the steel under her boots with each powerful push off the steel grating. Carmine simply vanished; one moment she was at the entrance behind Eve, and the next she was gone, likely scaling the roof to provide oversight for them. Jasper had her flunkies slowly spreading down the ringed walkway running the perimeter of the room, making their way towards the guards, who were now thoroughly confused as to what was happening.

Eve looked back towards the double platform in the center; aside from a few cultists guarding the bottom tier, the majority of the remaining figures were all gathered on the upper tier. They'd formed a circle around the perimeter of the hexagonal platform with their hands clasped at their sides, forming a long daisy chain. Some wore robes, others just wore casual street clothes, and others were just completely naked, and it made Eve wonder just how slapdash their operation was. At the center of the circle were three young women, one of whom was Melody.

They looked unconscious from where Eve was, and she doubted they'd been sacrificed yet, since nothing was happening but they were coming damn close to that time. The women had been strung up on large poles, taking the form of the crucifix, in some strange attempt to blaspheme further by mixing theologies. Christianity had been stamped out after the Race War had been won, with the population of its staunchest believers being almost entirely white. Pathetic cucks like them had never really stood a chance, and the indomitable will of the BNWO had effortlessly put them down.

Eve was intended by the sight; it wasn't enough for them to ape sacred Akan symbology; they had to pervert it with their disgusting cuck faith, too. She gritted her teeth as the rage nearly frothed out of her mouth. She could feel the savagely feral desires creeping along her spine as bullets ricocheted off the decking at her feet. Her vision narrowed, and the platform was all she could see. Four hooded figures stood in the center of the group, in between the three suspended women.

Three of them were noticeably taller and broader than the other, and Eve's heart skipped a beat. They were black; even from this distance, their build made it clear. A bullet caught her arm, but she barely noticed. Cassidy had reached the end of the walkway and was on a direct course for the opposite side of the reservoir. Eve hurtled over a corpse and came to a stop on the central platform. Scanning the walls, she found that Jasper's dead heads had clogged up on one side as they met considerable resistance.

There was a black man there, alternating between viciously swinging a steel baton and firing his pistol into the hoard. Eve hesitated before raising her rifle. She couldn't catch her breath and couldn't stop quaking long enough to get a clear shot. She blinked, reminding herself that it had to be done; they needed to do this. Even just a wounding shot to his leg or his shoulder would be enough to let them progress. “C’mon Eve, pull the trigger, you coward. C'mon, just squeeze it. Right there, between his bicep and rotator cuff, a week in a sling would be the worst case for him. Just shoot your damn weapon.”

But her mind and heart were both screaming out in pain. Even after fully understanding the necessity of it, her love and passion for her Black Kings still overrode any rational motivation.

“He's going to be fine, baby, trust me. You couldn't kill him, even if you wanted to. You aren't strong enough for that. Just let him handle it. He's made of tougher stuff than you are, so don't think too hard about it, alright?” Carmine's voice rolled over her ears like a soothing balm. Relieving her of any doubts she held. She was right; this was just her ego getting back into her head again. Thinking she could do any substantial damage to her superiors was both ignorant and arrogant of her. Even with a gun, the difference between them was so vast that thinking she could somehow overcome them was insane. She pulled the trigger, and the black man fell to the ground.

Eve stared at him. “Move, fucking move. Grab at the wound. MOVE! SOMETHING!”

Finally, she saw an arm sweep up to clutch his shoulder, and her heart started beating again. She felt like she was about to faint, but Carmine was back in her ear. “Told you, now get your ass up there and see if we can't put the brakes on this bullshit.”

Eve hesitated a moment longer and then turned to the stairs going up to the second tier.

Stepping to the top of the platform with her rifle at her shoulder, she scanned the figures around the perimeter. She spotted Francisco under one of the hoods, as she expected. But to her shock and horror, she spotted Gloria next to him. "Oh... not you too, Sister..."

The cult members hadn't moved or looked up from where they stood when she'd reached the top, too consumed by the low chanting to notice the world around them.

An intricate design had been painted across the open space in the middle of the platform, and Eve noticed for the first time that it shimmered with the same rainbow color as her own. “That's fuckin’... not good.” She swung her gun to the center and called out, “Charles! Charles, I know you're here. You need to stop this before it's too late!”

None of the heads turned; there wasn't even a twitch or flinch at the shout. “I'm serious! I don't want to start firing, but if you don't break this off, I will! I mean it!”

The keening of desperation started to enter her voice involuntarily, and her hands started to shake once more. She adjusted her grip on her gun and licked her lips. “Don't make me do this!”

Finally, there was some movement, but it wasn't any of the three large figures. It was the small one; it turned to face her, and as it pulled the hood back, she was assailed by the vision of the whitest person she'd ever seen. Snow-white hair, eyes so blue they looked like crystals, and skin so white they practically glowed from the reflected light. “I need you to shut the fuck up.”

It spoke with a strangely intense voice. Eve felt the compulsion to slam her jaw shut as the words vibrated her blood. But the awoken child in her womb negated the impulse, driving it off with a flick of the wrist. Eve didn't understand what had just happened, but she pushed forward. “No, I need you to stop this. We are not going into a second Race War because of you. Tell them to quit chanting!”

The small whiteboi? Girl? Eve couldn't tell, momentarily held a look of shock that quickly morphed into frustration.

“How did you do that? Get on your knees, whelp!”

The words came out more forcefully this time, and Eve gritted her teeth under the weight of their influence. Once again, her child deflected the pressure, and she remained standing.

“I… I don't know what you're doing, but it isn't working. I'm giving you one last chance to end this, or I'll fucking brain you!”

The little gremlin snarled as it spun away from her; it shrieked out a command, and all at once the cultists around her exploded into motion: “FUCKING KILL THIS BITCH, ALL OF YOU!”

For the barest of moments, Eve thought she saw the distinct shimmer of her color in the white things' mouths. “Shit! Fuck! LADIES HELP!”

Eve dodged a pair of grasping hands from behind and vaulted over the off-balance cultist, attempting to gain some distance between herself and the two dozen bodies on the platform.

The three black men that had been standing next to the gremlin had turned and were now cautiously approaching her as well. Eve directed her rifle at one of them, but Gloria stepped into her path, her spade earrings glinting in the harsh overhead light. “Fucking shit! Gloria, what are you doing?! That's your ******** up there!” Eve dodged again, this time cracking the butt of her gun into the side of the whitebois skull.

Gloria didn't speak; she just kept approaching with a blank expression on her face, tears streaming down her cheeks. The gremlin had maneuvered to just beneath one of the poles and, with a long pike, proceeded to jam it into the ribs of the first woman. “GIRLS, STOP THE SMALL ONE; IT'S FINISHING THE… THING.” Eve couldn't quite articulate what that was—a summoning? Ritual? Rite?

Carmine crackled to life on the comm, “Got it.” The muted ‘thump’ of her SPH sounded from somewhere overhead, and the gremlin lurched as a solid slug of depleted uranium ripped through its upper torso. It was like a balloon filled with spaghetti had popped. Organs and blood blew out across the grating and drained into the massive pool directly underneath. But the cultists did not stop their advances.

One of the ones towards the back turned and sprinted for the pike, tucking and rolling as it dove to pick it up. Eve smacked away the hands of another cultist before she felt the hard steel of the railing press into her back. “CARMINE, ANOTHER ONE, TAKE IT DOWN!” The call didn't go out fast enough, and Carmine's shot passed through the cultist's head at the same moment the pike slid between the ribs of the sacrifice on the pole.

“FUCK FUCK FUUUCK, CAS WHERE ARE YOU?!” At the same moment the words finished leaving her mouth, Cassidy slammed down onto the platform behind the group of cultists. Another of them had peeled off from the group heading towards the pike, but Cassidy grabbed it as it passed and crushed its skull between her hands. “THROW THE PIKE OVER, GET IT OFF THE PLATFORM!!!” This time, one of the black men turned and made a dead sprint for Cassidy.

She had just enough time to grab the pike before he was on top of her. Eve hopped up onto the railing and then launched herself over the group, wary of Gloria, who turned to watch her glide through the air. The Black King had grabbed onto the haft of the pike, and Cassidy strained herself against his might, trying to wrestle the weapon free. “EVE, WE NEED TO TAKE THEM OUT OR THEY'LL KEEP COMING!”

Carmine was right; eventually, they'd bog Eve down and kill her, and at this rate, Cassidy was going to lose her struggle for the pike. But it didn't make any sense. Eve was certain the little Gremlin had colors; otherwise, the commands it had given wouldn't have been nearly as forceful. So now that it was dead, its effect on the mob should have disappeared too, right? Something wasn't adding up, unless the Gremlin hadn't been the main body to begin with.

A decoy? Eve started snatching back hoods as she danced around the hoard; every single one of them wore an earpiece. “SHIT, CARMINE, WHERE ARE THE COMM SIGNALS COMING FROM?!”

Carmine made a confused noise before realizing what Eve meant: “OH FUCK, HOW DID I- ABOVE US! OUTSIDE THE BUILDING!”

Eve gritted her teeth. She should have put this together faster, and Carmine should have recognized what was happening. She started tearing out the earpieces as she went, severing the connection between these drones and the controller. It was a color similar in nature to Jasper's but seemed to only compel people within earshot. Once the source of instruction had been broken, so too did its hold on them. Eve heard a snap and turned to see the pike splinter into two lengths as Cassidy stumbled back.

The black man wasted no time and drove his end of the pike into Cassidy's stomach. She launched back and crashed into the railing as the King turned to shove the broken end into Melody. “CARMINE!!!!!” Another thump sounded, and the black man's arm separated at the elbow, sending his forearm and the pike cartwheeling through the air.

Right up until he grabbed hold of it with his other hand and proceeded to slam the pike into Melody’s ribs. “NOOOOOOOOOO!!!!! FUCK!” Eve screamed as the King collapsed. The rest of the cultists fell to the floor like discarded marionettes. Jasper came up the steps as Cassidy slowly worked her way up the railing. Carmine plummeted back down to the platform, and Eve ran over to the pole where Melody had been strung up. “Help me get her down!” Eve waited for Carmine and Cassidy to boost her up to undo the lashings holding the unconscious woman to the pole.

She was young, very young, probably no older than 19. She had a youthful face that had been bruised and cut, likely during her kidnapping. The other two women were already dead, but Melody might still have a chance. “Carmine, what can we do?”

Eve gently lowered the woman to the floor, keeping a hand over the leaking puncture mark. Her pink tube top read “Creampie Cutie” across the front, and Eve briefly made a note that she wanted one like it.

"The wound looks pretty deep; it damaged her stomach and her lung, too.”

On cue, Melody coughed up some blood, staining her shirt and causing her to start choking. “Fuck! What do we do?!” And then Eve remembered how it had felt to exchange energies with her teammates. The invigorating effect of being suffused with color: Melody hadn't been impregnated with a god-child, but Eve was desperate. Turning her to the side slightly, she slowly began to feed her color into Melody.

Minutely, barely a hint of a trickle, almost nothing. Eve started slow, hoping to feel something take place, hoping to sense Melody's body latch onto the power. She increased the output, praying to her Black God that Melody would make it. Melody's eyes fluttered open, and she inhaled wetly before choking again. Eve locked eyes with her, and she burbled, “Mama? Oh…” before coughing up more blood.

Eve was struck by the words. She rang like a massive bell as they crashed into her mind. She was small again, kneeling next to her dying mother, trying to stuff the blood back into her body. "No, nonononono, not you too!”

Melody wheezed as she tried to refocus her eyes. "Mama, it's cold. I…” But that was all she could say.

Eve felt her go limp in her hands. Melody sagged as if being relieved of some tremendous weight. The burden of life slowly bleeding from her body. A small piece of Eve's mind broke. She wasn't sure which piece it was or what it did, but she could feel it break. Like a small auxiliary gear snapping off its spindle. The painted lines on the floor of the decking flared to life; shimmering, pearlescent light washed the ceiling as the lines began to blaze more brightly.

Eve numbly got to her feet, shuffling away from Melody's corpse with the other three women. This was it. The end of Helion and the start of a new age. War would be waged on a scale humanity had never witnessed. Lives would be lost in numbers only dreamed about in fiction. And at the epicenter of that future, Eve stood broken. She'd failed. Not just the mission, but Melody as well.

The women beside her were trying to speak, but there was an electric buzz in the air that made it difficult to hear. The colors on the floor pooled together and began to swirl, twisting into a rainbow vortex that sank below the decking. Once more, Eve had been left with an empty hand; all the cards she'd been dealt had been duds.

Where had it all gone wrong? Probably too many places, the food they'd eaten, letting those women go, saving Cassidy, and speaking with Carmine in the entryway. Maybe. Before then? Moping in the apartment, eating Ronnie's ass? This had been a train wreck running in slow motion ever since Eve took on the job, and no one had stopped it.

But, no, that wasn't right. It had started much earlier. Back when she was still just a child. This had all started when she'd had her life torn away from her. The meaning of joy and happiness had been something more to her than being bent over the hoods of cars by Black men. She had been laughing in the arms of her mother, swaddled in her warmth and scent. Things had always worked out back then, and it all changed the moment those two slimy fucks walked in and took her mother from her.

Every instance of Eve being betrayed, sold out, double-crossed, backstabbed, and lied to had all originated from Whitebois. Even now, just tonight, Mason has sold her out due to the influence of this shitty little cult. The same was true of Ronnie. They'd have never fucking done that if it hadn't been for the influence of these two-bit, lowlife, scum-sucking, pin-dick losers.

Once again, Eve had been on the receiving end of their fucking malice. Their racial jealousy, their indignation, and their refusal to simply learn their fucking place as humanity's toilet. Once again, their arrogance and ineptitude had robbed her of her ambitions, stealing even the smallest scrap of satisfaction she could have had. Them and this stupid fucking God.

Well fine. Let them struggle. Let them prance about as if their efforts had any effect; let them revel in their perversion. Their days were numbered, and for as long as Eve still drew breath, they would never be safe. She was going to kill their fucking God and then shove its stupid, dismembered head onto a fucking stick to parade around the city. She was going to personally use its skull as a shit bucket before drowning the next whiteboi she saw in it.

If they thought they could take even a single other thing from her, then they were past wrong. The other women had slowly stepped away from Eve as she stewed in her anger; she hadn't realized it, but she'd been emitting unrestrained wisps of her color as her rage built. They lashed off her body into the air, curling and dancing like rainbow flames.

Something started to emerge from the color vortex in front of them. Eve couldn't tell what it was at first, but as more of it rose out, she recognized a hand. It was massive, easily 12 feet across, and covered in scars. It slapped down on the platform, and the entire structure groaned. “WHAT THE ACTUAL FUCK IS THAT?!” Cassidy looked at the other girls to see if they were all seeing the same thing.

“LOOKS LIKE IT'S THE HAND OF THE JEALOUS GOD.” Carmine replied easily, as though it were just some average event. Eve piped up before they could continue, “NO, THATS THE HAND OF A VERY FUCKING DEAD GOD.” And she opened fire. Her bullets harmlessly sank into the flesh of its fingers like grains of sand. Barely eliciting a twitch. The wounds instantly healed, and within a few seconds, it was like she'd done nothing at all.

“WOW, YEAH, SUPER DEAD. LOVE THAT FOR US.” Eve glanced over at Cassidy, who wilted under her pressure. “CARMINE, HIT IT WITH A SLUG.” Carmine braced herself and then let off a round. It blew apart the nail of its middle finger, and this time the hand shot back into the widening portal on the floor. Maybe if the damage was more substantial, it wouldn't be able to heal it as quickly.

But those hopes were dashed when the hand reemerged completely whole. It slammed down with more force, sending the women stumbling and snapping two of the support ropes. A second hand started to creep out of the portal, and Eve could see the crest of a balding head beginning to peek out from the horizon line of the pool of swirling color.

“LADIES?! IDEAS?! "HOW DID YOU KILL A GOD?" Eve racked her brain. She had one of these fuckers growing inside her; if anyone was going to know, then it would be the three of them. Jasper finally spoke up, sounding scared and like she wanted to be anywhere other than where they were.

"IT'S OUR COLORS. HAS TO BE. WE NEED TO FIGHT GOD WITH GOD.” Eve mentally smacked her forehead; obviously, it had to be the colors; anything less wouldn't do shit.

“ALRIGHT, FUCK IT UP!” Eve converted all the remaining bullets in her magazine and started picking her shots; Cassidy did the same, and parts of the giant emerging from the pool of liquid light began to flake off and disappear.

Its eyes finally peaked out from the expanding portal, and they locked directly onto Eve; she wasted no time in dumping the rest of her rounds into those massive, multi-colored orbs. The monstrous creature screamed as her ammunition tore apart its eyelids and shredded its eyes. It was too big for her rounds to do more than blind it, but Eve noted with satisfaction that it wasn't healing.

Cassidy was doing massive damage to its arms and hands. Its knuckles exploded, and gaping holes formed in its biceps and forearms as she dumped her magazine as well. The god bled profusely, and its inhuman yelling was becoming louder and more desperate. Jasper stood off to the side, not knowing what to do; her color didn't work the same way as theirs, and feeding her whitebois to it would only serve to deplete her army.

“CARMINE, JASPER, WE'LL INFUSE YOUR AMMO; GET OVER HERE.” Jasper quickly came over to Eve's side, and Eve took the small pistol from her. “ANY OTHER AMMO?” Feeding her color into her gun, Eve exchanged it with another loaded magazine from Jasper before handing that back as well. “YOU'RE GOOD; FIRE UNTIL EMPTY.”

Carmine had rushed to Cassidy, who now held the SPH. There wouldn't be much left for Ammo in it, but Eve was banking on that being their ace-in-the-hole. If Carmine could get some good, clean shots in with that behemoth, the God wouldn't stand a chance. But the God wasn't going to stay put for long.

It had an elbow up on the platform, and the remaining support cables groaned ominously as it began to put its true weight onto the steel grating. “CARMINE, GET UP TO THE CEILING. TRY TO EXPLODE THE HEAD.” Eve swept her eyes over the fallen bodies before she found another rifle lying discarded next to a prone form. She sprinted over to it and snatched it up.

As her hand curled around the stock, she thought she caught a hint of mumbling from the body. Glancing up at the God, she kneeled next to the corpse to see if she could make out the sounds. “I'm so sorry, I'm sorry, I'm so, so sorry, I'm sorry.” Eve flipped up the hood to see Gloria staring blindly off into the distance.

“GLORIA, GET UP! GLORIA, YOU HAVE TO LEAVE! You were being controlled; this isn't your fault." There was a metallic screech as one of the cables snapped, and the entire platform lurched violently. The end closest to Eve dipped steeply toward the surface of the churning water below. The lower tier of the central platform didn't have its own support cables, so if this one fell, they both fell, and the dark waters below would take them.

Gloria tumbled away from Eve, turning and rolling across the steel floor until her ribs impacted one of the railings around the perimeter of the hanging deck. “GLORIA!! SNAP OUT OF IT! GET UP!” The god groaned as more shots tore through its body. Its shoulders and most of its chest protruded from the gate, and now that it was leaning on its elbow, it hauled back its right hand to make a swing across the deck.

“LOOK OUT!!”

Cassidy was the first to react, dashing over to Jasper and bodily hoisting the plush woman over her shoulder. The giant's hand came sweeping across the platform, and Cassidy launched herself over it, straining to make the clearance needed with Jasper on top of her. Eve didn't have anywhere to go, so she rode the angle of the platform down to where Gloria had ended up.

She snagged the railing as she slid through it. She could hear Gloria wheezing and made a last-ditch effort to save her. Taking hold of her arm, Eve yanked her off the steel pole she was clinging to and gently tossed the woman to one of the stable walkways below. “RUN, GLORIA! GET OUT OF HERE!”

The woman didn't move, and Eve ran out of time. The hand fluttered Eve's hair as it passed overhead, and Eve pulled herself back up to stand on the railing. The bodies of the other cultists tumbled past her through the railing, splashing into the dark pool below and rapidly disappearing beneath the swirling surface. More people she couldn't save. The God was leaking thick, techno-colored blood from almost every part of its body. Carmine had dug a hand into the concrete of the roof and lined up her shot. The god must have sensed something was coming, and it put its ruined hand up to block the shot.

Carmine's round blew the limb apart, and bits of finger and palm showered down into the water beneath them. Shatter bone and strands of sinew protruded from the stump of the god's arm. It shrieked like some great dying horror, the sound utterly drowning out every other sound in the massive room.

Eve watched as it shifted its weight onto its damaged arm, getting ready to swing its other arm up at Carmine. “Oh no, you fucking don't!” Eve leaped up onto its shoulder and jammed her gun into its ear, pulling down the trigger and letting the gun rattle until it clicked. The god's response was to roll its massive head to the side, attempting to crush Eve between its ear and its shoulder.

She left the rifle jammed into the bloody hole she'd blown open before hopping back down onto the tilted platform. “C'mon, Carmine, send it home, baby.” Carmine's second shot caught the god in the temple, and Eve watched as its skull expanded oddly in multiple places. The force of the round deformed its bone plates as it ricocheted through the brain material locked inside.

The god grunted before slamming its chin into the grating. Its arms slowly began retracting back down onto the hole as it began to go limp, but before it sank back to wherever it had come from, it spoke into the growing silence for the first time. "Ahhh, to have such power and such prowess. I know you, mortal Eve; the gods know you, first of your kind. I curse you; I spit envy at your feet. I cast my jealousy upon you such that you may never know satisfaction.”

It spoke clearly, despite having been shot through the head. “No meal shall sate you, no water shall quench you, and no smell shall delight you. I curse you to suffer from wanting, and until such a day as you slay another of my kindred, so it shall be.” Eve could feel the pressure on her child—the unbearable weight of a power far greater than hers.

They tried to fight it off, but parts of the curse still managed to set their hooks inside her. She could feel it dig its way into her soul as the head of the dead god slipped back beneath the color.

“WHO SUMMONED YOU?! How many of you are there? Is there a BLACK God?" Eve pushed past the existential weight of the curse to scream at the receding form of the callous God.

It burbled an echoing laugh as its hands slid across the grating. “Your God hates you; it reviles you; suffer with knowing it would kill you if it met you.” And then it was gone.

The swirling colors on the floor began to dim, and the platform swayed lightly as things returned to some state of normalcy. Carmine dropped down from the ceiling and rushed over to Eve. “Eve! Eve, are you ok? What the fuck did it do? Are you hurt?”

Carmine's hands wandered over her body, and she barely felt it. The last words of the banished God were still tumbling through her mind. There was no way that was true; her God would never hate her for living a pious life of worshiping those made in his image.

The jealous God was simply trying to sew chaos and doubt in her heart. As an avatar for the dying race of whites, what else could it do but disrupt happiness wherever it could? With the help of her child, she could feel that most of the effects of the curse had been avoided, but not all. There was a lack of something within her now, something she couldn't identify.

“I'm alright. Tired, but alright. It cursed me somehow; I am not sure what that means yet, but I can feel it. It's still out there somewhere in the aether, probably healing and plotting its return. Our true enemy slipped through our fingers because we weren't prepared. Someone else has figured out how to awaken their child, and we need to track them down. If they're smart, they've already left Helion.”

Carmine looked at her with worry across her face and said, “Babe, slow down. Just... here, come here.” Carmine swept Eve into a firm hug, bundling the smaller woman into a loving embrace, stroking her hair, and kissing the top of her head. "We'll figure this out; one way or another, we'll get this sorted out.”

Eve wished she believed that, but they'd been shut down just about every step of the way. Constantly two steps behind their enemy and scrambling to make progress against them. Defeating the God was a solid win, but it came at a high price as Eve thought of Melody bleeding out in her arms. The other cultists were no longer on the platform, having tumbled off into the waters below before regaining their wits. Gloria was the only remaining survivor, and she was still semi-catatonic on the walkway below.

“We need to go; the City Guard is putting up a perimeter, so we don't have a lot of time.”

Eve nodded against her lover's shoulder and broke away from the hug. “Cas, can you grab Gloria? Jasper, you still got eyes you can use?”

The women both assented, and they began to make their way out of the reservoir. Bodies lay everywhere; blood splattered across the walls and ceiling from the melee.

It didn't take much for them to slink out of the facility, with Jasper and Carmine monitoring the activity. The City Guard hadn't arrived in full force just yet, and their main focus was the destruction in the lobby for the time being. “I've scrubbed us from all the security footage and replaced us with cultists. Not that it'll do much since they were all in the same bed anyway, but it should buy us some time to come up with a plan.”

Carmine looked across the alley at the treatment facility, blocking the morning sun from her eyes with a bloody hand. “Well, at the very least, we don't appear to be anywhere in the commfeeds. Cassidy and I shouldn't have much trouble fading back into society.” Jasper sat on the back of one of her whitebois, looking every part of the exhausted socialite.

“Yeah, you two should still lay low for a while. Carmine and I will keep an eye out for any descriptions of you two and scrub them as they come up. Also, here's your pay for the job; let's just say the ‘danger pay’ on this one was substantial.” Eve nodded at Carmine, and she returned the gesture.

Cassidy laughed, throwing her head back in defiance of the mood. “Always fuckin' knew you'd do right by me, you bitch! I won't have to touch another fuckin’ white slut as long as I live. Well, unless I get that itch, I guess.”

Eve shook her head. “You utterly disgust me, Cassidy. Keep your perverse hobbies to yourself.” This only caused Cassidy to laugh harder.

“You guys need a ride? We need to deliver Gloria back to her home. Helion's going to be in a bit of an uproar for a while, and she's going to be in the middle of it. Don't envy the shit she's going to be going through.”

Cassidy sobbered up at the words, "Yeah... fuck... husband, boyfriend, and ********... I'm sorry about Melody, Eve... we tried.”

Eve shook her head. “This was the fucking cult's fault, not ours. All those walking white corpses are going to pay for this a thousandfold. Fuck the Gods, fuck fate, fuck destiny, and fuck everything else in this universe. I will put an end to their existence if it's the last damn thing I do.” The four of them all nodded together.

Cassidy scratched at the back of her head, “I think I'll take you up on that ride; I'm fuckin' tired, and sitting here waiting for an autotaxi isn't terribly appealing at the moment.”

Jasper raised her hand as she spoke. "Yeah, I wouldn't mind taking you up on that, either.”

Eve patted Carmine's ass, “Alright, ditch your goons and let's get the fuck out of here. Baby, if you would be so kind!”

Carmine kissed Eve on the cheek and affectionately wrapped an arm around her waist. “Already on its way, my love.”

The Percheron was more than a little cozy with all five women in it. Eve elected to remain on the floor, comfortably tucked between Carmine's legs while the others enjoyed the bench seat. “How we doin’ on smokes? I lost my case somewhere in the fighting.”

Carmine shook her head and shrugged, “The packs I had got crushed in the assault on the stairway. I think… yeah, looks like I've got maybe three left that are in somewhat decent shape.” She extracted the mangled pack from the breast pocket of her suit. Eve reached up and took the offered smoke as Carmine presented the devastated pack to Cassidy.

“Nah I'm good, managed to save mine through the whole ordeal. Not sure how, but lady luck was on my side tonight for sure.” Cassidy withdrew an almost pristine pack from her breast pocket.

“Lucky bitch. My vape exploded in the first assault, I'll settle for a Tellmin's but I've been trying to get away from them.” Jasper grumbled as she plucked a mildly bent smoke from Carmine's pack. “I fucking love these things but damn do I ever hate the monopoly they have on the market.”

Eve shrugged at Jasper's consternation, “Once the other companies manage to crack the code on the catalyst it'll be anyone's game; surprised it hasn't happened yet, to be honest. But those corporate dogs can have a nasty bite once they find you sniffing around their secrets.”

Cassidy perked up as she drew in a long breath of neon-blue smoke, “Oh fuck, that reminds me of this stupid corpo-bitch I used to know… Sam? Sammy? Sandra? Fuck something like that, anyway, she was a desk jockey for some kock-off subnet security firm named Gladius Inc or something equally stupid. We would hook up on occasion 'cause she loved cheating on her faggot husband with other women, something about it made the dickless loser even more pathetic in her eyes.”

Cassidy leaned forward as she got more engaged with the story. Eve shifted Gloria's fat ass further into the center of the car to get more comfortable; the woman was semi-conscious but still unresponsive. “Anyway, I'd just got done ruining her tight little cunt one night when she starts telling me about this website she came across, some snuff site hosting all kinds of illegal and shady shit, right? Right, so she does her snooping there-cause she's a sick fuck-and that's when she lands on this fucking dump folder.”

The ladies were all front and center for the tale now. Cassidy dramatically inhaled another long puff from her smoke before continuing. “So this dump file is massive, like terabytes of data, and it's never been touched as far as she can tell, so naturally she starts digging and before long she uncovering usernames tied to real names, cred account numbers, insurance claim numbers, birthdays, commtag info, you name it she's got it at her fingertips, right? For fucking MILLIONS of people.”

The group was hooked and Cassidy was lapping up the attention. “So of course the first thing she does is look for me, right? Like who fucking wouldn't I'm amazing. And she giggles and says ‘I know what you paid for your mods now’ all cutely n’ shit. But then she says she looked for her info and couldn't find it. Not a hint of it. Not even a fucking whisper, right? So like, what the fuck? Right? Millions of folks, find ME, but not a trace of her? Weird, right?”

Cassidy crossed her legs and reclined back into the chair as she continued her story. “Well I thought so too, so I told her to quit her snooping but the little egghead just couldn't leave well enough alone. The next day she goes back and the files are gone, just *poof* gone like a ghost at dawn. Instead, there's JUST a file with her information in it. Where she lives, who she knows, what she does, what she's worth, it's all there, right? And she's calling me about this, all freaked out right? Cause, like, now she knows they've caught her snooping, even though SHE wasn't the one that uploaded the file, right?”

Jasper whistled, “Fuck every last little bit of that. Corpo spooks don't fuck around, they make you disappear so thoroughly it's like you never existed.”

Cassidy pointed and snapped her fingers while taking a drag, “Mhmm yeah yeah! Exactly! Honestly surprised the cunt managed to call me before she got ghosted. Anyway, I told her to get her ass to my place cause then at least I could help her try to dodge whatever was coming right? But she never showed. Not even twenty minutes later I tried calling her number and it didn't exist. Went to her apartment the next day and there was a completely different ****** already moved in. Tried digging up her info anywhere I could look and never managed to find a scrap of it. She just… stopped existing.”

Eve chimed in, “Fuck me sideways… are you fucking with us? Be honest now!”

Cassidy crossed her heart, “I swear to you on my spade I spoke no lie. Thought my number was up a few days later when I noticed a tail on me. Couldn't shake them anyway I tried, but they never jumped me. They just… watched. Everywhere I went they followed until one day they just vanished. Honestly shit myself more during that time than fighting that fucking God.”

She fell into a contemplative silence as she continued to smoke. The rest of the women sat in mildly stunned silence as well, processing the story and its horror until Carmine spoke up, “She never mentioned who the company was that the dump file belonged to, did she?”

Cassidy nodded at that, “Yeah she did, but I had my head between her legs at the time so I can't remember what it was, sorry. America? Amteral? It was Am-something, I think.”

Carmine nodded, clearly running through her vast array of data searching for something matching the description. “Anyway, those big corps can fuck you up in a hurry if you step on their tails, even accidentally. That's why I stuck with the guild and hunted down my buyers for the twinks and sissies I turned out, no chance of getting caught up with suits.”

“Ahhhh, I think I got it, Amterax. Cybernetics and arms manufacturing, four locations across three cities. Looks like their HQ is in Cartafell City, but they've got a branch here in Helion.” Carmine snapped out of her fugue state with a decisive nod. “Probably some tech wizard scooped their shit and dumped it on an unregulated subnet page for the world to do as they pleased with, your bitch just got unlucky. Not surprised they'd have access to that level of information based on how big they are, last quarter they reported two point two trillion in revenue.”

Eve crinkled her eyebrows, “Two point two? How've I never heard of these guys? I'm assuming they deal largely with the city guilds and military?”

Carmine shrugged, “Almost exclusively military contracts with some guild work peppered in. No surprise you hadn't heard their name as they're more a back-end supplier than a distributor, other companies slap their brand on their shit like Qualitec does for their computer chips. Qualitec doesn't manufacture the chips, but that's the only name you ever see on them.”

“If they've got ties to the Guild then I wonder if they might also be funding that fucking Cult? Even tangentially they'd be supporting the hapless fucks.” Eve took another drag from her smoke before flicking the butt out the window.

“Not sure, couldn't dig too deep on them since the risk of having my brain scrambled was too high, all I know is that they're backing the Guild through material deliveries of weapons and body mods. They could be responsible for supplying the material for the implantation of the God-Seed within you girls, but I couldn't say.” Carmine mimicked Eve and flung her butt out the window as well.

“That reminds me, the fucker controlling the cultists on the platform, you said they were outside the building, is there any footage of them?” Eve was contemplating starting another smoke but their dwindling supply argued against her.

Carmine grimaced, “Yeah, you probably aren't going to enjoy this one, babe.” A screen flared to life in Eve's eyes and she watched as a figure ran out of the building only to turn and bring a phone up to their ear. The footage was too grainy and dark to make out who it was, but Eve already had a sinking feeling in her gut. A minute after the first person put the phone up, two others joined them and what looked like a conversation took place.

“Well… fuck me, I guess.” Eve continued watching as Carmine played the footage in reverse, following the trail of the individual back into the building, all the way to the cafeteria where Eve had let her go. “That fucking cunt! She had spades on and everything! Fucking Heretic! If I ever find her I'll personally rip her limb from limb!”

Cassidy and Jasper both looked at one another before Cassidy turned to Eve and interrupted, “Uhhhh, care to share with the rest of the class? What cunt? What the fuck are you talking about?”

Eve sighed as the windows shut, “I bumped into what I thought were some other snowbunnies in the personnel quarters. They weren't snowbunnies and were using the spades as cover to avoid picking up suspicion, which fucking worked.” She pinched the bridge of her nose as the weight of her decision to let them go settled onto her shoulders. “Fuck, I even gave her my fucking name… uggghhhhhh.”

Jasper pursed her lips in thought before turning to Carmine, “I'm assuming you already have the identity of the mystery woman?”

“Yep yep! I sure do! However, I doubt that'll help us as they loaded into a maglev about fifteen minutes ago heading south towards Cartafell City. I could probably derail the train but that would come at a heavy, heavy price.”

Eve shook her head, “No, no. It's fine, we've got their info and where they are headed, we know where the cult is making their next move so I suppose a little road trip is in our future. How about it, ladies? Feel like taking a vacation down to Cartafell with us?”

Both Cassidy and Jasper looked chagrined. Cassidy was the first to shake her head and apologize. “I'm out on this one. There's a lot I want to get done before I go risking my life again, I know how big this is for you, Eve, but I just can't commit to it right now.”

Jasper echoed the sentiment, “I have too much rebuilding to do. Too many bridges to mend, and too many to burn. I helped you out because you tried to warn me before the cult got its claws too deep, but now I have my affairs to sort out. I'm sorry, Eve.”

Eve smiled regretfully, “No, I don't blame you girls one bit. You've done more for me than I ever thought you would. You'll never know how grateful I am to have had you here beside me tonight. If there's ever anything Carmine or I can do for you… please, don't be strangers, alright?” She tried to keep the ache of abandonment out of her voice but it trembled with the effort.

Carmine leaned down and placed a firm kiss on the top of her head before tilting her neck back to place another on her lips, “We've got this, baby. Don't you worry?” Eve was overcome with the desire to be comforted by Carmine's lips and pulled her face back down to deepen the kiss.

Cassidy snorted before sheepishly crossing her legs, “Heh… get a fucking room, you dykes, or share, I don't mind either way.” Her bravado was cut short by Carmine reaching across the seat, snagging a handful of the front of her shirt, and dragging her over to share in an incredibly lusty kiss. Eve whimpered as Carmine was occupied but the kiss didn't last long enough to truly bother her.

“Careful what you wish for, bitch. Don't think just ‘cause you got Big. Strong. Muscles. That I won't fuck you into the afterlife.” Carmine wiped her lips on the back of her hand before releasing Cassidy's shirt and draping her arms back around Eve's shoulders.

“Challenge accepted you robotic slut. I'll take you on any day, any time.” Cassidy was grinning ear to ear as the dark spot in the crotch of her pants continued to widen. Jasper, for her part, simply adjusted her dress and tried her best to pretend she hadn't seen or heard anything.

The rest of the trip back to the Dellenworth estate was relaxing and quiet. The women reflected in silence, occasionally breaking it to ask one question or another. The gate guard that greeted them was Black, and after thoroughly checking the vehicle and confirming the condition of Gloria, allowed them to approach the main building. “Do you think he's called the city guard?” Jasper whispered as the Percheron rolled over the loose stones of the driveway.

“He called them the second the window was up. I intercepted it and played along as the handler so we've got enough time to get out of here before I contact them on behalf of the guard.” Carmine replied simply. The entrance Eve and Carmine had come to earlier was open and lit and the Bitch-Keeper stood observing the car as it rolled up to the crescent.

“She looks pissed, doesn't she look pissed? I think… yeah she looks pissed as hell right now.” Cassidy was right, the resident Bitch-Keeper looked like someone was about to have their throat stomped onto a bed of nails. Her arms were crossed and the tight latex corset that hugged her ludicrously beautiful body shimmered as she tapped a foot on the porch expectantly.

“Shiiiiiit, anyone wanna field this one? Anyone? Carmine? No? It's gonna have to be me… isn't it?” Eve sounded rather desperate as she tried to find a way out of having to address the incredibly angry-looking Goddess. But despite her pleas, not one of the other women in the car seemed at all interested in having that particular wrath directed at them.

“This was your fucking job, you stupid bitch. You get to finish it up.” Cassidy tried to hide her face as much as possible as the car rolled to a stop in front of the porch, hoping the tint on the windows was enough to shield her from the scouring eyes of the divine woman.

“Ah fuck, ok, deep breaths… here we go.” Eve mentally worked herself up before having Carmine pop the door to let her out. Without saying anything she quickly turned and began to haul the delirious Gloria from the back of the car. She could feel the Bitch-Keepers eyes boring a hole through the back of her head and a light sheen of sweat began to pick up across her skin. It unnerved her that the woman remained silent though, she supposed that was also a part of the Queen's skill set.

Throwing one of Gloria's arms around her shoulder she carried the limp woman to the steps of the house, “Excuse me, mistress, could you… perhaps…” but she trailed off as the Goddess simply raised an eyebrow expectantly. Eve swallowed hard and started again. “I a-apologize mistress, I'm returning Gloria from quite an… eventful night… could I be allowed to bring her in? Please?” Eve prayed this was what the woman was looking for in response. There was a moment of further scrutiny before the Amazoness nodded, “Get the bitch into the foyer. Lay her on the seat and then kneel.”

Eve risked a glance back at the car but could see nothing through the tint. Gritting her teeth and steeling her nerves, she stepped up past the Queen and entered through the open door. The mud room on the other side of the threshold was lavish. Deep, rich oaken colors paneled the walls, portraits and paintings hung there, commemorating Charles and his long line of heirs from other families. A long, well-upholstered seat ran the length of the wall to the right and Eve gently laid Gloria down across it before turning back to the door and kneeling as she'd been instructed.

The sure, confident clacking of the Goddess’ heels on the stone floor sent shivers up and down Eve's spine as the door leading back to her car, and freedom, clicked shut. “I'll have my assistant Keeper collect that worthless bitch later, tell me, cunt, where is Charles?” The clacking of the woman's pumps stopped somewhere behind Eve and she began to sweat in earnest.

“He's… w-well he was…” Eve stammered as she desperately tried to think of something that wouldn't sound utterly unhinged. A soft ‘snap’ sounded just behind her ears and she jumped. It sounded very much like a strap of leather being pulled against itself.

“Do not lie to me, girl. Do you realize I've been trained in every art known to humankind to detect deceit? You come to this house drenched in sweat and blood bearing the mother of his soon-to-be-born child and yet he does not return with you? Why is that?” Another snap accompanied the end of her question, more forceful than before.

Carmine wasn't hopping in on this one, and Eve couldn't bring herself to lie to one of her betters. Biting her lip, and closing her eyes, Eve began to explain the events leading to her arriving at the Queen's door. The words tumbled out of her, starting from when she left the Dellenworth estate to when she returned. There were several points where she thought for sure she would feel the crack of leather across her back, but the Bitch-Keeper didn't interrupt her once. Instead, she quietly listened on, standing perfectly still behind Eve the entire time. By the time she reached the conclusion she was almost hysterical with anticipation, expecting to be beaten or dragged off for the loss of such a great man. But it never came.

“That arrogant fool…” was all the woman said.

Eve opened her eyes and stammered, “I-I’m sorry, mistress. I did everything I could, but it wasn't enough.” The tears rolling down her cheeks were heavy and warm and Eve bit her lip to keep from breaking into sobs.

“Keep your regrets to yourself, whore. I didn't ask for them, and I certainly don't fucking need them. The man knew what he was dabbling in, and if he couldn't pull himself out of it then you sure as shit weren't going to do it. I believe your tale, wild as it might be; I didn't once suspect you of lying to me. You might be worthless, but at least you're honest.”

Eve gasped as the relief washed through her system. Endorphins flooded her mind and each breath felt euphoric, the Goddess had believed her, and she was being praised for it, she couldn't have asked for a better result than this.

“Even being honest has its limits, cunt. Don't feel so relieved just yet. I will need to verify what you've told me through independent means. Charles was a great man, but it hadn't escaped my attention that he'd been secreting away for an oddly timed rendezvous or clandestine meeting more frequently of late. Assuming this… cult is indeed planning what you've told me, then you've done a great favor to Helion, and House Dellenworth for expelling their influence from it. As such I will… postpone your judgment about the loss of life.”

Eve swallowed hard. She'd been gliding along a razor's edge and, while it wasn't guaranteed, she had just bought herself a little more freedom. “Until Gloria is well enough to make a public statement, you will not report anything you've just told me to anyone, even if prompted by another of your superiors. Any new information will be directed to me as acting Head of House Dellenworth. If you fail to do this, understand that there will be no hole deep enough to hide from my wrath.”

Eve bowed as low as she could and profusely thanked her Queen. “Good, now get the fuck out of my house and off my property. If I don't hear anything from you within twenty-four hours I will assume you've defected and arrange a Hunt for you. The Dellenworth estate has many means by which to reel in little fish like you, do not test my patience.” With that, Eve started to rise to her feet but the heeled foot of the Goddess came crashing down on her shoulder. “Who in the FUCK said you could stand in my presence, you disgusting pale-skin?! Get back on your hands and knees and crawl out of my site like the filthy gutter trash you are!”

Eve yelped and apologized as she scurried out the door. She didn't risk further offense by standing in the drive, choosing instead to crawl to the car's door which opened at her approach. Inside, all three women laughed and cheered at her undignified return. “Ahhhhahaha oh my god, Eve, you should have seen your fucking face!” Cassidy was practically howling as the door shut behind Eve. “God damn, I'm glad I didn't go in there. I'd have shit myself.” This comment only added to Cassidy's ongoing laughter and caused the rest of the women to redouble their enjoyment of Eve's humiliation.

“Yeah, well, I came out alive after telling a Bitch-Keeper her ****** estate had nearly been annihilated by a jealous God summoned by an insane cult backed by the ******'s head. So, I think that went pretty well, all things considered.” Eve harrumphed as she found her spot back on the floor, enjoying that there was much more space without Gloria sprawled out across it. “Let's get you two dealt with before I end up throwing you through my windows.”

The car started down the drive and Carmine leaned down to kiss the top of Eve's head. “You did great, baby. Super proud of you for handling that like a proper bitch.” The compliment wormed its way through Eve's skull and then directly down her spine to her crotch. The praise Carmine had heaped upon her only deepened her desire to submit to the android. “Oh! I did a little more digging while you were getting your ass chewed out and discovered some interesting things!”

Eve swiveled her head back to look up at the buxom blond, “If this is a lead-up to more humiliation please stop, I am so, so tired.”

Carmine laughed and patted the top of Eve’s head with a gentle hand, “No, no darling, I swear this is for real, promise!”

Eve wasn't sure how much she believed the Android, but she ultimately decided to let it ride and closed her eyes, “Alright, let's hear what you got Hun.”

Carmine went on to explain that she had made an interesting discovery buried within the Guild records; as it happened, Melody had been subjected to the same battery of changes as Eve and the other hunters, only she'd never been submitted for the trials. She'd been pulled out of the Guild immediately after having been implanted with the God-seed. When Eve had asked about the other women who'd been sacrificed, the same result came back. They'd all been impregnated.

“So… the military contractor is supplying equipment and resources to the Guild to implant God-Seeds into hunter candidates so they can either spark the birth of a God or sacrifice them to summon the God they want? Doesn't it seem an awful lot like the cult owns Amterax? At the very least it sounds like they've got someone close to the top of the food chain there. It would make a hell of a lot of sense for them to try to kick-start another war if they own a fucking military contractor company, especially the biggest fucking one.”

Eve marveled at the scale of the operation. Somehow the cult had worked its claws into an incredibly powerful piece of the pie. There was no telling how widespread their network could be with access to that sort of reach. “Right? Like, I could see it just being some backyard coo-coo but this is, like, fucking crazy.” Carmine seemed to share her opinion.

“You don't think you could take them down internally? Cripple their intranet? Erase their accounts? FUBAR their systems and bankrupt the company?” Eve was genuinely hopeful but Carmine shot it down.

“Wish I could babes, but they wouldn't be top dog if they didn't know what they were about. Most of their data is kept off-loop in secure bunker facilities under their HQ not to mention the small army of tech wizards on staff 24/7. It was a bit spooky getting the info I do have because they were on me like Kings on pussy as soon as I linked up. If we're going after them, we're gonna have to nuke their bunkers from within the bunkers, you know?”

Eve bit her lip as she thought, “Could we send in a splinter of yourself? Fraction off a bit of your mind and have it scurry into their air ducts on the back of a rat or something?” Carmine laughed at this idea, letting Eve know that even if they could do that, their passive scanning network would demolish it as soon as it stepped through the geo-gate. “So that's it then? We're fucked? Are you telling me we need to raid an impenetrable fortress just to deal a significant blow to a cult that may or may not exist in other cities as well? Fuck sakes…”

Carmine hummed on the other end, “Hmmm not necessarily. If we bring down the power grid, most, if not all, of their systems go into reserve. Critical systems are maintained, but passive features like their data scanning are shunted into physical staff screening to conserve their generators. Hitting the power grid hard enough to knock the entire thing out for their facilities will impact the rest of the city, but I think in this case going a few weeks without power might be the smallest of the citizens' concerns.”

Eve had to agree, lopping the head off of this hydra wasn't going to get any easier as they worked their way into ever-higher positions. The fact that it was being spearheaded by Black men and women churned her insides, but to avoid a vast and cruel war, this was the only course she had available to her. It was the only way she could see to resolve the terror of potentially losing millions of Black lives needlessly. “See if you can't work out a plan on how to effectively cripple Cartafell’s grid. Network out and see if there aren't any Hunters in the city that have been working cases similar to ours, if there are some Hunters brushing shoulders with the Cult they may potentially be allies in waiting.”

Eve turned to the other two women in the car who were already immersed in their comments, “Were either of you two listening?” Eve gave them a flat look.

Cassidy didn't turn to acknowledge the question, choosing instead to respond while staring out into the middle distance as she scanned a screen in her eye, “Of course, we heard you, bitch. We're not deaf. I've got two girls currently working out of Cartafell, old partners from my days as a Merc. I'm gonna see if they've had any run-ins with the cult there.”

Jasper had a more robust network of connections, but a lot of it had been compromised by the Guild so she was sifting through a sea of contacts looking for the few remaining who could be trusted. “Hey Jasper, I've been wondering. Since your eyes are like… that now, how does your commtag work? Aren't you blind? Do the screens still show up?”

Jasper screwed up her face, “From what I've been able to work out, this damn color is just covering my eyes like a blackout lens. They still work fine, I just can't see past the color at all. It's so fucking annoying, you two got your colors and weren't crippled at all. Meanwhile, I can't see shit unless it's through someone else. Horseshit.”

Cassidy interjected, “Couldn't you pair a hi-rez lapel cam to your commtag and feed the video to a screen? There are some fantastic discreet gimbal mounts now for micro cameras. They allow eye-tracked movement and stabilization to reduce motion sickness. Recommend looking into them.” Eve and Jasper both studied Cassidy as she continued to scroll through her contacts. “What? Why are you staring at me like that? I fuckin' like the camera's ok? I've always liked taking pictures and videos of shit, don't make it weird!”

The ladies sat in stunned silence for a moment before Jasper replied with a simple, “I'll look into that, Cas. Thanks.” A small smile spread across Cassidy's face as she continued to browse her contacts. The car lapsed into a comfortable quiet and Eve peered out the window at the passing buildings. Most infrastructure had taken on the post-war brutality of practicality, built of stone and concrete. Steel shutters hung over and beside windows, and blast doors without glass inserts made it difficult to see inside of apartment lobbies and boutiques. Everything in Helion had felt cold and distant to Eve from a young age, and it was due in part to the squat, inelegantly designed tombstones that had sprung up from the craters.

Neon signs and Edison-bulb-filled billboards advertised what lay beyond the thick steel and listless gray concrete. But it was all window dressing, lipstick on a pig. Helion was an ugly city full of ugly people and ugly business, and all the same, watching the street lights pass by, tinted pink with the morning sun, relaxed Eve in a way she couldn't quite explain.

“Ah! Here we go!” Cassidy exclaimed. Eve pulled her attention around, expecting Cassidy to say more. “Knew I had this bitch in my contacts still. I'll shoot her a message and see what's up, assuming she's still alive, that is.” She hummed as she internally typed out a text to her ex-teammate.

“I thought you had a couple of contacts there?” Eve questioned.

Cassidy smiled sadly. “Melena is dead. Took an axe to the back of the neck after accidentally discharging her pistol into the groin of a black man she was escorting through the slums. The obit popped on her commtag entry when I opened it to message her. Tragic loss, she knew her shit. Recent, too. Just two days ago, actually.”

Carmine butted in, “Melena Cortez? 5’6”, black hair, birthmark under her right eye? Sound right?” Cassidy nodded, slightly shocked by Carmine's intrusion. “I'm digging through the City Guard report and there's virtually no consistency here. The man supposedly shot was discharged from the hospital not two hours after being admitted, Melena's weapon was never collected or tested, and witnesses at the scene testified that a gunshot was heard but at the time Melena was facing away from the man. By all recorded evidence, Melena pleaded innocent the entire time up to her execution.”

Cassidy’s mouth fell open as Carmine continued. "Not just that, but the metadata from Melena's commtag indicated she'd worked a string of jobs from the city's bounty board concerning the ritual killings taking place… pretty safe to say she brushed a little too close to the sun and had her wings burned…”

Cassidy shook, clenching her jaw and flexing her fist against her thigh. “Those fucking pricks. Those dirty, rotten, fucking losers!”

Eve placed her hand on Cassidy's shaking fist, “We're gonna get ‘em, Cas. We're gonna fuck ‘em all up. Bet on it.” Cassidy looked down at the hand and then to Eve's eyes. Eve forced as much sincerity and bravado into her look as she could, hoping it would help to bolster her words of encouragement.

“You're fuckin’ right we will. I'm gonna spend some time combing through my old hookups to see if I can put some kind of team together, need some real badasses on our side and luckily those are the only kinds of friends I keep. We're gonna hit ‘em so fuckin' hard they won't know which God to pray to.” The animalistic grin that spread across Cassidy's face caused a light chill to pass over Eve's skin.

“She's alive, by the way. That other girl you were sending a message to. Not sure for how much longer since it looks like she just recently picked up Melena's trail. Might want to get news to her of what she's gotten herself into.” Carmine was digging through streams of data as she spoke.

“Alright, I'll send Lexa the warning. Any luck, Jasper?”

The blind woman turned to regard Cassidy and the group. “Three women, two have responded, one had their obit pop like Melena. Hers was posted three days ago, so it looks like the cult is picking up steam in Cartafell. I'll get the word to them and pray they're as smart as I remember them being. I've got other contacts spread through various cities. I'll spend some time reaching out to all of them and follow Cas’s lead together with some kind of team we can leverage against the cult. Might take me a while though.”

Cassidy nodded at that before turning back to Eve and Carmine, “Yeah, let us handle things on this side, you two can worry about pulling Cartafell out of the fire. No doubt the roots of this bitch have spread far and wide so we'll have to deal with splinter cells all over the continent.” Eve chewed her lip. Not having Jasper and Cassidy with her scared her, especially with everything they'd gone through.

“I've let Lexa know to lay low and to expect you two within the next few days, she's at a bit of a loss on what to do but after Melena went down she's scared and eager for help. She's a good person, Eve; I worked at her back and in her bed for years and she never did me wrong. She's a straight shooter and has a thing for crotch rockets. Doesn't look half bad in leather, either.”

“What a sparkling review. Let me guess, you spent all that time in her bed with her on top, right?”

Eve was flippant, but Cassidy rolled with the comment. “Let's just say she's a big fan of having handlebars in her hands. Besides, unlike a certain someone, most of us are capable of doing both topping and bottoming. If you ever do anything other than catch for Carmine then we'll celebrate your graduation to something other than a fucksleeve.”

Jasper coughed into her hand, trying to avoid openly laughing at the remark. Eve stuttered as she attempted to salvage some small fraction of her dignity, “Y-yeah… w-well I can top! I just… it's cause I'm so used to fucking Black Kings! I've topped plenty of people!” The look on Cassidy's face was both incredulous and sympathetic. After Eve had crawled out of the Dellenworth home on her hands and knees it was impossible to recover any sort of authority when it came to sexual dynamics.

“Let's face it, Eve, if I told you to eat my pussy right now you'd fuckin’ do it. There's nothing wrong with being a bitch. Hell, it's honestly a fantastic thing for a bunny like you, but let's call a spade a spade here, alright?” Cassidy shook her head as she negated Eve's claim and went back to scrolling her Commtag. Eve's cheeks burned at the accusation but no matter how hard she tried she couldn't find a reasonable rebuttal to it.

“Speaking of which, get to it.” Cassidy casually unbuckled her slacks and slid them around her thighs, spreading her legs to reveal a cleanly waxed slit. The folds of her labia glistened with the accumulated wetness of arousal. “Watching you scuttle out of that mansion like a kicked dog will not be incredibly hot to me.”

Eve looked back up at Carmine who simply shrugged, “You are a bitch, my love. I'm not going to sit here and try to defend honor you don't have. Plus watching you eat out another woman is hot so I don't know why I'd try to stop it.”

Eve turned back to Cassidy, “Are you serious? Right now? After what you just said to me?”

Cassidy laughed and started rubbing her clit, “As if you have any self-respect, get over here and make me cum.” Eve chewed her lip in frustration, but the humiliation and desire to lap up all of the delicious juice liberally coating Cassidy's fingers was overwhelming. Typically, vaginal implants like the kind Cassidy had produced a candy-like lubricant. It was sweet and succulent on the tongue, it also had a mild amphetamine laced throughout to stimulate, heightened sexual arousal during foreplay and sex.

Begrudgingly, Eve slid across the floor in front of the bench seat and up between Cassidy's legs. The woman brushed her two fingers across the entirety of her pussy before sliding them between Eve's lips. The action instantly had Eve in the mood to suck, and she began to work her tongue along the length of both fingers, gently sucking and slurping on them before Cassidy extracted them and used that hand to pull Eve's head into her crotch.

The sweet, floral scent of strawberry filled Eve's nose as she buried her face into the full length of Cassidy's pussy. One big, long lick up the center of her slit with the broad side of Eve's tongue and the aphrodisiac effect of the synth-lube slammed into her bloodstream. Her eyes dilated as the carnal lust for Cassidy's body ramped up; Cassidy moaned softly as she pressed Eve's head more firmly into her pubic mound. Eve became more ravenous with her licks, interchanging between concentrated attacks on Cassidy's clit, and working her tongue and fingers into her wet fuckhole.

“That's it, bitch, get in there… ah! Nice and… mhmmmmm deep with it… yeah just like that, right there!” Cassidy's fingers curled into Eve's hair as she began to buck her hips slowly against Eve's face. Eve could hear both Carmine and Jasper masturbating as well now, and her desire escalated as she stuffed her free hand down her pants. “Ah fuck… oh! Shiiiit you're good at… ah! That!” Cassidy had a hand on her breast, kneading it roughly as she ground her hips against Eve's face.

Eve curled her fingers up as though trying to beckon the orgasm out of Cassidy, gently coaxing her g-spot as her tongue rolled over her swollen clit relentlessly. “Oooo-fuck, ohhhhhh! Yes, yes! Right. Fucking…. Ahhhhhhh” Cassidy came, clamping her thighs down on the sides of Eve's head. Her hips sprang off the bench seat of the Percheron and brought Eve with them. Eve rode out Cassidy's climax by expertly teasing and stimulating her pussy, riding the line between overwhelming Cassidy, and coaxing her into a follow-up orgasm.

“Wha- ohhh what are you! Doing?! Oh fuck?!” A torrent of squirt washed over Eve's chin as Cassidy was slammed by an involuntary climax, Cassidy squealed as her legs began to shake violently from the excruciating pleasure. The spasms caused her legs to lock down on Eve's skull so hard that she started to hear the bone around her ears creak in distress.

Cassidy flopped wildly as the shockwaves rippled through her body, finally releasing Eve to tumble back onto the floor. Cassidy collapsed and panted heavily as she tried to gather her thoughts. “Eve, come-” Carmine began to call to Eve but Jasper cut her off.

“Ohhhhh no, it's my turn, that cunt belongs to you so you get to use her whenever. I get next. Get over here you filthy slut.” Carmine pouted but never once removed her fingers from her pussy. Eve panted as she drew her sleeve across her chin, wiping away the copious amounts of squirt that now soaked the front of her suit. Jasper pulled the hem of her dress over her knee to reveal the tight, thin line of her sex.

Where Cassidy had large, plush labial folds, Jasper had none, instead a slick, razor-thin gash terminating in a small dot on top was all that marked her femininity. Eve was very familiar with this particular pussy. It had commanded a large chunk of her time for a brief period and she'd been made to service it as the end of a gun on more than one occasion. She approached Jasper warily, the raw emotions of having spent such tender and intimate moments buried between this woman's legs played front and center in her mind.

But Jasper's face was nothing but kind, the light in her eyes reflected nothing but primal lust and a desperate, hungry need to be satisfied. There was no malice in the swirling colors, there was no desire for pain and violence. Instead, Eve could almost make out the barest hints of a faintly blooming love. It pulsed silently in the fabric of their powers. She could feel it, just beneath the surface of their awareness, a link that had formed between all three of the women. Umbilical bonds between them that carried the compassion and genuine heartfelt love of partners and soulmates.

For all the sharp remarks, humiliation, and name-calling. Eve could recognize that throughout the night's events or, perhaps, even earlier, a much deeper bond of love had developed within them. In that moment Eve knew that she could put her life in their hands without hesitation and they would not mishandle it. She could truly, deeply, intimately trust them with her very soul and it would not burn her. She stared up at Jasper, wonder and awe momentarily stunning her as the true scope of the emotional connection dawned on her.

Her link to the women surged and both Jasper and Cassidy gasped as it crashed into them. Cassidy twitched and another jet of squirt gushed from between her legs. She grunted and moaned as the pleasure of their link hammered her mind like a gong. Jasper's legs slammed shut and she balled her fists into her dress as a sustained orgasm overtook her already-aroused body. Eve lost herself in the tide of new emotion, hope, and desire swirling within her heart to blot out all thoughts she may have had.

She shuffled down the line and forced Jasper's shaking legs apart, diving between them as they snapped shut against her ears like a Venus flytrap. She assaulted Jasper's dripping cunt as though it were her last meal on earth. She devoured Jasper, worshiped her, and lavished her with every possible stimulation she could remember. Words ceased to hold meaning as Cassidy's aphrodisiac began to fully take hold of her nervous system.

At some point Carmine had come up behind her and removed her pants, she wasn't sure when, nor did she care; Jasper's grunts and subhuman moans were the only things Eve could focus on. Carmine began to work on Eve, raising her hips slightly so that she could sit on Carmine's face. After that, time joined language is becoming meaningless. The women's bodies fused and disconnected, bare skin and sweat, moans and howls, lips and fingers and teeth.

Eve only started coming back to herself when the car slowed and came to a stop, the rear door opened and two filthy Black Kings climbed in, further cramping the struggling Percheron. Eve didn't care, she threw herself at the first one. Feverishly working on undoing the knot in the shoestring holding up the torn and dirty sweatpants the God was wearing. She gave up and simply tore the small string from his body, letting the crusty sweats drop to the floor and revealing a gorgeous unwashed God-cock.

She looked up into the beautiful man's deep brown eyes as she tucked her head under his prodigious shaft, the putrid stench of weeks-old piss and cum caused her eyes to water as she began to tongue-wash the base of his cock. He grunted and turned his head to see Jasper busily bobbing her head up and down the length of the other man's cock, Cassidy’s face buried in his ass crack. He cooed and stooped over Eve, grabbing hold of Jasper's hips and swinging them up so that he could eat her out from behind.

Eve began to work her way up the length of his rod, licking and slurping and kissing as she came to his foreskin. Peeling it back with her lips she plunged it into her mouth; he was fully hard and she had to fight to fit his girth. It took 3 solid thrusts but by the third her throat gave in and accepted his bulbous head. It stretched her throat as she worked it down further and further until her nose came to rest in the thick bush on his pelvis. The taste was otherworldly; it was bitter and salty with an overwhelming musk of testosterone and sweat. It was so intense that the moment his pubic hair brushed against the tip of her nose her brain switched off.

There was no more Eve, no more cult, no more Guild, no more Helion. All that remained was a fuckdoll with a set of wet holes that this majestic King was going to ruin in the back of her car. The joy she experienced as the man's cock began to pump in and out of her throat was unparalleled, surrounded by women she loved and that loved her. Being put to use servicing such a perfect man… nothing else in the universe mattered at that moment. Eve wrapped her arms around his hips and used them as leverage to pull her skull down the length of his cock, letting it ram down her throat as he began to match her motions and fuck her face.

Eventually, the man put Jasper down and pushed Eve off his cock with a weathered hand. He lined her up and then slid the full length of himself inside her. Jasper groaned like a beast as he entered her, cumming the moment his hips connected with her ass cheeks. Eve lifted herself off of Carmine's face to chase after the man as he moved, swinging around his back to stuff her face into his ass. It reeked of death and rot but Eve dutifully serviced the man to the best of her ability.

Cassidy was face to face with Jasper, sloppily kissing as the King she'd been rimming just moments before stuffed her with his hard cock. Carmine wrapped herself around the man Eve was servicing and began to make out with him as he hammered Jasper's pussy. Eve could feel the powerful impacts as she strained to keep herself wedged against his asshole, both Jasper and Cassidy were in a near-constant state of orgasm and they moaned and grunted into each other's mouths.

Eve disappeared into the pleasure, letting everything go as the two men repeatedly used the women as disposable cumdumps. At some point, she was dimly aware that a third man joined them, but the swarm of bodies and naked skin had become such a smeared blur of sweat and cum that she barely noticed. The two homeless Kings left, another joined, and the car drove on. More left and joined, Eve fucked and sucked and licked and kissed in a trance of pleasure and filth. By the time the last man stepped out of the Percheron Eve lay sprawled on the defiled carpet thoroughly coated with thick globs of rapidly drying cum.

Her gaped and raw pussy slowly leaked dozens of loads worth of superior black seed onto the floor of the car. Jasper and Cassidy were strewn across the bench seats, semi-coherent as they panted and twitched. Carmine came out in the best condition, unable to truly feel exhausted; she sat next to Eve, gently stroking her cum soaked hair as she smoked one of their last Tellmin's. The sun hovered high in the sky as the car navigated the streets of Helion. Cassidy grunted as another orgasm swept over her body and a thick stream of heavy white cum jetted out of her abused asshole, coating her ass cheek and splattering down the seat.

“Gimmedat.” Eve burbled a command to Carmine as she licked a particularly thick rope of cum from her lips.

“No. You'll just get the filter soggy if I give it to you, use Jasper's vape.” Carmine turned her nose up at Eve as she happily puffed on the cigarette. Eve whimpered as she tried to roll over, the energy required to do so seemingly impossible to conjure.

“Wuttime sssss whe-urp-whererwe” Eve burped, feeling the stomach full of cum she was currently digesting still settling in her guts. The entire interior of the car stank of sex, Slix, and smoke and Eve had never in her life been more content.

“We fucked for four hours. It's mid-morning now. We're on our way to Cassidy's place to drop her off.” Carmine's matter-of-fact responses comforted Eve; they were quiet, and simple, and didn't require her to think. The fact Carmine could Intuit what she was asking amazed her and simultaneously served to deepen her love for the android.

“Ilubyuo. I love you. Mhmm Carmine, I love you, I love you. Come come come come.” Eve motioned for Carmine to kiss her and Carmine obliged. It was soft, as tender as kisses could be. The slow, yearning passion of two people hopelessly in love with one another. It was a kiss meant to convey every unspoken feeling they held for one another. Carmine broke away and leaned over Eve, rustling through Cassidy's clothes to find her pack of smokes.

Miraculously it had once again survived the scuffle inside the car completely unscathed. “Here, you can have this one.” Carmine lit one with her cigarette and then gently placed it in Eve's mouth. Eve sucked back on the smoke, closing her eyes and letting the scent and flavor mix with the cum and piss lingering on her tongue. It was “spirit melon” flavored, not her favorite but pleasant nonetheless.

“We'll drop off Cassidy and Jasper and then head back to your apartment. We need to straighten up before we catch our maglev out of town. Should give you a chance to wash up and catch a few hours of sleep, I know you need it.” Eve hummed in response at the thought of finally sleeping. A warm bed, the arms of her lover, the quiet of slumber. “We'll stop by to see Micheal before we ditch the city since you need to replace your Deckland and I need to get some minor repair work done. After that, it's a 6-hour maglev trip to Cartafell.”

Eve brought a hand up and mushed it against Carmine's lips, “shhhhh shh shh, no shop-talk now. Just talk about how much you love me and want to marry me.”

Carmine rolled her eyes as she took another drag of her smoke. “Talk about narcissism!” But she smiled and then giggled as she finished her smoke and tossed it out the window. “Well, it's gonna be a real short talk if that's all you want me to say!” Eve pouted and slapped Carmine's thigh, “Alright! Alright… you're going to regret asking me to extol your virtues, cause I won't stop will we hit Cartafell.”

Fin.