Freezing Shadows, Chapter 31

Chapter 31: Morning After

“That’s right, Ricki. You’re being such a good girl for me right now.”

A moan was the only answer I got as I clasped one hand around her throat, just tight enough for the technomancer to feel like I was choking her, but not so much that I was actually cutting off her air. You had to ease into that kind of play, so you knew where people’s limits were. Not that Ricki cared about that at the moment, as her eyes looked into mine, my hand forcing her head down into the pillow, as the other held her bound wrists above her head, where the bed met the wall.

At some point, out of desire or simply reflex, her legs had locked around my back, welcoming me as I sank into her with my full length into her. Her hips rolled up to meet mine, hungrily, taking everything that I had to give and begging for more. Not that I was complaining, of course.

Ricki had been vacillating between clingy and standoffish the whole way back to base. Not that I blamed her. We saw plenty of that behavior, back in the beta. Women who might not know any men in real life, save those they were directly related to, being thrown into groups with men doing things more like what pre-Plague movies showed them doing, rather than being kept and coddled as they were now? That had a psychological impact. Women starved for male attachments of any kind found themselves latching on to the guys around them. Wasn’t always romantic, or even sexual, but you definitely saw a lot of it. Even the ‘alphabet girls’, as some called them, fell into that trap.

Like I said, it wasn’t a romantic or sexual thing, but rather just a realization of something they had been missing. Take someone who had never had anything but processed meat-flavored analogues, and serve them up a nice, juicy steak? Or even just a bacon cheeseburger? Same idea. Just having guys around changed the dynamic that most of the players were used to in ways they weren’t prepared for.

That was part of the reason the girls on my team had been so eager to jump into bed with me, naturally. Speaking of which, the girls had wanted to join me, after the whole ‘fighting a dragon’ thing, followed by ‘ambushed by a corpsec kill team’ thing, but they understood when I said no, not tonight. Last night was Ricki’s night, since she was finally being honest with herself. Which is why she was still wearing her own handcuffs this morning, as I relieved my morning wood with her.

Ricki shuddered under me, enjoying her own climax as I unloaded into her, and eagerly kissed me when I brought my lips to hers. “Oh, wow,” she gasped. “I didn’t think I’d ever wake up to something like this.”

“Then I have something else to offer you, Ricki,” I grinned, as I slid out of her so I could get to the bedside table. Reaching into the drawer, I pulled out a box that the technomancer recognized immediately. After all, Sonya had bought one for herself after our first run, and I’d given a similar box to Sally after she became my personal little kitten. Selina and Mary didn’t get one, because they weren’t interested in that kind of relationship, even if they were enthusiastic participants in my harem (by their own words). But I had a feeling that Ricki would want one, when she eventually admitted her feelings, so I’d prepared one for her.

Ricki’s breath caught in her throat as she looked at the box, and then at me. I opened the box, showing her the collar and plug inside. Identical to the ones that Sonya and Sally had, down to the color of the gem on the butt plug. “I think you know you want this, now, Ricki,” I said, softly, but firmly. I was going for ‘gentle command’, guiding her to this, rather than forcing her. She was still a bit tsundere, after all, though I figured she would settle into more of a brat, in time. However, she would definitely rebel if I tried to break her, rather than tame her, and if she did break, then she would probably be worthless as part of the team. So, going for the ‘tamed’ brat, it was. “You want this, but I want you to say it. Be a good girl and tell me what you want.”

I could see the emotions running across Ricki’s face as I said that line. Honestly, I’d have to thank Mary for sharing the technomancer’s browsing history with me. She might act tough, but I’d seen the kind of porn she had been ‘enjoying’. I could see her wavering, on the border of giving in. But one last touch should push it over the edge.

“Be honest with yourself, pet. You want this. With your skills, you could have easily wiped your browsing history, or viewed your ‘private films’ in the sanctity of your own head. But you chose to do it on the building node, and not hide it. You wanted to be found out. You want this. Now, be a good girl and say it.”

The technomancer gulped, her brown eyes focused on mine. She took a breath, and then said, “M-Master, please collar me.”

“Good girl,” I said, as I slid the silver collar around her throat, letting the nanites go to work as it sealed the thing shut, making the collar a permanent addition to her outfit. “That’s a good girl. Now, turn over, and stick that pretty ass in the air, so I can give you the rest of your reward.”

Blushing furiously, the half-Japanese, half-Latina girl turned over, getting on all fours before lowering her upper half until her shoulders touched the sheets. When I told her to spread her cheeks, she obediently reached back and spread them for me. She moaned slightly as I pressed the cool metal of the plug against her back door, and then firmly and gently forced it in.

“Good girl,” I said, again, before smacking her lightly on the ass as I got out of bed. I pulled on a bathrobe before looking back at her, and grinned. “You can get dressed, if you want, but I know the others would be very happy to see you matching Sonya. No pressure, for now.” The panicked look on her face was priceless, but I managed not to laugh as I stepped out into the living area.

The living area of our base was set up with six bedrooms around a central common area or living room, with a full kitchen attached. Each bedroom had a small half-bathroom, with just a sink and toilet, so no one had to wait for the important stuff. However, since we were all basically a polycule, if not an outright harem at this point, there was a communal shower area. We’d all seen each other naked, more or less, by this point, so there wasn’t any reason to worry about things like that, and it did help bring the whole ‘team’ thing into focus.

“So, how was it, Master?” Sonya spotted me as I stepped out of the bedroom. She was wearing her normal ‘around the house’ outfit of a smile and nothing else save her collar and her plug. I hadn’t ordered her to do it, but I certainly wasn’t complaining.

“Well, let’s just say that our fight out in Redmond gave her a bit of a wake-up call, and forced her to realize a couple things about herself. As for what you were really asking, I enjoyed her quite a bit, and will in the future, too.”

“Nyan!” Sally meowed as she moved on all fours to rub against my leg like the naked catgirl she was. She had her collar and plug on, as well, but she didn’t want, or need, to be the typical submissive. Instead, she was my housecat, with all the good and bad that implied. “Did you give her the box, Master?”

“Yes, I did. And she accepted. As for whether she’s ready, or willing, to go as far as you two just yet is up to her. You might go and check on her, though. Welcome her to the family, and all.”

“Sounds good, Master,” Sonya nodded. “Oh, if you’re headed to the shower, Selina just went in. Mary’s over in the kitchen, working on breakfast. Don’t worry, she’s making enough for everyone.”

“Excellent,” I nodded, before walking to the coffee table where I’d left my commlink last night after we got back. “I’m just going to take care of something real quick, before I go take a shower.”

“Looking to get info on who set us up?”

“Yeah, though I doubt we’ll be able to get anything on it right away. Anyone taking a swing at a dragon won’t make it easy to find them. But I’ll call Alisha, and set things in motion.”

“Nya! Master, before you do that, you should check your status. We got our Karma reward for that run. Way more than the last one! In fact, it matched both our previous runs combined.”

Shadow Record

Name

Mirikon Mollen

Alias

Iceblade

Metatype

Elf

Archetype

Combat Mage

Karma / Karma Spent

16 / 8

NuCred

197883

Street Cred

2

Notoriety

1

Public Awareness

1

A quick look confirmed what I already suspected. “Yeah, surviving all of that, and coming out without anyone dying, or even having a bunch of people in the hospital or getting a whole ton of property damage all over the place? That’s bonus karma, right there. Especially when a dragon is involved. Survive an angry dragon, and you’re getting rewarded for it.”

“Oh, really? Good to know! Nya! Come on, Sonya, let’s go greet our new ‘sister’!” Sally grinned, and began padding off to the bedroom I’d just came out of. Sonya just grinned, and followed her, shaking her head.

I admired the view as the two stalked off, but before I got distracted and spent some time petting my pussycat or rewarding my Latina juggernaut, I turned away so I could deal with the commlink, and hopefully get some answers. Alisha might not be a matrix phenom anymore, but she still had friends in all sorts of places, which was what made her a good fixer. So, it was time to make a call.

“What ya want?”

I grinned, hearing the same words and tone as the first time I’d talked to her, in game. “Hello, Alisha. Need a bit of information. Not time critical.”

“Uh-huh. I know that tone. Especially with you going straight to my name. You’ve been naughty, haven’t you, Icy? What did you do?”

“Job took us across the sound, and ended in Redmond. Mixsanto company man doing a hit on a Mixsanto executive. Smelled like a setup from the jump, and it was. Not only did they have a kill team waiting for us in Redmond, but the exec we were supposed to hit turned out to be very much not a metahuman, which wasn’t in our brief.”

“Oh, so the mess over in Redmond was you, hmm? From what I’ve heard, there was all kinds of heavy weapons in play. People said a couple of the corpsec were clearly hit by a cannon.”

“They were. Like I said, we knew we were going into a trap, but couldn’t exactly run without taking a big hit to our rep. And we don’t have enough of a rep to take that kind of hit just yet. So, we went in ready to rumble.”

“So, what was this about a dragon? Like, an actual dragon?”

“Yes. Actual dragon. Not one of the Big Ones, but definitely a dragon. Still was walking around as a person, until he decided to take offense to our hitting his house.”

“Aw, fuck. That’s just fucking great, Icy. What happened? Anyone go down?”

“No, but not because of any brilliance on our part. We were prepped for a trap, and the ward told us there was likely to be a mage about, so we had the good toys with the really good ammo, the kind you like to rip through armor with. Couple people got fucked up, but nothing we couldn’t walk away from. And, before you ask, we didn’t go trophy hunting. Moment the dragon was down, and not between us and our boat, we got out of there.”

“Well, at least you aren’t a complete idiot. Still, a dragon? Fuck. What kind of information do you need?”

“I’d like the name of whoever actually ordered the hit, not the cut outs, and then I’ll decide whether or not I need to explain my grievances to them.”

“Hmm. It’ll take some time. I’ll need to call in some favors if I’m going to do this quietly. Ones that weren’t cheap to come by.”

“What do you need?”

“Come by the Hades Club tonight, 8PM, and bring your team. There’s a more personal job I need handled. And it’ll probably get you out of the sprawl for a few days, too.”

“We’ll be there. Thanks, Alisha.”

“Don’t thank me yet. This job isn’t going to be a fun one.”