Asher's Futa Chronicles

Chapter 21

ASHER

"Tell Fia that I'm going in," Cr'eon said to Kehl as she passed by him at the desk and pushed her way through the double doors towards the training room.

"Of...of course," Kehl stammered and hurried into the back office.

"Is that a Daemon?" I heard someone whisper.

While the people who lived and worked here had gotten used to Cr'eon's presence, we still had a lot of travelers who passed through. They were always shocked to see a Daemon in the flesh. I could understand. It wasn't every day you got to see a fabled legend walking around.

We stopped, halfway down the stairs, and Cr'eon touched a side wall. Immediately, the outline of a door blazed to life before opening inward.

"What the?" I started. In all the times we'd been down to the training room, I'd never seen anything other than the smooth stone walls of the stairwell.

Cr'eon disappeared inside, and Remmi and I hurried to catch up.

"What is this place?" I asked once the door was shut behind us.

"This is the armory," Cr'eon said as the lights in the room came up, revealing a shockingly similar room to the one Remmi and I'd first received our armor back at the outpost.

Row after row of armor and weapons filled the room with the familiar style of the Guardians.

"Whoa," Remmi said, then whistled.

I stepped forward and ran my hand across the smooth surface of the sleek armor with an envious grin.

"What is all this?" Remmi asked.

"This is the Daemon armory," Cr'eon said. "Only Daemons have access to it."

"Guardians don't have access?" I asked.

"No, only Daemons," Cr'eon repeated. "Ignore that crap," she said when she saw me touching the armor.

"Crap?" Remmi said. "This is the same stuff we've been wearing."

"Exactly," Cr'eon said. "And where'd that get you?"

I glanced at Remmi.

"She's got a point," I said.

Remmi shrugged, and we followed Cr'eon deeper into the room.

"Do you think we should leave Mr. high and mighty and his army of goons up there by themselves?" I asked.

"Before you do anything, you need to look like Guardians," Cr'eon said. "Putner may have acted differently had you been prepared."

"I somehow doubt it," Remmi muttered.

"You may be right," Cr'eon said and nodded. "But I have Miranda keeping an eye on them regardless."

I looked around, expecting the steward to appear at the mention of her name. Cr'eon saw me and spoke up.

"Miranda is not allowed in here. Not unless she's specifically asked for," Cr'eon said. "Here we are."

Cr'eon had stopped in front of a series of large black lockers. Each one was probably four times as big as the one I had in high school.

"Both of you, touch a locker and wait," Cr'eon said.

I gave Remmi a quick glance and then reached forward and tentatively touched a locker. I was expecting a shock, or a tingle, or at least a light show, but nothing happened.

Remmi followed suit.

"Don't remove your hand until the container opens," Cr'eon instructed.

I didn't have to wait long before there was a click and the door to the locker popped open.

Cautiously, I reached over and pulled the door all the way open, nervously looking into the darkness within. Then a light inside flipped on, illuminating its contents.

"HOLY CRAP!" I exclaimed as I stared at the armor resting within the locker.

It was jet black. A black so deep it seemed to swallow the surrounding light, sucking it into its depths. Ornate platinum filigree and Gothic plates made the armor look more like a demonic creature than a suit of armor.

"Uh, are we going for the fear/intimidation factor here or what?" Remmi asked, staring at her own armor.

"Tim sends his apologies," Cr'eon started.

"Apologies?" I asked.

"And regrets," Cr'eon continued.

"Regrets?" Remmi asked.

"Yes, it appears in his haste to reopen the temple, he made a few...short-sighted decisions," Cr'eon said.

"Oh, this I gotta hear," I said as I reached in to pull the armor out.

"Don't put it on yet," Cr'eon said, making me pause.

"Why not?" I asked as I brought my hands back, like the armor had burned me.

"Because you need a new warskin first," Cr'eon said.

"What's a warskin?" Remmi asked.

Cr'eon held up her hands.

"First things first," Cr'eon began. "Tim populated his temple using modern templates. His creatures are the most recent iterations. They aren't the same versions from 1,000 years ago.

"What he didn't think of was to push those same updates out to The Roadhouse or the Outpost, so equivalent, corresponding gear could be created," Cr'eon said.

"Uh, in English for us normal people, please," I said.

"Tim has high-tech monsters, and we have 1,000-year-old gear," Remmi said and turned to Cr'eon. "This is why the Gremlin's weapons cut through our armor like a hot knife through butter, isn't it?"

"Tim did send his apologies," Cr'eon said.

"I bet," I said and shook my head. "His 'over-sight' nearly got the two of us killed!"

"That's true," Cr'eon said simply. "But he assured me this new armor, in combination with your warskin, will keep that from happening again."

I looked at Remmi.

"Why do I not feel reassured?" I muttered.

"What's this about a warskin?" Remmi asked again, ignoring my snark. "I think Rhi mentioned someone about it when we were first being fitted for our armor at the outpost."

Cr'eon turned to a locker separate from the others and opened it. Inside, she pulled out two vacuum-sealed packets that looked about the size of a paperback book. She handed one to each of us and said, "Open them."

The plastic tore open more easily than I expected, and I pulled the neatly folded cloth out from the bag. As I did, the cloth expanded, unfolding itself until I was holding what looked like the kind of jumpsuit military pilots wore. Only this jumpsuit had built-in feet and gloves.

"I think this one is yours, Cr'eon. It's way too big for me," I said as I held up the massive suit.

"One size fits all," Cr'eon said.

"That's a crock," I snorted. "More like one size fits none!"

"Just put it on," Cr'eon said with a patient sigh.

I frowned over at Remmi, but she was already removing her clothes.

"Take everything off," Cr'eon said when I'd stripped down to my underclothes and started to pull on the suit.

"We wear it naked?" I asked.

"Yes," Cr'eon said.

"That's going to chaff," I complained.

"No, it will not," Cr'eon countered.

It only took a few moments to pull the massive suit on. All the closures seemed like Velcro but didn't make any of the ripping sounds. I just touched the seams together, and it sealed, making it appear to be one piece of cloth.

That was another thing; it didn't feel like cloth. I had no idea what it really was, but the only way I could describe it was that it felt like Remmi did when she enveloped me. I pushed the lewd thoughts down and was soon standing with the outfit hanging off me like a $2 suit from Temu.

I looked over, and Remmi was in the same state I was.

"Now, touch the stud on your collar," Cr'eon said.

I found the small nub on my collar, and the suit shrank to fit me. When I said it shrank, I mean it shrank! This thing was now skin tight to the point it was giving my wedgie a wedgie. But a moment later, and I couldn't tell I was wearing it. It melded to me like a second skin.

"Trippy," Remmi said as she examined herself.

"Now do you understand why you don't wear anything underneath the suit?" Cr'eon asked.

"Got it," Remmi said.

I was about to say something to the effect that you could have just told us that, but I kept my mouth shut.

"This thing is nothing like our padded undersuits from before," I said.

"Not even close," Cr'eon said. "There are a lot of functions we can go over later, but let me cover a few basics right now." Cr'eon got up and came over to start showing us different things on the suit.

To make a long story short, this thing was basically armor in and of itself. The scary black armor was more for looks than protection. The warskin was the real protection. But we couldn't just go running around fighting monsters in these Underoos out there. People would talk.

Thankfully, the suit gave us some modesty by concealing what needed to be covered.

Once we put the over suit of armor on--oh, that's another thing. We didn't have to worry about straps and buckles and all that anymore. All I had to do was take a piece of the outer armor and touch it to the warskin. The warskin would move the armor piece to where it needed to go and hold it there! And with a simple action, I could dump all the outer armor at the same time! Much more convenient.

"You don't think the black is too much, do you?" Remmi asked me as we examined ourselves once we were fully suited up.

"You mean too much bad ass? Sure!" I said, and Remmi just sighed at me. "I'm Batman!" I said in a gruff voice, making Remmi shake her head.

Next came the weapons, identical to our old ones but updated and modeled to match our new armor.

Cr'eon had to warn us several times about how deadly the new blades were. But it took me bumping into a weapons rack and slicing off a big chunk of it in the process for it to really sink in.

On a whim, I laid the sword on top of the old-style armor from the now bisected rack and pushed. The sword smoothly cut straight through the armor...and the base holding it up.

"OK, that's enough," Cr'eon said, making us get out before I did any more damage. She made an appointment with us to use the training room later to get us acquainted with our new gear in private.

Inwardly, I groaned at her request. I couldn't stop thinking about all the nasty looks we'd get when we locked everyone else out of the room again.

***Ω***

ASHER

It was a little after lunchtime when we finally emerged from the armory. Most of the crowd had cleared out upstairs, but several of Putner's troops were still stuffing their faces.

They all stopped and stared when Remmi and I entered the room.

Cr'eon had instructed us to make ourselves known...or at least seen. She'd told us to make the rounds in and around The Roadhouse to ensure Putner and his knights saw our new gear. Cr'eon was going to have us put on a little public training display, but not until AFTER we had our private training session.

In the meantime, Remmi and I played peacock and strutted around the place.

I nodded to anyone who'd make eye contact with me as we headed for the front door, but most didn't. I made note of the few who did meet my eyes, including a woman knight!

From the bulky armor, I'd thought all of Putner's cronies were male. But the ones eating lunch had removed their helmets, and her violet eyes caught my attention, making me almost stop. Thankfully, Remmi nudged me from behind, and I kept going.

It was insane how maneuverable this new armor was. I swear, I felt like I was wearing pajamas. Really comfy pajamas. I had a feeling it might cause problems later when we started practicing. I still had problems letting my armor take a hit, and when your body thinks you're just wearing PJs...I didn't want to think about it.

"What are you supposed to be? Ninjas?" Patty asked when we stopped by.

"Not hardly with this bumblestep," Remmi said, throwing a thumb at me.

"Bumblestep?" I asked, giving her a look.

"I heard one of the locals say it," Remmi shrugged.

"I take it the pair of you are all healed up?" Patty asked.

"Yup," I said and rocked on the balls of my feet.

"Even your arm?" Patty asked.

I made sure we were alone with Patty before explaining everything Danu had told us.

"So," Patty started after I finished. "That crystal on your hand didn't come from the attack?"

"Noppers," I said, shaking my head, thankful that my warskin covered my hands like gloves so no one could see the chip.

"And it's alive?" Patty asked.

"Yuppers," I nodded enthusiastically.

"What's with her?" Patty asked Remmi.

"I dunno," Remmi huffed. "She's been like this for a while now."

"Did Danu give her some new drugs I need to know about?" Patty asked.

"Not that I'm aware of," Remmi said. Then her mouth twisted as an idea came to her. "Ash, maybe the crystal came from Tim?"

"Tim?" I asked.

"He said something about speeding up your process," Remmi said. "I still don't know what he meant by that, but maybe we should ask?"

"That's not a bad idea," I said and turned to Patty. "By the way, where's Terri? With all the commotion earlier, I'd think she'd have been all up in it."

"She and Thomas went up to the Outpost to train," Patty said simply.

"The Outpost?!?" Remmi and I said together.

"Yes, the Outpost," Patty repeated to our shocked faces. "Rhi and Shae came down while the two of you were healing and offered to train them both."

"I bet they did," Remmi muttered.

"Aww, we missed them," I said with a disappointed frown. I hadn't seen Shae in what felt like forever now. Just the thought of her got my motor started. I really needed to sit down and figure myself out. There had to be more going on than simple feelings. Of course, when it came to the Gestalt, nothing was ever simple...or normal, for that matter.

"Did they say when they'd be back?" Remmi asked.

"No," Patty shook her head. "But I wouldn't expect them for a month or so."

"Great," I frowned.

"Don't sound so disappointed," Remmi said, nudging me with her shoulder. "You still got me."

I smiled at her.

"I do, don't I?" I said as I could feel myself starting to "leak" my sex kitten pheromones.

"Not here, you two, I've got patients waiting," Patty warned, putting a kibosh on my randy thoughts.

"Speaking of," Remmi started. "How are you doing? With the pregnancy and all. Figure anything out yet?"

"So far, there haven't been any changes with me physically," Patty said. "Angela's starting to show, but not me. I do have Sinjin and Angela keeping an eye on me for anything..." Patty pointed at her head and twirled her finger. "You know, mental, that they notice. But so far, nothing out of the ordinary."

"That's gotta be tough," I said sympathetically.

"Tell me about it," Patty said. "Every time I get a strange pain or odd urge, I worry something's happening."

"And no one knows anything about your kind?" Remmi said.

"Nothing," Patty said. "I guess when the computers on Behemoth said this was a rare race, it wasn't kidding."

"And how exactly do you know you're pregnant again?" I asked. "I mean, if nobody knows nothing...then how do you know?"

Patty looked at me with a smirk.

"I know," Patty said flatly.

I held up my hands in surrender.

"I'll talk with Fia and see if she can find anything out," Remmi said.

"Didn't they say the guild had information services at the desk?" I asked.

"Yeah," Remmi started. "But I don't think they'd have a lot of information about breeding."

"You never know," I countered. "I'm sure there's plenty of Captain Kirks in the guild, willing to fuck anything."

"You'd know," Remmi jabbed, but in a teasing way.

"Shut up," I growled at her.

"OK, you two," Patty began. "You really do need to scoot out of here now so I can get back to work."

"OK, OK, we're scooting," I said and grabbed Remmi's hand. "Come on, I want to see what you look like painted green and in a collar."

Remmi rolled her eyes at me but allowed me to drag her outside.

Unfortunately, we didn't head upstairs. Instead, we continued to make the rounds.

Carfen was in the middle of a sermon, so we let him be. He did give us a slight bow when he saw us. I tried to return the gesture but found I didn't know how to bow for real, and made a note to learn.

Larisa was working at the forge while her two apprentices looked on. The way she was banging on the metal, I thought it might owe her money or something. We decided to let her be.

We did a short patrol outside the walls, running into a different guild patrol and chatting briefly.

"I still need to see the inside of that thing," I said as we spotted the airship through a break in the trees.

"I'm sure Fia would be happy to give you a tour if you asked," Remmi said.

"You think so?" I asked.

"Sure," Remmi said. When we go talk to the guild about Patty, I'll remind you to ask.

"Thanks," I said as we continued our rounds.

An hour later, we were back inside the walls and perusing the stalls of the independent merchants that ringed the inn. There was a little bit of everything here. From foodstuffs to garden tools. Clothes to jewelry (I made a note to come back to that one later.)

While I was contemplating being sneaky, Remmi elbowed me.

"Heads up," Remmi said.

I turned in time to see a trio of knights heading our way, one of whom had violet eyes.

"Guardians," violet eyes said with a slight nod as the trio passed us. Her two companions didn't even acknowledge our existence.

"I wonder if they'd piss on us if we were on fire," Remmi muttered. "Ash?"

I shook my head, pulling myself from whatever daze I'd slipped into as I watched the trio walking away. I found I couldn't take my eyes off of violet eye's armored hips. Dirty thoughts of peeling her out of that tin can filled my head.

"Ash?" Remmi repeated, waving her hand in front of my face.

"I want one, Remmi," I said with a sigh so girlish, it embarrassed me.

"One what?" Remmi asked. "One of those knights?" She asked in surprise. "You can't tell what they look like because of all that armor."

"The one with the violet eyes," I whispered, realizing there were a lot of ears around us and pulled Remmi away from the crowd.

"Violet eyes?" Remmi asked.

"I saw her earlier," I said.

"Her?" Remmi said.

"She was eating and had her helmet off," I said.

"O...K," Remmi said slowly. "Come on, let's finish the rounds and then hit up the guild." Then she stopped and glanced back at me. "Remember when you said you'd give up everyone else, just to be with me?"

A sudden wave of anxiety slammed into me like a brick wall.

"Uh...yeah?" I managed through a suddenly dry throat.

"Well," she started, "how do you feel about that now?"

I was so surprised by her words, it felt like my eyes were about to pop out of my skull.

"Wha--" I started, but Remmi's sudden burst of laughter cut me off.

"You should see your face!" Remmi cackled, her hands imitating explosions.

"That's not funny!" I managed once I could speak again.

"Yes, it is," Remmi continued. "Now come on."

Once we were sure we'd been seen by damned near everyone, we headed inside.

"We're going to have to wear this armor for a while, huh?" Remmi said.

"I'm not complaining," I said. "It's more comfortable than my regular clothes.

Remmi just threw me a disgusted look.

"Hello, Guardians," Kehl said. "I like the new look."

"Thanks, Kehl," I said and leaned against the counter casually.

"Had a question for you, Kehl," Remmi said and went on to explain finding out more information about Grigs and their mating habits.

For his part, Kehl didn't bat an eye. He just took out a form from behind the counter and handed it to Remmi to fill out. Once she was done, he took it back and set it in a bin on the desk behind him.

"Give us a few days," Kehl said. "If there's anything in the archives, we should have it by then. I'll let you know when something comes through one way or the other. Is there anything else I can help you with?"

"Is Fia around?" Remmi asked.

"I'm afraid she's out at the airship at the moment," Kehl said.

Remmi glanced at me.

"Would you like to leave a message for her?" Kehl asked.

"Yes, just let her know Guardian Asher here would like to speak with her on a personal matter," Remmi grinned as she said it.

"Personal matter?" I whispered. "People are going to get the wrong idea."

"Are they?" Remmi batted her eyelashes at me.

"OK, I'll make sure she gets the message," Kehl said and then held up his finger. "Which reminds me," he reached below the counter and pulled out a small piece of simple metal about the size of a thumb drive. "You have a message," Kehl said, handing the piece of metal to me.