(Every character depicted in the story below is a consenting legal adult over the age of 18)

A/N: Dragon tells Catalyst to make the call!

-x-X-x-

In the end… Dragon lets out a digital sigh, albeit one she keeps Catalyst from hearing. Instead, what Catalyst actually hears is…

“Please do so, Catalyst. I’m very interested in speaking with him, but I understand completely that you need to check with him first.”

The tension in Catalyst’s shoulders flees her in an instant and she looks far more at ease. Dragon smiles, happy to have not stressed the woman out too much. She’s quite an amazing tinker after all… and she’d gone out of her way to make her debut helping people instead of hurting people. That in and of itself put her head and above so many other parahumans that it wasn’t even funny.

In fact…

“Don’t worry about contacting him now either. You can do so later. Rather, I think it’s time we got back to work. That prototype in your hands is a good start, but I’ve already come up with several ideas for how to improve it… and I imagine you have too.”

Looking down, Catalyst hesitantly nods before growing more animated and invigorated by the second. Soon enough, they’re both in full collaboration mode once more, the identity of Catalyst’s mysterious man set aside for the time being. Whatever happened next, Dragon supposed… the ball was in his court.

-x-X-x-

Lucas sneezes, causing Sveta to give him a concerned look. He just waves her off with a carefree smile.

“Must be some leftover dust in the air from all the construction. No big deal.”

And really, it isn’t. Standing there with Sveta and Emily, looking around… Lucas’ smile only grows as he takes in the common area of their new residence. It’s not quite a mansion… more of a compound, really. The place is loaded with all of Uppercrust’s newest and biggest systems, as well as fully furnished.

In total, with Uppercrust handling the security, buying the property and everything to make it livable had only cost him ten million as well. Heh, ‘only’. Considering that was the original number Lucas had been considering asking for, he could acknowledge now that he might have been shooting a little too low.

Though at the same time… it was going to take a long time to fill this place up. There was room for almost a hundred people to live in the compound, and room for hundreds more to work there besides. It was… everything Lucas needed to start a proper organization.

“I presume everything is to your satisfaction, Pact?”

Looking to the fourth person in the room, Lucas nods.

“It is indeed, Vibrant. You can give your boss my deepest gratitude… he’s held up his end of the bargain admirably. I’m more than happy to hold up mine as well. And of course, Uppercrust knows how to contact me for further deals in the future.”

Vibrant nods at that, not quite as… standoffish or cold anymore. While it wasn’t like the woman was salivating over him or anything, she was definitely softer… hell, she even smiles back at him in this moment. Probably had something to do with him giving both her and her father another fifty years of life, Lucas figured.

“I’m sure we’ll be in touch, Pact. The sheer breadth of possibilities provided by your power is not something that can be ignored.”

That last bit is as much a warning as it is a compliment, Lucas can tell. Vibrant might even be legitimately worried for him, though only because he’s now one of her father’s ‘assets’, to be cultivated and protected and hidden or whatever.

Lucas just chuckles and shakes his head. Ironically, ignoring him is precisely what most of the Powers That Be will do for the time being, thanks to his own powers. Though eventually Lucas fully acknowledges he’ll have to step out into the light… especially if he wants to save this damned world from itself.

He didn’t sacrifice all of Earth Aleph just to engage in half-measures, after all.

They engage in a bit more small talk and one final handshake before ultimately, Vibrant departs. The deal he’d made with her and her father thrums in the back of Lucas’ mind, a surprisingly ‘fair’ deal that had generated him a bit of power but not overly much. Giving them both half a century more of guaranteed good health had taken up a lot of the potential he might have gained otherwise.

However, that didn’t really matter. He’d gotten what he wanted out of this deal, and he would get much more power from any future deals he made. For now… he and his small team had a place to live. And judging by how Sveta is practically vibrating at his side, she was thinking the same thing as him… they just had to christen this place. The bedroom at the very least.

Giving Sveta a knowing look, Lucas turns his eyes to Emily next and smiles. The young woman had already walked in on them once so… he doesn’t bother being subtle.

“You can go do your own thing for the next while, Emily. Whatever you feel like. Sveta and I will be… busy.”

The freckled brunette bites her lower lip at that, glancing between him and Sveta.

“You… you’re going to have sex, aren’t you?”

Lucas arches a brow. He wasn’t being subtle, but he also didn’t intend to spell it out. Still, if she was just going to ask him outright…

“Yes. That’s what we’re going to do.”

Before Emily can reply, Sveta pipes up.

“Will you be joining us?”

The brunette freezes like a deer caught in headlights at that, going wide eyed. Lucas, meanwhile, resists the urge to facepalm. An awkward silence descends between the three of them, until finally Emily finds her voice.

“D-Do… are you asking me to?”

Lucas shakes his head, stepping in.

“It is at most an offer, nothing more. I will not ask you to do anything you are uncomfortable with, Emily. You’ve joined this team on an entirely professional basis… not to be a bed warmer. Sveta and I have a… unique relationship.”

Lucas gives Sveta a distinct look, one that has her pouting in response. But Emily…

“B-But… it is an offer?”

Looking back to Emily, he sees the young woman blushing deeply beneath her freckles. Her eyes dart between him and Sveta for a moment before she makes a request, all in a rush.

“CanIwatch?”

It takes him a second to parse what she’s saying, but once he does… Lucas just lets out a sigh before chuckling to show he’s not put off by the question. He still looks to Sveta to make sure she’s okay with it, even if she was the one who asks Emily to join in the first place. With a shrug and a nod, the former Case 53 makes it clear she doesn’t mind.

“Sure Emily. If you want to watch… you can watch.”

It’s funny, Lucas doesn’t mind either. He… might have, back before he’d made the deal. Sex was an intimate thing and while a threesome with two beautiful girls was every straight young man’s fantasy, having someone, no matter who they were, just watching you have sex with your lover… was something else entirely.

But that was old Lucas. New Lucas is a lot more… self-possessed for lack of a better way of describing it. He had a confidence to him that couldn’t be beaten, and as the three of them make their way to the master bedroom, he can tell that Emily is the most nervous of all of them, despite the fact that she’ll only be watching.

Regardless, they arrive in short order, albeit after a quick walk given the size of the compound. The master bedroom is spartan in its appearance but nevertheless fully furnished, so Lucas starts to undress as Sveta does the same. Emily, meanwhile… takes a seat in a chair off to the side.

Lucas can’t help but observe her, even as he strips naked. She blushes under his gaze, unable to meet his eyes. At the same time, she has a hard time looking at him while he’s looking at her so she mostly steals glances at Sveta.

Her blush only intensifies when Sveta gets up on the bed on her knees and proceeds to use her tendrils to tie herself up just like always. And then she gets to watch as Lucas steps forward and Sveta leans down, opening wide and taking his cock into her mouth.

As Sveta bobs up and down, Lucas brings his hand down upon the top of her head with a smile, enjoying her efforts greatly. Sveta had been relatively inexperienced at oral back at the start, but she’d proven herself to be a very eager, very fast learner.

Emily, meanwhile, sits there silently, watching the sexual interaction with wide eyes. Lucas can feel her desire from across the room through their connection, just as he could feel Alice’s and just as he can always feel Sveta’s. However, Emily’s desire is a lot more tempered by fear and trauma. Her past experiences are holding her back… leaving her to watch instead of participating.

Lucas could draw her in relatively easily, he’s pretty sure… but he doesn’t want to overwhelm her. Taking things slow, letting her come at her own pace… and enjoying the perfectly sculpted body he’s made for Sveta… yes, that was the right way to go about things.

Once Sveta’s mouth and tongue have gotten him nice and hard, Lucas pulls back out of her mouth and swings the bound woman around so she’s facing away from him. In turn, Sveta rearranges her own bondage so she goes from simply kneeling to hog-tied, leaving her legs bent backwards and spread wide for him as her entire spine is arched, her head tilted all the way back until he can look down into her eyes from above.

With a grin, Lucas sinks his cock into Sveta from behind, her loud, wanton moans filling the air. She makes no effort to hide her pleasure, not from him nor from Emily. She doesn’t whimper, or bite her tongue, or purse her lips. She opens wide and lets out full throated cries of pleasure, even as Lucas picks up the pace, fucking Sveta hard and fast from behind.

The sounds of flesh slapping against flesh fill the room and for a moment Lucas gets lost in it… so lost that he doesn’t hear the sound of his phone ringing at first. Sveta, of course, is too caught up in her own pleasure to notice. And even Emily is too busy watching to be paying attention.

Finally though, the sound of the smartphone manages to penetrate the haze of Lucas’ thoughts and even as he’s burying himself in Sveta for the umpteenth time, he turns his head to regard where he’d left his phone near his folded pants.

“Emily.”

His curt tone cuts through Emily’s own distraction, her gaze snapping from the sight of him and Sveta joined together to his face. Only then does she realize his phone is ringing. She’s much closer to it then he is at this point… and he’s quite busy as things stand.

“Bring me my phone.”

“O-Oh!”

Hopping to her feet, trying not to rub her thighs together too visibly, Emily fishes his phone out of his pants pocket and carries it over to him. By the time she does so, its stopped ringing anyways… a missed call. Lucas still takes the time to check on who it was though, even as he rests one hand on Sveta’s ass, still sliding in and out of her pussy at a more languid pace.

The call is from Alice, but there’s no voicemail yet. Rather than wait for her to finish recording a message for him, Lucas just calls her back. After all, why not multitask?

Emily stands there, mere feet away, watching as he puts the phone to his ear while still thrusting in and out of Sveta. Meanwhile, Alice picks up by the third ring.

“H-Hey! Sorry if you’re busy…”

Lucas smiles as he looks down at Sveta’s self-hogtied form.

“Only a little busy. Sveta is all tied up, you know how it is.”

There’s a pause… during which Lucas is confident Alice can definitely hear the distinct sounds of sex through the phone’s speaker. When she finally responds, he can hear the yearning in her voice and feel her arousal even across the distance currently separating them.

“I’m sure I do… mm, I miss you.”

His smile morphing into a grin, Lucas tilts his head to the side.

“Oh? Is that why you called? To let me know you missed me? Well, I miss you too, Alice. You’re welcome to visit whenever.”

Although…

“Ah, but I should let you know, we’ve just finished moving into an entirely new place.”

Alice’s response is surprised.

“What? You moved? Where are you now?”

Lucas hums. That was a good question. He’d pondered where to buy some permanent property for a while, actually. In the end, he’d decided to stay on the East Coast because not only had he lived here all his life, Uppercrust remained here and was perhaps one of his more powerful allies.

But it had been a choice between which city he would actually settle in. There’d been a lot of factors that went into the decision, but in the end only one option truly made sense…

-x-X-x-

A/N: Remember to Vote, leave a Like, and let me know what you think!