Nigh Invulnerable Pt. 05

Author's note:

See part 1 for blurb. Also, if you haven't already read parts 1-4, I strongly recommend doing so before proceeding.

All sensuality (on page or otherwise) takes place between characters who are eighteen or older.

***

Copyright © 2023 Jake Lazarus

All rights reserved.

This book, or any portion thereof, may not be reproduced in any manner without the express written consent of the author (except for the use of brief quotations in a review).

This is a work of fiction.

Names, characters, businesses, products, places, events, locales, and incidents are either the products of the author's imagination or used in a fictitious manner.

Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, or actual events is purely coincidental.

***

Thirty-Nine

"Stop!" Isabella shouted as she stepped into Felix's path.

He skidded to a stop, his eyes instantly scanning the surrounding tree line for threats, and barked, "What's wrong?"

"Nothing's wrong," she answered sharply. "Except perhaps you."

He looked back to her, the first hints of anguish invading both his soul and his expression due to the fact that he could not imagine how he could possibly have offended her.

"Would you relax," she huffed. "I'm not mad at you, you big oaf."

"Then who..."

"We're not upset with you in any way, babe. We love you to pieces."

"Then what..."

She smirked and said, "If you would shut up, then I could tell you."

"You have the floor my dear."

"Does the phrase 'stir crazy' mean anything to you?"

He nodded and said, "Yes, but only based on having viewed content created during this era. People from my time feel the same sort of malaise, but no one calls it that. In fact, now that I think about it, I suspect the entire population in the future is stir crazy. But much like the pandemic you suffered not so long ago, when the populace shares an experience for long enough, it becomes reductive to point it out. But if you're suggesting I'm going stir crazy, that is, pardon the phrase, insane."

"Is it?" she asked pointedly. "Then why have you run what amounts to an entire marathon in the last hour?"

"Just trying to stay in shape."

She glared at him for a moment before saying, "Well then, do you mind if I join you?"

"Of course not," he answered quickly, somewhat ashamed that he had just noticed the form-fitting sports bra and running shorts she wore.

She smiled appreciatively and said, "Think you can maybe dial it back a notch, though?"

"Anything for you," he replied with a smile.

He let her set the pace and they jogged in silence for several minutes. He had grown used to the path he used for exercise over the preceding months and knew that the circuit measured exactly two-point-three kilometers. It was his custom to occupy his brain by constantly calculating his velocity based on his lap time. When they finished their first lap in just under seven minutes, he thus automatically noted the fact that they were travelling at nearly twenty kilometers per hour. Even more amazingly, their lap times continued to tick slowly lower the longer they ran.

He said, "I never knew you were so into running."

She grinned at him and said, "You know how some people joke that they only run when chased. Well, I only run when flirting."

"Is that what we're doing now?"

"Perhaps," she replied with a grin. "I certainly wouldn't stop you if you decided to drag me into the bushes and have your way with me."

He shook his head, trying to push aside the lust which roared within him at her retort and instead stay on topic. "Not that your offer isn't enticing... but if you're not an avid runner, how are you maintaining this pace?"

"What pace?" she replied easily. "We're just jogging."

"We've run seven kilometers so far, but we're on pace for a world record time in the ten-thousand meter event."

"Really?" she asked in amazement as she slowed to a stop. "Are you sure?"

"Positive. You're sure you aren't secretly a world-class distance runner?"

"I normally hate running. How is this possible? I'm not even winded."

"I would normally defer to our lovely Yasmine on matters of hypothesizing, but it seems evident that the Conditioning might do more than just change your looks."

"That's incredible!" she enthused. "I wonder what else I can do."

"Let's hold off on any testing which might require hospitalization if my theory is wrong."

"Why?" she retorted gaily. "Do you honestly think I've had the latent athletic ability all along and I just didn't realize it? I was drafted to pitch in a kickball game at a family reunion when I was still in my twenties, and I accidentally threw the ball in the woods. I missed home plate by so much that I was accused of sabotaging the game. I suck at sports. Always have."

"Well perhaps not anymore," Felix allowed. "But I don't want to hear about you girls shooting at each other to see what happens. I assure you, even though I eventually heal, the pain is in no way diminished."

"Fine," she grumbled before brightening slightly. "But we're going to fully stock the pitiful excuse for a workout room. In fact, I think we'll move it out to the barn so we can really go all in."

"Fair enough."

They ran for a few minutes in silence before she spoke again. "We still haven't talked about why you're feeling so uneasy."

He grimaced before saying, "I love it here, honey. I love all of you."

"But?"

"But... I don't know. I just feel restless. But please don't take that as meaning that I'm not happier than I've ever been."

She smiled warmly and once again pulled him to a halt before saying, "That's why I said you were going a little stir crazy." She gestured to the countryside around them and said, "We all leave regularly, babe. Yasmine and Quinn go to work a few days a week. I regularly go into the city to check on my properties or conduct business. But you only leave when there's an emergency."

"Or when we have an unforgettable night in a luxurious hotel."

"That was incredible," she agreed. "It was also two weeks ago. And you haven't left since we returned."

"It's too dangerous..."

She cut him off with a brief kiss before saying, "I get it that you're concerned. And maybe you're right that going out carries a degree of risk. But if you stay hidden away from the world, it will eventually drive you to madness. Or you'll grow to resent us."

"That could never happen," he murmured against her raven hair as he pulled her close.

"I know," she replied confidently. "Because we won't let it happen. You need to get out, babe. For a change of scenery if nothing else. Go into Pennsylvania if you're worried about people tracking you back here."

"They could still follow me."

"Would you relax? I've thought of everything."

"We can't keep using the 'pick up a motorcycle at a building you own' dodge, honey. People will put two and two together pretty quickly."

"Give me a little credit," she huffed irritably. "The limo will take you to a tiny town about thirty minutes south of here. There's a storage facility there which isn't affiliated with any of us and was specifically chosen for its lack of video surveillance. You'll be dropped off by the side of the road to jog through a few klicks of woods with minimal undergrowth. It is unattended, you just use a code to get through the outer gate and a key opens the storage unit where you will find a motorcycle which I think will be to your liking. Then you can just... go for a ride."

He nodded agreeably and said, "And when I'm done?"

"That depends on how comfortable you're feeling out in the world. You could return directly to here if you wish, or you could return the bike to the storage unit and call us for a ride. Or, if neither of those make you comfortable, just park the bike somewhere public and call us so we can work out a pick-up. We're not suggesting you do this because we want to get rid of you, babe. We just want you to be happy."

He pulled her close and whispered, "I am happy."

"Happier, then," she murmured before kissing him tenderly.

***

Felix wandered through the massive supermarket, his mouth agape in wonder. Even after over a quarter of a year spent in the twenty-first century, he was still continually amazed at the incredible amount of food generally available. Even more staggering, the food was remarkably inexpensive. During the time of Felix's birth, humans would expect to spend significantly more than half their income on food. An outsider, or a buffoon, could argue that the existence of government subsidized housing was the cause, but that would ignore the fact that the government of his time provided far more subsidies for food than any other commodity. The inarguable fact was that the sharp decline in population over the twenty-third century had made housing plentiful but had done little to reduce food scarcity. This was hardly surprising since the leading cause of death for those unfortunate souls who were part of the devastating reduction in global population to below two billion in the years preceding Felix's enlistment had been starvation.

As he browsed the produce section, examining the dozens of fruits extinct in the time of his birth, Felix heard the din of whispered conversations around him. He glanced around to realize that at least a dozen people were staring at him with varying degrees of guile. A group of three women were taking turns glancing in his direction before turning away hurriedly amidst a bought of tittering giggles, but a boy no older than ten was staring at him in awe as he pointed with one hand and urgently yanked on the hem of his mother's blouse with the other.

"Don't point," Felix heard the embarrassed women hiss.

"It's him!" the boy exclaimed. "Fenrir!"

"Hush," the woman whispered eagerly, her apologetic gaze landing on Felix.

He felt the momentary flight urge, but then he focused on the boy's hopeful expression, and he realized how absurd things had become if he was afraid of a small child. He smiled at them and said, "It's ok."

Before his mother could react, the boy raced over to Felix and gushed, "You're really him, aren't you?"

Felix knelt down to his level and shrugged. "I'm really who?"

"Fenrir, the Invulnerable!"

"Where'd you hear that name?"

"Everybody's heard of you. You're a superhero. When we play pretend at recess, everyone always wants to be you."

"Hardly," Felix deflected. "I was merely in a position to help some people, and I did what I could."

"But you're bulletproof!"

Felix shook his head and said, "I wish that were true, but alas I am just a man."

"But I saw you get shot," a woman's voice said behind him. He turned to spot that the trio of young women had approached. She continued, "On the news, you got shot a bunch of times. And they said you were completely healed before you even got to the hospital."

"Surely the media would never exaggerate for ratings," he mock-exclaimed.

"But I saw it," she repeated.

"And what about the derailment?" one of her friends said accusingly. "You ran through this enormous fire, and you were fine after."

"I was wearing quite a bit of fireproof clothing," he replied lamely.

"And that apartment where those crazy meth heads nearly killed everyone?" the third woman pointed out. "Everyone else passed out almost instantly, but you were running in and out like it was nothing."

"Can I get your autograph," the boy cut in.

"Sure," Felix replied with an embarrassed shrug.

The boy glared back at his mother, clearly expecting her to have had a signature book at the ready. She sighed wearily before anxiously looking through her purse. She murmured, "I'm so sorry about this."

"It's really fine," Felix soothed. "I'm glad I could make his day."

"You've made his year," she assured him as she tore the top page from a notebook before handing the latter to Felix along with a pen. "He talks about you all the time."

Felix glanced down at the boy as he messily scratched out his pseudonym. "Just remember to listen to your mom, and your teachers. The real superpower is compassion and knowledge."

"I will," the boy promised solemnly as his mother nodded appreciatively.

"Can I get one too?" one of the younger women asked as the boy's mother hurried him away.

Felix noticed the gathering crowd, but merely smiled and nodded at the adoring woman. He ultimately spent the next hour answering questions, posing for selfies and signing autographs. The entire time he had a vague sensation of unease driven by the fact that he was so exposed, but he was not so delusional that he failed to appreciate the fact that he was having a wonderful time. And while the adoration was not unappreciated, what he found far more enjoyable was just talking to people. The sense of the crowd in the rural town was not at all what he had expected. Almost entirely absent was the kind of demanding obnoxiousness so frequently found on social media. Instead, he found a genuine appreciation for his meritorious acts mixed with a dusting of unadulterated worship, the latter emanating equally from young children and not-so-young women.

As the crowd began to dissipate, Felix made his way back to his motorcycle. As he crossed the parking lot, he felt a niggling of awareness which immediately put him back in a combat mindset. He slowed his steps and began to look around intently. He soon zeroed in on a van parked suspiciously distant from any other cars. Felix came to a halt and stared in the direction of the vehicle for several moments. He was able to make out three figures inside, at least one of which was holding what could be a weapon. He pulled his helmet on slowly, his gaze never leaving the potential threat. As he cinched the chin strap, the van's engine rumbled to life. Without hesitation, Felix surged toward the vehicle but before he made it halfway across the parking lot the vehicle peeled out. The driver did not bother with the labyrinthine curbs of the parking lot, instead heading straight for the main road even though it meant bouncing wildly across a natural area.

Felix begrudgingly came to a halt when it became clear he could never catch the speeding vehicle. He looked around helplessly for a moment before dejectedly muttering, "Fuck," and heading back toward his motorcycle.

Forty

"You're almost there, babe," Quinn's reassuring voice said through his earpiece. "Yasmine managed to get through to the cops on one of the burner phones to let them know you're coming. Hopefully that'll keep you from getting pulled over."

"Good," Felix grunted as he cranked the throttle, pushing his motorcycle well past two-hundred kilometers per hour despite the heavy traffic on the highway. He was weaving between cars quicker than conscious thought could comprehend. It was as though he was in a fugue state, darting into gaps before he was even fully aware they existed and then right back onto the shoulder before the brake lights before him managed to fully illuminate.

"The news says the shooter is in the main administration building," Isabella reported. "No casualties confirmed yet, but the shooting started about fifty minutes ago. No motive is known. All they know is that it's a white male and he entered the building carrying a quote, unquote, large satchel."

"Theories?" Felix stammered as he darted between the wheels of a logging trailer to find a clearer path on the right shoulder.

"It's an H. B. C. U. where a white guy decided to start shooting. Don't think it takes a rocket scientist to figure out the motive here."

"It's no wonder this country destroyed itself," Felix muttered.

"I really wish you'd taken some kind of weapon," Isabella said worriedly.

"I'll find something," he replied as he shot through the entrance to the university past the hastily removed barricades. He screeched to a stop at the picket line of police cars and dropped his bike in the grass before hurrying toward the surrounded building.

"Hold up a minute, buddy," a gravelly voice snarled. "You're not allowed in there."

Felix turned to regard a rotund, florid-faced man in a uniform festooned with medals and ribbons. He took a calming breath before saying, "Those people need help."

"We are helping them," the man retorted, shaking the phone he held tightly in his meaty grip for emphasis.

A shot rang out from the administration building. Felix turned to glower at the officer and said, "No, you're hoping the gunman fucks up. Now why don't you get out of my way so I can save these people?"

"If you go in there, you'll be arrested for obstruction of justice."

"Whatever," Felix grunted as he pushed past the man to study the building. It was surrounded by an uncomfortable amount of open space, and he could see where the main door had been blocked by piled up furniture. He started walking along the line of police cars as he scanned his surroundings but saw little that gave him hope. Every entrance had been barricaded and there was not even a hint of where the gunman might be holed up.

Another shot rang out and Felix knew with instant clarity based on the minute differences between the two shots that his foe was in the northwest corner of the building. He quickened his steps along the line of cop cars until he neared the south end of the building, whereupon he scampered across the dozens of meters of open ground to approach the quad. He spotted an open window on the second floor and changed course to put himself in a position to leap over the row of hedges decorating the building's façade, just barely grabbing onto the brick ledge below the window. He pulled himself up and through the opening before holding his breath and using his ears to get the lay of the land.

It was impossible for him to tell if the deathly quiet of the building was because his approach had been spotted, or if it was simply due to the tragedy which had precipitated his arrival.

"Talk to me," he whispered into the mic in his helmet, the call with Quinn having stayed connected since he had departed the villa twenty minutes prior.

Isabella responded, "The news showed you entering, but no one knows where the gunman is so..."

"Northwest corner. At least he was thirty seconds ago."

"Gotcha. We'll keep an eye on things. Just keep in mind that if he's watching the news, he knows you're coming."

"Right," Felix grunted.

"Be careful, babe. And don't forget you promised you'd arm yourself. We know you're amazing. But there's no reason to take a bunch of hits if you don't have to."

He looked around the room he had entered, quickly realizing it was an administrator's office, but saw little of value. The furniture was all made of particle board and plastic. He gave brief thought to tearing the radiator off the floor before he looked up at the prodigiously decorated walls.

"What the fuck," he murmured as he approached the wall behind the occupant's desk. There he found a cornucopia of medieval armament. He fiddled with several pieces, finding that they were obvious fakes made of lightweight malleable metal, before he came across one that appeared to be, if not the genuine article, then at the very least possibly sturdy enough to deflect a bullet. It was a kite-shaped shield which he was able to sling on his forearm. He swung his arm around briefly, finding that he could move it easily despite the fact that it weighed at least fifteen kilos. After a moment's hesitation, he also grabbed a dagger before moving to the doorway.

After a pause to once again listen to his surroundings, he hurried into the hallway and toward the corner of the building where he suspected his quarry was hiding. He knew it was risky to rush headlong through the unfamiliar building, but he also knew that a shot was ringing out every few minutes. Felix knew the last thing he could afford was caution if each shot was another innocent life snuffed out.

He found his target with something of a bang, delivered in the form of a burst of automatic weapons fire lacing across his shield as Felix crossed a narrow hallway.

"You can't stop me," a man's shrill voice rang out.

Felix ignored the comment and took a moment to get the lay of the land. Two of the gunman's shots had hit him in the leg, but the wounds were already closing so he ignored them. The building seemed to generally be laid out in the pattern of a cross, placing his foe down the long axis. Felix took a moment to open a few doors to confirm there were no back pathways which would take him closer to the gunman. He returned to the hall and, behind his shield, peered down the hall. Another hail of bullets headed in his direction, but Felix was able to pull back in time.

"Damnit," he muttered, having seen that his opponent had several hostages at the end of the hallway.

"What is it?" Isabella whispered.

"He's got at least five hostages, and the only way to get at him is to take a bunch of hits."

"The building has three floors," Yasmine pointed out.

"Bog, I'm stupid," he grunted. Felix raced back along the hallway until he found a stairwell, only at the last minute remembering to open the door silently rather than smashing it to bits as he hurried through. He ran up the stairs as quietly as he could and then rushed to the part of the building above his enemy.

"Tell me more about this end of the building."

"I pulled up the blueprints from the county permits office," Quinn reported. "What do you need to know?"

"Where are the stairwells in this part of the building, and are there any fire escapes?"

"It's an older building so it doesn't really meet code. There's just the one central stairwell and I don't see any indication of a fire escape."

"I can see several tall trees near that end of the building," Yasmine cut in. "They might be close enough for you to use to descend."

"Perfect," Felix huffed as he began peeking through the doors of various offices until he spotted green through the opposing windows. Finding what he sought at the fourth office he checked, he slammed his dagger into the lock which allowed him to enter easily. The window posed no problem as it simply locked from the inside and Felix leapt into the waiting arms of a hardwood tree a few meters beyond the building moments later.

"Hurry," Isabella whispered. "Before the press spots you and gives away your position."

Felix slid down the tree, not without difficulty, and soon found himself opposite the obviously locked window through which he needed to transit. He sighed and muttered, "This is going to hurt," as he coiled his legs beneath him.

"What?" Yasmine yelped in his headset seconds before he crashed through the window of the second-floor office. He was on his feet instantly and the office door exploded as he burst through it with his shield held high. He heard several people scream and another burst of automatic weapon fire told him he had succeeded in emerging between the hostages and his quarry.

Felix surged toward the fire, knocking the gunman to the ground. He straddled the man and held the ancient dagger to his throat as he got his first good look at the criminal. Felix's first impression was that the man was a truly wretched example of humanity. Stinking and covered in sores, Felix doubted the man had bathed in weeks. Looking around, he saw the satchel mentioned by the media held dirty clothing and other personal effects rather than the expected arsenal. Looking behind him, Felix saw the hostages he had noticed initially but he thankfully spotted no bodies.

He looked back to the gunman and said, "What's going on here?"

"Just kill me," the pitiful man beneath him whimpered.

Felix turned to the hostages who were slowly picking themselves up and said, "What happened?"

A middle-aged African American woman spoke up. "He just started shooting up in the air. Kept those of us who work on this hall here but didn't seem too concerned with everyone else escaping."

"Did he kill anyone?"

"No," a man who was easily in his seventies replied firmly. "I saw him take the gun out of his bag and start shooting. It all took place right here. He even said he didn't want to hurt anyone. He said he just had to complete his mission."

"What mission?" Felix menaced, turning back to the gunman.

"Kill me," came the pitiful reply.

"No," Felix retorted. He then found it necessary to make his point somewhat more emphatically when the gunman tried to reach for his weapon. Once he had rendered the man unconscious, he turned back to the erstwhile hostages. "Any reason to think he planted any explosives or other traps?"

"I doubt it," the septuagenarian replied. "Like I said, I basically had my eyes on him from the moment he entered the building."

"Well then. I guess you folks can head outside. I would do so carefully, however. There are quite a few police out there."

"Thank you, son," came the heartfelt reply, which was quickly echoed by the rest of the group. The old-timer held back as the rest headed for the exit and said, "There'll be hell to pay when the dean realizes you took his pride and joy and used it for its intended purpose."

Felix grinned and said, "Perhaps he should be proud it was so effective. Maybe I could sign it for him."

The man chuckled and said, "I think that might make his day. Thanks again, son."

Felix waited until they had departed the building before he started trotting in the opposite direction. He made it to the emergency exit at the south end of the building before whispering, "Tell me when the hostages come through the door."

"They're coming out now," Yasmine reported. "What do you think was going on with that gunman?"

"I don't know," Felix grunted as he pushed through the exit. "But..."

His next words died on his lips when he came unexpectedly face to face with five men, four of whom obviously dedicated the vast majority of their waking hours to lifting weights.

The fifth stepped forward and jubilantly declared, "Felix, my good man! How marvelous to see you again."

"Xavier?" Felix gasped in shock.

Forty-One

"Who else?" Xavier enthused. "I've been waiting for you to call me, buddy."

"What are you doing here?" Felix managed to stammer.

"I'm a major contributor, obviously. When I heard about the shooting, I just had to come see if there was anything I could do to help. But it seems like the mighty Fenrir had everything well in hand." Felix regarded him suspiciously, but Xavier kept going. "I know your general disdain for the media. So, unless you'd like to do a hundred interviews, to say nothing of the authorities' likely dim view of how you ignored their instructions, I suggest we adjourn to a more discreet setting."

Xavier gestured toward a luxury SUV which stood idling at the bottom of the steps. Felix glanced around at Xavier's, for want of a better term, henchman and decided they would pose little threat. He nodded in acquiescence and allowed himself to be led to the vehicle.

Once they were speeding toward the campus's exit, Xavier turned to him and said, "Why didn't you ever return my calls?"

"I'm not interested in contributing my DNA to anyone."

"Your girlfriends beg to differ," Xavier sniped. "Not to mention our lovely Jiang. You should definitely reacquaint yourself with her, my friend. The results of your little gift are truly exquisite."

Felix glared at him and said, "Sophomoric quips aside, I'm still not interested."

"But what of the support I could offer you?" Xavier retorted. "Riding to the scene of the crime on a motorcycle that belongs to your girlfriend? I'm not the only one with the resources, and the will, to figure these things out, my friend."

"Are you threatening me?"

"Of course not. I'm merely pointing out that we have much to offer one another. Do you truly believe it so inconceivable that you may have enemies out there, Felix? Granted, you've mostly been engaged in street level crimes thus far. But you must recognize that actual crime organizations operating in the tri-state area will be paying close attention to your activities. The mob; the cartels; even the government. I can assure that they've all got extensive files on you, and contingency plans for how to react should you involve yourself in their business."

"Are you suggesting you're in league with those potential threats?"

Xavier smiled deviously and said, "How could you suggest such a thing? I'm just a simple law-abiding citizen who happens to have the resources needed to confront such villainy."

"Simple?"

"I'm still just a guy, Felix. Hell, you've seen me wearing nothing but a pair of sunglasses. You know I'm nothing special, certainly not in comparison to your magnificence. Being the richest man in the world just means I'm occasionally in a position to make things happen for my closest friends."

"I thought you were the second richest..."

A scowl crossed Xavier's features and he said, "The Nikkei closed up yesterday and that old codger who used to be in first place took a bath when the price of oil dropped last week."

"Well then, I suppose congratulations are in order. But that doesn't change the fact that I'm not interested in handing over my DNA."

"I'm afraid that's not going to work for me" Xavier replied coldly, the smile leaving his face.

"Pardon?" Felix retorted with a confident smirk.

"We owe it to the future to unlock the secrets hidden in your genes, Felix."

"The last thing the future needs is more people. Trust me."

"Huh?"

Felix shook his head sorrowfully and said, "Nothing. Listen, why don't you guys just let me out at the intersection up ahead? I'm sure none of us wants any trouble."

"I tried to do this the easy way," Xavier said diffidently. "I asked nicely and offered quite a bit in exchange for my extremely modest request. Just a tiny bit of blood and semen. That's it."

"I'm not saying what you suggest is an intolerable sacrifice," Felix replied evenly. "I'm saying I don't have any intention of providing what you seek. The unavoidable truth is that I have no reason to trust you, Xavier. All I actually know about you is that you're very frank regarding your sexual desires and you like to throw your money around. How do I know you're not the villain you purport to warn me against? You're certainly not acting very benign right now, although I can't imagine you actually think these four gym-rats could slow me down."

"We'll see," Xavier sighed before glancing down and fiddling momentarily with his phone.

Felix tensed his body in preparation for the coming fight. But none of the men made a move to subdue him. Instead, he felt a tiny prick at the base of his spine. He barely had time to mutter, "You son of a bitch," before he lost consciousness.

***

"Van," a gruff voice with an almost incomprehensible accent at the edge of Felix's consciousness warned warily. "Three cars back."

"I got it," an American voice replied. "Hang on."

Felix could feel the vehicle in which he rode change lanes suddenly and take a sharp right turn. He was laying awkwardly on his left side in such a way that he freely tumbled across the vehicle's floor whenever they maneuvered. The movement gave him a chance to note the fact that his hands and feet were bound. It also brought him fully awake.

A third voice with a Latino accent spoke up to say, "We should head out of the city so we can get rid of them without witnesses."

"Boss wants him alive."

"I meant the tail, amigo."

The van accelerated sharply in response. Felix felt himself roll towards the rear, colliding with a pair of legs.

"Get off me," the first voice grunted, delivering a swift kick to Felix's backside for emphasis.

"How far?" the Hispanic voice asked.

"Just a few minutes. Get ready," the American replied.

Felix's enhanced senses were of very limited use to him, thanks to the heavy hood covering his head. He strongly suspected there were four people in the vehicle with him. He was less certain of the fact that only two of the men were with Xavier when Felix had been drugged, but that opened the possibility that the two chatty Cathy's in the front seat were merely drivers rather than the potentially harder to deal with hired muscle. Felix gently tested his bonds and discovered they were quite sturdy, not to mention painfully digging into his skin.

"Gun," a new voice called out from the forward part of the vehicle. "Front passenger seat."

The van took another sudden turn and Felix had the fleeting thought that he might be able to use the vehicle's carpeted flooring to his advantage. He slammed his head against the floor as his body started to roll and managed to dislodge the hood somewhat. It did not come fully off, but he could see a portion of the interior through a gap at the base. He quickly ascertained that he was in a large, boxy vehicle. Through the windows, he could see that the sun was still up. The light streaming in allowed him to see three men, all heavily armed with automatic weapons and body armor. Felix focused the entirety of his attention on the centimeter-wide aperture at the bottom of the hoodwink. Each of the thugs was armed with an automatic rifle in addition to at least one sidearm. They were also all at the other end of the vehicle, meaning the only foe close at hand was also the one he could not see. He gave the bonds affixed to his ankles another more strenuous test, but all he gained for his trouble was the sharp lancing pain of having sliced open the thin skin on one of his shins.

A shadow passed across the vehicle's interior, causing his attention to shift to the trees rushing past outside. Listening intently for a long moment, he could hear nothing but the rumble of the vehicle in which he resided and the anxious breathing of his enemies. He came to the realization that the remote setting his captors had sought was close at hand.

His attention was once again drawn to the trees outside and the beginnings of a preposterously insane plan bloomed in the back of his mind. He was reminded unsettlingly of the sensation he had felt during his first engagement with the Chalawanians, or the moment in his tiny spaceship when he had made the fateful decision to ram the flagship.

Without allowing himself even a moment for second thoughts, Felix acted. In a single motion, he pulled his knees to his chest and rolled into a crouch. He heard a surprised grunt behind him as he launched with all his might through the rear passenger-side window of the van and burst into the open air. He quickly coiled his body as best he could and prepared for the worst as he braced for impact with the tarmac racing past beneath him.

He was not disappointed in his expectation of agonizing pain as he smashed to the ground and began tumbling helplessly. Ironically, the bindings on his wrists and ankles likely prevented the damage from being even worse as they kept his limbs from shattering as they flopped around uselessly.

Felix slid to a stop, dimly noting that he had broken far more bones than he cared to count in addition to a likely depressing amount of road rash. In the plus column, Felix's legs were no longer bound, and his wrists were now mysteriously in front of him rather than behind. A stabbing pain from the vicinity of his shoulder told him that a likely dislocation might be the explanation for the latter phenomena.

Without pause, he reached up and snatched the hood from his head before looking around to assess the situation. Screeching to a stop a few hundred meters to the north was the van from which he had escaped. Much closer to the south was a similar van which was heading almost directly towards him at a high rate of speed. Felix leapt clear rather than find out the hard way that his purported rescuers were just a second malignant party. Thankfully, he made this leap with the luxury of being able to choose his landing spot and watched the second van barrel headlong toward his former prison as he landed in the grass beside the highway. Within seconds, both vehicles discharged several gunmen, and the groups engaged each other.

"What the hell?" Felix grunted in confusion.

A man burst from the rear of the second van and looked in Felix's direction with a wild panicked expression on his face. He waved Felix over frantically, to which the latter's response was nothing but a quirked eyebrow.

"Get the fuck over here!" the man shouted. "Isabella sent us."

Felix shrugged and raced over to the van, prompting the man to yell, "We got him. Let's get the fuck out of here."

Seconds later, the van was hurtling in reverse away from the action while two men continued to fire from the open sliding doors as enemy bullets laced across the obviously bulletproof windscreen.

"That was some move back there," the man who had summoned him grunted. He gave Felix a long once-over and added, "You need a hospital? That shoulder looks pretty fucked up."

"Where's Isabella?" Felix grunted in reply, his eyes taking in the van's occupants as he wondered if he had merely exchanged one group of captors for another who just happened to toss out a name he recognized.

"She'll meet you at our destination. She also said to tell you they're all fine, whatever that means."

"Then what are you doing here?"

"All I know is that my boss told us to spring you. Seems your girlfriend called in some pretty big favors. You sure you don't need a hospital, buddy. Not for nothing, but you're bleeding pretty badly."

"Just take me to Isabella," Felix grunted before slumping back into the seat.

Forty-Two

"Felix!" a sweet voice rang out the moment the door to the van slammed open.

He was careful not to hurt any of his rescuers as he leapt from the van and raced across the tarmac. Yasmine crashed into him first, quickly followed by Quinn and Isabella. He hugged them tightly, a distant part of him only at that moment realizing how close he might have come to being permanently separated from them. Their tears quickly soaked through the borrowed t-shirt, the clothes he had been wearing when he entered the school what felt like weeks earlier having been destroyed by the pair of firefights.

"It's ok," he soothed. "I'm fine." Yet, despite his words, his tears soon joined theirs and they allowed themselves a few moments to just enjoy the soul-deep relief of being reunited.

At length, he took a look around and realized they were on an airport tarmac. Yet things seemed less busy than he would have expected given that the sun had just set. The planes he saw that were moving were scarcely larger than the van he had just left if one did not include the wings. His knowledge of airports in this era was also still a bit fuzzy, but he did not think it was typically permitted to drive passenger vehicles onto the tarmac.

"Where are we?" he murmured into Yasmine's sweet-smelling hair.

"A private airport near Harrisburg," Isabella replied.

"Where are we going?"

"You'll see," she replied mysteriously. "Give me a few minutes to conclude my business with your rescuers."

A thousand questions sprang to the tip of Felix's tongue, but he was forced to hold them as she strutted alluringly toward the van which had delivered him to the airport. She spoke with one of the men there for several minutes before ultimately shaking his hand firmly and bidding him farewell.

She returned quickly and accepted another brief kiss from Felix before nodding in the direction of a car park and saying, "Come on."

"We're not getting on a plane?" Felix asked in confusion.

Without checking her stride, Isabella said, "I promise I'll explain everything once we're under way."

"But..."

Isabella gave a weary sigh before turning. "Do you trust me?"

"Of course..." her three companions answered as one.

"Then get in the fucking car," she interrupted primly.

The group dutifully followed her to find an unremarkable brown sedan that was domestic in origin and was likely older than Yasmine. They quickly climbed in, with Quinn taking the wheel and Felix being shoved into the passenger seat in deference to the fact that he was comfortably more than a dozen centimeters taller than any of his partners. Isabella directed Quinn toward the highway since the vehicle predated even the notion of personal satellite-based navigation.

Once they reached the open road, Quinn said, "All right. We're safely away. Now talk."

"We're headed toward the border. I opted to borrow a car from our new best friends back there, as opposed to flying, because this way will be much more difficult to track. Assuming, that is, that we managed to depart before anyone took notice of our presence. And, speaking of staying under the radar.... I'm assuming those assholes that grabbed you still have your phone, babe?"

Felix shrugged and said, "I assume so. Regardless, I don't have it."

"Good. I've got new ones in the boot should they become necessary."

"I get the impression I'm a little behind in the information department. Would someone mind telling me who those guys were, and how you all know them?"

Isabella said, "Smugglers. Mostly art but also some more unique items. Not drugs or women, though. The head of their organization has been bugging me for years to sell one of my buildings. I suspect it has something to do with its location, but he never gave me any details beyond promising that he'd beat any reasonable offer by twenty percent. I refused to sell because I wasn't willing to evict any of my tenants. Or, worse, subject them to a landlord who won't take care of them."

"So, he helped you in the hope that you'd change your mind?"

"I told him the building was his, without the twenty percent, if he got you back to us in one piece," Isabella said firmly.

"Honey," Felix sighed. "You shouldn't..."

"Stop!" Isabella said firmly. "I would have given it to him for nothing to get you back."

"Thank you," Felix whispered, reaching back to take her hand.

"I would do anything for you," she murmured. "We all would. We kind of went to pieces when that asshole knocked you out. I'm frankly stunned I managed to think clearly enough to give Paulie a call."

Felix was silent for a minute under the weight of the tension filling the car. Unable to find the words to assuage the disquiet his abduction had caused, he opted instead to change the subject. "What about your tenants?"

"I'll find another building and pay to move them, plus three months' rent free for their troubles. It'll be a bitch to find one in the same school zone, but I guess that's why my agent gets such a healthy cut."

Felix started to reply, but he was distracted by light touches tracing over his shoulders, arms and chest. He turned to find Yasmine staring at him with a woeful expression and tears in her eyes. He said, "What is it?"

"I never got the chance to ask back at the airport."

"Ask what, honey?"

"Are you ok?" she barely managed to say through her sobs.

"I'm fine, Yasmine. I was pretty banged up after I busted out of the van where I was held captive in, but I'm all healed up now."

"Are you sure?"

"Really, really, honey. Seeing you three was all it took to make everything right with the world."

"It's so hard to wrap your head around," Quinn said after a brief silence. "I mean... intellectually I know you can heal at an incredible rate. Hell, I saw you get shot at least five times on the news and you don't even have any scars. And it's not just you. I cut myself slicing a cucumber last night and when I went to get a bandage, I couldn't even find the cut."

"You too?" Isabella interjected. "I cut myself shaving a few days ago and the cut closed up while I was watching it. It was like some movie special effects shit."

"But even knowing it can happen to Felix, and experiencing it myself to a lesser degree, it's still so hard to believe."

"It's too primal," Yasmine hypothesized. "A visceral reaction to a wound is written into our DNA. I for one will never grow comfortable with any of you getting hurt. I don't care how quick you heal."

"Same here," Quinn agreed.

"I'll do my best to keep any of us from getting hurt in the future," Felix said with as much confidence as he could muster. "Although I don't have the foggiest notion what I'm going to do about Xavier. The notion of walking up to his front door and yanking his spine out so I can beat him to death with it sounds very appealing, but I can't imagine it will be that simple."

"Indeed," Isabella said somberly. "Which is why the current plan is to stay off his radar while we figure out what the hell to do."

Quinn nodded and said, "That begs the question... where are we going?"

"Canada," Isabella said as though it were perfectly obvious. "Via Lake Ontario. Our friend Greg, the lawyer who's squaring away your questionable citizenship Felix, was able to arrange a yacht through a series of intermediaries."

"That sounds shady," Yasmine said slowly.

"What do you expect?" Isabella replied with a smirk. "He's a lawyer. Those guys are either crooked or useless. The good thing about Greg Sheehan Esquire is that he's only crooked in very specific ways. And, at least in my experience, he is almost completely trustworthy in all other areas. Especially when I pay on time. In this case, if he's good to his word, no one will be able to link us to the yacht."

"Meaning we can lose ourselves in the Great Lakes," Yasmine finished.

"Exactly."

They drove in silence for a time through the wilds of central Pennsylvania, although with the overcast evening and lack of streetlights they could have just as easily been crossing the Mojave Desert. This gave Felix a chance to reflect upon the profound import of the events of the previous day. Serving as a self-appointed protector of the innocent, a man who did what others could not, was a fundamentally different proposition from a man who considered himself a force for good who suddenly found himself in opposition to a man who was certainly a foe, if not a legitimate villain. Felix had always considered himself to be a reasonable man, but he found he could not divorce the general sense of unease that Xavier's request gave him from the blinding rage he felt at having been abducted. What had begun as a mild distrust towards an unusual man had now grown into a growing conviction that this conflict could only end in death. The fact that Xavier had almost certainly staged the shooting at the college as a means to trap him only heightened the sense that he now had a mortal enemy.

He was pulled from his reverie by a particularly loud grumble from his stomach. The car erupted in snickers before Yasmine spoke up soothingly. "We shouldn't laugh. It's almost certain that Felix's body requires significantly more calories when he is healing."

"You're right," Isabella replied, still snickering. "But I'm not sure how many options we have. We need to avoid any national chains. They all have surveillance."

"It might be a moot point," Quinn interjected. "It's after ten and we're kind of in the middle of fucking nowhere."

"I'll be fine," Felix reassured them. "It's not like I need to eat in order to heal. Realistically I could probably go a few weeks without eating."

"I would never allow that to happen," Yasmine murmured, her hands finding Felix's shoulders to massage him gently.

"We should be there in a few hours regardless," Isabella informed them. "And I've instructed the captain to make sure there's enough food on board to feed Quinn's beloved baseball team."

"They're dead to me," Quinn grunted. She then suddenly raised her voice to a yell, "How the fuck do you blow a five-run lead in an inning without even getting another reliever up? The manager is a brain-dead moron! I honestly wouldn't be surprised to learn that he managed to lock himself in a phone booth at this point."

"Note to self," Isabella mumbled. "Always check the box scores before bringing up baseball."

Felix chuckled and said, "Are you sure you enjoy this game?"

"No!" Quinn thundered. "I'm never watching again."

"They won tonight," Yasmine pointed out quietly.

"Really?" Quinn replied with genuine interest. "What was the score?"

"Sports should be a schedule-one drug," Isabella muttered.

"On that note," Felix said with a yawn. "What's our ETA?"

"About two hours," Isabella replied after a check of her phone. "Unless we have to stop. Quinn, honey, are you good to drive that long?"

"Are you kidding?" she enthused. "I once drove eighteen hundred kilometers in a single day. By myself. Only stopped three times, and that was only because I needed more petrol."

"Good lord," Yasmine yelped. "What on earth for?"

"Not to mention how?" Isabella groaned. "I can't even imagine sitting in one place for that long."

"Following my team," she replied with a shrug. "What can I say, road-tripping is one of my super-powers."

Isabella leaned over to Yasmine and murmured, "Based on the way she carried those two suitcases, neither of which weighed less than thirty kilos, out to the car earlier, I wouldn't be surprised if she didn't have a few more superpowers than she's giving herself credit for."

"She's not the only one," Yasmine replied somberly.

Forty-Three

"Well, that doesn't suck," Isabella murmured softly as the group stood along the railing of their yacht and watched a dazzling array of hot air balloons drifting in the lazy late afternoon breeze to their south.

Felix whispered, "I wonder what they're doing."

"It's just a thing that happens sometimes," Yasmine replied quietly. "I'm not sure if there are clubs, or what. But it's something you see pretty frequently in this part of the country. Especially this time of year."

"It's beautiful," Quinn observed. She then quirked an eyebrow and added, "I'm assuming they call the whole thing off if there is a northerly wind. I can't imagine how much it would suck if you're ready to descend and find yourself a couple dozen kilometers from land."

They watched for several more moments before turning their attention back to the serious business of trying, and usually failing, to ignore the fact that the world's richest man was presumably, at that very moment, plotting their demise. They had each tried various distraction techniques since casting off in the dead of the night eighteen hours earlier and heading north toward the world's longest border between neighboring countries. So far eating and sleeping had been scored as moderately successful in that effort. The tour of the boat had been completely fascinating, but a twenty-meter craft can only hide so many surprises.

They had ultimately ended up on the forecastle catching the last of the afternoon's rays and enjoying the scenery. Despite the technically balmy eighteen-degree early autumn day, they were all quite comfortable sunbathing in barely-there bathing suits. Felix's conservative upbringing gave him a moment of unease when his beautiful companions shed their coverups to reveal bikinis which would have been hard pressed to conceal a trio of playing cards, all while in full view of the captain and crew. This quickly turned into a rage-filled jealousy as he watched their gazes turn lecherous. His ladies quickly talked him down, with Quinn pointing out quite reasonably that he would be hard-pressed to find a heterosexual male within a thousand light years who would not turn into a slobbering moron at the sight of Isabella and Yasmine laying out wearing, as near as makes no difference, nothing at all. This was quickly followed by Yasmine pointing out, not inaccurately, that Quinn's all-American beauty would likely have an even more profound effect.

"Do you think the captain would mind if we went for a swim?" Yasmine murmured quietly.

"I actually asked him on the way out," Isabella replied. "He didn't exactly say no, although he pointed out the water temperature was a little less than fifteen degrees. He seemed more confused than anything."

"Then what are we waiting for?" Felix announced jubilantly. He scooped Yasmine up in his arms and asked, "Are you ready?"

"I am always ready for you, my love," she answered with a warm smile before leaning in and kissing his cheek.

Felix strode boldly to the edge of the boat before performing an about-face and leaping backwards out over the water. The couple performed a lazy backflip before plunging into the cool water. They surfaced separately moments later and gazed up at their temporary home, a luxurious cabin cruiser which stretched two levels above the waterline. As they watched, Quinn climbed onto the roof above the bridge and, after a neat pirouette, executed a stunning backward dive where she lazily rotated in a flawless pike before cutting the water the moment her body reached vertical.

Isabella stepped into the place Quinn had vacated and shouted, "Watch this."

She proceeded to leap into the void without the benefit of any flashy rotations. She wrapped her arms tight over her bountiful breasts and crossed her ankles just before she struck the water. It seemed, to Felix's way of thinking, rather pedestrian. That was until he realized too many seconds had passed since she went under with no sight of her surfacing.

Felix shouted up to the bridge, "Did she surface on the other side?"

The captain leaned over the edge and said, "I don't see any sign of her, sir."

With a parting apologetic glance at Yasmine, Felix dove beneath the water and swam down toward the keel of the yacht. Halfway to his destination, he spotted a figure in the gloom. As he drew closer, he was able to make out Isabella's alluring curves just below the ship's lowest point. His initial impulse to urgently whisk her to the surface was checked when he was able to make out her broad smile. She reached for him and pulled him close, planting a searing kiss on his lips. He was mystified at her lack of concern for being submerged for several minutes, but not so much that he failed to appreciate the softness of her body against his or the hunger that drove her tongue into his mouth. At length, they parted and she regarded him playfully. He glanced in the direction of the surface questioningly, to which she replied with a shrug before taking his hand and unhurriedly swimming in that direction.

Upon breaking the surface, she cackled gleefully and exclaimed, "Holy shit!"

Quinn and Yasmine swam over to join them; their expressions happy rather than worried. The foursome came together in an awkward hug as they trod water.

Felix said, "My only question is... did you know you could do that before you jumped in?"

"Sort of," Isabella replied flightily. "We've all been low key testing ourselves for the last couple days. But this was the first, for want of a better term, live-fire exercise."

"And it's the same for all of you?"

"She can hold her breath for the longest," Quinn supplied. "Yasmine is the strongest and, at least where running is concerned, I seem to be the fastest."

"She's also got a cannon of an arm," Yasmine interjected. "Isabella even ordered a radar gun. She's got a hundred-and-ninety KPH fastball."

"You should try out for your team," Felix said teasingly.

"I think I'd rather stay right here," she said before leaning in for a kiss.

As their tongues slicked together, Isabella leaned in and licked along the blade of his ear while Yasmine's hand slid into his swim trunks. He quickly hardened under her urgent ministrations, and she moaned beside him in response.

"We should head inside," Yasmine whispered huskily. "Now."

"Good idea," Felix grunted as he painfully tucked his turgid manhood back into his trunks.

The sight of his lovers climbing onto the boat, their flawless derrières breathtakingly heightened by the way their Brazilian-cut bikini bottoms disappeared into their most intimate places, nearly caused Felix to walk into the corner of the bar as they passed through the salon. He did not even try to hide his arousal as he hurried after them, although he did hear a reverential oath escape the lips of the steward when he passed her in the stairwell. By the time he reached the yacht's master suite, his lovers were already well on their way to divesting themselves from their swimsuits. Felix shoved his own trunks to the floor and kicked them to the side as he distractedly slammed the door behind him.

He heard ripping fabric and looked up in time to see Yasmine snicker and say, "Oops."

"See!" Felix enthused. "Clothing is far too fragile."

"I'll buy us new outfits forever if you promise to tear the clothing from our bodies before you ravish us," Isabella murmured as she crossed to him, her top still concealing her spectacular breasts from his eyes.

He reached out to cradle her tits lovingly and winked at her before grasping the wisp of fabric between his hands and effortlessly snapping it to reveal the last of her deeply tanned skin to his eyes. He ducked his head to take a nipple between his lips, prompting her to sigh in contentment and lean into him.

Her enjoyment was short-lived, however. After mere seconds, she whispered, "Wait."

Felix pulled back and was gutted to see tears in her eyes. He pulled back instinctively whispered, "What's wrong, honey?"

"We almost lost you," she sobbed.

"But you saved me. You all did. I'm right here and I'm not going anywhere."

"We were just so fucking worried."

"I know," he began, but she quickly cut him off.

"I wasn't finished," she snapped quietly. He smiled and made a conciliatory gesture, prompting her to continue. "We made a vow yesterday. We said when we got you back, we would show you just how much you meant to us."

"I have never doubted your love," he replied solemnly, his glance taking in Yasmine's somber expression and Quinn's serene happiness. "From any of you."

"We know," Isabella replied as her lovers sidled up beside her. "But that doesn't diminish our desire to worship you, babe. You're always so dedicated to our pleasure when we make love. Let us show you just how much we appreciate you."

They pushed him back onto the bed and she knelt between his knees as Quinn and Yasmine settled in on either side of him. Isabella offered him a playful smirk before ducking her head to lathe his balls with the flat of her tongue in advance of Quinn and Yasmine coming together for a sloppy kiss around the head of his cock. He sank back onto the bed under the onslaught of pleasure, intent on savoring each instant of the unparalleled experience. His head came back up with a start, however, when he felt his cock enter the warmth of a loving mouth. He looked down to see Quinn's lips slowly sliding down his towering manhood. He heard a brief whispered conversation which was immediately followed by Yasmine leaning past Quinn to suck one of his balls between her lips and Isabella dropping lower to tease the sensitive flesh beneath his scrotum.

"Bog!" he hissed fiercely.

"We're just getting started," Isabella murmured, the vibrations of her voice impossibly adding to his pleasure.

Quinn finished her downward journey, kissing his pubis around his throbbing manhood as Isabella moved daringly lower. He was helpless to hold his pleasure at bay when he felt her tongue delve into his anus. Without warning, he exploded down Quinn's throat. He heard a gleeful rumble in her chest as she rose up to pleasure him with her tongue as he continued to erupt into her eager mouth. As he watched in wonder, his seed streamed down the sides of his pulsing cock. Yasmine and Isabella soon abandoned their posts to climb up and share Quinn's creamy treat, eagerly lapping up his essence as it flowed down his length.

Releasing his agonizingly sensitive cock, Quinn sank back on her knees and sighed in contentment as she swallowed the last of his cum. She smirked at him and said, "My goodness, you're delicious."

"So are you," he gasped, reaching for her hips.

"Oh, no you don't," she gently rebuked as she scrambled away from him. "We already told you. Today is all about you."

"But..." he protested.

His complaint was quickly forgotten, however, when he felt his still throbbing cock enter Yasmine's slick heat. His hands instinctively found Yasmine's hips before wrapping his arms around her belly and pulling her spectacular body back against him. He kissed along her neck to her ear as he began thrusting into her soaked core. His hands found her breasts, tweaking her tiny nipples to heighten her pleasure.

Isabella soon resumed the achingly pleasurable ministrations of her tongue between his thighs. Quinn joined the action soon after, her tongue alternating between his balls and Yasmine's clit.

"Oh my goodness," Yasmine breathed as her release built quickly. "That feels amazing."

"Cum for me," Felix whispered in her ear as he sped up his thrusts. "Cum for all of us."

"Felix?" she whispered pleadingly an instant before he felt her inner walls clench around his manhood. He buried himself in her depths as her orgasm swept through her like a tsunami, but he could feel Quinn's heated breath on his moistened scrotum as she eagerly lapped at Yasmine's throbbing clit.

"Too much," Yasmine hissed as she rolled to the side, her body still convulsing with the aftershocks of her release.

Before Felix could even turn to comfort her, Quinn slid up along his body and took him into the valley of her cleavage. She grinned at him as she began bobbing on her knees. Behind her delightfully upturned hips, Felix spotted Isabella's wink as she sank her tongue into Quinn's dripping folds.

"My God, woman," Quinn yelped happily. "How are you so good at this?"

"Lots of practice," Isabella murmured coquettishly as she licked up to tease Quinn's asshole with the tip of her tongue.

"Can I be your padawan of fucking?" Quinn whispered. "I'll just apprentice under you for a couple of decades."

"I could get used to you being under me," Isabella replied. "I accept."

"Hey," Yasmine complained. "What about me?"

"Both of you. And Felix will be our master."

"That's a terrible idea," Felix retorted, not without difficulty thanks to the remarkable things Quinn was doing to his manhood with her breasts. "I am definitely the least experienced lover here."

Quinn grinned at him and said, "I believe she meant we are yours, to do with as you please."

"Whenever you please," Yasmine added.

"And however you please," Isabella concluded, rising up from behind Quinn to move toward her bag. "Shall we begin the first lesson?"

Quinn relinquished Felix's cock to watch Isabella questioningly. The latter retrieved a small item and returned to the bed. Popping the top, she squirted a glob of clear fluid onto the head of Felix's cock and said, "You can't use too much lube when you're giving someone your ass." She looked at Yasmine and said, "Can you make sure he's fully coated?" She then turned to Quinn and handed her the bottle before adding, "And can you make sure I'm ready?"

The pair of stunning women hopped quickly to their assigned tasks. Felix tried to hold in his moan of contentment as Yasmine languidly stroked his glistening shaft with both hands, but restraint became impossible with Isabella's next instruction.

"That feels good, honey. But you need to fully prepare me. Use your fingers and loosen me up a bit."

Quinn slid along Isabella's back, kissing along the latter's neck before murmuring, "Like this?"

"Yes," Isabella hissed happily. Moments later, she added, "Now add another finger."

All Felix could see was Quinn's hand moving slightly behind Isabella's upturned ass as Yasmine stroked his manhood patiently, but the visual nearly did him in. "I'm not going to make it to the main event if you three keep teasing me."

"Are you sure?" Isabella whispered coquettishly. "You don't have to fuck my ass if you don't want to."

"You're an evil woman," he grunted.

"Good thing I'm your evil woman," Isabella replied huskily.

"Our evil woman," Quinn interjected as she claimed Isabella's lips.

Isabella gestured for Felix to slide fully onto the bed as she rose up. She climbed astride his hips once he was in position, placing her hands between his thighs and positioning the length of his cock against her lubricated puckered star.

"Yasmine?" Isabella asked regally. "Would you do the honors?"

Their umber-skinned lover nodded eagerly, prompting Isabella to twerk her hips slowly. Yasmine teased them for a few revolutions, rubbing Felix's cock against Isabella's forbidden entrance as the pair moaned in appreciation.

"Please," Isabella pleaded, holding herself still as her body shook in anticipation.

Yasmine obliged and pushed the head of his cock against her anus as he gently pushed into her vise-like tightness. The foursome watched in wonder as his length slowly disappeared. The sensation was incomparable: nearly agonizing tightness offset by tantalizing slickness. And, underscoring every physical sensation, was the overwhelming love he felt from each of these women. They were pleasuring his body as fully as was conceivable, but this paled in comparison to the contentment he felt in his soul thanks to their perfect happiness.

"Can I taste you?" Yasmine whispered hesitantly.

"Yes," was Isabella's only reply as Felix began slowly thrusting into her.

Yasmine descended on her lover's dripping folds, hungrily sucking her clit between her lips.

"Quinn, honey," Isabella murmured. "Come here."

The staggeringly beautiful blonde stood above the equally beautiful Italian sexpot, moaning in contentment as the latter drank from her flowing nectar. The sight of his three achingly gorgeous lovers pleasuring both himself and each other brought Felix to the brink in seconds.

"Oh my God," Quinn yelped, her hands flying to the ceiling to keep from falling as an orgasm overtook her. Her pleasure caused her balance to falter, and she crashed to the bed rather than collapse on top of Isabella.

Isabella followed moments later, the already devastating closeness of her ass impossibly tightening even more as Felix's urgent thrusts triggered her release. The sensation of her forbidden walls gripping him pushed him over the edge and he erupted deep in her ass.

"It's so warm," Isabella murmured as her arms gave out and she fell to the bed between his knees.

Felix's cock popped free from the confines of her ass, his seed still geysering from his tip and covering his stomach and chest. Yasmine quickly moved to begin lapping up his essence as she stroked his manhood slowly while Felix fought to catch his breath. Quinn and Isabella joined soon after to share the creamy treat.

"That was..." he began.

"Only the beginning," Isabella finished before turning to Yasmine and sharing a sloppy kiss as Quinn lapped up the last of his seed while sighing contentedly.

Forty-Four

"Bolo!" Isabella declared as she caught sight of the diminutive Chilean chef as he attempted to sneak out of the kitchen. "This is incredible!"

"Gracias, senorita," he murmured with a bow.

"You must come work for me. How much are they paying you. I'll double it."

"You are very kind," he replied in heavily accented English. "But it is not permitted."

"You let me worry about that. Just promise you won't accept any other offers without talking to me first."

"Strictly speaking," the captain interjected quietly as he rose from the table. "I shouldn't allow that kind of talk."

Isabella regarded the mid-fifties Canadian carefully before saying, "But?"

"Bolo has been with me for three years. If you're serious about doubling his salary, I can't imagine anyone deserving it more. He's got a wife and five kids back home. He sends every dollar he makes to them in the hopes that they'll all eventually be able to emigrate to North America."

"Consider it done," Isabella declared as she raised her glass to their chef. "Bolo, bring me your passport when you get a chance, and I'll make it happen."

"Muchas gracias, senorita," he replied, his voice filled with emotion.

"Don't mention it."

The captain followed the chef from the salon, leaving the foursome in silence.

Felix waited a long moment before saying, "Back to a less happy subject..."

"Indeed," Quinn agreed. "The way I see it, we have three different problems. The first is intelligence. We don't know the full measure of Xavier's ambition. Does he really just want Felix's DNA, or is there more to this?"

"Not to pour salt in the wound," Yasmine added. "But we also don't have the foggiest idea where he went after he abducted Felix."

Quinn nodded and said, "The second is strength. Home boy had six different guys involved in the abduction. I can't imagine them presenting much of a problem for us in a straight up fight, but there's no telling how many more guys he might have at his disposal."

"Look," Felix interrupted grimly. "We've been over this. I have no intention of allowing any of you to be a part of this fight."

"Oh, look!" Isabella mocked. "Misogynist Felix just joined the chat."

"I'm not saying you're incapable of fighting," he groaned. "I'm saying I don't want you to."

"Well, we don't want you to fight either, sir," she snapped. "So where does that leave us?"

Everything was silent for several long seconds before Quinn said, "I propose we table the question of fighting for now. After all, it might not ultimately be up to us. Our third problem is how do we keep Xavier from doing unto us before we can do unto him?"

"I've got us covered there," Isabella replied. "Our friend Greg worked a bit of magic with the border patrol assholes. Anyone looking into our whereabouts will be convinced we went south. They'll spend several long weeks combing the Winward Islands for us. Combine that with the fact that this delightful yacht was rented through four levels of intermediaries, including one person I don't even know, and we should be reasonably safe here for as long as might be needed."

"Not to mention the fact that we can easily duck into Canada should that become necessary," Yasmine pointed out. "I know a few people in their defense ministry if we need to get in touch with their government."

"Wait," Isabella barked. "What'd you say?"

Yasmine shrugged and said, "What? I've been in academia for more than a decade. All of it at public universities. Defense departments are always looking for researchers willing to do things like a supercomputer-driven statistical analysis of eleven different strategies for Canada invading the Netherlands."

"What kind of brain-dead moron dreamt that up?"

"I asked the same question," Yasmine replied with a grin. "Albeit more gently worded. The answer was, as near as makes no difference, they have to spend the money on something, or their budget will get cut. So, every defense department in the world has massive libraries filled with war plans they'll never use."

"I'm so glad they fixed the public health crisis, and homelessness, and food insecurity," Isabella grumbled.

"Well," Yasmine offered. "To be fair, we're talking about Canada. So, they're comfortably lapping our homeland in those respects."

"Indeed," Isabella agreed. "So, I guess our resident supermodel has got secretly contacting the Canadian war department covered. Anyone else have any secret contacts which might be germane to the topic at hand?"

Quinn shyly raised her hand before saying, "I used to game with some guys who I'm pretty sure are in the NSA."

"Are you serious?" the feisty Italian shouted.

"It's not like I sought them out," Quinn retorted. "And they never said they were in the NSA. It's just some things they said in the course of normal conversation. Like being wildly unconcerned with some geopolitical events that the press was panicking about while legitimately terrified about ones no one had heard of. One of them even reached out to me once and told me in no uncertain terms to leave town at once and head south. I ignored him because I had a deadline at work. But the next day I heard that there was a thwarted terrorist attack just a few miles from my apartment."

"Jesus," Isabella breathed.

"I know, right?"

Isabella sighed before saying, "I know quite a few assholes on Wall Street. I can reach out to them to see if they know where Xavier is. I can't imagine someone that rich could stay hidden for long without it impacting the bottom line."

Felix glanced around before saying, "Sounds like you three have a head start on solving our intel problem. I'm going to go have a chat with our captain. He strikes me a as a military man. Perhaps he could give me his thoughts on how we can get our hands on some weapons."

***

"Are we sure about this?" Yasmine asked quietly as she studied the table covered in a wide array of papers, electronics and empty glasses.

Felix shook his head and said, "It has been said many times, by some of history's most distinguished military leaders, but no battle was ever won on defense."

"I get that," she replied dejectedly. "But does that really mean our only alternative is a full-on assault of a heavily defended compound?"

"I know you're afraid, honey," Isabella soothed.

"It's not that I'm afraid," Yasmine snapped. "At least not for myself."

"I know," Isabella sighed. "I feel the same way. But what other choice do we have? We can't stay on this yacht forever, nice as it is. Eventually, anyone can be found by someone with the will and the means to do so."

"Why does he have to be such an asshole?" Yasmine griped helplessly before sinking into her seat.

It had been five days since they had boarded their temporary home and began steaming generally toward Toronto across Lake Ontario. Earlier that morning, following an email received from one of Isabella's contacts, they had turned sharply to starboard and increased to near flank speed as they headed east. Their intel now indicated that Xavier would be at his house in the Hamptons for two nights, starting the following evening, to attend a board meeting on Wall Street for one of his corporations.

Quinn glanced around the table before saying, "Who knows? But the fact remains that Xavier has made it pretty fucking clear that he's our enemy. You all saw the reports of the group of gunmen that got caught on surveillance cameras in that resort on St. Vincent. It's him or us, boys and girls."

"Agreed," Felix said somberly. "When do we dock?"

Isabella glanced up and said, "About three hours. Then it's about a six-hour drive to Rhode Island."

Yasmine looked up from her phone, a frown creasing her beautiful features, before saying, "I have a moral quandary."

"Pardon?" Isabella huffed.

"One of my contacts has offered to provide something which would be very helpful for us. But his price is... unusual."

"Does it involve bodily fluids?" Quinn guessed with a snicker.

"Sort of?" Yasmine replied mysteriously.

"Gimme that," Isabella huffed, holding her hand out for Yasmine's phone.

Yasmine reluctantly handed it over as she said, "Just keep in mind we need his help if we're to pull it off."

Isabella read for several moments before groaning, "Men."

"Nudes?" Quinn prompted.

"Oh yeah," Isabella replied. "With, and I quote, grool."

"Well, I guess that answers that question," Felix interjected. He then grinned at his companions and added, "I wondered if any words fell out of usage over the coming quarter-millennia. I suppose the answer is yes because I have no idea what you two are talking about."

Quinn shrugged and said, "It's like cum, but for ladies. Visible lubrication." She turned to Yasmine and added, "What I don't get is why you were being so mysterious. I mean, this is pretty unsettling, but not exactly super atypical for lonely males."

"Well, there's the fact that this guy has no idea I've undergone a transformation."

"So, it's all a moot point?"

"Not exactly? I might have a video on my phone which would satisfy his request."

"The one that was taken without your permission?" Felix growled.

She nodded solemnly and said, "I'm not sure why I kept it. Maybe just to remind myself to be careful who I trust. But, as it pertains to our current situation, I guess the real question is, how should I feel about sending him nudes of the woman I used to be?"

"Um... wow," Quinn murmured. "I have no idea."

"What would you do?" Yasmine pleaded.

"I'd send them," Quinn replied quickly. "But I've never really been very body conscious."

"Says the woman who I met because she was loudly arguing with her soon-to-be ex-boyfriend over taking her clothes off on a nude beach."

"That was because he was being an asshole," Quinn retorted. "Not because of the nudity. My point is, I'm not sure the degree to which I can advise you."

"Same here," Isabella said. "Although I do have a question. If that video was taken in the shower without your permission, how could it possibly meet this pervert's weird requirements? Unless you were masturbating." A silence descended over the table for a moment before she added, "Oh, you dirty girl. She let us think she was all shy and proper, but the whole time our girl was jilling off in the shower to dreams of getting fucked in the ass by a well-hung super-soldier from the future while her co-wives cheered her on."

Felix chuckled and said, "That's oddly specific."

"Regardless," Isabella continued. "I say send them. Own your body, both the old and the new. That video has no power over you, honey. It never did. Because you're fucking incredible, inside and out."

Yasmine nodded and said, "Ok, I'll do it. He said he'll have a truck waiting for us at the dock. An older model, so no computers to worry about with tracking. Plus, he said it'll have, and I quote, more than we could possibly ever need as far as weapons and armament."

"Men are so silly. I wonder what he'd do if we sent him a video of our dear Yasmine losing her anal virginity last night?"

"Likely an aircraft carrier," Quinn guessed.

"Ok, so we keep that option in our back pocket if it turned out Xavier has an army guarding him. What's the latest from the nerds?"

Quinn laughed out loud and said, "You really shouldn't call them that. They're nice guys."

"Also, nerds," Isabella retorted.

"We'll start getting satellite shots later tonight, and then every four hours thereafter. I also found one guy who was willing to kill the power to Xavier's power grid on command for significantly less than a video of me flicking my bean in the shower."

"Oh really?" Isabella prompted.

"Yeah. He just wants me to introduce him to this chick I used to work with. Poor guy has crippling social anxiety even though he's really nice. I even thought about dating him in the past, but then I hooked up with NBSA and the opportunity was lost."

"NBSA?" Felix queried.

"Nude Beach Sneak Attack."

"Right," he allowed. "So, what's next?"

"Sleep," Isabella declared, slamming her laptop closed. "We can't do any more planning until we get those satellite overheads. The simple fact is we're going to be forced to play this one by ear. Especially considering the fact that our most experienced warrior has only been in a half dozen battles, and those were all basically uncoordinated melees. Honestly, Quinn is likely our best strategist because of her gaming addiction."

"Addiction is a bit harsh," Quinn complained. "I prefer to think of myself as an avid hobbyist."

"You're a fucking nerd, babe," Isabella said warmly. "But you're our fucking nerd."

"Damn right," Quinn whispered as she leaned in to collect a scorching kiss.

"Are we sure about this?" Yasmine whispered to Felix.

"Not remotely," he replied quietly before sinking back into his chair despondently.

Forty-Five

"Hello Mr. Xavier St. John-Smythe," Quinn whispered in Felix's headset. "Jesus, that's a dumb fucking name. I mean, zero chance he was born with it, right? His birth certificate probably read Chad Fuckwit."

"We're supposed to keep quiet," Yasmine hissed.

"Right," Quinn replied. "In any case, Lord Dingleberry just exited the helicopter that landed behind the house and hurried inside. Looks like Jiang is with him, along with two other women I don't recognize."

"What about security?" Felix cut in.

"I count nine. Two went inside with Xavier. Then there are three at the guard house and the other four are either walking the fence line or circling the house."

"Does the fence look like it will pose a problem?"

"We can clear it," Isabella reported confidently. "How far out are you?"

"About a hundred meters. I can see the two men walking the perimeter. Estimate eight minutes before I come ashore."

Quinn said, "We're ready. Please be careful."

"You too," Felix replied with quiet intensity. "I love you all."

"We love you too," came the chorus of replies.

They had ultimately taken nearly an entire day to make their way to the Hamptons, the process of collecting all the supplies they would need having stood in stark opposition to their yearning to get into place as soon as possible. By the time they arrived, dawn had broken so they got a few hours of much needed sleep in the back of their borrowed moving van rather than risk giving up their position by checking into a hotel. A boat operated by the same smugglers who had rescued Felix had taken them along the coast to do direct surveillance. This had given them the beginnings of a plan, but it also made it clear that Xavier was not at home (they surmised he was in the city instigating a hostile takeover of a mom-and-pop company that made socks for homeless people so he could repurpose them to manufacturing Nazi paraphernalia to be distributed at political rallies).

Their intel suggested the meeting which had brought Xavier to New York in the first place was scheduled to wrap up around mid-afternoon. He was then planning on joining two members of the Supreme Court for dinner. The ideal situation, according to Quinn's plan, called for them to have been in place before their target returned. Felix was to approach from the water, having been dropped off by their helpful smuggler friends several klicks offshore in a small zodiac filled with enough weapons to occupy a modest-sized city. The trio of women would sneak past the rather imposing fence and work to quietly disable the compound's infrastructure. This plan had gone up in smoke when Xavier landed shortly after sundown, but they had recognized the fact that they had no way of knowing their enemy's schedule and had contingencies in place. Felix only hoped they still had the element of surprise.

As he approached the shore, he clocked the fact that the surf was much more energetic than it had been earlier in the day. He pulled a length of rope from one of the bags covering the floor of the zodiac and secured one end to the handy cleat on the bow before tying the other end to the rear of his vest. He knew the waves would give him little choice in when he went ashore, and he had no interest in losing his precious supplies if he happened to find it necessary to dispatch a guard rather than dragging his boat into cover.

He spotted said guard when he was a scant twenty meters from shore, but it seemed the man was distracted by a conversation he was having on his phone. Felix heard a few snippets which suggested the man was speaking with a former intimate partner and it quickly became clear that the guard was displeased with the fact that the person on the other end of the phone had no wish to resume their relationship.

As Felix approached, the conversation became clearer. "... fucking bitch! How dare you. You don't get to say no to me. I'm..."

Felix felt mixed emotions about the fact that neither he nor the person on the other end of the line would ever know what the guard 'was', because a stone struck the latter in the temple, just centimeters in front of the phone he held to his ear, killing him instantly. Felix hurried over and scooped up the perfectly spherical missile which was roughly seventy-five millimeters in diameter and massed just shy of a kilogram. The stones had been Quinn's idea when they were discussing how Felix could silently disable their enemies. It came to her when remembering watching him unerringly strike objects nearly a hundred meters distant with a baseball. They had found stones intended for landscaping at a nearby builder's warehouse which were roughly the shape of the ball used in her beloved sport. They were obviously significantly heavier, but not so much that they presented a problem for Felix.

He replaced the stone in a satchel at his waist and then pulled both his boat and the dead guard along the sand toward some trees. He then took a few minutes to kit himself up until he had nearly doubled his weight. The girls had said the number of weapons he brought was preposterous overkill, but he was forced to rely upon his experience in warfare. Perhaps it was an intended consequence of the Conditioning, but he had never found himself in a battle wishing he had fewer guns. To his way of thinking, he should carry literally as much as he was physically able to since he could always drop something if it proved too burdensome.

He shook himself briefly to ensure nothing would rattle before thumbing off the safety on his rifle and saying, "In position."

"We're inside the perimeter as well," came Yasmine's clipped response. "I've disabled all but one of the vehicles. And I pulled the master fuse on that one, so it isn't going anywhere. Quinn is at the electrical box and Isabella is near the guard shack."

"What is she doing there?" Felix hissed. "That wasn't the plan."

"She insisted," Yasmine replied lamely.

"I'm headed that way now," he grunted as he began racing toward the small shack at the property's entrance.

"I'll create a diversion," Yasmine whispered urgently.

Felix had no time to ask what she meant. The guard shack had just come into view when he heard a shout from the direction of the house. The first warning cry was quickly followed by other voices and then sporadic gunfire, all of which Felix ignored as he raced with inhuman speed toward the guard shack. As he watched, three men ran out of the tiny building with guns drawn. Before they could bring their weapons to bear on Felix, a series of shots rang out from the brush behind the building. Isabella then popped up, her skin-tight patent leather bodysuit shimmering in the spotlights dotted around the property, as she continued firing. Felix's rifle came up and, between them, they took out the last of the three guards.

He raced to her side and said, "What the fuck are you doing?"

"My job," she hissed. "What are you doing? You were supposed to enter the house, you overprotective oaf."

"And you were supposed to take out the security system."

She gestured at the dead guards and said, "I did."

"Fine," he grunted. "But stay here. Get inside the guard shack. Maybe we can use their surveillance against them."

"That was the plan," she murmured. She pulled him in for a quick, but heated, kiss before adding, "Thanks for rescuing me, handsome."

"You're killing me," he muttered before racing toward the house in a crouch.

"There are two guards hiding behind the guest house," Yasmine reported quietly.

Quinn then whispered, "And another in the north-facing entrance to the main house."

"Copy," Felix replied as he looked around for the two unaccounted-for guards while staying clear of the line of fire of the known threats.

The first made their presence known quickly thereafter, standing up and filling the previously calm night air with the thunderous cacophony of automatic weapons fire. Felix stuck with his tried-and-true Z-axis offset defense and leapt straight into the air without checking his hurried dash. He spotted the gunman just before he reached the apex of his jump and took him out with a single shot while his enemy was still trying to adjust his fire.

"Found the last one," Isabella reported. "He's headed toward you from the south."

Felix turned in that direction and dropped to the ground, his rifle at the ready. Moments later Felix's rifle barked, and the guard count dropped to three.

He rose back into a crouch and hurried around the south side of the main house. "I'm headed around the back of the guest house."

Within minutes, the remaining threats had been eliminated and Felix stood in the darkened north-facing doorway above the body of the final guard.

"Ok," he whispered. "This is it. When I give the signal, I want you to kill the power."

"Got it," Quinn replied softly.

"Yasmine, be ready with that diversion."

"It's ready to go," she answered confidently. "Just say the word, and five seconds later you'll have the Fourth of July happening out here."

Without another word, Felix turned and delivered a heel stomp just above the deadbolt. He likely needn't have put all his force behind the kick as the door helplessly disintegrated and tumbled uselessly into the darkened entryway beyond. He leapt into a convenient looking shadow and glanced around furtively. Spotting no sign of resistance, he moved further into the now darkened house.

Felix stopped every few minutes to allow his senses to guide him, his confusion growing with each step. All his experiences since coming to this time suggested that he was more than capable of discerning when he was alone in a structure. At Isabella's villa, he always knew immediately upon waking how many of his lovers were in the house, or whenever an outsider such as the cleaning staff was present. Yet standing in the darkened halls of Xavier's mansion, he could detect no hint of anyone in his vicinity. The absence confused and agitated him. He knew Xavier was in the house. They had seen him enter and had far too many eyes on the house for him to have left conventionally. The concept of a more surreptitious exit was also unlikely, as the closest structure off the property was several kilometers distant. Felix was certain Xavier was within his grasp, he merely had to find him. He was somewhat familiar with the concept of a panic room and hypothesized that perhaps such a room would conceal a human from his heightened senses.

As Felix made his way to the third level, he heard something through his earpiece which turned his blood to ice. A gruff, unfamiliar voice followed by Quinn's strangled cry. Similar sounds came from his other lovers as Felix stood helplessly on the ornate staircase.

"That's far enough, big guy," Xavier's voice called out.

The silence which had previously so disturbed Felix was replaced in the span of heartbeats with a surge of awareness. At least a dozen humans were suddenly, and mysteriously, all around him.

For want of a better option, he turned and raced down the stairs with his rifle raised. Bafflingly, he encountered no resistance until he entered the hallway through which he had entered. As he raced down the darkened corridor, he felt repeated tiny pricks along his forearms. He looked down to find his exposed skin prodigiously perforated with tiny darts. He swept them away angrily, but the movement seemed oddly detached to his mind. His arm moved too slowly, and his skin felt nothing as the darts were dislodged. He took several more steps, each seeming slower than the last, before finally reaching the doorway.

The last thing he saw before losing consciousness were the great loves of his life being led at gunpoint toward the house with defeated expressions on their faces.

Forty-Six

By the time the year 2261 rolled around, recreational narcotics had all but been eradicated. Alcohol was freely available, although heavily regulated, as was tobacco. But the so-called hard drugs which had become so prevalent during the close of the twentieth century were unheard of in what Felix now thought of as the future. Even alcohol was something with which he had little experience. He could rarely afford it prior to his enlistment. And, thanks to the Conditioning, it now had no discernable effect on him. He was thus ill-prepared to deal with the effects of the chemicals which had temporarily robbed him of his consciousness, and which still slowed his thoughts to a crippling degree.

His first indication that the fog pervading his mind was receding was the wry thought, 'I've really got to stop getting knocked out like this'.

He attempted to test his ability to move, but quickly discovered that he had been bound by what he suspected were steel cables. He was about to risk opening his eyes when he heard Xavier's unmistakable voice gripe, "Can someone hurry this the fuck up?"

"Minute change in heartrate and breathing," and unfamiliar voice reported. "He might be awake."

"That's brilliant, Dr. Shit-For-Brains. Now how about you fucking find out."

Felix felt hands covered in cool latex grip his face roughly and his eyelids were soon pried open. He glared at the man standing over him, dimly noting that he scarcely fit the mold of 'doctor'. The man looked more like a child, barely past puberty. Yet the cruel expression on his face left Felix with little doubt that he was an enemy.

"Yup," the youngster grunted. "He's awake."

"Excellent," Xavier whispered wickedly.

Felix looked around to discover that he was in a large, windowless room. He was lying flat on his back, strapped to a hard surface which he suspected was metallic in nature based on how it was leeching the warmth from his bones. In addition to the doctor and Xavier, he spotted four heavily armed guards.

"Raise him up," Xavier commanded. "I want to look that son of a bitch in the eye."

The surface to which Felix was attached rotated until he was mostly upright and facing a seated Xavier. As Felix watched, his nemesis leaned back in the expensive looking, and oversized, chair. Xavier regarded him cooly and, after a few dramatic swirls as he watched the light refract enticingly, took a sip of his cocktail.

"Things didn't have to go this way," Xavier began. "I offered you the chance to be reasonable."

"Reasonable being defined as doing whatever you say?" Felix mumbled before shaking his head to try to clear the last of the cobwebs.

"I'd apologize for using to many tranquillizers, but I was running out of guards."

Felix glanced toward the muscle-bound men in the corner before saying, "I'm sure they appreciate your loyalty."

"They appreciate their paycheck."

"Perhaps their enthusiasm for being in your employ will dim when I tear that guy with the mohawk limb from limb and use his femur to beat the rest of them to death."

"You honestly think you're ever getting off that table?" Xavier retorted with a bark of laughter. "After all the trouble you caused me? I mean the train derailment alone cost me nearly a hundred-million dollars. Quite the hefty price tag to track a man down."

"You caused a train derailment just to talk to me?"

"What else was I meant to do? It's not like it's easy to find an illegal alien who manages to stay completely off the grid with the help of his besotted concubine."

"You're insane."

"I'm merely a man burdened with knowing what he wants yet gifted enough to have the means to get it. Which brings us back to you, my soon-to-be former nemesis."

Felix glared at him and said, "You don't have the balls to kill a man, Xavier."

"You have no idea how wrong you are. The only reason you're still breathing is because you need to be alive, and apparently conscious, for the extraction process. Once we have what we need, I'm going to personally supervise the process of finding out exactly what it takes to kill a man with your, shall we say, gifts. All in the interest of science, of course."

"Fuck you!" Felix snapped angrily.

Xavier turned and said, "Please inform my lovely assistant that we're ready for her."

One of the guards nodded and left the room, giving Felix the briefest of glimpses at the world beyond his prison. He gained some small measure of relief from the realization that he was still in Xavier's house in the Hamptons.

"While we wait," Xavier continued. "I was hoping you could tell me how it is that you came to be infected with the world's most fascinating, and valuable, STD?"

"What?" Felix grunted in genuine confusion.

"Don't be obtuse, my good man! STD. Sexually transmitted disease."

"I don't follow."

"These abilities of yours..." Xavier prompted. "Obviously they are remarkable. Genuinely incredible. I'm frankly devastated you're such an intractable bastard. Lord knows what we could have accomplished together had only you been more agreeable. But almost more incredible is the fact that you can impart a portion of these gifts upon anyone with the transmission of your DNA through sexual intercourse. All of the women you've slept with have not only grown far more alluring, but they've also rolled back the clock at least a decade."

"I don't know what you're talking about," Felix muttered as his mind raced for any semblance of a plan of escape.

"Don't insult my intelligence," Xavier snapped. "You are just as aware of the effect you have on women as I am. Or do you actually expect me to believe you failed to notice these changes?" Without waiting for an answer, he waved his hand dismissively and continued, "But even more remarkable is the fact that this effect ends with the women with whom you sleep. Or the men too, should you be so inclined, since Jiang did not fail to point out that it was her ass into which you ultimately ejaculated. Regardless, I've fucked her dozens of times since then and... nothing. On the plus side, I'm still the richest-guy-in-the-world, and a man who can have any thing, or any woman, he wants. But depressingly still forty-three years old."

"So, what?" Felix prompted. "Your master plan is to rape me so you can enjoy the fountain of youth?"

Xavier's eyes flicked to the doctor as he said, "I have been assured nothing so crude will be required." He sighed before adding, "You malign me, Felix, but I am not an evil man. I was perfectly willing to compensate you for what I seek. Quite handsomely. But you refused me."

"You're aware that for most people, being told no would be the end of it?"

"As you so accurately point out, I am not most people. I have grand ambitions, sir. Grander than the span of a single human life. Especially when I had to spend my first three decades acquiring the means to fulfill my intentions for this miserable planet. I aim to lead our species to the stars. I have everything I need except time. Which brings us to you." The door to Felix's prison opened to admit the guard in the company of one other person.

"Jiang!" Xavier announced jubilantly. "What took you so long?"

The stunning Asian woman shrugged nonchalantly as she approached Xavier. She took a seat on the arm of his chair and watched him intently. Her deliberate manner caused Felix to realize that she was undoubtedly going to great lengths to avoid looking in his direction.

Keying in on her reluctance, Felix said, "What's wrong? Having second thoughts about being in league with a super villain?"

"Villain!" Xavier repeated loudly. "By the time all is said and done, I'll be thought of as the greatest humanitarian in history."

"Says the guy who intends to write the history books."

Xavier merely shrugged in reply before turning his gaze to Jiang and saying, "In your own time, my dear."

Jiang rose, not without hesitation, and slowly met Felix's steely gaze. She crossed to him before shrugging slightly and saying, "No hard feelings?"

"For being part of a plot to kill me?" Felix groaned. "Bog, woman. You're crazier than he is."

"He didn't want to kill you," Jiang deflected.

"Yet here we are."

Jiang sighed before saying, "Listen, egghead over there," she gestured to the skinny doctor with her head, "says that we have to get a sample naturally."

"Meaning what?"

"Meaning," the doctor spoke up. "We can't just extract your semen from your testicles directly. We already tried that while you were unconscious, and it was inert. Something happens within your body when you ejaculate that activates the DNA modification serum."

Felix glared at Jiang and snapped, "So you're going to suck me off and then spit it into your crazy boyfriend's ass?"

"Gross," Xavier groaned. He shook his head before adding, "Obviously not. We just need an activated sample. Our friend in the lab coat actually insisted that a vagina was the best repository for said sample. Less chance of cross contamination than a mouth."

"Or an asshole," Felix muttered spitefully.

"Listen," Jiang said angrily. "You were great. But let's not pretend it was anything more than sex."

"Really?" Felix retorted. "You haven't thought longingly about the fact that I, how did you put it, ruined you for all other men every time you're with that miserable pile of yak excrement?"

"The hell you say," Xavier barked angrily. "You said he was nothing special."

She shrugged and said, "So I lied."

"You recognize that he's going to kick you to the curb as soon as he's done with you, right?"

"He wouldn't dare," she hissed. "He needs me."

"For what? To jerk me off? I'll bet he's got half a harem lined up outside in case you can't pull it off."

She whirled to face Xavier and said, "You said they meant nothing to you."

"None of you mean anything to me," Xavier retorted cruelly. He looked to the guard who had fetched Xiang and said, "Get her out of here. Bring in one of the others. Preferably the blonde. I noticed on the flight that her ears aren't quite symmetrical, so obviously she's a no go for warming my bed."

"No!" Jiang cried. "I will not be cast aside."

"Too late," Xavier muttered, his attention returning to Felix as the guard gripped Jiang by the arm.

Felix said, "What's it going to be, my dear? Are you really going to let them lead you out that door? You know that's a one-way ticket to a nine-millimeter brain hemorrhage, as they say in my country."

"That reminds me," Xavier interjected conversationally. "Where, exactly, are you from, anyway?"

"You wouldn't believe me if I told you," Felix replied distractedly, his eyes never leaving Jiang's. He stared at her intently and said, "Well?"

"Goddamn you," she muttered before whirling and smashing her elbow into the base of the guard's nose, driving the cartilage into his brain and killing him instantly. She then raced over to the doctor and pulled him before her as a human shield before growling, "Release him."

"Kill her!" Xavier shouted as he stood from his chair and jabbed a finger in Jiang's direction.

She led the scientist over to the table where Felix was strapped down and repeated, "Release him, or I'll break your bones one at a time."

"Are you insane?" the doctor hissed. He then gestured in Xavier's direction and added, "He'll kill me if I help you."

She swore softly in an unfamiliar language and then kicked viciously at the rear of the table holding him. Felix felt the entire structure jolt wildly under her assault and felt his bonds loosen slightly.

"Stop her!" Xavier shrieked.

"But the doctor!" one of the guards complained.

"Fuck him! I can find a million of him."

"Very well," the guard replied as he lifted his rifle to his shoulder and squeezed off a few shots.

The doctor screamed as the bullets laced his chest and Jiang hissed in pain as she took a round in the shoulder. Abandoning her now useless human shield, she scampered behind the contraption holding Felix. Moments later, Felix felt the cables encircling his wrist loosen quickly followed by the ones around his ankles. He kicked at both anxiously, freeing himself moments later.

"Kill them all!" Xavier screamed; the terror evident in his voice.

Felix lifted his arm up just in time to cover his head as the guards' weapons erupted. He leapt forward, crushing the skull of the closest guard like a grape. He yanked the dead man's weapon from his hands and dispatched the second guard while taking several more hits. He then ducked behind a small masonry wall and took a moment to reassess. His senses told him three people remained breathing in the room.

"Throw down your weapons!" Felix shouted.

"No!" Xavier yelped. "He'll kill us all."

"There's only one man in here who needs to die today," Felix growled. "Throw down your guns and I'll spare your life."

Felix's only answer was the clatter of metal. He stood and stalked toward where he knew Xavier was hiding. His enemy popped up and let loose a wild shot which took Felix in the stomach. Felix responded with a quick shot to Xavier's dominant shoulder and hissed, "That was stupid."

"You'll never escape. I've got fifty guards. They'll kill you, and all your precious women."

"I think not," a voice called out from the entryway to the room.

As one, Felix and Xavier turned to look toward the door to find Quinn standing in the doorway holding a rifle. Behind her, Isabella and Yasmine each held one of Xavier's guards prisoner with a pistol pressed firmly to their temple.

Felix stalked over to Xavier, gripping him by the throat and lifting him a dozen centimeters clear of the ground. He looked around and said, "Any reason we should let him live one more minute?"

"Wait," Xavier wheezed.

Quinn shook her head and said, "Nope," popping the 'p'.

Felix clenched his forearm, crushing Xavier's windpipe, before flinging him thoughtlessly to the ground. He then turned to his lovers and said, "Are you ok?"

"That's rich," Isabella chuckled. "He's riddled with bullet holes, and he wants to know if we're ok."

"We're fine, my love," Yasmine whispered as she crossed to him and hugged him carefully. "Are you ok?"

"I'll live," he grunted before slumping into Felix's ornate chair. "Although I could use a bit of rest, I think."

"Then you shall have it," she murmured comfortingly as he drifted off to sleep in her arms.

Forty-Seven

"Mmm," Felix groaned as he came slowly awake. He glanced down and murmured, "Good morning."

"Same to you," Quinn murmured before flicking his nipple a final time. "How are you feeling?"

He glanced lower at his arousal tenting the sheet and said, "Better."

"Is that a hint?"

He shrugged and said, "Call it a request."

She sighed with mock weariness and huffed, "Fine. I'll make love to the love of my life, who just also happens to have the world's most incredible penis."

She swung a leg over him and unhurriedly took him into her slick heat with a lengthy sigh. He felt his skin ignite at her touch, as it always did. It had been more than a full day since Xavier had met his end and Felix had yet to leave the bed in which he had awoken. Each of his lovers had visited him a few times, bringing food and water and slowly catching him up on what had happened while he healed, but it had not been until his most recent awakening that he had felt remotely human. He suspected it was very likely that he had come significantly closer to succumbing to his injuries than he was willing to admit to his companions.

"You're sure you're up to this?" she murmured.

"It'll take a lot more than getting shot to prevent me from wanting you, honey."

"You got shot seventeen times, babe," she gently rebuked.

"Yeah, but most of those were just muscle. In any case, you're one to talk. Isabella said you got shot twice after you kicked down the door of the room where they were holding you."

She smirked and said, "Good thing I've got your magic cock to make me all better."

"Is that all I am to you?" he joked.

"You're everything to me, babe. To all of us."

"Where are the others?" he gasped; his words nearly ripped from his lungs as Quinn lasciviously rotated her hips.

"I texted them as soon as I saw the Eiffel Tower you had constructed beneath the sheet. I suspect they'll be here any minute. Think you've got two goes in you, or should I dial it back?"

"Bog, woman. You can't possibly expect me to deny you in this condition."

"Then give it to me, babe," she whispered. "Give me all of it."

Felix pulled her down and captured her lips, moaning into their kiss as his loins erupted deep in her eager womb. He felt her join him in release an instant later, her inner walls rippling along his pulsing member. Her hands desperately raked through his hair as she writhed in his arms.

When their pleasure receded, she went limp in his arms and fought to catch her breath. He kissed along her neck and murmured, "You're incredible, honey."

She rolled to his side before kissing him gently and whispering, "You're not so bad yourself."

"You're sure that you're ok?"

"I'm perfect. Now."

"What'd we miss," Isabella shouted as she flung the door open.

"Nothing," Quinn replied with a secret wink in Felix's direction. "He just woke up."

"Are you ok?" Yasmine asked anxiously as she quickly crossed the room while distractedly discarding her clothing.

"I am marvelous," he replied reassuringly. "But what of you? I heard you got stabbed, honey."

"It was nothing," she deflected. "One of the guards made the mistake of getting between us and our man. I told him to back off, and he refused. He then made what I think we all would have to agree, at least with the benefit of hindsight, was the unwise decision to bring a knife to a super-powered bitch trying to save her man fight."

He guffawed and said, "I take it you showed him the error of his ways?"

"She tore his fucking throat out," Quinn interjected with a chuckle. "Note to self, never get between Yasmine and her beloved Felix."

"I would have done the same for any of you," Yasmine retorted gently.

"As would we all," Isabella said firmly as she removed the last of her clothing and climbed into bed.

"How many guards did Xavier end up having?"

"About twenty, including the ones you took out in assaulting the house. Six of them were still alive when our friends showed up an hour ago to collect them, along with the bodies."

"Which friends?" Felix asked warily.

"You are now an unofficial, unaffiliated, un-avowed agent of the Canadian government," Isabella declared regally. "I guess we all are, now that I think about it. We've all been offered sanctuary, and dual citizenship. Or, I guess in Felix's case, regular citizenship since Greg's black magic with the border patrol jackasses is still under way. In return for agreeing to at the very least take their calls when there's a situation somewhere in the world, they've promised to make this mess," she gestured around them to indicate the ornate master suite in Xavier's guest house, "disappear. They suggested, in fact, that there was nothing to stop us from, how did they put it, looking for souvenirs before the boat arrives this evening. Perhaps Lord Fuckwit has got some piles of money laying around we could use to fund the world's greatest superhero."

"But you all have lives in this country," Felix complained.

"My life begins and ends with the people in this room," Quinn stated firmly.

"I agree to a large degree," Isabella said with a nod. "And there's nothing to stop any of our families, including Quinn's should they get their collective heads out of their asses, from coming to visit once we get settled. We might not want to invite them to our lair, but we could always find a rental somewhere."

"Lair?" Felix queried with a snicker.

"We're going all in with the superhero thing, babe. Imagine getting everything Xavier promised without the master race overtones."

"You're sure we can trust these guys?" he asked Yasmine.

"No," she replied after a long pause. "But I think our chances are better than even with them. I certainly trust them more than any options we have here. In any case, I suspect they'll be wary of testing you after yesterday."

Isabella groaned and said, "You should have heard how many times the pervert squad asked how many quote, unquote, operators we had on our side."

"Pardon?" Felix asked chuckling.

"They were obviously the same intelligence operatives who begged our lovely Yasmine for nudes, even though they were dressed like garbage men right down to the truck. Dudes genuinely couldn't wrap their minds around the fact that weak, little girls took out a dozen heavily armed soldiers with nothing more than grit and guile."

"How'd they react to her transformation?"

"I don't think they had any idea it was her," Quinn answered. "We were all still wearing the same clothes we had on during the assault when they arrived. Poor guys just couldn't decide where to look. It was like tits-mageddon in every direction. I swear Isabella had her zipper down so low that I could see bush by the time they left."

"Never give a man a moment's comfort when there's an advantage to be had," she replied with a triumphant smile. She then glanced at Felix and added, "Well... other men. In any case, what about you, Ms. All-American Girl-Next Door? Your outfit was basically non-existent after you got shot and then that dickhead tried to grab you. Your tits were basically hanging out."

"Back to the original question," Yasmine interjected, "I hope we can trust them, but we're all agreed that this is almost certainly our best option. But you are our leader, beloved. If you disagree, we will..."

"No," Felix said firmly. He then hastened to continue after he saw the expressions of his true loves fall. "I am the brawn, the muscle. But I'm no leader. That mantle falls to the three of you. Where you go, I follow."

"I have a proposal," Isabella offered coquettishly.

"And that is," Felix prompted.

"We table the question of who shall lead us until after we've attended to our loving man's arousal. He's been about to punch a hole in the sheet the whole time we've been here, and we've done nothing."

"But..." Quinn objected.

"Not another word," Isabella snapped. "I suggest we give Yasmine the first go since she made such an enormous sacrifice to get us here in the first place."

"You mean sending those dudes that video?" Yasmine asked quietly.

"You're damn right. Do you want next, or don't you?"

"Oh," Yasmine mock complained. "All right."

She leaned in to capture Felix's lips as she eagerly climbed astride his hips and took him into her silken embrace. She rotated her hips languidly as their kiss deepened and her love encircled him comfortingly. Their lips parted to reveal her smile which underscored her complete contentedness.

"I love you," he whispered.

"Ditto," she replied with a goofy grin.

They made love with deliberate patience for several moments before the peaceful setting was shattered by Isabella bellowing, "You fucking trollop. You cum-guzzling gutter-slut."

Felix looked over in alarm to find Isabella kneeling between Quinn's widespread thighs, her lips just centimeters from Quinn's dripping folds, a look of unrepentant loathing on her face. He gasped, "What's wrong?"

"You shut it!" Isabella snapped. Her ire turned toward Quinn and she shouted, "You already fucked him!"

"What makes you say that?" Quinn asked, barely able to contain her laughter.

"You've literally got his cum dripping from your pussy."

"I thought you'd enjoy it."

"I do!" Isabella thundered. "That's beside the point."

"You're right," Quinn conceded. "I admit my crimes and throw myself on the mercy of the court."

"You infuriating woman! I should truly test your powers by sitting on your face until you're right at the cusp of losing consciousness."

"Fine by me," Quinn offered.

"Shut it!"

Quinn stayed still for several moments, regarding the beautiful woman glowering at her from between her thighs, but the moment soon became too much for her and she started snickering. This quickly turned to giggling, which brought Yasmine along for the ride. Felix joined in when the pair broke into chortling, soon followed by Isabella when things devolved into outright laughter.

"Fine," Isabella wheezed as the frivolity died down. "I'll clean up your sloppy pussy, you dirty whore."

As Isabella's tongue delved into her creamy folds, Quinn sighed, "You can call me whatever you want as long as you keep doing that."

"I love this," Yasmine whispered as she watched them. "Just being with all of you."

"I agree," Felix said, giving his hips a small thrust.

"But it's more than that," she replied happily. "I love being with you all the time, not just when we're making love."

Isabella crawled up to cuddle with Quinn and said, "Agreed. You all are my happy place. The fact that you're all devastatingly sexy is just an added bonus. I'd hang out with you guys forever even if we never made love again."

"I think we can consider that unlikely," Quinn murmured, her eyes falling to where Felix and Yasmine were joined.

"So, where's that leave us?" Isabella asked quietly, some measure of her typical boisterous fading.

"What do you mean?" Quinn asked worriedly.

Isabella sighed before saying, "It's like I told you before. The day my father died; I swore I'd never get married... never fall in love. I've broken half that promise..."

Quinn gazed at her lover worryingly as the latter's words faltered, ultimately prompting, "What is it?"

"We've never talked about marriage," Isabella replied softly. "Or children. I don't want to assume..."

"Of course, we want to marry you," Yasmine soothed, reaching out to her Italian lover. "I'm sure our future home country will make an accommodation to their marriage laws on our behalf."

"All of us," Felix added. "As for children, that's a decision you each have to make."

"But do you want children?" Quinn asked warmly.

Felix shrugged helplessly, looking around the trio of women who meant more to him than life itself.

Quinn smiled and said, "You'll unhesitatingly face down a dozen men with machine guns when you've barely got a pocketknife to your name, but you falter in the face of such a simple question?"

"As I said, it is up to each of you. As much as I worship them, they remain your bodies. That being said, becoming a father was a dream I abandoned long ago. Considering all that has happened to me, what with travelling through time and becoming... whatever I am, it has somehow become the only thing I could do to honor my parents' legacy."

"Then let us give you a family, my love," Yasmine murmured soothingly. She glanced around, getting tear-filled nods from each of her companions, before adding, "All of us."

Felix did not attempt to wipe away the tears from his cheeks, instead huskily whispering, "Thank you."

Isabella and Quinn descended on him and kissed his tears away, the latter saying, "You will always be loved, Felix Dvoryanin."

"By all of us," Isabella murmured soothingly.

"And our children," Yasmine finished with quiet confidence. She twerked her hips slightly and whispered, "As many as you want."

"I love you all so much," he rasped as he felt his release rapidly expanding within him like a thunderclap.

Their love surrounded him, multiplying his pleasure as he realized that these three remarkable creatures represented every hope and wild-eyed desire that he had ever dreamed might be his. In all the long decades of loneliness before his enlistment, even his most impossible fantasies fell far short of the reality of his life in the company his of true loves.

He pulled them close, desperately hoping they felt even a fraction of the love he held in his heart for each of them. As his release consumed him, he knew even that desire fell far short of the wonderful truth. He knew with perfect clarity that these women knew his soul, just as he knew theirs. His love for them was as immutable to them as gravity.

Yasmine was quickly swept up in his pleasure, his potent seed filling her womb triggering her own release. Quinn and Isabella joined them quickly thereafter, their eager stimulation of their sensitive flesh having kept time with their lover's coupling.

As he sank back into the pillows blissfully spent, his lovers cuddled up around him contentedly. He kissed them each in turn, whispering his love for them along with a promise that their love would continue until the stars grew cold.

Epilogue

Five years later

"Breaking news! A major victory was achieved today in the war on terror according to the Canadian Defense Ministry. The Undersecretary for the Southeast Asia sector issued a statement acknowledging that the mysterious explosion which occurred three days ago in Burma was in fact the work of Fenrir, the reclusive superhero, in coordination with elements of the Canadian Special Forces division. It has been widely speculated that the site of the explosion was in fact the headquarters for an international human trafficking..."

"Off," Felix muttered distractedly at the viewscreen before sinking back into the admittedly comfortable couch on what was, unbelievably, his personal private jet.

The mission to Burma had been one of his most ambitious, and most cooperative, ventures to date. Fully two dozen Canadian special forces soldiers had accompanied him to the wretched hive of villainy that was the hub of human trafficking in southern Asia. They had achieved their objective, albeit with the loss of several of his allies. But they had paid the price willingly, and Felix had little difficulty remembering the gratitude on the faces of the hundreds of women and girls they had freed. Hanging the offenders from every tree for a hundred meters had seemed a paltry punishment for the sins they had committed, but it would have to do until the next time his allies pointed him in the direction of more wicked men who deserved his particular brand of unrestrained violence.

Since their first, for want of a better term, mission on Xavier's estate in the Hamptons all those years earlier, Felix and his wives had participated in countless adventures. Some were with either the tacit approval or direct involvement of the Canadian government while others were what Felix like to term passion projects: pursuits aimed at improving the world his children would inherit.

Thinking of his children drew his eyes to the clock on the wall and he was overjoyed to see he would be landing shortly. Their lair, as Isabella insisted it be called, was along the southern coast of British Columbia. To any outside observer, their home was just another unremarkable island amongst hundreds of its brethren between Vancouver Island and the mainland. But behind their carefully crafted façade, they enjoyed the height of luxury far from the world's prying eyes. Their comings and goings could be facilitated by either air or by water, but they tended to favor surface roads which were accessible by a half dozen tunnels with exits all along the southern coast of their adopted home country.

After landing, his plane taxied into a private hangar from which he was whisked along an underground tunnel to a hidden entrance beneath a rental car lot. He emerged moments later on his favorite motorcycle, clad from head to toe in a helmet and riding leathers. He followed an indirect path toward their lair out of an abundance of caution. The fact that he lived in the area was not much of a secret. Even the most dimwitted criminal could recognize the fact that, while he frequently turned up across the globe to foil international incidents, it was only in the Vancouver area that a criminal sticking up a gas station might find themselves the captive of the infamous Fenrir.

He entered one of the hidden tunnels to his lair an hour later, racing down the darkened corridor beneath a half-dozen kilometers of mountainous shoreline. When he arrived, he parked his motorcycle amongst twenty other vehicles ranging from luxury SUVs, to minivans, to combat vehicles. He hurried in through the blast doors to find a disconcertingly quiet home. He took in a lungful of air through his nostrils before holding his breath to give his enhanced senses a chance to offer some clue as to his surroundings. He moved in the direction of the family room; his hand resting on his hip near one of the three pistols he carried. He flitted across the entryway with inhuman speed, his eyes raking across the expansive space.

Before he could process all that he had seen, he heard a shouted, "Surprise!"

He glanced warily back around the corner to spot the enduring loves of his life each holding a small child as his oldest son toddled toward him wearing a comically large wolf mask. Felix knelt to scoop the boy up, bringing him close to collect a hug and kiss.

Quinn sauntered over and kissed his cheek before glancing down to where his hand still hovered near his holster and saying, "I was afraid you'd do something like this. When are you going to start trusting our security system? The undersecretary assures us its better than the one they use at the Prime Minister's residence. Not to mention that we're not exactly shrinking violets over here."

Felix smiled shyly and said, "I know. I just get so anxious when we're apart."

"So, take us with you more often."

He kissed his son, after removing the preposterous Fenrir Halloween mask, and said, "That's easier said than done."

Isabella and Yasmine soon joined them. and Felix took the time to thoroughly greet each of his three daughters. At length, he said, "Should I be worried that none of you has yet mentioned the nature of this, 'surprise'?"

Isabella said, "Yasmine?"

"I'm pregnant," she enthused. "Again!"

"Oh, honey!" Felix gushed as he pulled her into an embrace. "That's wonderful!"

"You're sure it's not too much?" she asked softly, glancing around nervously. "I know you said you wanted kids, but I wasn't sure that meant five."

"Or more," Quinn offered.

"I want all you lovely ladies are willing to offer," he reassured them before focusing on Quinn and saying, "Do you have a surprise as well?"

"Not yet," she murmured. "But we still haven't welcomed you home properly. So..."

He glanced in the direction of the windows and said, "How long until bedtime for the little ones?"

Isabella smiled widely and said, "We were waiting for you to put them to bed. Your dinner is in the oven. Once you've eaten, I suspect you'll want to get cleaned up."

"Oh?" he asked as he ducked his head to give himself a sniff.

"You smell delicious," she replied coquettishly. "We simply wanted to share your shower; you magnificent fool."

He grinned goofily and said, "Ah. Well... in that case... I'm not sure I'm hungry."

Yasmine snickered playfully and said, "Go eat, my love. We will make sure the Mighty Fenrir is thoroughly sated before the evening is out."

She and Isabella swept out of the room in the company of their children, leaving Felix alone with Quinn. She smiled at him and murmured, "We missed you, babe."

He pulled her close and said, "I missed you too, beautiful. It always tears me up to leave you. Especially when you three have made all my dreams come true."

"Yet you wouldn't be the man we fell in love with if you didn't feel that urge to save the day. To do what others can't."

"I guess? I do feel compelled to help them. To help everyone. Maybe it's just a biproduct of having had so little, for so long. Not to mention feeling helpless to change my lot in life. But this," he gestured to the home they had built which surrounded them. "This is why I do it. The family you three have given me, and the life we share. This is why I wonder every day if I truly did die when my ship crashed into the enemy flagship. Maybe Valhalla is real, and everything that has come after was my own personal paradise."

"Who can say?" she allowed as a small smile decorated the features of staggeringly beautiful face. "In the final analysis, does it ultimately make a difference?"

Felix sighed happily and said, "Not even remotely," as he bent to kiss her lips.

The End

Thanks so much for taking the time to read Felix's tale. If you enjoyed it, please take a moment to leave a review.

Nigh Invulnerable

by Jake Lazarus