Divinity Rescue Corps
142- Orders Superseding Orders

I had no idea where a good meeting point might be for a tete-a-tete with Jacoby, but Regina knew. She pulled me aside and explained that the terrain we were about to get into was an odd mix of huge boulders next to a seashore. And that sea was a vast place.

There was no way I could go wrong with water at my back. In addition to Vellenia gifting me that Dazzle ability that caused Oz to get all drunk-like and answer my questions honestly, I also gained the ability to breathe under water.

Turning north from there, Regina claimed we would eventually run into an active volcano region, flowing with lava and teeming with fire aspected Nakamamon. This veered out further west still, and away from the towns of Glumpdumpkin, Saxwhacket and Flunt-on-the-Rustle. But if we turned south instead, it would become a swamp of unbelievable proportions, and this one was full of bug aspects, poison aspects, plant aspects, and water aspect Nakamamon. Plus all the different combos everywhere in between. None of the Agency’s people wanted to go there, since there weren’t many Healers in their midst. One mistake and you’d end up dying slow and painful.

But then… the sea was also a place I could venture. The only thing stopping me from jumping in and investigating down there was the lack of water breathing for all of my companions. Alan had a water breathing spell, but I was certain he couldn’t cast it infinitely.

The sea was an excellent fall back in case Jacoby was trying to cash in on whatever reward the Agency was offering. She wanted to talk, and hadn’t just barged in with her two dozen person team to attempt to overwhelm us. That was a good sign, but not a guarantee that she could be trusted.

“What do we think?” I asked.

“This is a moment for Cinzy and Drat,” Regina said. She was currently holding Tweedle Dee and scratching all around the sides of his neck. The flower fox’s tongue was lolling.

“Well, neither of them are here.”

“W-we f-f-found their Rogue,” Alan said.

Oz wasn’t a low level skulker, meaning he could have investigated us from the shadows for as long as he wanted, then reported back without walking directly into sight and announcing himself like he’d done.

“Agreed,” my mom said. “I think they’re acting in good faith.”

Well, my mom was smarter than me.

We made our way to the seashore over the course of the next few hours. The landscape shifted, with the bushes becoming more scraggly and the patches of barren ground coming more frequently. Tiny, fluffy Nakamamon skittered away from us and into the bramble-like bushes. Other snakey ones slithered out of sight. At one point, something under the earth surged upwards and grabbed onto Muppin, only to stop the moment Chrysta and Larelle jumped into action. Shields came out, Larelle tripled in size and wrestled with the enormous spiked spider, and the whole team learned what a Gargantula was.

Gargantula

Second Stage Nakamamon

These ambush predators can take down nearly any Nakamamon, and they love to feed on those made of earth or rock. This will allow the injected venom to break the rock down into mana they can eat.

These will become more aggravated and territorial if they have mated and laid eggs in their hidden nests.

Typical length: 15-20 feet (huge)

Typical weight: 3-5 tons

Gender: unknown

Aspect: earth/creature (bug)

Transformations: Miniaturantula -> unknown -> Gargantula

Gargantula has been added to your Nakamadex.

It turned out I’d run into the little version before. They were like jumping spiders that went after small bugs of all kinds.

“What do you want to bet the medium size ones are called Normalantula,” I told Regina. She just grinned.

After a time, we got to the rocky seashore. It was largely a pebble beach with enormous rocks leading up toward a mountain to the north. It split the beach into smaller beaches up there, with the volcano very clearly visible in the distance. Asking Regina about it, I was told it would be at least a week’s journey to the base, possibly two. Everything there became a densely populated fire-fest of Nakamamon. Species I’d never seen before congregated in the hotter, lava and fire-filled environment. It was wild to think that the visible volcano could still be so far away on foot. We could skirt the volcano and the lava vents for some time and still not have to deal with being burned to death.

Turning south, I couldn’t detect any of the gigantic swamp Regina had told me about, but I also could only see so far before the beach was swallowed by the magical atmosphere. It was just farther off.

Here though, boulders bigger than houses littered the area. In a few places, scrubby plants, regular cacti and Nakamamon cacti grew haphazardly.

“What… is that?” My mother asked.

A small stand of barrel cacti about four feet high and three feet wide were plainly visible as wrong. Totally wrong. Where they should’ve been was instead a patch of night sky. It glittered with stars. It was vaguely cactus shaped at a distance, but very clearly had thorns if you were brave enough to get your face close to one. As I moved around it, the stars within it seemed to shift, like one of those 3D photographs you tilted back and forth.

Galacti

Basic Nakamamon

Galacti exist as semi-aware bits of the universe that are taking a break on a planet. They take the opportunity for their constellations to mature, and sometimes return to their former places in the heavens after a few thousand years. Galacti photosynthesize and condense the energy down into their star clusters, though some Galacti contain a nebula.

Typical length: 3-10 feet (medium)

Typical weight: 100-200 pounds

Gender: unknown

Aspect: plant/divine

Transformations: Galacti -> unknown

Galacti has been added to your Nakamadex.

“Apparently they’re called Galacti,” I said. The divine energy inside this thing was barely detectable, probably hidden deep down within its core. “That is without a doubt one of the hundred weirdest Nakamamon I’ve ever seen.”

My mother chuckled.

“Listen, Mom, we need to keep you away from this meeting. These people could be dangerous and we don’t know what they want… yet.” I had not gotten a good impression of Jacoby, especially when she brought her people around to be healed but tried to shush them to ensure operational secrecy. That kind of adherence to policy meant she might try to bring us in.

“All right,” she said.

“How do you feel?”

“Better than I have in years,” she said. She quickly did a couple of squats and stretched her arms wide. “You were right about it being invigorating.”

That was good. Hopefully being here would just eliminate the cancer entirely. I didn’t doubt that it might return the moment we got back to earth, but at this moment there was no way to do that. Dad needed her back, but he would have his hands full with the lawyers, the Agency, taking care of Sarah and Brayden… and pretty soon my sister’s newborn. He had a lot on his plate, and my intention was to deliver a fully-healed mother who would never suffer from cancer again in her life.

“So… I’m going to meet with Jacoby. You’ll be with Chrysta, Larelle, Regina, Alan, Shakindria and all the rest. I will have Vellenia with me.”

“Won’t you be exposed and vulnerable?”

I would, but as a Healer I was a hot commodity. They’d much rather abduct me and try to force me to work than kill me or lock me up. If they found out she’d chosen to be a Healer, everything would change. She was untrained, and having my own mother abducted was simply unacceptable.

“I’m familiar with this world and with its politics, and you’re not. That will come with time, if we can’t get you back to earth as quickly as we’d like. For now, can you stick with the girls? Keep McCauley Skulkins with you, pretty please.”

She chuckled again.

***

Jacoby came alone, as she promised. Her Nakamamon dropped her off a mile away, but as a Ranger she could travel fast, and was only a few minutes before she showed up.

“Expedition Leader,” she said.

“Expedition Leader,” I repeated. “It’s a pleasure to see you.”

She could not know how tense I was. I spent the time trying to gauge her reaction, and trying to sense whether anyone else had their thoughts fixed on me. My Pleasure Seeker ability Eromancy was going to come in real handy as a spidey-sense.

Eromancy III

(Special Ability, Heroic, Active)

I- You automatically detect arousal, passion, erotic thoughts and feelings, or desires pertaining directly to you, and their points of origin, to a range of Affinity x10 feet. You may spend a Token to home in on those thoughts and experience them. Targets will immediately detect your presence in this case. Unwilling targets use Psychic Resistance and Durability to force you out, versus your Pheromones and Likability. The subject may spend a Token to eject you.

II- While inside these fantasies, you may influence them or take control. Spend a Token to begin shaping these thoughts, daydreams, or dreams. You may attempt finer control using additional Tokens or by Pheromones and Likability checks. As before, the subject may spend a Token to oust you from their mind.

III- Spend a Token: Sensations felt by willing targets are enhanced by (your Affinity and Pheromones) percent. Range and duration are your Likability in feet, and Likability in minutes, respectively.

I was hoping that the words ‘desires pertaining to you’ meant anyone thinking about me. That had included Drat the Rogue before, and I’d been able to tell when his thoughts were fixed on me. Now though, Eromancy was a different animal. Well, hopefully it wouldn’t be a problem.

Someone definitely was thinking about me. I spent the Token, this one Ingenuity. I felt like it fit in this case.

As much as I needed to save my Tokens, there was a whole tangled hairball of problems and I wanted to know how much of this was part of it.

So while I let Jacoby prepare to deliver her spiel, I got the report from Eromancy.

And this was weird: Jacoby didn’t react to the appearance of the Affinity Token at all, with the fairy embossed on the one side of the huge coin, or its explosion into fragments of rainbow glitter that were absorbed into me.

Jacoby’s voice came into my consciousness.

He doesn’t outrank me… but then again, we’re the same rank in a way. Expedition Leader. Ugh. If they’d made me a Commander I could just order him around.

And what’s up with the female Nakamamon? He, and she… do they? They can’t… when we were out in Marshin territory the people there didn’t have the right equipment. Ugh, Jacoby, stop thinking about boning the natives.

I can’t stop. Is she even a she? She seems like a female, and has boobs, but the other ones I saw didn’t have any clothes and didn’t have any flipping genitals. I heard they’re androgynous… can she pop wood? STOP THINKING LIKE A COMPLETE PERV, JACOBY.

How did he manage to bond a sapient Nakamamon? Everybody said it wasn’t possible. I can at least ask him that.

Why does she look so forking happy with him? They have to be boning down. They have to be. Maybe I can catch them in the act.

Nope. Nope. Nope. Stop it, Jacoby. We’re here to do a job, and it’s an important one. Like promotion important. Get your mind out of the gutter and do the job. Fletcher can help with that. He can… what the—

There was a forceful wrenching sensation in my third eye as Jacoby sensed me using an ability to get into her mind. She recoiled.

The mental voice faded away. I felt the effect fade with the buzzing energy of Affinity leaking its last magical droplets from the third eye place on my forehead that channeled magic. My chakra.

Well, Jacoby’s… interesting thoughts on Vellenia… provided some food for thought. I’d definitely seen Jacoby interested with Vellenia when we first met.

I was the only one anybody knew who had bonded a sapient Nakamamon. Interesting, but ridiculous. Fairy Poppins was sapient, along with (I was pretty sure at least) Garnet. Tweedle Dee definitely communicated with Regina, but Regina said it was an empathic contact. She would send inquisitiveness or joy or fear to Regina rather than words. Neither Tara nor Isabelle had mentioned anything about their bonds being sapient, or even smart… they just loved them like they would family pets.

No, it was Larelle and her Magmamander that were the real oddity. Larelle was a Nakamamon, and I’d never known one to bond with another one.

I was not the only one I knew who had enjoyed a good frolicking in the sheets with a Nakamamon. Hell, Vellenia wasn’t even the only sapient Nakamamon I’d enjoyed sexually. Starting with my other bond mate, Shakindria, who I mated with on the regular, the list continued: Fairy Poppins and Chrysta had both shared Fletcher’s bed. A cool dozen of Vellenia’s fellow villagers had wanted Fletcher rocking their world.

Suppressing a chuckle, I let Jacoby simmer with the realization that I’d been in her mind a little bit. Her thoughts were far too perverted for her to be here to take me in.

She cleared her throat. “My expedition has a huge problem.”

“Go ahead.”

“Since we apprehended Blake before he could influence anyone else and relayed him back to base, there was no problem from him. He was the first fighting aspect. We assumed his second in command wouldn’t become a problem either.”

“It sounds like you assumed wrong.”

“We attempted to lure him in with the anti-magic drug the Agency supplied. We had him surrounded. He ended up getting away… without the drug. He went without for well over two weeks, and we weren’t able to catch him without the possibility of suffering a loss of our people. He was high enough level to be a threat and we weren’t going to risk one of ours.”

“I’m sorry,” I said.

“He transformed into a fighting aspect as well. Another Brawldar.”

I fake swore under my breath. “That’s not good.” Blake was a mountain of muscle, and no longer human. Oh, he was humanoid, but if he went through the portal he would sicken and then die without mana. He was bound to this world for the rest of his life now.

She nodded, staring out at the sea. “Archibald isn’t human any longer. However, we still had a problem taking him down. And in the time it took, we had a curious problem.”

“What’s that?” I asked.

“First, I want to tell you that all of us are under orders, superseding any of our individual expedition orders, to subdue you and your team, and anyone with you, and bring you back to the HQ for questioning.”

I noticed she didn’t say ‘bring you back to the HQ for questioning and a return to earth.’ I did want to have an open portal… eventually. Right now that wasn’t possible for Alan to accomplish, but high level Wizards in HQ might be able to handle it somehow. He needed to advance a lot more levels before he could get access to the power level or spell level necessary to attempt that. He could barely teleport a small object any sort of distance as it was.

“And you’re… not going to do that,” I said, as a half question.

“No,” she said. “I am under the impression you’ve disobeyed direct orders for a reason.”

“I have.”

She nodded and put her hands on her hips. They were nice hips. I admonished myself for thinking with my dick. Yes, Jacoby was beautiful, but it was only because almost everyone in this world under the age of fifty became superhumanly beautiful once they got their Likability or Physicality—excuse me, Agility and Muscularity—up to a certain level.

“I will not apprehend you, provided you can help me.”

“I mean you’re not going to do that because my people are also good at what they do, and we can put up a good resistance to any capture efforts.” I didn’t want to scoff at her, but the sass in my voice veered very close to a scoff.

She leveled a flat glare my way. This was one I interpreted to mean ‘the orders were specifically to bring Fletcher in alive, and the rest of them if possible… but if not possible, only Fletcher will do.’ Or maybe I was getting paranoid.

“Fine,” I said. “What’s the specifically medical problem that you’re here to get fixed in return for not attempting to subdue my team and then take them in?”

“You have noticed that Physicality split into Agility and Muscularity,” she said.

“I was going to ask about that.”

“The system, Expedition Leader, is malleable, and it is changing.  I had no idea until the advent of Blake, but it is a fact nonetheless. You appear to be the epicenter of those changes.”

“Me?” Even as I tried to protest, I could see it. I had a second class no one else had. I had abilities from other classes through my sex powers no one else did. When I’d hit level 25 as a Pleasure Seeker, the two people who’d basically made up the system contacted me directly and got into a shouting match because they hated one another… for some reason. When I’d hit level 25 as a Healer that hadn’t happened, meaning I was the world’s only Pleasure Seeker, or the first one to reach level 25. And I was the one who’d watched as Blake became a creature of this world, becoming something not human.

On the other hand, the Agility and Muscularity thing had happened while I was on earth. I chose not to shove that in Jacoby’s face, because she looked to be a hair’s breadth from tying me up and having her team fly me back to HQ.

“We have half a dozen Nakamamon that were never humans, are now fighting aspects, and they weren’t fighting aspects to begin with.”

This is Christopher fake swearing loudly.