FIC: Play Gone Wrong
May. 15th, 2011 04:50 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
jessara40k_ljTitle: Play Gone Wrong
Fandom: Whateley Academy (available at http://www.crystalhall.org)
Characters: Original
Rating: NC-17
Warnings: Includes depiction of male on female rape (possibly graphic depiction YMMV on that) from the female viewpoint.
Steph Hara made her way down to the arena, Clara's promise to indulge her rape fantasies in this form, the one she was trapped in, running through her head. She knew that really she should be focusing on her strategy, on making sure she did well enough, but how could she plan for an opponent she was unsure of? She knew who it wouldn't be of course; anyone who'd already fought, but it was only Tuesday. She did have some ideas, including simply ignoring a sufficiently weak opponent in favour of achieving the objective, but it was too early to commit to anything yet, even mentally.
She reached up to check that her veil was in place before entering the arena, and began slowly unbuttoning the bodice of her dress as she walked forward, scanning for her opponent. She spotted Counterpoint as she let her dress drop to her floor around her and stepped out of it - not much of a costume change, but it gave her easier access to her knives.
"Counterpoint. Skill and experience tell, so the outcome of our bout is a foregone conclusion." Steph didn't have a problem admitting that Counterpoint was more skilled than her, and he had at least a year on her in fighting mutant opponents. She drew the knife from her upper left arm as she spoke, never allowing her eyes to leave Counterpoint, focusing on the centre of his chest for clues to his intentions.
"You're giving up that easy girlie?" A mix of derision and disbelief coloured his voice, and Steph could feel her cheeks heating in a blush, fortunately concealed by her veil.
"No." She gathered her hair in her left hand, and cut it off at the nape of her neck, just below where her veil ended, throwing the discarded hair to one side. "I intend to fight you with all I have. I will make you break my bones to defeat me. But you are still more skilled and experienced than I." By a factor of a thousand or more if there was any truth to the rumours about him and the other New Olympians, by only a year in using his powers and fighting others with powers if there was not. "So, the only question is will you restrict yourself to Exemplar 6 strength and speed, grant me the respect of meeting me as an equal in those areas and allow your skill as a warrior to show, or will you resort to utilising more exotic abilities, casting doubts on your own belief in your skills."
Counterpoint threw back his head and laughed as he began moving forward, sword in hand. "I like you. And what about the TK power on your MID?"
"On my honour, and that of my lady, it is not something I can use in a battle with any opponent who merits my full concentration." And she certainly wouldn't use it against Counterpoint, giving him more than just temporary access to it, even if she had the attention to spare when fighting him. She circled away from Counterpoint, leading him away from where she could get tangled in her dress and hair, still hoping to get that promise not to do use any of the more exotic powers he'd copied, considering which of her knives would be best to start with. Not the throwing knives strapped to her forearms, not while he would be on the alert for them, but given that he was carrying a sword...she drew the long knives from her thighs, shifting her grip just a little to settle it right.
"Yeah, I'll give you what you're asking for. So, you gonna keep on running away from me?"
"Now that I'm clear of my hair and dress? No." And with that she threw herself at Counterpoint, hoping to have the chance to strike before he was ready, but not really expecting it. It didn't work, but something about the way he defended himself felt...off, and she filed it away mentally, before focusing on trying to actually beat him.
BREAK
Steph woke and stretched, revelling in the feel of an uninjured body, even as she regretted the freedom that allowed her to do so. Had she been out long enough to heal naturally from the beating she'd forced Counterpoint to use to defeat her, or had someone helped her healing along? She sat up slowly, looking around the unfamiliar room to see a pile of clothes folded on the chair beside the bed. She sat up, letting the quilt fall down to leave her breasts bare, and reached for the clothes, separating them out into a clean dress and a lightly boned vest - not a corset, Clara wouldn't let her wear one in this form until she stopped growing, but it would be enough to give something of the feel of wearing one. There wasn't a bag, or any obvious weapons, but there was a narrow belt, and a purse she could tie onto it, and opening the purse she could see the small bags of powders she could assemble into poisons if she needed to defend herself with more than her hands.
She heard someone approaching from outside her room, and pulled the quilt up to cover her breasts - and her nipple rings. Dr Tennant brought Gunny Bardue, Staff Sergeant Wilson and Ito-soke in with him, and she wasn't sure who to focus on as they spread out with the combat instructors on one side of the bed, and the doctor approaching from the other. But she knew better than to let her tension show, and she took a slow deep breath as she waited for someone to speak.
"Sohon, we came by to give you your grade."
"Thank you Gunny." She kept her attention on the three instructors, relying on her danger sense to tell her if the doctor did anything to threaten her. "Do I get a critique as well?"
"Yes, did you truly believe you had no hope against Counterpoint?"
"No Ito-soke, there is always hope of some sort, although it might not be more than the tiniest chance, and sometimes it is better to simply concede, if the reward is insufficient. But skill and experience do matter, you prove that yourself for every new class of student in BMA. And if he picked the right power set he would have had an additional advantage over me. So I felt it was best to play to his ego to minimise his advantages." And it had worked, she'd been the more seriously injured, but she knew she'd hurt Counterpoint pretty badly as well, felt one of his ribs crack, or maybe even break, if not more.
"Hmm." Was there a hint of approval in that thoughtful look? "Were you aware that he is a Shifter-5, and what that implies?"
"Shifter-5?" Like Clara? She'd thought he was a power-mimic, not... "Oh, you mean the best he could do to bring us to physical equality was copy say, Peril, with his Exemplar-5, Regen-4 combination. That explains why he was fighting like he was weaker and slower than me." She hadn't done as well as she'd thought then, and she was even more impressed by his skill.
"You could tell?"
"I didn't realise it at the time, Staff Sergeant Wilson, Counterpoint's too good a fighter to leave me enough concentration to really analyse what's going on during the fight, but I do remember noticing that something seemed odd about the way he was fighting me."
"I see." Steph couldn't quite read the look they exchanged. "We've decided to give you an A-. You lost, but you used everything you could against your opponent, and it was very close. We suggest you think about adding a gun, or something else to give you a longer range attack."
"Yes Gunny, that is something I've been considering, but I wanted to consolidate my hand to hand skills first, and my advisor insisted that I needed Intro to Superpowers, which ate up two slots by itself." And then there was the microscale science she needed if she was to get much use out of her telekinesis. At least she didn't have any of the more conventional high school subjects she needed to study. "I was thinking about taking one of the range courses next term, or the term after." Should she ask about Counterpoint? Maybe not his grade, but...she turned to look at Doctor Tennant. "Doctor Tennant, do you know if Counterpoint needed any treatment after our fight?"
"You know I can't answer that." Doctor Tennant softened his reproach with a smile, and looked past her at the instructors. "Is there anything else my patient needs to know, or can I have some privacy to give her a check-up before I discharge her?"
BREAK
Steph pushed open the door to her room, and froze as she saw the man waiting inside for her. He looked like Stormwolf, but the leer on his lips would have told her that he wasn't, even without the blood red armour he wore. And their bunk beds had been moved out of the room, replaced with a larger bed, with metal framework, three sets of shackles lying on it.
"Do come in, my dear." He grabbed her by the wrist pulling her forward and throwing her onto the bed. She didn't try to resist; Stormwolf was a lot stronger than her, so she'd only get hurt if she did. But her wrist hurt anyway, more than it should, and she looked down at it to see bruises blossoming more swiftly than they would have if it was just from too tight a grip. And that would have come with cracked, if not broken, bones. Her uninjured hand went to her belt, and she focused on calming her breathing as she looked up to see him opening her purse.
"Were you looking for this perhaps? Well, whatever it is, you won't need it, will you, dearest?" He closed the purse and tossed it away, to the corner of the room, before advancing on her slowly. "Now, dear child, I suggest you make this easy on yourself, and lie back with your hands above your head."
"I'm not a child." She shouldn't be arguing, getting angry at his condescension she should be trying to relax enough to meditate and access her full TK power since her poisons were out of her conscious range now. But she still couldn't help scooting herself back over the bed, pushing with her hands, ignoring the pain in her bruised wrist.
"Really?" He stopped her with an oddly painful grip on her shoulder, climbing onto the bed, and sitting on her legs to hold her down. "Then why are you shying away from me, my dear?" But he didn't let her answer, gripping her jaw with his other hand, and leaning forward to kiss her, forcing her mouth open for his tongue. Even though he soon had her moaning with unwanted pleasure she lifted her hands at the elbow to try and push him away.
He let her, laughing as he released her jaw to capture her wrists while they were between their bodies, pushing her onto her back and groping for something with his free hand. She knew better than to fight as he pulled her hands up above her head, even though she could feel the bruises forming under his hands - and that was a warning too, that he could hurt her so easily. She let a soft whimper escape her lips, and went limp, hoping he'd relax his vigilance, but he didn't, instead taking the opportunity to snap one set of shackles around her wrists, fastening them to the bedframe.
She cursed, a short, vicious sounding word she'd picked up from her father, and began bucking, trying to throw him off her legs. He laughed again, riding her motions easily, then backhanded her, looking almost casual about it, but with enough force to rock her head to one side.
"Enough of that. Are you going to make it easy on yourself now darling?"
She didn't answer, just shook her head, a little dazed, and he grinned, jabbing his fingers into her hip and doing something that made her leg go limp. He did the same thing on her other hip, before climbing off her and shackling each ankle, oddly gently, and kissing each bound ankle as he slipped her shoes off with an incongruous tenderness. He kissed his way up her legs, alternating between them, still disturbingly gentle, for the most part, and she tried using that respite to start meditating, but every time she got close he changed his tactics, breaking her focus with a nip of the teeth, or a tightened grip.
"No panties, my dear? Were you expecting me?" He sat back on his heels as he spoke, her skirt still hitched up around her waist, leaving her exposed to him, one hand still resting on her thigh, nails pressed lightly into her flesh. "I can see how my touch pleases you." How she'd moistened in unwilling arousal, yet another distraction from her pursuit of a meditative state. She stayed silent, closing her eyes, and trying to shut him out of her mind, but he tightened his grip, digging his nails into the soft flesh on the inside of her thigh.
"Ah, ah, ah. If you won't bother replying I expect you to at least look at me, dearest." She kept her eyes closed - he couldn't make her open them, not easily, and it was something she could deny him at least. "You are stubborn, my dear. Do you realise how appealing I find that?"
She couldn't keep from whimpering in denial as he bit her other thigh, blood trickling down from the marks left by his nails, the pain grounding her in her body. Then he shifted to lick at her cunt, tongue swiping over her slit, to tease briefly at her clit before pushing just a little into her. She tried to distract herself, focusing on the feel of his armour biting into the bared skin of her leg, his hand holding on to her hip, tight enough that she knew she would bruise - if she hadn't already. But then he took her hood ring between his teeth, pulling just hard enough to drag her focus back between her legs.
"All these pretty rings...wonder what they'll feel like when I plunge my cock into you." He pinched her outer lip by one of the rings, tugging it against her thigh, opening her further. "Or maybe I should grab some more chains, use them to hold you open and ready for me."
The image of chains around her thighs and waist, going through her rings and holding her open for Clara's pleasure flashed vivid in her mind, pulling her from her efforts to meditate once more. He laughed at her soft moan, pushing his fingers into her and twisting as he licked her clit, tongue teasing under her hood. Her hands clenched into fists, nails cutting into her palms as she climaxed, and he moved during the period of lassitude that always followed.
He was sitting on her waist when her sight cleared, hands resting on her throat, hot against her skin. Useless adrenaline chased the last remnants of pleasure from her mind, and she froze as her breathing spiked.
"Don't you like this dear one? You've been responding to me pretty well so far." Amusement laced his voice as he gripped the neck of her dress, and ripped it open to the waist. "Very nice." One hand stroked the top of her breasts, while the other unlatched his codpiece. He leaned forward and kissed her, forcing her lips open and his tongue into her mouth, dick pressed against her stomach. His hand tangled in her hair, controlling her head as he sat back up and began unfastening her vest.
He began playing with her breasts as soon as he'd bared them, heated hands cupping and stroking her breasts with unexpected tenderness. She gasped as his thumbs brushed over her hard nipples and he laughed, shifting position until he could push inside her. The heated flesh stretched her open, burning inside her, and he slid one hand up to grip her hair as he kissed her, while the other one rested hot on her hip. It seemed to go on forever, pounding deep inside her, touching places that sent shocks of pleasure through her, as he murmured meaningless flattery into her ear until her vision whited out as she climaxed again.
"That's twice, my love." The hand on her hip slid up her side to stroke her breast, thumb rubbing up against a nipple, while his other hand moved from her hair to her shoulder, not quite pressing against her windpipe. "Shall we try for three times?"
She shivered despite her efforts to repress it, and he laughed softly as he rolled his hips against hers. His hands roamed her body, hotter than ever, finding the sensitive places on her body and bringing her back to arousal. He thrust into her, armour bruising against her body, moving faster and harder until he came with a flood of heat inside her, almost burning, rubbing her clit just enough to bring her off once more.
Then he just...collapsed on top of her.
When she started thinking straight again Steph realised that he was unconscious, burning with fever - this hadn't happened when Clara had tried looking like Stormwolf before, something must have gone wrong. She reached out with her telekinesis, focusing on one link in the chain between her wrists. She grabbed onto as many of the metal atoms as she could, thinning the link at a single point, wishing she knew enough about metallurgy to weaken it faster - and more subtly.
She pulled on the cuffs, breaking the chain at that weakened link, and pushed Clara off - and out - of her, onto the bed. She sat up to break the chains at her ankles, using both hands to free herself, stood and lifted Clara, then set off at a near run to the clinic.
BREAK
Steph paced anxiously, waiting to hear just how badly Clara had hurt herself to give Steph what she'd asked for. She'd promised to stay in this room, as long as they told her as soon as they knew anything, even if she wasn't clear on why they wanted her here.
"Miss Hara?"
She spun around, catching Nurse Garrett coming through the door with Stormwolf and Mindbird following behind her.
"Yes? Is Clara stabilised?"
"She's stable, yes." Nurse Garrett came forward slowly, reaching a hand out to her. "Will you let Dr Tennant give you another check-up now?"
"When you can tell me that she's going to recover." Steph refused to consider that Clara might not recover. But...she'd say that she owed Stormwolf an apology, and maybe that Steph did as well. "Stormwolf, I think I owe you an apology. You're the only student strong enough in a way Clara could fake that I wouldn't try to resist in any noticeable way. Clara was only supposed to look like you to indulge my fantasy. She didn't have any problems when she went to Cecelia Roberts to get her costume made. I...we didn't think that she'd have any problems this time." She wrapped her arms around her body, biting her lower lip anxiously.
"Sohon...are you saying you think I'm capable of rape?" Horror edged Stormwolf's voice, and battled with anger on Mindbird's face.
"Is that why you refused to tell Security why you needed Stormwolf here?" Mindbird turned on Nurse Garret, and Steph wasn't sure if she was angrier at the implication about Stormwolf, or about her.
"I...the story in the fantasy is that you've been possessed or it's an evil mirror version of you." Steph ignored the nurse's stammered explanation to Mindbird. At least reassuring Stormwolf was a bit of a distraction. "And if all we're talking about is physical strength then yes, you are capable of overpowering me easily enough that I'd resort to my TK. I know that you aren't mentally or emotionally capable of rape." She had to laugh at the irony in her words. "That's one of the reasons we used your image. I was almost sure it was Clara when I saw her looking like you. I knew it was her for certain after she gave me the first bruises. They came up too fast to be anything but her work." And Steph loved how easily Clara could bruise her, mark her, despite her cursed exemplar toughness.
"So...I was someone 'safe' to put into that role? But...why would you have that sort of fantasy?"
"I can't explain it to you. And even if I could you don't have the right to ask. Biologically I'm around fourteen, but I was nearly thirty when I manifested and deaged. I know what I like. And I've been in love with Clara since...before I was this age the first time around." It wasn't like they'd ever tried to hide that they were twice the age of their classmates. "I'm only a TK-1g because there isn't a classification for finer control. I can kill anyone who needs to breathe oxygen." Even without meditating or using her poison precursors.
"I...yes, you're right. I shouldn't ask. Are you hurt?"
"Nothing serious. I haven't been hurt badly enough yet that I don't heal once I get a full night's sleep." She hoped that she wouldn't, no matter how much she'd like to keep Clara's marks for more than a day. What it would take to get those mementoes would just be pain, not play. Clara was careful not to even draw blood when they played and so far they hadn't got caught up in too much in the way of campus politics.
His eyes left her face to flick over her body for the first time at her answer, and he nodded a simple acceptance of her words.
"I see. Could you remove those chains from your wrists and ankles then? And try to repair your dress?"
She glanced down at herself, assessing how much damage Clara had done when she tore her dress open. This was one of the dresses she'd made to go over her knives, she'd designed it so that she could tear it open to the waist and the only damage would be the loss of the buttons. The design had worked the way she'd wanted it to this time as well. And Mindbird had managed to drive Nurse Garret away.
"Very well." She could easily make buttons from the metal of the chains, but she'd have to sew them on by hand - she could make a needle too, and use her hair as thread, but that would mean she had to take her dress off to mend it. She couldn't stand meditating in stillness, not right now, so she began working her way through some of the simpler forms she knew to focus. It took a while, first she had to centre her awareness in her own body, then expand it to encompass the cuffs around her wrists and ankles, and she had to fight her fear for Clara to calm herself. She touched the strangely arranged atoms of the chains and began reshaping them into what she wanted, clips that she could fit through her buttonholes and fasten onto the fabric where her buttons had been.
The clips clattered as they fell to the floor, followed by the louder sounds of the remnants of the cuffs dropping from her wrists and ankles. She finished her last form and let her awareness slowly return to a more human level, wondering if Stormwolf or Mindbird realised the level of trust she was displaying, or recognised the subtle apology she was offering with that display of trust. She felt calmer now, more certain that Clara wouldn't allow herself to die and leave Steph behind, that she was strong enough to survive this. She crouched to gather the clips and began fastening her dress together as she stood, offering a shaky smile to Stormwolf.
"Thank you for the reminder. I needed that." And covering herself also helped her to calm a bit further, leaving her worried, but clear of mind in a way she hadn't been since she first saw Clara waiting for her in their room.
"You're welcome. Do you need anything else?" He asked from duty, not desire, that was plain enough, and it wasn't as if he could help her in any way. Or rather he couldn't help her by staying here.
"I...if you are willing could you relay what I have told you to security if there is an inquiry of any sort? And...when Clara recovers I believe she will wish to speak with you."
"I don't think security will need to talk to you, but I can do that for you. You realise that Mrs Horton will not be happy about this?"
"And neither will Mrs Carson I would imagine. I will certainly consent to let Fubar confirm that I asked Clara to do this, and that I never imagined it could cause her to burn out like this." She would never have asked if she'd dreamed this could happen. Nothing like it had happened any other time Clara had shifted to play with her.
"I see. You don't want anyone to stay with you then?"
"No." She hesitated, she just wanted them out of there, so she could go back to meditating, running through forms until she was settled. "Thank you but that won't be necessary."
They didn't say anything else, just left and she started working through her forms again, slowly centring her awareness in her own body and letting it grow to encompass the whole room, sensing everything down to the atomic level. There was enough carbon dioxide in the air to make a seven carat diamond, nearly an eight carat diamond, and it was a simple enough structure. She didn't trust herself to make anything more complicated right now, even if carbon nanowire would be more useful.
She drew the carbon dioxide in the room to a point on the floor, slowly, but still it created a soft spiralling breeze. As the gas neared her focal point Steph broke the bonds between the atoms, bonding the carbon atom into her tiny diamond and reforming the two oxygen atoms into an oxygen molecule. Too soon the only carbon dioxide left in the room was what she breathed out and she slowly drew her awareness back into herself, finishing her last form to see Dr Polland standing in the doorway, Nurse Garret behind him, both staring, almost gaping at her.
"Yes?" She knelt to scoop up the newly formed diamond as she spoke, keeping her eyes on the people in front of her, emotions disordered by their mere presence.
"Miss Hara, I believe you wanted to know when we were certain Miss Strafen would recover?" Dr Polland was the first to answer her, stepping forward into the room.
"Yes, I did." And obviously they were confident of her recovery. "Do you have any idea when she's likely to wake up?"
"She's resting naturally now. She should be ready to wake tomorrow. We believe she had a borderline level four burnout." He moved closer to her, Nurse Garret trailing behind him. "You saved her life. If you hadn't brought her to us she would have died."
"I see." Steph swallowed against a lump in her throat, she didn't know what she would do if Clara had died, especially because of something Steph had asked of her. "But...she should be okay now, right?"
"Yes, she should. I can't let you stay with her until she wakes up, but would you like to see her now?" Dr Polland smiled reassuringly at her.
"Please." She started moving at once, ignoring the nurse's hand reaching for her. "You'll take me to her?"
"Of course. Then Nurse Garret said something about you needing a check-up yourself?" He still started moving as he spoke.
"I don't. I'll be fine in the morning. But I agreed to submit to it once I know Clara's going to be okay. I just want to see her first."
"Of course you can."
When they reached the room Dr Polland stood back and opened the door for her, letting her into the room first. Clara was lying in bed, still looking like Stormwolf - and Steph hoped that was just because Clara had been unconscious since they'd made love, not because her powers had been damaged. There was an IV in her arm and she hurried to kneel at Clara's bedside, lifting her free hand and kissing her wrist.
"Could you give us a few moments of privacy?" She looked up at the two medical professionals and let her voice shake as she spoke - there was no point in actually voicing her suspicions, and she finally felt calm enough to meditate without the forms to calm her.
"Five minutes." There was sympathy in Dr Polland's voice, but she could tell that he wouldn't be moved from his time limit, so she just nodded her acceptance and waited for him to shut the door.
She didn't need to close her eyes to meditate, but it was easier and she let her awareness slip over the IV line and what it was feeding into Clara's body - just an electrolyte solution, nothing to worry about. But her attention snagged on the needle in Clara's arm. It wasn't anything ordinary, even with the way her perceptions fuzzed as they neared Clara's skin she could tell that. It felt like adamantium, but...why would they need adamantium to pierce Clara's skin?
She shook her head, pulling out of her meditative state, as she realised that maybe Clara didn't just look like Stormwolf now, she might be something like as strong and tough as he was for the moment.
"Is Clara demonstrating Exemplar traits now?"
"Yes, she is. But we can't be certain what level of Exemplar."
"I see. Thank you for explaining and for letting me see her." She nodded to the doctor as she passed him, turning to Nurse Garret with resignation. "I will submit to that check-up you are so insitent that I need now."
Fandom: Whateley Academy (available at http://www.crystalhall.org)
Characters: Original
Rating: NC-17
Warnings: Includes depiction of male on female rape (possibly graphic depiction YMMV on that) from the female viewpoint.
Steph Hara made her way down to the arena, Clara's promise to indulge her rape fantasies in this form, the one she was trapped in, running through her head. She knew that really she should be focusing on her strategy, on making sure she did well enough, but how could she plan for an opponent she was unsure of? She knew who it wouldn't be of course; anyone who'd already fought, but it was only Tuesday. She did have some ideas, including simply ignoring a sufficiently weak opponent in favour of achieving the objective, but it was too early to commit to anything yet, even mentally.
She reached up to check that her veil was in place before entering the arena, and began slowly unbuttoning the bodice of her dress as she walked forward, scanning for her opponent. She spotted Counterpoint as she let her dress drop to her floor around her and stepped out of it - not much of a costume change, but it gave her easier access to her knives.
"Counterpoint. Skill and experience tell, so the outcome of our bout is a foregone conclusion." Steph didn't have a problem admitting that Counterpoint was more skilled than her, and he had at least a year on her in fighting mutant opponents. She drew the knife from her upper left arm as she spoke, never allowing her eyes to leave Counterpoint, focusing on the centre of his chest for clues to his intentions.
"You're giving up that easy girlie?" A mix of derision and disbelief coloured his voice, and Steph could feel her cheeks heating in a blush, fortunately concealed by her veil.
"No." She gathered her hair in her left hand, and cut it off at the nape of her neck, just below where her veil ended, throwing the discarded hair to one side. "I intend to fight you with all I have. I will make you break my bones to defeat me. But you are still more skilled and experienced than I." By a factor of a thousand or more if there was any truth to the rumours about him and the other New Olympians, by only a year in using his powers and fighting others with powers if there was not. "So, the only question is will you restrict yourself to Exemplar 6 strength and speed, grant me the respect of meeting me as an equal in those areas and allow your skill as a warrior to show, or will you resort to utilising more exotic abilities, casting doubts on your own belief in your skills."
Counterpoint threw back his head and laughed as he began moving forward, sword in hand. "I like you. And what about the TK power on your MID?"
"On my honour, and that of my lady, it is not something I can use in a battle with any opponent who merits my full concentration." And she certainly wouldn't use it against Counterpoint, giving him more than just temporary access to it, even if she had the attention to spare when fighting him. She circled away from Counterpoint, leading him away from where she could get tangled in her dress and hair, still hoping to get that promise not to do use any of the more exotic powers he'd copied, considering which of her knives would be best to start with. Not the throwing knives strapped to her forearms, not while he would be on the alert for them, but given that he was carrying a sword...she drew the long knives from her thighs, shifting her grip just a little to settle it right.
"Yeah, I'll give you what you're asking for. So, you gonna keep on running away from me?"
"Now that I'm clear of my hair and dress? No." And with that she threw herself at Counterpoint, hoping to have the chance to strike before he was ready, but not really expecting it. It didn't work, but something about the way he defended himself felt...off, and she filed it away mentally, before focusing on trying to actually beat him.
BREAK
Steph woke and stretched, revelling in the feel of an uninjured body, even as she regretted the freedom that allowed her to do so. Had she been out long enough to heal naturally from the beating she'd forced Counterpoint to use to defeat her, or had someone helped her healing along? She sat up slowly, looking around the unfamiliar room to see a pile of clothes folded on the chair beside the bed. She sat up, letting the quilt fall down to leave her breasts bare, and reached for the clothes, separating them out into a clean dress and a lightly boned vest - not a corset, Clara wouldn't let her wear one in this form until she stopped growing, but it would be enough to give something of the feel of wearing one. There wasn't a bag, or any obvious weapons, but there was a narrow belt, and a purse she could tie onto it, and opening the purse she could see the small bags of powders she could assemble into poisons if she needed to defend herself with more than her hands.
She heard someone approaching from outside her room, and pulled the quilt up to cover her breasts - and her nipple rings. Dr Tennant brought Gunny Bardue, Staff Sergeant Wilson and Ito-soke in with him, and she wasn't sure who to focus on as they spread out with the combat instructors on one side of the bed, and the doctor approaching from the other. But she knew better than to let her tension show, and she took a slow deep breath as she waited for someone to speak.
"Sohon, we came by to give you your grade."
"Thank you Gunny." She kept her attention on the three instructors, relying on her danger sense to tell her if the doctor did anything to threaten her. "Do I get a critique as well?"
"Yes, did you truly believe you had no hope against Counterpoint?"
"No Ito-soke, there is always hope of some sort, although it might not be more than the tiniest chance, and sometimes it is better to simply concede, if the reward is insufficient. But skill and experience do matter, you prove that yourself for every new class of student in BMA. And if he picked the right power set he would have had an additional advantage over me. So I felt it was best to play to his ego to minimise his advantages." And it had worked, she'd been the more seriously injured, but she knew she'd hurt Counterpoint pretty badly as well, felt one of his ribs crack, or maybe even break, if not more.
"Hmm." Was there a hint of approval in that thoughtful look? "Were you aware that he is a Shifter-5, and what that implies?"
"Shifter-5?" Like Clara? She'd thought he was a power-mimic, not... "Oh, you mean the best he could do to bring us to physical equality was copy say, Peril, with his Exemplar-5, Regen-4 combination. That explains why he was fighting like he was weaker and slower than me." She hadn't done as well as she'd thought then, and she was even more impressed by his skill.
"You could tell?"
"I didn't realise it at the time, Staff Sergeant Wilson, Counterpoint's too good a fighter to leave me enough concentration to really analyse what's going on during the fight, but I do remember noticing that something seemed odd about the way he was fighting me."
"I see." Steph couldn't quite read the look they exchanged. "We've decided to give you an A-. You lost, but you used everything you could against your opponent, and it was very close. We suggest you think about adding a gun, or something else to give you a longer range attack."
"Yes Gunny, that is something I've been considering, but I wanted to consolidate my hand to hand skills first, and my advisor insisted that I needed Intro to Superpowers, which ate up two slots by itself." And then there was the microscale science she needed if she was to get much use out of her telekinesis. At least she didn't have any of the more conventional high school subjects she needed to study. "I was thinking about taking one of the range courses next term, or the term after." Should she ask about Counterpoint? Maybe not his grade, but...she turned to look at Doctor Tennant. "Doctor Tennant, do you know if Counterpoint needed any treatment after our fight?"
"You know I can't answer that." Doctor Tennant softened his reproach with a smile, and looked past her at the instructors. "Is there anything else my patient needs to know, or can I have some privacy to give her a check-up before I discharge her?"
BREAK
Steph pushed open the door to her room, and froze as she saw the man waiting inside for her. He looked like Stormwolf, but the leer on his lips would have told her that he wasn't, even without the blood red armour he wore. And their bunk beds had been moved out of the room, replaced with a larger bed, with metal framework, three sets of shackles lying on it.
"Do come in, my dear." He grabbed her by the wrist pulling her forward and throwing her onto the bed. She didn't try to resist; Stormwolf was a lot stronger than her, so she'd only get hurt if she did. But her wrist hurt anyway, more than it should, and she looked down at it to see bruises blossoming more swiftly than they would have if it was just from too tight a grip. And that would have come with cracked, if not broken, bones. Her uninjured hand went to her belt, and she focused on calming her breathing as she looked up to see him opening her purse.
"Were you looking for this perhaps? Well, whatever it is, you won't need it, will you, dearest?" He closed the purse and tossed it away, to the corner of the room, before advancing on her slowly. "Now, dear child, I suggest you make this easy on yourself, and lie back with your hands above your head."
"I'm not a child." She shouldn't be arguing, getting angry at his condescension she should be trying to relax enough to meditate and access her full TK power since her poisons were out of her conscious range now. But she still couldn't help scooting herself back over the bed, pushing with her hands, ignoring the pain in her bruised wrist.
"Really?" He stopped her with an oddly painful grip on her shoulder, climbing onto the bed, and sitting on her legs to hold her down. "Then why are you shying away from me, my dear?" But he didn't let her answer, gripping her jaw with his other hand, and leaning forward to kiss her, forcing her mouth open for his tongue. Even though he soon had her moaning with unwanted pleasure she lifted her hands at the elbow to try and push him away.
He let her, laughing as he released her jaw to capture her wrists while they were between their bodies, pushing her onto her back and groping for something with his free hand. She knew better than to fight as he pulled her hands up above her head, even though she could feel the bruises forming under his hands - and that was a warning too, that he could hurt her so easily. She let a soft whimper escape her lips, and went limp, hoping he'd relax his vigilance, but he didn't, instead taking the opportunity to snap one set of shackles around her wrists, fastening them to the bedframe.
She cursed, a short, vicious sounding word she'd picked up from her father, and began bucking, trying to throw him off her legs. He laughed again, riding her motions easily, then backhanded her, looking almost casual about it, but with enough force to rock her head to one side.
"Enough of that. Are you going to make it easy on yourself now darling?"
She didn't answer, just shook her head, a little dazed, and he grinned, jabbing his fingers into her hip and doing something that made her leg go limp. He did the same thing on her other hip, before climbing off her and shackling each ankle, oddly gently, and kissing each bound ankle as he slipped her shoes off with an incongruous tenderness. He kissed his way up her legs, alternating between them, still disturbingly gentle, for the most part, and she tried using that respite to start meditating, but every time she got close he changed his tactics, breaking her focus with a nip of the teeth, or a tightened grip.
"No panties, my dear? Were you expecting me?" He sat back on his heels as he spoke, her skirt still hitched up around her waist, leaving her exposed to him, one hand still resting on her thigh, nails pressed lightly into her flesh. "I can see how my touch pleases you." How she'd moistened in unwilling arousal, yet another distraction from her pursuit of a meditative state. She stayed silent, closing her eyes, and trying to shut him out of her mind, but he tightened his grip, digging his nails into the soft flesh on the inside of her thigh.
"Ah, ah, ah. If you won't bother replying I expect you to at least look at me, dearest." She kept her eyes closed - he couldn't make her open them, not easily, and it was something she could deny him at least. "You are stubborn, my dear. Do you realise how appealing I find that?"
She couldn't keep from whimpering in denial as he bit her other thigh, blood trickling down from the marks left by his nails, the pain grounding her in her body. Then he shifted to lick at her cunt, tongue swiping over her slit, to tease briefly at her clit before pushing just a little into her. She tried to distract herself, focusing on the feel of his armour biting into the bared skin of her leg, his hand holding on to her hip, tight enough that she knew she would bruise - if she hadn't already. But then he took her hood ring between his teeth, pulling just hard enough to drag her focus back between her legs.
"All these pretty rings...wonder what they'll feel like when I plunge my cock into you." He pinched her outer lip by one of the rings, tugging it against her thigh, opening her further. "Or maybe I should grab some more chains, use them to hold you open and ready for me."
The image of chains around her thighs and waist, going through her rings and holding her open for Clara's pleasure flashed vivid in her mind, pulling her from her efforts to meditate once more. He laughed at her soft moan, pushing his fingers into her and twisting as he licked her clit, tongue teasing under her hood. Her hands clenched into fists, nails cutting into her palms as she climaxed, and he moved during the period of lassitude that always followed.
He was sitting on her waist when her sight cleared, hands resting on her throat, hot against her skin. Useless adrenaline chased the last remnants of pleasure from her mind, and she froze as her breathing spiked.
"Don't you like this dear one? You've been responding to me pretty well so far." Amusement laced his voice as he gripped the neck of her dress, and ripped it open to the waist. "Very nice." One hand stroked the top of her breasts, while the other unlatched his codpiece. He leaned forward and kissed her, forcing her lips open and his tongue into her mouth, dick pressed against her stomach. His hand tangled in her hair, controlling her head as he sat back up and began unfastening her vest.
He began playing with her breasts as soon as he'd bared them, heated hands cupping and stroking her breasts with unexpected tenderness. She gasped as his thumbs brushed over her hard nipples and he laughed, shifting position until he could push inside her. The heated flesh stretched her open, burning inside her, and he slid one hand up to grip her hair as he kissed her, while the other one rested hot on her hip. It seemed to go on forever, pounding deep inside her, touching places that sent shocks of pleasure through her, as he murmured meaningless flattery into her ear until her vision whited out as she climaxed again.
"That's twice, my love." The hand on her hip slid up her side to stroke her breast, thumb rubbing up against a nipple, while his other hand moved from her hair to her shoulder, not quite pressing against her windpipe. "Shall we try for three times?"
She shivered despite her efforts to repress it, and he laughed softly as he rolled his hips against hers. His hands roamed her body, hotter than ever, finding the sensitive places on her body and bringing her back to arousal. He thrust into her, armour bruising against her body, moving faster and harder until he came with a flood of heat inside her, almost burning, rubbing her clit just enough to bring her off once more.
Then he just...collapsed on top of her.
When she started thinking straight again Steph realised that he was unconscious, burning with fever - this hadn't happened when Clara had tried looking like Stormwolf before, something must have gone wrong. She reached out with her telekinesis, focusing on one link in the chain between her wrists. She grabbed onto as many of the metal atoms as she could, thinning the link at a single point, wishing she knew enough about metallurgy to weaken it faster - and more subtly.
She pulled on the cuffs, breaking the chain at that weakened link, and pushed Clara off - and out - of her, onto the bed. She sat up to break the chains at her ankles, using both hands to free herself, stood and lifted Clara, then set off at a near run to the clinic.
BREAK
Steph paced anxiously, waiting to hear just how badly Clara had hurt herself to give Steph what she'd asked for. She'd promised to stay in this room, as long as they told her as soon as they knew anything, even if she wasn't clear on why they wanted her here.
"Miss Hara?"
She spun around, catching Nurse Garrett coming through the door with Stormwolf and Mindbird following behind her.
"Yes? Is Clara stabilised?"
"She's stable, yes." Nurse Garrett came forward slowly, reaching a hand out to her. "Will you let Dr Tennant give you another check-up now?"
"When you can tell me that she's going to recover." Steph refused to consider that Clara might not recover. But...she'd say that she owed Stormwolf an apology, and maybe that Steph did as well. "Stormwolf, I think I owe you an apology. You're the only student strong enough in a way Clara could fake that I wouldn't try to resist in any noticeable way. Clara was only supposed to look like you to indulge my fantasy. She didn't have any problems when she went to Cecelia Roberts to get her costume made. I...we didn't think that she'd have any problems this time." She wrapped her arms around her body, biting her lower lip anxiously.
"Sohon...are you saying you think I'm capable of rape?" Horror edged Stormwolf's voice, and battled with anger on Mindbird's face.
"Is that why you refused to tell Security why you needed Stormwolf here?" Mindbird turned on Nurse Garret, and Steph wasn't sure if she was angrier at the implication about Stormwolf, or about her.
"I...the story in the fantasy is that you've been possessed or it's an evil mirror version of you." Steph ignored the nurse's stammered explanation to Mindbird. At least reassuring Stormwolf was a bit of a distraction. "And if all we're talking about is physical strength then yes, you are capable of overpowering me easily enough that I'd resort to my TK. I know that you aren't mentally or emotionally capable of rape." She had to laugh at the irony in her words. "That's one of the reasons we used your image. I was almost sure it was Clara when I saw her looking like you. I knew it was her for certain after she gave me the first bruises. They came up too fast to be anything but her work." And Steph loved how easily Clara could bruise her, mark her, despite her cursed exemplar toughness.
"So...I was someone 'safe' to put into that role? But...why would you have that sort of fantasy?"
"I can't explain it to you. And even if I could you don't have the right to ask. Biologically I'm around fourteen, but I was nearly thirty when I manifested and deaged. I know what I like. And I've been in love with Clara since...before I was this age the first time around." It wasn't like they'd ever tried to hide that they were twice the age of their classmates. "I'm only a TK-1g because there isn't a classification for finer control. I can kill anyone who needs to breathe oxygen." Even without meditating or using her poison precursors.
"I...yes, you're right. I shouldn't ask. Are you hurt?"
"Nothing serious. I haven't been hurt badly enough yet that I don't heal once I get a full night's sleep." She hoped that she wouldn't, no matter how much she'd like to keep Clara's marks for more than a day. What it would take to get those mementoes would just be pain, not play. Clara was careful not to even draw blood when they played and so far they hadn't got caught up in too much in the way of campus politics.
His eyes left her face to flick over her body for the first time at her answer, and he nodded a simple acceptance of her words.
"I see. Could you remove those chains from your wrists and ankles then? And try to repair your dress?"
She glanced down at herself, assessing how much damage Clara had done when she tore her dress open. This was one of the dresses she'd made to go over her knives, she'd designed it so that she could tear it open to the waist and the only damage would be the loss of the buttons. The design had worked the way she'd wanted it to this time as well. And Mindbird had managed to drive Nurse Garret away.
"Very well." She could easily make buttons from the metal of the chains, but she'd have to sew them on by hand - she could make a needle too, and use her hair as thread, but that would mean she had to take her dress off to mend it. She couldn't stand meditating in stillness, not right now, so she began working her way through some of the simpler forms she knew to focus. It took a while, first she had to centre her awareness in her own body, then expand it to encompass the cuffs around her wrists and ankles, and she had to fight her fear for Clara to calm herself. She touched the strangely arranged atoms of the chains and began reshaping them into what she wanted, clips that she could fit through her buttonholes and fasten onto the fabric where her buttons had been.
The clips clattered as they fell to the floor, followed by the louder sounds of the remnants of the cuffs dropping from her wrists and ankles. She finished her last form and let her awareness slowly return to a more human level, wondering if Stormwolf or Mindbird realised the level of trust she was displaying, or recognised the subtle apology she was offering with that display of trust. She felt calmer now, more certain that Clara wouldn't allow herself to die and leave Steph behind, that she was strong enough to survive this. She crouched to gather the clips and began fastening her dress together as she stood, offering a shaky smile to Stormwolf.
"Thank you for the reminder. I needed that." And covering herself also helped her to calm a bit further, leaving her worried, but clear of mind in a way she hadn't been since she first saw Clara waiting for her in their room.
"You're welcome. Do you need anything else?" He asked from duty, not desire, that was plain enough, and it wasn't as if he could help her in any way. Or rather he couldn't help her by staying here.
"I...if you are willing could you relay what I have told you to security if there is an inquiry of any sort? And...when Clara recovers I believe she will wish to speak with you."
"I don't think security will need to talk to you, but I can do that for you. You realise that Mrs Horton will not be happy about this?"
"And neither will Mrs Carson I would imagine. I will certainly consent to let Fubar confirm that I asked Clara to do this, and that I never imagined it could cause her to burn out like this." She would never have asked if she'd dreamed this could happen. Nothing like it had happened any other time Clara had shifted to play with her.
"I see. You don't want anyone to stay with you then?"
"No." She hesitated, she just wanted them out of there, so she could go back to meditating, running through forms until she was settled. "Thank you but that won't be necessary."
They didn't say anything else, just left and she started working through her forms again, slowly centring her awareness in her own body and letting it grow to encompass the whole room, sensing everything down to the atomic level. There was enough carbon dioxide in the air to make a seven carat diamond, nearly an eight carat diamond, and it was a simple enough structure. She didn't trust herself to make anything more complicated right now, even if carbon nanowire would be more useful.
She drew the carbon dioxide in the room to a point on the floor, slowly, but still it created a soft spiralling breeze. As the gas neared her focal point Steph broke the bonds between the atoms, bonding the carbon atom into her tiny diamond and reforming the two oxygen atoms into an oxygen molecule. Too soon the only carbon dioxide left in the room was what she breathed out and she slowly drew her awareness back into herself, finishing her last form to see Dr Polland standing in the doorway, Nurse Garret behind him, both staring, almost gaping at her.
"Yes?" She knelt to scoop up the newly formed diamond as she spoke, keeping her eyes on the people in front of her, emotions disordered by their mere presence.
"Miss Hara, I believe you wanted to know when we were certain Miss Strafen would recover?" Dr Polland was the first to answer her, stepping forward into the room.
"Yes, I did." And obviously they were confident of her recovery. "Do you have any idea when she's likely to wake up?"
"She's resting naturally now. She should be ready to wake tomorrow. We believe she had a borderline level four burnout." He moved closer to her, Nurse Garret trailing behind him. "You saved her life. If you hadn't brought her to us she would have died."
"I see." Steph swallowed against a lump in her throat, she didn't know what she would do if Clara had died, especially because of something Steph had asked of her. "But...she should be okay now, right?"
"Yes, she should. I can't let you stay with her until she wakes up, but would you like to see her now?" Dr Polland smiled reassuringly at her.
"Please." She started moving at once, ignoring the nurse's hand reaching for her. "You'll take me to her?"
"Of course. Then Nurse Garret said something about you needing a check-up yourself?" He still started moving as he spoke.
"I don't. I'll be fine in the morning. But I agreed to submit to it once I know Clara's going to be okay. I just want to see her first."
"Of course you can."
When they reached the room Dr Polland stood back and opened the door for her, letting her into the room first. Clara was lying in bed, still looking like Stormwolf - and Steph hoped that was just because Clara had been unconscious since they'd made love, not because her powers had been damaged. There was an IV in her arm and she hurried to kneel at Clara's bedside, lifting her free hand and kissing her wrist.
"Could you give us a few moments of privacy?" She looked up at the two medical professionals and let her voice shake as she spoke - there was no point in actually voicing her suspicions, and she finally felt calm enough to meditate without the forms to calm her.
"Five minutes." There was sympathy in Dr Polland's voice, but she could tell that he wouldn't be moved from his time limit, so she just nodded her acceptance and waited for him to shut the door.
She didn't need to close her eyes to meditate, but it was easier and she let her awareness slip over the IV line and what it was feeding into Clara's body - just an electrolyte solution, nothing to worry about. But her attention snagged on the needle in Clara's arm. It wasn't anything ordinary, even with the way her perceptions fuzzed as they neared Clara's skin she could tell that. It felt like adamantium, but...why would they need adamantium to pierce Clara's skin?
She shook her head, pulling out of her meditative state, as she realised that maybe Clara didn't just look like Stormwolf now, she might be something like as strong and tough as he was for the moment.
"Is Clara demonstrating Exemplar traits now?"
"Yes, she is. But we can't be certain what level of Exemplar."
"I see. Thank you for explaining and for letting me see her." She nodded to the doctor as she passed him, turning to Nurse Garret with resignation. "I will submit to that check-up you are so insitent that I need now."
