Dashing Devil Omnibus 2: Books 4-6, page 115
“Oh… right,” Tinker replied, her voice trailing off as she processed the weight of Boyd’s words.
He hadn’t meant to cause the reaction, but he sensed the weight of responsibility that settled on her shoulders over their Bond. She re-experienced the pressure she’d felt during that moment, along with the fear and determination that came from putting herself between innocent lives and danger.
Silvie chimed in, responding her change in expression. The bombshell’s voice was filled with admiration, “Tink, you were amazing up there! I mean, those pink blades slicing through the Galewyrm like butter? You were incredible!”
Raev nodded her agreement, adding, “Yeah, you kicked some serious Galewyrm butt, Tink. Don’t you dare sell yourself short—especially since you also fed everyone else the targeting data they exploited to succeed at the other positions.”
It seemed Raev and Silvie had decided to spearhead operation ‘get Tinker in the field more’—an operation not officially sanctioned by Boyd. He found himself torn on the topic. He’d seen her potential even before a semi-sentient energy lifeform had attached itself to her. And now that the tiny inventor was an unlimited power supply, that potential had multiplied.
Because Tinker wasn’t certain she wanted to enter the field, he was only giving her gentle nudges. They were enough that Tink had started participating in some of Laura’s training to build on what she’d learned in the basic Hero course. She’d volunteered to help with the Galewyrms when Boyd had expressed his concerns about the fourth location that would most likely need covering. Originally Kitsune was going to be deployed to buy the two seconds Silvie would need to reach the location if one or two targeted it.
“The targeting was mostly Granny,” Tinker dismissed his other loves compliments.
“…which is why I can only conclude that she has access to an A.I,” Phil finished his thought, drawing everyone’s attention back to the screen. “My guess is that she’s developing it as a co-pilot for that new armor of hers. It’s the only thing that would explain the ability to calculate the arrival times and locations with such accuracy, given there were so many variables in play. Especially since she was communicating the results of those calculations to at least three different locations simultaneously.”
“See? Like I said… mostly Granny.” Tinker laughed at the uncanny timing of Phil’s commentary.
“Yes, but Granny herself said that she couldn’t have done it without the systems you designed and produced,” Hope stated matter-of-factly.
Everyone had been introduced to Granny at this point, with her being an official member of the team. She still limited her awareness to Tinker’s lab unless deliberately summoned through a voice call or text message. The A.I. had some interesting privacy coding that she wasn’t at all interested in changing.
“Which fits into something else that I’m going to swing back around to address after we cover another surprise deployment,” Phil said as the city map reappeared on their screen.
Two more icons appeared on a section of the map that hadn’t been attacked. One featured Kitsune, with the other being a green and black-helmet. “This was probably the fifth most likely location for the Galewyrms to attack. While they didn’t see any action as you can see in this footage they performed crowd control almost as smoothly as Mind Witch.”
The screen switched to footage of seven Kitsunes and one suited Laura moving through the crowd and talking people into organized lines. Only one of the Kitsunes was able to give people gentle shoves when needed, but the presence of the illusory duplicates did a fairly good job of getting people to cooperate. Laura had taken full advantage of her favorite relaxant—Tranquil-Bloom—to calm the crowd as she passed by them.
Her green suit had more in common with Kitsune’s than Silver’s, covering her from head to toe. It was as tough as Tinker could make it, being able to withstand most B-ranked attacks. It clung to her athletic form, but Boyd knew it had multiple layers of defense. There were several blue accents, including shoulder pauldrons that give her impact points to take hits on.
“The press release listed the new Hero in the field as a Hero in training but didn’t supply an official name. The Authority did, however, confirm that her primary trainer is Dashing Devil himself, the front runner for the title of World Hero.” Phil sounded suitably impressed. “This was her first official deployment in the field as a Hero Trainee, with the opportunity to gain some real-world experience. Now, I can’t say for sure what her Powers might be or if we saw them in play here, but the civilians that encountered her said she had a very calming presence. That might be indicative of a Mind Power.”
“Would you say that a Mind Power is likely?” Jill asked, skepticism in her tone. “The Devoted is already fairly well staffed on that front between Mind Witch and Dashing Devil.”
“It’s just speculation at this point, given there’s been no official statement as to what her Power or its Rank might be,” Phil hedged. “I wouldn’t make any bets one way or the other with the information I currently have. She could just as easily have a soothing voice and a Power that is one hundred percent physical—she certainly has the build for it. Plus, there is something else going on with The Devoted that makes me hesitant to place bets on its members’ Powers or Ranks.”
“What do you mean, Phil?” Jill asked with a frown after a brief pause.
“Yay!” Silvie cheered. “We can finally stop pretending.”
“Hush,” Mindy said gently before turning back to the screen with a small smile.
“It’s just that their Powers keep changing… or improving, really,” Phil said with a shrug. “I’ve never seen anything like it. I mean, just look at the clip of Kitsune yesterday. There are seven of her running around. Six illusory clones and one real her. Now, let’s take a look back at her fight with Omega Ray six months ago.”
A short clip played of four three-tailed Kitsunes spinning around and attacking Omega Ray.
“And this was the fight with the Last Dragon…”
Footage of a four-tailed Kitsune flying over the Last Dragon appeared in one frame and five Devils, four of which were helpfully labeled as illusions. “And then this final clip is footage from when she helped break up the Ascended Coalition’s death games—the first footage we have of Kitsune with six tails.”
A short clip played of Kitsune kicking in a door to a VIP box, with six illusory copies of her bursting into the room to confuse the hell out of both Powered guards and the rich assholes they were there to protect. The two guards were B-ranked, one with strength and durability and the other a force field generator.
The six Kitsunes spun around, lashing out with attacks that hardly landed until the six of them combined into two solid clones who knocked out the field generator with a spinning kick. From there, three Kitsunes circled around the other, landing strikes empowered by her green fox-fire through his defenses. She took him out in just a few seconds. From there, the three of her quickly and ruthlessly subdued the rich assholes in the room.
“I love that footage more every time I see it,” Tinker said with a pleased hum. Several of the assholes in question had been Bells—her former family—who she was less than fond off.
“Pleasure to be of service,” Raev said with a velvet chuckle.
“As you can see, Kitsune has been gaining tails and Power since she joined The Devoted,” Phil explained.
“What does that mean?” Jill asked.
“Well, I did some research on the mythology around kitsunes from Old Earth. Apparently, they grow in power and gain tails as they age—but that supposedly takes hundreds of years. She has gone from three tails shortly after her arrival to six tails in only six months. So, either she is aging rapidly, which I consider the second most likely scenario, or there is an Enhancer at play.”
“That would be big news, indeed,” Jill said with wide eyed shock that was almost believable.
“Yes, it would be, but it would explain a lot,” Phil said carefully. “I’m not prepared to say anything definitive yet—and The Authority hasn’t said anything about an Enhancer—but it is the only other explanation I could come up with… and it would explain a lot of what we’ve seen. It would also explain why Hopewing gained a Halo and how Tinker is now building a powered suit when she was only using a tool rig six months ago. But, again, this is just a hypothesis and not fact… though I believe it is something worth considering.”
“Our time is up for now, Phil, but thanks so much for leaving us with something to think about,” Jill said before turning to face the camera directly. “We will have to see if The Authority has anything to say about Phil’s theory before we discuss it any further. But now, we have a commercial break, and after the break will come back with Jake Masterson and the sports report.”
Boyd thought they’d done a pretty good job of floating the ‘theory’ of an Enhancer. Director Davis had decided to go with a soft launch to get a sense of how people might react to there being an Enhancer on The Devoted. This way, they could test the waters by expressing it as a possibility instead of a fact. Only time would tell how that might go.
Today, they had training to get to. And given how excited she’d been to get into the field, he doubted he’d be able to hold her back much longer. So, Boyd had a trainee to get up to snuff.
Chapter 3
Boyd stood from his stool and grinned at his lovers, trainee, and their fairy cook. “That went even better than I’d hoped. Our solid performance yesterday got us a glowing report today. We just have to keep doing what we are doing, and we’ll earn our shot at becoming a Regional Response Team before you know it.”
“That and it should solidify your lead on the World Hero title, Darling,” Silvie said as she darted over to give him a peck on the cheek before taking up her position floating to his right in the impromptu after-breakfast team huddle which had become something of a ritual. Everyone was dressed in their version of athletic wear for the morning’s training--everyone except for Daisy, of course, who was in a light blue dress. She didn’t join the huddle either.
Raev let out her velvet chuckle as she sauntered over to her spot in the huddle, tails swaying in time with her hips. “I think we need to focus on growing his lead more than solidifying it. The Big Guy only has three points on Sentinal as of this morning’s report.”
“Yeah, but yesterday’s victory will likely increase that by one point seven over the next forty-eight hours,” Tinker estimated, clutching a to-go mug of coffee as big as her head. She yawned, proving she was only mostly awake. “Unless Sentinal has a mission of that scale go as smoothly, I strongly doubt he will be able to counter it. A four-point-seven lead will be difficult to close. Valorguard may as well be out of the race, with the twenty-point gap between him and Sentinal.”
“It only takes one mistake for me to plummet as low as Valorguard,” Boyd rumbled, promoting caution before confidence.
Silvie’s eyes sparkled as she interjected, “Oh come on, Darling, you’re not going to make a mistake like that! You’re the best Hero in the world and we all know it.” She shot him a reassuring smile, her optimism infectious.
Raev crossed her arms, a determined glint in her emerald eye. “We’ve got your back no matter what, Big Guy. We’re a team, and we’ll make sure you stay on top.”
Tinker played with one of her braids. Uncertainty was in her big hazel eyes until they settled on Boyd, at which point they filled with resolve. She repeated one of the lessons she had taken from one of their conversations. “Let’s not get ahead of ourselves. Better to focus on the present and the tasks at hand. The patrol rotation of Silvie or Raev with Boyd, supported by Mindy or Hope has worked well. That’s how we’ll both secure our victory and maintain Boyd’s lead.”
She gave everyone else a determined nod before continuing with a sweet smile, “But I’ll make sure our equipment is top of the line for whatever mission comes next. There are some things I wanted to talk to each of you about, now that all of you are here and we’re only on call for the next two days. That way, we’ll be prepared for anything.”
“Speaking of the next mission,” Laura interjected, arching a sculped eyebrow over a pale green eye. Under Silvie’s guidance and Mindy’s assistance, the Hero Trainee had started putting a bit more effort into her personal appearance—beyond her diet and exercise. “I feel like I showed I’m prepared to get some more field time in.”
“Not yet,” Boyd said. He aimed a stern frown at his over-eager trainee. “Yesterday included extenuating circumstances that required all we had, so I tagged you in. You’re not ready for standard field exercises. But keep up the hard work. You are making great progress.”
When he saw how this obviously upset the former trauma nurse, he added, “You’ve only had six months of training.” The big demon spun a finger around to indicate Silvie, Raev, Hope, and Mindy. “In the PACs, we had years of training before we had our first field encounters.”
Laura returned his stern frown and opened her mouth to speak but Mindy cut her off with one of her giggles as the Mind Powered stepped forward to poke Boyd in the chest. “Kuh-he. We had that training right along with learning how to read and write. It certainly wasn’t as focused as her training has been.”
Boyd frowned at his darkest love, whose darkly-painted purple lips quirked up into a knowing smirk. “Either tell Laura what she lacks and is missing so she can work on it or let her gain it in the field. You’re just stalling, my love. The poor woman has been patient enough.”
“She lacks experience!” Boyd continued to frown at Mindy. This felt like a conversation that should have started privately in his mind.
“How in the seven hells am I meant to gain experience if I need experience before I can get out into the field?” Laura asked with incredulity.
“She has a good point.” Raev chuckled.
“The truth is that Boyd doesn’t know just what he is looking for,” Mindy explained for him. “Well, more accurately… he hasn’t accepted it.”
Boyd continued to frown at his gothic love, still not understanding why this conversation was being sprung on him out loud before the others.
“Kuh-he! Yes, my love, while this is one of the things I would normally bring up with you privately, it has been pointed out to me that doing so excludes the others. I was… gently reminded… that each of us has a unique perspective. Pulling you aside for those private conversations didn’t allow them to offer those perspectives. This is a topic that will certainly benefit from multiple points of view. That is why I am bringing it up openly.”
Boyd scanned over his other loves to see that each of them, including Laura, were looking anywhere but at him or Mindy. They all had suspiciously innocent expressions on their faces. Seeing as three out of five of them had extensive training on successfully looking innocent in high-stress situations when they were guilty as sin, he judged the looks to be damning rather than mitigating evidence.
It would seem his gothic love had been ganged up on at some point.
“I apologize for you having to face some sort of intervention for our private conversations,” Boyd rumbled as he turned back to face Mindy.
She was still giving him a knowing smirk.
“I wouldn’t call it an intervention,” Raev hedged. “We just brought up that Mindy helps you organize your thoughts and with that help, you come to decisions fairly regularly without asking for our input.”
He started to protest but stopped when Raev held up a hand.
“Yeah, you still come to us for input on some stuff, but even that is after Mindy has had a pass through on whatever it is.”
“It’s just like Moonbeam said, Darling,” Silvie said sincerely. “We gave her a gentle reminder that we are all in this together. We mostly want to be included in things related to us or the team. That way, we have more of an initial say in whatever is being discussed before that big brain of yours starts getting all decisive.”
“Not to mention that it is a little rude to have someone whisper directly into your brain while you are talking to someone else,” Laura added with a sunny tone that was likely meant to hide her discomfort with the fact that Mindy was present whenever Boyd was, thanks to a part of her living in his head.
Even if his Mind Powered love didn’t listen in on Laura’s thoughts regularly—not having the trainee’s permission—she was always with Boyd. Truly private experiences were something that took a conscious effort on both of their parts. And even then, Mindy couldn’t help but pick up pieces here and there as Boyd remembered them or thought about those situations.
“We are only asking about the important stuff,” Tinker piped up softly, her cheeks turning a faint pink as everyone’s eyes turned to her. “We don’t want to interfere with Mindy’s whole ‘always present’ thing or how she keeps your thoughts company… even her helping you to sort them. We just want an opportunity to weigh in on the stuff that we can help with—the important stuff.”
“Okay. That seems fair enough.” Boyd gave his signature nonchalant shrug before continuing in a serious tone, “But, in the future, stuff like your non-intervention is the type of conversation I should be included in. I participated in talking about ‘the important stuff’ privately with Mindy, as Tink put it, just as much as she did. I should have been part of being asked to bring it up to the group as well.”
Silvie’s delicate brows knit together, and she frowned. “We didn’t want to bother you, Darling,” she explained apologetically.
Raev let out a velvet chuckle that came out sadder than he was used to hearing. “I think it’s safe to say we’ve bothered the Big Guy more by pulling Mindy aside.” Her fox ears twitched in a way that signified disappointment—in this case, in herself.
