Dashing Devil Omnibus 2: Books 4-6, page 156
“If you two have at least cosmetic suits ready in time, you’ll be joining Naiad and Kitsune on Public Relations Patrols, starting tomorrow,” Boyd continued. “If the suits aren’t ready, then we’ll get you out there the day after. We want you integrated with the team as quickly as possible.”
“Are you sure?” Shelia asked, brows lowering in concern. “Won’t we be stepping on Naiad’s moment to shine?”
“Don’t worry about it.” Laura waved her concern off. “I’m not in it for the fame. Besides, I’ve had plenty of attention already. Having more people out there to share it with will actually be nice.”
Daryl looked even more uncertain at the prospect than his wife.
“Concerns?” Boyd prompted, already figuring he knew what Daryl’s concern was about.
“Are you sure you want me spending time in parks… you know, with kids?” he asked.
The big demon could practically see the old pain in his PAC-mate’s eyes. “Yeah, Daryl, I’m sure,” Boyd said with a reassuring smile. “Interacting with civilians is an important part of the job.”
He knew from personal experience that Glorith, as it now was, would be a healing place for the Changed Hero. He also knew that nothing he could say now would change Daryl’s mind. He had to experience it for himself.
Sure, there would be some uncertain parents at first. But he would be with two known Heroes that they trusted. Boyd doubted it would take long before kids were begging for rides on the snake Changed’s tail.
“You know, you say that, but I’ve been thinking,” Laura said with a curious tone, tapping her chin with one finger as she frowned at him. “You don’t spend a lot of time in parks, Captain.”
Boyd sighed, but Silvie floated forward and answered for him with a giggle, “That’s because some hopefully single mothers don’t understand that it isn’t polite to use their child to try to ensnare Darling.”
“Watching his heart break a little as he had to turn down a child who asked if he would date their mommy got to be too much for us to watch the third time it happened,” Hope added sadly.
“It wasn’t that bad.” Boyd rolled his eyes. “Silvie and Hope went over my head to Royce and had parks removed from my PR patrols. Now, I mostly do shopping districts and mercantile centers. I also do some middle and elementary schools, but I stay away from high schools and colleges because… well, for the very reasons you can imagine.”
He turned back to face Daryl and Shelia, “We’ll get both of you into some schools, soon. They are a bit finicky with new Heroes, but they will warm up to the idea after a month or so.”
“When does the real Hero work start?” Laura asked with a pout. Shaking her head, she sighed.
“Says the woman who arrested a Powered Criminal solo on her first day of PR patrols,” Boyd said with a chuckle. “Remember, we only get in fights to preserve the peace and quiet between them. Anyway, that concludes our official business—on to the party. I’m going to start by changing out of… this.” He tugged at the formless sweatshirt that reminded him of darker times. “The room across the hall will serve, if you two would like to change into what Tinker made for you. I would highly recommend doing so, because everything Tink makes is super comfortable. Or you could ask one of the ladies to show you to the empty suites and you can pick one… your call.”
Shelia looked at Daryl, and they shared a silent conversation through their gazes. They both nodded in agreement before turning back to Boyd. "We'll take you up on that offer to change, but will wait for the tour to pick a suite to settle in," Shelia said with a warm smile.
Boyd grinned, glad to see that they were already taking steps to get comfortable in their new home. “Great, I’ll show you the room.” He waved them after him as he made his way toward the door.
Some fresh faces on the team already helped focus him on the future. It would be different, having members on the team he had no Bond with, but he found himself looking forward to it. He especially liked the fact that Daryl was another island of testosterone in a sea of estrogen. He couldn’t wait to hang out with another guy.
Chapter 46
Boyd took a deep breath, allowing the brisk morning air to fill his core as he lazily circled above their little valley. A morning flight had quickly become part of his routine. He started each day by reviewing any reports marked urgent, then he went up to the outcropping Raev had shown him and ran through his katas as the sun came up.
This was followed by stretching his wings with a few laps around the valley at max speed. He finished up with a quick dip in the lake and then returned to their base, catching a quick shower before he moved on to a more thorough review of the daily reports in his office. That was where Hope typically found him.
Shelia and Daryl, or Ghost Cat and Lightningcoil, had settled right in and joined them on patrols, getting them out in the public eye. They hadn’t been as lucky as Laura, who was now officially Naiad, as far as settling a Powered Criminal Event, or PCE, just yet. They had both helped pull civilians out of a fire, though, which was almost as good. The people of Glorith were mostly welcoming, though there were a few outliers who thought the primary team shouldn’t have so many Changed.
To be fair, The Devoted already had more Changed on it—with Devil, Kitsune, and Hopewing—than any other Hero team in history before two more joined, and change could be scary. After an interview with Kayla revealed that they both had been using the new, safer methods for controlling their Changed drives for years longer than Dashing Devil himself, it mostly quieted down. This gave Boyd a chance to confirm what he suspected—that those who truly objected to Changed were keeping their heads down after what happened to the Ascended.
As a result of Laura’s Devotion, the big demon’s resistance and durability had climbed into the lower end of S-Ranked. He couldn’t take a full force punch from Silvie—at least not without canceling her energy manipulation with his black flame—but he could take a lot of punishment. He was also up to seventy-six tons on the squat-press and his Black Flame had gotten another boost. His vision under its effects was now much more stable, allowing him to track movement up to D-Ranked speeds.
His Bonds were more stable as well, which made it easy for Mindy to incorporate Laura into their telepathic network.
Boyd had gotten around to re-Enhancing each of his loves at one point or another. Silvie’s hair was now down to the upper third of her thighs, which she was pleased to see. She had gotten another boost to her strength and her endurance, while the energy bolts she shot from her hands now hit with more force. They were now as strong as her eyebeams, but because they hit a wider area, they had more impact but were less piercing.
Raev was now the proud owner of her seventh tail, which she loved as much as the others. With it, she had gained the ability to produce seven separate illusory copies, and each of them were fifty percent corporeal. Seeing as she had crossed into A-Ranked strength, this meant her illusory copies could strike with half the force of a woman who could lift more than a thousand pounds over her head.
With the striker being only half corporeal, though, it felt like getting struck by a pillow. But getting struck by a pillow with that much force behind it felt like a sledgehammer to anyone with less than C-ranked durability. It was more than enough to put a normal person on the ground. She could also combine six of the illusory copies into three real copies, and had figured out that the seventh could overlay her physical form to give her fifty percent more strength and durability.
Tinker realized that her mental connection to the technology she produced had improved beyond what the devices she used to scan brain activity should allow. This led to her discovering that she no longer needed the scanners—she could interface with anything she had built a transceiver into, as long as she was within a hundred feet of it. Her pattern recognition had also dramatically improved, as well as her general processing speed and memory. The little genius said it helped her to understand Aiden’s notes, but there was still a lot she had to figure out.
Mindy had received yet another instance of her Power to place in a mind, but was holding this node in reserve because of the other ability she had gained. Boyd’s darkest love had finally gained the ability to suborn minds at range—though it was limited to targets within twenty-five feet of her. She could then set the spare mental node in a target’s mind, granting her continued control beyond that twenty-five feet. She’d also realized that she could read the minds of anyone around someone she had set a node in, including the permanent node she’d set in Boyd’s head, although at a significantly lowered distance than her usual mile-wide range.
Both Mindy and Raev had crossed thresholds that would allow them to update their classifications to S-Ranked, but were holding off doing so until the Authority publicly acknowledged that Boyd was an Enhancer. Phil and other analysts all insisted that Laura becoming strong enough to be a combat support—when there was zero indication of such abilities in her background before joining The Devoted—meant there was an Enhancer on the team. The public, however, had yet to come around to the idea.
Enhancers were so rare, that some considered them to be myths instead of a part of the Authority’s history.
Hope’s healing range had increased to forty feet, and she could apply her full healing to up to four targets simultaneously within that range. If not fully healing those four wounded, she could stabilize many more than that. They hadn’t gotten around to testing how many she could stabilize at once, though—mostly for ethical reasons. The angel had also gained the ability to project up to four shields or domes at the same time. She could now coat her wings in the same energy as her domes, which remained flexible and moveable. Hope had started training how to use her wings as more than a way to fly, both defensively and offensively.
With Laura’s new capabilities and the addition of their new members, The Devoted was shaping up to be a team that could take on almost anything.
Boyd took another deep, centering breath as he coasted on the updrafts created by the morning breeze moving through the mountains. The fabric of his athletic shorts flapped against his thighs. The big demon let his eyes drift over the mostly untouched valley below, where faint morning mist wisped above the tree canopy like spirits that would flee once the light of the sun reached the valley floor. The lush greenery was broken up by spots of bright color—Powered plants and animals that he once would have feared attacking him if he flew too low. Now, they were just part of the peaceful tapestry below him.
As he coasted over the sparkling waters of the lake, Boyd decided it was time for his swim. Since it was more than deep enough, he folded his wings in tight and dropped into a dive. A second later, he hit the water head first, letting his horns and the upper joints of his wings break the surface tension as he cut into the crystalline depths.
Boyd flipped over and stared up through the water at the dappled blue sky. The cool water enveloped the big demon, and he felt a sense of tranquility in the depths, drowning out the noise of the world above. After enjoying that peace for a few seconds, he’d had his fill. With a powerful stroke of his wings, Boyd propelled himself back to the surface, angling for one of the shores at random.
Boyd exploded from the water. He arched over it for thirty feet before he landed with a thud just beyond the shoreline, trailing a stream of water that had come along for the ride. It was purely by chance that his sharp eyes settled on the face of a wide-eyed, beautiful woman with slate-gray hair just inside of the tree line as she peeked out from the undergrowth.
Driven by instinct, his Black Flame burst from Boyd’s extremities as he automatically shifted to a defensive stance before the new presence. He found no hostility in the wide eyes, which resembled cut garnets. Instead, he saw surprise, along with an undertone of curiosity.
They looked like the eyes of someone who’d been caught doing something naughty, but who wasn’t all that embarrassed about it and instead wondered what might happen next.
Boyd had a good memory, so after recognizing the eyes and delicate features of her face, it wasn’t all that hard to substitute the hair color for the earthy brown he remembered. “Sinoe?” he asked, the confusion he felt at her unexplained presence evident in his voice.
It was either the nymph who had helped them slay the Last Dragon, or she had an identical twin or some other close relation that shared her appearance. The woman jumped slightly in place, his voice giving her a start.
Boyd wondered if she thought he might not have seen her, even as he made direct eye contact. Her gaze darted around nervously for a moment before settling back on his. She seemed to be weighing her options, a mix of apprehension and excitement evident on her face.
Boyd dismissed the darkly burning fire from his limbs and adopted a more natural stance, though one that would still let him react quickly if this woman turned out to be Sinoe’s evil twin.
The woman hesitated for a moment, her garnet-like eyes studying Boyd intently. She took a step forward, the undergrowth rustling softly as she pushed it out of the way. Her slate-gray hair cascaded over her shoulders as she moved, a striking contrast against the greenery of the forest and the rich clay-tone of her skin. She wore only the leafy vines that barely covered her most sensitive parts, just as he remembered. It was a sight that would have distracted him, if he hadn’t been so focused on trying to figure out why she was there.
“Yes, it's me,” Sinoe replied softly. Her voice carried a melodic tone that blended seamlessly with the rustling of the leaves in the gentle breeze. She took another cautious step forward, her bare feet barely making a sound on the forest floor.
“What are you doing here, Sinoe?” he asked.
Boyd kept his tone on the friendly side of neutral, if just barely. It wouldn’t be the first time that a Changed woman had tried to kidnap him, and he knew she was powerful. Even more of a concern, she was most likely connected to the teleporter who had tried to kidnap him, given that they both used the same name for him.
“Ah… that would be your first question,” her lower lip stuck out in a small pout, and she seemed to deflate a little.
‘Kuh-he!’ The Mindy that lived in his head giggled. ‘Sinoe isn’t here to kidnap you, nor does she have any ill intentions. She has been out here for weeks, slowly building up the courage to come knock on your door… and peeping on you when you visit the lake. Sinoe is a friend, one who values your trust. She will be careful not to break it. You can relax.’
‘You should have told me she was out here,’ Boyd grumbled inwardly as he abandoned his casual ready stance and actually relaxed. He offered Sinoe a chagrinned smile as the first step to putting her at ease.
‘I would never reveal her thoughts so casually,’ Mindy replied, placing a hand over her lingerie-clad chest as if even the suggestion of doing so was offensive. She smirked. ‘Sinoe hasn’t given me permission to share her thoughts with you and poses no threat. But thank the moons you finally stumbled upon her, I was starting to worry she might never find the nerve to approach you.’
“And now you are talking about my presence with your telepathic wife!” Sinoe’s pout grew more pronounced. “I suppose she told you why I am here.”
“I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to be rude.” Boyd didn’t bother denying it. “But Mindy wouldn’t tell me why you are here, just that you have been for some time. You are covered by the Principle of Privacy.”
“The what?” Her pout faded into a quizzical expression as she took another careful step forward.
“The principle of privacy means Mindy won’t share your thoughts with me without your permission, including what brought you here.” Boyd shrugged a shoulder. “Please don’t think I’m not happy to see you, I did hope to run into you again one day.”
“You did?” A small smile curved her lips as she took another slow step closer.
“I did,” Boyd confirmed with a nod. “I wanted to make sure you were okay.”
Sinoe’s smile widened at his words, a mix of relief and gratitude surfacing in her garnet eyes. “It makes me happy to know that you thought of me.” She hesitated for a moment before taking another step closer and admitting, “I-I wanted to see you too, Crimson Paw.”
The use of that name, as well as the shrinking distance between them began to set off alarm bells in his head. Sinoe was quickly approaching the range in which he would be affected by her irresistible aura and scent. With Mindy living in his head now, he hoped he would be safe from it, but he wasn’t sure he wanted to risk it, given how far he was from his other loves.
“Is that why you came back?” he asked, bringing the conversation back to his original question.
“That, and I was asked to come by someone I owe much to,” Sinoe said, her smile still firmly in place as she took another step. This put her right on the edge of what Boyd considered the range of her aura.
Her other foot raised to take the step that would risk him falling under her aura. Combined with the fact that she had been sent by another, upgraded the alarm bells going off in his head to claxons.
He took a step back.
“Whoa there,” Boyd said with a forced smile. “We should probably keep a safe distance between us.”
“Oh? You don’t need to worry about that anymore.” The nymph’s smile grew to the point of pulling the corners of her eyes up. She reached up and ran her fingers through her slate-gray hair. “No flowers, see?”
“I do see that you’ve changed the color of your hair,” Boyd confirmed, his forced smile still in place. “It looks nice.”
“Hee hee!” She gave a pleasant-sounding giggle, and Boyd noted that her head and shoulders bobbed a little when she laughed. “Yes. I like the color, too. But more importantly, the lack of flowers means that I will no longer automatically draw males to me as I once did. The person I owe much to taught me how to control my aura.”
‘She’s telling the truth,’ Mindy assured Boyd, as Sinoe took two rapid steps closer to demonstrate the fact.
