Canon Fodder

CHAPTER 274 EMPIRE

I sat up in the middle of a large room. 4 doors around me the floor was hard and the area was almost too dim to see. Wearing jeans and a T-shirt I slowly remembered dying. “What the fuck,” I said in an unrecognizable voice. My hand went to my throat. “What the fuck,” I repeated but sounded the same. Almost prepubescent. 

“Welcome,” a familiar voice said. I turned to see an Asian man with unruly black hair like my own. Pale skin, bags under his eyes, he wore a white shirt and blue jeans. 

“L?” I asked in amazement. The man smiled. 

“I am the Moderator,” L said. “I am sure you are very confused, as the rest of you are. But welcome to death.” 

“Death? I’m in hell then?” I asked standing up. L moved from a crouching position to his hunched over method of standing. His hands in his pockets he began walking around me. 

“Not really. Let’s call this the Junction. I could spout some bullshit about earning your way to heaven, but the truth is you are going to be earning your way to life,” L said. 

“Life?” 

“Yes, a second chance. That’s what this is. Hell more like a 100th chance, but we can get to that later. You, along with others like you, didn’t really enjoy your lives.”

“I enjoyed my life,” I said, almost offended. 

“Did you though? You spent your spare time reading, watching movies, playing video games. There is no shame in it. A break from your mundane existence. How many times did you read a story and think, ‘I wish I could live there.’ That’s what I’m offering you, Weston. Beyond these doors are 4 branches. You pick. You get to decide what is beyond them. And you can live a new life. A life that you’ve always wanted.” 

“What’s the catch?” I asked immediately, not really believing his words. 

“There is always a catch,” L said. “It’s not forever. This too shall end. But…it could be-” 

“What the-” But I heard a loud airhorn and woke up in bed. Sweating profusely I breathed in and out heavily as memories poured into my mind. My shadow clone I had sent with Midnight had just ended himself. His memories, and the memories Highleer had awoken were playing in my dream. But as I tried to think back to them there was nothing. I had no memories of meeting the Moderator the first time. They were like the loss of a dream. A simple notion of what they were about but as time passed the theme was wiped from my memory like words on a chalkboard. Only dust remained. 

“Goddammit,” I muttered. Sorting through the information I hadn’t really gained much. Closer to Midnight, I would have to see where things went with her later. 

“What is it?” Mei asked tiredly beside me. 

“Nothing,” I assured. “Back to bed.” I laid down and she turned over. Her perfect ass sandwiching my dick I spooned her as she went back to sleep. 

Awake now I began to cup her breast, channeling some Lust into it. She ignored me for a bit as I channeled more, but was soon rubbing her ass against my hardening dick. My hand releasing her breast I moved it down her navel. Her eyes closed, she parted her legs as my fingers began to part her lower lips. 

Shaved for once the smooth skin was already pouring liquid out as I lightly touched her clit. Mei jerked with the sensation as I moved a little chakra into her. “How do you do that?” She whispered. 

“You’re just in love with me,” I assured her as I played with her lips more. She jerked with each motion. Kissing her cheek she moaned as I inserted a finger into her. “It’s 11 by the way…” 

“What?!” She yelled as she sat up. My hand was on her shoulder, pulling her back down. “Weston! I have to go!” She said, her brown eyes staring into me, but I wasn’t having it. Moving to over top her body I grabbed her arms and held them to the head of the small bed. 

“No, not till I have my morning fun,” I said, kissing her neck she tried to push me off of her. 

“I have a presentation,” she mumbled weakly as my dick poked her lower entrance. 

“And you’ve prepped for it enough. You have a whole hour until you need to be there,” I said. She groaned as my chest touched hers. 

“Make it quick,” she said, locking eyes with me.

“No,” I said and moved into her. She gasped as her eyes fluttered. Cumming almost instantly she forgot about what she was saying as I pushed into her tight cunt. I pounded into her hard causing her to cry out as our bodies pushed into one another. 

“Fuck!” She said as her orgasm finished. “You’ll be the death of me.” She pulled my face down and we were soon kissing deeply. The loud smacks of our sexes meeting was the loudest sound as she moaned in my mouth. My hands going to her nipples I pulled them lightly causing her to pant in my mouth. 

Mei was a very robotic lover when we met. Straight to the point she liked it that way. It had taken me time to get her to try new things. Her nipples were especially sensitive. Something she didn’t like to admit as she came again. Liquid gushing out of her we lost track of time until I emptied inside her. Holding onto me she panted heavily as she caught her breath. 

Turning us around so she was on top she hummed happily while laying on my chest. “You are very weird,” she mumbled. 

“I’m the weird one?” I asked. “How’s that?” 

“You show up here, most every day. Make me shower. Then have sex with me until I pass out,” she said with a long sigh. “What do you get out of all this?” 

“The sex,” I said, like it was obvious. 

“Yes, but you never ask anything else of me,” she said, sitting up. Her perfect breasts hanging down over me. 

“What can I ask?” I asked.

“With this kind of release? Anything you want,” she said.

“Hmm a foursome,” I said. 

“Four-what?” 

“A foursome,” I said. “You, me, 2 other girls.” 

“2 other girls?” She asked, confused. “I don’t know if I know any that would be willing.”

“That’s fine, I do. I have a girlfriend, remember?” I asked. 

“Oh right. Is she here now?” Mei asked, looking around.

“No, she’s at her internship,” I admitted. “But I’ll see her later. So can I count on you to attend a foursome?” 

“Yes, whatever you want,” she said with a groan as she got off me. “Don’t you dare join me in the shower. I have work to do.” She pointed at me as a warning. I wasn’t too scared of her so I followed in anyway. 

“Weston,” she said, annoyed. 

“No sex, I promise,” I said as I pushed her under the water. “Tell me about today.” I began to pour some shampoo on her and she let out a sigh as I began rubbing her. 

“I have to defend the suit in front of the Support Commission Board,” she said. 

“What are you calling it now?” 

“Accumulation Reinforcement for Marginalized Individual Suit,” she said. “ARMIS.” 

“Sounds cool,” I said. I wasn’t too stuck on Gantz suit anyway, at least it was still an acronym. “Got your speech prepared?” She nodded. “Want me to go with you?” She stiffened. 

Turning around to me with her big doe eyes she asked, “Would you?” 

“Of course,” I said, kissing her. She smiled wide as she kissed me back. Grabbing her butt I lifted her up but she pulled away. 

“Don’t you dare,” she said. 

“What? I’m just-” 

“Smooth talking me. I’ve learned your tricks,” she said, tapping my arm. I let her down. “We can continue this later. After I give my presentation.” 

“Fine, fine,” I grumbled. She gave me a kiss on the cheek and walked out. Following her I put on what I was wearing when I stopped by her place the night before, but it wasn’t the best for a presentation. I opted to wear my hero suit instead. Mei was fine putting on her workshop clothes. Thick clothes with a leather apron. Handing me a suitcase she was all business as we headed off to her presentation. 

I hadn’t traveled to the Hero Support part of the building much. Just to see Mei. A bunch of nerds always working on gadgets or computers they tended to keep to themselves. With their own staff and budgets the students strived to make something new. Customizing hundreds of inventions that other scientists had invented over the years. 

I could feel Mei’s nervousness as she walked ahead of me. She had worked for months for this day and it was finally upon her. “You’ll do great,” I said as she continued on. She didn’t answer. “Have I told you how good you look in your costume?” I asked. Her ass shaking as she walked she turned to eye me. “What? There is no reason to be nervous.”

“There is,” she said, slowing down a little. “These people make or break inventions. They will be going over my research with a fine toothed comb.” 

“And where are you saying you got this idea?” I asked. 

“Who can say when inspiration strikes?” She asked, giving me a wide smile. She knew the deal. It would be best if the Gantz suit was not brought up. 

“Good. You’re so smart, you know that?” I asked, throwing my arm over her shoulder as I kissed her forehead. 

“I know, now stop distracting me,” she said, pulling away. I chuckled as I followed after her. Stopping at a set of large double doors we waited outside expectantly. Her time to go came and went. But a receptionist outside assured us that the last appointment was just running long. 

Mei paced back and forth worriedly. I sat trying to act like it was no big deal. Which it wasn’t. I had plenty of money to live very well. I had spent more than enough to a launderer to help justify where Mei got the funds to start the business. It was all coming together to reach this point. 

A boy a little older than us walked out of the meeting room. A mechanical construction in his hands it appeared beat up. He ran down the hall, crying I assumed, as he left. Mei and I shared a look. 

“The Committee will see you now,” the receptionist said, a smile on her face. Mei took a breath and walked forward. I followed. Inside was a large oak table. 4 men and 1 woman sat behind it. As Mei’s eyes scanned them, her Haki leaked fear as she noticed the woman. I studied the woman. She was rather unimposing, but then I noticed the name plate sitting in front of her. It read Hatsume, the same last name as Mei. 

“You may begin, Ms. Hatsume,” the woman said. She had long brown hair, so I guessed either she was Mei’s mother or aunt. 

“I have been working for several months on a new power suit,” Mei said. Pushing her fear aside as she stood in front of the committee. “You have a copy of my research.” A few people began to leaf through the documents. “Through the use of nanobots I have succeeded in making a suit that will increase strength. I have been able to quantify that strength can be multiplied 3 times. Through more research I hope to increase that number. But for now I believe that this invention is worthy of approval by the committee.”

“Quite the high estimation,” the woman behind the desk said as she moved through the documents. “I assume you can back up these claims.” 

“Of course, I have brought the suit with me,” she said. Waving me over I stepped up and opened the suitcase for her. “Instead of myself testing this, I offer it to be tested by one of you.” 

That received some murmurs as they talked to one another. “I would like to try it,” the woman eventually admitted. Mei nodded and passed her the suitcase. 

“The suit will require skin to skin contact,” Mei admitted. The other Hatsume nodded. Walking into a side room she headed off as Mei began talking about the suit itself. When the older woman came back she was in the tight black clothes of the Gantz suit. The suit didn’t leave much to the imagination of what her figure actually was. A nice ass and set of tits I nodded appreciatively. 

Mei was in her scientist mode though. “The exterior and interior material of the suits are a thin layer of a type of a polycarbonate latex. What is important is what sits between the layers. A microscopically thin layer of nanobots coats the entire suit. Through these discs,” she pointed at the discs by the neck. “The suit brings in air, cooling down the user and bots as it is used. Mrs. Hatsume,” she said to the woman in the suit. “Would you please try to lift this weight?” There was a dumbbell sitting to the side that had 100 written on it. I guessed she had prepared it beforehand when she gave them all her research notes. 

The woman walked over and tried to lift it. Nothing happened. “Now please say the word, Armis, and try to lift it.” 

“Armis,” the woman said, then her arms bulged as she picked up the weight easily. 

“As you can see, the nanobots are accumulating to the muscle groups required to lift a heavier object,” Mei said. The other committee member became excited as the woman lifted the weight over her head. 

“Why is there a codeword trigger?” “What is the maximum it can do?” “How is it made?” More than one person asked questions of her. Mei explained things one by one. A codeword triggers the suit because it was too unruly to rely on thought. No the codeword does not make it stop. The suit was active and another action would make the veins stop bulging. The maximum weight depended on the strength of the person. 

They continued asking her question after question until finally the woman wearing the suit asked, “Who do you expect to want this?” 

“Everyone,” Mei said without hesitation. “Heroes and civilians. When I have finalized the process for manufacturing them I expect every hero suit to have this as a basis. I expect people to want them to help in their every day lives as well.”

“And villains will want them,” the woman said.

“Of course,” Mei said. “Villains want everything. They take what they want, and there would be no way to keep this out of their hands. But civilians and heroes far outnumber them. I would much rather arm good people with them, but planning for the inevitable is impossible.”

“You could do failsafes in the suits,” someone offered. “So they don’t work if you don’t want them to.”

“No,” Mei said. “I do not make weaknesses in my suits.” That quieted him. They were soon asking more questions but eventually her application got the stamp for approval. 

“Now you may submit for grant money,” the woman in the suit announced. “Hopefully human trials can start soon, and we can see this out on the market some day…good job.” 

“Thank you,” Mei said, but I could feel the pride from the simple words. We were soon ushered out for the next appointment. We got the suit back and Mei walked slowly down the hall. When we turned down a new hall she let out a long sigh.

“We did it,” she said, a smile on her lips. 

“You did it,” I corrected. “Great job.”

“I can’t believe it. 1 more step closer to my dream,” she said, more emotion in her voice than I had heard outside of the bedroom. 

“And what’s that?” I asked, moving closer. Her eyes looked up at me, biting her lip as I pushed against her. 

“My own empire,” she said. “A huge company to put all the others to shame.”

“Mighty big dreams there, Mei,” I said. I leaned down, kissing her. “What do you need from me?” 

“Sex,” she said, grabbing my side. 

I laughed. “What else? Money, more stuff to tinker with?” 

“No, I will be busy with this,” she said. “Just keep the sex coming. I want to calm my nerves down.” 

“Here?” I asked, excitedly. 

“No,” she said. “That was my step-mom, I don’t want her to catch me.” 

“Step-mom? You appeared pretty nervous,” I said as we started to head back to her workshop. 

“She’s the CEO of one of the school’s biggest suppliers of support gear,” Mei said.

“And she is on the Support Committee? Isn’t that a little…fishy?” 

“It is,” Mei admitted. “But here at UA my inventions should be safe. …I could use someone to watch over me tonight. You know, just in case?” 

“Hmm I wonder who could do that?” I asked, grabbing her ass. “I’m sure I could think of someone.”