Broken Cycles: Hive of Body & Spirit 3 (Patreon)

“Come with me,” I told her, grabbing onto her wrist and pulling her to her feet. Even as late as it was, I still wasn’t going to do this in the middle of a public park. “Be a good girl and stay quiet.”

Sophia’s mouth clicked shut, even as a flush started to appear on her face. I smothered a smirk. Even if I couldn't justify using it in class, the seal sending a rush of arousal through her when I called her that would always be amusing.

We exited the park and walked for nearly ten minutes before arriving at our destination. It was a nice house, tucked away in a cul-de-sac of other similar houses. A small garden surrounded it, with a driveway leading up to it. It wasn't my official residence, it legally belonged to one George Miller, but I still had the key. Unlocking the door, I entered, followed by Sophia, and closed the door before locking it behind her.

“So what now? You going to tie me down and rape me?” Sophia snarked.

“Hardly,” I returned, sending one of my bugs up to the master bedroom to pop the shadow clone that was George Miller. “I am going to lay things out for you to make sure you understand your role in things to come.”

“And what role is that?” she asked, glaring at me. I chuckled, looking her up and down.

“I suppose I should thank you, Miss Hess,” I said after a moment, ignoring her question. “I had been wondering what I should do with the power at my disposal. I didn’t have an overarching goal, merely going with the flow. But in your act of a foolish teenager, lashing out at someone who wasn’t behaving the way you thought they should, you have inadvertently given me a goal.”

Forming the iconic cross seal, I made a pair of shadow clones, sending a small swarm of my bugs out through the cloud of smoke. The bugs landed on her face, making her freeze as the two clones held onto her arms. They turned her around, leaving her back facing me as I walked up, forming a series of hand seals as I walked.

I didn’t have the enzymes that Orochimaru used in his curse seals, but what I did have were infinite chakra, a lot more knowledge implanted into my brain, and I just popped a shadow clone who’d been working on this very problem. The clone on Sophia’s right pulled the collar of her shirt and hoodie aside, leaving the meat of her shoulder exposed. As she started to turn her head to look back at me, I finished the needed hand seals and pressed my palm to her shoulder.

The noise that tore its way out of Sophia wasn’t a scream, it was something more guttural and she choked it down as the seal sank into her skin. It found the weak chakra network within her body and began wrapping around it, tendrils digging into the small passageways and forcing energy into them.

It undoubtedly hurt, having my chakra forced into her. But it would serve as a decent kickstart for her own chakra network, and with it being my chakra instead of nature chakra, there wasn’t a risk of her turning into a statue. Also much less chance of her dying from it.

I traced the seal with a finger as it sunk into her shoulder, ignoring her whimpers of pain. She'd most likely be able to take my chakra directly later on down the line, but until then, she would need to see me to refill the Curse Seal when it ran out.

It was silent for about a minute, before Sophia’s whimpering turned into a series of small hiccups. Her posture sagged and she looked up at me, a blankness in her eyes.

“Everyone gained a touch of power when Scion died, this mark just flooded your body with that power to bolster your personal reserves. Every Friday evening, you will return here for training in utilizing that power. Do you understand?” I asked her, staring down at her. She nodded silently, a glimmer of interest in her eyes. “Good girl. I am going to be taking over your life from now on, making sure that you do everything I say. Do that, and your life will be much easier. Do you understand what I’ve told you, Miss Hess?”

She looked up at me, “You want me to be your slave?”

“No, I will be teaching you discipline. Something that your behavior thus far has shown you sorely lack,” I shot back. “Be a good girl and stand up.”

She did so, her forehead furrowed in confusion while the flush on her cheeks darkened. My shadow clones stepped back, and I took a moment to walk around her, looking her form up and down. She wasn’t wearing anything like her official hero costume, a black hoodie, matching sweatpants, and jogging shoes.

“Take off your hoodie,” I told her, making her head snap around, her eyes wide in shock and worry. “I need a better idea of what I am working with to know how to properly train you. Now be a good girl and do as you’re told.”

I could tell that my words pissed her off, but she did as I had told her, pulling the hoodie off of her and tossing it to the side. She wore a simple tee-shirt underneath, the v-cut of the neckline showing her ebony skin.

Sophia’s eyebrow twitched, “What?”

“Let’s cut out the unnecessary words. You will be a good girl and therefore be quiet and only speak when I give you permission to do so. Is that understood, Miss Hess?” I gave her a pointed look. It left her speechless, her mouth opening and closing a few times, until she swallowed and gave a small nod.

“Good girl. I will be giving the orders, and if you do as I say, I will be rewarding you,” I told her, circling around her. The flush on her face was practically luminescent, and I could hear the way her breathing had changed. The arousal from the first seal I’d placed on her had had a rather profound effect on her by this point, especially considering that she’d been getting a rush from behavior that would have pissed her off even an hour ago.

“Bend over,” I ordered. “I want to see how flexible you are.”

She sent a glare at me, but the effect was somewhat ruined by the hungry look in her eyes as she bent over. I felt my eyebrows shoot into my head as she folded herself in half, tucking her shoulders behind the back of her knees, while still standing. Placing her palms flat on the ground, she lifted her feet off the ground, wriggling around a little until her lower legs were behind her shoulders as well.

“I was unaware that yoga was part of the Ward training regimen,” was all I could say in response to the human pretzel in front of me. “I am very impressed.”

She snorted and disentangled herself, looking away from me with a blush. “My mother was a yoga instructor before she started to get baked,” Sophia explained. “I used to practice with her when I was younger.” She gave me a shy smile as she stood.

I smiled back and nodded. “Well, I can certainly see why now.” I gestured for her to stand in the center of the room and said, “Now, I want you to close your eyes and prepare yourself for the next seal.”

Sophia looked a bit nervous, but she did as she was told. I stepped behind her and flashed through a number of hand signs, before placing my palm against the back of her neck. The seal formed, a tight spiraling line spreading along the length of her spine. I stepped back, and Sophia moved her arms around, her eyebrows furrowed in confusion.

“A Resistance Seal,” I answered her question before she could ask. “It adds a bit of resistance to every movement, not enough to have a noticeable impact in your day to day, but it builds up over time and gives you the benefit of training throughout the day.”

Sophia looked impressed and asked, “How do I know if it’s working?”

I smiled. “You’ll know,” I said. “For now, just pay attention to how it feels and the kind of results you experience in your training. Soon enough you’ll be able to tell when the seal is active.”

The next two hours involved my teaching her the absolute basics of chakra usage. From what the knowledge that Shenron had downloaded into my brain was telling me, reaching the point of sticking a piece of paper (in lieu of a leaf) to her forehead was outstanding progress. The repeated uses of calling her a good girl when she succeeded also had an impact.

Finally, at around one in the morning, I called an end to the training with a reminder of, “Be a good girl, behave in class, and we can continue next week.”

I then proceeded to make another shadow clone to continue the role of George Miller and collapsed onto one of the guest beds. At least the Miller clone didn’t do anything besides make knock off Naruto comics, and thanks to parahumans the source material I was shamelessly stealing from never happened on Bet.

[hr][/hr]

“So, how did it go?” Emma asked Sophia the following morning, the two girls sitting in Emma’s room.

“A lot different than I expected,” the black girl answered, considering how much to tell. He did say that everyone had gotten power when Scion died, and if there was a chance of him doing for Emma what he was doing for her…

“Different how?” Emma pressed, “Is he going to stop backing up Taylor or not?”

“I actually forgot about that, after…” Sophia began.

“How did you forget?” Emma snapped. “He’s just a two bit teacher who doesn’t know how things are supposed to be!”

Sophia didn’t answer verbally, instead she reached over to her backpack and pulled out her binder. Tearing out a scrap of paper, she placed it on her forehead, using the energy that Mr. Smith had flooded into her body.

Meeting Emma’s gaze, Sophia told her, “I forgot because he was able to teach me how to do this and gave me a boost in my personal training. From what he said, and I’m inclined to believe him, this could potentially make me on par with the Triumvirate. I am not screwing up that chance just because Hebert doesn't know her place. This is much, much more important than that.”

Emma’s eyes widened in surprise and excitement. “On par with the Triumvirate? That’s incredible!” she exclaimed, leaning forward in her seat. “So… do you think he could do the same for me?”

Sophia hesitated, considering the implications of bringing Emma into this. Mr. Smith had made it clear that he didn’t want anyone else knowing about his abilities. But on the other hand, having Emma by her side as an equal would be helpful in many ways.

“Maybe,” Sophia said finally, “but I’d have to ask him first. And he might not be willing to train another person.”

“I understand,” Emma said, nodding eagerly. “But if there’s any chance, I want to take it. Can you set up a meeting with him soon?”

Sophia nodded. “I’ll see what I can do.”

The two girls continued to talk excitedly about the possibilities that Mr. Smith’s training could bring them. Sophia couldn’t help but feel a sense of satisfaction that she had something that Emma wanted. For once, she was in control of the situation.

But as she lay in her own bed that night, Sophia couldn’t help but wonder what Mr. Smith’s true motivations were. Why was he so willing to train them and give them these abilities? And what did he want in return?

She knew that she should be cautious, but the thought of being on par with the Triumvirate was too tempting to ignore. She would do whatever it takes to achieve that level of power, even if it meant making a deal with the devil himself.

That was without considering the strange thrill that she got at obeying Mr. Smith. She didn't know why, but whenever he called her a good girl, her nipples hardened and she got damp. She couldn't remember ever having this kind of reaction to anyone; it didn't make sense at all, yet she found herself wanting it more and more.