A/N: Here's the new Chapter! Which also means the next four chapters are up on my Patreon for early access as well as the chance to vote on the direction of the story!

  In which we find out a bit more about Sabah and Lily's dynamic...

  -x-X-x-

  As Lily watches Sabah negotiate with Portent and Weaver, she can’t help but be more than a little proud. After all, just a few short months ago, Sabah hadn’t even been willing to leave her apartment, let alone meet anyone face to face who wasn’t Lily. But then, could she really bme her? After what the Elite had tried to pull…

  Even now, just thinking about it makes Lily’s blood boil. Sabah had been doing her absolute best for years. She’d made things work within the strict confines of the PRT and the United States’ ws regarding commercialization of parahuman powers. Parian wasn’t a household name or anything like that, but she had managed to build herself up as a fixture of Brockton Bay, and that was certainly impressive in a city that regurly chewed capes up with a fifty-fifty chance of whether it would spit them back out again.

  Being a Rogue was hard. Being a Rogue in Brockton Bay was even harder. And then those asswipes had dared to try and take Sabah and make her something she wasn’t. They’d dared to try and take her away from Lily.

  … If Lily weren’t a Protectorate Hero with an incredibly well-known and btantly obvious power, she would have happily put a three-foot long needle from her arbalest straight through Bastard Son’s head.

  But as, she was in fact a Protectorate Hero, and thus beholden to the ws. Most of the time, Lily considered this a good thing to be fair. Laws were important. Laws were the only thing keeping their straining society from crumbling altogether. However, when it came to Sabah… ws stopped mattering quite so much. In the end, all that Lily really cared about was Sabah’s happiness.

  “Let’s get the measurements done now and then we’ll reconvene in two days when Weaver has the Spider Silk ready, yes?”

  Sabah’s words pull Lily out of her thoughts even as they cause her to blink in surprise. She’s grateful for the tinted one-way visor of her costume in this moment, because it hides most of her shocked reaction. It seems that her girlfriend really was starting to come out of her shell again here because taking measurements was… well, it was pretty invasive.

  Lily watches on as Portent and Weaver ultimately agree with Sabah’s pn. Fortunately, there’s side rooms so they can get changed into tighter fitting clothing that Sabah has for precisely this purpose. While they’re gone, Sabah shoots Lily a look and despite the fact that the Rogue is wearing a mask, Lily can tell her girlfriend is nervous and worried that Lily is upset with her.

  Striding over, Lily presses her masked forehead against Sabah’s.

  “Hey. I’ve got your back. Don’t falter, alright? Trust yourself. Believe in the me that believes in you.”

  Lily’s cheesiness is rewarded with a little giggle from Sabah. Unfortunately, they aren’t able to talk much more before Portent and Weaver come back. As Lily retakes her pce on the wall, she can’t help eyeing the two independents. They’re still masked up of course, and they’re by no means naked… but damn if she isn’t getting far more of an eyeful now.

  Much to her own surprise, Lily’s eyes linger on the man more than the woman. Maybe part of that was Weaver’s personality. To be fair to the bug controller, she was clearly just very protective of Portent… but it did make her a bit caustic and hard to like if Lily was being honest.

  Portent on the other hand… she could appreciate confidence like his, regardless of the package it came in. And truthfully? The package wasn’t half-bad to look at either. Licking her lips beneath her mask, Lily notices that Sabah feels the same way, because while she’s careful not to be too obvious about it… to someone who has seen Sabah work before, it’s incredibly obvious she’s lingering. Only for fractions of a second maybe, but still, it takes a full thirty seconds longer for her to get Portent’s measurements than it does for her to get Weaver’s.

  Could it be? Hm. Now there was an idea. Lily watches quietly as Sabah finishes up the session and takes a step back, having written down the st of the measurements in an old-fashioned notebook.

  “A-Alright… I should be good to go. This way, if you’re both too busy, you can just drop off the Spider Silk at the park and I can get to work right away. Of course, there might need to be more fittings as we go on.”

  Portent and Weave exchange a look at that, even as Lily tenses up. They might have been chill so far, but if they were going to reveal their true colors and turn out to be entitled or impatient, now would definitely be the time.

  “… That should be fine, yeah. How long do you expect it all to take? How many fittings until we’ve got costumes?”

  Sabah’s hands twitch at her sides in an aborted motion Lily knows involves her pressing her fingers together nervously. But of course, her girlfriend and lover is a professional so she manages to hold back the nervous tic. For a brief moment, she calcutes the time in her head as Portent and Weaver wait for a response. Finally…

  “With my powers and such interesting material to work with, s-so long as you’re both willing to make yourselves fully avaible to me, I should be able to complete everything by the end of the week. In other words, three days after Weaver gets me the silk.”

  Portent and Weaver exchange another gnce at that, before Portent slowly nods.

  “That should be fine. Can’t promise we’ll always be avaible though… but if that means it takes longer than three days, well that will be on us, won’t it?”

  Confident. Handsome. And now reasonable?! Lily resists the urge to shake her head ruefully. This guy… she got why Weaver was so protective of him. But were they in a retionship? That was the real question she had to figure out…

  “R-Right. Then… thank you for this opportunity. I look forward to working together.”

  Portent just chuckles.

  “No, thank you Parian. We appreciate you being willing to meet with us in the first pce. We’ll talk again soon for sure.”

  With that, the two independent heroes take their leave. As the door shuts behind them, there’s the telltale click of it locking, keeping anyone else from entering the building. This location might be on the Boardwalk, but it wasn’t a conventional shop by any stretch of the imagination. Instead, it was a space specifically set aside for Parahumans to make deals. And not just Rogues either…

  Still, as soon as Portent and Weaver are gone, Lily pushes off the wall and walks over to Sabah, removing her visor and face-concealing mask as she goes. Still staring after the two of them, Sabah doesn’t see her coming until she’s pretty much right on top of her… at which point, Lily has already hooked her fingers under Sabah’s porcein doll mask while her other hand rests on the back of Sabah’s neck.

  Gently but firmly, she pulls Sabah’s mask off before the other woman can react, exposing her lover’s face… and the bright red blush that she’s currently sporting after her meeting with the two independents.

  “L-Lil-mmph!”

  Lily doesn’t give Sabah the chance to say her name before grabbing her girlfriend by the cheeks and leaning down to kiss her firmly on the lips.

  It’s funny. Back when Lily had first come to Brockton Bay, she hadn’t been sure about this pce. Not in the slightest. As a Protectorate Hero, she technically had far more of a say in where she was stationed than the Wards did. But only technically. Brockton Bay needed the support and Lily had been voluntold that she would be that support.

  Still, she could have spent a couple months here and then put in a transfer out and likely been approved on account of her power and capabilities. After all, she DID have that standing offer from Narwhal to join the Guild in the event that the Protectorate ever pissed away their goodwill with her. Leverage.

  And yet, before Lily could truly get sick of this city, she’d met Sabah. And Sabah… Sabah made everything better. Lily had never clicked with someone like she did the Middle Eastern Woman. She’d never felt more like a puzzle piece who had finally found her match. They went together so well, and in the end Lily had stayed in Brockton Bay, not because the city still needed her (though it did) but because of Sabah.

  That said, despite Sabah being the older of the two of them, they had a very specific dynamic. One where Lily was decidedly in charge. That’s why, when she suddenly starts making out with Sabah, her girlfriend rapidly melts into Lily’s grasp, moaning softly into her domme’s lips. They kiss for what feels like an eternity, but eventually have to come up for air.

  After sucking in a few lungfuls of oxygen, Sabah looks at Lily with wide eyes and an even greater blush than before.

  “L-Lily… we shouldn’t do this h-here…”

  Shouldn’t? Maybe. Couldn’t? Now that was up for debate. This pce was private enough. It was secure. The owners had to run a tight ship or else they would never make money off of the location. On top of that, Lily herself had done a search of the building when they’d first arrived hours ago to make sure it was completely clean.

  With that said, Lily’s eyes smolder as she looks down at Sabah.

  “I’m so proud of you, Sabah.”

  Sabah perks up at that, and then squeaks as Lily grabs her by her hips and lifts her up into the air, walking her over and sitting her down on the edge of a nearby table. Hauling that tinkertech arbalest around wasn’t easy. Under her costume, Lily had muscles for days, her arms in particur being chiseled as fuck… to say nothing of her abs.

  When Lily reaches down and pushes Sabah’s legs apart, the Rogue doesn’t resist or try to stop her. When she goes in for another kiss, Sabah lifts her lips up to meet her. The two makeout for several more seconds before Lily finally dips a hand down under the skirt of Sabah’s costume, making the other woman squeak in response.

  “Lily…”

  Letting out a half-growl, half-purr, Lily locks eyes with her girlfriend again.

  “That’s Mistress to you, pet.”

  Shuddering, Sabah mewls.

  “Y-Yes… M-Mistress. Are you sure we should be doing this, M-Mistress? What if… what if they come b-back or something?”

  Lily hums, even as her fingers trace up Sabah’s thigh, reaching her crotch in short order. Under her costume’s dress, the Rogue wears tight leggings, so she can’t just delve right into her sex or anything like that. Instead, Lily settles for pressing her fingers through Sabah’s undergarments, causing her to arch her back and moan in response as she presses herself against her Mistress’ digits.

  “We’ll hear them if they decide to come back, Sabah. They can’t just walk in; they’ll have to knock if they want to enter again. But… I doubt they’re coming back. They’ve got Spider Silk to produce after all. Lots of work to do.”

  Sabah bites her lower lip at Lily’s words. The barest fsh of disappointment appears in her eyes, causing Lily to grin a little bit. Her previous theory is starting to hold more and more weight. Time to confirm it once and for all.

  “… Of course… only Weaver actually needs to get started on that. Maybe Portent will come back by himself with more… questions. You’d like that, wouldn’t you?”

  Sabah freezes as Lily grinds the heel of her palm into her lover’s sex. The Rogue Cape’s eyes are wide as she stares at Lily, all but confirming what the Protectorate Heroine had already come to suspect.

  “I-I… I…”

  Lily softens her smile, making sure Sabah can see that she isn’t angry with her. Then, she pulls Sabah off of the table at the same time that she takes a seat at it, tugging the smaller woman right into her p then and there. Her fingers continue to quest under her dress, even as Lily hugs Sabah close.

  “We’ve talked about this, Sabah. You don’t need to feel ashamed of it. Not around me. Nor embarrassed. Nor humiliated. I want you to be honest with yourself. I want you to be honest with me, as much as possible.”

  Sabah shudders but slowly rexes into Lily’s grasp all the same. She doesn’t speak for a time, nor does she look up at Lily. Instead she just sits there, squirming and mewling as her Mistress pys with her body. But finally, after several minutes of this, Sabah lifts her head.

  “I think… maybe?”

  Lily hums at that, continuing to hold Sabah close and caress her flesh. There was no judgment here. This was, categorically, a judgment free zone. Lily loved her submissive girlfriend with all her heart. She wanted Sabah to be happy, no matter what. Even if it meant giving her a pass just once.

  Only… when they’d talked about this a month ago, with Lily extricating Sabah’s darkest sexual fantasy through a rather intense and deep session between the two of them, she honestly hadn’t ever thought they’d find someone so compatible. Though maybe Lily was getting ahead of herself. Who knew if Portent would even go for something like that?

  “I… d-do you hate me?”

  Blinking, Lily looks down at Sabah’s worried expression and scoffs.

  “I could never hate you, Sabah. I love you, now and forever. And like I told you a month ago… if you’ve found someone, then I’m willing to give it a shot. I mean, I’ve never really been that confused about my sexuality… I’m bisexual. Always have been. It’s you who we’re trying to figure out together, right?”

  Sabah hesitantly nods at that, still looking uncertain.

  “Y-Yeah. But what if… what if he says no?”

  “Then he says no.”

  “B-But what if it ruins everything?!”

  That… admittedly brings Lily pause and she has to take a moment to think. See, Sabah had what most would consider a pretty weird sexual fantasy. Namely, she had this fantasy where Lily… fucked a guy in front of her. Now, Lily wasn’t against it so long as it was what Sabah wanted. Like she’d just said, she was bisexual and had had retionships with guys in the past.

  This would be different though obviously. They would need to find the right guy. Still, so far Portent had definitely caught Sabah… and Lily’s attention. Maybe he was the right guy. Maybe he wasn’t. The problem was, Sabah kind of needed this deal to work out. So maybe it wasn’t worth risking.

  Lily presses her lips into a thin line for a moment, considering the issue from all angles. Admittedly, it was a complex situation. Maybe introducing sex into things wasn’t the right call…

  -x-X-x- The Vote: [ ] Lily decides it isn't worth the risk to Sabah's deal - 4%[ ] Lily decides it is worth the risk, they should try to arrange a private meeting with Portent ASAP - 18%[X] Lily decides it's worth the risk, but they should probably wait a little while longer to build the retionship first - 79%-x-X-x-

  A/N: Will try to keep this up to date at the end of every chapter, get on me if I forget please. Though if it gets too out of hand, might have to change it at some point.

  Jason's current banked points:

  400 Celestial Points

  Jason's current banked power:

  Focus (600 Point Cost)

  Jason's current powers:

  Fsh Air (Gained in Chapter 1)

  Transformation Pendant (Gained in Chapter 4)

  Keen Eye (Gained in Chapter 4)

  Blood, Death, and Demons (Gained in Chapter 6)

  Alchemical Prodigy (Gained in Chapter 8)

  Staff of Magnus (Gained in Chapter 13)

  Bind and Seal (Gained in Chapter 17)

  Hero of A Hundred Faces: Everyone’s Leader (Gained in Chapter 20)

  Minor Regeneration through Blood Empowerment Ritual (Gained in Chapter 23)

  Restraining Order (Gained in Chapter 25)