Mythran's Master Of All

John and Holly had sex twice, and he held her close as he recovered his strength.

“So.” Holly said, as she snuggled down on John's chest. “Were you expecting that to happen?”

“Hell, no.” John said. “But, to be honest...” He smiled. “...I desperately hoped it would.”

“I'm pretty sure the Chief of Police wouldn't approve of us doing this.” Holly chuckled. “Hell, I don't think anyone at the police station would!”

“You'd be surprised.” John said, then clamped his mouth shut.

“What?” Holly asked. “Who is it?”

John shook his head.

“If you don't tell me right now, I'll initiate my special interrogation technique.”

He shook his head again, and Holly sat up on top of him. She wiggled her fingers, then jammed them into his armpits; then was surprised that nothing happened.

“Not there, huh?” Holly said, and ran her fingertips down his chest, and along the skin. She watched his reactions as she probed him, and she didn't even get a twitch. She turned around and sat facing the other way and ignored the place between his legs; since she knew that wasn't ticklish at all. She ran her fingers past his mid-section and started on his thighs.

Holly received nothing in return on her search, so she leaned way over and reached his feet. She gave one of them a cursory tickle, but nothing happened. John moved slightly, and she thought she might have had some success, and then she felt what he was trying to do. She moaned in pleasure as he made love to her again in that position, and completely forgot that she was supposed to interrogate him.

*

“That was the best one yet!” Ren said, as he climbed out of the pool. He'd ridden on an inner-tube through a huge water slide and ended in an Olympic-sized swimming pool. “Gloria, where the hell did you get all of this?”

“I... ah...” Gloria looked up into the air and started to whistle.

“That's her not so subtle way of telling you not to ask.” Stella said, and they all laughed. “I think that's enough data for today.”

“That's enough for a week!” Ren exclaimed. “I saw the dates you had on the files.”

“Gloria finding that time hack has messed me all up, okay?” Stella said.

“Oh, no!” Ren put a hand over his heart. “Gloria, did you hear that? Stella's not perfect!”

Gloria laughed.

“Let's log out, before we have to suffer even more over-acting from him.” Stella said to Gloria, and she nodded.

“Logout.” They said together, and faded away.

Ren looked at where they used to stand, and didn't see anything. “Huh, no residual avatars.”

“Logout.”

********

“That was fun!” Ren said as he slipped off the VR headset. “This has been the best day at work I've ever had.”

“Me, too.” Stella said.

“It was alright.” Gloria said, and they looked at her. “I'm not big on amusement park rides.”

“I wasn't either, until I rode a few.” Ren said. “Of course, I would never, ever ride them in real life.” He smiled. “I think I'd hurt myself just looking at them.”

Gloria turned to him. “What did I say about playing the sympathy card?”

“I should only do it when you're not looking.” Ren said, and she snorted a laugh.

“Smart ass.” Gloria said and smiled.

“Ren, do you want to take another shower before going back, or do you want to wait and go back to the care facility first?”

Ren lifted his arm and smelled his armpit. “I'm not quite ripe enough yet.” He said and grinned. “You can wait until later to pick me.”

Stella laughed. “Good enough.” She said, and went to get his bag, tossed in his clothes that he'd only worn while they were out for dinner, and handed it to him. “Let's get back before Barbara thinks we're missing.”

“I doubt she's there yet.” Ren said. “She only comes in early on show nights now.”

Stella nodded, and grabbed her purse, then handed the plastic step stool to Gloria. Stella pushed Ren out of the house with Gloria close behind, then locked the front door. They loaded Ren, his wheelchair, and the step stool into the van. Gloria and Stella got in themselves, and Gloria drove them back to the temporary care facility.

“Thanks a lot, Gloria.” Ren said when they came to a stop. “This van was a great idea.”

“It sure was.” Stella said and got out to unload the wheelchair and put Ren in it, then passed him his bag of clothes.

“I'm glad everything worked out well.” Gloria said as she took out the step stool and shut the doors of the van.

“I think we all are.” Stella said and opened her purse. She took out two envelopes, and handed them to Gloria.

“What's this?” Gloria asked.

“Your first paycheck, and the van rental.” Stella said. “Make sure you take your driving fee out of the rental before you give it to Frank.”

Gloria looked at her with surprise on her face.

“I'll be asking Frank later if you did, so don't 'forget' to take your share.”

“I... okay.” Gloria said and her face flushed a little red. How did she know I wasn't going to take it? She wondered. “I guess I'll see you next week.”

“Only if you don't log into the game sometime tonight.” Ren said. “If you do, send me a message. I'll do a patrol around Aurora and talk to the soldiers. You've been stuck in the city for a lot longer than you're comfortable with.”

Gloria chuckled. “I think I've had enough VR for today.” She said. “I'll log in tomorrow night for sure, though.”

Ren nodded. “See you then.”

Stella got behind Ren and started to push him towards the front door of the temporary care facility, with the step stool under her arm.

“Wait!” Gloria said, and ran over to them.

“What is it?” Stella asked. “Did I forget something?”

“No.” Gloria said. “I did.” She knelt in front of Ren. “Did you really mean what you said earlier?”

Ren nodded. “If there's one thing that I've learned in my long life...”

Stella snorted a laugh behind him.

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“...it's that lying is bad, and never works out right.” Ren smiled. “Plus, it's hard to get caught in a lie if you never say one, right?”

Gloria nodded, leaned in, and gave him a quick kiss.

“Hey, I thought...” Ren started to say, and Gloria took his hand. She lifted it and put it on the left side of her head, where it was clean-shaven. Ren caressed the smooth skin there, and Gloria closed her eyes.

“You were right.” Gloria said. “All the time we've spent together in the game, we were spending it with each other.” She sighed as Ren ran his fingers over her ear and down to her chin. “But... you're still my boss. A kiss and a touch is all I can offer.”

“Then thank you for offering me the best part of yourself.” Ren said, and she opened her eyes to look at him.

“You... mean that?”

“No, I'm lying through my teeth.” Ren chuckled. “What did I just tell you about lying?”

Gloria laughed, and stood up. “See you later.”

“Bye, Gloria.” Stella and Ren said almost at the same time, and they went inside the temporary care facility.

*

Gloria went back to the minivan and got into the driver's seat. She opened the envelope marked rental, took out the chauffeur fee, and put it into her pocket. She put the envelope in the glove compartment, then looked at the one with her paycheck in it.

My first grant paycheck! Gloria thought, and opened it. “What the hell?!?”

Inside the envelope was two thousand, five hundred and ninety-two dollars ($2,592). It was 6 times what she had expected, and she took it out; then saw a folded piece of paper was in the envelope as well. Gloria took out the paper and read it. It was an itemized list of everything she'd done for the project so far. The list itself didn't add up to that much, only a few hundred dollars; then she read the hand-written note at the bottom.