Chapter 515 - Far Future Ch 225 – Welcome, Brothers! (1/2)

I had been inside the Mountain most of a year now.

I had been a pretty naughty girl, given all the systems I'd suborned, the brainboxes like Bob I'd Branded, the nasty surprises and self-destructs I'd thoughtfully rendered inoperable, and the amount of catastrophically sensitive data that I'd shunted off to the Pentagon.

The atmosphere among the Old Men was pretty tense, because they had finally realized that the Assassins they'd sent out had all 'died'.

It was an eclectic combination of missed check-ins; informers among the Umbrans, Mekkers, and Mentats; and flagged security reports by various parties, as party after party of Assassins and their crews evaporated.

None had yet escaped, as the kids working that duty were very good, and the Assassins themselves had no idea they were there.

As the messages went out to alert the teams on astropathic ridealongs, our assets were in place to follow them and see exactly where they were going and how. The fake messages that were set-ups, others false, others disguised and misdirective, were all noticed, as they frantically went searching for the information leaks.

This uncertainty and feeling of being hunted by an unknown and horribly competent foe didn't exactly make these Old Men feel too good. It was too much like being hunted by their own disposable minions.

However, there was some excellent news, in that this current generation of brave lads they were training/brainwashing in service to the Empire was proving to be one of the most gifted so far, especially in the area of cognitive skills, learning, and mental focus. Their teamwork ability was top-notch, and they were learning from one another with remarkable skill and focus.

Was there a reason for this sudden increase in the capability of these young men?

Why, yes. Because I had Marked them all...

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There were literally thousands of them, of all ages, from teenagers to toddlers. They were monitored at all times, they were brainwashed to believe what they were told and to live in fear of the horrible pressure from outside the Mountain that would rapidly kill them and render them monstrous threats to others.

I didn't usually like to exploit my ability to shapechange via the Marks, but there was no reason not to here. I could not fool an Awakened Void, since my Null was definitely not the aura of a Primos, but the cameras and idle eyes? I had no difficulty looking like I belonged somewhere, and once I rewrote the security and tracking paradigms (and their monitoring programs...), the systems gave me permission and multiple identifications, so anyone checking on me could see I belonged there... not that many ever saw me.

I started with the natal unit. Branding an active person here was very dangerous, of course, since any Void interacting with them would be able to sense the Brand. But without Helices, a Void wouldn't sense a Mark inscribed inside the nasal cavity of one of their own.

So, I got to kiss every young Void in the place, starting with the kids and working my way up.

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Jarod was fairly typical of the young teen Voids. Dark bronze skin, hair close-cut, intelligent dark eyes burning with intensity, extremely toned physique, remnants of fine scars all over his body from combat injuries.

That being said, he was no more immune to perfect hips and legs and a 50 Charisma smacking him full in the face with a gossamer pillow than any other young man his age.

”Sit,” I directed him with a smile that sent all his hormones raging despite himself. His return smile was a little unnatural as he tried very, very hard to keep control of himself. He hopped himself up on the rest there and did his best not to look at me, or hear my voice, or smell the faint aroma of my perfume, or want to touch my long red hair.

”We're going to be doing a close inspection of your esophageal and nasal cavities, Master Jarod,” I said smoothly, putting down my pad and stepping up to him. He tried to wrap his head around my words, but his concentration was a little fuzzy at the moment for some reason, and didn't really process what that was going to mean when my hand grabbed the back of his head, yanked it back, and then his eyes got really, really wide when I went down on him.

What fun thoughts were going through his head definitely weren't stopping as the fun stuff on my tongue and my ki started swimming through him, and, hey, he was a long way from having a Vajra and that level of physical control. All his dreams were being met way, way, waaaaay past anything he could consider as my tongue filled his mouth, inspected his throat, and started messing around in his nasal cavity.

He was all aquiver and tense everywhere with rampant desire, trying to paw at me and really unable to think that far, when the Mark lit up and washed all that away with cool serenity.

”Muh?” he managed, as I lifted my mouth away from him, and he stared at me, feeling his thoughts shining as he looked at me, and a clarity and purity that had never been there.

”Lessons on how to use your Mark will commence tonight during your rest period. You will not talk of it, or indicate anything else has happened, before then.” My voice was reverberating inside his ears, and he was gawking despite himself at the incredible Presence of Sama leaking from behind that door in his head.

He couldn't have betrayed me if he wanted to, if for no other reason than that pure mana I'd used to clear out his head had just given him his first taste of The Land, and his being was totally oriented on it.

”Shall we continue with the rest of the exam?” I smiled professionally, and he could only nod silently at me as I continued with the rest of my inspection...

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-Welcome. You may now open the Door and step through.-

There wasn't much hesitation. They'd been getting +1 Intellect from the Mark all day. They were chaffing at the bit to know more. Those Markdoors opened up, and they stepped through and stopped, right there.

I looked back at all of them as they gaped at me.