The hivemind is conquering for me?

”Where is he! I have been here for forty minutes. Momma needs hugs!” Valerica said as she was looking around impatiently. ”Look, he will turn up eventually, sometimes he just wanders off without telling anyone I am sure he is nearby and- Are those my fucking mercenaries?”

Kathrine spotted Caleb in the Vip section of the club with a man and a woman on either side of him, his arms wrapped around their waists. ”Hmm? Oh yes, I hired them to smuggle something for me- don’t give me that look young lady, you commit more crimes than I do, at least when I do them I do them for the family. Though they should have left by now.”

Kathrine got up from the bar and made her way towards Caleb, who immediately cheered her name. ”Kathrine! So glad to see you! How have you been! Isn’t this place spiffy? Do you want to join us? We can discuss your adaptation in the upcoming film? Ahahahaha!”

Caleb knew in a moment he went a step too far as Kathrine gave him the silent dead stare. ”Sorry boss, I am wasted already, what do you need?” Kathrine looked at Caleb’s company and sighed.

”Caleb, you already have enough STD’s to kill... Name a creature, be careful will you.” That tended to work quicker than asking his company to leave as the two had already wriggled their way away from Caleb.

Caleb was not impressed by the display. ”Not cool Kat, not cool. I always wrap it when I tap it! Now what do you want to know so I can fix your tampering.” Kathrine took a seat next to Caleb and asked.

”Why are you still here? My mother said you had finished your job.” Caleb looked fake offended by Kathrine’s question. ”What? I’m not allowed to drink in the same establishment as you? Jeez Kathrine, I thought we were friends... Alright what’s with the looks tonight? Is it your time of the-whey hey! I am very drunk! Do not take anything I say to heart!”

Caleb was sweating buckets, he could almost feel his balls being ripped off if he continued that sentence. ”We were on our way out and we bumped into Apollo. Man, I love that guy, reminds me of a young me. Anyway, he invited us in, said we could drink for free all night and AHH! Put me down! Help!”

”How did you get here so fast?” Kathrine exclaimed as she looked where her mother was literally just sitting. Valerica ignored her though and said. ”Where is my baby! Tell me! Momma needs her hugs and kisses!”

”Ah! I don’t know woman, goodness you are tall, I bet you would destroy me if you pegged me. AH SORRY! SORRY DRUNK! VERY DRUNK! He said he was getting changed and went over into that booth!”

Valerica then dropped the sad little man and began walking with a brisk pace towards her target. Kathrine gave Caleb a cursory glance to make sure he was ok, before following her mother.

She had been getting obsessive over Apollo since he left, she needed to keep her in check.

...

I was stuck. I was stuck by the laws of a universal concept, like when a cat gets comfy on your lap. You were stuck until the cat decides it is ready to leave. After telling me about her trip here, Leilani said she was really tired and asked if it was ok to sleep here.

I said yes as why would I deprive her of sleep? But I didn’t expect her to crawl up onto my lap before planting her face against my stomach. She was out instantly so she clearly needed the rest.

I just sat in my own thoughts for a while before chatting with Onyx. She was alluding that she had a surprise for me and that after the punishment she was going to receive, she would give it to me.

Another surprise, I felt very spoiled today... Minus the being shot from a shuttle and having to kill a bunch of rapists. The rest of the day had been pretty splendid though, so I was once again fine with waiting.”

As I made myself a drink with my telekinesis, I brought it up to my face and just after I took a sip, the door to the booth opened. In the doorway, a seven foot woman wearing a delightfully tight purple dress stood there. Her eyes widened upon seeing me, a smile encompassing her face. She looked as though she was about to speak when she noticed the child on my lap, causing her eyes to grow confused as I put a finger to my lips.

Valerica stayed stunned for a moment until from behind her Kathrine walked up saying. ”Did you find him-oof!” Kathrine suddenly keeled over, using the doorframe as support as she clutched her stomach.

”Kat, are you ok?” I whispered, causing her to shut the door behind her and nod her head. ”Yeah, I am ok, I was just unprepared for this sight and my ovaries just tried to kill themselves as the sight was too adorable.” She whispered back.

I turned to Valerica and smiled. ”It is good to see you, Valerica, are you well?” Valerica came inand walked forward. Planting a kiss on my forehead and sat right beside me. ”I am well now that I have seen you, Apollo. Who is this child? You better not have brought home a bastard.”

She whispered, forgetting for a moment how young Apollo actually was. ”No this is Leilani, Lele for short. Her parents were killed further south as they were visiting for their job. She has been surviving for months down there.”

Valerica tutted looking at the young girl. ”Poor baby. How did she get here though?” I ignored Valerica’s question and turned to Kathrine. ”Hey Kat, can you go and fetch Sophia please? Tell her to bring Jinx as well.”

...

Kathrine returned a few moments later with Sophia and Jinx. Sophia walked into the room, straight to me and sprayed something into Lele’s sleeping face. Sophia was already answering the question I was about to ask before I even spoke the first word.

”A sleeping agent. We can now speak freely without waking the child up.” Sophia then picked the child up and placed her down next to me so I could move again. ”Well hello there powerhouse!”

Jinx declared from the door, she was obviously thrilled to see me, but her attention was drawn to the woman in the purple dress next to me. ”Wowie! I bet you could actually do a serious number on me with muscles like those. Do you feel like having a fight sometime? Sorry, that wasn’t me trying to start something, I genuinely just want to fight you.”

Valerica frowned at the woman before her, but before she could reply I stepped in. ”Valerica, Kathrine. I am sorry to do this, but could you give us a moment? I promise I won’t be long and we can start the night properly?”

Kathrine got up immediately and headed to leave while Valerica stayed by my side for a moment and leaned in to whisper. ”I expect you to let me heavily dote on you after this. I need answers as to why you only reached out to Kathrine and not to me as I have missed you so much. Oh, and I have so many gifts for you.”

Valerica then kissed my check and brushed my hair before she stood up and moved towards the door, barging through the tattooed arm of Jinx who tried to stop her from leaving for a moment.

After the door shut behind Valerica, Jinx whistled. ”Fuck. I don’t know If I could win against that one in a fair fight. Enough about that though. Hey baby, did you miss me? I see you met the runt. She didn’t cause you any bother did she?”

”No of course not, Lele was a delight.” I paused for a moment to make sure she was actually still just asleep and Sophia didn’t accidentally kill her. ”Ok. Jinx, did you bring this malnourished kid into an active battleground? What was your thinking behind that?”

”Oh not you as well...” Jinx said as she slumped on the couch, folding her arms as she sulked, clearly having just been scolded by Sophia for doing the same thing. ”I told her Apollo, you don’t expose potential Psionic assets to danger. She is beyond useful to us.”

Jinx snapped in rebuttal. ”You weren’t here as a child! You never were a child! To survive down in the south, wartime or not, you have to be able to stare death in the face without flinching. What I was doing was more than bringing her into a fight. I was both hardening and weakening her mind at the same time. That way when the time was right, she would join the family with no qualms. Besides, I was protecting her! Do you think people would just leave her alone if I left her behind at base, just because she was under my protection?”

Jinx then turned to me. ”There are bad people down there Apollo. The type of people that don’t care how developed a person is before having their way with them. And those people are in power. Always have been. I was fortunate I could cave in a man’s chest by the time I was six, otherwise I would have suffered that fate. Trust me, everything I did for that kid was the right call. It might seem cruel, but trust me, you don’t know what cruel actually is.”