The hivemind is conquering for me?

By the time the next day came round, I had made sure that my goodbye was well given and any sadness about me going would be dampened by the energetic display I put on for the both of them.

They both seemed satisfied by the time we were done though, and sore in all the right ways, so I hope I did enough.

I was now sitting in the living room. Onyx, on my lap, was feeding me a protein heavy cereal from a large bowl while I just enjoyed the last moments of peace I had before I was called away. As I began crunching on the newest aerial arrival at terminal mouth, I was still surprised by how calm I was about all this.

My mind often goes back to those first Ker’min I killed. Their looks of fear I think will forever be etched into my mind, but I most definitely did not feel revulsion anymore. Especially fast forwarding to earlier this year with Kathrine hiring me on Alexandria and then later on with fighting on bastion with my best girl.

I had killed my fair share of living beings at this point, and destroyed more than my fair share of robots and the absence of fear and trepidation about going to kill Drakoshi had me concerned about if I was changing so quickly already?

Onyx then shoved a big spoonful of food in my mouth while my thoughts were preoccupied and began to speak, as she always reads my mind. ”The biggest problem you have is that you think too much, my everything.”

She then began to stroke my hair and took off her circlet. Pressing her forehead against mine. ”You are not changing. You are adapting. You are seeing the universe as it is. The hunters prey on the weak. And you are not weak, my eternal love. Your biggest problem, like I said, is you overthink everything you do. And while I can listen to your mind go on tangents for hours about all the silly little things you love. You second guessing your future and who you are? That I will not have.”

I smiled at Onyx and she smiled back. I was lucky to have her at my side at all times, bondage or no. My little stalker gene caste was just the perfect little thing. And I loved her. My little caramel delight.

Onyx blushed as I let my love for her seep out through my thoughts and she put on the embarrassed act. ”Apollo~ Not now. We don’t have long and you need to load up on calories. I am going to have plenty of food where we are going, but you? Not so much. So we need to store while we can. Now open up!”

...

Doing what the hive elite gene caste told me to do, I let her continue to feed me for twenty more minutes before someone else joined us. I swallowed my food and greeted my friend jovially.

”Hey! Look who is a mean, green, fighting machine again! How are you feeling?” I addressed Nerissa, who was back to her usual complexion overnight.

Nerissa smiled at me as she walked over wearing only her bodysuit. She proceeded to take a handful of cereal out of my mega bowl and sat beside me. ”Good. Incredibly good. With my growth finally stabilised, I am in control of the equilibrium problem I have been having to train to overcome. My body has seemingly automatically adjusted to my new strength of my bloom, so I will be almost four times as effective in combat as I used to be.”

”Really? That’s great news! I am so happy for you. Still, four times? That is wild. You could already kick my ass with ease. Imagine going against you now? You better not feel the need to bully me the next time we train.”

Nerissa giggled softly at my excitement for her before reaching over and booping my snoot. ”Don’t you worry about that. I can still diminish my effectiveness in combat for our duels. Just now it is going to be even harder for you to pull off those surprises you sometimes give me as a courtesy of your amazing combat IQ.”

Onyx then looked at Nerissa curiously, having killed one of her kin before and finding the ambush trivial, she had to ask. ”How do you compare Strength wise now to the rest of your kin, Nerissa?”

Nerissa looked at Onyx and frowned as she began contemplating her choice of words. ” I used to be middle of the pack? Roughly. It was why I was mostly defending the palace. I was strong, but those above me were sent on more combat missions. We are less likely to lose kin that way since we don’t reproduce amongst one another and we don’t want to become extinct.

Now though? It’s tough to say without having a series of duels with my kin, but I would put myself in the top 10% now. Roughly. Which is quite a big deal considering the others I am putting myself against have incredibly devastating Psionic powers. So Apollo, thank you.”

”Me? What did I do?” I asked, confused.

”Without the side effect of granting your blessing, I would have never bloomed. Through our friendship and the actions taken, we have strengthened Spartari and you have strengthened my people.” Nerissa explained, prompting me to mouth an ’oh.’ At which point Onyx shovelled another large spoon of cereal into my mouth.

Seeing the look Onyx was now giving me at slowing down my consumption, I simply gave Nerissa a nod and a thumbs up to signify. ’Don’t sweat it.’ And allowed Onyx to simply resume feeding me for the next hour or so.

...

*Knock Knock Knock*

After the knock on the door, those present all turned to me, knowing what that knock meant.

Standing up, Onyx disappeared from the room and was going to play Mindspace passenger until we got to our destination. Nerissa also stood up and went upstairs to get her armour. Leaving Janine and Orchid to stare at me with sad faces.

”Come here you two.” I said and kissed each one passionately.

”Should we come with you to watch you take off?” Janine asked, holding my arm. I shook my head.

”No. It would make going harder. Besides, we said goodbye properly last night and well, I don’t want you walking too much today.” My response made Janine blush and hug me one more time. ”I will do what you asked. I will do well in all my classes so I become strong enough to stay by your side in the future. I promise.”

”That’s my girl.” I said and kissed her on the top of the head. I then turned to Orchid and opened up telepathically. We hadn’t communicated like this in a while, so all I did was show my love for her in all its magnitude.

She wouldn’t need more than that as her face had already turned sweet. And I could feel from her entire body, the words. ’Orchid loves you, Apollo-Mate.’

A moment later, the door was knocked on again, prompting me to shout upstairs. ”Ness, you ready?”

Nerissa then appeared at the top of the stairs moments later, holding her Deimos gun in one hand and a small trunk in the other. ”Yes, let us go.”

I nodded to her and walked towards the door, waving goodbye to my partners one last time before opening the door.

”Oh hey, Iilr. Sorry to keep you waiting.” I said, happily surprised.

Iilr then looked down at my hands. ”Oh good, you don’t have a bag. Would have been awkward if I had to tell you to leave your shit behind. What’s good bro? Are you ready?”

I nodded and turned to Nerissa behind me. I nodded to her before turning back to Iilr.

”We are.”

...

She made her way through the grounds unseen. It was not her fault she didn’t tell ’him’ about her second power. It was his own ignorance.

Following the scent markers of her target was not hard. His scent was so unique compared to everyone else on this moon.

Arriving in front of the home space of the man in question, she suddenly slinked her large body into cover despite her invisibility.

’Is he leaving already?’ She thought. This was troublesome. She wanted to discuss with him about her tagging along. What to do? What to do?

As he walked past her location with his valet and guardian. She decided to follow. She was bored with this place anyway. There was nothing fun to do except eat and sleep. So she followed silently, closely. All the way through the large territory before reaching the place she was brought here from.

The place with the gigantic metal birds called ships. This might be easier than she thought it would be. All she would have to do is sneak onto the same one as him and then convince him mid trip to wherever he was going.

That wouldn’t be hard. Her radiant good looks and her alluring feminine charms would all but guarantee she sealed the deal.