Backup Harddrive

"I lift my hands from touching you, To touch the wind that whispers through, This twilight garden turns into, A world where dreams are real."

This Twilight Garden - The Cure

        Red pierced through the windows. So pure and bright, you thought gore had been splattered across your face. A haphazard swipe over your eyes, you found you were not. Then it was gone, room reduced to its normal hue, dim by comparison. The red sun blocked out by a faraway skyscraper-sized chunk of debris, passing as quickly as it came in. The office was again bathed in a candy coating. It dyed Markus' grays to cartoonishly bloody and Gray's brown pupils black. Mark was a shadow from his seat. You shielded your eyes and moved for him. Slow, dream-like, exhausted from your maybe single hour of sleep. 

        Mark had called you for something important he hadn't specified, 'official business' you hadn't been included in since Ka-Thala. You dressed for the occasion, flowly, semi-revealing, something he'd appreciate and maybe curb his infamous attitude.

        "Still no movement," Gray said as you passed behind him, standing at attention despite the empty chair to his left. The chair was meant for underlings, lower ranking viltrumites, loyalists that needed to be below the Emperor to converse with him. Gray refused to sit in it even after days without sleep. "If their scanners are as advanced as we theorized, they should've known we've been coming for days."

        "They may not have a way to break through the barrier." Markus paid you little mind, swiping over various camera feeds of Hydrox's revolving shield of an upper atmosphere. "Or they want us to think that and are waiting until we exit the ship to act."

        "They're just waiting until we're down there to kill us all and themselves." Mark said as you rounded the desk corner, "Hey, baby." He smiled like he hadn't said what he had, like you hadn't been worried he was going to call you a spy.

        "Emperor, if there was a 'death ray'," as he'd called it so many times, "we would have certainly picked up on it by now."

        "You're the one who said our scans aren't perfect cuz'a the interference," Mark mumbled.

        You leaned back against the desk, sitting against scattered papers. Another fry flash of red then dim, you looked out the window to watch. Hydrox, just far enough away, you could see the cycling layer of debris. Close enough for a Viltrumite to reach in seconds. Hopefully, far enough enemies would be able to reach the ship.  

        Mark watched you with narrowed eyes as Gray continued to outline hypotheticals. Emperor's skirts quietly swooshing as he shifted back in his chair. Knees sliding open in invitation. An invitation you could not, even silently refuse. He had been good last night, but you knew his track record. Markus said he was horrible in meetings, you didn't want to push your luck.

        As soon as the backs of your thighs were draped over his lap, his hands were glued to your waist. Pulling you flush against his chest where he could hook his chin over your shoulder. Unsubtly feeling up your sides toward your front.

        Markus finally looked at you, watching as Mark's hands traveled up your body. "We could be attacked at any moment. Are you really sure you want to do this?"

        Hot breath passed your ear. "I'll make you dickheads go deal with it."

        Markus felt his temple throb, trying not to look at you stiffly perched in the Emperor's lap, no idea of his intentions, assuming this was the most you would have to do. "I don't think this is a good idea."

        Mark's wandering fingers found your nipples under fabric and pinched. Your heart sped, you suppressed a shudder, faint arousal stirred in Markus' gut. "It's the best one I've had in a while."

        You kept your face straight. Too used to Mark's displays of power. Asked simply, "What did you guys need to talk to me about? The invasion, right?" 

        "Baby, I already told you about the invasion." Fingers rolled sensitive flesh between knuckles. "Do you really not remember any of it?"

        You swallowed a gasp. Flush cheeked as you noticed Gray watching attentively. Cataloguing your every micro expression, every twitch of your thighs, every mean twist of Mark's fingers. 

        "I was a little distracted." You hummed, the right answer, earning yourself another pinch that sent warmth pooling below. It'd pass, like all of Mark's little flights of fancy always did. After you walked out of that first meeting, he never pushed too far. You took a steadying breath. 

        "That's perfectly fine," Markus caught your eye, held it despite the lewdity, "We'd all prefer to update you together."

        "Yeah," Mark planted a hot kiss to the crook of your neck, "together."

        The groping never ended. Not through Markus' dumbed down summary of how the warpath was going or Gray's retelling of their worries. His narrative was stop and go, hypnotized by the way Mark molded your peaked flesh.

        Mark thought you would've cracked by now. Moaned and spread your legs and begged to take three cocks. To your credit, you kept cool. Unwilling to give him permission to be more obnoxious. All the while, you cunt slowly warmed and keened like a kitten by a fireplace. You tightened your legs. Everybody noticed.

        "We'll be dropping down to meet them in less than two hours." Gray managed to say without pause, "During which, you'll be kept in the emperor's quarters. The safest place should anything goes wrong."

        "Nothing will," Markus assured solely for your sake.

        Mark scoffed, "What? You see the future now, big guy?" For a second, a single moment, his hands flew up to gesture at nothing. You took the opportunity to slip off his lap and give yourself a moment's reprieve. 

        As soon as you moved, the conversation dropped. Energy shifted like eyes, six on your back, then your ass. You were too busy thinking how, "Sounds like you guys are a little busy to be having this conversation. I would'a just stayed in the room if you told me to." The office wasn't quite a wreck, but it was closest you'd seen to a mess since boarding the ship. Unwelded holes in the wall, Mark's unorganized papers stacked inches high, a side table was stacked with more papers and trays of uneaten food. "Have you even eaten yet?" 

        "Oh," Mark's chair clicked as he stood, "we're gonna eat." Boots dragged across the floor, one step at a time.  

        You didn't turn to see him prowl. You reached for the handles. "I can bring a tray over if you-" Your hips were knocked into the table, palms pinned against its cold top. Mark's weight over your back. Hands curling over yours. 

        "Nah, you can stay riiiiight," he pushed his half-hard dick into your ass, "here."

        You were trapped against him. Couldn’t breathe without him feeling it, "Don't you have a planet to invade in like, two hours?"

        "That's plenty'a time." 

        You made yourself firm, "Stop fucking around, Mark."

        "You think I'm fucking around?" He laughed with teeth against your neck. "Baby, I'm dead serious."

        "You can be 'dead serious' without other people around." Turning, you were eye to eye with Gray. Close. Closer than he'd been last. Standing a foot away at most. Markus to his side. Watching. Both of them silent despite their new position. They had told you when they were higher ranking they would help you, would keep Mark off of you. Why weren't they saying anything? Unless they- 

        Spoken low into the shell of your ear, "You don’t think we talked about this?"

        A shiver arched your spine, "What?" 

        No one answered your question, just watched. 

        ”You talked about what?” Looking to Gray, “All of you fucking me?” 

        Gray couldn't look away despite your softly accusing gaze. The patter of your heart, the want of your pressing thighs, too much to resist. He wanted you to feel his aching, soul-sucking need, but all he could manage was a tense, "Broadly."

        "Man, don't listen to him, we got real specific." Mark spun you both around, exposing your front to the boys, pinning your hands at your sides. Him behind you, a human shackle, nosing at the collar. "That guy’s obsessed with the idea of eating your pussy. I mean, me too, but he’s real adamant about it, aren't you?"

        Gray went pink. "Well- I-" His throat bobbed. "I am interested."

        "Do you even know how to eat pussy?"

        Mark's voice was like nails on a chalkboard. Unsophisticated. Crude. Brute forcing through everything. For this to go smoothly, you needed to be more willing, and for that to happen, there needed to be a more refined leader- Markus.

        "There are plenty of things we can all learn." Markus moved into the space Gray was too nervous to take. In front of you, a single hand roaming up your leg. All of your attention narrowed down to that one moving point. The edge of your hip, your side, and just when you thought he'd tease where Mark had, his touch veered to the side and trailed up your neck. 

        "Tch, like what?" Mark's grip tightened around your wrists, a twitch from his touch, from Markus', you weren't sure, too busy trying to suppress a full-bodied shudder as Markus' fingers reached your face. 

        Markus didn't reply. Attention too focused on your lower lip trapped under his thumb. Your gaze and inhibitions softening the longer he held you like that. You looked to his lips, eyes, lips, eyes, and he knew he'd already set a better tone. When he finally spoke, it was a quiet, intimate whisper, something to make you shiver. "Be good."

        He saw your mind recede to a point, a single shine in your eyes as you nodded. Legs unflexing, shoulders dropping. Faster than you'd ever given in for Mark. Sweeter too. When you finally opened your legs to fuck there was always a bite, a resistance. Mark felt none in his hold.

        Still, Mark cackled, "That's your dirty talk?" As if Markus had done nothing, you hardened, melted wax over ice. Mark didn't mind, he'd break you down eventually. "God, I can't imagine how you dirty talk then." Sneered to Gray.

        With your eyes on him and the other's hands on you, Gray finally approached. Reaching out slow, like you just might bite him. You had the mind to after what he'd said. The empire was more important than how you felt, the abuse something to brush away. Despite it, you couldn't help leaning into his palm. Hoping a sweet look would soften him. Change his mind one touch at a time. He'd already changed so much in the short while you'd known him. Just a few more fucks and he could be on your side.

        He felt a hum of electric charge when your cheek met his palm. A curling need to kiss. Feeling faraway, he said, "He's taught me... some things." The plush feel of your thighs. How you sounded begging. There was another lesson here. A lesson Markus couldn't explicitly give, not to Mark anyway. Gray could feel it. An unspoken thread between them.

        "I was kidding, man. You guys really did get nasty with 'er, huh?" Mark tilted his head, mohawk bristling into your jaw, "C'mon, show me what you did. Or do you just wanna stand there all day?"

        A shared twitch between you and Gray. A shared thought to look to Markus for approval. "Can I...?" Markus nodded, shifted back just enough, hand moving to your waist. 

        The soldier he was, Gray wasted no time. Determined to keep his station. To show Markus he'd reflected, improved, been good.

        "You really gotta ask for permission?" Mark laughed.

        But no one was paying attention as Gray's hand, solid and sure, snaked around the back of your neck. Held you where he wanted, made you anticipate when he'd lean in. The moment dragged, as Markus let his moments drag. It wasn't until you softened, your eyelids fluttering as you accepted your fate, when he kissed you.

        There was no preamble of closed lip pecks. He began open-mouthed, yours still closed, a misstep he gently nipped you for. Predictably, you opened up to yip. He advanced, causing you to fall back, submitting when he had you pinned, battle easily won. You struggled beneath him, body grinding up against his despite being so obviously outdone at your own game. He'd been envisioning this in meetings, strategizing. He'd planned to pin your body to his, a firm hand on the small of your back, but you were flush to Mark meaning he had to improvise. He followed Markus lead, pressing his thumb into the dip of your waist on the other side. 

        All that effort was only worth it when he pulled from you a shallow gasp. The first wave defeated, he needed total victory. Efforts were redoubled, harder he pushed into the fray of your mouth.

        "Holy shit." Mark blinked at the view from your shoulder. "He's really goin'."

        He was, Markus noted, from his spot beside you. Idly pushing his hand between you and Gray, kneading at your thighs, thumb brushing over your clothed heat.

        Gray was wearing you down, he knew. This time, when he nipped, your hips twitched into his- into Markus' waiting touch. You still withheld moans trying to maintain some dignity in front of Mark. Submit, Gray's other palm seemed to say, glued to the side of your face. Keeping you from tilting, from getting his tongue out of your mouth. As if you wanted it gone anyway- finally giving him a real moan. 

        "Oh! Fuck, man, I shouldn't have doubted you." How many times had Gray kissed, Mark wondered. Couldn't be enough times to be this good. But there he was, pulling embarrassing noises out of you. Making some himself, but hey, Mark couldn't tease him about it. The guy never pulled back for air, never let you have a break. 

        You took it. Pushed back just as hard. Embarrassment a low boil with the others watching, but needing to knock loyalty loose from Gray's teeth. 

        "Damn, I think he likes her." Mark ground into your ass. Earned a gasp that let Gray advance deeper into you. Not to be outdone, Mark let your wrists free. Automatically, you latched onto Gray, hands unsure if they should push or pull. Too much of a good thing. 

        Mark again found your overworked chest and pinched. You yelped, Gray swallowed the sound, groaning appreciatively.

        It was strange, how hard he was while you were whoring yourself out for another man, your hands smoothing over Gray's clothed thighs, thumb brushing over his skirts. It definitely helped that it was himself. It meant you liked him so much you'd fuck him in a different, borderline virgin font. The highest form of compliment really. 

        Mark smiled as he bit down on your neck. You cried, Gray lapped up the sound and every other noise Mark pulled out of you. It was easier to break you down against another body. 

        Alone, Markus could've taken his time. Like this, he had to keep everything moving. Too slow, you'd get in your head too much and not enjoy it. Too quick, you wouldn't be in the right headspace. He put a hand on Gray's shoulder.

        He pulled back, eyes unfocused like he had no idea who he was, a bridge of spit between your lips. "Yes?"

        Markus found himself smiling at him, said, "You're not going to get very far if her clothes stay on."

        Gray blinked, "Oh. Yes, of course." He reached for the hem at your front.

        Mark slapped him away, hissed, “Make her do it."

        So Mark did have some taste. Markus was almost impressed, "Then give her space."

        Mark deliberately dragged across your back to come to Gray's side, who simply stepped back. Obviously aroused under his skirts. Mark snickered, "Jesus dude, you were just kissing." As if he wasn't rock hard too, as if he the first time he made out with you in high school he almost came untouched. 

        Gray fought the urge to cover. "I can't help it, she's-"

        "Right here." You said, already simmering with embarrassment without Gray's brand of honesty. 

        "And not naked yet." Mark settled beside the others, "Come on, give us a show, baby."

        You crossed your arms, covered the obvious peaks, "Why do I have to go first?"

        "Can't defend the ship naked, can we?"

        "I mean, you could."

        You were regressing. Talking back. Hadn't been steered right in too long. Spoiled. Markus intervened, "(Y/n)," you went ramrod straight, back clenching, ready for a strike. Markus let you wait, primed to flinch, and just on the cusp of quiet, when Mark was about to ruin it, he said soft, “What did you promise me?”

        He saw the memory shudder through you, ”Do I have to say it?” Backtalk she would have never given, but soft for you, barely a nibble. 

        "Not yet," An accommodation and a threat, "Just take your clothes off for me." Relieved, you relaxed, more than before, so easily controlled.

        Again the fight drained out of you when solely focused on him. You reached for the seam. Mark just had to open his mouth, "For us, dickhead."

        Markus told him, "Quiet."

        Mark snorted, "You did nooot just tell me to shut up." He didn't wait for a reply, throbbing dick more important than his ego at the moment, "Come on, babe. Don't you see what you've done to," he slung an arm around, "Gray? You can't just leave him like this."

        You took that as cue to rip the shirt off. Hand reaching for the bra before- "Slower." Markus said just as you undid the first clasp. Viltrumites didn't care about underware but Mark? Mark liked the lacy stuff. Liked to undress you and be surprised by the fragile white. 

        You paused, halfway to exposing your breasts, "Really? Don't you guys have somewhere to be?" Half-laughed out. Hard to stay completely obedient when Mark was here, being obnoxious. The room, switching from red to dim. A constant reminder of the imminent death of millions. And here you were, getting naked slow for show. It was all a little ridiculous, really.

        Markus kept firm, eyes darker in the dim light. "Watch your tone." You knew then that he had meant it, 'be good.' Keep the charade up. Play along. Above all else, submit. 

        For him, for Gray's earned loyalty, you started to peel the clothes off an inch at a time. 

        Mark laughed, "You sound like Dad."

        Markus didn't reply, only waited.

        Mark commented on every little thing. "Nice tits," and when your bottoms were rolling down your thighs, "That's it."

         Hot cheeked and straining to keep your tongue curbed, the clothes hit the ground. You stepped out of the underwear, annoying and lacy like all of the undergarments she had, and waited for any one of them to do something about it. But they just stood, assessed. 

        Mark poked at his cheek with his tongue, feigning casualness when he was pulsing to get inside you. "I didn't think you'd really do it in front of all of us. Kinda slutty, babe."

        They all caught the twitch. The flush. How you liked it and tried to hide it. 

        Didn't matter that Mark was emperor, Markus was still running this thing, "Don't call her that."

        Mark gestured toward you, "She likes it. Don't you, babe?"

        You couldn't hold his or any gaze. Too many eyes on your naked flesh at once. It was easier to talk toward the window as the debris passed, bathing you all in candy red, "I'd like to not be the only one naked."

        Mark poked at Markus with his boot, "That means she likes it."

        Markus thought about arguing. Finding a way to shut Mark up but you were getting uncomfortable and even more pressing- Gray looked like he was about to explode. Waiting for someone to give him a command. As if he were releasing a well-trained dog, Markus met his eye and nodded towards you, go.

        Before you could think to tense, Gray had transferred the tray of food to a faraway chair. Leaving a space on the table free for you to lean on. Your body the feast, all for himself. He didn't know where to touch first, so he opted for everywhere. Bursts of sensation across your shoulders, lower back, and just before he could soothe over the last curve, he detoured. Always getting close to the final destination but never landing. Too scared to push too far, wanting to, but not wanting to stop kissing your neck. You made good noises when he sucked.

        Noises he could tell were self-censored, still too nervous to fully let go. To close your eyes and let yourself be taken. How could you when over Gray's shoulder, they were just standing there? Watching. Mark smirking like he'd won something. Markus staring like you'd killed his puppy.

        "Are you just gonna sit there and watch?" You said breathlessly.

        Mark crossed his arms, incredulous, "I think I will."

        Markus rose a brow. You swallowed, a good enough apology for the moment. "Is there something else we should do?” 

        Mark snapped, "Oh! That's good!"

        There was no way you'd beg in front of three people, Mark especially. Markus would just have to accept that. "Aren't you the ones that planned this?" 

        Mark snickered. Markus' jaw set, "I asked you a question."

        "Dude." You sighed, "Come on. Can we just be nor-"

        Your chin fit nicely between Markus' fingers. Hold not harsh, but as firm as his body, looming suddenly over Gray's back. "What did I say about that?"

        When he was this close, it was hard to resist. Hard to think at all. "Not to say it."

        Mark peered around Markus, "Say what?"

        "Good." He smoothed thumb over chin. "What else?"

        "Yeah, what else?" Mark echoed.

        You ached. Humiliated. Never wanting Mark to see this side of you. But you couldn't keep fighting. You wanted to be good. So good for Markus despite the burn. "I..." The words wouldn't come. Too filthy, too exposing, too much to say in front of them all. His thumb slid into your mouth pressing on your tongue. Your legs, draped in Gray's skirts, opened anyway. 

        Gray pulled back just to look at the shine. Mark leaned hard around him, whistling low. 

        Markus pulled back out, rubbing his wet thumb along your bottom lip, overseeing it all, "Say it."

        Mark giggled like this were a game, "Don't be shy, babe."

        "I want you to fuck me."

        It wasn't what he'd wanted you to say but it had a similar effect, a collective throb.

        "All of us, right?" Mark asked just to be a dick.        

        You looked at Markus to see if you should answer but he gave nothing. Act natural, his neutrality seemed to say. You'd done it before- why was it so hard now with the others around? You tried, "That's what I said."

        "Actually, what you said was, 'I want you to fuck me.'" mocking your voice, like it hadn't made him twitch, "Who's 'you'? Me? Him? Him? Gotta be concise, babe."

         You hoped Markus would jump in but he didn't. Letting Mark have his fun and think he was in control, when you both knew who you were really saying it for, "I want you all."

        "Yeah, you do."

        Gray could care less about the power struggle. He was shaking. Cock throbbing like it'd been well sucked. "I want..." But he didn't know how to say it. All the blood gone from his brain.

        Markus knew the urge, the primordial need, because it wasn't a want. Gray didn't understand yet but he would. Markus leaned into his ear and gave him a gentle nudge down, "You'll know what to do."

        Gray did, at least, know to drop onto his knees. Knew to sit you down and drag you closer. The papers shoved back, scattered over the floor. He didn't care, just knew to put his mouth on your cunt, taste where he landed. Not at your clit but lower, made no difference to him, it all felt hot and right. Tongue buzzing at every point of contact. Pussy tasted less mystical than he'd envisioned; it was more like flesh. Good, supple flesh. Better than the dried desert meats after weeks of starvation. 

        Gray wasn't in the best spot or even a particularly good one, but your body responded anyway, arching into him, a hand curling into his hair as you gasped. A call that made the others respond. Converge over you, unable to resist. Mark's lips over yours, tongue in your mouth. Markus' mouth over your chest. Closed eyed, you couldn't tell who was touching you where. The fingers trailing over your spine, the hold on your sides, the thumb over your other nipple.

        You could only tell where your own hands roamed over hard, clothed cocks. The one happily bucking into your palm had to be Mark, the other that didn't so much as shudder, Markus. Your touch was about as effective as Gray's. Too overwhelmed to have any finesse. Just an acknowledgement of your want for each other, a connection through the haze. 

        Markus heard when your lips were freed, immediately rising to capture them while Mark sank, needing to bite. Tempted to sink his teeth into the scar by your throat, not stupid enough to ruin the moment, he chose your unsucked nipple to abuse instead. He thought the sound you'd made was from him but glancing down, he saw, it hadn't been.

        Markus' hand was on the back of Gray's skull, pulling him up by the hair to lick the right spot. And lick he did, like he'd never licked anything before, finding his rhythm quickly. Listening for moans like he listened for combatant heartbeats. It was simpler than he thought, consistency and pressure were all it took to make you moan. But he wanted more than that, so he recalled on his lessons. Mark smirked against your spit-sticky skin as Gray filled you two fingers full, your body shuddering at the intrusion, gasping against Markus' lips. 

        Mark tasted Markus' spit on your teeth with another switch. You were just conscious enough to tell. Twitching and spasming and doing exactly as they wanted. Arching into Gray's mouth, hitching at Markus' praised, "Good, you're so good." 

        Funny, how they all liked the same thing said in different ways. But they all liked you the same, liked the way your body locked up when you were close. They could all tell.

        Piercings glided over your skin, cool and sharp, "Holy shit, you do like this." He didn't know if the statement was about you or Gray. The man's head nothing but a tuft of hair between your legs, happily lapping in the suffocating dark.

        You were less kissing Markus now, more crying openly into his mouth, pulling his hair as your other hand jumped between Gray's head and Mark's. Not so shy anymore as orgasm approached with every flick of Gray's tongue. "I'm so- I'm so close."

        He throbbed in your palm, sucked the air you breathed down, "Cum. Cum for me."'

        You tightened all at once around Gray's fingers. Then you were pulsing, hard and quick, sucking him in deeper. Blood rushing in his ears like he'd been the one who came. A cry in the air, he worked through because he knew now. Not a want but a need, needed to lick even after you'd gone limp.

        Legs thrown over shoulders slipped in the writhing. Your own weight nearly dragging you off the table. Gray kept you up, from the hinge he'd made out from mouth and hips, hands wrapping around your thighs to hold you still. 

        Markus put his hand over Gray's, "Here." Pulled you up, revealing Gray's shining chin and open mouth. Dazed eyes looked up to him, wounded. Markus didn't let him wonder long, turning you over, belly flat to the cool table, spreading your shaking legs to help you stabilize. "That better?"

        Mark, who'd moved fluidly away, returned. Circling around the table, admiring the arch of your back as you pushed your ass into Markus' palm. "Fuck yeah, it is." His fly split apart.

        Ignoring him, Markus left to fetch the personal lubricant from Mark's desk drawer. Because of course, when they talked about the idea, Mark had showed it off. Half empty, well used, stored with his most important office things in a top drawer. It had leaked over everything.

        With nobody to object, Gray shoved himself back where he needed to be. The angle different, a new challenge, but a good stretch on his tongue. Easy to push his fingers back in, feel the difference here too. Another thing to overcome. He already was. Adjusting himself to pull out the louder noises. Moans that spilled inches from Mark's straining cockhead. Grip firm (in your hair/under your chin) keeping your head up, mouth level, and just out of reach. Stroking right in your face, skin stretching and swallowing the warm brown of his tip. You didn't want to lick as much as you wanted to swallow. Hating the smirk on his face and the amount of clothes on his body. Fully clothed like the others, while you were a trembling nude display piece.

         "You wanna suck me off, don'cha?" Your answer was a shiver. "Come on."

        He was so close but wouldn't cross the distance himself. Wanted your neck to stretch, to see you work for it. 

        Markus had turned maybe a half-second, returned to this and had to accept it. He wet his fingers while Mark tried to coax you forward. You stayed stubbornly back, glaring up at him, trying not to become a whimpering mess again. Gray wasn't making it easy for you.

        "Would it kill you to say please again? You did last night." He'd been so respectful, submissive, and you wouldn't let him forget that. 

        Mark's grip hardened to the edge of pain. A warning: The others can't know. "Yes, actually."

        You didn't look back. Didn't sense the danger until Markus' palm was smoothing over your ass. Memories of pain made you stiffen, made you listen, as he tutted, "Manners."

        Mark snorted, kept on pumping. While you tried not to shake too pathetically as Markus traced over you. Working his way around and around, lower and lower until a single, slick finger rested itself against your asshole.

        "I didn't think you were serious." Mark peaked over your back. At Markus' slow movements, massaging the outside, wetting you good. 

        "I'm always serious." Markus smoothed down your side as he angled to push in, "Ready?"

        Pump after pump, Gray filled you, two, then three fingers at a time. Giving what your body would let him. Made it hard to keep composed. You managed a clipped, "Yes."

        Clipped wasn't enthusiasm. He stayed outside your hole, smoothing around the edges, "Are you really?"

        "Yeah, babe, you really want his finger in your ass?" Mark parroted. 

        "I'm-" Gray sucked you into his mouth, "nngghh-"

        Your legs went jello-y. Eyes unfocused. Mark oozed over his fingers. "Sounds just like you did last night." 

        You didn't want to keep melting, but Gray didn't stop, neither did Markus. The only way out was through. "I'm-" You swallowed an even more pathetic noise, "I want it."

        "Want what, baby?" Mark teased, but Markus had been about to ask the same thing. 

        "Ugh just-" you shuddered as Markus' finger stilled, silent discipline seconding Mark's question without a word, "Markus- I... I want you inside me."

        Staying respectable became impossible when Markus barely pushed inside. Just enough to let your muscles start to slacken like your jaw.

        "Shit." Mark whistled, "You're a real fuckin' dog, man." It'd never occurred to him to get in your ass. He had two holes, you had three. The conventional two were good enough, the third seemed like a, harhar, pain in the ass to get inside when there were two perfectly usable ones right there. 

         You were tight. Markus knew you'd be from the first time he'd pushed inside. Untrained. Unbroken in. Willing, by your whimpers and quickly loosening body, to be broken.

        "I wouldn't miss out on this." Markus pushed in a careful inch. Again, feeling that comfortable heat he loved. "Not when she likes it so much."

        Mark chose not to be insulted. Chose instead to admire, "Shit. Look at that face." Open mouthed, short breathed, agony. Weedy little moans out of your lips, lids fluttering closed as Markus sunk deeper. You had other things on your mind than sucking cock.

        "It'd be better," Mark finally closed the distance, grabbing the ring of your collar and pulling you forward to let his heavy head press against your open lips, "like this."

        He was awful. Horrible. Ruined everything he touched. Tugged again, forced himself between your lips. If he tugged harder, the escape-attempt programming would trip. Shock you so bad you'd scream, and he'd shove his way inside. He'd love that. Another tug, harsher, pulling him deeper inside. Splitting apart your teeth, you gave in. Acidically hot on your tastebuds. Heavy and filling your third hole, one piercing at a time.

        You tried to relax and enjoy it.

        When he was too deep to feasibly bite, "Thaaaat's a good slut."

        You moaned, obscenely. Throbbed hard around Gray and made him moan too. It was stupid how much you liked the name and hated it at the same time. You hadn't wanted Markus to hear. Were burning alive with embarrassment he had.

        Markus' lip twitched.

        Mark smirked at him as pulled back, admiring the shine of his dick, before sliding over your tongue. You took him readily. "She fuckin' loves it." He sunk, inches at a time until he kissed your uvula, "Takes it soooo easy." You didn't even flinch. Throat used to the abuse. "See that? Only a trained whore can do that, Markus."

        Another throb and moan, another response from Gray. Rewarded by faster fingers. Pushing you closer to the edge humiliatingly fast. Mark could feel it. The way your jaw slipped, the feel of incisors brushing over his frenulum. He didn't mind, as long as you came like this to make up for it. 

        "You could call her anything, and she'd like it." Markus walked a fine line between jabbing and gentle degradation. Both marks hit- you shivered as he sunk to the second knuckle. Hot, hard pulse squeezing around him. Loving it. Whereas Mark rolled his eyes. Maybe it was to keep himself from cumming, but Markus liked to think he struck home.

        "That's the point. I'm not calling her sweetheart, I'm calling her my dirty cock slut."

        You made a noise around him. Annoyed through the pleasure haze.

        Markus interpreted, "You don't have to talk the whole time."

        "Talking's the fun part. I get to and she," Mark pushed until he hit the back of your throat, "doesn't." He liked the way you spasmed. The panic in your eyes, the tightening in your throat. Payback for last night.

        "You don't want to hear this?" Markus pulled you back, let you gasp for air. Made his point by flexing a finger and making you whine. "Feel good, angel?"

        Automatically, brainlessly, sultrily, "Yes."

        Markus flexed again, "You want more?"

        "Please." Sounding polite was hard when you'd gone raspy. Tasting Mark on every breath.        

        "Shit, when'd you get so nice?" Mark pumped at his base. Slick with your spit.

        A smile ghosted over Markus' lip, "She listens if you know what you're doing." A languid, slow pump out halfway then in. Shockwaves up your spine. "Don't I?"

        You clawed at Mark's thighs, "Yes."

        "Holy shit." He'd seen you cock drunk, power drunk, drunk-drunk, but never like this. Near possessed. Mewling and arching and willfully pathetic. Maybe he had been missing out on anal. "I dunno what you're doing, man, but keep doin' it."

        Mark pushed forward, needing your mouth, your moans on him. You turned. Wheedling for Markus yet with the brain to be annoyed at him and his head poking at your cheek. "Oh, don't pretend you don't love it, baby."

        Markus reached under your chin. Gently pressed two fingers either side of your mouth, "He wants you to do something for him." Another pump, further out then all the way in. Below, Gray had found a rhythm that made your knees give away.

        "St-ahhh." Talking was getting harder and harder. Markus wasn't stopping, and Gray hadn't slowed then entire time. "Hah-"

        "You know how to finish your sentences." Punctuated with the addition of another finger. Stretching your rim so good you forgot how to speak for a few moments. Markus coaxed, "Well?"

        Everything came out a breathy slur, "Stop encouraging him."

        Mark pouted fakely, "Aww, do you really think I'm that annoying?"

        "Yes." Said in a different tone than the mewling submission Markus had pulled out of you. 

        Markus paused, "Don't." Tone a warning in itself.

        Your mouth clacked shut.

        Mark's dick poked harder to your cheek. "Didn't say you could talk back, did we?" He added on unnecessarily. But he was the emperor and needed to be kept happy, so Markus let him talk. "Didn't think so."

        "Come on," Markus pressed down again, you opened for him easily. "That's right." He hardly had to guide you, soft brained with his commands, taking Mark's cock back into your mouth without further complaint. "Good." Still, Markus guided your head from the crown, pushing and pulling. Setting a healthier pace than either you or Mark would. 

        "Yeah, listen to big daddy." Mark said.

        Markus blinked, "Do not call yourself that."

        "I'm talkin' about you, man." When Mark laughed, he shook between your lips, "Don't act like you don't want 'er to call you that."

        "No." Clipped.

        Mark rose a brow, "Sure you don't."

        For a solid ten, twenty seconds there was silence. Aside from moaning and squelching and choking- but there was no talking. Markus and Gray still managed to understand each other perfectly. Separated by thin flesh, fingers brushing through it. Feeling you twitch when they did, then synchronizing, pushing in and out of you at the same time. All you could do was moan around Mark and take it as Markus pressed a third finger into you.

        Mark speared you down, rocked his hips into your nose. So full your jaw ached. It didn't matter. You came anyway. Harder when they started moaning, loving how your body tried to crush their fingers, how your throat became the perfect vibrator. Just like one of those fancy alien sex toys.

        "Fucking knew you liked sucking my cock." Mark shoved himself deeper. Felt your teeth dig into his pubic bone but he didn't care. Needed to spill down your throat while your eyes were misty. No more attitude from you like this. "Know you want my cum so bad."

        Markus could deal with a lot. Tasting another man's cum, especially Mark's cum, in your mouth was not something he was willing to deal with. "She'll like it inside better."

        "Fuck," Mark sighed, "you're right. You'd like that, wouldn't you?" He yanked himself out of you. Cock swollen and heavy between his legs, so stiff it hurt. "Shit, you need dick so bad you look like you're about to die without it."

        You finally got to really breathe after minutes of acute suffocation, head dropping with heavy, heaving breaths. You distantly wanted to say something rude, but when you thought about him inside you, words left your lips in a gasp, "Mark, please." 

        Mark circled to your back, found both holes occupied. "Move."

        Gray's head turned like it wasn't attached to his body. He shone from chin to nostril, nearly to brows. Your taste in his nose, the back of his throat, everywhere. Fingers, three, stayed inside you just to feel your pulse. Not a thought behind his glassy eyes.

        He heard but hadn't fully registered what Mark said. So Mark said it again, firmer, "Move."

        Hesitatingly, he removed himself. Already missing the heat on his face. In the absence of something to put in his mouth, he sucked his fingers dry.

        Markus wanted to wait for this but when Mark had an idea, there was no use trying to stop it. "It'll be easier if I go first."

        Annoyance. Disdain. And then, rare understanding. "Fine, but I thought the whole point of ass stuff was how tight it is."

        "Don't you want to see how well she takes it?" Markus had to say, instead of it being easier for you. Mark didn't care about that part in the moment. 

        "Be quick about it."

        There was nothing quick about it. Moving you to the desk proper, sitting himself down, and you on his lap, knees up to your chest, lubing himself and you. Then fighting off Gray from eating your pussy again so Mark could keep his perverted view. Lots of steps that weren't even penetration itself. That was slow, teasing work. Lowering you carefully onto himself, finally unsheathed. Obviously, Mark made a comment about them having the same dick, ruining any enjoyment Markus was getting out of you shaking in his arms, nails digging into his forearm as he rubbed against your opening rim. 

        The stretch agonizing and mind-wipingly good. You hissed, "It's too-" Circles rubbed to your clit quieted your complaints and untensed your hole, let him slip a little further inside. Slow and steady, your whines filled the room. Muffled by Markus' over the shoulder kiss. Mark's taste passed tongue to tongue. That, Markus could tolerate.

        "Man, you're fuckin' nasty. I wouldn't even do that." But Mark loved the sight anyway. You gasping into Markus' mouth, knowing you were both tasting him as you pulled desperately at his hair. Writhing body on full display where every time Markus moved in your ass, your pussy clenched around nothing.

        Your pussy ached, it was so empty. While your other hole was stuffed just by a cockhead. Stretched to what had to be your limit but he just kept pushing. Pressing on the back of your cunt through the flesh. Body shocks sent your head cracking back to his shoulder, a hard, "Fuck," out of your teeth.

        He froze. For all of a second, you could live with that- a moment to adjust. But his ministrations on your clit had paused as well. 

        You wanted to curse at him for enforcing stupid rules, but you knew he'd only move if you said, "Sorry." When he stayed still, another, "Sorry."

        "Are you really?" Markus kept you firmly in place.

        "I am." He still didn't move. "Markus."

        "What do you say?" He prompted.

        "Sorry." Came out quick as a shot. "Please, fuck me, please, please. I'm sorry."

        His cock throbbed. Paralyzingly hard. For just a moment he hesitated to move, but you were already begging. "Please, I'm sorry. Please, please-"

        This was what he wanted. Sweet. Docile. Knowing your place. Perfect.

        "Please." Mark mocked, "Don't hear that from you often. When'd you get so polite?"

        Markus shifted you down on his cock, goading you to speak like puppeteer to puppet, "M-Markus." Was all you could manage.

        "Dude, what'd you do to her? So fucking nice. You're never like this."

        You could only moan in reply.

        "Basic discipline." Markus shifted you a little further so they could all hear you mewl, watch you twitch and writhe in his hold. "Goes a long way."

        "Fuck, it really does." Mark moved in close. Had to get a better look at the way you were twitching. Gray had the same idea. Closer. Closer. Until they both were crowded between your legs. "She seem sorry to you, Gray?"

        Gray reached out with pruned fingertips. Ghosted over the glistening outside of you. You jerked forward, pussy throbbing around nothing, cried for it. "Very."

        "You sure?" Mark took his own place over your folds. Pressing between them, teasing the entrance in little pulses. Never pushing past the first knuckle.

        Your head lifted as if on a string. You could barely look at them without burning alive with embarrassment. Shaking. Soaked. On display. Liking it. "I am." Gasp, shake, "I am."

        That was good enough excuse for Mark to push his fingers in. Three at once, easy. Your whole body rocked. Eyes back, mouth parting with a moan, whorish from his laziest pumps. "I dunno if you really are. Daddy didn't say you could get fucked but you're not stopping me."

        The shock of disgust at Mark saying that name broke Markus out of the pleasant headspace he'd waded into, wanted to break his nose for it. That'd be counterproductive to bonding so close to the emperor's side. Instead, he played along, ignoring the misstep, "She didn't. Maybe you should stop."

        Mark smiled big and mean, "Think I should?"

        "No! N-no, I need it." You twitched forward, tried to suck Mark's fingers in, but he pulled away. "Put it back. Put it-"

        "Maybe if you beg a little nicer, I'll give you something."

        Markus kissed the back of your shoulder, "Tell him what you want, princess."

        Mark snorted, "Princess?"

        He'd been calling her that since high school. Remembered floating outside her window while she told Eve. Eve's scoff and rolled eyes and parroted, "Princess? Really?"

        "I mean, it's a little silly, but I thought it was nice. And- And- stop looking at me like that- he held open literallly every door for me and paid for everything. I think he gets a cringy nickname pass."

        As the years went on, he made sure she didn't think it was silly. She heard the word princess and went wide eyed with want. You were already throbbing around him, conditioning off to a good start.

        Markus circled your clit, a reward for your reaction. "She likes it." 

        It was awful how well they were working together, you hadn't expected it. Caught between flickers of submission and lucidity. Hating it, loving it. All while Gray kept a constant, icy gaze on you, never missing a detail. Finding new weaknesses to exploit. Mark snickered at every sound. Trying to make more with his wandering touch. Markus pumped deeper.

        You couldn't take it. Needed to stop this madness, this overheating humiliation, so you said, "Please. Fuck me, please, I need it so bad. Please, please-" Markus' grip tightened, hips moved. Your empty pussy ached. His fingers quickened. The last remnants of your mind broke like waves over rock, "Please!"

       You didn't know who to look at, who the beg to. Mark thought it had to be him, the only other with a dick out. He eyed Markus, Grand General, most trusted adversary, with a playful smile, "Should I?"

        Markus looked back, saw a better path, an emperor who could actually listen, "I think you should forgive her."

        "I think I should."

        Gray removed himself so Mark could replace fingers with something fatter. Balls deep on the first thrust. You were shoved back onto Markus' hard body, deeper onto his cock. You sounded like an animal, wounded, crying for death. Body limp and usable. Use, he did. Slamming himself inside, slap after fleshy slap, staying deep. Rutting against Markus through your body. 

        Markus just had to hold on. Feel you being used. Try to ignore the dull sparks of pleasure from the friction. "Tell him thank you."

        "Tha-thank you."

        "So fucking sweet like this, aren't you?" Mark's pelvis slapped against your clit. Sent your head and eyes careening backwards over Markus' shoulder. "Tell them how much you like my cock, come on."

        You were close again. Desperate. Said it, "Yes- yes- fuck- I fucking love your co-" You whined as Markus pulled out an inch. 

        "Whoa! Daddy didn't say you could talk like that." Mark followed along, slowing until you felt your orgasm fading. "Did you?"

        "No- n- no, please, I'm sorry."

        Just because he was feeling good and generous and he looked so sad hovering behind Markus to watch, Mark chimed, "Gray, did you hear him say she could talk like that?"

        There wasn't much room to feel you from the front. Gray moved behind his fellow grand, watching your face while his balls ached. "He did not." He traced over your jaw, rubbed thumb over your bottom lip.

        Your eyes unstuck from the back of your skull, locked onto him. You didn't know what you wanted but you begged, "Please," anyway. He took that as sign to bend over Markus' back and kiss you. 

        "You guys are both fucking disgusting." Mark watched you blindly try to give Gray a reach around behind Markus. Watched you fail. Watched Gray tear his skirt to the side to free himself and guide his dick into your fumbling hand. Moaning in Markus' ear.

        Mark swore he felt Markus twitch through your body, but it was probably you, squeezing his cock tight, dangerously close despite their rhythm slowing. He wanted to shove you over the edge. Make you cry. You already were, but he sped up, pummeling your g-spot, Markus supporting, Gray's tongue in your mouth.

        Mark got his wish three strokes later. Nearly blacked out with how good you throbbed around him. Harder than you or she ever had. He had to think of beating in Dad's brains so he wouldn't cum. You made it hard. Riding it out on him, rubbing against both of them. And when he couldn't hold on any longer, your body calmed. Tighter, wetter, but it was enough to skirt by and draw out longer.

        When he was sure his voice wouldn't be a boyish whimper, Mark laughed out a breathy, "Why didn't we do this earlier?" Your response was wonderfully incoherent. He needed you to garble. To not be able to speak at all. "Gray- fuck- get in here, man."

        He lifted his head, "I am-"

        "Put your dick in her mouth."

        Gray looked at Markus. Whose face would be right next to his cock if he did that.

        Before he could approve or deny, "Please," you hitched, "Please, please." You couldn't seem to say anything else.

        "You heard her." Markus caught your slack jaw and held your mouth open like he'd hold open a door. 

        Gray nodded as he floated up.

        As soon as his pretty tip was close enough, you licked. Didn't have to be told. Just wanted to taste, to feel his pulse thrumming on your tongue. Markus didn't need to hold you open for long you were so willing. Ideas of convincing him of some grand something fading away as you haphazardly kissed his shaft. The angle was awkward but you took him into your mouth anyway. Groaning around him as he filled you- they filled you completely.

        Mark saw a man flying for a blowjob. Laughed, but not for long, since you were cumming again. He moaned with everyone else. Released into you without trying, couldn't have stopped it if he wanted to. At least he wasn't Gray. Cumming after two licks and looking so guilty for it, gripping his own face to try and keep quiet. 

        You took it all. Swallowing and shivering, still on the edges of the last orgasm. Mind as sticky as your insides. Wanting more despite the softening of their cocks. 

        Staying inside was too much, Gray had to retreat. You didn't let go easily, suckling as he pulled back. Leaving him stirring again, but he withheld to let you breathe. He wasn't able to pull away fully. Turning the tables, reaching around to play with your chest. Nipples soft and warm between his fingers.

        Mark was more used to overstimulation, let himself rest inside your body. Feel the gentle thrust of Markus against him. Hard and in charge. "Guess you're the last man standing."

        "I can go long as she needs me." Markus' pace never sped up, never slowed. The kind of steady grounding you needed, fingers going to circle your clit.

        "Dunno man," Mark watched the lazy strokes of Markus and Gray's fingers, "we got limited time and she's still real needy." With every circle they rubbed, you squeezed, he hardened. The seedling of an idea tumbling around his head.

        "Fifteen minutes." Markus said. In that time, you'd be well past done. They all would. Had to be. Hydrox's atmosphere waited to be broken in twenty.

        "Ten." Gray corrected. 

        "How many time you think she's gonna cum by then?" He started moving his hips, slowly thrusting into the slick mess of your pussy. "Huh, babe? How greedy you feelin'?"

        "I-" You shook, "I-" You'd come too much already. Had too many things touching you. Every nerve a house fire. You couldn't hold any part of yourself aloft, not even your mind. You couldn't stop them. Didn't want to. Nothing mattered but this.

        "Bet you wanna take another fuckin' load." Mark shoved in harshly, got a broken shriek as reply. "You want it or not? 'S like Daddy said, you can talk."

        "Iwantit."

        "Gotta understand you to give it to you, babe."

        You had to center and think to get the words out right, "I want it."

        It was a growl into your ear, the one not occupied by Markus' breath, "Yeah," hips slapped against hips with every word, "you want Daddy's load so fucking bad, don't you?"

        All you felt was heat, none of the confusion, none of the connecting threads. You said, "Yes," just so he wouldn't stop.

        Sweet as sugar, Mark said, "Then tell him, tell Daddy you want his cum."

        He felt the twitch from the other side. Markus kept himself steady, "Do not-"

        "Daddy, please- Cum in me- Daddy! D-"

        From the deepest depths of his soul, a groan. Not a loud sound, not a bark or growl, but a shuddering noise of something broken. His resolve snapped, grip tightening as a wave of pleasure crashed through him. Eyes shut right before so Mark couldn't see them roll back. His ball emptied, your ass filled. Mind awash. Guilt impossible to feel because you were cumming again, whimpering the title brokenly.

        He felt when it was done and you'd gone limp. Dimly, he realized Mark's plan, how he'd been outmaneuvered in ways he hadn't foreseen. How he failed you, cumming so soon. Letting Mark run amuck as the animal he was. Then there was his body. Feeling every flutter of yours, more stimulation than he was used to. Always having pulled out when he let himself finish, always at the end, only at the end. Against him, through the thin wall, Mark rubbed it in, literally. 

        Markus hadn't whimpered since he was a child. Refused to as an adult. Sucked the noise down as Mark thrust once, twice, laughing, "I knew you were into that shit!"

        There had always been inkling he was. A desire he knew was there, but she never asked so he never indulged. Without even asking you'd called him... A pulse. Faint and somehow like lightning, threatening to harden him again. He couldn't think about it. How good and right it felt. How you sounded saying- No. Second chances were for the weak. And Mark wasn't done and Markus wouldn't let him have you all to himself to abuse. Markus stayed, so pleasurable it was agony.

        In all their time working together, Mark had never seen Markus so uncontrolled. Even if it was the smallest shift, it was a shift. He let Mark pick the pace with no correction, didn't move your leg back when it kicked out, was just biting his lip, eyes closed, taking everything as it came. Mark loved it. Wanted to push more and more. "Say it again! Say it again!" He chanted, rutting against the mass he knew was Markus through the flesh.

        You did. Weepier this time. Markus was hard again, Mark laughing harder. "Again!" Mark pressed in, watching both your faces. Like any good slut, you listened.

        Markus was ready this time. The biggest reaction he gave was a bobbing Adam's apple. You were a different story. Weepy and clawing at Mark's uniform. Moans muffled into Gray's mouth. Mark pushed against him, made you babble and tighten. Felt how easy it was to push you to the edge like this. He found himself falling with you. Cumming inside as he sucked your neck.

        Heaving, unable to take anymore, Mark slid out, limp, and slathered in a mix of juices. He could've stayed there all night, watched you leak his cum while Markus worked you from behind. They didn't have all night and Gray was looking neglected.

        Mark nodded toward you as he shuffled back, "If you want sloppy seconds, she's all yours."

        Gray came around to your front and saw your stretched hole. Obviously used, leaking the emperor's cum. Probably the most valued sperm in the galaxy and you were just letting it slip down your folds. Sure, your body couldn't use it, but you could at least enjoy the gift he'd given. Ungratefully, you oozed a shining sliver. Soon it'd pool low, hit the floor. As Grand General of Viltrum, he wouldn't let that happen. His fingers slipped in the mess, pushing the seed back inside. You arched and keened, body uncontrollable around him. Walls sucking in greedily. Wanting more, always wanting more. Begging babble off your lips, something between Gray and please. He realized hazily, you wanted him inside you.

        You were easy to slide inside. Perfectly lubricated as Mark had left you. Flesh a writhing mind of its own, yours clearly gone. Nothing behind your eyes but still, your body arched into the sensation like it was the only thing keeping you alive. An animalistic instinct you blindly gave into. No wonder Viltrumites had to step in and save your race from self-immolation. He saved you from your writhing and pushed into your wanting body. 

        Every time before, you'd been controlled and coaxing. Now you could only shake. Liquid hot around him. Giving wherever he pushed except at the bottom of his cock. He rocked against it. Markus tried to suppress a shake.

        Procreation courses were slim teachings on Viltrum, here and home. Simply, insert, deposit, done. Impersonal as possible, at least that's what Father told him when he was young. He walked in and overheard the opposite at home but another child never came. He asked himself why through the years, but never them or anyone else. Procreation an open secret nobody talked about even among the Graysons. 

        He knew a little more each time, in the desert, in the medbay, on Markus' bed, why. And now, like this, knew even more why. The deep, biological urge to breed. The purpose, fruitless on your body with its shredded womb, the pleasure in its stead the link.

         You didn't think about it. You simply took, asking for something you could never have. He gave. Faster, faster, needing to push deeper, harder. The action was useless but you needed it, he needed it. He thrust into you anyways, possessed. Perhaps it was the way you cried around his kiss, or Mark whooping at his back, or the reassurance of feeling Markus too inside you, but Gray couldn't stop, rhythm unplanned and careless and harsh. He wouldn't until he'd filled you, until you'd taken what you needed.

        He'd always gone first embarrassingly fast. This time, you came for an unknown time. Body so overworked it was hardly a change but the extra squeeze, the weep against his lips, it nearly sent him spilling. He held on by threads. Wanted to try and see your orgasm through. Take care of you as a human needed to be.

        Mark watched, half-mast, and brows high, "Didn't think you had it in you!" He reached out to clap Gray's shoulder. A growl. A thrust all the way deep, nothing would keep him from this. Mark reeled back, "Whooaa, I'm not gonna take 'er away from you, man."

        Gray shifted his head to your shoulder, watching Mark to make sure he wouldn't interfere. Mark backed up a step, wheezing a laugh. "All yours." Gray turned back into your neck, listening hard for a lie. He only heard your erratic pulse and moaning. Only felt you getting close again. 

        He licked and tasted sweat, liked the way your hips met his thrust at the feeling and sucked. Gently, as not to bruise, his hands hypocritically doing just that on your hips. Again, you came. Two pulses in, his seed mixed with the emperor's. Still, he rocked, brain that of an animals, body slowly shutting down. 

        Only when he'd fully stopped, started to relax into you, did he realize where he was. His teeth in your neck, his softening cock in your body. Selfishly, your body pulsed, tried to make him fill you again. But he could feel all his skin and perceive the other's judgment so he pulled out. Your body was heaving, his mark left on your neck, freshly blooming bruises and the sharp outlines of his teeth. He felt himself twitch despite everything as he watched you pulse, a trail of your release, of his and the emperors, slip out in a shining trail. 

        Markus watched Mark to see if he'd jump back in. He didn't. Simply stood back, marveling with Gray at the ruined state of your body. 

        "Is it fucked up if I want sloppy thirds?" 

        You couldn't say yes, say no, say anything at all. Sweaty and dehydrated and defiled all over. Markus guided your legs shut like a book. "She's had enough. I'm going to pull out now, okay?"

        "Aw, come on." Mark whined, "I can go again." His arm beeped. "Oh shit."

        Markus felt the same way. So distracted he'd lost track of time, not even fully outside of you when they should be out the door. He took his time anyway. The Hydroxians would die no matter how long it took them to get there.

        You went wherever Markus put you. On the desk, a glass against your lips. Mark's hand at your crown, holding you up. Gray between your legs, cleaning with a wipe despite his desire to do so with his tongue. Words passed between them. What to do, who to do it, working together for your sake. You heard none of it, blood rushing loudly in your ears as you tried to find yourself through the haze. 

        Another chunk of debris blacked out the sun. Someone called Mark's datapad. Impatience from their end, petulance from Mark's. They didn't leave the office till you were clothed, babbling that you were fine despite the way you were shaking. They didn’t have time to waste, so Mark picked you up off of weak legs. 

        The council was waiting outside. Battle-ready. Glaring at you boneless in the emperor's arms. Good mood already soured, he spat, "Wait five fuckin' minutes, Jesus."

        "We've been waiting for you to debrief the human for over an hour." Thula said, "And then some."

        Mark floated right past her. "And what have you been doing during that time?" Said haughtily, as if minutes ago he weren't a mess. 

        "Waiting." She snapped. 

        "And not rechecking scanners or gathering the other stupid versions of me or doing anything else? As expected Thula, great work!"

        Kregg moved ahead of her, "Most of the others are waiting by the east wing exit. We've been waiting for the last of them to call in."

        "You didn't go find them?" Mark floated down a hole. One of many shortcuts through the ship you couldn't take. 

        "Well, you've restricted my access to the lab, which I find-"

        "I don't give a shit what you think." Mark paused at the ion blaster's slowly opening door. "I'll do it myself." He said over the whoosh of air, cleansing him and the rest of you of sex stench and sweat, "Stop following us and get to the east wing." 

        Kregg, like the bitch he was, nodded and left. The council followed, Thula dragging behind. Mouth sour like she wanted to say something. Eyes squinted on you. One look from Mark and she too, turned.

        You landed where you started, in a bed. They didn't stay long, just enough to settle you down. Ordered up a platter of food and drink. To warn, "Stay here," and quietly wish they had more time. Then they were gone.

        ***

        Gone. Just like that.

        Pause, rewind, watch again, slower.

        The planet, white clouded and yellow bodied, was there one second. Happily producing nano tech for its long beloved Viltrum overlords. The next, a blip, a five frame flash in the atmosphere. Forty-seven seconds of nothing. Then the whole screen went white. Two seconds solid, five seconds fading. No more clouds, no more production under them. Hulleia was a ball of fire and chunks. Culprit nowhere to be seen.

        Rewind. 

        All five frames dragged onto individual screens. Analyzed by eye and artificial intelligence. Obviously, the flash was some sort of ship. It's full scope was hidden, only a slip of it's silhouette shown, the rest faded into transparency. What Grayson could see, the impression of a body. Eight pixels tall, four wide, red and tan. Thragg. 

        No images of how he left the ship or got back on. Simply was, he was too fast, too far from the camera, multiple solar bodies away and zoomed in to the max. Combined with Viltrumite speed and the cloaking tech he had to be using. Tech not in Viltrum's extensive library of rebel contraband. Meticulously cataloged and identifiable from hundreds of thousands of miles away.

        How was he doing this? 

        Mark wanted to know. The Coalition wanted to know. Grayson had no answers and his coworker couldn't help. Poor guy was the last one standing beside Grayson. Sleeping on the floor because Mark hadn't let them leave in God knows how long. The others died hours ago, from exhaustion, starvation, he couldn't be sure, their bodies cooling on the floor. Their only crime was having the same answer for Mark that Grayson had: They didn't know. 

        Grayson at least got a break to go to meetings, but then he was right back down here. Sleepless with an empty stomach. His nubs ached at the tips. He misstepped constantly, let things slip through mechanical digits, entered data in wrong. Body missing its eaten flesh more and more with every missed meal. Call it nostalgia, trauma, whatever, Grayson didn't have time to label the phantom ache in his body.

        His arm buzzed. Fantastic, another demand from Mark. He didn't want to check the notification but he had to.

        Freight received. 

       It didn't click until his eyes were burning- he remembered to blink. He typed back, ETA? The cameras already on loop, had been for the last half hour. If Mark checked and caught the sleeper, Grayson would lose his last bit of help.

        This channel isn't secure enough to relay that information.

        Bullshit.

        Then it isn't secure enough to receive further updates from my end. 

        As soon as he sent it, he shoved cold fingers into his eyelids. Knowing he could've, should've worded the message less obviously. They would never trust him, but the thin facade of allegiance wouldn't survive an acknowledgement of their ulterior movies. They could easily cease all communications and he really would go mad.

        Minutes passed. He considered sending an apology, a threat, a plea, anything for a response. Just as the words started to congeal together, his arm pinged again.

        If the flagship is to continue on your reported trajectory, our ship will enter Viltrum airspace eighteen hours after you've landed. 

        How long away was that again? Grayson couldn't remember. So long he'd spent down here without checking the time. The light never changing, his body never resting. Had Hydrox happened? Had they simply forgotten him in his locked cage? Were they on path to Viltrum now? 

        Perhaps they were. Engines about to blow to beat Thragg. That's what he thought they were doing anyway. The council agreed upon it in the meeting to cut an over week long trip in half. Everyone perpetually on agent fourteen so their organs wouldn't shut down from overexertion, doing so many near break-neck drive-by takeovers. How long had it been since that meeting?

        Another question. Would destroying the engines be enough? Thragg's ship was last seen destroying a planet a solar system away from the flagship. Whatever vessel he was on was fast. Maybe faster than the emperor's. He could be on Viltrum before they were. Could be there right now. Waiting. No cameras had picked him up in a day or so. 

        And you know who would know that- who wouldn't want him to know that? The Coalition. Waiting in the wings to pick off the stragglers after Thragg cleaned house. Just the sort of underhanded thing he'd plan. The best case for them. Worst for him, for you. 

        They could've been lying about helping him. They could care less about you. They got what they needed. Why would they even need to tell him an accurate time of arrival at this point? Why would-

        Visual on Thragg?

        They didn't have what Viltrum had. Good tech. Better cameras. They still needed him, maybe, or this was all a ruse to keep him unsuspecting. He had to keep them unsuspecting that he knew- if that was true. Maybe it wasn't, or- God, he needed to sleep.

        Another colony destroyed, Hulleia.

        Just as he sent his response, the largest screen on the wall blared. A call from the emperor himself. Scrambling, Grayson shut off the loop. Sloppy, obvious, but he had to. 

        Mark looked down at him from a shuffling camera far under his chin. "The fuck are you still doing down there?"

        ***

        Skirting between skyscrapers when he was a new flier was easier than this. Everything was moving fast, and Seb was getting real tired of getting smashed over the head with fatass chunks of space junk. Junk so big when he tried to break through it, he got lost for minutes at a time.

        The darkness didn't help. After navigating through cracks in the first few layers, any lick of red light was gone. Sure, he could see better than a human could in the dim,  but another layer later he was near blind. Couldn't see the others to follow them. Couldn't hear them either, not consistently anyway. The communicator in his ear hissed and spat like a shitty car radio. Only getting shittier the deeper in he went. 

        It wasn't right. Viltrum was perfect or some bullshit, this didn't happen. His radio had to be broken, he took the wrong path because he was stupid- no shame in that. He turned around because the others had to be too. Took a long time but he wiggled out of the third ring of claustrophobia hell. 

        Seb expected to see the others waiting cross-armed for him because, "What took you so long?" but there was nobody. He looked left, right, up, down. Nobody still, just the swirling mass of debris, the path he'd navigated down already gone. He could've circled the planet in under a minute to double check. Could've. But the ship was right there, glowing with sweet, sweet light, and if he was a little lucky, empty of stiff asses. 

        He landed in the west wing. Half expected to be yelled at and pushed back out. Not a soul. Not even in the halls or around corners or outside the emperor's room. The bud his ear had gone fully quiet now. It'd never done that before. Always Kregg checking in or Gray over-explaining or Mark bitching. Someone else would figure it out, not him.

        There was a single soul he cared about on the ship. Sitting on the emperor's bed, picking fruits off a platter.