#soto

Chapter 164: Masculinity

I've been waiting a LOOOONG time for this chapter.

Author's Note: My Earth counterpart will be taking August 5th off for vacation. Sanctuary of the Odd will return August 12th. I apologize for the inconvenience!

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Meido led me through the dungeon and into a much more modern part of the facility. Stone walls were replaced with polished white interiors. We passed by a medical wing where they seemed to have kidnapped a cat girl doctor, but we finally made it to the lab, where I was greeted with...

"A demon?"

Sitting in a computer chair and wearing a lab coat was a woman with a sheep-like body. I would have thought she was a sheep person, but her eyes had the familiar glowing ring that revealed her demonic heritage.

"I'm a sheeple." She responded. "Name's Dr. Fluff."

I had heard of Sheeple before, the most harmless version of demon. They have a strict code of non-confrontation, which often leads to them being taken advantage of. Case in point, the woman in front of me.

"I'm Lord Panchi. So you're the biologist that created that 'Gene Supplementation' technique?"

"That is correct." She said very bluntly as she went directly back to work.

Meido placed a hand on the doctor's shoulder. "Maybe go on a break?"

"Tsk!" She said frustrated as she got up. "Fine, I'll go kiss somebody."

"The girls are all at work."

She looked upon the maid incredulously before throwing her arms up in the air. "Fine! I'll go watch TV, then!" And she stormed out.

I gave Meido a look. "Go kiss somebody?"

"She's... a really good kisser..." She said, glancing away and rubbing her elbow.

For a moment, I wondered if the men on the top side were really the ones who married these girls. "You can go join her."

She was surprised at my suggestion. "But I need to help you escape back to your room."

"Nah, I got a way back." I still unfortunately had that lump of Anne flesh on me.

She gave off an odd little smile and bowed. "Well, if that's the case... I'll leave you to do your research!" She left the room in a rush, desperately trying to stifle an excited giggle.

"Heh, allos are easy." I chuckled before I swiveled in my chair to face the computer. With my small size, my feet couldn't touch the ground, so I did it with just a little push of wind spawned from my energy.

Looking through the computer, once again, I was just buried in information. Seriously, do these bastards have no concept of security? I mean, yeah, the Doc left her computer unlocked, but you would think they'd make you log in for every secret file.

But from all the information, it appeared what Meido said was true. You could make minutians hybrids with other things with just a simple DNA sample. I never knew my own biology was so adaptable. And I just knew the matriarchs were going to raise hell about all this. Like the maid said, it didn't say what gene they implemented into the minutians upstairs. Weird they keep that secret but nothing else. I found the gene sample that had been removed from Gary and I collected it. We could have our own people look into it later.

I dug around for a while and found the files on THE SECRET WEAPON, once again way too easy to access. From the looks of it, they supplemented one of Sigma's eggs with genes and then channeled energy specifically into it. What resulted was a baby born as a hybrid. Also it looked like they did a little bit of monkeying with the baby's genetic code, but I wasn't enough of a geneticist to put it together. Once again, it doesn't state what gene they used. However, at this point in my investigation, I was getting a sinking feeling.

I found the DNA scanning device, the same one the crow doctor used back home. I scanned the ball of Anne flesh I had on me, and lo and behold, the genes applied to the baby was a spot on match. There was the smoking gun. Having seen enough, I held the flesh in my hand and focused on returning. Before long, I had.

"Are you suggesting this 'secret weapon' is another genetically engineered kid of mine?" Anne said, annoyed. "Am I just, doomed to forever be a deadbeat Mom?"

I had filled her in on everything I discovered. She didn't like a thing she heard. "You didn't choose to have the kid." I reassured her, but I don’t think my words landed.

"Wait, so are all the men in this place implanting my DNA into themselves?"

"Probably." It definitely is very likely.

"But, why don't they have noodle arms like me?"

"I don't know." Maybe they somehow figured out a way to escape noodlefication of the limbs. "Maybe they are using prosthetics like Bonnie used to?"

"Oh!" She nodded her head. "True, maybe that's what they are doing! That makes sense!"

Still, you'd have to use anti-magic technology in order to channel energy through a prosthetic like that. Well, considering they have connections with Faceless, they are likely using the same technology he uses for his limbs.

"So what do we do, now?"

"Well, I'd say we play along until we can get reinforcements up here." I suggested. "While I could probably take them all, I'd prefer to have back up."

"Yeah, I think that's a good idea." Anne agreed. "Send out the call, Panchi, and coordinate our forces. We're taking this place."

I nodded. I would spend the next hour or so sending out texts. I informed Sanctuary Security of the situation and specifically called out a number of top brass to come here by any means necessary. We didn't just need a fighting force, we needed space to bring back all the wives and the imprisoned men below, so Lexine is arranging for a bigger ship. It'll take time to set up, which is all the more reason we need to keep them busy.

With all that said and done, I finally went to sleep.

I woke up the next day to find a bunch of replies. The vampire had pulled some strings and the ship would be arriving the next day. Because it doesn't need to be a void ship, she was able to nab a pretty big normal space ship much quicker. I also got confirmation that Braddy and a bunch of other members of security will be on that vessel. I was glad at their promptness.

I also saw my report was apparently a bombshell for the matriarchs, as they called an emergency meeting almost immediately. While it's not a governing body, it's more than likely they will decide to act on their own. The Wolf Pack’s days were numbered now.

Everything was going smoothly, too smoothly. I couldn't help feeling a little antsy, like I had overlooked something big.

"Well, if you figure out what that 'something big' is, please let me know." Anne said as she got ready for the day. "I too think there's something we’ve missed."

She was putting on make-up, even though she didn't wear any yesterday. Ever the rebel! I was proud of her.

Suddenly, there was a rapping on our door. "Girls, it's time for the morning meeting!" Shouted the man on the other side.

The two of us shared a look. ""Morning meeting?""

We were led out of the guest room, but instead of going to the dining room for breakfast, we headed in a completely different direction, one I hadn't seen previously. After a few minutes going down corridors, we entered what appeared to be a ballroom, but chairs were placed in a circle in the center. We were prompted to sit and we each took a seat. Slowly, the other members filled in the other chairs before eventually, Sigma entered the room and sat in the biggest seat of the bunch.

"Everyone, per custom, please silence your phones." Announced one of the men sitting next to Sigma.

The minutians around us started to pull out their phones and flipping them silent. We followed suit. It's weird they'd even need to do this considering every person they knew was currently in the room with them.

After everyone complied, Sigma began to speak. "Thank you all for attending this meeting. As your alpha and your sigma, I appreciate your eternal loyalty. We are striving to achieve peak masculinity, and with your support, I'm much closer to achieving it."

The way he talks, it's almost like this is a religion for them.

"No," he sharply glanced towards me, "We are a way of life, not a religion. Our god is male performance, making sure that only the strong lead, and survive. That's what we stand for."

Still sounds like a religion, and a bit of a cult.

His brow furrowed even deeper. "You'll regret your insolence soon, bitch."

"I haven't said a single thing to you this morning."

Anne tapped my shoulder, looking very nervous beside me. "He's responding to your narration..."

"My what? But, he can't hear my narration! I'm blocking it! How are you..." I engaged Writer Unfollowed after Anne pointed it out yesterday. I swear I did!

"Oh, there is very little you could get away with in this mansion. Like how you snooped around on the roster next to the front door, or how you looked through our lab computer last night."

"You knew and you didn't try to stop me?"

He chuckled mischievously. "Because it doesn't matter. It doesn't matter if you report to the matriarchs or call for back up, because you're not going to stop us."

"My genes shouldn't be able to allow them to hear past Panchi's barrier." Anne muttered.

He turned his attention towards the Princess and shook his head. "Tsk tsk tsk, typical woman. Thinking it's all about you. But in the end, you will learn your place."

He reached up and started to undo his blindfold. All the others followed suit, each relinquishing their eyes from their fabric prisons. With Sigma's blindfold gone, he glanced at us for the first time this visit, and his silver eyes were adorned with a ring of light in the center of his iris. Each of the members, now their eyes uncovered, glanced at us too, revealing the same glowing ring.

"Their demons." Minutian/demon hybrids.

"Demons..." Anne was visibly nervous seeing the ring lights in their eyes.

Sigma laughed maliciously. "Belief powers and everything!"

Each of the wolf pack members got on their feet. Anne and I stepped up as well. We got into fighting stances as the group started to surround us. 

Chapter 163: Blindfolds

Kiss the sheep

The flight of stairs emptied out into a large dungeon that had been altered into a rec room/living area. The stone walls have been sparsely decorated with motivational placards and pictures of animals. There's a kitchen area built into the room as well as 15 beds and a single TV. I saw two girls watching some god drama program in the far corner.

"This time, on the Ancient and the Angsty."

"How could she allow politics to get in the way of love?!" Shouted one of the girls. "Doesn't she realize that Bo fits so perfectly in the polycule?"

"I'd never willingly agree to an open relationship like that." Grunted another. "Next thing you know they are sleeping with the enemy."

"Oh, don’t be so unromantic.” Chided the other girl. ”I hope to be married like that someday!"

"You ARE married."

"No, I mean, to someone who didn't kidnap me."

"Ahhh, okay, you're a dreamer."

I could have sworn that Esme character looked a lot like Lexine. I shook it off as a coincidence and headed towards the pair. "Hey."

The pair looked me up and down. "Newly kidnapped?"

"I was invited here."

"Ah, actively being kidnapped."

The second girl scoffed. "Are they dumb? She's a black belt!"

"I mean, if Shinobi and Sigma ganged up on her."

"Shonobi's still out there chasing tail."

"Oh, right."

"Excuse me," I put aside the obvious but still disgusting fact that the Wolf Pack intends to keep Anne and I. "What was that about Shinobi?"

"Oh yeah, I heard the others saying he was going to break some goth girl." She chuckled. "I forget her name. Derived from apathetic I think."

"Apathea."

"That's it!"

Shinobi was plotting to kidnap Apathea? The last I saw her, she was rescued from arrest by Faceless himself, but if the Wolf Pack is working for the guy, why would they go after his own subordinate? Unless... she's being offered up. That weirdo is offering up his own loyal spy as a bride to get something from these assholes, but what? Was it all in exchange for the secret weapon?

No, I'm making too many logical leaps. I should wait until I have more information.

"I have to say," trying to keep the conversation going, "you two are taking to this whole kidnapping business quite well."

"Oh, we were both barely staying afloat with three jobs each. This is kind of an upgrade considering."

Congratulations capitalism, you made being kidnapped more preferable than living under you.

Suddenly, a nearby door flies open and out comes about a dozen more minutians. Five of them were dressed in maid and homemaker outfits, I could only guess they were wives. The rest were minutian men, all shirtless and ripped as all hell. Were they the rejects? I don't remember any of the men topside looking like that.

One minutian lady in a maid outfit stood with authority among the group. She addressed them all. "Okay, girls, you are all on cleaning duty. Draw lots to decide who gets the bathroom. I've got some digging for you men to do, so Luuzy? Show them where."

"Yes ma'am!"

The leader turned to the two in front of the TV. "Stop loafing around, you're on cleaning duty, too!"

"Yes, right away!" They obediently got on their feet and joined the main group.

"Now we have guests today, so be careful to not be seen by them. You know how the men get when we make them look bad."

"""Yes, ma'am!"""

"Oh uh," one of the girls who were in front of the TV stepped forward, "about that."

"What is it, Victoria?"

She points at me. "The guests already know about us."

The leader of the wives looked over at me. "Well, shit. Disregard that last order then. Clean without worry then. I'll tend to our guest, rest of you lot, get to work!" Everyone marched through the room and up the stairs I just came from, disappearing into the dark. Meanwhile, the leader strolled up to me and gave me a curtsy. "Greetings, I am Meido."

"Lord Panchi."

“Oh! A minutian lord? Heh, not everyday I see one of those!” She looked at me closer. She fixated briefly on my eyes. “Same clan as Kessess, I see.”

“You’re quite observant.”

Then she turned and headed for the door everyone just came from, she turned back and beckoned me. "Well, let's go."

"Go? Go where?"

"You're here for answers, aren't you? We're already in trouble, so we can't get more in trouble by helping you."

I caught her drift and followed behind her. "You're quite capable for someone forced into this situation."

"I was the head maid serving under the gold dragon Geld Helvetica, that was until he gave me to the Wolf Pack as a 'present'" She rolled her eyes in disgust.

"That's horrible."

"It is, but nothing is going to get done dwelling on it. Keeping things organized keeps the other girls safe from the wolves on top. Considering that, I'm more than happy to keep doing my job here."

She was very tough, I could respect that. Though, by the end of this, I needed to get all of them out of here. I owe it to them.

She led me through the door and we are immediately met with a cell block. Some sour faced men were behind the bars. "This is where the men sleep."

"They sleep in prison?"

"Oh, it was insisted on by the men topside as a shaming measure. Shaming is how they control them after all." She explained. "We usually keep the cell doors open at all times though, since why should we play by their rules if they never check? We only had to shut them for show today, as the guys brought down a new permanent resident."

Just as I said that, I noticed one of the men in a nearby cell. "Gary?"

Gary was sitting against a wall next to the toilet. His blindfold had been removed which revealed that he had been sobbing. His silver eyes glistened in the faint light of the cell. He didn't even acknowledge me.

"These are always the roughest cases. When they get all the way to joining the main pack and still wind up down here." She said, shaking her head. "Most men who wind up down here eventually learn that it's way better here than topside, but in his case, he'll take a long time to adapt."

I touched a bar as I looked at him. "Is he going to be okay?"

"I don't know. They removed the gene that allowed him to grow, so he'll eventually shrink down back to our size. That'll be a huge blow to his mental health after everything."

I shot her a look. "Gene? What? And they can shrink?"

"Well, a minutian that has grown due to childbirth can’t shrink back down, not without magic anyways. But most of the guys topside, they used a technique called 'Gene Supplementation.'"

She goes into details. Minutians reproduce asexually, and they do this by channeling their own energy into the womb, which fills in the rest of the genetics needed for reproduction. This means half of a minutian's genes have this nebulous genetic mixture that seemingly came from nowhere. Because of this, our biology is a lot more flexible than most species in the universe. With this in mind, it's possible to put in extra genes and dramatically transform us into some sort of cross species.

I was kind of doubting what I was hearing. I had no idea something like this was possible! That said, I didn't have enough information to discount the possibility. "What were they given to cause growth like that?"

She shrugged. "I dunno. We weren't told what strain was used to accomplish that."

I thought about the pack I met before. The way they acted. It couldn't be... "They can't be smart enough to pull this off!"

"Oh of course not!" She swatted at the air. "They kidnapped a biologist."

"Oh, okay, that sounds about right."

"Here, let me show you the lab." She starts walking down the cell block.

Chapter 162: The Wives

And that weird thing with the genes.

I stepped out of the guest room only to immediately run into a guard. Of course they posted a guard on our room.

"Panchi, a beauty should be getting her beauty sleep right now." He tried to block my path as he tilted his fedora. "Unless such a beauty has come out to flirt with me." He glanced down at me expectantly.

...I jabbed my finger behind him. "Is that a scantily clad woman over there?"

"What?" He swung around to look. "Where?"

As soon as he turned away, I roundhouse kicked him in the face. He slumped down, knocked out cold. I placed my hand on his head and channeled energy into his mind. This was #75 Shattered Memories, a technique that could blank out the last 30 minutes of someone's memories. Assuming I don't get caught, he'll be none-the-wiser that either of us left the room. He'd just assume he fell asleep.

I looked him up and down and shivered at the idea of flirting with the guy to let me pass. The idea almost made me as sick to my stomach as dinner had. I wouldn't even do that as a joke.

I used #76 Life Sense in the mansion. Most of the population of the house was underneath the manor, which gave more credence to my theories. There were a number of people in the kitchen and a few in the game room. Sigma did punch a hole in the wall there, maybe they were patching it up? Covering my movements with #78 Shadow Walk, I made my way through the mansion. There weren't any guards roaming around, so it was kind of easy.

I peeked around the corner into the game room, and as I suspected, three minutians, none of them part of the main group I saw before, each 2 feet tall. They wore many different varieties of maid and homemaker outfits. One was a french maid, another wore a pink apron over a hoop dress, another wore something akin to a soccer mom. They had plaster out.

"Why do they have to punch a hole in the wall every time things don't go their way?" Moaned the french maid.

"I heard a woman beat Sigma at a video game." Commented the hoop dress girl.

The girl in the soccer mom outfit rolled her eyes. "That would do it."

"Couldn't they like, squeeze a stress ball or something?"

"They broke all the stress balls a long time ago."

"Goddamn it!"

"I heard the guest is a Princess."

"Really? They can't be stupid enough to marry a political figure."

"Well, that's what I heard."

"Ugh. It's a matter of time before their egos get them killed."

"Does that matter though? We'll be freed if that happens."

"And we'll be at the mercy of the people doing the killing. I wouldn't bet on it."

One of their voices sounded familiar to me, I tried to remember as I continued to listen.

"Plus anyways, even if I was saved, I have nowhere to go anyways."

"What about your clan?"

"Nah, my Matriarch was a bitch. I kissed her ass for almost a century and it got me fucking nothing but ire from the rest of them. I doubt there is a single Tanglefoot alive who doesn't hate my guts."

"Is that why you're called Kessess?"

She rolled her eyes. "Yeah. Even my mom knew what I was. Branded me with this stupid name."

Hearing her name broke the floodgates. Kessess hung around Leahdah all the time and basically backed up every terrible thing she did. She was there when the Matriarch rejected my name, she was there the day I left the clan, mocking me all the way through. She wasn't there when the Tanglefoots joined Sanctuary. Has she been here the whole time?

"But yeah, I could never go back. They'll never forgive me, and I don't deserve it. I'm exactly right where I belong." She had a dead look in her eyes. This was a woman who surrendered to her fate.

With the sting of the past, a part of me wanted to just leave her to her fate. I doubt anyone would blame me for that. But that's the ronin part of me thinking. It was different now. I stepped out from hiding. "I wouldn't be so certain."

The two other minutians panicked upon seeing me. Meanwhile, Kessess just stared at me, mouth agape in shock of my sudden appearance. "P-Pipsqueak?"

I cringed a little hearing that name again after so long.

Noticing the pained look on my face, she suddenly corrected herself. "I-I mean, Panchi?"

The two others were looking between me and Kessess. They noticed we both had the same eye color and suddenly it dawned on them what was happening.

"It's Lord Panchi now, actually."

"Lord?" Her expression shifted to concern. "Does that mean..."

"Leahdah is still alive," I reassured her, "she abandoned the clan and considering I was the only blackbelt..."

"Oh," and suddenly all the concern dropped from her face and was replaced with annoyance, "of course she would do that. Always living up to her reputation."

"Haha, very much true."

She got back to plastering. She spoke while actively avoiding eye contact with me. "What are you doing here? Don't tell me they somehow caught you."

"I'm the bodyguard of Princess Anne. Wait, is that how you wound up here? You were caught?"

The other two came to their senses and chimed in. "Yes! They told us they'd train us and then ganged up on us!"

"We were immediately married off and set to clean the place."

"Married off?!"

Kessess shot me a forlorn look and said. "We're the wives."

The prospect horrified me. Being forced to marry was awful in its own right, but being married to those fools? "Do they... have they done anything to you?"

"Outside making us work, nothing." One of them stated.

"Too cowardly to do anything." Said another.

That's a relief. At least they don't have to live with that.

"Ball and chain, that's what they call us. They act like we enslaved them." Kessess sighed. "I don't even remember which one I'm married to. I guess it doesn't matter anymore." 

"Are all the people down below wives?"

"Nah, only 13 of the basement dwellers are wives. The rest are the duds."

"People who Sigma consider not manly enough to be part of the main group, but too blood related to be wives."

"They take orders from us."

So the punishment for not living by Sigma's code is to live under the thumbs of women. "Can you take me down below?"

The three girls glanced at each other. Kessess stepped forward. "I'll bring you down there."

"But Kess..."

"You could be dooming her to become another wife!"

She glanced between the two and grunted. "I know her well. She's a pain in the ass, she's not going to be tamed easily." She turned towards me. "Let's go."

She led me out of the gaming room. We walked wordlessly through the manor for a while, until Kess was the one to break the silence. "How's Domatt doing?"

She's talking about her friend, the one that joined in backing up Leahdah most of the time. "She followed the former Matriarch into self-imposed exile."

She rolled her eyes. "Figures. Domatt will always live up to her namesake as a doormat." She sighed and shook her head. "We both were only friends of convenience. I doubt she shed a single tear the day I left. However, I still kind of hoped maybe she turned her life around."

"Don't you think you're projecting on her a little bit?"

She scoffed. "When did you get so observant?"

"Somewhere in between becoming a lord and becoming a dad."

"Becoming a-" Her eyes shot open in shock. She looked me up and down, thinking there was supposed to be 2 feet in extra height that wasn't there.

"Not in that way. I adopted."

"Oh, heh. I guess that is very you."

Our conversation fell into silence once more. Her footsteps echoed down the halls, as if they bore a heavier weight than her entire body combined. After a few minutes she broke the silence again. "I'm-" She struggled, the words caught in her throat. "I'm so- sorr" she slapped a hand against her forehead and grunted.

"Is it really that hard to say?"

"Of course not!" She let out another heavy sigh. "You should hate my guts! Stop acting so goddamn forgiving!" She buried her face in her hands. "Why is the damn hallway so long!"

True, we've been walking for quite a while, but I thought the first point was more worth addressing. "Listen Kess, we were all surviving our own way. You didn't choose Leahdah, you were doing what you could in an oppressive environment. No one can blame you for that."

"I made the wrong choice though..." She said meekly behind finger prison bars.

"Even so, you still deserve a chance to be family, to prove who you can be without her getting between us. Especially now that you can recognize what you've done wrong."

Mind you, this shouldn't apply to everyone. Forgiveness is a form of love, and like all of its kind, it is toxic to expect it. Maybe there will be members of the Tanglefoot Clan who will never forgive her, and it wouldn't be wrong for them to do so. But this is the choice I'm making, and I'm choosing to side with family, at least for her. I wouldn’t give such leniency to Leahdah.

She was silent. I couldn't tell what was going through her head just from her face alone. Before she could give an answer, we reached our destination.

"Oh, uh, right, the kitchen."

Three more minutians were hard at work. They turned to me with shocked looks on their faces.

"Those are more wives." Kess casually said before sauntering over to the broom closet. She opened the door revealing just a standard room with cleaning supplies, but then she moved to the other side of the small space and pushed one of her hands into the wall. It was some sort of button that had been smoothed out to blend into the surface. The wall opened up to reveal a dark stairway.

"This will lead you down."

I immediately headed through the portal and turned around to face her once more. "Thank you, Kess."

"It's the least I could do." She glanced at her feet, started rubbing her shoulder. "Umm... I'm sorry." Then she immediately left before I could respond. 

Chapter 161: Ball and Chain

Ass kisser redemption.

After dinner, we were led out the dining room by the rest of the group. Everyone placed their dishes in the sink, leaving it to an unseen dishwasher. Added proof that there were other minutians here. When one of the others saw the whole uneaten pizza on my plate, he picked it up and scarfed it in front of me. I felt sick to my stomach. After that, we were led out of the kitchen. Anne was finishing up her french fries as we walked, carefully picking them up one at a time by making her noodle arm sticky.

"I'm amazed you're able to keep your appetite, considering..." the smell, the lack of hand washing, the company.

"I used to live in dumpsters, so I'm fine." She said with a carefree attitude. With how much she's living it up now, it's easy to forget she was basically homeless before all this. I was kind of a vagabond myself, but I could literally build houses so I was fine. She kind of lacked that luxury. 

"To think a beauty such as yourself would degrade herself to sleep in a dumpster. My, If only I had known at the time..." He said with a very exaggerated gesture. Wait, was he hitting on Anne?

She either picked up on his intentions or heard my narration. "I have a fiance. You know that right? I even mentioned her at dinner."

He chuckled as he rolled his eyes. "Hahaha, you might pull the wool over the eyes of your followers, but you won't fool us."

"The heck do you mean?"

"You're putting on a little show. Get the men in your dinky little village hot and bothered with intense lesbian action so they will go along with the bullshit you're spouting. But it won't work on us."

Anne was appalled. "You think we're faking it?"

"How else did you get an alpha wolf like Foxman under you?" He grunted. "Or at least he was an alpha! Became a beta the second he turned into a simp."

She was quietly fuming. Yeah, I was feeling her there. Then she slapped him with something he hadn't considered. "Foxman is my dad!"

Sigma froze. The others didn't even notice and kept walking. "Wh-What?"

"He's my step-father. As in, he married my mom?"

He lit up. "Ohhh! Ball in Chain! He must have been whipped. Ha! Total beta!" He chortled again. Anne goes back to quietly fuming.

"Speaking of that whole wolf shit," I began, "what the hell is a Sigma?"

He thrusts out his chest with pride. "A sigma is a lone wolf, someone who doesn't roll with anyone else's rules. Peak masculinity!"

"...and despite the fact you literally lead a pack, you consider yourself one of those lone wolves?"

"Hell yeah! That's just how sigma I am!" He thrust a fist in the air as if he were trying to pump himself up. "By the way, don't think the fact you lived as a vagabond for a while indicates that you're a sigma. You'll never be a man, and neither will your 'Princess.'"

Was he assuming Anne was a trans man? "If you know about me being a vagabond, then you must have looked into me." I doubted he was following minutian politics all the way out here. He must have looked me up before I came here.

He blinked. "R-Right! We know all about you! Don't think you can keep a single thing from us!"

Why did he pause there for a sec?

He coughed awkwardly. "It appears the others stupidly went ahead, so let's just fucking hurry."

We finally reached a large room lined with couches. It kind of reminded me of the matriarch meeting place, except the decorations were quite different. There was a mounted head on the wall of some sort of beast I could not recognize. There were movie posters all over the place, all depicted badass buff men and sexy demure women. There were even a lot of political posters. Saw a number of monster kingdom propaganda on the walls. One read: "Socialism is gay." Another read: "A REAL man concedes to absolute capitalism!"

"Welcome, ladies, to the game room!" Announced Sigma. Now that he mentioned it, there was a large projector attached to a number of video game consoles. "We'll be playing games until we sleep. Care to join us?" He gave us a big toothy grin that spread shivers down my spine.

"I'll just watch." I really wasn't a gamer. Never really saw much point in stuff like that when I could fly and punch holes in reality. The only game I have spent any time with was Hello Puppy Archipelago Experience, which I've been playing with Belovi.

"I think I'll play." Anne said with a smile, but I could see so much menace behind that grin.

She joined Sigma and a more rowdy of they guys down by the controllers. I went to the wings where I sat next to Gary. He noticed my presence immediately, and his face scrunched up in nervousness.

"You know, you don't have to listen to him." I said. "There's nothing gay about wanting to be clean. It doesn't make you any less of a man. It doesn't even disqualify you from being a man."

He spoke in a quiet, fragile voice. "You don't understand. You could never understand. You're not even a man..."

"Ha! I can be a man if I wanted to."

"It's not that easy, ya know."

I puffed my chest. "To me, gender is as trivial as the clothes I choose to wear. I can swap them out to my fancy."

He was silent.

When he didn't respond, I continued. "Look, even Patriarch Sigma doesn't have it as figured out as you think. He only says all that shit to control you. That's always what it's been."

Suddenly, one of the men around us slapped Gary on the shoulder. "Are you actually listening to this shit?"

"Patriarch Sigma is peak manliness!" Chimed in another guy. "He's perfect! We would be taking notes if we knew how to write!"

I really hoped that was a joke.

"AGGGGHH NO!"

As soon as we heard the shout, we turned our heads to the source. Sigma was throwing his arms up in anger while Anne was looking very satisfied next to him. We glanced at the screen to see that she just OBLITERATED him in some fighting game I didn't recognize. It involved buff clay pigeons shooting each other with guns.

"I used to play this all the time back in the day." Anne said, smugly.

"No one beats me in Skeet Fighter..." Sigma was practically seething with rage. "This was a fluke!"

"Then why don't you play me again?" She responded with a coy look.

They would do several more rounds, and they'd all end about the same. The guys around me were flabbergasted.

"He's getting his ass kicked by a girl..." One guy muttered.

Another guy was in shock. "She's even using motion controls!"

By the end of the onslaught, Sigma was ragged. His smug aura had vanished and now he was breathing harshly. He stood up and screamed. His yell echoed through the building, bouncing his rage across the manor. Then, he would strut up to a wall and throw a meaty punch into it. He left a giant hole there, revealing the insulation underneath.

He turned to all of us and shouted. "Game time is over! Go to fucking bed!" He stormed out and disappeared into the dark hallways.

Soon after Sigma's outburst, we were led to our guest room. On the way, I took a peek into the kitchen to notice that the dishes had already been done. Were the 'servants' actively trying not to be seen?

We were brought to a rather large room, one befitting a guest room for a manor. It was fully furnished, with one problem.

"Only one bed." Anne muttered.

Fucking dude bros did this on purpose. "I'll sleep on the couch."

"You sure? Because I could take the couch."

"The sofa is practically bed sized for me, it's more logical for me to sleep there. Plus anyways, I’m going to spend most of the night investigating anyways." Before she could argue further, I sat on the couch and crossed my arms indignantly. Anne gave up her attempt at politeness and took the bed.

As she got ready to sleep and I sterilized everything, I filled her in on what I saw in the pad device in the hall. 

"A secret weapon?" Anne said aghast. "What did they possibly make?"

"I don't have enough information yet. That’s what I’m going to investigate."

"I guess Wolf Pack is in league with Faceless..." She had a weary look in her eyes, as if she was tired of learning how many enemies she truly had.

"It's not that shocking." I sighed. "They have the exact same weird as fuck gender politics as the Grey Dragons, and we know Faceless influenced those weirdos."

Anne, now in her night gown, sat on the bed and pulled out her phone. "I'll update Raina on everything. Please be careful as you perform your investigation. It's safe to say the Wolf Pack are just waiting for their chance to strike."

She didn't have to tell me twice. I've been on edge since the beginning. "If they try anything, just immediately escape into light form. I can portal out myself if I need to." I'll have an easier time escaping if I don't have to worry about Anne's well being. I headed for the guest room door.

“Oh wait!” She stood up from her bed and hobbled over to me. She pulled off a piece of her arm and handed it to me. “Raina added a spell that’ll allow you to warp back to me instantly if you have a piece of me with you. When you’re done investigating, just squeeze that while thinking about your intentions and you’ll be sent back to this room immediately.”

Why does my friend’s abilities always have something to do with body horror?

Her brow tensed. “I can’t hear your thoughts, Panchi.”

Wait, did I not have narration blocking on this entire time? How did I not notice? Don’t tell me I was that distracted by everything.

“It’s okay…” Anne reassured me. “Just, take the blob my flesh.”

I reluctantly took it in my hands. It was definitely quite squishy. “I’ll protect it with my life.”

“It’s mostly just skin.” Anne said, shrugging off my chivalrous response. “Anyways, good luck out there, Panchi!”