The Protagonist System
356 The Routine

After Cecil handled moving the Mauler Twins to different floors and also different sections, inadvertently giving me their locations, he resumed my interview. With the extra knowledge he knew I had picked up from Robot's computers, it went fairly quickly.

Cecil approved me for both confidential materials and top secret materials, mostly because of my own involvement with Omni-man and the cover-up. That was one of the most important secrets the GDA was keeping from the population.

“I hope the acquisition of the remains in Chicago went smoothly.” I commented.

Cecil's eyes narrowed. “How did you know we had an operation like that?”

“I overheard Dr. Sinclair in the cafeteria yesterday about how he had so much work and had to ask for more medical personnel to help prepare all the incoming assets.” I answered.

Cecil lost the stern look and sighed. “I need to have another talk with him about operational security.”

I chuckled and shook my head. “No, sir. He was well within any terms of the NDAs you had us sign. It's only because of my own experience with him and the Reanimen. It's what led to Amber and I breaking up, so I wasn't going to forget about it anytime soon.”

Cecil nodded and sat back in his chair again. “You don't seem upset that I instigated a contingency plan like that.”

“I'm not, as long as they get a proper burial and acknowledgement. Most of them should have signed their organ donor cards and you're just making sure the rest of their remains aren't wasted.”

Cecil gave me a searching look for a moment, then nodded again. He grabs a folder from the stack and slids it across the desk to me.

I open it and read it in moments. “Is Immortal okay with this?”

Cecil huffs. “He thinks if he's in charge and starts training them properly, he won't lose against your father when he comes back.”

I closed the folder and slid it back. “Nolan's not coming back.”

Cecil looks surprised. “What makes you say that?”

“He failed his mission and abandoned his post. I think that's considered treason in the Viltrum Empire.” I said and reported fully on when Invincible had a skirmish with an alien named Allan months ago, which was well before I took over Mark's life.

Allen was a red skinned cyclops that could survive in space and was a member of the Coalition of Planets that was supposed to be the counterpoint to the Vultrum Empire. Surprisingly, just then Cecil's phone beeped at him with an emergency signal and he put it on the screen.

“I'm sorry to interrupt you, sir. We've detected a humanoid object entering the solar system.” Donald Ferguson, his executive officer said.

“What are the odds?” I asked jokingly and Cecil motioned towards the ceiling. “Yes, sir.”

I left the office, waved at Carol, and ran to the closest exit. I flew over to the front gate and the guards let me out with a salute and a thank you. I flew up into the air and increased my speed as I was given the telemetry over my earpiece and I flew out into space in the right direction to meet the object, which was about halfway through the solar system.

*

Atom Eve woke up with a start, as if she was shocked or something. She was instantly awake and sat up as she looked around, slightly confused about where the hell she was, then her face flushed red when she remembered she was on top of the Great Pyramid and what had happened. She had sex with a complete stranger!

The ache down there started to throb and she didn't mind, because it was a satisfying throb and the sex had been great. No, that wasn't a good enough description. The sex had been fantastic and Eve did things she never would have done with Rex, things he had begged her to do and she had vehemently refused.

In her mind, it was dirty to do certain things, especially in a certain order, like doing it in the butt without a thorough cleaning first or sucking him off after he had dumped a load into a condom. It was gross! Didn't he know that a condom tastes terrible after the spermicide activates?

Or maybe it was Rex that tasted terrible. Eve thought and blushed again, because she remembered swallowing a lot of fluid last night. In fact, she still felt a little bloated down there in her belly, inside her abdomen, and also inside her bowels.

Her thoughts screeched to a halt when she realized she wasn't supposed to feel either of the last two things. The condoms should have caught everything and... oh dear god. They hadn't use a condom. Not one. The sex had been completely raw, unwrapped and unfiltered. Eve had been filled up in all of her holes, many many times. She even begged for it, because she had been fully lost in the pleasure.

Eve moved the blanket off of her and looked down to see pure white fluid dribbling out of her. She reached down and gently probed her other hole and sighed with relief, because it had snapped back to its normal state and wasn't the gaping maw she had ordered him to make it. Why did she do that? Because it felt wonderful at the time and she came so hard as he pounded her g-spot from that side.

“I am such a slut.” Eve said when she realized she didn't even ask him his name. She stood up and held the blanket around herself to stay covered and wondered where it came from.

After a moment, she dissolved the mattress into atoms and the bunch of white deposits on it dropped to the stone top of the pyramid. She reformed her costume around herself and sighed with relief at no longer being naked. She looked at the blanket and wondered if she should leave it there or take it with her.

When she thought about the night before, she couldn't give up the only thing she had to remember it by. Well, besides the fluids still filling her. She needed a shower. And a bath. And maybe a visit to a pharmacy. She hugged the blanket and flew up into the air to head home and hoped she might meet her mystery lover again. The thought of stalking Mark to see if that would work, made her laugh.

*

It actually was Allen out in space and we greeted each other like old friends, because fights between guys did that, and we sat on an asteroid near Jupiter and we had a conversation about recent events, mostly about Omni-man leaving. The large alien looked surprised, then he looked worried. Allen warned me that the Viltrumites would be coming for Earth when they learned about Nolan leaving, which just confirmed my own report to Cecil.

I was also asked to help the Coalition with stopping the Viltrumites and their aggressive expansion. Of course, I said I would think about it; but, it wouldn't be soon. I had high school to finish first and a lot of work back on Earth to do before I would consider leaving the planet for any length of time.

Just our continued alliance of non-aggression between us is good enough for now. Allen thought to me and shook my hand. I'll relay it to the Leader of the Coalition and he should be happy about that. He lifted up off of the surface of the asteroid. Good luck with whatever high school is!

I chuckled and waved as he flew off at a much higher speed than he used entering the solar system. I flew back to Earth and spoke over the earpiece as soon as I entered it's nominal range and it came back online. Cecil was not happy to hear that more Viltrumites were going to show up eventually and he had to activate a few contingency plans and accelerate their completion.

I didn't bother telling him not to rush, because they could show up at any time. It all depended on if they found out where Omni-man ran off to, assuming they would care. Earth was his post and it was currently without an overlord to shepherd it into the Empire's loving embrace.

That thought made me laugh and I landed back near the front gate of the pentagon and the soldiers greeted me again and let me through. I went to the same side entrance and April Howsam was there.

“I was going to joke about us having to stop meeting like this, except Cecil approved my clearances.” I told her and she shut the door behind us.

“I know.” April said and held out an official badge to clip to my suit. Her eyes went over my chest, the neck of my suit, then down to my belt.

“My eyes are up here.” I joked and she rolled her eyes.

“I'll get you a lanyard you can wear on your neck or your wrist.” April said and tucked the badge back into her suit coat pocket. “There's nowhere... ahem... safe for you to clip this on.”

“I can hold it in my teeth for now.” I suggested and she laughed.

“No, you're not going to be any trouble at all with unrestricted access around here.” April said and delivered me back to Carol. She buzzed me into the office and I went in to report officially to Cecil and wrote out the report right in front of him.

I included my observations about Allen's outfit, his estimated strength, and the composition of the asteroid I was on and I set several broken chunks of ore onto his desk. The man called for a scientist and a metallurgist, because the obvious metallic sheen on parts were eye-catching.

“You do realize there's no real promotions for people with powers, right?” Cecil asked me.

I nodded. “I just figured I was there anyway, why not give the eggheads a thrill, too?”

Cecil huffed before the door buzzed and two quite excited men entered the office with several handheld devices. They used them to scoop up the chunks of asteroid and then talked excitedly at the preliminary results as they left at a fast walk.

“Told you.” I said with a grin.

“Get your ass out of my office.” Cecil said without any heat. “Your fans are waiting.”

I saluted a proper crisp military salute, surprising him enough that he returned it before he realized he didn't have to, and I ran out of there as he softly cursed at my back. Carol looked like she was fighting to not laugh as she held out my badge on a ribbon-like cloth that I could hang around my neck.

“Thanks, Carol.” I said and slipped it on. “Am I on early lunch like yesterday or late lunch today?”

“As if they'd let you take a late lunch.” Carol said and nodded at the door behind me.

I barely turned around before I was swarmed by happy and giggling women and then I was practically carried to the cafeteria to participate in another mass discussion that they were still surprised I could keep up with, even with the majority of them talking at once.

I didn't tell them I had a lot of experience being around a large group of women, because that was not the role I was playing. I was a new and inexperienced hero and needed their help and advice about what to do and what not to do when out in public. Also, showing them that I valued their opinions, made them like me even more, as if that was possible.

After lunch, I returned to Cecil's office and gave Carol her cheek kiss and an apology. Her thoughts let me know she had confirmed that no one else had received one and she hid her happiness over that fairly well. I popped in to Cecil's office and asked if he had any priority targets for my patrol and he didn't, so I repeated the same one I did the day before.

Washington DC, New York, and then across the Atlantic Ocean to hit up the major cities in Europe. I made my away around the globe and ended right back at the edge of the mountain where the Guardians of the Globe had their base. I didn't have to wait long before the roof access was opened and I flew over and floated gently down.

A very happy Amanda stood there in the hangar waiting for me. Her all white top and skirt were both sexy and conservative and her curves were highlighted to show of her adult body to full effect. Apparently, my example with my hero suit had a much bigger impact on her than I thought it did.

“Hey there, handsome.” Amanda said, her voice dripping with sexiness as her eyes drank all of me in. “You kept your promise.”

“I didn't want to disappoint my biggest fan.” I said as I landed and she let out a laugh.

“Come on. Everyone's waiting in the living room for you.” Amanda said and took my hand.

“Wait, everyone?” I asked as she led me out of the hangar and the roof access closed.

“After you showed off with the food yesterday, they can't wait to see what you can pull off with what Rudy restocked the refrigerator with.” Amanda said. “We've been kind of picking at what was left from last week's delivery for a few days and this week's order came in this morning.”

“Ah, then there should be lots of choices for a good meal and not scrounging with the dregs?” I asked and she nodded.

“Yes, and you better not disappoint me.” Amanda said and gave me a look. “In any capacity.”

I understood what she meant and winked at her. She beamed a smile at me and we entered the living room. Everyone really was there, including the Immortal. He looked both stern and unbending, so I would have to be careful with the joking with him around.

Amanda brought me into the industrial kitchen and let my hand go to pull open the huge double fridge and then waved dramatically at it. “Go for it, Atlas. Show us what you can do with all of that.”

I looked at the stuffed fridge and several different meals went through my head. “Do you want me to tell you or should I let you figure it out as you watch me cook?”

Amanda walked over to the counter and sat her heart-shaped ass on a stool. “Surprise me.”

I decided that breaded chicken strips and poutine would be the quickest and tastiest thing to make, especially if I cheated with the gravy and broiled some steaks for the drippings. It would also give me another meat option if someone didn't like chicken or preferred red meat to white. I pulled out what I needed, crackers, eggs, the chicken, the steaks, various spices and seasonings, flour, and a bag of potatoes.

It wasn't only Amanda's attention I had with everything I had taken out. It wasn't long before both Dupli-Kate and Shrinking Rae made their way over to the stools by the counter and sat there to watch me work. The three of them started whispering about what I was doing with two different types of meat and two different kinds of cooking, one with the oven and the other with inch deep grease in a frying pan. It confused them and that was the point.

I kept working as the smells filled the kitchen and there were several rumbling stomachs complaining as the smell spread further. I held in my chuckle because one of the loudest was Amanda's. A brief touch on her thoughts gave me the answer. She had skipped lunch to save up her appetite for the food I was going to make, even though she didn't know for sure that I would show up.

I moved between my different tasks, making home fries in the deep fryer, breading the chicken strips and frying them in the pan, then checking on the broiling steaks to see if the drippings were coming together well. I kept working and prepared the mozzarella cheese into strips and little cubes, because they melted faster under boiling gravy that way, and I soon only had to wait for the steaks to finish cooking to make the gravy.

By the time everything was ready, I had several piles of chicken strips, three mounds of home fries, and a huge pot of gravy. I set everything up on the counter in an assembly line, then took a plate and added a handful of chicken strips, two handfuls of home fries, sprinkled a generous amount of cheese over the fries, and smothered it with gravy.

“Ta-daaa!” I said and put the heaping plate in front of Amanda. “With my compliments.”

Amanda almost purred as she tried one of the breaded chicken strips and then forked several large fries into her mouth. “Thash sho goosh!”

I stepped back and waved at the platters and bowls of food. “Help yourselves.” I said and everyone grabbed a plate, even Immortal, and formed a line to start serving themselves. “If you don't like chicken, I cut the steaks up into strips and you can have that instead. Or both. It's your stomach.”

A few of them chuckled and I waited until they all served themselves before I made up my own plate and refilled Amanda's. She gave me a grateful look and we stayed there at the counter to eat. The others went to the large table and enjoyed the food there, and they did enjoy it. Rex came back for seconds and Dupli-Kate split herself into three to take two more plates.

Amanda and I finished at nearly the same time and she told everyone she was taking me around the base again to finish the tour. She took my hand and led me out of the common area that everyone used and brought me right to her private room and locked the door.

“We'll never finish the tour at this rate.” I joked and pulled my suit down and off.

“Don't worry, Greg. We can keep trying for as long as it takes.” Amanda smiled sexily at me and pulled off her own clothes. She jumped on me and I caught her, brought her over to the bed, and kissed my way down her body to her soaked opening. It was clenching with need and I dove in there with my tongue to make sure it was satisfied before filling it up with what she really wanted.

That was how my typical weekend shift at work was going to be handled from now on.