"The reports of my death are greatly exaggerated." Amelia Long gave the reporters her best cold smile. "I'm neither dead nor crippled for life," she said and turned 360° to give everybody a good look at her curves. Laughter filled the room and a reporter raised his hand. "Ms. Long, can you give us your statement about the attack? According to witnesses you were attacked by several class holders." Amelia smiled, "It is true, I was attacked unprovoked in the middle of a residential area by several individuals. It is a small miracle that nobody besides me was injured or killed."

Whispers went through the room and another question came from a female reporter. "Are you saying you have not been hurt by the attack? First reports sounded horrifying." Amelia put on a somber face, "Of course I was hurt, badly. Even I can not stay unscathed by such a heinous attack. As you can see I lost my eyebrows for the time being. I miss them dearly," she ended the sentence with a smile and earned more laughter. "What about the attackers? Cerberus and other clans have been very active since the attack. Were you able to identify them?" An older gentleman asked, less taken in by her allure. "I will not remark about our ongoing campaign, but I can assure you that all attackers and those behind the attack will suffer justice by the hand of Cerberus. No matter how long it will take." Amelia smiled and Lorelei felt a cold shower running down her spine.

Lorelei stopped the video of the press conference, and looked at the woman with the deadly smile. How was this possible? Lorelei had watched the attack live and she had seen how successful it had been, that were not wounds a human can survive. Was this woman on the screen fake? An illusion maybe? How could she still breathe and more than that, how could she be this healthy! Lorelei took deep breaths and gathered her thoughts. The retribution after the attack would have been bad enough with a dead Queen of Hearts, but now that she was evidently alive… Lorelei had to prepare her exit fast.

Azaa pressed her face against Marcus' large shoulder to suppress the sounds of her pleasure. Marcus was sitting on a simple bed and she was sitting on him, moving her hips, biting, clawing at him. His hands were on her rear pressing her hips against his and with every circular move the pleasure rose until she was overtaken once more by the elation. For half an hour Marcus and Azaa burned through most of their pent up sexual desire before they rested and continued to hold on to each other in silence.

They were in a small room. Only a standard bed, a closet, a table and a chair filled the few square meters. But it was private and that was all that mattered to them right now. Marcus would not even be able to say what color the walls had or any other feature of the room, all he knew was Azaa. He slowly bent her back and held her safely in his arms while he stimulated her breasts and neck with his lips and tongue.

"Marcus" she whispered, fully happy with her decision to come to Earth to find him. They needed each other, they were meant for each other, Azaa could feel it. The lovers cooled down until the whole hour was spent. They left their small piece of heaven and returned to Janette and Cherry, who were currently in Cherry's official office.

"I hate that wig. I can't wait until my hair has regrown. Is there not some Alchemist potion for hair growth? Men seemed to be very into that." Cherry complained and threw the special wig on the table. "Your hair will grow back, and I will get to see you for the first time with short hair." Janette said with a grin. Marcus and Azaa entered the room after a soft knock. "How are things going?" Marcus asked in a chipper tone. "Not as good as they are for you two. Did you make good use of that small room?" Janette said with her best demon smile on her face. Marcus' ears turned red in an instant but the beautiful woman next to him said "We did. It was very enjoyable." And Cherry chuckled at that brazen answer.

"On our side, we were also able to make progress. We found two of my attackers, dead of course. Disposed before we could question them, but it still gave us hints. Ghostheart had been very willing to cooperate and to prove they had nothing to do with the attack. As it turns out they were hacked and this is how the schedule of the meeting leaked. We are certain that this was not the doing of another clan." Cherry explained and showed various facts and information on the large central screen in her office.

The whole place was as spartan as all of Cerberus. Functional, robust and with very little comfort. "We have identified most of the classes of the bastards who attacked me, and we have used AI to sieve through mountains of data. It is only a matter of time before we find the rest. I'm particularly keen on meeting the Weapon Master who cut off my limbs. Good thing I had my artifact necklace with me or my head would have been cut too." Cherry said and Marcus felt a painful sting inside him. Janette kissed her wife and gave her worried looks, "You will never leave the house without that thing again." Cherry nodded.

"We have also started to make progress on the organization behind the attacks." Cherry said. "Already?" Marcus was impressed. "It is only a hunch for now, but we have been clashing with a covert group for some time, and they seem to be far more resourceful than we first expected. Such a group would be able to finance a hit like this, and have the balls to do so in the first place. Trying to take me out, bold move." Marcus's jaw muscles worked and he hoped the culprits would be found soon, and that he was there when it happened. "Our best lead is actually another criminal organization, that was handling the hire and payment of the assassins. We know where they are and are going to raid them soon. Somebody there must know who put the hit on me," Cherry said.

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"I would like to help with the raid, if you have any use for me." Marcus said and for the first time Azaa moved next to him. "Is that wise? The attackers were able to harm Cherry, who is a lot stronger than you," she said and Marcus smiled at her "It is okay. I'm not going to be alone there, and most of them will be much weaker. Honestly, I might not even have to do anything," he said to calm Azaa down.

"I'm against it." To Marcus' surprise this sentence came from Janette. He turned to her with a bewildered look. "Why?" All eyes were on Janette as she walked very close to Marcus. "How are you feeling Marcus?" She asked. "I'm fine," he said with a smile, but Janette locked eyes with him. "How are you feeling?" She repeated and Marcus was confused about what was going on. "Should I not ask you? Cherry is your wife," he said but Janette did not budge.

"I'm full of rage and hatred for the people who tried to take Cherry from me. I'm hurting because they hurt her, and I'm infinitely thankful that you saved her life. How are you feeling Marcus?" Janette asked again. Marcus did not know what to say. "I'm fine," he said but his hand was shaking and Azaa saw it. Janette reached out and touched his face, "How are you feeling Marcus?" Marcus felt a hot wave run through his body, suddenly he had problems breathing and his heart started to race. Janette gently moved his head so he could clearly see Cherry and asked again, "How are you feeling?" And a shiver went through Marcus. He stomped the floor and a small earthquake shook the room. "I'M FINE!" He shouted and stepped back. Silence filled the room.

"I'm sorry," Marcus said with a thin voice. "I didn't mean to…," he tried to apologize but Janette forced on. "Don't hide your emotions. Let them out," Janette said and he was still shaking. He looked at Azaa and she had a painful look on her face. "...it hurts." His voice was thin and broken. "I can not lose you. I don't know what I… I HATE THEM. They have to die!... I want to make sure… nobody can hurt you. You stay with me." A flood of incoherent words came out of his mouth and the shaking did not stop.

Cherry was quickly next to him and hugged him tightly. Marcus felt weak and stupid. It was not okay to show so much weakness, not in front of Azaa, but it felt so good to be hugged. Cherry was warm and alive. Her body was healthy, not torn and burned. The memory of her broken form still haunted him. After some time Janette asked again. "How are you feeling Marcus?" And he whispered. "Sad and angry. Afraid. Helpless." A wave of emotions broke out from some dark place inside of him, and he held on to Cherry and Janette, sharing his pain with them.

Azaa watched all of this with a turmoil of emotions inside of her, self loathing, jealousy, pain, sadness. She had not seen it. She had not noticed anything wrong with Marcus. Just minutes ago they had made love and everything seemed fine. But it was not, nothing was fine. Marcus had been hurting on the inside, so badly it nearly broke him, and she had not noticed at all. He was her mate, and yet Janette knew him much better. Janette had seen his pain and did not hesitate to act. I'm a failure, Azaa thought. Not even my own mate I can… Janette came over and pulled her close to Marcus and soon after, his arms were around her.

She could feel the heat of his body, and the pain in his every breath. Janette and Cherry stepped away and Marcus held on to Azaa. She gave into the warmth and she could feel his gentle touch, his affection for her. "Don't let go of me," Marcus whispered into her ear. "I love you so much. Don't leave me because I'm weak." And Azaa understood this much, his pain ran deeper than she had thought. "I'm not going anywhere."

"Marcus is afraid to lose the people he loves, like he lost his mother and his father," Janette said to Azaa while Marcus was in the bath to freshen himself up. "All his friends know that," she said and Azaa nodded. The trauma from that time had left its mark on him even years later. "Somewhere deep inside of him, he thinks he is worthless and that was the reason he was left alone," Janette said and Cherry followed up. "He can not see his own worth and risks his life for others without hesitation because of that. Marcus can not believe he is worth being loved or being wanted, always afraid to be left by those he needs the most."

"You know him so well and I failed to understand," Azaa said discouraged. "But you will in time, because you love him too," Janette said and Azaa nodded. The ginghi woman looked into the eyes of the human woman Janette, who also loved her Marcus. In a different way, but no less than her, she could see that now.

Marcus returned and looked suspiciously at the three women, "There is no chance you did not talk about me, right?" They all shook their heads and he groaned. "Well, at least you look better now, and I'm willing to take you with me, when we go kick the butts of those bastards." Janette said and Marcus smiled. Azaa walked next to him and took his hand. "I can not go with you without causing a lot of trouble for my people. So you have to be careful and return to me safely." Marcus smiled at her, "I will, don't worry." And she believed him.

It was night and Xeen was silent. Marcus had forgotten to mute him all day long. Xeen had tried to find a moment to tell him. Things had moved so quickly from one to the next event, that there had not been an opportune moment to do so, without breaking Marcus out of the situation. Xeen had received the raw emotions and thoughts of Marcus, the happiness, the joy, the pain and the feelings caused by his trauma. He knew Marcus' pain, read his thoughts and all of it rushed into him with no way to hide from it or deny it. Xeen's own emotions stirred and flamed up, illuminating the massive hole inside of him. A hole carved by a life spanning millennia, a life of loss and horrors. The people he had lost or left behind, the atrocities he had committed in the name of a greater good, millions of decisions he had made and the many he regretted for all of eternity. It all echoed through his vast mind. He was in pain, but he was also glad. Glad he had met Marcus, glad he had died and was forced to see the world through the naive eyes of youth. Xeen looked at the hole inside of him and filled some of it with the warmth he felt for Marcus.

In the vastness of the Astral Plane, where neither light nor sound existed, where distance was nothing and all was controlled by the Monitor, Marcus was bound to Xeen. This had never happened before. An unplanned anomaly and a break in protocol. Unexpected consequences were predicted, elimination was trivial. The Monitor had decided against it. Anomaly meant variation, meant new outcomes. The updated calculations predicted failure, but the deviation was unusually large. A final result could not be stated with certainty. The process needed to manifest.

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