*** 4. Jinxed ***
Root Cage was an assortment of huge girders and beams across a cavernous tunnel into the earth. Tents and houses were suspended along bridges spanning across the big hole's walls all the way down.
After the mine below it had been closed, the mostly underground structure had turned out easy to defend against raiders and kept growing.
The chief of the place was an older man named L, wearing an ornate hip scarf. Spirals were tattooed across his arms and torso.
"Good thing you're finally here," L said, without even letting them into the town. "One of my favorite boys, Jinx, has disappeared."
"And you think he's been kidnapped?" Tyrant asked.
"I know it. He is a freak with a powerful ability. There's a gang called Techno Vermin who kept harassing him. They want to collect freaks for some sick project."
"Hm," Asscunt made. "I've heard rumors about Techno Vermin. No one knows what they want freaks for. Haven't heard of them stealing freaks, though."
"Well, they started by stealing ours. Jinx was last seen walking out the north gate to a farm, but he never arrived."
The plan was to look along the trail until the sun grew too hot, then ask around Root Cage itself in case anyone had seen something suspicious.
They never got to step 2.
"Yo," Crisis shouted from the edge of the dirt path. "Here's something."
The others came running toward him to find the boy waving a jock strap.
Asscunt said, "You think it's Jinx'?"
"Sure do," Crisis said with a grin and showed off the hem's inseam. It had the missing boy's name on it.
"Wow," Tyrant said. "More guys should do that. Would make these missions easier. But what now?"
Bucket hopped up and down. "I see a lot of bent grass. I think there's a small trail. Like someone struggled against kidnappers."
Tyrant walked back to the hover bike and grabbed his phaser. "Let's go roast some Techno Vermin."
By the time the four punks lost the trail, a collection of buildings poked over the horizon.
As they got closer, those buildings turned out to be ruins. Collapsed structures from before the fall of civilization were sprinkled with new SparkSteel materials. Someone was trying to build something new.
The boys snuck up on the only source of noise.
A few dozen guys were busy constructing a huge, bumpy dome from metal plates and wire. Around the site were lots of tents.
"Looks like we found the Techno Vermin lair," whispered Tyrant.
The gang members were easily identified by their uniforms – loin cloths in a neon red, blue or yellow, plus a bandana of the same color. Each Techno Vermin guy had a complex symbol tattooed on the area between navel and crotch – the gang's logo.
Additionally, some men had one to four thick stripes tattooed across their chest and a matching mark on their upper back.
"Ranks," Bucket said. "They use ink strokes as rank symbols. If we take the high ranking one's out first, we can create chaos and break them quickly."
Tyrant grinned. "We'll keep an eye on that option. But I don't wanna to take on a whole gang till I know if they got weapons anywhere. And we still dunno where Jinx is."
"Um... Yo? Hello there?" said someone behind them.
The punks turned around to see a Techno Vermin boy, flanked by two well-muscled men with two rank strokes. The boy had a neon blue cloth and wore a lion mask covering his head.
"Fuck..." Tyrant said. "We were just... um."
"You were sneaking up on our lair," said the lion-masked boy. "I was on the lookout. I spotted you. So... you're here to join?"
Join? Tyrant switched tracks instantly. Without the element of surprise, a fight was probably not winnable.
"Maybe," said the punk leader. "We wanted to check out what the Techno Vermin have to offer. Although... the folks at Root Cage don't seem too happy with you."
"Ah," said the lion. "Heard about Jinx? Yeah, he didn't wanna come on his own but I think we convinced him. Come on, have a look."
Bucket hummed. "We can just walk in?"
The lion boy shrugged. Normally not, but we're planning on going public – becoming a registered gang. So we can do our thing in peace. And I think King is going to like some new recruits, as long as...," he looked at Bucket's pitch black eyes, "...you bring your freak into the gang, too."
The entire group walked around the dome construction site, although the lion's bodyguards kept looking menacing as they flanked the newcomers.
Behind the dome was the lair's biggest tent. Inside, an older, bald guy was getting his dick sucked by a Techno Vermin boy, while one more licked his ass and two others worked their tongues between his toes.
"King?" the lion said. "I brought some kids who want to check us out. One's a freak."
King shoved the boy licking his ass away to sit up, but let the other sluts continue. King himself had five rank strokes and the symbol under his navel was bigger and more complex.
"Perfect," King said. "Here's the sale's pitch. You know freak cum was used to make medicine, right? But Sunbreaker found out how to produce the substance without having to milk freaks all the time. What you don't know..."
King got up and the boys at his feet scrambled. He came closer, holding the dick sucking boy by his mohawk to drag him along. The gang leader stepped close to Bucket.
"...What you don't know is, there was secret research on transferring freak powers from one person to another. It was ages ago, but I got my hands on the notes."
"Wow," Crisis said. It was the first time he had spoken since arriving at the lair. "I wouldn't mind becoming a freak. Powers are the most awesome thing I've seen here. Wait, does the original freak lose his power in the transfer?"
"Worse," King said. "He dies. That's why the research was stopped. But by combining the technology with cum processing it's possible to get some of the effect without killing a freak."
"So..." Bucket said, "you just need freak cum?"
"Loads of it – no pun intended. Unfortunately Jinx is the only freak in the area and we started off on the wrong foot... Just a second..."
King sighed softly and pushed the dick sucking Techno Vermin firmly into his crotch. The gagging kid held onto his leader's hips as his throat got filled.
"Aight," King said and kicked the sucker to the side. "Let's show you how Jinx got around to helping us voluntarily."
The kid with the lion mask stayed behind but his bodyguards walked alongside King, who put on a blue bandana and – otherwise nude – led the trash punks outside to a different tent.
This tent was partly reinforced with wire fence plates as if they Techno Vermin wanted to armor it up. Did they keep treasure inside? Or weapons?
Instead the punks got to see a boy whose appearance matched Jinx – about 20, a long chartreuse mohawk brushed to one side and ringed nipples.
"Man," Crisis whispered to Asscunt. "I thought I was getting used to seeing sex everywhere but this is the weirdest orgy I could imagine."
Three Techno Vermin with one rank strip kissed Jinx, played with his nipples, fingered his ass and rubbed oil on his skin. But nobody attended his dick, because it was hooked up to a machine. The dick pump slowly squeezed Jinx' tool over and over, siphoning precum into a tank.
King gestured. "We haven't built a cum-harvester as good as the one Sunbreaker originally constructed, but we're working our way there. For now, my men don't mind helping out manually. Do you feel like staying, too?"
Crisis raised his hand. "Yo, can you really give freak powers to non-freaks?"
King half-nodded. "We had some successes, but it's a fickle process and only temporary. We need more experiments."
The trash punks excused themselves for a moment and talked outside, next to the ongoing dome-construction.
Bucket pondered for a while. "I don't mind getting Jinx' treatment, but I don't want to join a gang. Especially when they're not officially registered."
Crisis interrupted. "I'd join instantly if I can get freak powers here. It's just – everything's new for me here, so I'm not sure I can make the jump. And exactly what is bad about not being registered?"
Tyrant pointed back toward Far Summit. "Right now they're technically petty criminals. If NewLaw wanted, all Techno Vermin would get an arrest order on their heads. They get off the hook cause this is the frontier, but... one big misstep and it's enslavement."
Crisis frowned. "I'll think about it later, then. Do we just leave?"
Tyrant shook his head. "We won't get paid unless we solve the `kidnapping'."
Jinx struck a deal with the gang. He would officially join and produce cum, but he was also allowed to go back home occasionally – a privilege not afforded to other members.
At Root Cage, the trash punks were welcomed outside the city again.
Tyrant whispered, "The chief's not even lettin' us in when we have Jinx with us."
Asscunt chuckled. "Looks like the Cage folk are a little... cagey."
"If you have such a way with words, you can do the talkin'. I'll stay with Bucket by the bike. I need to unload."
"Piss?" asked Bucket.
"Yeah. But now that I think about it, I'll fuck your face, too."
Chief L welcomed Jinx back, although he wasn't happy to hear the boy was going to join a gang.
Crisis watched as Asscunt pulled aside his thong and the chief held a tiny device to the taint barcode.
"What was that?" Crisis asked.
"Payment. Digital bottle caps can't be stolen."
"So if I want my share," Crisis said, "we need to find a scanner to transfer... from ass to ass?"
Asscunt shook his head. "The payment goes automatically to Tyrant as long as he's unit leader. There are no shares. Let's just wait here till he calls us. If we watch him fuck he goes extra slow."
"Does he not like being watched?"
"The other way around. He loves it. He'd put on a show and probably rough Bucket up a bit more. Wanna fuck, too, while we wait?"
Crisis grumbled. "I fucked you already today."
"So?"
"I'm just not exactly into boys."
"Oh, I see. I like men more, too. Especially when they're buff and put their full weight on me."
Crisis sighed. "Yeah, sure. That's what I meant."
Note: Will Crisis join the gang? Will he get powers? Will he learn to enjoy boy ass more? Stay tuned.
Chapter 5: Muscles Over Mind