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Working with Criminals

Chapter 9: The Mission Ends

For Taiko

By Draconicon

They were in the home stretch, now, and the only thing standing between him and going home - and winning this whole thing - was an alternate version of himself. Nor shook his head as he looked out at the city, bracing himself for an upcoming fight. Despite everything, the other Nor still seemed to think that it was better to work with LiL than to kick the Dane out of this Novus Ager.

"This isn't right, you know."

"Say that when the world is falling apart," Purple Nor muttered.

"You're really going to side with a bad guy?"

"Why not?"

"Because it's wrong."

"Doesn't mean that he is."

Nor shook his head again, rubbing his forehead. For all that he had been trying to make things better, for all that they had been able to work together to deal with Nemean - at least, to an extent - they were still on opposite sides. They still had different goals, different 'employers.' And for all that Nor had the right motivations - the mule was sure enough of that - the other Nor still had his own urges, his own beliefs, and his own driving forces.

And...they weren't entirely wrong.

He remembered when he had been posing as the other Nor, when he had worn that purple body, had the powers that the other Nor did. He remembered how the Lord in Lavender had taken him to bed, how the pair of them had enjoyed their bodies. How it had felt to be held by the other man, how it felt to be cared for and wanted like that. It was entirely different to what he felt from the average villain on the streets back home.

It made him think of the times that he had been with someone else like that, and he sighed. That sort of affection could buy loyalty that no cash could ever afford...and it wasn't always a bad thing.

He rubbed the back of his head as he tried to sort through it all, tried to think of a way to get around this sort of barrier between the two of them. He was sure that if he really tried - even though it wasn't his job - he could persuade Purple Nor that it would be better to kick LiL out. There were plenty of ways that Novus Ager could recover on its own, if the heroes worked together, if Meshiah was kicked out of the top office. If they were just willing to do that...

But if Purple Nor cared for the Dane that much, if that affection was returned in a way that was even close to how the Lord in Lavender seemed to care for his other self, then he doubted that there was ever going to be a chance to change his mind.

Which, probably, meant a fight.

And that, in turn, meant that he needed to go first. When it was two equal opponents fighting one another, then the one that got the first hit in was usually the one to win.

"So..."

"We still have to sort this out," Purple Nor said.

"Yeah."

"You have the crown."

"And you want to take it to your...boyfriend."

"He's more than just that..."

"He's going to make it worse. That's what all the bad guys do."

"Not all of them. But it doesn't really matter anymore."

"...What do you mean?"

Purple Nor looked back at him, shaking his head a few times. In that moment, Nor understood. There was no turning back from what he had learned to love. No pulling away from someone that he cared for that much.

It wasn't a fall, or a seduction, or a corruption. For Purple Nor, the Lord in Lavender offered a way to be a hero and a person at the same time. The Dane gave the other mule a chance to enjoy life, to have a good time, but still be doing the right thing. Someone else was making the hard decisions. Someone else was doing the stuff behind the scenes to manage all the darker things that a hero couldn't do.

It was a relationship, alright, and one that...well, if it wasn't dealing with Novus Ager, he would have been tempted to leave alone.

But Novus Ager was his city, and even though this wasn't his universe, his Novus Ager, it was still a place that he needed to protect.

So, Nor moved.

It was a quick punch, one that was meant to take down the other mule as fast as possible, to send him flying through the windows before he could start the fight properly. His arm blurred with just how much energy he threw into it, and -

CRACK!

The other Nor caught it in his palm. The two of them stood there for a moment, the crack of impact echoing through the room, and then they split again.

"You knew," Nor accused him.

"We might be from different places, but we're the same person."

"Strike first."

"End quickly. But only for villains."

"Which you are."

"No. Just in love with one."

Other heroes would have circled each other. Other supers would have held a bit of distance between each other, waiting for an opening, planning out what they wanted to do for the fight. That wasn't the case with the Nors.

They were both hosting a bio-android. They were both able to think quicker. And they were both aware that their powers were more focused on the physical than they were on anything else. There was no point in keeping distance. All that did was allow their opponent's body to start healing, fixing itself, regaining stamina.

The only thing that they could do was rush forward and hope that they managed to overwhelm their other self before they themselves were worn down.

They charged forward, kick meeting kick, punch meeting punch, headbutt meeting headbutt. They reeled back from one another, then came charging in again.

Despite being alternate versions of each other, it was not a mirrored fight. One did not see the same move being thrown every time, and they did not always clash in a Newtonian strike. They had points where one lucky blow would get through, and there were points when a surprise attack was blocked with a surprise defense.

They knew each other too well, their tactics and knowledge of combat almost exactly the same.

Almost.

Nor pushed forward, driving his blows downwards rather than upwards, and Purple Nor blocked them the way that he would have blocked punches and kicks to the groin. That wasn't quite as effective, particularly as -

"Ah!"

Purple Nor gasped, going up on his tiptoes as Nor managed to hit him right under his balls, right behind them with a nerve pinch. The other mule grunted, half-paralyzed for a second, his cock springing up.

"What...what the..."

"When you're on the bottom all the time, with people experimenting on you, you start learning all the sensitive parts..."

"But...I'm not...you..."

"No, but I think we share the same basic modifications."

Nor proved it by grabbing Purple Nor's hardening cock, jamming his thumb into several spots along the underside. They were innocuous, no different from any other part of the shaft, but as soon as he hit them -

"Ah, AH!"

Purple Nor arched his back, thrusting forward and shooting pre-cum across the floor. Nor dodged out of the way, and then rolled back from the kick that came after.

Despite the situation, Nor smiled. That was all the proof that he needed to know that he had a chance of winning this fight. For all that Purple Nor had been a better fighter earlier in the day, for all that the other version of him had been able to keep up through their match just now, he was the one that knew all of their weak points. He'd been experimented on, worked over, used, fucked, and rutted so many times by so many villains that he knew exactly where every single spot was to get them to submit.

And he planned to use every single one.

He would have been lying if he said that he didn't go into the fight grinning, and he would have been a great big deceiver if he said that it wasn't satisfying to use all the humiliation and indignations that he had gone through over the years as a weapon now. But he was happy to say that it was fun.

He dodged the next punch, and rode the grab that pulled him over Purple Nor's hips. Rather than allowing himself to be thrown, however, he tangled one of his legs with the other mule's, sending them both to the ground with a thump and a thunk. They hit the floor hard, and he was pinned under the other mule.

Pinned, but not completely helpless. Just as planned, his arms were able to reach up to Purple Nor's ass, and he managed to spread the cheeks.

"What are you doing?!"

"Showing you what we can do."

He slid a finger inside, and the other Nor gasped, particularly as the blue-red mule wiggled his finger in deeper, finding the other mule's prostate almost immediately. Long-term play had rendered his ass less sensitive to this, but for someone that was almost exclusively a top...

He grinned as Purple Nor's cock throbbed against him, felt it spitting and throbbing and bouncing every time that he wiggled his finger over that little button. He dragged his finger up, then down, sliding it in and out of that little pucker.

Looks like he's got a slightly different relationship with the bio-android... He slid a second finger in, the hole still tight, but loosening just enough to take it. It keeps him from getting harmed like this, adapting quicker...

Whereas his was more likely to try and keep it from happening in the first place, but adapted quickly once it did. Fascinating.

Finally, Purple Nor let go, his legs parting just enough to give him a chance to kick away. One bare foot kicked the real Nor in the chest, sending him rolling along the floor. He slammed into Nemean -

And he found something. Something that was smooth, something that tingled a bit to the touch. Nor bit his lips, but clenched his hand around it anyway. He didn't have time to waste on a long fight, and if this was what he thought it was...

He got back to his hooves, Purple Nor already panting, shivering on the other side of the room. Both fists were up, and so was his cock, drooling with cum. The mule shook his head, holding one hand behind his back, the other up in a defensive, open-handed position.

"This is getting ridiculous," Purple Nor muttered. "Is this how you fight back at home?"

"Not most of the time, no."

"Then just fight me the way that you'd fight them."

"Considering that wouldn't work? No. I'm a hero, not an idiot."

"...If you didn't have that damn tattoo..."

He knew exactly what Purple Nor would do. The other mule would push him down and start fucking him, try to break him with a cock that had broken hundreds of other heroes and villains in his time out here. That was a serious threat, and it was one that he was doing his utter best to mitigate.

The fact that he had won against Nemean meant nothing with that. All that would happen there would be their powers would cancel each other out, and considering that Purple Nor really had that power, and his was just a tattoo that would eventually wear out, there was no doubt who would win that contest.

No, he had to get back to teasing those weak points. If he could at least get that done, if he could push the other Nor down and get back at that hole...

And if this thing is what I think it is...

The mules closed again, and this time, the purple equine had the advantage. With four limbs free to strike, he was able to move faster, strike harder. Nor was barely able to keep up, blocking the worst of the punches and kicks and sudden strikes for his middle, but some of them were still getting through. He could feel the air getting knocked right out, little by little, tiny hisses breaking his concentration as he was pushed back.

He jumped over Nemean, and Purple Nor did the same. One foot came down on the lion's face, knocking him deeper into unconsciousness, but their fight continued regardless.

Further, farther. They fought through the bathroom, then into the hallway, then back into the main room. They skirted the edges of the window wall, barely avoiding breaking them and falling outside. The crown around Nor's arm was getting heavier and heavier, slowing him down and doing nothing to help him.

Just have to find...one opening...

He was pushing himself to the brink, though, and it was only a matter of time until he fell. Finally, with one lucky punch from the other Nor, he did.

"Ugh!"

Knocked back into Nemean's throne, Nor groaned under his breath, huffing for air as he struggled to get back to his hooves. Purple Nor, however, wasn't having any of it. He pushed forward, one foot on the mule's chest, pinning him in place.

"No more. Give me the crown."

"Mmmph...I'm not giving up yet..."

"I just knocked you down. Give it to me. There's no point in fighting more."

"There's every point. You don't give up. You never, ever give up."

"...Why do you have to be like me?"

"Why can't you be more like me?"

"Is this still about him?"

"No. It's about...you know what? Never mind."

Nor shook his head, wiggling the arm with the crown on it. It slid down to his wrist, and then down to his fingers.

"You want the crown? Here..."

He tossed it across the room. Purple Nor watched it roll away, slowly cocking his head to the side.

"...Why?"

"I'm done arguing. You want to live in a world where everything is contained, everything is restrained? You want to be in a relationship with a villain? You want to be the Nor that nobody wants to know? Fine. You be the Inquisitor. I'll go home, and I'll make sure that it never, ever ends up like what you've done here."

"...You don't understand."

"I don't want to."

And he honestly didn't. He didn't want to know what went through someone's mind to make them think that this was okay. He didn't want to understand what Purple Nor saw in the Lord in Lavender that made him think that this would work out long term.

But he most especially didn't want Purple Nor to be suspicious about what he had in his other hand.

As soon as the other Nor turned around, the mule pulled his other hand out from behind his back. He looked down, and nodded.

It was one of the plug controllers.

Purple Nor was bent over, his fingers reaching for the crown. There was no way that he would have another chance if his other self got the crown and ran. There'd never be another chance to save this place.

So, he lunged.

Purple Nor started to turn, his eyes wide at the sudden attack, but it was too late. The blue-red mule tackled him, shoving him down, that ass in the air. The plug had been aimed perfectly, humming as it turned on, tingling against the mule's fingers. The tip forced that hole open again, Purple Nor's ass accepting it without the slightest struggle.

POP!

It went in, and Purple Nor froze in mid-counterattack. He was completely paralyzed, his body tensing as it tried to fight against the small transformations that occurred up and down his frame, but there was nothing that he could do.

"That'll keep you busy for a while," Nor muttered, getting to his feet. "You'll be able to fight your way out of that, since we got rid of all the controllers, but there's no way that you'll be chasing me down with that in your system."

Purple Nor glared at him, fighting to get to his feet before falling on his side. The purple mule growled and arched his back, thrusting his hips as his cock turned more like a horse's, flaring out wider than usual, stretching up his chest towards his mouth. It was almost enough to thrust down his throat, and Nor imagined that his alternate self would be sucking it down before too much longer.

That was, if other changes didn't start grabbing his attention in the meantime.

"Good luck."

"Nnngh...you...you cheat..."

"I'm allowed to cheat when someone's working with the bad guys."

There was only so much that heroes were allowed to do, but that was something that felt right. They couldn't cheat with each other, couldn't cheat the law, couldn't cheat with the bad guys...

But if one of their number decided to fall in with a bad person, was cheating the law to make bad things happen, then they were allowed to take steps.

Nor stepped around the flailing, shifting mule, making his way to the window. The crown was back around his arm, and he was ready to head home. To his real home, not just back to the Man in Red.

He had earned this paycheck, and then some.

CRASH.

He jumped through the window, falling over six stories before he managed to jam his fist into concrete instead of glass. He slid down the side of the hotel, leaving a deep gauge through the side of it before finally landing on his hooves. Shaking his head, he walked to the train station. He was too tired to run all the way back.

"...Impossible."

That was the only word to pass the Lord in Lavender's lips as he walked through the door of the town hall. The Dane had been smiling, grinning, bragging about how his Nor was going to bring everything back to him. Loudly, too, proclaiming how well this situation was going to turn out, how it was going to send the Man in Red packing, how the mouse was foolish to believe that this contest was going to give him anything.

And now, he was completely silent.

Nor held up the crown, making sure that every hero in the building could see it. Meshiah and all his supporters had no choice but to acknowledge that he won, now.

The Man in Red chuckled, the mouse standing up from his chair and brushing off his arms. He took his cane from the table, as well as the mind control rod that Nor had seized earlier, and pocketed the latter.

"It seems like my employee succeeded."

"No, that's impossible. My Nor -"

"Didn't win. Mine, on the other hand, did."

"I'm not yours."

Nor shook his head, stepping up to the table. The albino husky held out his hands for the crown, but the mule shook his head.

"If I leave it here, then Nemean will come for it. He has enough power without this."

"Besides, it's mine now," the Man in Red said.

"...I want to negotiate that," the mule said.

"I'd be open to that, once we get to the ship."

"No, you..." The Lord in Lavender shook his head. "This is impossible. There is no way that you were able to defeat my Nor. He is..."

"Superior?" Nor asked.

"...To you, at least."

"I'd bet that you've been spying on the whole city for a while. That you have cameras everywhere. Look at the camera for the penthouse in the Hilton by the train station. You'll see what happened."

"I...need something to look that far off."

"Ah, then let me," the Man in Red said. "The penthouse of the Hilton, you say?"

The mouse tapped a few keys on his mask, and no sooner was it said than a hologram of the security recordings played out in midair. It was rewound back to the point where the door was kicked in, and...well, the whole of the embarrassing fight was played out. Nemean manhandled both Nors with humiliating ease, throwing them around the room, blocking every punch, throwing them against the wall and then through it. He had a supernatural sense of where they were going to be at any given time, and that range had been impossible to overcome.

Then it shifted over to the sexual stuff, where Nemean pounded his ass for one orgasm after another. Despite himself, Nor watched it with a bit of interest, his cock sliding forward and up a bit at the sight of his own ass getting filled over and over again. He was surprised that it was as sexy as it was.

However, all things must come to an end, and eventually, Nemean collapsed, the lion's cock pointing up and throbbing slowly. Nor pulled himself free of the hole in the wall in the recording, and he got the crown from the lion.

Then, the final confrontation.

As Purple Nor hit the ground, filled with the controlling plug and getting transformed over and over again, all eyes turned to him. The blue-red mule, still a bit stiff and erect from seeing himself get fucked on the screen, did his best not to look embarrassed. It didn't entirely work, but he gave it his best try.

Eventually, though, the hologram faded. The men and women around him were slowly looking away, sighing, but with a general feeling of admission that he had won the bet.

Even the Lord in Lavender looked like he was being forced to admit that there was no way that he could argue this. The Great Dane clenched his fists, but slowly forced himself to relax. Nor was on edge, though, right up to the point where the Dane bowed his head in a slow nod of defeat.

"I am beaten. I will abide by the terms."

"Good," the Man in Red said. "Unless you want to lose your title."

"Shut up."

"You know the rules, heh. You know what would happen if you fought it."

"Yes. All of us do."

"Then let's not make a big show of you pretending that you're so honorable. This is just self-preservation. Nothing more."

The Man in Red grabbed him by the arm, turning him around.

"Let's get back to the port. By now, everyone else should have shown up. Oh, and someone wake Olag up. Meshiah! Stop that trance nap."

"...But he needs rest."

"Oh, don't worry about him. He's going to be right as rain."

"Does he have a healing factor?"

"Better. He's the most stubborn son of a bitch I know..."

The mule was surprised to have Olag up and about as soon as the trance was done, and even more surprised to see the bruised bear calling everyone to order. Despite the fact that he'd lost the fight, the big bruiser seemed to have lost less pride than he expected. Maybe Olag had grown a bit...

Or maybe there'd been something else done. He wouldn't be surprised if the Man in Red could steal memories as well as everything else.

He stood on the edge of the main deck, looking back at the city as the ship gathered all its supplies together. The crew had 'collected' a number of foodstuffs from the city as well as a few bits of tech, and it was all going with them as they left. If Nor had felt more energetic, he might have checked the legality of that collecting, but...

Well, he'd just kicked a bad guy out of a dimension, and while he didn't know what was going to happen next, he hoped that it would lead to something better than where they were now.

It can't get that much worse, Nor thought, and hoped he was right.

Turning from the shifting, cracking, sliding city, he walked over to the hatch that led down to the corridors of the mouse's ship. It was shifting as soon as he opened the door, the different passages twisting and turning, the rooms rearranging, and he groaned.

"Can someone show me to my room?" he asked.

One of the crew members, the xenomorph that had popped down in front of him during the initial fight, nodded its big head. It slid down in a scutter and skitter, and he shivered as he watched the insect-like body move ahead of him. He followed it down, trying to be okay with the fact that something that had only existed in a movie before - and a horror movie at that - was the guide leading him to his quarters.

It was effective, at least. It led him down to a cabin at the back of the ship, or at least, what felt like the back of the ship, and gestured for him to go in. Nor nodded his thanks, going inside and flopping down on the bed.

That was comfortable, at the very least. He stared at the ceiling, still holding the crown in hand as the sound of people moving about thumped in his ears.

This thing...

He glanced at the crown. Nemean's invention had caused a great deal of problems for his world, and this other Novus Ager. It was a dangerous device in the best of hands, and while the Man in Red said that he didn't want it for his own power, that he just wanted to make it safe, Nor wasn't sure that he trusted him. The mouse hadn't given him any trust, after all. Too many secrets there...

He planned to throw it off the ship once they were underway. If he could throw it into the space between worlds, he imagined that it might float out there for all eternity. It was one thing to find an item in one of their worlds, to track down a person that held it, to find them and take it from them. It was something else to find it in the void, he imagined.

He turned the crown between his fingers, shaking his head. It was his prize, but it was far from the prize that he wanted. The mind control rod, this crown, they were just symptoms of the problems that particular Novus Ager faced. The urge to control, the urge to try and keep the city from changing - even when it might change for the better - was just going to rip it apart in the end.

Knowing that the whole place was essentially doomed, that all that he'd done was give them a bit more time to see the error of their ways, only made it feel a bit worse. It felt like he hadn't done enough, like he could do more as a hero.

But what can you do when everyone is afraid? What happens when the only one that might listen is dating a super-villain, where the heroes are wrong and the villains are right?

Nor didn't like those thoughts. He needed to get home again, where things were simpler, where he could focus on the good things rather than the bad ones.

He felt the ship suddenly vibrate, and he realized that they were underway. Getting to his feet, the mule made his way out of his room and started looking for a ladder that would take him to the deck.

Once more, he stood at the railing of the ship, looking out at the emptiness that lay between the worlds. It was a really unpleasant feeling, like a contradiction in the senses. Everything was too close and too far away at the same time, and he swore that it was only because this ship was holding itself together, keeping the unreality at bay, that he was able to stand there and see it in the first place.

If I was living...

Nor looked around. There were few others out on the main deck. The xenomorph was there, as were a few robots, but not even Olag seemed to be out and about right then. It was like anyone that was a normal mortal had gone down below decks, keeping themselves safe.

He imagined that if he had been sane, he might have done the same thing.

Nor looked at the crown, then leaned over the railing. The emptiness was right in front of him, then expanded into forever, then was there in front of him again. No escape, no getting away.

Shaking his head, he let the crown go, watching it fall, and then fade.

"Good riddance."

"For once, I agree."

Nor blinked, slowly turning around. That voice...it couldn't be...

But it was. Standing in front of him was another Nor, one that flickered slightly between the blue-red that he had and the deep purple of the Nor from the other universe. The flickers steadied the longer that he looked at his other self, and his jaw dropped as the other Nor grinned.

"How...how did you..."

"That mouse isn't the only one with tricks."

"But why are you -"

"I can't just leave LiL alone...and he has his own plans."

The mule sputtered, unable to believe his eyes and ears. They'd won. They'd won. How -

His doppelganger stepped forward, smiling. They were a complete mirror image of one another this time, from their heads to their hooves, right down to their cocks.

"You didn't think that your boss was the only one who could mess with someone's appearance, did you?" The other Nor smiled. "You got to see my city...now I'm going to see yours. And this time, it'll be my turn to raise a little hell..."

The End