"Well, that's your... room, for lack of a better word, set up," I said. "For now, anyhow. If this turns into a long-term arrangement, we can throw together something more solid and permanent."

Lisa was a werefox. Foxes lived in subterranean dens. We had a basement. Therefore, Lisa's preferred living space was a rug with two big pillows and a soft blanket on top, surrounded by some folding room-dividers, in our basement.

"If you wake up in the middle of the night and you're hungry, just tell one of the robot maids to make you something, and they'll do it," I continued. "You gotta specify what you want them to make, though."

"Fair enough," Lisa said. "Gotta say, when I smelled barbecue and came to beg, I was not expecting to get adopted by a friendly neighborhood Bond Villain."

"Uncharitable, but... not inaccurate," I admitted. "My aptitudes do lie in that direction, for all that I've been forced by circumstance to pretend I'm Batman instead."

"So you and Veronica are Superbat but genderbent, basically?" Lisa asked.

"Mmm... No, I'd say it's more that one New-52 line that starred Power Girl and Huntress," I said. "Which may not exist in this world. Or maybe it does, but it's actually well-written and not a loose mishmash of badly-connected garbage. Fuck, in a world with real superheroes, maybe cape books are actually the dominant force in the comics market, instead of Dav Pilkey's work. Of course, technically Pilkey did get his start with cape books." I blinked. "Sorry, I have ADHD."

"Hadn't noticed," Lisa said.

"Anyhow, the house is pretty well-insulated and soundproofed," I said. "Still try to keep it down, but chances are, nobody's gonna hear it if you've gotta jerk off."

"Classy," Lisa said. "Mn. Well. I'm out of questions."

"I'll get out of your hair then, unless you want me to stay and chat," I said. As Lisa turned into a fox and began tugging the blanket to fold over and cover herself, I took that as a tacit dismissal, and left the basement.

Whereupon I almost immediately bumped into Akane, waiting for me at the top of the stairs.

"...Hi," I said, brought up short.

"Hey," Akane said. "Can we... talk? In private?"

"...Sure, lead the way," I said.

The house was big, but not unreasonably or overwhelmingly so. 'Big enough' was probably the best term for it; it didn't feel cramped or even terribly small. There was room enough for privacy and pacing, without it being more than a minute, and closer to half one, to get from the top of the basement steps to the door to Akane's room.

Her room was... well, her room. It wasn't yet a disastrous mess, because she hadn't slept there even once yet, but there was a very large desk- she'd been eager to upgrade, with more space- that I knew for a fact would be a fucking clutter magnet. Thankfully, her model B-52 was still ceiling-mounted rather than perched upon her desk; that was a particular crisis averted.

The bed, likewise, was also very large, large enough to comfortably fit three adults sleeping side-by-side without touching. Whether this was simply an indulgence of comfort or a tacit declaration of intent, I was uncertain. Either way, when Akane sat on the bed, I did not follow her example, and instead used her desk chair.

"Ah, the door," Akane realized, standing up, and then slowly sitting back down as the door closed on its own. "...I didn't know you could do that."

"Control is a broad aptitude, and the one most central to my mad science," I said. "The most basic application of controlling technology is one I've long used against other Demiurges, but... well, it has other uses, too."

"Right, right," Akane said, nodding. "That... is what I wanted to talk to you about. Your ability to control people."

I sighed. "So... mad science is generally pretty light on truth, but all the same, pursuing it does inevitably lead you to confronting unpleasant truths about yourself. And one of my unpleasant truths is that I'm very, very good at imposing my will on people, when I care to try."

"That's..." Akane trailed off.

"You ever notice how I don't argue with you for very long?" I asked. "It's not because I get distracted by your tits and forget I'm supposed to disagree with you. It's because I know when something's become a contest of wills. And I know that I could win. But I'd regret it. So, I give up. I let you have your way. Because the alternative is giving into my worst excesses, and taking my way from you."

"You hold yourself back," Akane mused.

"I exercise restraint," I corrected her. "I will forever bear the stamp of exclusion, isolation, Banishment... but I will forever labor to not make that anyone else's problem. What happened to me was a grave injustice, but that injustice will not be addressed by me bullying everyone I come across into getting my way. So... I restrain myself. I acknowledge that what I want in the moment is not always what is best, and that compromise is a necessity for surviving in the world we actually live in. I maintain my ideals, and I correct injustice where I can. And that means not acting like a teenager with no emotional regulation.

"It means accepting that, just because I want to have sex with you, does not mean doing so is a good idea, because of the power imbalance inherent to the mentor/teacher relationship." I sighed. "One day, when I feel you have properly come into your own as a demiurge, when I am confident that I could take away my training wheels and you would not falter, then I will consider your apprenticeship to be over, and you will be my peer. A junior partner in our collaborative, but a partner nonetheless. But that day has not come yet, and may not come for many more months."

"So if I want to get laid, I have to demonstrate that I understand mad science well enough to walk the rest of the path unaided?" Akane asked.

I inhaled deeply through my nose, and sighed loudly through my mouth. "Akane, when I gave that big speech about restraint and self-control, I wasn't just talking to hear my own voice."

"It is a really nice voice, though," Akane pointed out.

"I'd start carrying a spray bottle, but I'm worried you'd start liking it," I said, standing up and heading for the door. "Restrain yourself, and focus on your studies."

"Yes, Mom."

Many sexual fantasies started with Veronica Vega softly knocking on your bedroom door at night. But because I actually knew her and where we stood, and that she didn't like being touched, and also that she had some unreasonable takes, it was instead the start of what I knew in my heart would be a big pain in the ass.

"What do you want, Veronica?" I asked grumpily, opening the door.

"...Do you really sleep in a bathrobe?" Veronica asked.

"I prefer to sleep naked, actually," I said. "The bathrobe is the shortest path between nudity and decency. Again: what the hell do you want?"

"To speak with you regarding one of your apparently many questionable life choices," Veronica said. "May I come in?"

"Sure, but we should have this conversation telepathically, to avoid waking anyone up," I said. "My brain has never quite worked right, and I've historically had difficulty controlling the volume of my voice."

"Ah, so that is why you yell all the time," Veronica said, before blinking rapidly. "...You are a telepath?!"

"I am, and Akane could become one, too, if she were made to understand psychology well enough to repeat the very exceptional fluke that was her first gadget," I said. "Now... Telepathy?"

"...Fine," Veronica said.

I fired up my recently-reinstalled telepathy module- which I'd removed months ago because it was eating up maintenance without providing much benefit, and had only rebuilt and reinstalled because I was back in the circumstances that made it practical in the first place- and formed a telepathic connection with Veronica. I could have also scanned her emotions and surface thoughts, and chose not to because that was an unreasonable violation of privacy.

"Alright, will you finally get to the point?" I asked, sitting back down on my bed. At the moment, my room was still very sparse, containing only a bed. A bit ascetic, but when you had a computer in your brain and a favored mad science paradigm that was, basically, programming new superpowers into yourself, you would also find that you didn't need much. I'd probably add more stuff as time went on, but for now, I was more or less content.

"I don't think you should keep Lisa here long-term," Veronica said, gently closing the door and lifting her feet off the ground to 'sit' in mid-air. Her own sleepwear consisted of baggy pajama pants and a very loose t-shirt that still, nonetheless, could not completely conceal how disconcertingly stacked its wearer was. "I think you have made multiple miscalculations about how much she can be trusted and how useful she may end up being."

"And what makes you think I'm hosting a homeless teenager in my basement just because I think she's useful?" I asked.

I got up, and started to pace.

"That she is homeless is an injustice, one that we, as adults in good conscience, have an obligation to correct by whatever means we can- and we most certainly do not lack for means."

Veronica grit her teeth, grimacing slightly. Apparently this woman who based her identity on being an elite superhero didn't like it when someone else framed their own behavior as an obligation to correct injustice.

"I'm going to give you the benefit of the doubt and assume that you're merely using Lisa as a proxy for your real issue, because if the problem is actually that you're just that opposed to extending hospitality to a homeless person, we won't be able to work together long-term." I turned to regard her coldly. "And I assure you: you're a lot more replaceable than I am."

"...Your arrogance is unfounded," Veronica said, after a pause to arrange her words. "I am a well-connected and established heroine, with many contacts and direct tutoring from arguably the most successful heroine on the planet. The money for the house came out of my operating budget, and your contribution to our ongoing mission seems to be... what, occasionally dispensing exposition? Tutoring Akane in deviant science?" She sniffed. "Yes, you are oh so irreplacable."

"I have been a professional bounty hunter for five years. This is not the first time I've tracked down Doctor Skinner in particular through the shroud of an anti-scanning shield, and I've hunted other Demiurges through similar."

"You say that, but I have no evidence you've actually done any successful bounty hunting."

"...You're joking. Did Valiant not tell you about Hordemaster?"

"I don't know who you're talking about."

"You-" I sighed, before my lips curled upwards in a wicked grin. "Alright. I see how it is. Here's what I propose: next weekend, Akane's mother will be here. Starting on the Monday after that weekend, I will have one month to pull in enough money through bounty hunting to pay for this entire house twice over. If I can succeed, then you will cease your baseless accusations of incompetence towards me, and acknowledge that I do, in fact, know what I'm doing. If I can't, then I will acknowledge that this world is sufficiently different that my knowledge alone cannot see me through, and submit to your better judgement. And, during this month, you will do absolutely nothing that could reasonably hinder my chances of success."

"You? Putting basic respect for the competence of others on the line?" Veronica asked. "You must have a powerful furry fetish to risk this over a useless foxgirl."

"You and I both know this was never about Lisa," I said. "Oh, one more condition- until the terms of the bet are concluded, you will speak respectfully to Lisa, and do nothing to make her feel unwelcome. If she complains to me that she doesn't like the way you're looking at her, I will turn you into a frog and throw you down a well."

"I am perfectly capable of conducting myself respectfully, thank you."

"Ah, so you choose to insult and offend me. Good to know. Now get out."