Love and Gacha

The former vampire Death Dealer, now Hector’s subordinate Selene enters her hotel room to find an intruder... No, not an intruder.

“Sir...” She greets him with a nod

Hector is looking down at Monster Metropolis through the window, but he does not come in person, he is not even using his normal appearance. He appears only as a dark smoky silhouette.

“Once...” He started without even taking his eyes off the window “Once when I was a normal teen, I was asked what kind of fantasy creature I would like to be... My answer was a vampire.”

“...”

“At the same time, I would hate being a vampire, they have too many weaknesses... Crucifix, holy water, garlic, sunlight, running water, need to drink blood, they can’t enter a home without being invited first...”

“...” Selene finds it a little funny, all those superstitions, but she does not show it on her face.

“But obviously, my young brain couldn’t accept those weaknesses... And with my huge ego, I wouldn’t accept less than a vampire that has no weakness, like a True Ancestor or whatever... Only this kind I would accept for throwing my humanity away. Do you know that Vampires are related to Dragons? ‘Dracul’... I also like necromancy.”

“...” She keeps her silence, knowing that he will reach somewhere with this talk.

“Well, the thing is vampires are a very broad subject with many powers and variations... Magical, virus, curse, another species entirely. I like that... The broadness of it, but...” His voice suddenly gets cold “I would hate being the ones that are no different than animals. Bloodsucker parasites that are not much more than pests.” He slowly turns to Selene, the two white circles that represent his eyes staring deeply at her soul “Tell me, Selene... With which type of vampire are we dealing here?”

“...” The former Death Dealer gulps imperceptibly. If they were in her former world, she feels like he would exterminate her entire race “It’s... a very broad answer.” She uses his own words carefully “For what I saw... There are some very bad, most of them truly. But I also met some that are simply living their lives... few. Very few.” She answers truthfully.

“I see...” Hector says slowly “It would be a pity to extinguish a race.” He says casually, but he is 100% serious. “You can relax... Sorry if I startled you.” He says more casually to her.

“...”

“It’s that just now when I was sending this Astral Projection here, I saw a vampire underground party... They are feasting on the humans that they lured there. And in the adjacent room... A slaughterhouse... Even after I cleaned the place, the bad mood didn’t go away.”

“It’s understandable...”

The Dark Projection turns around to face the window again.

“I don’t have a good opinion of this place. I scouted over here briefly and I was met with only disappointment... After checking the palace and seeing the queen having an orgy, I was too disgusted to continue and left.” He comments off-handledly “Now I dumped this job on you... Sorry.”

“It’s no problem.” She answers dutifully

“Huhu~ I like you, Selene.” His sudden words surprised her “I was surrounded by very... excentric people... No that I don’t like it, but is good to have someone serious like you around.”

“...” She doesn’t know how to take the praise, so she only nods slowly

“Now, tell me how were your days around here?” Hector keeps a casual tone like he is just a friend who wants to know some news.

Like a soldier, Selene starts narrating her experiences “I received a little prejudice when I arrived here.”

“Oh...”

“Not on the level of being attacked, but I received many unfriendly looks.”

“Isn’t this only because you are a new face? This is a closed community after all.” Hector suggests

“I thought that at first, but later I discovered that is because of the war for dominance that happened here for centuries. The succubi fought the vampires for supremacy, and as you can see the succubi won.” Selene explains

“Against Dracula?”

“Dracula did not participate for long... Apparently, many high-level vampires did not care. It seems the ‘nobles’ stay in Europe.” Monster Metropolis is beneath Manhattan. “Dracula fought for some time and then retreated for unknown reasons.”

“Depending on the timeline, vampire hunters must have occupied his time.” Hector deduces. “The guy has a lot of enemies. Will you have problems staying here?”

“No. The ostracization doesn’t go beyond unfriendly gazes and maybe some people trying to pick up a fight.” She shakes her head

“Vampires are strong and unless they are dumb... Wait, they are. Be prepared for some fights.”

Selene nods “From the rest it looks like a normal city. Without fair law enforcement of course... There are lodgings, shops...”

“What is the currency here?” Hector interrupts

“Outside world currency it’s accepted here without a problem. American Dollars and Euros. Gold is the best, other precious metals and gems too. But you can also exchange... blood and body parts.” She says that last part slowly, paying attention to how Hector would react.

“Oh...” She can’t say much when he is a faceless projection, but he appears unaffected. “I guess they are using it as food or as magic components. Many here are magic-users after all.”

After that, Selene tells Hector the little she knows. Truth be told, it's all something he would discover if he passed an eye over the city more attentively... But he really is not that interested in this city for now, beyond how they treat humans.

A city of monsters sounds cool and all... But there are dinosaurs in Antarctica and Atlantis... Cooler places.

“Tell me, Selene... Would you like to become queen of this place?” Once again Hector says a huge statement with a casual tone of voice

“...what?”

“It’s okay if you are not interested... I understand there are people that don’t want the responsibility and troubles that come with being a leader.” Hector waves his hand casually “I can always put another one, or an identity of mine in the place... You can be an enforcer or something.”

“I... I...” The conversation is going a little too fast for her

“Calm down... I’m only saying. It’s not like I will go there in that palace and kill everyone to make myself king...” He chuckles deeply “I could tho.”

She can almost hear the malicious grin spreading on his face, in whatever place his real body is right now.

“Anyway, just continue living normally here... Make friends, talk with people, buy things. No need to put yourself at risk by the way, but I guess this worry is unfounded... After I enhanced you, there’s not much here that can hurt you, but don’t get complacent. Magic is bullshit.”

“I will be careful.” She nods seriously

Then the Dark Projections shifts a little and two black suitcases emerge from Hector’s torso.

He puts them on the ground and points at one “All kinds of weapons in one... And all kinds of money in the other. Even human organs.”

“...”

“And here...” He extends his hand and a mask appears on his palm.

A black mask without any notable features beyond the two eye-shapped holes, that are also covered by a dark glass.

“I was playing around with one of my abilities. Trying to create items of powers, I was having a little trouble making them have some sort of connection with the user so that they can be activated at will.”

Selene accepts the maks carefully.

“This mask has magic and meta-powers that would help a spy... A compulsion to be ignored by people unless you attract attention to yourself, protection against poison and other nasty things, many kinds of detection powers...” Hector explains “It will hide that you are a vampire and protect you in other ways. Don’t mind if it breaks... It’s only a prototype.” Hector says, he always worries that some of his summons will prioritize other things instead of their lives. To him, their lives are the most important.

“Thank you...” She stares at the mask

“Try it.”

And she does as ordered. The mask fits perfectly and it goes well with her outfit.

“It combines with you...When I figure out how to make the powers be activated by the user instead of being a permanent passive effect, I will give you the finished product.”

Much like the pieces of jewelry that are given to Shego and other summons with abnormal features, when you put it, the effect starts. Hector is trying to make it more user-friendly, without having to add a button or anything.

That’s why most of the powers that he puts in items and weapons are passive.

Unless he gives life to the item, of course.

“Don’t forget. No need to do much, if you want to enter a group, that’s good. If you want to refuse invitations, that’s good too. You’re strong and I’m backing you up. Collect information till the day we control this place.”

“Shouldn’t I try to prevent humans from being killed?” Selene asks, her voice a little muffled by the mask

Hector pauses, at first he would say yes but...

“I’m gonna say something controversial now...” He sighs “Not that I’m victim blaming, but a good part of those people that are captured by vampires kinda... have a part of the blame. I just saw an idiot follow a girl in a shady underground nightclub where he passed through a slaughterhouse and was raining blood... Like... Dude... I know that goth girls are hard to refuse, but...” Hector shakes his head “You probably can lure a lot of men to dark places yourself, Selene.”

“...”

“What I’m trying to say is that people who failed the Natural Selection test are not at the top of my list of priorities. Like those idiots trying to summon demons...” He warned, and that only made the stupid try harder. The smart ones at least, are living relaxed lives without wandering dark places.

He facepalms, looking done “No one is safe and we live taking risks... But we have to agree that some risks are bigger than others. Don’t get all surprised if you go to a show, a nightclub, or an open music festival and something bad happens... Again, not victim blaming but I never had my drink spiked at home, or got in a fight while reading a book in the room. Those places are dangerous because they are prone to put you in dangerous situations. Like walking in a dark alley at night.”

He groans “Maybe is my old soul talking but what is the fun in a nightclub anyway? Loud music, sweaty unknown people, flashing lights... A drunk idiot bumps into you and then you have a fight in your hands. The idiot can even hold an unreasonable grudge and shoot you later...”

“...” Selene listens to his rant in silence.

He really has an old man's soul.

“Well, that’s why... I’m not gonna turn my back on those idiots with no sense of danger, but we can’t do it half-assedly either, Selene. Let’s try to deal with the root discreetly.”

She nods

Once again he sighs and looks through the window “... if everything goes well I will not need to commit any war crime... I like vampires... It would be such a pity.”

Selene shudders for all vampires in the world.

...............................................

Mary Jane

Mary Jane-Watson is having a little problem.

Since she fell off with Hector her mood has been weird. She has been... not sad, more like lethargic, unmotivated... The days pass through her while she stays on auto-pilot.

She feels a sense of loss that confuses her. If she thinks about it, she didn’t lose anything... They are barely a thing. But that emptiness is still there...

It was such a brief period of time, but the void that was created is inconceivable in her mind. This emptiness that she is trying to fill by socializing with other people.

But is hard to hold a conversation. Her peers sound so dull. It’s almost mean of her to think it but is how she feels.

With Hector, the talk would flow smoothly and now... She sighs... It’s hard to compare.

Right now at the end of the school day, she was approached by Rand Robertson, one of her friends who is on the football team with Flash. Nice guy, chill, and a good friend...

But she can see from afar his intentions when he approached her right now in the lockers.

“Aren’t you going out with Sally, Rand?” Mary Jane closes her locker and turns to face him

“Well... We are giving each other time...” The big teen says with a sheepish smile for being called out that openly.

“Hmm.” Mary Janes keeps her eyebrows raised while looking at him dubiously “If this is some ‘dare’ or ‘bet’ I am gonna kick you where you don’t want to be kicked... And I bet you are not wearing a jockstrap now.”

“Ah c’mon babe... You know that I’m not like that.” He smiles at her smoothly

She crosses her arm in front of her chest in a defensive gesture but does not shots down the guy, she can at least talk with him a little. This problem with Sally looks like some juicy gossip...

As they two chat a little, Mary Jane notices something from the corner of her eye... Hector.

He was there, with his arms crossed, leaning with his shoulder in his locker, staring at her... at her chatting with Rand with the most impassive face of the Impassive Faces. If she searched it on the internet, his face would probably appear first.

She really can’t detect any emotion from him... No anger, no jealousy, no sadness... None of the emotions that she would like to see in him now.

And Hector does not avoid his gaze embarrassedly like many would, no... Hector is not like that. He keeps looking and looking... Like he was curious to see what she will do. Almost like he is daring her to do something.

While she is distracted, nervous even, by Hector’s gaze, for some reason Rand suddenly thinks that it is a good idea to go for a kiss.

“!” Mary Jane's eyes widen as she notices what is happening.

She panics a little, alternating her gaze between Hector and Rand.

She has some thoughts about letting Rand kiss her, a small ugly, and vindictive part of her wants to hurt Hector just a bit, that emotionless bastard. Hurt him just like he hurt her...

...but she is not like that. She is smart enough to not fall into the trap of going into an “irresponsible” phase because of a heartbreak.

And beyond her vindictive pettiness, there’s a bigger feeling inside her, a gut instinct, telling her that she will regret doing that. Like it will close a door forever.

“Whoa, whoa... Sorry Rand.” She dodged his advances and escapes from between him and the lockers “You should go solve things with Sally.” She gives some slaps on his arms and walks away.

She steals some glances from where Hector’s direction... only to not find him there. He just disappeared, looking around she couldn’t see him anywhere in the hallway. For some reason, she wanted to explain herself, but she quashed that feeling. She has nothing to explain to him.

“That’s all I needed... Having hallucinations.” She massages her forehead as she walks to the entrance of the school with her eyes closed

“Hallucinations? Are you sleeping well?”

“Yike!” She jolts in surprise because of the proximity of the voice that just addressed her and heard her saying weird things.

Turning fast she sees just him, Hector. Looking at her with a calm, albeit concerned, expression. How he sneaked on her remains a mystery.

“Hello, Mary Jane.” He greets her in that smooth and deep tone of voice that she will never admit that she missed. They didn’t talk since that day “Are you alright?”

“Hector...” ‘Wait, I am angry with him, right? Right??’ “Hmpf, none of your business.” She scoffs and turns her head away.

“...”

Two seconds passed and she noticed that maybe the best course of action would be walking away too... Now it’s awkward.

Maybe she didn’t want to walk away, maybe she yearned for some talk. For closure if anything.

“Do you want a ride home?” He offers, probably concerned with her well-being, or maybe he also wants to talk with her.

“Yes... Thank you.” She decides to accept. Like with that dodged kiss, she feels like she will regret otherwise. But still trying to play it cool, not even looking in his direction.

...................................

“...............” The ride home is silent between them, only the music playing makes the situation slightly bearable. “La Vie En Rose” by Edith Piaf.

Mary Jane looks through the window while Hector drives with his eyes focused on the road. At this point, she knows Hector a little. She knows him enough to know that this is a guy who is not affected by awkwardness and that he is comfortable in any silence.

That’s why she is surprised that he was the one who talked first.

“So... You and Randolph?” He asks in an even voice

‘Randolph...’ She giggles a little remembering that this is Rand’s name, Hector also has this thing that he likes to say someone's full name. Rarely does he use a nickname... It is like this with Gwen, and it is like this with her... At least now. She remembers when he called her MJ1.

“No...” She answers while still looking through the window “He tried. I avoided it. Only that. End of the story.”

“I see...”

“Why?” She finally turns to him, a mocking smirk on her lips “Are you jealous?”

“Yes.”

“...”

He admitted it so easily and without hesitation, that he wiped the teasing smirk off Mary Jane's face as fast as his answer.

“You... You...” She really doesn’t know how to feel about it now. Can she even tease him now? “Huff! The Enemy of Shame!” She rolls her eyes and goes back to look at the window.

“...”

“...”

The ride continues in silence after that...

Inwardly... Mary Jane is a little happy. She supports her elbow in the car door and hides her small smile with her hand as her mind goes miles for hours to think what to say next.

“Mary Jane... It will not take long to arrive at your house, but I have something to talk with you. It will be okay if we take a detour and park somewhere?” Hector asks

“...fine.” She answers after looking at his face. His normal face, that never betrays him and shows his inner feelings.

Hector drives just a little off the path, parking in a public but quiet place not far from her home. She appreciates the gesture, even if this talk ends as badly as the last one, she can simply get out of the car and go home on foot. After slamming the door, of course.

Hector sighs while pulling the handbrake after stopping. Mary Jane admonishes herself internally for looking too much at his veiny forearm. Being alone with him now and in a car... relives some memories. Some hot and steamy memories...

“How have you been, Mary Jane?” Hector turns to her after removing his seatbelt, starting very diplomatically

“Good... Very good.” She lies while nodding to him and herself. “And you?”

He gives her a one-shoulder shrug “It had its ups and downs, but it got better recently... More ups than downs.”

“Good to hear that.”

“I will start College... Next week is my last in High School.” He says while paying attention to her reaction

“Oh... That’s... good to hear too.” Her voice was a little off.

“...”

“...”

“Mary Jane...” Hector calls her softly

“Yes?” She seemed to be a little off but focused when he called her name

“I love you.”

“!!! Wh-what? WhaaaaAAaaaaAaaaat?” She was taken aback, almost like she was lightly pushed sometimes. Her vocabulary capacity dropped considerably and she can only squeeze an off-tone ‘what’ “Ahem I mean, what?” There’s a surge of emotions inside her, that she can’t even identify, much less control.

“Hm, I don’t know how you can interpret what I said in any other way...” He deadpans

“Shut up!” She gives his arm a light and fast slap “I was surprised because... It was... Whaaaaaaat?” His words hit her again and her jaw dropped one more time

At this point, Hector can’t keep a straight face and chuckles, and then facepalms. She was almost thinking that he was messing with her with some cruel prank, but then he says

“Why do you have to be so cute? Ugh... Argh! Just... Argh!” It almost looks like he is holding back the urge to hug her or pinch her cheeks.

“...” Despite herself, she got all fidgety hearing him say that. A thought crossed her mind... Other guys try so hard to get a reaction from her... And Hector...

He finally manages to control himself, removing his hand from his face he starts again.

“I meant every word I said... 100% serious.” He doubles down

“...” Mary Jane is almost like a deer in headlights

“Don’t worry, it’s not my intention to put you in a tough spot. It’s just that as I man, I believe that is my duty to be the first to... ‘expose my weakness’? I don’t want us beating around the bush guessing what the other is feeling, do you understand what I mean?”

“...yes. Like in those love dramas.”

“Exactly like that.” He nods satisfied “We... don’t have time for that.”

Because he is about to go to College... Mary Jane is starting to see where this conversation is going. Hector opening the talk like that also gave her time to think about her answer...

It’s a good thing he did that because she is not sure yet.

“Did the thought that our relationship died prematurely ever crossed your mind, Mary Jane?” He asks, still acting casual, or even mature you could say.

“...yes.” After some hesitation, she decides to tell the truth.

Him being upfront like that makes her want to do the same.

“Hm, I’m glad that I’m not the only one.” He nods

“Me too...” She confesses in a soft voice, almost a whisper.

The mood... is improving. The two stare at each other eyes, there’s a spark there... But Hector doesn’t act yet, he continues talking.

“You know, Mary Jane... I think I tried too hard to not like you.” He confesses, sitting correctly to face forward.

“...”

“I had an initial bad impression of you, and I tried to stick with it.”

“Yeah... You told me. The whole ‘if you walk with hoes, I will think you are a hoe’ thing.” Mary Jane rolls her eyes

“Yeah...” He says, but it seems there’s a little more to it that he is not saying “I thought that you are a shallow annoying slut.”

“...wow. Thank you!” She says sarcastically

“Sorry.” He speaks sincerely

“...it’s okay. It’s not like you spread rumors or anything. I also kinda ignored you being bullied just to fit in... It’s not for nothing that you had a bad impression of me.” She concedes, looking away a little.

“...”

“...”

“But you changed that prejudice that I had.” He says making her look at him again “Believe in me, it was a very deep prejudice... about a lot of things...” Once again it seems that he is not saying something “You, Mary Jane, changed me a little... You squirmed your way into my heart. I didn’t even notice... Or maybe I noticed and I didn’t think much of it, thinking that would slip away as easily as it entered.” He sighs deeply “But that was not what happened... I still like you after all this time and after a lot happened... And what this can be if not love?”

“...” Once again the mood improves a little.

“I talked with a therapist... I think my prejudice made me believe that we were not gonna work in the long run, so maybe I wanted to sabotage it to end the relationship on my own terms... To have control, you know? Regain the control I lost by falling in love with you.”

That’s deep, she thinks.

Mary Jane is being assaulted by a plethora of emotions, but she keeps her calm, remembering something important, something that she is about to remember him.

“That and the fact that you have another woman.” She says coldly

“...yes, that too.” Hector sounds almost hurt, closing his eyes slowly, wrestling with something before speaking again “Mary Jane, I’m gonna ask again the question I asked you that time... “ He gives her a heads up “I don’t think we will have another chance other than that, and I also think we will regret not trying... At the end of our lives, we regret more what we didn’t do.” He quotes

“...” Mary Jane's heart starts beating faster. If he asks she will need to give an answer... An answer that she still doesn’t have.

“But before that, let me tell you something... Being honest...” He finally turns to stare deep into her eyes, blue meets green and he opens his mouth “There’s a very high chance that we will end up hurting each other. Almost certain...”

“...” Now that is a sudden 180º in the conversation. It’s almost a bucket of cold water pouring over Mary Jane’s head, calming her heart. Maybe he said that because of that...

“But hear me out till the end...” He raises his hand to stop her from saying anything “My parents died at the beginning of this year... It was my birthday.”

“...” That’s another shift in the conversation, but he would not say that for nothing, or for pity points. Mary Jane is sure that Hector is not like that.

“It was really a low point in my life, incredibly hard to see my grandparents feeling the same too... But... The world continued spinning, the days were sunny and life periodically got better.” He gives a tired shrug.

Mary Jane couldn’t do much beyond listening in silence, she never experienced something like that. Even though some dark parts of her wish it on her father... Sometimes...

“For... reasons... My life gradually improved, like it was some sort of retribution given to me by the universe. It got better and the pain... That used to be so unbearable, started slowly fading away. And I was scared of that.” He lets it out with a sigh “Like I would eventually forget about them... The pain will fade and the new good moments will erase the good memories with them. So, what would be left? Just their name and their blurred existence in the back of my mind?”

Hector stares deep into her eyes and speaks a little more strongly “But then it happened... The pain stopped fading.” He says like it’s some big revelation “It sounds obvious, I know. It’s even cliche... A lot of people say that ‘the pain never goes away and you just learn how to live with it’, but experiencing it opened my eyes. The pain will never diminish anymore. And I was so... so... so Happy!” Hector smiles, closing his eyes for a moment

“...”

“It’s strange, right? Such contradiction... Why someone would be happy for feeling pain? Am I a masochist?” He chuckles softly while shaking his head “No, I simply learned, not only to live with the pain but to enjoy it. Learning to enjoy the constant feeling of loneliness, sadness, melancholy, and longing, made me much stronger. Their absence will accompany me forever and in some way, and I’m happy with that. They will accompany me forever.” Once again it seems that he is basking in the feeling, in the sadness “It means that I cared, it’s the proof that I loved them very much. I will gladly carry this with me for the rest of my life.”

“I... I... I think I understand. A little... Or not...” Mary Jane feels that she needs to say something. His words are hard to understand without the experience. They are weird but make sense in some way.

Hector laughs softly and looks at her warmly “I told you all that because I feel the same right now, Mary Jane... About you. Yes, I still believe that is very probable that we will end up hurting each other... But I think will be worth it, will be worth the pain.”

He grabs her hand and her heart starts beating faster.

“I still think that we have so much to live together, Mary Jane. I don’t want it, but I would hate to eventually break up with you... I will hate it if things don’t go well... I will hate to lose you. The thought of one day you together with another man hurts me too. But again, it will be worth it.” He says strongly while not breaking eye contact.

Mary Jane is not even blinking, locked in place by his gaze and words. Her eyes widened, her breath stuck in her throat, and her heart beating faster and faster. The blushing on her face is the most obvious showing of her emotional state.

“I will do my best to make things work out, but I am making peace with the fact that some things are out of my control, especially when involving other people.” He caresses the back of her hand with his thumb lovingly “If things don’t go well, I’m willing to carry the bad feelings gnawing in my heart forever, together with the good memories that we can make... I’m willing to try and own up to the result. And you, Mary Jane-Watson? Are you willing to walk this uncertain path with me?”

“...”

“Blindfolded, with only each other... Side by side... Not knowing how it will end...” He adds slowly and in a low voice. Almost like he is trying to convince himself beyond convincing her. Saying those words like a mantra or a prayer.

There’s a battle inside Mary Jane now... The logical part of her can agree with a lot Hector said, but the same logical part never wants to get hurt... Her heart is screaming at her to accept... The two are fighting...

And her gut instinct... Her gut instinct that she always trusts decides... She doesn’t answer...

She jumps in his arms and kisses his lips.

...........................................

Hector. P.O.V.

Space Station

“♪ ♫ ♬ ♩ Hm~ Hm~ ♪ ♫ ♬ ♩ “ I hum to myself as I walk through the hallways of the Space Station.

“Someone is in a good mood~” Cortana says with a teasing tone. She is walking by my side in her “Normal Body”

“Hm? Who? Who?” I make a show of looking around to find this Lucky fella “Oh, there he is!” I see him in the mirror.

I point at my own reflection and make two guns with my hands, I point and click my tongue.

I’m almost making the Bully Maguire dance,

I can also see Cortana rolling her eyes, pulling her close by the waist we walk side by side. But I can’t forget what Mary Jane said to me...

‘Listen Hector. I listened to you and now you are gonna listen to me...’ She said seriously ‘The other woman... I don’t want to know. I don’t want to know if you broke up with her, I don’t want to know if you are seeing her... I don’t want to know anything about her. You are never gonna talk about her and I’m never gonna bring her up. You are my boyfriend now, so if you are seeing her... Hide well.’ She points at his face

‘...’ He can only nod at that

‘I’m willing to try too... To see how far it will go... Let’s see how far I can ignore this...’ She says the last part more to herself.

And that’s it... Mary Jane chooses blissful ignorance.

It works with me... Mary Jane can have “Hector”. I will do my best for her to overcome the “other”. If I fail, or if she can’t take live with it... The relationship will fail.

But we tried, and I’m okay with it...

“Things have been going well for me lately, and today is the day. The day of the...” I point at her to continue

“...Gacha~ Eeeeh~” Once again she rolls her eyes and waves her hands to the minimum possible to act excited. But her smile can’t trick me, she is only playfully making fun of me.

As I pat her gynoid body I ask “Tell me Cortana... Which of the prisoners in suspended Animation are not going through any procedure, but we would not miss?”

“All of those...” She raises her head and a schematic blue hologram of the prison cells shows everyone that fits my criteria in red.

“Then let’s use them to make an experiment.”

“What experiment?”

“On Luck.” I smile at her

“Oh... I see. You’re going steal their luck. That’s why you don’t wanna anyone that is going through a procedure.” She nods “Do you think it can influence your Gacha?”

“I don’t know... Luck is hard to quantify. And is not omnipotent like many would think. It’s not causality manipulation.” I roll my eyes “If I want to capture Domino, she would have no chance. And even with her powers, it’s not like I could make... I don’t know... Thanos drops an Infinity Stone as he puts it in his Gauntlet.”

Domino was fucked sometimes in the comics, against much stronger opponents and very bad odds. Like against Red She-Hulk and she was captured by Mutant haters one time too. That’s all I can remember.

“And check this out...” I extend my hand, it’s filled with coins “There’s 50 coins here. Head or Tails?” I ask her

“I can give you the two~” She answers with a tone full of innuendo “I made a new throat... The suction and massage are great. And you know my ass is customizable.” She bats her eyelashes at me

“...” This cybernetic succubus... “You know that I prefer your usual body type.” I give her a slap on her ass

“I know... But it sounds like a waste to not use it. Let me show the 3D model of different body shapes...”

“Okay, stop. We can do that later.” I stop her from raising her hand “Just... Head or Tails?”

“Tails. I will give you head later.”

“...Then Head is mine.” Without ceremony, I casually throw the coins in the air and let them fall on the ground. The coins noisily hit the ground and spread and all directions. They roll and bounce till they stop.

Cortana's eyes swiftly analyze the results and looks at me in slight disbelief.

“Heads... 42.” She says slowly “Did you use any power?”

“No.” Smirking, I telekinetically gather all the coins again in my hand “Head or Tails?”

“Tails again.”

“Okay then.“ And I throw the coins in the air,

After a while, they stop and...

“Heads... 45. This...”

I guess that to an A.I., it’s hard to accept the failings of Probability.

“The truth is... I’m already pretty Lucky.” I say while gathering the coins again “Head... But I guess we don’t see much of it because I’m pretty strong and capable. I don’t need to, for example... Domino needs the people who are shooting her trip or the guns to malfunction. Bullets to me are nothing, so I don’t need that the people shooting me to suffer that. My luck must work in helping me be in the right place at the right time sometimes, for example.”

This time 44 coins land with their head upwards.

“Or when meeting girls?” Cortana teases again

“...” The thing is that I can’t entirely deny that.

In the recent Operation with the X-men and the Brotherhood, I was the one to find Cindy Moon and Laura Kinney. Many of the characters that I assimilated are Lucky with women.

And I assimialted Yuuki Rito. I have the power of Luck and Anime at my side. That’s why works better with Asian babes... Everything is starting to make sense now.

“I don’t think stealing luck from a bunch of people will increase my luck by that much... Like adding buckets of water in the ocean. And I don’t think my Gacha can be easily influenced too. Like I can’t be that affected by Domino’s powers.” I explain

“But you still need to test.”

“Always.” I nod “Let’s go and keep an eye on the people that I’m going steal luck from... Maybe they will choke on their spit and die.”

...............................................

After using the power of the Raki Raki no Mi(Luck-Luck Fruit) in a hundred prisoners I return to my usual place to roll the Gacha.

Let’s see if I’m gonna be lucky~

I have a good feeling this time, because of the time dilatation of the Travel Tickets, it is been 7 months since the last Gacha so... My luck has accumulated!

And I did a lot of things too, there’s a lot of material from where the Essence can draw my cards. I bet I’m gonna gain some pirate thing. Let’s roll only normal Gacha to check my luck.

Let’s goooooooo!

Roll~

01- Toji Zen'in - Jujutsu Kaisen

Okay... That’s a low blow...

I see what you are doing here, Gacha.

Okay, I’m a deadbeat Father till I prove otherwise. I got that.

02- Ging Freecs - Hunter x Hunter

So this is how you are gonna do things, huh? Let’s see how far you can take this joke...

03- Power Boost Card

That’s what I thought, you bitch!

This is not the Specific Gacha that I can select to gain only characters!

You can go forever like that!

04- Power Boost Card

Hahaha!

Go on, Try again!

05- Shou Tucker - Fullmetal Alchemist

...I would like to apologize.

But c’mon!! I’m not that bad!

And really? My first repeated card is this guy??

From all the infinite possibilities???

Whatever, to the volcano...

But should I summon one of the two to experiment on him?

06- Father - Fullmetal Alchemist

Well, well, well...

It seems the answer was given to me.

You’re fucked in my hands, Tucker.

07- Gendo Ikari - Neon Genesis Evangelion

“...”

I... I... I don’t even know what to say.

There are so many issues to unravel here.

08- Serpent Punishing Stick - Emperor's Domination

Oh, a cultivation novel thingie!

Is that thing, right? The stick that will not kill the person being hit doesn’t matter how much you hurt them with it.

Are you trying to tell me something again, Gacha?

Should I use it to discipline my kids?

Yes. Only the boys tho,

09- Endeavor - Boku no Hero Academia

Ugh... So useleeeeess...

But first time gaining something from a universe after I visited it.

It should start being a problem the more I visit other worlds.

But can you give me a least a good Father?

Like Isshin Kurosaki? Minato?

10- Darth Vader - Star Wars

Ooookkaaaayyy~ I take it.

But Darth Vader is not even a bad Father... He only tortured his daughter and cut the hand of his son... Please.

My mood improved, let’s go to the second batch.

01- Television Series Travel Ticket (Middle Tier / One Month)

I can think of some worlds to use it.

02- Power Boost Card x06

Okay

03- Power Boost Card x05

Okay

04- Video Game Travel Ticket (Middle Tier/ One Month)

Okay, the same thing as the first one.

05- Johannes Krauser II(Souichi Negishi) - Detroit Metal City

Pff! Hahahahaha!

Love it!

Did I gain it because I went around the One Piece world singing and playing guitar?

Now I only need a...

06- Nevan - Devil May Cry

...guitar.

Sometimes I love you, Gacha.

07- Recycling Mechanic

[By destroying 3 cards you can gain a new one]

Okay! This is huge!

I have some useless cards to recycle, and maybe I can use the miscellaneous ones too.

I love new mechanics.

08- Virgil Hawkins(Static Shock) - DC/Static Shock

Nice, fucking nice.

One of my favorite shows growing up.

Gonna summon him. One of the few good guys on my crew. Pure good guys.

09- Golden Sword of Battle (Scarlet) - Adventure Time

A fine addition to my growing collection of swords.

10- Sinbad - Sinbad no Bouken

Now I got serious... Isn’t this guy very strong?

Oh, it’s from his own story. So he is not too OP, but still strong.

The cards are starting to catch up with my level, nice.

And thinking about it, this guy is kinda similar to me in many aspects...

And I was in the One Piece world... Seas and all that.

Next batch!

01- Vaporeon – Pokemon

“...” Do you guys know that in terms of male humans and...

Okay, just kidding. I will stop.

02- The Ulisses - Atlantis: The Lost Empire

That’s cool.

I would accept Kida tho.

But I can always go there for that chocolate booty. Maybe I can go after all chocolate booty in the Omniverse... Chel, Princess Jasmine...

03- Power Boost Card

Okay

04- King Shark - DC Comics

Is this the Water-themed batch?

05- Mariner – Waterworld

I think it is...

This is from that post-apocalyptic submerged world movie. It was good, at least it was good to my young eyes and brain.

06- Movie Travel Ticket (Low-Level / Six Months)

Okay

07- Killer Croc -DC Comics

Another one.

And I really gain a lot from DC because of the duality with Marvel, huh?

I hope I can gain Poison Ivy... Harley needs a playmate, and I can maybe fertilize her Garden.

08- Gargantuan Leviathan – Subnautica

Okay, Gacha.

Do you have a boner in giving me dangerous pets?

A flerken, Caerbannog, Rover... and now this?

I can’t release this shit in the ocean... Or can I?

Maybe I can release it on another planet... Hmm.

09- Power Boost Card x04

Okay

10- Self Insert Card

Oka- Wait a damn fucking minute!!

[Using this card together with a corresponding Travel Ticket, allows you to insert yourself in the life of a character that you assimilated.]

[Obs.: Using this together with a Background Customization Card allows you to edit the Character backstory in a limited way]

This is big. This is fucking big.

This is better than gaining a Package...

I can take the Character items and maybe even recruit subordinates.

And... Helltaker, Yuuki Rito... Really interesting. Really, really interesting~

But I need to use it sparingly, I gained just one. And it came as the last and most important card. The first time a miscellaneous card was last.

Let’s check the last batch.

01- Black Pearl - Pirates of the Caribbean

As expected, a pirate thingie.

I will put it in exposition somewhere.

02- Takakura Ken – Dandadan

Who?

A nerd guy with curly black hair and glasses who transforms into a taller version with white hair and a half-mask? Where did I see that before?

03- Anime Travel Ticket (Low Level / One Week)

Okay

04- BackGround Customization Card x04

Okay

05- Sakamoto Taro - Sakamoto Days

Hmpf. I knew that the man bun was badass.

And another hyper-competent Character, huh?

Should I summon him? But he is kinda retired, right? I should assimilate him.

06- Power Boost Card x03

Okay

07- Power Boost Card x02

Okay

08- Anime Travel Ticket (Middle Tier/ Six months)

Okay

09- Leviathan Axe - God of War

Is it because I was researching the Convergence and Norse Mythology?

I will use it during the events of Thor’s movie.

Now, the last card... And look at that!

After that harem Gacha, no women came this time! Haha!

Good, it seems that it was a special case. I don’t have time for so many girls and I really don’t want more for now...

10- Raven(Rachel Roth) - DC/Teen Titans