The party had been underway for some time now. I was currently dancing with Janine who was wearing her helmet as she didn't want the hassle of dealing with new people. "You know Apollo, for someone who clearly does not know what they are doing, you are not that bad at dancing." She said.
I nodded my head in understanding before replying as I continued to bust my moves. "I am basically just following all the don'ts of dancing. Not using my elbows, neck etc. Seems to be working in my favour so far."
We kept up our pace for a while before Janine needed a break. Making our way over to the rest of my companions, Janine picked up a drink with an extra long crazy straw and fed it into her helmet.
After quenching her thirst, she looked at me and stated, "I don't understand how you have so much stamina, It is like you can move your body perpetually without getting tired." Some of the women present who were in the know about Apollo's stamina smiled coyly in agreement.
"Hey, I am just having a good time with people I care about. That invigorates me to no end. How about we-" I paused my train of thought noticing a certain overeager blonde waving towards me from across the crowded room.
"Actually, be right back. I need to check on something." I said and walked away. Sophia looked in the direction I was looking when my body language changed and frowned. She disliked the fact that one of her cultists, one of her favourite male cultists who truly sees her as a mother at that, was keeping secrets from her.
She could not even peer into his mind for the information as Apollo's order even suppressed the will of the hive from finding out the secret. Kathrine noticed Sophia's look and shook her head before sitting next to her.
"That look of control, wanting to know every little thing that is happening under your roof, I know the feeling well. You have to trust Apollo is doing something nice, I highly doubt the secret he is keeping is nefarious in nature." She said, not quite hitting the correct emotion that Sophia was feeling when she tried to console her.
"I know it is not nefarious, I think it will be something amazing!" Sophia became giddy in a moment before she continued. "I know Apollo, he is not secretive, at all. He always tells us everything. Me and Orchid that is. He mentioned something about a surprise a little while ago, but even with my probing and love bites, he still won't tell me! I want to know!"
Kathrine blinked in surprise as the usually cool and collected Sophia turned into a hyper teen excited over the simplest things Apollo did. Kathrine then giggled shortly, realising she often feels the same way.
It was weird to her. She was sitting here with a woman who had blackmailed her for years, while being all chummy because of one individual who meant the world to the pair of them. Kathrine felt a warmth deep within herself at that thought. As she looked around the club at Orchid, Onyx who showed up a while ago, Keyla behind the bar and a myriad of other faces.
Kathrine did not know why, but she felt a great sense of relief being around them, as weird as each one of them is. She could not describe the feeling she was feeling, but the closest description would be that she felt part of a... collective.
"Hey Ronnie, did everything go smoothly?" I asked the smiling man as he looked up at me. "I did and wow! Your friend has given you an amazing Ship. She practically purred brand new. The ship is so much better than the one I picked you up in and get this. A Military grade FTL drive! Do you know what that means? You will be able to complete the trip back in just over a week instead of the almost three it took us to arrive here! Gosh, I am so jealous of mistress Keyla getting to fly that thing back to your home planet Apollo. That ship is a beauty. Oh! I also disabled the built in trackers so you won't have to worry about anyone locating the ship. Also I-"
"Ronnie!" I said loudly, as the eager beaver was spiralling into an insanely long monologue about the ship. "I appreciate your insight on the ship, but is everything loaded?" I asked. Ronnie nodded his head before replying.
"Yes Apollo. I asked some staff that are not a part of the 'Inner circle' so Mother could not find out and hired an air shuttle to take it up to the airport. Everything is in the ship and stowed away. I bet The Great Mother will be pleased with your gift Apollo."
I smiled with genuine happiness hearing that and placed my hand on Ronnie's shoulder. "Do you think so?" I asked rhetorically. "I hope so too." Looking at the eager smile on Ronnie's face, I felt a little bad for a moment.
"Hey Ronnie." I started. Ronnie picked up on my change of tone and in turn looked worried. "Is everything ok Apollo? Did I do something wrong?" Before the man had a chance to shake in worry, I responded.
"Oh, no. Sorry, I just feel bad. I have had you doing this in secret for me and I know how much you admire your Mother. It could not have been easy to keep your distance from her and the under-link."
Ronnie did look upset for a moment as if remembering something tragic before a smile beamed on his face once more. "It was tough, true. I have not been so isolated from the family since I was taken in. That being said, It was my greatest honour to be of help to both you and the great mother and the rest of my outer family. I would do anything for my family after all."
Taking a point of proverbial damage from Ronnie's speech, he had just cemented himself in my heart as a top guy. I felt like I needed to get him a gift for his hard work, no, I wanted to give him one.
'That being said though, I am not sure what to get him. The only other thing I have ever given to a hive bio-form as a sort of gift was-'
"!!!" A lightbulb went off in my head and Ronnie seemed to notice. "Has something happened Apollo? *Gasp* Are you feeling better?" He guessed, hoping it to be true. Not answering that as I would most likely feel worse in a moment, I asked Ronnie.
"Hey Ronnie, would you like a personal 'gift' I have only given to one other outer family member? Not even the great mother has received this 'gift'." Ronnie lost the ability to breathe for a moment as he looked upon me as he urged himself not to cry.
"Y-you want to give M- M-Me a gift? But I don't deserve one. I only did what anyone else would have done as it was an honour!" I smirked at Ronnies denial. "Ok, It is non negotiable now. Raise up your sleeve."
Ronnie feigned reluctance, but was secretly excited. What gift would he receive that not even the great mother had received? What did he do to deserve being so lucky? "Ok Ronnie. I am going to do something called branding, have you ever heard of it?"
Ronnie's face turned pale in an instant upon hearing that and simply nodded his head. "Ok good. Before I came here, a cute little warrior from the outer family helped me with something so I branded her with heat because her plate could take that pain due to it not being connected to her nerves."
Ronnie turned another shade paler upon hearing that, but what I said next calmed him down. "Luckily for you, I won't be doing that to you." He sighed a breath of relief he did not know he was even holding and laughed nervously, yet refused to say anything else as I continued.
"However, recently I have obtained a Psionic power that is perfect for this occasion, as long as it works that is." I muttered at the end as I have not studied my Cryokinetic powers much yet.
Wrapping my hand around Ronnie's forearm. I took a few deep breaths to brace myself as manipulating the energy in my current condition will simply put, suck. Using a mixture of my Thermokinesis and my Cryokinesis I began to freeze the energy that began to accumulate around my hand. Despite my injury, I had gained enough Psionic power to begin a freeze brand onto Ronnies arm almost instantly, causing him to wince only at the cold as his skin had now numbed and could not feel the scarring pain.
Across the room, White Death was having a rather pleasant conversation with a cartel boss he had a fling with a few decades ago. However, In an instant, He almost killed himself as his neck snapped in the direction of an all too familiar energy at lightning fast speed.
Caressing his neck, he excused himself from his old fling to find out which fool was using Cryokinesis while in his and a Praetorian's presence. However, upon noticing the culprit, he became morbidly curious as a wicked smile formed under his mask.