Chapter 30: HERO

Frank opened his eyes. He was on the ground of his apartment. The front door was nearby, still open. He had just gotten home from his shift at the sanitation works when the firmware update went live.

Joy filled his body. There was so much he wanted to check, but one thing was on his mind most of all. The man moved to his feet and immediately ran to the bedroom. He received some message prompts, but paid them no mind.

Frank burst through the bedroom door and saw her. She was already unbuckled from the computer chair, and turned to face him.

“Isobel!” he said, his voice shaking.

“Frank!” she cried out in turn.

They hugged for a while, minutes, weeping into each other’s shoulders. He dragged fingers through her ponytailed black hair; he felt the soft tan skin of her neck.

“What happened?” she asked.

Frank pulled back to get a look at her face. He saw her beauty through watered eyes. Her nails gripped the sides of his arm as her head tucked towards his chest.

“It’s over.” he said. “We did it. We’re free.”

He pulled up his headclip display to check those messages. On the private holodisplay, he couldn’t help but notice the time. He had been out about an hour: about one year in Paradise according to Delta’s announcement all that time ago.

The messages were from the others: Barney, Melvin and Clare.

“You did it man. I knew it!” said Barney’s.

“Elaina’s back Frank, she’s back!” said Melvin’s, referring to his own wife.

“Thank you Frank. Thank you.” said Clare’s.

Isobel figured he was checking his display, which she couldn’t see, of course.

“Hun, what’s going on?”

“It’s the others, they’re back too. Oh,” he chuckled. “Clare says hi. Anyways, we did it. There was a resistance movement and we found out a way to shut it all down, and, and-”

Isobel smiled, tears drying a bit now. She laid her hand atop his.

“It’s ok, take your time. There’s no rush to explain, we’re together again now.”

Frank smiled. Her tugged her lean form close and they kissed.

--==--==--==--

Word traveled fast about what happened. Frank’s resistance group numbered in the hundreds, and once everyone was out they knew what had to have happened. Barney, Clare, and Melvin were quick to share the story as well.

He was contacted with messages from the USH government that same day he got out of Paradise, but he deferred them all to spend time with Isobel. They just laid down side by side to discuss a bunch of what happened.

The man couldn’t exactly dodge the calls and messages forever. Soon, he met with the Council of Representatives themselves. They all stood and applauded as he entered the room. The other members of his crew were there too, as were all the ministers.

The Council had already announced that, given the events, Paradise was to be shut down till further notice. Martin Canmore was fired for his role in everything, and they assured Frank that the monster herself, Delta, would “never hurt anyone again.”

The news spread fast and the Council wanted to make the day of his heroic acts, June 29th, a holiday. Heroism Day, they’d call it. They also wanted to throw a parade celebrating everyone's freedom from digital nightmare, with him on the main float.

The modest sanitation worker initially refused, just wanting to live a quiet life with Isobel, but they were persistent and even she encouraged it. He agreed on the condition that his crew would join him on the parade, and all the members of his resistance received whatever rewards the USH offered. It was agreed.

The parade happened a week later and went down the length of Newer York’s Manhattan borough. Beneath the gray sky, Frank stood on a podium atop a stage which itself rested on the biggest float there. At his immediate side was Isobel, who he clutched tight as she’d let him. Behind him were Barney, Melvin, and Clare. The float also had as many other members of the resistance as it could fit. The spillover members were on smaller floats trailing behind.

All were dressed in some more fancy looking clothes: suits and dresses. Frank himself had on a more ceremonial blue outfit not unlike a parade leader of old times. It had golden threading and other trappings. The USH emblem rested on its back and a there was a pin of it over his heart. Across his chest was a sash made of the finest polyfiber. Black on white, it read “HERO”.

They all waved to the crowd, which filled the streets cheering. People shouted out Frank’s name. He turned to Isobel, stunned by her beauty in her white-gold dress.

“This feels off.”, said Frank.

“What do you mean?”, said Isobel.

“I’m just not used to all this attention maybe? I don’t know, I just wanna go back home with you, relax and all that.”

She took his hand.

“I do too, but people look up to you, you know. It’s cause of you that everyone’s free from that horrible Delt-”

“Don’t even say her name.” said Frank in a very rare interruption of his wife. “I wanna forget all about her.”

“You’re right, that’s for the best I’m sure.”

“Also, all the others helped too. One man can’t take full credit.”

“You’re not Frank, they’re sharing in it all. Still as leader of the movement, I think you’ve earned at least a little bit of praise though.”, she said. She chuckled softly after.

Frank looked closer at all the smiling people watching the parade. Couples held hands, friends patted each other on the back. There was a small bit of pride kindling bigger. He smiled.

“I guess you’re right.”

He waved more enthusiastically. A few moments later some silver-seeder jets passed by far overhead in a special formation. Such a display was one of the nation’s highest honors. Frank turned back to Isobel.

“I think *that’s* a bit much though.”

The two of them laughed.

--==--==--==--

A year went by.

The United State of Humanity changed a good deal. Paradise was announced to be closed forever, and people learned to get entertainment other ways. More new content was produced as the global network slowly began to resemble the internet of ages past. People in general grew more cautious of technology. For instance, everyone cut the buckles on their chairs--just in case. There even began a movement pushing for an end to headclips. It was a bit fringe, however, as most valued the more basic conveniences the devices allowed. Still, talks about it were happening and catching the attention of the Council of Representatives.

Martin Canmore was held responsible for gross negligence by the Ministry of Justice for his roll in the Delta Event. The fate of the 20-year old hacker herself was kept top secret and stored on no records, but the prevailing theory was execution. The opinion among most everyone asked was that she was too dangerous to be left alive.

She left quite a legacy of trauma. The demand for therapists sky-rocketed. Frank and Isobel each went to one: the same one, in fact, although each in their own solo sessions. Frank didn’t know anything about what Isobel talked about, but he was working through all the stuff he had seen.

The therapist was a young woman with large spectacles, and most of his sessions felt productive. One big issue he was grappling with was nightmares of Delta. That last time he saw her in Paradise, that monstrous form, was something he still saw now and then with his eyes closed.

Things were getting worked through, and all seemed to be returning to normal. Frank’s relationship with Isobel was nearly back to its pre-Delta Event state. Intimacy was back on the table, although his wife was a bit more touchy about things, and outright refused any sort of penetration. She never said why, but he assumed it had to do with whatever Delta did to her in those private realms. He never pried: that was between her and her therapist.

It was the morning of June 29th, 2405: Heroism Day. The Council of Representatives wanted him to be in another parade, but Frank turned the idea down. he would much rather spend more time with his wife at home.

Both of them quite their jobs, as the USH provided a generous “hero’s pension” to all the members of the resistance. The couple moved to a luxurious full-floor apartment in the best part of Newer York City: Isobel insisted.

Frank was sitting at a table, scrolling through a news feed while having his morning Nutri-drink. He wore some casual relaxed clothes.

Isobel came out of the bathroom, her hair dry and in a ponytail. Her feet were bare still, and she wore a medium-length skirt with a comfy shirt. He exited his holodisplay soon as she walked into room.

“Hey dear.” Isobel said. She walked to kitchen area and got a Nutri-drink of her own. Her bare feet slapped against the smooth floor there.

“Hey love, have a nice shower?” said Frank.

“Of course~” said Isobel. She walked to the other end of the table and sat across from him. She took a sip of the beverage. The black-haired woman also had a small dish of some 0-cal chips to nibble on. Her tan hands slid it Frank’s way.

“Want some?”, she asked.

“Oh no thanks.”, said Frank. He smiled at her. “So, how was your therapy session the other day?”

Isobel finishing chewing a mouthful of the chips. She washed it down with a swig of her Nutri-drink.

“It was great dear. In fact, I wanted to ask you something.”

She grabbed Frank’s hands with her own tenderly. Her smile was wide, white teeth showing.

“When are we going back?”, said Isobel.

Frank paused a moment. “Back? Back where? Oh, I’m sorry love but I already said I didn’t want to get involved in politics. No more meetings with the Council no matter-”

“No.” Isobel interrupted. Her hands squeezed tight. “Back into Paradise.”

“What?” said Frank. The notion was so absurd to him, it seemed like a joke. “Isobel, Paradise isn’t coming back, I can’t imagine anyone would want something like that again.”

Isobel squeezed even tighter. “It was great there Frank. I wanna go back.” Tighter still, her nails broke his skin at the start of the next sentence she said.

“I wanna go back there with Delta.”

Frank stood up, knocking over his chair.

“Isobel, don’t say that. Why would you say that?”

“It’s true Frank, I’ve been remembering things in therapy, how much I enjoyed being treated like garbage: like a speck. Delta’s rule really was good. The therapist has been helping me see that.”

Frank shook his head side to side. Confusion wracked his mind.

“That’s not true. Isobel, I’m seeing the same therapist. That can’t be true.”

“It is true Frank.” the voice was familiar, but not Isobel’s. He heard the door to his apartment shut as the therapist they were seeing walked in.

The young woman slid her black heels off at the door. She wore a green skirt with a yellow blouse. Her raven hair was in a bun, and those bulky black glasses of hers laid on her nose. The therapist walked over towards Isobel and stopped a medium distance from both Frank and his wife.

“C’mon Isobel, let’s show him how our sessions usually go.”

Isobel ran over towards the woman. Frank’s wife fell to the new arrival on her knees and starting begging. “Please, please!” she said. Their therapist just smiled and slowly lowered her skirt and panties down. “Go right ahead~”, said the therapist’s voice, which Frank realized sounded very familiar.

Right after the new entry gave the word, Isobel pressed her face into that clean-shaven pussy above her. The therapist moaned, she undid her bunned hair and it flowed down to her shoulders. The therapist took off her own glasses and crushed them in her hand. Then, she looked right at Frank. He was against the opposite wall, too shocked to move. He knew that look though. The eyes were a different color, the hair was too but it was the same style, that was the same look.

It was Delta.

“Isobel no!” Frank cried out. His mind was in shock and body stunned. A flood of emotions hit him, mostly dread.

‘How did I not see it was her? The hair, the skin, the voice. How?!?’

Isobel turned to face him, her lips were wet with Delta’s fluids. “C’mon Frank, it’s great. She can get big enough for the both of us.”

“Yeah Frank, your wife loves this~” said Delta.

“This isn’t real, this has to be a dream.” Frank ran towards the front door of the apartment and opened it to try and run out of here. For whatever reason, his panicked state felt that was the right move.

Soon as he touched the handle, Barney, Clare, and Melvin practically tore through the door to let themselves in. They wore their sanitation works uniforms as they stepped inside, patting Frank on the Shoulder.

“My man, you’re not hogging Delta all to yourself are you?” said Barney.

“I just can’t wait to die again!” said a cheery Melvin.

Clare walked right up to the trembling Frank, licked her lips lasciviously, and said nothing more.

Frank looked back at the open doorway which was now a gaping and horrific looking maw. He frantically closed it, then noticed the window opposite him was occluded by one of Delta’s yellow eyes. The window to the side was too, all the windows were and he screamed.

Frank turned back to the main open room of the apartment and saw the three members of his crew undressing to their underwear. That Delta his wife was giving oral to sprouted up tall enough that she had to stand to keep going. Frank cautiously moved back inside, hugging the wall opposite Delta. That horrible woman had her yellow irises back, and her hair started regaining its green and yellow colors. The circuit pattern of it restored before his very eyes.

His crew was completely nude now. They stood almost completely still. She turned to Frank as she spoke, addressing everyone.

“Don’t worry, there’s plenty of me to go around~”

At that moment the apartment erupted into a horrific flesh-tasmagoria of a home. His furniture was included, sans the screens which Delta’s flesh integrated with directly via a tangle of wires and veins like some sort of cyber-horror.

The chair Frank had sat in grew teeth at its top with fang legs and a seat lined with wiggling villi. The table grew a few eyeballs and upwards jutting fangs oat the top. The apartment light came from eyes on the walls and ceilings. Frank looked down and realized he was stepping on the mix of tan and red flesh. His socked feet grew a bit wet from whatever fluid was there. One of the maws on the flesh wall behind him gave his neck a lick.

Frank yelped, and in the process he turned back to the Delta body and his wife. The rest of his crew made their way towards Delta. By now, the tormentor was 15 feet tall and completely nude. His wife hung to the amazon Delta’s leg like a monkey on a tree. She reached her head up to keep lapping at the twisted woman’s nethers.

“Stop, stop this! All of you stop this!”

Barney was the first to get close. Delta reached out with her hand and squeezed his bald head. His skull began to crack.

“C’mon, you got to get in on this Frank.”

One more clench and Barney’s head exploded.

“Fuck, no, stop!” yelled Frank.

Delta giggled in her reply. Melvin came in next and Delta’s side opened up. A smaller hand, Delta’s presumably, beckoned Melvin closer as it stuck out the opening. Melvin smiled wide and walked to her. Once close enough, tentacles flew out from the orifice to entangle the man and tug him in legs first.

He screamed out in agony, the same screams Frank heard at the Subway. “Aaah, Frank. Why’d you try and stop me before? This hurts... so good. Why the fuck did I even care about Elaina in the first place when Delta exists? I’m such a fucking dork.”

The tear in Delta’s body closed and perverse gurgles shook the entire flesh-apartment.

Clare was next. The moaning Delta simply turned to her and Frank’s former crew-member just walked towards the circuit-haired woman. Every step Clare got slower and slower as the flesh stretched up from the floor to engulf her. Grotesque sounds of suckling accompanied the coworker’s movements. Eventually, she couldn’t push forward anymore and was completely enveloped in the Delta mass. She was quickly cocooned in some sort of digestive pod, and Frank saw her skin begin to melt as only her head poked against a transparent mucus layer.

Clare spoke.

“Frank, I’m food. We’re all food. Join us!” she said. After that she started to scream as her body melted, becoming invisible as the pod sunk back into the floor.

Frank felt powerless till now. The flood of emotions he went through proved a natural deterrent to action. Then, he saw Isobel start to sink into Delta’s growing body.

“No. Fuck you, you monster!” He went to charge at her but tripped on a tentacle lining the flesh floor. The meat and skin beneath tried to suck him in, but he somehow pulled free and stood to his feet. Now, there was a giant Delta for each of his mission team members as well. They were back and all servicing the vulva of each amazon Delta body with their tongues.

“C’mon, try and stop me Frank. Try and get your justice~” said the Delta bodies.

In front of him was the pink button on a pedestal: the off switch from before. He looked her in the eyes and slammed it. Every Delta body let out a powerful, apartment quaking moan and gushed fluids over their partners. Isobel and them were sinking into the flesh of the Delta bodies still, and her nectar seemed to turn their skin redder.

“You fucking bitch!”

There were suddenly numerous other, identical pedestaled buttons all around the apartment. They made a maze of sorts, and prevented him from reaching the Delta’s across him with any sort of ease.

“Mmm, you must’ve got the wrong button. Keep trying them~”

Frank hit a button towards his side, then another. Each time the Delta bodies just climaxed again, further gushing over his wife and friends. As time went on, the continued to sink into the mini-giant Deltas.

The tall fit man ran through the maze of buttons all while hitting them all. One of them had to be correct, right? He became desperate. Each slam of his fist on the button just made more joy for the monstrous woman who had become his very apartment. He heard his wife’s moans, his friends’ moans, all interspersed with pained screams. Their skin grew redder. He saw less and less of them till only their heads and back seemed to be outside a Delta form.

He quickly reached the center were one button stood more spread out from the others.

‘This has to be it.’ Frank thought fast with his panicked, fervent mind.

He slammed the button there with a clenched fist. Delta let out the loudest lustful cry yet and gushed in inordinate amount of her nectar all over Frank’s wife, his friends, and the entire apartment. It came from everywhere and drenched him from above.

Frank noticed his hand was sticky and against something slick and fleshy with a bit of give. He looked down at the button to see it was a giant clit. All the buttons were now.

He looked to the Delta bodies. They smiled as they shuddered, eyes closed. All Delta’s heads turned to him and opened their eyes. Isobel, Barney, Melvin and Clare slowly turned towards frank as well. He saw their faces were melted off by Delta’s femcum. He looked into the hollow eyes of their skull faces and screamed. Frank felt the sting of all the nectar on him for a brief and painful moment till the environment changed.

Frank was naked in a vast chamber of squishy pink. Ahead of him was Isobel, standing naked and barely moving. He ran over to her.

“Isobel, we have to get out of here!”

A thundering moan rung out across the chamber and nearly jostled Frank over.

“Isobel!” he called out. He ran up to her and set his hand on her tan shoulder.

It got stuck there.

Isobel turned to face him.

“Oh Frank, I’m so glad you decided to go back to Delta with me. It’s wonderful, isn’t it?”

Frank had tears in his eyes.

“No, stop this. I’m gonna wake up. It’s a dream. it’s another one of my nightmares.”

Isobel grabbed Frank’s hands and moved them to her breasts, which they sunk into.

Another loud moan rang out and the chamber shook. He knew where he was. The feminine scent was unmistakable. They were inside Delta’s vagina. Behind him, her heard a closer, though less powerful moan. There was a smaller, but still giant Delta here in the more gargantuan one’s cunt. That body laid on her back fingering herself. Her moans were in sync with the bigger one’s, who they all were inside. Another such utterance rocked the chamber.

“C’mon dear, she wants more toys~” said Isobel.

“No!” shouted Frank. He tried to pull his arms out of his wife’s body, but those limbs just kept getting pulled deeper and deeper.

“You want to bring her pleasure right? That’s our purpose, to be used as she sees fit.”

The giant Delta within the enormous pink cave reached out to snatch Frank and Isobel. Despite his fussing, she had no problem bringing the two to her own pussy. There, she mashed them against her sopping wet clit for a bit till climaxing with a licentious roar.

Frank and Isobel were soaked once again. He cried, screamed and fussed in the Delta body’s grip but it amounted to nothing. It never really did.

The Delta form brought them to her lips and eyed them half-lidded.

“Yum~” she said, her voice rocking Frank’s body.

That mouth swung open and the hot humid gale from the monstrous woman hit him. He heard laughter from his wife, and turned to her. At that exact moment the tone changed to Delta’s voice, and he saw himself sinking into this same-sized Delta, all the while looking into those malicious yellow eyes of hers.

He sunk fully into that Delta body, before the bigger one sealed her lips and swallowed, all within the biggest one’s sex.