"The Bandit 4a"( MF cons ) The Rainbow Wizard carefully packed away his guitar in its case, and closed the lid. He hefted the case easily in one hand, and smiled sweetly at Flower. "I had a wonderful time this evening," he said, "And I hope that we can do it again sometime soon." "Oh, I'd like that," Flower replied, picking up her own guitar. "It was wonderful meeting you. I was beginning to feel like I wasn't going to make any friends here at all. Well, goodnight!" With a wave, she turned and was gone, guitar case banging against her knees as she strode toward the elevator. The Rainbow Wizard watched her leave, his smile contemplative in a manner only practiced by those in the Messiah business. After a long moment, he sighed gustily and turned to Mary Magdalene, who'd packed her guitar away and was standing with her arms crossed, looking at him with an expression that would curdle fresh milk. He smiled at her disarmingly. "What's wrong, my love?" Mary Magdalene didn't even wind up. One strong fist came up in a blur and caught the Rainbow Wizard right in the gut. He stumbled backward one or two steps with a grunt of pain, stumbled over a coffee table, and fell backward onto it, then onto the couch behind it, with a clatter. Thud, who was idly playing a round of cribbage with himself in the corner, raised an eyebrow at that. Definitely unstable, he thought wearily. He should've seen it coming. "I hope you're satisfied," Mary Magdalene hissed. "You fucking lecher! I'd rip your nuts off and feed them to the fish, if they'd eat them!" "What's the--oof--matter with you, Mary? What'd I do?" The Rainbow Wizard scrambled to his feet clumsily. He ran after Mary Magdalene as she grabbed her coat and stormed out the front doors of the Habitat, fuming. "Hey, Wiz! What about your guitars?" Thud called. "Please keep them in your room, Thud. I'll retrieve them later. This is much more important," the Rainbow Wizard called over his shoulder. He was out the door in an instant, gone in a blast of cold air. Thud watched them go, and sighed. He began to gather up his cards. Time to call it a night, I guess, he thought. No more fun stuff to watch. Mary Magdalene was walking at full steam, her back stiff and her eyes straight forward as she crossed the campus, heading for the northern edge of Arcadia's campus. Behind her, the Rainbow Wizard stumbled through the snow, calling, "MARY MAGDALENE, WAIT! PLEASE! TELL ME WHAT'S WRONG!" At those words, Mary Magdalene stopped dead in her tracks and slowly turned to face the Rainbow Wizard as he caught up with her, panting. The sound of a party in another of the dorms carried faintly over the snowy field as he stopped just out of her reach, shivering in the wind. "Tell you what's wrong?" Her whisper was thick with disbelief. "Tell you WHAT'S WRONG? YOU STEAMING SHIT! HOW DARE YOU?" The whisper turned into a shriek in the space of a half sentence. "Do you think I'm blind? Or just stupid! I SAW you tonight, the whole fucking NIGHT, drooling all over that little cunt like a goddamned sled dog in heat! You motherfucking HYPOCRITE!" "Mary--" "SHUT UP!" Her eyes were wild in the dim moonlight, and spittle flew from her lower lip. She paused for a sobbing breath, and continued in a choked monotone. "Three years I sat with you, you son of a bitch. Three YEARS! Every other girl in the goddamned high school was out having a normal life, going on dates, having REAL boyfriends, and I just sat in a chair by a hospital bed waiting for you to open your eyes and tell me you loved me one last time before you DIED!" She gasped for breath. "I watched them open you up and haul out your insides! I watched them fill you with chemicals and shoot you full of radiation and I watched your h-h-hair fall out and I listened to them t-tell m-me that y-y-you were g-g-gonna DIE...." She fell to her knees and buried her face in her hands, crying hysterically. The Rainbow Wizard reached out and gently laid a hand on her shoulder. She shrugged away from it roughly, not looking up. "No, don't pull away," he said calmly. "Are you trying to tell me that'd you'd rather I'd died?" "No," she sighed into her hands, her sobs subsiding a bit. "It sounds that way to me," he continued. "It sounds like you're blaming me for wasting an awful lot of your life that you could have spent elsewhere, doing other things. If I'd died...." "Oh, shut up," Mary Magdalene whispered. "No, I won't. This is important to you, or you wouldn't have hurt me that way." His tone never wavered, a perfect psychiatrist's drone, comforting and insistent. "Where would you be if I were dead? Would you be happier?" "N-no." Mary Magdalene slowly got to her feet. Her knees were soaked through and freezing, and she shivered under her coat. "We both know what you did for fun before you and I got together," the Rainbow Wizard said sternly. "I don't consider hanging out at the Palladium and trying to get into the music business from the mattress up to be a terribly rewarding future, do you?" "That's not FAIR!" Mary Magdalene sniffled. "I was making FRIENDS in the business! I had CONTACTS! I...I...." Her head came up proudly. "I gave some of those visiting musicians the best times they'd ever HAD!" "And are you a better person for it?" She glared at him, her eyes dark pits of rage. "Why were you so angry at me tonight?" "You know damn well why I was angry at you! Why I'm STILL angry at you! Where the hell do you get off doing the romantic warrior routine with that sawed-off little twat? She's NOTHING! Just a stuck-up brat from Crystal City who seems to think she can just waltz in and waltz out with MY MAN!" "Your man?" His soft voice carried the faintest hint of danger. "You're--damn--RIGHT!" She jerked a thumb up, pointing at herself. "Stand there and tell yourself you'd be alive to CHASE that little shit if I hadn't brought you through this! I wouldn't make fun of you when your hair grew back a different color, I held your hand while you puked up the whole damn medicine chest, I changed your bedpans--hell, I even changed your I.V. a couple of times when the nurses were too busy!" Her tone gradually took on a note of triumph. "You owe me your life, you stinking cur! If it hadn't been for me, you would've just given up and DIED! This life you're living is yours because I gave it to you and YOU OWE ME! And I will NOT have you sniffing around at the crotches of every female that passes by! Is that clear?" The Rainbow Wizard regarded her cautiously. "Very clear," he said. "I hadn't realized that you were so unsure of my love for you that you could misconstrue what happened tonight. That's such a shame..." "Oh, come OFF it! You're not going to tell me that there was nothing going on between you-- she would've stuck her face in your crotch if I hadn't been there, and you know it!" "Yes, maybe she would have," the Rainbow Wizard nodded. "And you're quite convinced that I would have thrown away everything we've built and gleefully let her carry me away?" Mary Magdalene was silent, her gaze wavering the tiniest bit. "Are you so convinced that she's your superior that I couldn't possibly resist her," he persisted. "Are you so sure that I wouldn't have just told her, 'No, my heart belongs to another. You are lovely, but you are not for me,' and made her leave it at that?" He shook his head. "That's the most depressing news I've heard in a long time." He turned and began to walk back to the Habitat. "I wonder if the Bandit's still awake? He'd get a real charge out of hearing this...." Mary Magdalene called after him, "Wait!" Her voice was still full of tears, but now they were tears of misery rather than anger. "No, I'm cold. I don't have a jacket," he said, still walking away. Mary Magdalene ran the few steps that brought her to his side, and opened her coat, casting it over his shoulders and drawing him inside it with her. "Don't go," she whispered. "I'm sorry I misjudged you. It just seemed--" "I know what it must have seemed like," he said softly, turning to face her. He slipped his arms around her, and she drew her hands into the coat sleeves and held it shut behind his back, a warm cocoon enveloping them. "But if I'm to be denied even the chance to admire a beautiful girl without seeming a traitor, wouldn't it be better for me just to be struck blind?" "Oh, don't say things like that," she whispered, and kissed him. "I love you. Never forget that. I love you." "I love you...." They stood huddled together under her coat, kissing tenderly, for what seemed like hours. Strange sounds seemed to come from somewhere inside the coat's folds: first the clink of a belt buckle, then the distinct zip of a zipper being opened. Mary Magdalene gasped, then laughed deep in her throat and kissed the Wizard even harder. Another zipping noise. "Ooohh," Mary Magdalene husked. "What are you going to do with THAT?" "Nothing, if it freezes off," the Rainbow Wizard smiled. She laughed and reached up to nibble his ear. "I have a place to keep it warm," she whispered. "Hurry." The next few moments must have been as funny as hell to watch, as the coat bounced and flapped a bit around the two bodies jockeying for position. The edge of the coat whipped open for an instant in the wind, exposing a brief glimpse of what lay in the shadows: a silky thigh, the black curl of pubic hair, and something that seemed almost to glow.... Then the pair turned to let the wind blow the coat shut again, and Mary Magdalene gasped and threw her head back. "UH! YEAH, YEAH!" Mmmmmmm...." The Rainbow Wizard bent forward and licked her neck as she drew herself back like a bow in his arms and began to gasp and moan in a familiar rhythm. Suddenly she went rigid, keening like a wolf as her orgasm swept over her, heat and bitter cold mingled in the night. She cried out in ecstasy as he gave a loud grunt and shuddered in her embrace, his eyes shut and his head lowered with the effort. For a long while they stood very still, just holding each other. Then, they straightened up, kissing gently, and the odd buckling and zipping noises came back. A police car went by on the narrow street, its siren blaring, causing them to start like frightened deer and cling to one another. Then they laughed with the release of tension, and turned to leave the field. "Would you like to go back for your coat?" "No, I'll hold you close until we get to your house." Conan crunched through the snow toward the brightly lit courtyard that fronted the Student Union, rubbing his tired eyes. I should know better than to read stuff like that before going to bed alone, he said disgustedly to himself. Now I'm gonna have to drink myself into a coma to be able to sleep! Bitch Goddesses of Thamazor, who'd I think I was kidding? Students were going in and out of the Union, enjoying the late night hours of the bar and dance club as a release from studying. Conan caught a sudden whiff of grilling hamburgers, and his stomach responded with a burbling growl. Maybe I'll eat first, he decided ruefully. You can never metabolize enough protein.... "Let go of me, you pig! LET GO! HEELLLLLPPPP!" Conan's head jerked up at the sound of the terrified scream. "Shut up, you bitch!" The roar of a drunken voice was followed by a slap and a cry of pain. Conan located the source of the sound; it was a shadowed area under one of the walkways, famous for private trysts at night. He kicked into a dead run and was there in bare seconds, his massive legs covering the distance in the time it took the students nearby in the courtyard to look around for the source of the scream. An attractive young woman was struggling on the concrete bench with a young man who was trying to hold her wrists. Conan grabbed him by the scruff of the neck and bodily hauled him off of her, then up off the bench. "Hey, what's the--" The boy's voice cut off abruptly as Conan turned him around and he got a good look at his assailant. He swallowed, then tried for a shaky smile. "Leave her alone," Conan said with a friendly grin. "Uh, look, man, me and my girlfriend were just--UNGH!" With a sudden shove, Conan slammed him back bodily against the wall of the underpass. knocking his breath away. "Leave, I said," Conan repeated pleasantly. The boy gained his feet, gasped for breath, and took off like a spooked raccoon, pushing aside the few curious students who were just arriving on the scene. Conan didn't even watch him leave. He turned his attention to the girl, who was sitting on the bench, hugging herself and shivering. "Are you all right? Did he hurt you?" Conan held out a hand to her. Hesitantly, she took it, and he led her out into the streetlights. There was a spattering of applause from the few people who'd remained to see what the ruckus was about. "Yeah! Conan saves another damsel in distress!" "Way to go, Conan!" Conan grinned at the crowd, eating up the applause. His smile died on his face when he saw the girl clearly in the light. Her eye was rapidly swelling and turning black as he watched, and she was obviously in a lot of pain. "Thank you," she said in a feeble whisper. "Let me walk you to the hospital," he replied. "You should get a cold compress for that eye." "Okay," she nodded. It took an obvious effort, but she smiled. He offered an arm to her, and said to the crowd, "I'm taking her to Wright Memorial Trauma Ward. If the Security Squad want a statement, they can find us there, okay?" There were a few scattered nods of assent. "Come on." He smiled at her as she took his arm, and led her around the Union, toward the highway and the hospital. The noise and lights in the Clean Room were at their height. Zero cavorted on the dance floor, his body shaking to the beat as he watched Diva cut loose. She was squeezed into a spandex leotard in a tiger-stripe pattern and a pair of skintight black pants, and her eyes were shut as she swayed in time to the music. Zero's eyes were fastened on her crotch, and on a small wedge-shaped bulge that went utterly unnoticed by everyone else in the room, as did the tiny remote control clutched in his fist and the thin wire that ran from his hand into the waist of her tights. He gave the power button a gentle stroke, and watched Diva contort and thrash in what must have seemed a particularly enthusiastic dance move. "Oh Lord God Jesus Christ Almighty!" She threw herself at him, biting his neck and grinding her pelvis against his. He could feel the faint thrum of the clit-vibe against his penis as she frantically grabbed for the remote. "Gimme that thing you sonofabitch don't keep turning it onnanoff yer killing me my clit's gonna bust wide open you sonofAAAAAAAAAAAAA!" She hugged him hard as he gave the power button another jab, and he deftly held it out of her reach. One or two other people were noticing that Diva appeared a bit too enthusiastic about the song, and were looking their way with a mixture of confusion and amusement. "Time to go, liebchen," Zero said quietly, flicking the remote off and leading Diva off the dance floor and through the crowd. She followed along behind him, still trying to pry the remote from his hands. A crowd was just dispersing out in the hallway of the Union where the entrances to the Burger Bar and the Clean Room met; from the broken glassware and the small spot of blood on the carpet, it looked as if the campus police had had a rough time with someone in the Bar. But Diva was too far gone to notice, and Zero was having too much fun torturing her to give the situation more than a passing glance. He whispered, "Ready to go home?" "NO NO God no," Diva moaned, arms about his neck and teeth nibbling at his Adam's apple, "I'll never make it home you gotta do me here you gotta do me here gimme that thing you sonofabitch I'm dying!" She made one last attempt to get the remote from him, then gave up and began to rub her hands up and down the length of his penis, outlined against the crotch of his jeans. Zero blinked in surprise and did his best to start a nonchalant stroll down the hall away from the clubs, but Diva kept right beside him, groaning in his ear and trying to get a hand into his pants. "Gimme Jimi...gimme Jimi...." Zero nodded politely to an elderly female professor who was walking by, her flabbergasted eyes on Diva's busy hands. "Sorry about this," he said pleasantly, "She's had a bit too much to drink." "So I see," said the professor, hurrying by with a sniff. "You bastard you bastard you BAAAAAAAA!" Diva shrieked and laughed like a madwoman, both feet leaving the ground for a moment as Zero nudged the button again. "I'm gonna getcha! I'm gonna--GETCHA!" She suddenly pushed Zero as hard as she could. Taken by surprise, he stumbled sideways into an open doorway that led into a small ticket office for the Student Theatre. It was empty, the cash register unlocked and open; the teller was obviously out for a moment to deposit the night's gate in the safe upstairs. Diva slammed Zero up against the cash register and fell to her knees, frantically tearing at his belt buckle. In desperation, Zero kicked the door shut behind her and held it with one outstretched foot. His flailing hand reached over and pulled down the curtain on the teller window. The last thing he saw was the face of a young blonde freshman, her eyes bugging out and her mouth agape as she caught a brief glimpse of Jimi as the curtain went down, and Diva went down right along with it. She wasn't in the mood to mess around. One deep breath, a whispered screech of "Gimme!" and down she went, all the way to the base of his thick, slick shaft, sucking for all she was worth and screaming around the hardness filling her mouth and throat. Zero closed his eyes as she bobbed up and down, up and down. "C'mon, glbph, you bas, gmmmph, bastard, glmmph, give it, blf, give it to me, mmmmbl, give it to me, gmllMMMMMM!" Her body went rigid as Zero turned the vibrator on full power, and she did something neither he nor she was expecting: she bit down. Hard. "YYYYEEEEEEOOOOOOWWWWWWWTTCHH!" Off went the vibrator, and down into his chair went Zero, the last vestiges of his selfpreservation instinct keeping the door firmly shut against the rattling doorknob and clicking key in the lock. "Is somebody in there? Hello?" Diva's mouth came off his dick and her eyes were wide and full of fear. "Oh, Liebchen, did I hurt you? I'm so sorrEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!" He flicked on the vibrator again and she convulsed against him. Zero quickly examined the damage to Jimi; he was bruised a bit and kind of red at the base, but there was no blood, and he was thicker and harder than ever. He let out a windy sigh of relief. "Peel," he whispered. Diva looked up at him and smiled wickedly. One hard tug, and her tights were around her knees, exposing her wide, full hips unadorned except for the red nylon straps that held the buzzing vibrator over her clitoris. She turned around and presented her wide, smooth rump to him as he stood up. The door seemed almost about to open with his foot removed from it, but it slammed shut again as Diva fell against it with her full weight. "Who's IN there? Open the damn door!" Zero spread her ass cheeks and exposed the luscious, drippy folds of her vulva with one hand, slowly increasing power to the vibrator with the other. He planted the tip of his dong against her pussy lips, and she mewled and thrust back against him, sucking him halfway in with a wet slurp. He slammed his hips forward against her, driving himself into her to the hilt as he ran the vibrator all the way up the scale. The remote dropped to the floor, forgotten, as he grabbed her waist and started slamming into her with everything he had. Diva was screaming, bucking, going insane from the dual stimulation, and her body slammed against the door to the ticket office again and again. Finally, he gushed into her with a groan, and she let out one last long wail as the vibrator, its job valiantly done, drained its batteries and quietly died. For a long minute, they just stood there, him leaning back against the cold metal of the cash register, her bent jacknifed at the waist and sobbing for breath. He gently withdrew from her, quickly grabbing a spare piece of paper to wipe himself and her off before pulling up his pants. She smiled weakly at him, leaning against the pounding door as she rolled up her tights. He tucked the remote in his pocket, put his arm around her to hide the wire while she quickly straightened his hair and her own, and opened the door. "Eeeyesss?" Zero smiled pleasantly at the young lady who was standing at the door, in front of a small crowd of fascinated onlookers. "What the hell were you DOING in there?" The crowd burst out laughing at the question, and the girl blushed crimson. Zero suddenly noticed the girl who'd seen him through the window, standing with two of her friends at the back of the crowd and making it-was-THIS-big-I-SWEAR motions with her hands as her friends gaped at her. She looked up, saw him, and blushed even redder than the ticket seller. He grinned and held up his hands, shaking his head as if to say, No-it's-really-only-THIS-big-dear. "Never you mind," Diva laughed, licking Zero's earlobe as she guided him toward the coat room. "We were just leaving, anyway." "Well, Jesus, would you look at that? Not even an apology, when I'm stuck out here trying to lock up and get my--" Behind them, they could hear the girl's voice cut off short, and the crinkling noises of wet paper. "MY RECEIPTS! OH, GROSS!" Zero's eyes met Diva's, and they both burst out laughing. All thoughts of further adventure forgotten, they ran hand in hand for the exit.