Regina shot Barry a glance before she spoke to Shannon again. She found Barry’s high spirits and playfulness endearing, but the fate of this world hinged on what would happen in the next few minutes. They needed to focus.
“A pleasure to meet you, Shannon,” Regina said as politely as she could to the redhead. “May we come in?”
Shannon scowled. “Do you have a warrant this time?”
Regina blinked in confusion. She had pretty good intelligence on what had been going on in this universe, but her information was far from perfect. Had law enforcement gone so far as to try to stop these reality-bending lesbians?
It was Barry who broke the silence. “Forgive us,” she said sweetly. “We’re not with law enforcement or the government. We’re not even reporters. We just want to talk.”
“Definitely not Jehovah’s Witnesses, either?” Shannon asked with a suspicious arched eyebrow.
“Let them in,” said one of the gorgeous women in the living room. Both of the women were tall, lithe Asians, blessed with impossibly large bosoms. Their features had an angelic quality that, in Barry’s opinion, would have allowed them to effortlessly blend in to Regina’s world. It was the taller of the two who spoke, and her commanding presence made both Regina and Barry decide that this must be Meiko Weir.
Shannon stepped aside, and as Barry passed by her, she seemed to grow taller. Out of the corner of her eye, Barry perceived that Shannon now possessed wings, horns, and a thrashing lizardlike tail. Realizing that a ten foot tall dragon-lady was between them and a door, she squeezed Regina’s hand for support. Regina seemed unconcerned.
“Meiko and Brenda Weir, I presume?”
The shorter of the two spoke up. “I’m Tiffani, Meiko’s mother.” She extended a hand, which Regina took politely. It was hard not to read flirtation in the elder Weir’s eyes. “Brenda will be up soon. She is taking care of some trespassers in the basement.”
“Trespassers?” Regina asked.
“Two undercover police officers,” the dragon Shannon rumbled behind them. “We caught them trying to install surveillance equipment in our house. Without a warrant.”
Worry gripped Regina. “By ‘take care of,’ you mean…?”
Meiko laughed. “Don’t worry. She won’t hurt them. She just wanted to scare them a little before sending them home with a message for their superiors.”
“I see,” Regina said. “I’m sure everything you do is above the law. And thank you for seeing us. We have some important issues to discuss. May we sit down?”
Meiko gestured, and two chairs moved of their own accord from the dining room to the living room where they had assembled, positioning themselves right behind Barry and Regina. The Sorceress Supreme did her best to act naturally.
After sitting, Regina said. “Nice trick. And that is what we have come to talk with you about.”
“You’re here to convert?” Tiffany asked. She seemed gleeful at the chance to witness a conversion to the new faith.
“No. Thank you,” Regina demurred politely. “We’re here to talk about the changes that occurred before you started your new faith. About your decision to rewrite the reality of this world, and to turn it into a lesbian paradise.”
Meiko suddenly sat up and looked serious. “Shannon? Mom? Would you two go downstairs and see what is keeping Brenda. I would like to talk with our guests alone.”
Shannon in particular looked reluctant to leave, but they knew that Meiko had little to worry about, so they complied.
As the basement door closed, Meiko said “All right, you two clearly know more than you’re letting on. Exactly who are you and why are you here?”
“My name is Regina, and this is Barry,” she said curtly. She could sense Maiko’s suspicion, but didn’t blame her, given the circumstances. “We are not native to your universe. I’ve become aware that you and your former father have been reshaping reality by means of a technology that is not indigenous to this plane of existence. While many of the changes that are taking place here–the virus granting women youth and beauty, your perpetually increasing power–now function according to the laws of this universe, the device that set them into motion currently resides somewhere in this house.”
Meiko’s eyes flashed with anger. “You’re here to steal it! We won’t let that happen. It’s safer in our hands. We’re not going to let some psycho or would-be totalitarian use it to fuck up the world worse than it already is! We’re only doing what’s best for everyone!”
Brenda chose the absolute worst moment to best into the room. She had changed herself for her interrogation of the prisoners. Barry saw her as a creature of absolute horror, but Regina, who had read more than her share of fantasy books, immediately thought drider. Brenda’s upper half was slender and graceful, with beautiful violet skin and long white hair. She had long ears that tapered to a point above the dome of her head, and eight red eyes in four rows going up her forehead. Her lower half was an immense spider body so large that she had to squeeze to get through the doorway at the top of the basement stairs. Eight long legs found their footing, pulling the gigantic black rounded abdomen behind them.
She was laughing.
“Holy shit! You should have seen them!” she chortled. “I had them wrapped in webbing and threatened to inject them with venom. They literally peed themselves and promised to tell me any…oh, hello! Tiff had mentioned that we have company!” She cheerfully extended a hand. Regina took it without hesitation. Barry remained rooted to her chair. Behind Brenda, Tiffany and Shannon re-entered the room.
Regina returned to her seat and fixed her gaze on Meiko again. “Please explain again how you two are responsible enough to handle unlimited power?”
Meiko flushed, furious at Brenda for choosing that moment to live out a D&D kink. “We’re not killers,” she said through clenched teeth. “And we’re offering people a chance at a better life.”
“Except for the men you’re going to neuter and let wither away into obsolescence,” Barry interjected sharply. Now it was Regina’s turn to wish that her partner had chosen a more low-key approach. This didn’t have to turn into a fight.
Brenda plopped her spider ass down, folded her arms under her pillowy breasts, and spoke tersely. “I don’t know where you’re getting your information, but you’re wrong. My name is Brenda Weir. And we don’t owe you any explanations. But we’ll give you one, on one condition: you leave this place