After Chris began the mutation process, he didn't have much to do besides wait. His other self was busy helping the squad with their observation mission, so he couldn't go back there. He supposed he could just get rid of this form for the moment, but after some thought, he decided to visit the City instead. T'ka's service had reminded him that he could recreate whatever he wanted as long as he had enough mass available, making her efforts to constantly refill his glass of water rather pointless, if not slightly endearing. Since that was the case, why not go around and collect all his favorite foods, so he'd always have them available when he wanted them?

His first stop was the grocery store, where he picked up his favorite chips, candy, cereals, and other forms of junk food, filling his cart full with what looked like the fast track to diabetes. He also grabbed a few types of bread, some condiments, and luncheon meats, as well as a few different types of drinks. After that, he made a few calls, making to go orders at several restaurants, going around to each one to pick everything up, before finally stopping at Hellfire. He tossed the food into his Immortal World, then went and found a seat at an empty table, ordering it again. He'd been running around all day and it was time for dinner.

Chris was sitting at the table, sipping on a soda and reading a book, enjoying the solitude, when suddenly the chair across from him squeaked as someone pulled it out and sat down. Chris frowned, looking up to see a somewhat attractive woman who looked to be in her mid twenties sitting across from him with a serious look on her face. "Hello, my name is Debra."

Chris frowned. "Uh, hi. I'm Chris."

Debra nodded. "I have a proposition for you. You see, I've spent my entire life focused on my education, my career, my ambitions, ignoring relationships and fun. However, a few weeks ago, I was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer, untreatable, malignant, fatal. I only have a few months to live, maybe a year. Now, all my hard work looks like a huge mistake, and with the limited amount of time I have left, I would like to fully correct that error. That's where you come in. For the next few months, until I die, I would like you to fuck me. As often and as hard as you can. I want you to treat me like a piece of meat, using me to fulfill any and all your wants and desires. In exchange, you will receive the entirety of my savings, my house, my car, everything I own, upon my death." She explained in a measured tone, though her quickened breathing belied her nervousness. She had been working her way down through the City, giving this speech to random men she found attractive and knew she'd never see again unless they took up her offer. None had so far, but she had hope.

Chris frowned. "Isn't- isn't that sort of one sided in my favor? I use you and get everything you own after?"

Debra flushed. "I-I have a… submission kink. I would prefer to be used, rather than to use."

"Huh…" Chris raised his eyebrows, not entirely sure how to respond to that. He then shook his head. "Look, I get where you're coming from, but- wait… cancer?" Chris suddenly paused, looking at her thoughtfully for a moment. "Actually, I might be able to help you."

Debra's expression brightened for a moment, before she got herself back under control with a cough. "Th-thank you. I- is there anything you would like to do now? Maybe you'd like to take me into the bathroom for a moment?" She asked, flushing nervously. Once Chris accepted her offer, a mix of anticipation, nervousness, and disbelief wove its way through her. She could barely believe she was actually doing this.

Chris shook his head, getting to his feet and waving for her to follow him. "I have somewhere else we could go. We can just do it real quick then come back." A small frown creased Debra's brow, but it quickly disappeared as she considered what they were about to do, her flush deepening. She followed Chris to a corner of the restaurant, where he opened a portal, gesturing for her to step inside.

"What- what's this?" Debra asked nervously as stepped inside, looking around. Chris had opened the portal to the small living space he'd created, since he figured the creatures or the vast emptiness might scare Debra off.

"This is my world." Chris explained as he followed her in, closing the portal behind him.

Debra turned back to Chris, her heartbeat quickening as the reality of what she was about to do hit her. She gulped nervously, her hands shaking as they reached the top button of her blouse, playing with it hesitantly. "S-so you want to do it here?"

Chris nodded. "I think this would be the best place." He then paused, a weird grin spreading across his face. "I'm pretty sure this is the only place we could really do what I want to do."

Debra's breathing quickened as she nodded, finally undoing her button, before moving on to the next. "I-I see." She suddenly paused, hesitating on the next button. "Is- is there anything special you'd like me to do? Like, I-I could perform a strip tease for you?"

Chris gave her a bemused look, before shaking his head. "Just turn around." He told her.

Debra froze, before nodding, hesitantly turning around, glancing backwards nervously as she did. She began to fumble with her pants, unbuttoning them and letting them drop, leaning on the couch as she turned to look back at Chris. "H-how is-" She began, before her eyes widened in horror as a blade plunged straight into her forehead.

"Damn it! Why do they always turn right at the wrong time?" Chris cursed, yanking the knife out and letting Debra's corpse fall. He frowned down at her for a moment as he watched her regenerate, before shrugging. "Eh, I'm sure the extra pain won't really matter if this actually does cure her cancer."

Debra suddenly sat up with a gasp, scrambling away from Chris in fright, before pausing, looking around in confusion. "I-I'm alive?"

"Yup. One of the features of my world is that anyone who dies in here comes back completely healed. I can't be completely sure, but I figure it would probably take care of your cancer as well." Chris explained.

Debra froze, looking up at him with wide eyes. "You- you- you- you-" She seemed to be stuck for a moment, before she shook herself, standing to her feet, before glancing at Chris nervously. "You- you think you cured my cancer?"

Chris shrugged. "Ostensibly, but you'd need to see a doctor to make sure. Though… even if I didn't cure you, as long as you die here regularly, any damage the cancer would do to you would be healed, so you shouldn't have any problems living for a while longer. Hell, if you actually want to live in here, you'll never die. There's plenty of space, so it wouldn't be an issue."

Tears began to pool in the corners of Debra's eyes as she listened to Chris, before she suddenly rushed forward, wrapping her arms around his neck and pressing herself against him. "Thank you! Thank you, thank you, thank you!" She thanked him profusely, not even believing what she was hearing. A world that wouldn't let her die? Even with cancer? Was such a thing even possible? She pulled back slightly, staring at Chris with a deep expression. Even if she wasn't dying, would it be so bad to submit herself to someone with such an ability? She bit her lip nervously, before leaning in to press her lips against his, worming her tongue between his lips.

Chris's eyes went wide, letting out a muffled protest, before pushing her away. "Whoa, whoa, whoa! Hold on, that- we aren't doing that, alright? I just brought you here to cure you. I actually have a girlfriend. I'm sorry if I led you on, but… well, I figured if I told you I wanted to bring you here to kill you, you might run, which would just be a shame, you know?"

Debra flushed in embarrassment. "O-oh, I see." She murmured. She covered her face, taking a deep breath as she slowly worked through all the emotional changes she'd experienced over the last few moments, slowly putting her emotional mask back on. "I still want to thank you." Debra explained after she'd calmed down a bit, looking up with a serious expression. "I would do any-"

"No!" Chris suddenly exclaimed, jumping forward to cover her mouth, but it was too late. The moment Debra's willingness to do whatever Chris wanted solidified, so did the connection, binding her to the Immortal World, and Chris's will. "Damnit!" Chris cursed, uncovering Debra's mouth.

Debra stood there, stunned, not sure what had just happened. She'd just been thanking Chris, when suddenly, this… connection formed. The knowledge that her life was completely in Chris's hands had been etched into her soul indelibly. Everything that was hers, everything that she was, now and forever, was now his. "What- what… What just happened?" She asked nervously.

Chris sighed defeatedly. "That would be another feature of my world. Anyone that expresses… submission gets bound to it. The good news is that it means you don't have to worry about cancer anymore. Hell, you don't have to worry about anything anymore. Anytime you die, you'll automatically get sent back here, and you'll be fixed up as good as new. In exchange, you literally can't disobey me. Which… Well, I can't say I'm much of a dictator, so it's not a terrible trade off, but still."

"So- so you're saying I have to obey you now? Whatever you tell me to do, I- I wouldn't be able to resist? I'm completely at your mercy?" Debra asked, a weird tone creeping into her voice. She almost seemed to be getting a little… excited.

Chris pulled back, looking at her weirdly. "Okay, you need to calm down, alright? I have a girlfriend, remember?"

Debra looked at him strangely. "So you say, but why is she letting you go out to dinner on your own? If she's too busy for you, why not take me for a spin?"

Chris frowned. "Okay, first off, she's currently in the Maze, so that's why she isn't here. Secondly, I'm also in the Maze, with her, currently. She's not neglecting me at all. I can be in multiple places at once, like so." Chris showed her, creating another self, both waving at her, before one disappeared.

Debra's eyes widened at Chris's display. "You can- wait, don't you see? That's even better! You can be with both of us without neglecting either!"

Chris raised an eyebrow at her. "I don't think that's how that works…"

"But-" Debra began.

"Stop. It's not happening, alright? I'm loyal, even if I can be in two places at once." Chris stated firmly.

Debra huffed. "Very well, it is your decision. But I'll be here if you ever change your mind. I have no other choice." She finished with a wink.

Chris glared at her. "You have issues."

Chris sent Debra off to the hospital to see if her cancer had been healed, reminding himself to make sure he immediately got anyone else he saved out of the Immortal World once he was done, to avoid future mishaps like this. He just hoped this one wouldn't cause him too many issues. He returned to Hellfire, sitting back down at his table and finishing his meal, before pondering his next move. He'd already collected all the food he was interested in, but the creatures were still mutating, so he still had some time to kill.

"Let's see, Derek and Beth are in the Maze, so I can't hang out with them. Well, technically I'm already hanging out with Beth, but that doesn't help this me… shit, that actually might become a problem in the future." Chris muttered to himself with a frown. Even though his other self was having fun hanging out with Beth, it felt more like he was remembering a time in the past when he'd hung out with her. This version of him still had the desire to be with her himself, and the memory of his other self doing so didn't change that.

Chris shook his head, pushing those concerns out of his mind for the moment. He could deal with that later. "So, what else is there to do?" He asked himself, resuming his thought process. "I could see if Thad and Penny want to hang… but, it is a school night… probably best not to bother them. Huh… well shit, is that my entire social circle?" Chris frowned, going over it again. Derek, Thad, Penny, Beth… yup, that was everyone. "Maybe I could add Debra in now?" Chris murmured hesitantly, before thinking over how that situation would work out and deciding that no, no he couldn't.

Chris sighed in defeat. "So, hanging out with friends is a no go… what else could I do?" To be honest, there wasn't much Chris was actually interested in doing. Most of what he did was because his friends dragged him along, and he didn't particularly care if he did one thing or another. He did somewhat enjoy reading, games, tv, stuff like that, but it was more for the entertainment value, just to keep himself from being bored. If he just wanted to keep himself from being bored, he might as well just get rid of this Chris and focus on the Chris hanging out with Beth. No, if he wanted to stick around, he needed to find something more substantial to do.

Chris went over the projects he had in the works, seeing if there was anything he could handle at the moment. The conquest of the Maze was on hold for the moment, due to mutation. He couldn't really do anything with the Scouts since the other him was already on that. Hmmm… he did have a rather large collection of ability cores he needed to do something with. Maybe he could look into that? But where to start…

David answered his phone with a frown, wondering why Chris would be calling him. Wondering how Chris was calling him! Wasn't he supposed to be in the Maze? "Chris?" David asked hesitantly, thinking maybe someone else was using Chris's phone.

"Hey, yeah, I was just wondering, do you know anyone who deals with ability cores?" Chris asked.

David was stunned for a moment. "Ability- aren't you supposed to be in the Maze?!?"

"Yeah, and I am, but that really isn't an issue for me anymore." Chris replied.

"Excuse me?" David asked incredulously.

"You see, apparently, I can create new bodies for myself using my world, allowing myself to be in multiple places at once. So, I'm in the Maze, but I'm also in the City." Chris explained.

"I- I see." David muttered numbly, not even sure how to really process the amount of implications that statement implied. "You- you were saying something about ability cores? How many do you have?"

"Fifty-seven." Chris replied. "Well, actually, seventy-one, but the cores from the physical type creatures are essentially useless." He'd actually had even more, but he'd been feeding a few to Jello. The slime seemed to particularly enjoy eating ability cores for some reason.

David nodded along. "I see. Well, the Scouts have dedicated Readers who can evaluate the cores and give you a good price for them. Just head to the logistics building on base, and they'll take care of everything."

"Actually, I was wondering if you could get me in touch with someone who actually turned the cores into tools. See, I can handle the cores on my own, figuring out the ability, the energy level, all that, but I don't know how to actually do anything with them. I mean, I could sell them, but I don't really need the money at the moment, what with the Scout salary… and my rapidly reducing expenses." Chris added absently, realizing he barely had to spend money at all at this point. As long as he kept up his activities in the Maze, he'd keep collecting more and more mass, which he could use to feed, clothe, and house himself, without spending any money. If he ever needed anything, all he had to do was buy it once, and he'd have it for life. "Anyways, I think learning how to turn the cores into something useful would be interesting, and I happen to have a lot of extra time on my hands."

"You- you're a Reader now too?" David asked in a slight tone of disbelief.

Chris paused. "Not exactly… I need the target to be dead before I can do anything. Or at least, they'd definitely be dead by the time I was done. It's a very destructive process."

David pulled the phone away, glaring at it weirdly, as if the phone was to blame for the strange things he was hearing. He then sighed, bringing it back to his ear. "Alright, fine, I can ask a friend if she has the time to show you the ropes. I'll contact you with the details later."

"Thank you, I appreciate it." Chris thanked him, before hanging up. He then paused. "Damn it! Now I have to wait again." He sighed.