Arena 4

by Logan Jacobs

  “Dude, that’s fucking sweet,” I blurted out. Being responsible for the end of hunger was pretty freaking cool if I did say so myself. If I wasn’t careful, I might get a big head.

  “Sweet fucking indeed, Marc,” she purred.

  “Yes, yes, yes,” the POTUS butted back in. “My sons have branded it all and now the entire world eats my meat.”

  Artemis burst out laughing before she caught herself.

  “Artemis,” the POTUS said warmly, “looking hot as always. Marc, how about you introduce me to the rest of your incredibly attractive, perfect tens, team?”

  “Oh, right,” I uttered. I forgot that the President had really only met Artemis and Grizz. “Well, this is PoLarr Inarra, Val’Keerye warrior in the Nemmidian Raider Corp from Tartarus Major.”

  “Pleasure to meet you, Mr. President,” PoLarr said differently as she stood to her full height and gave him a salute that was reminiscent of those given by the U.S. military but with a little flourish at the end.

  “Great to meet a Death Angel and live to tell about it,” the President said, and I could tell he was actually impressed. I was also shocked he knew the nickname or PoLarr’s former Special Forces unit. Then again, the guy didn’t get where he was because he didn’t do his homework.

  “The orange-skinned femme fatal here is Nova Qwark of Paladin Prime,” I continued and motioned to Nova who stood as well. She nodded to the POTUS.

  “Well met, knight,” the President said as if her were at a Ren Faire.

  “Well met, sir,” Nova responded a bit confused and glanced over at me. I just shrugged to say “just go with it”.

  “And last, but not least, this is Aurora Starfall,” I turned and motioned to Aurora who rose from her chair and gave a very sultry stretch and let her finger play over the surface of the table seductively.

  “Um, uh, ahem, yes, Aurora, hot, hot, Aurora,” the POTUS stammered uncharacteristically. Aurora tended to have that effect. Not that the other ladies were any less sexy, Aurora just oozed a yin yang of dark-primal-vampire, yet also innocent-princess, desire from every ounce of her being.

  “Pleasure to meet you, Mr. President,” Aurora said in a somewhat Marilyn Monroe cadence.

  “And you know Artemis and my trainer, Grizz,” I finished out the introductions.

  “By the Mighty Pommel of the Wide Blade of Reverence it is an honor to see you again Mr. President King,” Grizz flattered and bowed deeply.

  “Jesus, it is arresting how much you look like my good, good friend and incredible star, Dwayne Johnson,” the President said. “Tremendous.”

  “Okay, so, introductions are done, finally,” I sighed. The President was fun but his calls were always kind of exhausting. He was a lot. “What can we do for you, Mr. President?”

  “Oh, right, right, yes, the pleasure of my call, which is all yours, you’re welcome,” he said with a wave of his hand. “My daughter and I will be finally traveling the galaxy to come visit the planet you’re on. I’m scouting real estate. We’re planning on opening a hotel-casino there in Valience City. Earth stuff is hot right now. Really hot. Tremendously hot. A ten. And the universe deserves the joy of one of my top-notch hotels.”

  “Oh!” I exclaimed, completely surprised. “Wow. Okay. When are you getting in?”

  “Two days,” he replied. “Trip is going to be wonderful. Full of wonder. It’ll be huge. See you then. We will have great, great fun.”

  “See you soon, Marc,” his daughter winked and waved before the connection went dead.

  My team and I just sat in silence for a long moment and let the news sink in.

  “I am struck by a sudden, overwhelming urge to go shopping and buy things,” Artemis finally said and stood up from her chair. “Like, if I don’t go shopping I might start to break things.”

  “You all have had a long day of training,” Grizz added, “take the afternoon off. We can select upgrades later, so shop to your heart's content, Artemis.”

  “I’ll go with you, sugar,” Aurora said as she walked over to meet Artemis near a coat rack that had been installed near the gyms doorway. “You can show me where you got those sexy little underwear you wore when we got in that bar brawl. I bet they look adorable crumpled on the floor of Marc’s bedroom.”

  “Oh, you filthy avian,” Artie said with a giggle.

  “Dirty bird?” I asked, not quite sure what Artie was trying to say. As hard as she tried, and she tried very hard, she still had a lot of trouble with English euphemisms.

  “Geez, Annie Wilkes much?” PoLarr threw over as she pulled a big package out of the anti-matter locker embedded in the wall.

  “I do not know who that is,” Artemis admitted innocently. “Was that not an appropriate phrase to lovingly call Aurora a sex-soaked promiscuous female with no moral judgment on her actions?”

  “Um,” I stuttered, “I, wow, there is a lot to unpack in that sentence. It was fine, Artie. It just sounded a little like a crazy psychopathic fan in a movie based on a Stephen King book.”

  “Oh!” She uttered. “That’s not what I was going for at all. Oh, English, I will fuck your world up good one of these days. You want to come with us, Nova? PoLarr?”

  “Thanks, Artemis,” PoLarr said as she carried the package over to the conference table. “I’m all set on sexy undergarments at the moment. As a Nemmdian Raider, we were issued several pairs as part of our uniform. I have combat thongs, dress thongs, PT thongs, and R&R thongs. You all have fun though.”

  “Actually,” Nova started to say as she stood from the table and walked toward Aurora and Artie, “yes, I do. I agree with Aurora. Those frilly undergarments were quite flattering. I think my ass will look spectacular in them. And out of them.”

  “Wow!” Artemis gasped at the other woman, who seemed to have really started to come out her stoic shell since I’d made her dress up like a sexy nurse last night.

  Nova gave me a sly smile and winked at Aurora. “Ms. Starfall is not the only dirty birdie here.”

  “Get out,” I joked and pointed to the door. “You hussies go now.”

  They all laughed, grabbed their jackets, waved, and walked out the door.

  I smiled brightly as I watched them leave. Even though we’d gotten some not great news today, I was still a damn lucky guy to have all of these amazing women in my life. It sure as shit beat the hell out of driving a truck up and down the east coast delivering art supplies or crates of novelty rubber dog shit.

  PoLarr unwrapped the package she had gotten from the anti-matter locker and I walked over to see what it was.

  “What’d you get?” I asked as I cleared my throat. The strange tension was suddenly back again, and it seemed like she was avoiding looking at me.

  “Variable Altitude Levitation Kinetic Yaw Roll Induction Elevator pack mark nine,” she rattled off. I had a flash of memory of PoLarr as a teenager as she opened a similar package with a version of her jetpack in it and the feeling of excitement mixed with fear and pride as she picked it up and put it on for the very first time. “Brand new upgraded pack from my former commander. Prototype actually. She figured there were no better field trials for it than the Crucible.”

  I peered over her shoulder and looked down at the stream-lined device. It was easily a third smaller and more compact than the previous version PoLarr normally wore. The chrome body shone in the light of the gym like a beacon of war. It was a super slimmed down cyber-punk version of the jetpack from the movie The Rocketeer that was maybe the size of an Apple laptop but almost triangular with a smaller top that flared out into a wider base. Exhaust ports lined the sides, and there was a streamlined induction hood on the top of it that reminded me of supercharged hood scoops on a street racing car. The whole assembly was secured to a web-belt system, not unlike a parachute, with straps that went over the shoulder, and around the waist and thighs. The previous version of the jetpack had small control handles that strapped to each hand that adjusted speed, thrust, and lift. I noticed that those seemed t
o be missing from this one.

  “How do you control it?” I asked. “I don’t see the control bars.”

  “Wanna strap in and find out?” She finally looked at me, and I saw a glint in her eye. “I had my commander send me two.”

  PoLarr moved aside and revealed a second, identical pack. I met her gaze and gave her a slight nod.

  “I feel the need,” we said in unison, “the need for speed!”

  PoLarr and I picked up our respective packs and shrugged into the cushioned straps. I clicked the buckle for the strap across my chest and as soon as I did the rest of the straps automatically tightened snugly without binding. She tossed me a pair of sleek, mirrored sunglass-goggles and without another word, we walked out of the gym to the lifts.

  A quick ride up and the doors opened to let us out on the roof of the building.

  I could almost hear Danger Zone play as we walked out of the lift in unison. My brain imagined us in super cool slow motion while we strode over to the side of the building. We were easily fifteen stories up but the spires of skyscrapers loomed all around us and made the Hall of Champions seem squat and short.

  “Okay, so, how does this work?” I asked as I looked for some type of control unit for the pack.

  She reached out her arm and touched a button on my harness. I felt a familiar buzz in my skull as the jetpack connected with the nanochip there.

  “The controls are all remote now,” PoLarr said with an excited rush in her voice. “You just gotta think what you want the pack to do, and it will do it. I have no idea how it works so this should be fun. Or we’ll die, but we’ll probably just have a lot of fun.”

  PoLarr pulled her goggles over her eyes, stood on the edge of the roof, and turned so that she faced me.

  “Follow the leader,” she said and then fell backwards off the building in a reverse swan dive. I watched as she fell for five stories and then activated her pack. Bright blue exhaust in the shape of angel wings sprang from the back of the jetpack as she strafed the heads of the pedestrians on ground level before going into a tight roll and shooting back up into the air.

  I slid my own shades over my eyes, and a green HUD display appeared that showed airspeed, altitude, wind speed, and thrust level. I backed up a few feet and then sprinted toward the edge of the building.

  “Whooo!” I yelled in sheer delight as I dove off the roof. I expected my exhaust wings to deploy and to soar into the air. They didn’t, and I dropped like a lead weight. “Ohh shiiiiit!”

  The wind whipped through my hair as I fell while I scrambled to think of something that would make the jetpack go. The ground got closer and closer and all I could think was “up up and away!”

  Which worked.

  The V.A.L.K.Y.R.I.E. pack roared to life and my own set of blue wings spread out like an F-14. I accelerated straight up and felt the g-force of the thrust deep in my belly.

  “Oh, hell yes,” I said and began to think of my body as an actual jetplane. PoLarr’s decade-plus of flying experience flooded my brain, and the jetpack responded nanosecond quick. I did a quick combo of aerial acrobatic moves - a loop into a barrel roll finished off with a series of scissor rolls until I caught up with PoLarr who had decided to hover about three hundred feet off the ground outside of the air-car traffic.

  PoLarr waited until we were practically face to face then she tilted her thrusters and dove into the steel and concrete canyon formed by the buildings all around us. I did the same and soon we zoomed in and around the buildings like it was Beggar’s Canyon back on Tatooine.

  The new packs were far more advanced than their predecessor, which I wouldn’t have thought possible because, you know, they were high-powered jet engines the size of a backpack. The speed was insane, and they were able to maneuver much faster and with less space.

  PoLarr led me on a nitro-fueled sky race through the city at barely subsonic speed. My HUD display ticked off seemingly impossible numbers as it showed attack vectors, threat assessment, and proximity warnings. PoLarr had the damn thing redlined from the get go and while I knew she was an awesome pilot, I never truly realized how much of a high-flying daredevil she actually was. The faster she went, and the closer the corners were cut, the faster she wanted to go and shave the corners like a razor.

  We’d covered the city from one end to the other and back again when PoLarr threw herself into a power dive. Slipstream trailed from her feet as she rocketed toward the ground. I followed as best I could and soon I watched as the feet ticked off the altimeter so fast the numbers were a blur. She twisted and turned as her wings blazed like heaven’s fury. She flew to beat the devil and hell knew she would win.

  At the last possible second she flared her wings, and her engine screamed like a wicked wraith to pull her out of the dive. I watched as her fingers actually skimmed the water in a large reflecting pool that took up part of a city park before she rolled, her wings folding around her in a cocoon of blue flame, and she shot back straight up into the air.

  I was not nearly as graceful. In fact, I was pretty sure I resembled a gangly hatchling whose mother had just kicked him out of the nest. Yeah, I could fly, but it was ugly as fuck. PoLarr shot past me, and I pulled my dive far above the ground, and hit my afterburner to catch up.

  She made a lazy circle around the tallest building in Valience City, Aetheron Tower. I watched as the altimeter’s numbers climbed once again. We passed seventeen hundred feet and PoLarr showed no signs of stopping. I got tired of watching from behind her, even though the view was pretty damn spectacular, and decided to go for it. In my head, I shoved the throttle as far forward as it would go and felt the jet on my back roar in response. I shot forward like a rocket trying to break free from the bonds of gravity and zoomed past PoLarr as if she was a hummingbird getting some nectar.

  Apparently she didn’t like that because I heard her engine wail in fury, and she nipped close at my heels. I began to maneuver back and forth to keep her from passing me. The side of Aetheron tower, which had windows made from chromed glass and showed our warped reflection as we sped faster and faster, stretched up and up higher than any building I’d ever seen.

  I glanced back and saw that PoLarr had slid in right behind me, her nose inches from my feet, a look of joyful determination on her face. I grinned confidently as I saw the top of the building approaching fast. The altimeter read thirty-five hundred feet. I was so going to rub in it her face that I got to the top first.

  A hundred yards from the glassed-in observatory on the top of the massive skyscraper PoLarr slid out of my slipstream, and her wings folded around her like a falcon and her engine screamed with purpose. Now it was her turn to fly past me as if I flew still with her arms held ahead of her in a Superman pose. As she passed me, there was a loud boom and a concentric cone of air formed around her hands as she hit Mach one and broke the sound barrier.

  PoLarr went into a stomach churning aerial roll as she soared past the top of the building a full body length ahead of me. As soon as she did she throttled way back and hovered above the roof. I joined her a moment later. My heart pounded in my chest as adrenaline buzzed through my veins. I’d never felt so alive in my life.

  I reached out, grabbed her by the harness, pulled her to me and kissed her. Hard.

  She returned the kiss furiously as we hovered five thousand feet in the air with the setting twin moons behind us like lascivious voyeurs. Her tongue darted into my mouth, and I returned the gesture in kind.

  PoLarr pulled back and broke the kiss. Then she pushed her goggles up off her face and did the same to mine. Our gazes met, and she eyed me like a sexy bird of prey hungry to devour me until her desire was satisfied.

  “Take me to bed or lose me forever,” she uttered the famous line from Top Gun.

  “Show me the way home, honey,” I answered.

  She looked below us, and we floated down to the top of the building. The observatory was closed for the day and completely deserted as we broke the lock on the door and walked insid
e.

  The observation deck was a big sphere cut in half by the floor of the building and had a complete three hundred and sixty degree view of the city as the moons set and the sky ignited in violet, orange, and red.

  We fumbled almost like teenagers with the buckles of the jetpack harness and giggled nervously as we helped each other out of them. The gleaming engines clanked to the ground. There were backless, padded benches all around the observatory, and I unzipped her jumpsuit as we stumbled over to one. Her fingers found the zipper on mine and tugged and then were shrugging and hopping on one leg as we tried to get the suddenly cumbersome jumpsuits off our bodies.

  I kicked my boots which flew off in opposite directions as PoLarr sank onto one of the benches. I grabbed each of her boots and yanked as hard as I could. One after the other they sailed over my shoulder to who knows where. I sure as hell didn’t care.

  PoLarr lounged back on the bench and propped herself up on her elbows to watch as I finally got my frustrating suit off my legs and let it drop to the ground in a heap. Then we each took a beat to look at each other, our breaths heavy in our chests.

  PoLarr’s body was long and lean. Her bra and panties were barely there, see-through lace fabric. Her small, firm breasts moved up and down with her breath and I watched as her nipples hardened and stretched against the lace like pinky-tip sized prisoners who begged to be set free. Her slender stomach curved into slight but shapely hips, and her legs stretched on for all eternity. Her panties were super low slung and a tuft of blonde pubic hair poked out of the top like a taunting challenge. She watched me watch her with her mouth slightly open as she panted in anticipation. Her eyes danced across my body and I involuntarily flexed my stomach muscles, which had actual definition. I wasn’t at Ryan Reynold’s level of ripped-ness, but I was a lot closer to it than I wasn’t.

  “I hope you fuck as hard as you fly, hotshot,” she growled. Her voice husky and hoarse in her throat.

  “Higher, faster, further, more,” I shot back as I descended over her. Our mouths meshed and desire took the controls and flew us toward our primal urges at Mach speed.