by Jamie Hawke
A series of shots rang out and I rolled as purple shields appeared that may or may not have saved me, but by then I was sick of this shit. My brother charged in. No way was he going to have all the fun. I was up, running, and watched with horror as one of those purple blasts hit him right in the chest!
But I’d forgotten about the first time I’d seen him get hit like that, back on Earth at that bank the day that all this started. My life had changed so much since then. Just like that moment, the shot absorbed into him and he refocused the blast into his fists. He let out a victorious roar and shot forward, slamming the energy into the Nihilist in front of him.
Before I could get to the one next to him, Sakurai cut off its head with her blade. By then another was to my left, so I grabbed it, wrestled it to the floor and commenced beating the shit out of it, ground-and-pound style.
That was fucking invigorating. When it stopped moving, I looked around for more in time to see our teams doing their damage.
Only one Nihilist left. It looked at us… and ran.
“How many more?” I called back to Drew and his crew, knowing now that apparently Navani and Sacrada both had certain ways of seeing this.
A second later, after I had already started to run, Sacrada called back, “Just the one!”
“Fucking A,” I laughed at the fun I was having. Then I caught sight of Charm again and started to run after her. Damn, she was hot when she was in the zone like this. The thought made me think once again about this strange situation with Laurel. Glancing back, I saw Charm’s friend near the rear with a blaster, and had to wonder how much use she was in these situations. She instantly turned to me, glaring. I waved an apology at her before ducking around a corner after Charm.
There was a thunk and then Charm was on the Nihilist, clawing with those extended glow-light claws of hers. It tossed her back though, then pulled out a device that it threw—in a blast of light, we were sent flying away and then left hovering in the air until Twitch countered it by manipulating the power with her coding.
I was up again, Laurel charging in and checking on Charm, then we moved into the next room. Charm breathed in to replenish her extra power, and again a flash of a second tail appeared on her. I stumbled, unsure if I’d seen it. A hand caught me, and when I looked up I saw Laurel, staring at me in a curious way.
“You saw it?” I asked.
“I’m not sure what I saw, but…” She looked back toward Charm. “Yes.”
Pursing my lips, I stared at her, waiting.
“We have to catch up,” she pointed out.
“I’m not a stranger to mythology,” I said, pointedly. “Something tells me you know more about this than you’re letting on, too.”
She frowned, looking back at the group, and then leaned in, speaking quickly. “I’ve never met another exactly like Charm, okay? And I don’t just mean her addictive personality. I’m talking about the nature of her mind. There are other supers and aliens with animal characteristics, but this is different. I don’t believe she’s merely a human colonist turned super.”
“Kitsune?” I asked.
She bit her lip, then nodded. “Maybe? I don’t know if they really exist, but legends often exist because of a related truth. And now the glimpses of a second tail…”
“Let’s talk more, after. And maybe include her.”
Laurel looked uncertain but nodded. “I think there’s more than that the three of us need to discuss, but—”
“You two,” Charm interrupted, having returned for us. “Planning a sordid affair here? Come on!”
I chuckled nervously, curious about what Laurel felt needed discussing, but shrugged and jogged over with her to catch up with Charm.
“Seriously, you two okay?” Charm asked as we all three ran to catch up with the others.
“Have you been noticing anything… different?” I asked.
“Of course, we’re on a fucking Nihilist ship, my memory from over five years ago just unlocked, and—”
“He means about you and your powers,” Laurel cut in.
“Oh, that.” Charm frowned, slowing to a brisk walk and inhaling so that the rainbows of light flooded in and her hands took on that glow I’d started to see. “It’s starting to feel like second nature now, and for once I have an attack power that’s more than just breathing on people. Pretty great, if you ask me.”
“Can you, I don’t know, try an attack?” I asked. “Just in the air, to show us how intense you can get.”
She looked at me like I was nuts, then grinned and winked. “All this fighting turning you two on, huh? Fighting over me. No need, I have plenty of love to go around, I promise.”
“Just, can you?”
Laurel was blushing, and I had to admit the shy look was cute on her.
“Right, sure.” Charm shook her ass once, playfully, tail weaving through the air. She ran, jumped to leap off a wall, and lunged across to the other side with a series of insanely fast punches that left a blur of white light behind… along with a flash of that extra tail when she landed.
It was only there a moment, almost like it could’ve been a light spot of her tail, in the way that sparklers left impressions in the night. But when she stopped, turning to us with pride, it was there, forming fuller now. She spotted it, too.
The second tail vanished, but its effect hadn’t. All of us were staring, and her proud smile had fallen into an open-mouthed expression of confusion.
“Right…” Laurel looked at me, then at Charm. “Why else would that happen?”
“I have no idea,” I admitted.
“What—what’s going on?” Charm asked. Her eyes lit up as she turned to Laurel. “Wait, not… not this kitsune stuff again?”
“They were said to gain more tails as they became more powerful,” Laurel argued. “And you kind of just unlocked a new power, so it stands to reason—”
“Myths. Storybook silliness.”
“Think so?” Laurel shook her head, approaching Charm and caressing the spot where her lower back gave way to tail, running her hand along the base—an action that caused Charm to close her eyes and do her best to hold back a moan. “I’m not convinced.”
“Aliens were only make-believe until they weren’t,” I reminded her. “Or, were known to exist by some but not accepted until… well, you know.”
“They were, but not anymore,” Drew said, walking back toward us. “The rest of the team is waiting. What’s the hold up?”
“Coming,” I replied, but as we jogged to catch up, it hit me what he’d just said. “What do you mean?”
“About aliens?” Drew sighed, shaking his head. “I only just found out. And it’s a lot to take in.”
“Try us,” Charm said. “Hell, I just found out I might be growing a second tail or something. Nothing you got will top that.”
He looked at her with skepticism, then to me. “We ran into a Marine out there, before… well, long story. He told us what the military has been up to, that they’re keeping a secret from humanity, and much of their mission and the reason for the setup in Oram with colonists was all part of this grand conspiracy.”
“Get to it,” I said.
He exhaled deeply, stopping and turning to us, him in the lead so that we all had to stop. “The nutshell version? Earth was invaded by a massive force, back before the Oram and other colonization efforts.”
“Other?” Charm asked.
“I assume. Hell, many of us weren’t even aware of this. Why?”
I scratched my chin, confused about that. “You’re right, actually. Fuck.”
“Fuck is right. They modified history books, set about doing worse—affecting our minds. I’ve been asking around, and Hadrian had some insight. Back in the twenty-second and early twenty-third century, they still had cases of these diseases that affected people’s minds, right? Like extra kinds of proteins on the brain or something, and certain organizations started experimenting, seeing if they could manipulate our minds with similar, controll
ed techniques.”
“Let me guess, they found a way and it affected memory.”
“Not only that.” He shook his head, eyes full of intensity. “They learned how to control people, but yes, change memories as well. They started all sorts of experimentation, genetic modifications and engineering. They tried to create super soldiers…” He looked my way, letting that sink in.
“The early supers.” I tried to process all this. “Wait… but—an alien invasion?”
“What we know as World War Three. Total bullshit.”
“Fuck.”
“I don’t get it,” Charm admitted. “All of this, I mean, basically the Earther government lied to humanity?”
“Lied, set up agreements with allies to set up a barrier from which they could ensure the aliens never returned. Only, now it’s happening. Somehow.”
“The Nihilists found a way,” I said.
“Except…”
“He doesn’t think the Nihilists are aliens,” Laurel said, surprise clear in her voice.
“That’s right.” Drew held up a hand, like we needed to pause to process this. “Some of us think they were supers, supers who were corrupted. And through them, the alien force has found a way back.”
I put my face in my hands, my mind feeling like it had spun upside down and was clenching up into a little ball. “When I came to the Citadel, I thought I’d have a nice reunion, maybe some fucking pumpkin pie that you all had figured out how to import from Earth. Not this.”
“Silly brother.” Drew clapped me on the shoulder. “Have you forgotten? If I were going to bring in any pie, it would’ve been one hundred percent pecan.”
“You’re missing the point.”
“What, that it’s overwhelming? No shit. Our whole world—all the spinoff worlds—have been lied to.”
“And don’t forget,” Charm cut in, holding her tail and stroking it with those glowing hands with colored bubbles floating up from them. “I might be getting a second tail.”
We both turned to her, and Drew actually laughed.
“Is that funny?” Charm asked, glaring.
“No, but it’s fucking awesome.”
“He’s right,” Laurel said. “All of this, and you’re powering up and maybe proving to be something I’ve been thinking you might be for some time—something that kind of transcends everything else we’ve dealt with, if you think about it.”
Charm’s frown turned into a look of puzzlement. “Aren’t you alien, anyway?”
When our collective look went back to Laurel, she pursed her lips and shrugged. “No idea. Officially, no. Unofficially, probably. One of these groups that was an ally with Earth, I’d imagine.”
“Feruz is an alien too,” Drew said. “The cat-like one. But she’s on our side. Let’s not confuse alien with enemy, but know that the Nihilists and some groups they’re working with certainly are our enemies.”
“I don’t know if all of this answered questions or just transformed my questions into a thousand new ones,” I laughed. “But I know I’m ready to find answers.”
“Like a Hydra on amplification power,” Laurel grinned. “You know, the head gets cut off, and in this case a thousand new ones grow.”
“Another alien we have to fight?” Drew asked, concerned.
I laughed. “Bro, read some mythology. You’ll have fun and maybe learn something.”
“Especially since it turns out it might not all be as made up as we thought it was,” Laurel nodded to Charm. My lover grinned, shrugged, and pulled her tail tighter, like she was hugging a stuffed animal for comfort.
“Any day, you all!” Gale’s voice echoed down the hall, followed by the sounds of renewed fighting.
“Back to it.” Drew charged off to the fight with us close behind.
5
Blasts went off ahead and Drew called back for us to split up, to find a way around. Some of us split left, others right. I found myself with Charm and Andromida—not a bad duo to be with in a fight.
Charm gave me a thumbs up, then moved behind us as she cloaked. I figured that meant she’d be keeping watch on the rear. Not a bad choice in a situation like this. But Andromida wasn’t her normal, revenge-ridden self. Instead she moved slowly, eyes looking around as if for answers.
“Can’t you just rip through these ships?” I asked.
She glanced my way, frowned, then turned back and shot out her hands. “The metal responds, but there’s some sort of force in them. A superpower keeping me in check?”
I nodded, rounding the corner first, checking to ensure we were clear. Andromida moved past me as if in a daze, the cloth that hung at her waist swaying gently. She reminded me at that moment more of a willow over a pond than the thunderstorm she usually was. For the second time since arriving, it hit me that she was distracted.
“Where’s your mind?”
She turned to me, looked about to say something, when a shimmer of the cloaked Charm went dashing past us. Her growl confirmed it was her. Her hand appeared in a flash of white light, swinging out. She hit something—the enemy! Apparently, a figure had been cloaked and waiting to strike, not more than two paces ahead. Damn.
The two rolled, grappling, and a slice of a sword shone as it appeared, then the whole thing—one of those Dex creatures Charm had told me about. It had the death look as she’d described.
Charm barely avoided it as the blade descended. Then Andromida was there, the metal of the floor twisting to try and hold this creature down, but the Dex moved in a flash of darkness, suddenly at my side.
If it thought I was the weak prey here, it had another thing coming. I hit it with a shot of my Heavenly Blast, the bolt of light striking it in the chest. Normally that would’ve taken an enemy out, but with him it did something very weird—while the Dex seemed unharmed at first, when it tried to do its quick movement thing the light shot back out of it, stalling the movement, and so Charm had him as she sucked in her breath.
Her claws moved at double-time, tearing shreds that floated away like ash, and then she came in with a burst of shield-light forming around her fist. The strike went right through the creature, creating a horrid sucking sound, and when she pulled back, it collapsed… wheezing… dead.
Three more figures appeared down the corridor—two Nihilists with purple balls of energy forming before them like my tempest energy had.
Drew came out from our right. Navani came with him, throwing up a shield of purple energy that blocked a blast from one of the Nihilists.
“Archers,” Drew indicated the approaching Nihilists. “Basically. And you just took out the tank. They often travel like that but will sometimes have random others. The best way I’ve seen to counter them is dividing the team, so that some focus on taking out archers while others fight the tank. Luckily for us, you already took out the tank.” He indicated the dead Dex-lump.
“Piece of cake.” Charm grinned.
“The archers are the relative piece of cake,” Drew replied, then charged, shooting with a blaster as he went. “We’re on their plane, here, so our attacks do normal damage.”
Sure enough, when he caught one with a good shot to the face it fell back, staggered, and then collapsed, while Andromida took out the other two with a tunnel and help from another shot by Drew. He staggered back as something hit him in turn, his shield fizzing and sending whatever it was lurching away, lighting up blue with bolts of electricity as it went.
Apparently, it was another Dex, because a moment later it was back on us, with two blades flashing. Charm still had her glowing hands, and this time when she shot forward with an attack the bubbles formed around her hands and extended out like her claws, so that she managed to tear through the Dex with claws of light.
Pretty badass.
Another attack from the Dex caught Charm on her suit, her shield barely deflecting it, and then she pressed the attack. I tried hitting it with one of my Heavenly Blasts as Drew and his team turned to fight another group of Nihilists and one more Dex w
ho had found us.
The first Dex caught Charm with a sword to the ear, but I shouted and pulled out with my Heavenly Vengeance, so that the life force of this being shot into her. Only, then I said fuck it and just kept pulling, draining the thing as much I could. When I noticed Navani limping back toward us, I pulled some more for her, too.
A strange thing happened as I used the skill like this—was it because I was getting greedy? Or because this was, in a sense, the corrupted though much stronger version of my old Redemption skill? Whatever it was, while my team was instantly healed and looked more lively than ever, I felt a creeping coldness take over, like ice spiders crawling over my skin and even up from inside my stomach, working their way out.
“Stay with me,” Andromida ordered urgently, suddenly on me and pinning me to the wall. It didn’t make sense until I noticed the blasts of scorch marks around me and the burn marks on her face.
“Wha—what happened?”
She stared into my eyes, then nodded. “Laurel, is he good?”
Laurel was at my side too, hand on my head now, and nodded. “Clear.”
“What the fuck happened?” I asked, only then processing that the fight was still going on around us.
“Tell him, Laurel.” Andromida, turned, rejoining the fight.
Laurel held my arm, making eye contact. “Whatever you did, caused you to sort of black out and start attacking anything nearby. You need to be careful, understand? Opening a gateway to these powers is just that—you might be better at cultivating your inner self and accessing this power, but you haven’t yet learned how to use it properly.”
“And… those?” I nodded to indicate Andromida’s face. “Those marks were because of me?”
Andromida turned back to us in a break from the fight, feeling the side of her face as if only just now noticing. “You’ll heal me when this is over. For now, we need to get back in there.”
“Are you with us?” Laurel asked.
I nodded. “Of course. Yes.”