by Jamie Hawke
A.I. Lamb rolled her eyes and vanished. “You’re into this, aren’t you?” Andromida said with a wink. “Or is my memory not what it once was?”
I frowned, then scrunched my face up. “Fucking ouch.”
“Too soon?” She laughed, cleaning herself. “Hey, you aren’t the one who just had a huge cock rammed up a tiny hole.”
“You didn’t like it?”
“Of course, I did.” She finished, and pulled up her pants. “Figured… I don’t know. Have you done it since her? If not, I wanted to break you of the discomfort, get you back in the zone.”
“The anal zone?” I chuckled, shaking my head. “It… hasn’t been high on the priority list.”
“Ah, well, some of us ladies enjoy it from time to time. Not all, but some.”
“Noted.”
“To be clear about, er,” I lowered my voice, “Metallica… if I had it to do over again, I definitely wouldn’t have with her. I was experimenting, trying to understand how this power thing works, and… the relationship thing.”
She considered this, then shrugged. “I didn’t judge you then, and won’t now.”
“I mean, if I had done it now, what with you being part of the team and all…?”
“No, I wouldn’t mind.” She stepped close to me, taking a wet towel from the cleaning supplies and using it to clean my half-erect cock. “This right here, can be a tool. It can be a means of showing your affection or, oddly enough in your case, a way of getting more power. As long as I know which you’re using it for, we’re good.”
“Sure, but the others, especially Charm—”
“Oh, yes.” Andromida shook her head and threw away the towelette. “You ever do something like that again without Charm being on board, she’d bite off this beautiful cock of yours.”
I gulped, not liking that image one bit.
“But don’t worry,” she added, patting the heat playfully. “I’d be there to put in a good word for you.”
“Thanks a lot.”
She pulled me close, kissed me, and then said, “Come on, we’d better hurry.” I dressed and we headed back to the bridge. We made it there and discovered nobody looking our way or smirking, as everyone’s attention was on the Citadel below.
11
Staring at the Citadel brought goosebumps to my skin and a shortness of breath. I focused on my calm, looking out at it, wondering why it should have such an effect on me. In part, I knew this would be the time to finally sit down with my parents and talk, to get to know my brother and the women I loved.
There was more to it though, somehow. Maybe, I thought, it was the fact that I hadn’t had somewhere to call home in so long. On Earth I’d always gone through the days like they were a chore. Welding metal, putting together parts for the space stations, or whatever other bullshit my fuckhead of a supervisor had me doing. None of it had mattered. I’d been one cog in the machine, one piece of shit in a large toilet bowl just waiting to be flushed.
And all of that had changed. I’d been called up here, gone through hell to reach this point, and now I was about to be reunited with my real family, a family I barely knew.
Yes, this was the first place I thought I might really be able to really call home. As we flew in, I noticed a ring of what looked like orange and yellow lights around the Citadel, on the far side. I was about to ask what it was when A.I. Lamb appeared.
“Comms incoming,” A.I. Lamb said. She stood next to Gale and gave me a humored glance. “Looks like it’s—it’s Drew!”
“How’s my bro?” Drew said, face appearing on the screen. Fire showed behind him, an explosion going off and blaster shots tearing across the background.
“Better than you, apparently,” I replied. “What—are you okay?”
Drew laughed, turned and thrust his hand out, causing an explosion off screen. “This? You arrived in time to watch the fall of these motherfuckers. Oh, sorry—ladies present.”
“Fuck yourself in the ear,” Charm replied with a snort of a laugh.
“Good to see you, too,” Drew said. “Charming as ever, I see.”
“Oh, I learned this one—know it?” She flipped him off, earning another laugh.
“You said something about fall of motherfuckers?” Twitch asked.
“Ah, yes.” He waved a hand so the screen moved out, changing position, and we could see teams of superheroes finishing off a few fights in the distance, ships breaking apart and being corralled by supers who had powers to deal with the debris. “We’ve been hard at work—and something changed, I have to imagine it had to do with you all. All of a sudden, it was like these bastards lost some connection with back home that gave them power or something. They still put up a fight, most of them—others ran, but we hunted them down or sent others after them. A couple of traitors were discovered, too, former supers in the upper tiers who were helping the enemy, but we sent hunters after them.”
“Don’t tell me,” Charm said, pouting. “Ezra and his team?”
“You’re with my brother, aren’t you? Why the long face?”
“Hey now,” I interjected. “Never doubt her loyalty to me.”
“Damn right,” Charm said with a wink my way. Turning back to the screen, she said, “It’s not that. It’s Cheri—was hoping for another chance to chat with that crazy chick.”
“Ah.” Drew nodded. “Threed had the same response, but has been looking forward to your return.”
“That’s cute,” Andromida said. “You all are like little kids at daycare, waiting for daddy to bring you to a playdate.”
Charm flipped her off, but Andromida just looked confused at the finger.
“Anyway, Ezra was heading out, regardless,” Drew explained. “Hadrian had a mission, some undercover bounty shit, but wanted him to catch this supervillain on the way and deal with him. Or her, actually, I forget. Point is, yeah, he’s off, traveling to some planet of crazies—they’ll fit right in, that team of psychobitches.”
“That he will!” Charm said, and laughed out loud.
I glanced over. “I think we need to go visit, so you can have a place to fit in, too.”
She blew me a kiss. “You’re too sweet.”
Gale chuckled, glancing my way.
“At any rate, we’re cleaning up here. Shouldn’t be too long before we get down there and we can get on with this ceremony. I’m looking forward to the two of us standing at the Citadel, both as Elders, brother.”
“Me too,” I replied, and gave him a salute.
He frowned and shook his head. “Don’t do that.”
“Agreed. It felt wrong.”
“Once a Marine, always a Marine.” He shrugged. “But honestly, even then you saluting me would’ve been weird. Either way, we’re Elders of the Citadel now, or you will be soon. If there’s not an alternative to a salute up here, we can make up our own.”
“I got it,” Twitch said, and flipped him off.
“Oh boy,” Drew said, and pretended to whisper to me, “take care of her so we don’t have to throw her in the looney bin.”
Charm frowned. “Hey, not funny.”
He cocked his head, then covered his mouth. “Oh, damn. Prison ship for supervillains. Yeah, I could see how that’s—yeah, sorry.”
She waved it off. “The past is the past. Tell Threed I’m going shot for shot with her—drinks, and then in the ring.”
“She’ll like that.” He flipped us off, laughed, and then the display returned to showing our ships’ approach to the Citadel.
“So that’s what all that light is,” Shimmer said, indicating the orange and yellow glow they had seen on the display.
“My brother’s victory,” I said, nodding and watching it with arms folded. This was even better than I had thought. With the Nihilist attack taken care of, we would have more time to get to know each other.
“I can’t imagine what must be going through your head right now,” Charm said.
“It’s… overwhelming.”
She came
over and leaned against me, an arm around my waist, and it hit me that while we were both orphans of a sort, she had still never met her family. Not yet, anyway.
“It’s amazing,” I said, squeezing her tight. “But even more so with you at my side.”
“Thanks. I’ll go find Threed, cause some trouble. Let you see your family.”
“You’re sure?”
“Of course.” She kissed my cheek. “And… honestly, maybe I’ll spend some more time talking with Laurel and Harp, figure out how all of this can work. You know?”
I nodded.
“Andromida, too,” Twitch said, looking her way. “Your mom and dad being here… that must be something?”
Andromida glanced over at her, shrugged, and said, “It… makes a girl vulnerable in ways she never would have thought.”
Images of my hips slapping against her ass stormed my brain, and she gave a hint of a smile, clearly guessing where my mind was at. Aegriss chuckled, but quickly hid it—apparently our link was still going strong, and she might have caught a glimpse of my thoughts.
“Plus, it’s not like I’m her only daughter to be there,” Andromida said. “She’ll be busy, and we all know Hadrian has his hands full.”
“Not too full for you,” I argued. “From what I understand, he’s a good man. And a good man like him will make time.”
She smiled at me, hopeful, as we all watched our advance on the screen. When we were almost there, Shimmer grunted.
“What is it?” I asked.
“Sorry, just… thinking about my mom back home,” Shimmer explained.
“When’s the last time you saw her?” Gale asked.
“Me? Right before the war, before I went off to fight Plague.” She glanced Twitch’s way for a moment, then smiled. “For the record, I know what a bitch Plague was, and how it must’ve been a struggle to fight against her. We would have lost if not for you, and even with your mistake, we came out ahead in that regard.”
“But your mom wasn’t on that planet, right?” Aegriss asked.
“No. My mom is back home, but… checked out, I imagine. Even before I left, her mind was going. Been around so long, it’s about her time.”
Knowing how supers lived longer than most, I was tempted to ask, but figured that would be rude. In fact, I didn’t really have a clear idea of how old most of my team was, but maybe they preferred it that way.
A thought hit me, though, and I laughed.
“What?” Shimmer asked, frowning.
“Oh, damn. I didn’t mean to be insensitive,” I said. “Just, thinking about age—and how all of you must be cougars, right?”
“Like… were-cougars?” Charm asked.
“No, I mean—on Earth, when an older woman goes for a younger man, we call her a cougar. I’m not sure why, but… judging by how supers age, I’d guess you all fall in that category.”
Twitch chuckled, nodding. Gale and Shimmer simply shared a knowing look, as if they had discussed this before. Aegriss grinned, looking around wild-eyed and excited, while Andromida simply nodded.
Charm, for her part, shook her head. “I’m guessing we’re about the same age.”
“Really?” Andromida eyed her, then me, and said, “Actually, that might fit. Me, I’m cougar as hell right now.”
A couple of chuckles, and I didn’t bother to correct her about the way she had said it. Now that I had the thought in mind, though, I was actually kind of turned on by the idea of being with older women.
“Charm…?” Gale held out her hands, as if waiting.
“Ah. Thirty-two.” Charm beamed. “But, I also imagine my kind age differently than the rest of you—if I’m really from the kitsune planet, I mean.”
“And you would be…?” Gale turned to me.
“Damn. Younger…” I admitted. “Although, now that I think about it—would years mean something different out here? I mean, the rotation around the sun and all that has to be different, so—”
“Sorry, no,” Shimmer said. “I mean, of course it varies, but we’ve done a good job of calculating ‘years’ here based on Earth-years, to keep it consistent across planets.”
“Ah.” I frowned.
“What are you frowning for?” Gale asked. “I’m the one who just found out I’ve been robbing the cradle.”
“Damn, you’re right,” Shimmer said, and chuckled. “He’s practically a baby.”
“Come on,” I protested. “That’s not—”
“Ah, baby’s gonna cry,” Gale said, holding out her arms. “Come on, let me hold baby and smother him in my bosom—”
“CUT IT OUT!” Charm stepped toward them, hand in a fist. “Say one more thing like that, and I’ll…”
“Whoa.” I put a hand on her lower back while looking around. “I don’t think they were being mean.”
“Just having fun,” Twitch said as she took Charm’s fist and held it. “No reason to get defensive.”
Shimmer held up her hands in surrender. “Can’t we poke fun at our man? He pokes us so much, I just figured we need to throw something back his way from time to time.”
Charm was still glaring, but that cracked her. She started laughing, and it wasn’t a simple, normal laugh, but the kind that follows being all worked up and then being caught off guard. Then the others were laughing, and I had to chuckle along, more because Charm’s laugh was so contagious.
“It wasn’t even that funny,” Shimmer said between giggles.
“Funny enough,” Charm replied, trying to catch her breath. “And sometimes, that’s all it takes.”
“Agreed,” Twitch said, holding her sides. “And after everything, we needed that.”
“Good laugh, good fuck…” Gale nodded my way, as if in thanks. “Now all we need is a feast, some shots, and a bed to pass out in.”
“I call that heaven,” Shimmer said. “I’ll take two, please.”
“Two heavens?”
“Why not?” Shimmer walked over to Charm, who bristled slightly. But when Shimmer encircled her with her arms and kissed her passionately, then stood there with forehead pressed against hers and maintaining eye contact, Charm melted. “And you, come on—you know we’re all in this together. You want to punch me, do it in the ring and let’s make it fun.”
“Actually,” Andromida said, eyeing us all. “It has been a while since we trained. After this ceremony at the Citadel, I say we have a go at it. Last Queen standing?”
“What’s that, like king of the hill?” I asked.
She shrugged. “We all go in the ring and kick the shit out of each other until there’s only one of us left. No powers, just pure skill.”
“That sounds stupid,” Aegriss said. “Careless. Someone could get hurt.”
“Someone will get hurt. Lucky us, we have Breaker here to heal us.”
I nodded. That I could. And watching them show off their fighting skills sounded kind of hot, honestly.
“It’s a date,” Charm said as Shimmer leaned against her, but not so in her face. The dynamic among these ladies was changing, and, little spats aside, for the better.
“Prepare to land,” A.I. Lamb said, and since we were coming in on the Citadel, we all strapped in. Even Laurel and Harp joined, finding spots near Charm, the tension rising slightly in the room.
It would all be over soon, though, I thought as we landed. Or maybe the distraction of seeing my family again occupied my mind to the extent that I was too distracted from whatever the issue was with those two.
Either way, by the time we landed, my heart was pounding with excitement. I could hardly get the straps off fast enough, and went charging through the door. We had returned to the Citadel victorious, and I was about to be named as Elder. Everything seemed so perfect, I couldn’t imagine it falling apart.
And that’s why, when it did, in hindsight it should have been so obvious.
12
All over the Citadel, supers were coming out to see who had arrived. Some were clearly in the know, as they were point
ing excitedly. I recognized a few from our brief stopover the previous time and made a note to get out there and mingle after the ceremony. If this was going to be my new home, I would need to know my neighbors.
My brother would be back soon but was finishing cleaning up the mess above—a mess that appeared like a flat fireworks show from our spot on the Citadel. As if a screen was above us, shooting out colors of red and yellow, sometimes even green. I scoured the gathering crowd for signs of Hadrian or my mother, anyone I knew.
It was Lamb who found us, Navani at her side.
“Welcome, Team Breaker,” Lamb said, motioning for us to follow her through the crowd.
“You’re not up there with my brother?” I asked.
“Ever since my return, I’ve been going back and forth, but… find myself needing rest. Something about the whole experience, I don’t know. I wouldn’t say it changed me, but…” She paused, smiling almost sheepishly, and looked around at my ladies. “But you all don’t want to hear about that. We have a ceremony to get to.”
“Ah, right.” Twitch stepped forward, clasping hands with the lady. “And when will that be?”
“Depending on when they get back.”
“By Oram, he’ll be glad to see you again. After you left, you were all he could talk about,” Navani said. “I’m thinking it shouldn’t be more than an hour.”
“That soon?” I asked, my stomach fluttering.
Lamb nodded, and it took me a moment to realize why her smile just then threw me for a loop. It was slightly different from the smile of A.I. Lamb. As much as I felt like I knew this lady, I had to remember that I only knew a version of her, one that had maybe been a part of her in some way but wasn’t anymore.
Gale, however, was looking at Navani. “There’s a reason you’re here instead of up there fighting, isn’t there?” Gale exclaimed, eyes wide, staring at her belly.
“Wait…?” I frowned, confused.
“Actually, yes.” Navani’s hand went to her stomach, rubbing it tenderly, and said, “Threed is here for the same reason.”
“Being…?” Andromida asked, maybe the only one there not following, I thought.