Men of Steel

by Ryan Loveless

  It took a couple of attempts for him to get his key in the lock, such was his distraction. He didn’t bother turning on the lights in the hallway or living area, but instead made his way directly to the bathroom, fumbling for a couple of acetaminophen tablets in the medicine cabinet and swallowing them dry. He blinked at himself in the mirror over the sink, noting somewhat abstractly the growth of his beard and the dark circles under his eyes. Turning away with a sigh, Robert reached out to turn the shower on before shedding his clothes and leaving them in a rumpled heap while he waited for the water to warm up. His mind remained blessedly blank as he stood under the spray, letting the water rain down on his shoulders, the heat and pressure taking some of the edge off his exhaustion.

  Unfortunately, as the water and drugs started to make him feel somewhat more human, Robert’s brain once again kicked into gear. He couldn’t find it in himself to care about his position at Augment HQ—the powder worked, prototype-tested or not, and eventually the higher ups were going to want to deploy it in the field. He’d have to call Stephanie and the others and fill them in on the situation, but that could wait until morning.

  His mind then shifted to consider where all of this left him with Zach. Robert frowned as he reached out for the soap and started washing himself. He’d been all set to simply ignore Zach when he returned—to play things cool and see what would happen. Despite Stephanie’s argument to the contrary, he still couldn’t envisage that Zach had intended their little interlude in the lab to be anything more than a one-off. Whether it had been misplaced gratitude, the result of a stressful mission, or some weird symptom of augment biology, Robert knew better than to believe that anything like it would ever happen again. And, as he’d decided long ago, maintaining his friendship with Zach was far more important than any hopes he might harbor for something more.

  His body however, despite its exhausted state, disagreed. As he ran soapy hands down his chest, his nipples hardened under his palms, the sensations sending little sparks of arousal downward to his cock. He closed his eyes as his hands moved down to his groin, one fist curling around his waking erection as thoughts of Zach filled his mind. However, before he could get much further into the fantasy, Robert realized that he was going to have to face Zach the following day. Nervous tension quickly replaced the heady lust that had been filling his body, and his eyes snapped open again. Zach’s unauthorized use of Robert’s experimental technology meant that not only would they both be involved in the internal investigation the Augment Initiative was conducting, but that Robert was going to have to speak to Zach directly about when he had taken the powder in the first place, and the circumstances which had surrounded that incident.

  Robert turned off the water and pushed the shower door open with a bang, trying to get his brain to shut up. Grabbing a towel, he quickly dried himself off and then wrapped the towel around his waist as he brushed his teeth. To his relief, as he padded into his bedroom, he felt another wave of exhaustion hit him. He ditched the towel in favor of a pair of sleep pants and crawled into bed, grateful that sleep found him as soon as his head hit the pillow.

  ROBERT awoke early with a fresh sense of purpose, despite having had only a few hours of sleep. He grabbed a cup of coffee from the kitchen and then, still in his sleep pants, wandered over to his desk to check his e-mail, part of him freezing up when he saw one from Solomons. As he clicked on it and scrolled through the message, he felt some small amount of relief to read that following the debrief of the augments involved, his access was to be reinstated shortly, and that he and his research team were called to a meeting that afternoon to discuss the subsequent stages of the invisibility powder’s development. Of course, prior to that, he was to meet with the Internal Investigations team to review standard procedures around approving tech for use in the field, but Robert supposed that, all in all, he was being let off rather lightly. Heaving out a huge sigh of relief, Robert grabbed his cell and called Stephanie, quickly filling her in on what had happened and telling her about the meeting with Solomons.

  “Well,” Stephanie said with a laugh as they were winding up their conversation. “It sounds like we’ve hit the big time, huh? I mean, technology meetings with the R&D Director? Maybe we should get Zach involved in all our projects.”

  “Don’t even joke about it,” Robert replied with a groan. “It’s all been far too stressful, and I still have to get through the meeting with Internal Investigations first.”

  “Oh, they’ll just talk at you for an hour,” Stephanie replied. “Keep your mouth closed and nod in all the right places and you’ll be fine. Oh, and maybe have a word with Zach about what he is and isn’t allowed to touch… in the lab, that is.”

  Pointedly ignoring her teasing, Robert rolled his eyes. “Good bye, Stephanie,” he said.

  “Oh, hang on, don’t worry about phoning the others,” Stephanie said just as Robert was about to hang up. “I’ll let them know what’s going on.”

  “Okay, thanks,” Robert said. “I’ll see you this afternoon.”

  “You betcha,” Stephanie replied. “And I bet you anything you like you’ll be seeing someone else before that.” She hung up quickly, her laughter still echoing in his head as Robert flipped his own phone closed.

  “Ridiculous,” he said to himself, putting the phone down beside his laptop before drinking the last of his coffee and heading off to get dressed.

  AN HOUR or so later found Robert dressed, with a fresh cup of coffee, working his way through the various reports which needed to be completed in order to get a prototype approved for final testing in the PTT lab and subsequent field deployment. He still had a good few hours before he needed to get to the Initiative and he wanted to have all his paperwork finished and clear so as to minimize the amount of time he’d have to spend with II. The chime of his doorbell pulled him out of the Gantt chart with which he’d been wrestling and, grateful for the interruption, he made his way over to the front door. His gratefulness did not last, however, when he found himself face-to-face with Zach as he pulled it open.

  “Hey, Robert,” Zach said in greeting. He looked amazingly fit and healthy for someone who had cheated death a mere twenty-four hours before, and Robert felt his stomach tie itself up in knots. “Can I come in?”

  At a loss for anything else to do, Robert stood to one side, gesturing for Zach to enter with a wave of his hand. Shooting a smile his way, Zach entered, his shoulder brushing gently against Robert’s as he did so.

  Taking a deep breath, Robert closed the door and tried to get his libido under control. It was difficult. He turned to find Zach standing in the middle of his living room, watching him with a steady gaze.

  “So,” Robert said, his nerves forcing his mouth into action. “You’re back.”

  “Yeah,” Zach replied. “Flew in middle of last night, been stuck in a debrief and then a press conference ever since, though.”

  Robert blinked at that, once again marvelling at the augment’s stamina. “Oh?” he said casually despite the fact that he could feel his anger slowly starting to rise as he recalled for what reason exactly Zach would have been in a debrief.

  “Yeah,” Zach said, a smile blooming across his features. “And I wanted to come over and see you straight after.” He took a step toward Robert as he spoke. “Robert, I wanted to talk to you about… well, about a lot of things, actually, but first, that invisibility powder—”

  “Yes, that invisibility powder,” Robert snapped, cutting Zach off mid-sentence. “I do believe I know the one—the one I showed you in confidence, the one you took without my permission or my knowledge, the one that’s still a prototype, and that isn’t even authorized for field tests yet!”

  “Robert,” Zach began, his tone placating.

  “No,” Robert interrupted again, coming to stand opposite Zach. “I’m going to talk and you’re going to listen.” He took a deep breath, trying and failing to get a handle on the various emotions coursing through him. “Now, about that invisibility po
wder—you were aware that it hasn’t even gone through final prototype testing yet, right?” he asked, rapidly losing control.

  When Zach nodded, Robert felt the last of his control break, his heart pumping hard as fear, anger, and nervous desire all warred with one another inside him. “Then what the fuck did you think you were doing?” he shouted. “Do you have any idea of the fucking grilling I’ve been taking over all of this?” As Zach opened his mouth to respond, Robert sliced his hand through the air, effectively cutting off whatever it was Zach was going to say. “No,” Robert continued. “No, I’m not finished. I mean, really, Zach—what were you thinking? You could have gotten yourself killed—do you realize that? What if the nano-transmitters had failed, huh? Or you’d been injured, or knocked unconscious or something, and been unable to keep up orienting the crystals? You would have been dead, that’s what.” The nausea rolled around his stomach as he said the words, the mere thought sickening him. “And it would have been my fault!” he finished at a yell, his heart pounding.

  “But, Robert,” Zach said, one hand outstretched in entreaty. “It was amazing—it saved my life, Allison’s life, and the lives of about fifty civilians.” He took a step toward Robert, his expression earnest. “If I hadn’t been able to stop the rebel group, it would have been a massacre, pure and simple,” he continued, his tone serious. “They were fully armed—everything from revolvers right up to P90s and even a grenade launcher—and they had us pinned in between the landslide on one side and the overflowing river on the other. We might have been able to stop them, possibly, but not before they’d had a chance to do some serious damage. So, yeah, it saved lives, Robert. Your invention saved lives.”

  Still angry, Robert nevertheless felt himself somewhat appeased by Zach’s argument. Zach still had a hand extended toward him, and it was taking every ounce of self-control he had not to reach out in return and fit his hand to Zach’s. “All right, fine,” he said at last, crossing his arms over his chest in an effort to resist temptation. “That’s… well, that’s good to hear. But I’m going to need to have back any of it you have left,” he demanded. “And you need to tell that to Solomons and Jefferies and all those bastards who run the damn Initiative, so I can get my lab back.”

  “I’ve already done that, Robert,” Zach replied, reaching into a pocket to pull out the mostly empty vial. “Hell, I’ve been telling anyone who’ll listen about how fucking fantastic this stuff is—the directors, the other augments, the press. And hey, I’m the augment who is front and center on this one, so there are a lot of people who’ll listen to me. You’ve gotta relax.”

  Breathing an internal sigh of relief at that, Robert reached out a hand for the vial.

  “But before I give it back,” Zach said, pulling it just out of Robert’s reach. “You have to promise me that you’re going to take this to the testing stage soon. Seriously, Robert, we need this out there.”

  Unable to resist Zach’s earnestly pleading gaze, Robert nodded. “I’m already on it,” he promised. “Hell, my whole research team is due to meet with Solomons this afternoon to finalize the plans for its development and deployment.”

  “You’re being fast-tracked.” Zach nodded his approval at that. “Good, it’s no less than you deserve,” he said. “Seriously, buddy, it’s awesome and I’ve been singing your praises.”

  As Zach passed him the vial, his fingers brushed against the palm of Robert’s hand, and Robert couldn’t stop the little shiver of desire that shot through him at Zach’s touch. He saw Zach’s gaze narrow on his reaction and felt himself flush, embarrassed to have given so much away. He was about to pull back when Zach surged forward, his hand closing on Robert’s arm and pulling Robert bodily into his embrace. Robert felt the vial fall from his suddenly nerveless fingers, but then everything faded away as Zach brought their mouths together.

  Robert started for a moment in shock, and Zach’s arms immediately closed tight about him as Zach’s tongue ran teasingly across the seam of his lips. Robert opened his mouth on pure instinct, and all thoughts of why this wasn’t a good idea and how he wasn’t going to do this again flew out of his mind as Zach thrust his tongue in deep.

  They stood there and kissed for long moments, breaking apart only long enough to catch a quick breath before losing themselves in each other once more. Robert felt desire build within him until he felt like he was about to burst. He couldn’t hold Zach close enough or kiss him deep enough. His cock was growing hard in his boxers, and he moaned as Zach pressed a thigh between his legs, brushing against his dick and making it jump to full arousal in an instant.

  The fact that Zach was able to push him so far, so fast raised alarm bells in his head that Robert couldn’t ignore. Wrenching his mouth free, he managed to brace himself with his hands against Zach’s massive chest, pushing as hard as he could against muscles that felt as solid as iron. “Wait, wait,” he gasped. “You don’t really want this.”

  The instant the words were spoken, Zach pulled back, moving so that his arms were loosely looped around Robert’s waist instead of being clenched tightly around him. Zach’s pupils were blown wide, and his mouth was red and wet, and it took all of Robert’s self-control not to surge forward and kiss him again. “What?” Zach asked in a confused tone, his voice low and deep.

  Robert shivered at the sound. “You… you…,” Robert stuttered, the arousal pounding hard through his veins making his head spin. “Do you want this?” he managed to blurt out, instantly embarrassed.

  A small smile hitched up one corner of Zach’s mouth as he slowly leaned forward, brushing his lips lightly over Robert’s. “I started it, didn’t I?” he whispered before pressing his mouth back to Robert’s.

  Realizing that Zach obviously did want this, at least for now, Robert allowed himself to let go of the last of his reservations. Zach felt huge in his arms, big and strong and powerful, and something deep inside Robert thrilled at the sensation of being held so tightly by all that strength. Sweeping his hands down from where he had them wrapped around Zach’s waist, he cupped Zach’s ass in his palms and pulled him even closer, feeling the hard muscles clench in response to his caress. Now it was Zach’s turn to groan, twisting his hips from side to side as he rubbed himself against Robert’s hip, his own thigh providing a delicious friction to Robert’s cock as he did so.

  Robert forced his eyes to open just enough for him to see the biggest obstacles between them and his bedroom, and then started maneuvering them both toward it. It was slow going because not only did Zach not seem to want to stop kissing Robert, but he also seemed intent on getting as many of Robert’s clothes off at the same time. Robert took Zach’s dedication to these tasks as a source of inspiration and set himself to returning the favor. As a result, they landed on Robert’s bed in a tangled mess of unzipped pants, un-tucked T-shirts, and wayward limbs, with their mouths somehow still sealed together.

  They managed to disengage from each other long enough to pull off the rest of their clothes. Robert sat back on his heels once he’d stripped away Zach’s boxers and just took in the sight of Zach Butler, naked and hard, lying wantonly across his bed; it was a sight he’d been denied last time they were in a similar position. Zach’s huge chest was heaving slightly, a light sheen of sweat making his skin glow and his muscles stand out even more. His eyes were nearly black, the desire that was running like molten lava through Robert’s veins clearly affecting him just as much. All of a sudden, Robert felt like the one with all the power and it sent a thrill of lust through him to think it was he who had reduced Zach to this state. Zach’s cock was lying thick and hard against his flat stomach, the rounded head flushed red and leaking slightly. It jumped and pulsed under the weight of Robert’s gaze, making Zach moan and shift his hips restlessly.

  “God, Robert,” he gasped, reaching out to pull Robert down beside him. “Don’t just look; touch me.”

  Robert felt delight bubble up inside him at Zach’s plea, and he leaned over Zach’s body, intent on doing just t
hat. He kissed Zach deeply on the mouth once more, twining their tongues together as he ran his hand down the center of Zach’s chest, enjoying the sensation of smooth, hot skin and rippling muscle. As he slowly explored the tempting planes and angles of Zach’s torso, he started moving his mouth downward, pressing hot, sucking kisses to Zach’s jaw line and down the sensitive curve of his neck. He spent long moments sucking on the soft patch of skin where Zach’s shoulder met his neck, enjoying the noises Zach was making as well as the writhing of his body.

  Moving his mouth downward still, Robert swirled his tongue around Zach’s right nipple, his fingers echoing the movement on the left. When he closed his mouth completely over the hard nub and sucked, Zach groaned and arched his chest upward, his reaction causing Robert’s cock to pulse in pleasure. Recognizing that neither of them was going to be able to withstand much more teasing, Robert continued his journey, licking his way down the line of hair that ran to Zach’s navel. As Zach obviously recognized where Robert was headed, he moaned again and thrust his hips upward, his body practically begging for Robert’s mouth.

  Robert pulled away so he could reposition himself between Zach’s eagerly spread thighs, marveling for a moment at how thick they were, before moving his attention toward the center. For a moment he merely hovered over Zach’s groin, taking in the sight and heady scent of Zach’s arousal, before gently reaching out to close his mouth around the head of Zach’s pulsing cock. Zach’s groan of pleasure sparked off a similar noise in Robert’s chest as he slowly sucked Zach’s cock deep into his mouth, trying to relax his throat as best he could and take as much of it as possible.