by Jamie Hawke
“Not actual gods,” Navani said with a frown. “But as far as powers go, unrivaled. They might as well have been gods.”
“The Ex Gods,” Sacrada said, shaking her head. “You know that’s what they call us, right? Those of us who could’ve been gods, who would’ve stood at the top of society had our parents not up and vanished.”
“I don’t need to be a god,” Navani said.
“And you?” Sacrada turned my way, her eyes flaring up slightly again. As they did so, I felt an urge to do great things.
“You’re a god as far as I’m concerned,” I said, almost in a daze. “Both of you, I’m—”
“Drew,” Navani interrupted, shaking her head.
“I meant, do you fancy yourself the father of a god,” Sacrada explained. “Clearly, you’re not at that level of overconfidence yet.”
I shrugged. “Just a man, trying to survive. Here to do what needs to be done.”
She laughed at that. “And that’s all we are to you, tasks that ‘need to be done,’ is that it?”
“It’s not like that,” Navani said. “He’s being tested, trained. He’ll be one of the Elders.”
“Based on what? Do you know anything about this man other than who his father supposedly was? For all we know, he’s a serial killer back home.”
“First of all, what?” I said. “Second, I’m not. For the record. I have no record, other than assault from this time I beat the shit out of a guy for smacking around his girl. When she wouldn’t press charges, the two pointed the finger my way and… You don’t care, do you?”
“An Elder, Navani explained to me. “If all of this goes as planned, you will join the forces of the Citadel, possibly earn your rank as one of the supers responsible for protecting its ancient power.”
“Huh.” It was a bit much to process.
She took that as a sign for more. “Basically, it harnesses the powers of the sun, those same powers that made us supers, and allows us to be… more super.”
“The point remains that she doesn’t know a damn thing about you,” Sacrada butted in, “and she’s not only ready to let you try to impregnate all of us, including my sister and me, but also train to become one of the sacred protectors of our worlds?”
“Er…” I turned to Navani, who was pursing her lips, eyeing the other woman.
“I know enough,” she finally countered. “I know he’s put himself on the line, risked his life trying to fight for us, and came along without putting up too much of an argument. And… and he opened a door for the lady at the bank, I saw that and how he threw himself in front of Eclypse’s attack.”
“No shit?” Sacrada raised a perfect, golden eyebrow. “Did you put your pussy on the table before or after you asked him to come along?”
“This is pointless,” I cut in. “Maybe we tell her what happened,” I said to Navani, “then give her a choice. It’s not like we’re going to force her, and you certainly won’t convince her like this. Meanwhile, the enemy is out there, and for all we know they’ll start bombing the city at any minute.”
“What…happened?” Sacrada asked, eyeing me and then Navani.
Navani went right out with it. “We tried to save Sakurai, but he got to her.”
“Who?” Sacrada asked, eyes flaring up again and a gold mist forming around her head.
“He sent Goros after us, and Goros is the one who did it.”
Sacrada turned, took a deep breath, and let the fire die down as a circle of light formed from her head, shooting out. A moment later, the light returned, like radar or sonar.
“Fuck me,” she said, then eyed me and said, “and no, that wasn’t an invitation.”
I didn’t think that was fair, considering it was Navani who was telling me I had to screw everyone, but I kept my mouth shut.
“What is it?” Navani asked. “What did you see?”
“So many enemies...” Sacrada cursed again, licked her lips, and turned our way. “And what, now Goros is going to come after me?”
“He plans to kill all of the sisters, as well as Drew and his brother. That’s the plan, to ensure Ranger’s unchallenged reign.”
“And Ranger has already taken down the Citadel and the Elders?”
“As I’ve explained, it’s complicated. But… pretty much.”
She nodded. “Then my best chance of getting revenge is to come with you while we search out the other sisters, and use that as a sort of bait for Goros.”
“As long as you come with us, I’d say yes, killing Goros will be part of the plan,” Navani smiled and stuck out a hand. “Welcome to the team.”
Sacrada scrunched her nose at the hand, shook her head, and then pointed at me. “And I’m not making sweet love to baldy over there, no matter how rugged and handsome he is. It’s the principle of the thing.”
Navani was clearly bothered by the statement, but she nodded. “Just, keep an open mind.”
“How’s this for open?” Sacrada looked her up and down, and smiled. “I’d sooner fuck you.”
Both Navani and I stared, open-mouthed, at that. Not that it was rare for women to be into women, but it just hadn’t been what we’d been expecting. The look on Navani’s face showed she wasn’t so sure about this situation anymore, which made me laugh.
There wasn’t any time or reason to discuss it any further though, so we made our move. Navani’s eyes flared, and she told us to wait, but Sacrada sent out her circles of light, and they bounced back a moment later.
“We can handle them,” she said and charged out through the front door as a group of supervillains was moving down the street. Here I got to see the powers of Sacrada, and the hint that she wasn’t into guys was a real downer, because I wanted her more than ever after seeing her in action.
As they started pulling guns and knives, one lifting his hands and sending nearby rocks and other debris into the air, she swung up, wings extending, and swooped down to them. Sunbursts shot out, enemies burnt to ash instantly. I could feel the heat from here.
When the rocks started to fly at her, she spun, blades on her wings cutting down the man with those powers.
Navani held a finger to her collar and said, “Lamb, we’re going to need a ride out of here. Scanning for location now.” As the fighting continued below, she held out a hand to an area beyond the houses, and a blue line of light flashed before vanishing. “Set.”
“I’ll be there shortly,” Lamb replied through the comms.
A super wearing a dragon-shaped helmet swept down behind me, his arms also looking like the wings of a dragon. He wore battle armor, unlike many of the others, so I assumed he was higher ranked.
“Navani,” I said, moving away.
But with that step, I realized I still had the feeling in me, the hype as I decided to call it, and I decided to try this guy on. He pulled out some sort of blaster from his side, one that I doubted my shield would handle.
I leaped to the side but overdid it, not yet knowing my strength and speed, so that I went flying right into some other guy who’d thought to attack me at that moment. I grabbed him though, pulling him with me so that we fell to the ground. The next blast came our way, but I had this guy up, and he got hit, not me.
Then I charged, holding up this guy as a shield, and slammed him into the dragon-wannabe. It was enough to knock the blaster free, and as I grabbed him by the helmet and yanked, a swooshing sounded overhead announcing the arrival of Lamb with our ship.
Navani was using her purple matter to throw up energy shields that hovered before us. Next, she thrust her hand out, and the purple created a blast wave that knocked over opponents.
“Get to the ship!” she shouted.
The super with the ability to teleport appeared, then was gone only to reappear with a woman at his side. Sacrada turned as the woman shot out a blast of ice, and the angel of a woman fell back, fire flickering. She growled, and the sunbursts shot out, but the teleporter and his girlfriend had now vanished, only to reappear on the other side t
o strike again.
They weren’t paying attention to me though, so on their next teleport, I leaped. When I landed on the woman, I grabbed her and fell, instantly wanting to die. It was like I’d been turned to ice throughout. But as the woman turned on me, I pushed through it, finding a surge of power coming and then, to my surprise, my fist rained down on her with a flurry of blue and ice shot out, surrounding her.
A burst of sun flare took the teleporter, though I wasn’t sure if he’d been scorched out of existence or escaped, as the only sign of him left was the blackened dirt. I had to assume the latter, but right now we needed to move.
I reached out a hand for Sacrada to take, but she stared at it. My hand was ice blue, though it felt normal. In fact, my whole body felt fine.
“Get to the ship,” she said, and then Navani was there at my side, eyeing me with curiosity as we ran. We darted past the buildings and hit the designated landing spot as shots went off all around us, the enemy ships having now learned where we were. Lamb had the ramp open and was already returning fire as we darted in.
We made it, a rumbling started, and we took off. The three of us did our best to balance and run along the passage to the bridge when a scream sounded. It seemed to be coming from Sacrada’s head, even though her mouth wasn’t moving. She fell to her knees, covering her ears, and now her scream joined the other.
“What’s happening to her?” I shouted.
Navani stood over us, an anxious expression on her face as she turned back to the bridge.
“Bring her. Hurry.”
I wrapped an arm around Sacrada, heaving her up and pulling her along in spite of her thrashing. We reached the bridge shortly after Navani, and she had already pulled up the display. There was Goros, and somehow, inexplicably, there was Sakurai. They were on a ship too, and I guessed they were in pursuit.
“Looks like you lost something,” Goros said, his face twisting in evil glee.
“I thought you’d want to see this,” Lamb said turning to Navani with a look of sorrow.
“One down, three to go,” Goros said. “Although, I’ve always been a gambling man. Double or nothing, eh?”
“Spit it out,” Navani said, stepping toward the screen. “We’re not here to play games.”
“We both know where you’re going, and we know I’m coming too.” Goros pulled Sakurai close. She sort of vanished and then reappeared, as if she were an image flickering in and out. “She can’t escape, and I imagine you’ll want your chance to save her. Fine, let’s find out what happens when you’re pitted against me in all-out war. We land, you take your time, prepare, whatever you need to do before dying, then come and try to get her.”
I glanced over at Sacrada, who stood staring at the screen in pure hatred.
“Where?” Navani asked.
“You’re going to Arolla, if my intel serves me right?”
Navani glanced back, trying to hide her shock and worry. I had a good guess what that meant. If they already knew where we were going, they likely had people there waiting. But there was no use denying it.
“I see by your reaction that the intel is accurate,” he said, smile fading to a look of determination. “Let’s make this fun, shall we? The old ruins, just outside of Demekal. They’re already in shambles—let’s finish the job while killing each other off. Deal?”
“You’re sick,” Navani said.
“How do we know you won’t just kill her on the way?” Sacrada cut in, voice low, harsh.
“Because, my angel, that would ruin the fun.” He made a swiping motion, and an image appeared on the screen, projected in front of his head. At first glance, I thought it was some ancient, alien symbol, and then I realized it was a map. An insane one, at that. And…a maze. “Your sister will be in the center, shown via display over our heads so that you know she’s safe. But don’t keep your eye on the prize for too long, or one of my supers will gut you. I’d prefer to save that job for myself.”
“Fuck you,” Sacrada said.
“If you’d prefer, we can do that first.” He gave her a wicked grin, and then the screen went blank.
Nobody spoke for a very, very long moment. We braced ourselves, strapped in, and exited atmosphere before anyone said another word. Finally, when artificial gravity had kicked in, and we were on our way, Sacrada stood and turned to us with a glare.
“Did you see a body?” Sacrada asked.
I shook my head. “But we saw her—”
“Explode?” Sacrada kicked at the air, then turned on me, eyes blazing gold. “That’s what she does! She controls matter, pulling a sword from nearby metal is her trademark move, as you might have seen, and the tattoos help her pull forces similar to familiars. But in a moment of near death, she’s able to sort of reset herself, not really traveling through time, but reconstructing herself to where she was a minute prior. It can come in real handy, but she has limitations on how often she can use it. Too soon after the previous time and we believe she wouldn’t be able to come back. Certain powers limit that ability, restrain her…”
“So she did this, only to be caught again, this time without us there to help,” Navani said. “Well, don’t we feel like big dicks.”
“Where’s their ship?” Sacrada asked. “We’re going after her, now.”
“Their fleet, you mean? Lamb, would you…” Navani gestured to the screen as Lamb pulled up an image of the ships we’d seen before, plus a very large one flying at their center. They all had that crazy look of exploded metal blown back, razor-like wings. “We’d be dead before we came within eyesight.”
Sacrada glared at us, then back to the now blank screen. She took a deep breath. “It’s not your fault,” she said, and then stood and walked out.
“Damn,” I said. “If I’d thought there was a chance, I never would have left.”
“I know.” Navani frowned. “Something tells me we won’t be starting on our mission any time soon.”
It didn’t seem like the best time to be thinking about something like sex, but I had to remind myself that, to her, it wasn’t just about getting laid with multiple hot women. The act served a larger purpose, one with dire consequences if not fulfilled.
“Sometimes,” I started, not sure how to word this. “Sometimes sex can be more than just physical pleasure, or even baby making.”
She looked at me with pursed lips, like she wasn’t sure if she should laugh or not. Whatever, I didn’t care. This needed to be dealt with.
“What I’m saying is, we’re all stressed. We don’t really know if we can trust each other yet, or at least feel completely comfortable. You know?”
“Drew?” She smiled, at least. “Is this really the way you’re going to try to work up to us fucking?”
“Is it supposed to be this difficult?”
She laughed—not a joyful laugh, but an ironic one. “No, I don’t think so.” For a moment she looked outside, watching space go by, then said, “Lamb, you got the controls? I put in the destination. We have to be sure we beat Goros there.”
“Roger that,” Lamb said, appearing at her side. She grinned at me. “Something in mind?”
“Actually, yes,” Navani said. She unstrapped, then stood and reached for my hand. “Drew here is going to try and seduce me. And I might just let him.”
I gulped as I unstrapped and accepted. Her hand was warm, welcoming. Both women’s eyes moved down to the raging boner I hadn’t even realized popped up, so I quickly tucked it away.
“Ah, the soldier’s excited,” Navani said with a chuckle. “Don’t worry, he’ll be coming out to play soon enough.”
I couldn’t believe this was happening. As we walked out, I felt a pat on my ass and looked back to see Lamb give me a wink before vanishing. If only she were real, or alive, or whatever the situation was with her. Having her in the mix certainly would’ve been welcome.
7
The viewing deck was peaceful, and my outfit had transformed into a bathrobe for me. It was hard to focus with everyt
hing going on, and I felt horrible for Sacrada and her sister. Yet, here was this beautiful woman in front of me, biting gently on her lip and ready to fuck. If I’d learned anything about sex in my life, it was that intimate acts not only helped bring people together but served as great stress relievers.
“Lamb, please give us privacy here,” Navani said, taking me by the lapels of my bathrobe and pulling me close.
“But you said, you didn’t want this to get too personal—” Lamb argued, cut off by Navani clearing her throat. “Roger that. Getting out of your way.”
My hands found their way to Navani’s hips, and I caressed the armor, imagining what was underneath. “Are you sure about this?”
“It’s my duty,” she said.
I pulled back. “Can we word it differently?”
“How would you have me word it?”
“Well, I’ll be honest.” I stepped forward, so that her hand moved into my robe, caressing my bare chest. “Since the moment I saw you, I’ve wanted you. We’re here to make a super baby, and that might freak me out a bit… and I’m all about mission accomplishment. Marine, remember? But for me, this is so much more.” I traced the contours of her armor, up along the edge of her breast, and noticed that she shuddered, eyes taking me in with hunger now. “Can you feel that?”
She nodded. “Sensors. Turned off for pain, but on else wise.”
“Really?” I grinned, running my hand along her back, tracing her hip bone back to the front. She looked up at me, those blue eyes going almost white on the edges, almost normal. There was a look of hope there, of desire, even. My hand moved down, caressing the hard metal between her legs.
She moaned, eyes closing in the moment, and then she tore off my robe, grabbed my cock, and gave me a challenging look. “You were saying, about it being more?”
With a heavy breath, I leaned in and kissed her. Her lips quivered, pressing back slightly, and then she was stroking me, slow and gentle as if my cock was the most precious thing she’d ever held.
She nibbled on my lip and then reached back, lowering herself to the ground, and took my hand to lower me too. Her armor was still on, but she waved a hand over a sensor on her forearm, entered a code, and it folded off of her until it was liquid metal, sliding off to the sides and out of the way.