by Jamie Hawke
The third’s eyes flared red, and he pushed his hands forward, lasers shooting out from his palms and hitting the far wall as I dove aside. Navani told Sacrada to let me handle it, and the mere mention of the woman’s name sent the sweet taste of her breast back into my mind as I went in for the attack. A woman followed right behind the man, however, so my punch pulled back as I dodged the newcomer’s blast of lightning. Apparently, the guards here had a pattern in their powers.
Laser guy tried to turn on me again, but this time I went for the weapon—a quick snap of his wrist and then I took his other arm and broke it, before turning the laser back on the woman.
“Wait,” Navani said, shoving me so that the laser hit the door instead, sending a hole through it. “They aren’t the bad guys here.”
“Someone should tell them that!”
The female guard came at me with a kick to my stomach. I thrust myself backward, but still having a boner, her kick brushed the tip and hurt like hell. She thrust out a hand lit up with more blasts of lightning, and I punched her in the palm of her hand. Bones definitely broke with that punch, and she screamed as she pulled her hand back.
“Get the bars,” Sacrada said, moving past me and avoiding eye contact as she went for the lady.
Not wanting to cause any more pain, I slammed my shoulder into the window bars and broke two of them out. Next, I grabbed them, placing my feet against the wall, and yanked. Those two came free also, though that caused me to fall flat on my back with an “Oomph.”
“That’s enough,” Navani said, helping me up as Sacrada returned. A glance showed the female guard was retreating out through door as a wall of flames rose up between her and us.
We all climbed out through the window and found ourselves between two of the tall mobile shield turrets, in a road full of merchants and shoppers, tourists and locals alike. Only one man glanced our way in confusion, but seconds later we were in the crowd, out of harm’s way, for now.
I glanced at Navani triumphantly, then to Sacrada.
“Up here,” she said, and I realized I’d been focused on her chest.
“Damn, sorry,” I mumbled, shaking my head.
“Yeah, well, consider it a one-time thing,” she said walking past us to take the lead.
“That was hot,” Navani whispered as she leaned into me, taking my arm. “When we find some privacy, me and you. Got it?”
I grinned, certainly turned on enough to, and still feeling the thrill of the fight. That reminded me. Pulling up the screen, I saw that I’d leveled up and had another skill point to use. When I told her, she said, “Better use it on shields this time. You never know when I won’t be around to shield you, and Lamb’s suit only holds out so long.”
Looking at the shield tree, I bemoaned the fact that I wouldn’t be able to get the daze attack I knew my next upgrade on offense would give me, but I also knew she was right. If I were dead, my attack skills wouldn’t do any good.
“Ready to go,” I said, grinning.
Sacrada glanced back, wondering what we were going on about, and said, “Where’s this Threed psychobitch, anyway?”
As Navani showed us the way, I had to worry about whether she was leading a lion to its prey, but kept my mouth shut. Sacrada was a grown woman, she’d have to conduct herself as such if she didn’t want to jeopardize the mission. Maybe the prospect of having another woman in my group made me biased, I don’t know. But I was growing very excited about meeting said psychobitch.
12
The city was even more fascinating the deeper we got into it. Past the initial defenses we approached an outer ring that was effectively the slums, but beyond that, the city opened up into a series of spiraling and interconnected buildings. In places, it looked like they would fall off and be lost to the rest of the planet, in others they looked strong as an oak, and just as firmly planted.
It was a city of reds and golds, which worked just fine for me. It was like a giant memorial to the Marine Corps, and I could almost imagine those spirals to be the flight paths of Marines as they soared through space. Maybe one of the early settlers here from Earth had been a fellow devil dog? Whether it was true or not, I liked the idea of it and decided to keep the assumption.
We wound our way down along one of the staircases to an inner sanctum of green, tucked away with its bars and restaurants. The place was throbbing with life. Customers shouted out their orders and waiters and waitresses yelled back, even a couple of children ran past.
“See that?” I said, watching them go by.
“Rare,” Sacrada said, watching them with fascination.
“Come to Earth sometime. You’ll see more children than you could ever imagine.”
“I’d like that,” she said, her gold eyes flickering, taking in this place.
“Although, I’m not sure they’d be ready for you,” I admitted. “Probably think you’re a god or something. Like, a for real god.”
“Who are you to say I’m not?” she said with a grin, then followed Navani, who had already started asking around about Threed, inside. She had the image from before displayed on her wrist computer so that it showed up on a small screen on her arm when she held it out. Everyone answered, “No,” but we kept trying anyway. After a bit we were growing hungry, so paused for Navani to buy us a vegetable dish wrapped in a thin substance like paper. It was juicy, with a tangy flavor that I quite enjoyed.
“Maybe we’re on the wrong planet,” I grumbled.
“Or maybe she was finally put in her place,” Sacrada said. “Thrown in that horrible prison with the Blue Lady.”
“And my brother,” I said, frowning.
“Right…”
“On that note, if my brother and she were to meet and have a baby, would that fulfill the mission?”
“Considering the fact that they’d be in prison…” Sacrada gave me a doubtful glance.
“Except it sounded like they wouldn’t be for long,” Navani pointed out. “So, who knows?”
I nodded, for some reason feeling like I was in a race now. I had to hurry up and impregnate one of these women, or my brother would win. The thought was ludicrous, I knew that, but it was still there, driving me forward, making my dick hard again. Damn, how many erections could a man get in one day? Based on all of this so far, quite a lot.
We kept walking as we ate, glancing around, occasionally stopping to ask a bartender, or a passerby if they had seen Threed. Moving out of the main food area, though, Navani glanced back and scrunched her nose.
“What is it?” I asked.
“Someone has been following us for a few minutes, at least,” she said. “He’s hiding behind the wall there.”
“I could go smash his head in,” I offered. “Or… try.”
“Better to follow my lead,” she said, and we all took the next right that we found led into a relatively uncrowded street.
As soon as our stalker turned the corner behind us, we stepped out, ready for anything.
“Why’re you looking for her?” the man asked.
He had a strange look to him—a mustache, glasses with an eyepatch over his left eye, and a large hat. A slender fellow.
“You know her?” Navani asked, showing the image.
The man stared at the image, frowning. “Yeah, yeah, I know her. Crazy lady, though that picture does her no justice. She’s at least ten times as hot, and a thousand times sexier.”
I frowned, noticing the two ladies sharing a confused look.
“Great,” I said. “Can you point us to her?”
“Or any information on where she might be,” Navani added. “Where she normally hangs out?”
The man held out his hand. “For a price.”
Navani considered it, but apparently, that wasn’t Sacrada’s style. She lunged forward, grabbing the man’s hand, and golden light infused them. Only, before anything could happen, the man was gone, his clothes falling to the ground where he’d been standing just moments ago.
“What the fuc
k?” I asked, glancing around in confusion. He had literally vanished.
All three of us said it at the same time. “It’s her!”
The slender form, the eyepatch covering one eye, the fake mustache on the ground in front of us. It all added up. Spinning quickly, Navani’s eyes glowed blue, and she pointed to a ledge above.
“Up there,” she shouted, and already Sacrada had her wings spread, taking off for the ledge above.
I started running but paused long enough to see Navani grabbing some of the woman’s belongings from where they had fallen.
“You can track her!” I exclaimed, having nearly forgotten about that power of Navani’s.
“You bet your ass I can,” she said, eyes glowing brighter than usual as she held up the item and scanned the area around us. “This way,” she said as she took off, barely slowing to see if I was staying with her.
The sounds of fighting came from above, and then a woman went flying over the edge, only to disappear a second later.
“Another replica,” Sacrada shouted as she appeared, flying out.
“It’s okay, we’ve got her,” Navani replied, ducking into a tunnel that led down and underneath the green part of the city. What else could I do but follow?
Navani was moving fast, scaling a wall with that purple energy like I’d seen her do earlier, and then pushing herself to even greater speeds. I wasn’t completely powerless here, and now that I had leveled up again I felt extra support from my suit, like an advanced exoskeleton that gives more push to each movement. It wasn’t much, but every little bit helped, as she was quickly losing me.
I didn’t want to call out for her to stop, so I kept on as best I could. It was only when I had found myself deep within the city’s depths with no sign of her that I began to worry. A canal ran to my left, tall bridges overhead creating darkness around me.
As luck would have it in these dark areas, I noticed several men and women leering at me, and a couple started to approach. Dammit, I didn’t want any trouble, not with them. They were laughing, pointing, and then I saw why. It wasn’t just at me, but what was in the canals, with me walking so close and unaware. A strange creature watching, salivating. It had just poked its head up, looking to be somewhere between a human and an alligator. I had to wonder if this was some sort of super-related mutation, or perhaps a genetic modification. Alien life forms likely existed, but we hadn’t come across any so human-like so far.
“Careful there, Utopu,” one of the women said. “It’s as likely to bite your ass off as not, and with a cute little tush like that, it’d be a waste.”
I took a step toward them, but a man in a gray cloak came and threw up a hand so that I hit an invisible barrier.
The creature behind me was approaching, apparently sensing my new predicament. Again I lunged to get away, but the super grinned, that wall still there. Something told me that these supers weren’t on the hero side.
“Get out of my way,” I growled.
“Who’s in your way,” the super asked, gesturing to the path ahead, following the canal. “Nobody’s in your way, sir. If you’re lost, keep on walking, I’m sure you can find yourself a guide.”
“I’m not looking for a fight,” I warned them. “My friends are very powerful…”
They laughed at that. “He’s got powerful friends,” one jeered. Another threw a rock at me and laughed when it hit the invisible barrier and clattered to the ground.
It almost covered the sound of water sloshing. Now that I got a good look at the thing coming at me, I was certain it had to have been a product of some sort of genetic modification. It was covered in scales, dripping water from its long tail and, moved with power and a lack of humanity in its eyes.
“Guys,” I said, backing away from it. “I have a mission here, it’s extremely important that I—” My back hit the barrier, giving them another reason to laugh. And then the beast charged.
I still had some energy in me, I thought, so I braced myself. It was fast, coming in with its tail swinging and then opening its mouth wide. But I had my ladies to get back to, a new one to find, and new strength and speed from leveling up that I wanted to test out.
His tail caught me off guard, but it also used up his focus. With a superman punch, I landed the first blow, only to get knocked off my feet by his tail when it whipped at me again. The next blow was a double fist, raised and then brought back down on me. My shield absorbed some of the hit, but it was meant for projectiles, not this. When he went to strike again, I rolled out of the way and remembered the strategy. Quick, combo hits. I caught his arm with an uppercut, leaped over the tail and kicked it, then moved right so that my next two punches took it in the hard, scaly part of its back. I didn’t’ care one bit that my hands were bloodied, I had my bonus, and the strikes were coming harder and faster. My next punch took him on the shoulder and actually tore his scaly skin.
When he tried to trip me again, I slammed my foot down on his tail and earned more bonus strength, so that not only was his tail smashed, but my punch for his stomach broke right through, leaving him to stumble back with an imprint of my fist as proof of what I’d just done.
The crowd was staring at me in horror now, half starting to goad each other into attacking me, while others were already starting to back up into the shadows.
“Nah, this guy ain’t super,” the gray-cloaked man said. “Just lucky.”
“Try me then,” I said and stepped into a punch toward him. The red energy from before formed, ending in a sonic-boom type blast of air that shattered the barrier put up by the man.
That sent the rest of them running, all but the man in gray. He charged me, flashing barriers appearing before him as he did, pushing me back toward the water, but between strikes I lifted my fist and sent it into the ground.
It should’ve hurt, it should’ve crushed my bones, but I was so amped up that instead it tore into the ground and sent a shockwave at him. He fell back, stunned, and then I was on him. This motherfucker had tried to kill me! As much as I hated the idea of death, I’d come to be the bastard’s friend in the Marines. It was time I sent him another soul.
Only a few strikes later, and I was feeling better, satisfied with his bloody state. Whether he was alive or dead, he certainly wouldn’t be causing anyone problems anytime soon.
I glanced up to see two more of them watching, and I took a step to attack. Only, when they emerged from the shadows, I could see that they were only children.
“How… how did you do that?” the taller of them asked. “I mean… could you do it again?”
“Get out of here,” I said, frustrated that they would be in the way of danger and that I’d almost gone after them.
“The one there…” the boy indicated the abomination, “the alligator men, there are more. They hunt us.”
“Kill them,” the other boy said. “Please.”
I frowned, not knowing how to deal with this situation. “I’ve lost my friends. I really need to find them.”
“We can help you,” that tall boy said, lighting up—literally. His eyes lit up blue, like Navani’s. “We know our way around this place, and I can see things others can’t.”
This was the hero stuff I had always dreamed about. Why I joined the Space Marines in the first place. It certainly hadn’t been to fly around shooting at other Marines in the stupid political battles of the Elites of Paradise Planets, as had ended up being the case. Had I been a hero then? By their definition, sure. But here, actually helping kids against crazy alligator mutations? While I had my own mission to get to, I hadn’t a clue as to where the ladies were or how to find them.
I laughed, then nodded. “Lead the way.”
The boys’ faces lit up, and they scampered off, with me close behind.
“They like to hang out around the inner core,” one of them called over his shoulder as if I would have any idea what that meant. “Picking on us… sometimes making one of us go missing.”
There wasn’t much doubt i
n my mind what that meant, and it cemented my desire to see the mutations pay.
13
The boys led me back through the green part of town, then down and around to a new set of canals. We had been going too far, running for too long, and I was definitely worried about the mission with Navani and the sisters.
“Where is this place?” I asked again but then saw my answer.
Two of those alligator creatures were hovering over a corpse. An instant sickness took over, and I couldn’t hold back. I charged forward, not quite processing what the boys were shouting, that this was a typical trap—until it was too late.
I pulled back to punch, as the alligator creatures spun around and came at me, two more leaping out from buildings at my sides. Each of them grabbed me and threw me to the ground before I had a chance to react, and then fell on me with mouths open ready for the kill.
My Marine training kicked in—years of grappling with the boys—and I shifted down below one and rotated out to get to the outside, shoving this one into his friend. A tail lashed out and caught me across the back of my head so that I saw stars.
The boys were shouting, my own little cheerleaders, and I was reminded that I couldn’t let them down.
My combo punch strategy worked fine against one or two opponents, but I quickly saw that it was tougher when fighting four alligator mutants. As soon as I’d land two hits, one of them would strike, knocking off my combo. At one point they had me up against a wall, and one of them managed to get his teeth on my shoulder—luckily, my biotech armor was in full effect, and his teeth created a sickening, scraping sound.
The others backed off slightly at that, and I saw my opening. With a one-two combo to the one, I came in for a hook to the next one’s body, then an uppercut to the jaw. The first was back at me, but I ran at him, thrusting my arm into his mouth and created that scraping sound again as the armor hit teeth.