by Jamie Hawke
It worked! They all cringed, and I had another shot. A kick to the legs, an ax kick to finish one off, and then I was in my zone. The pattern was simple—combo strikes, teeth grind, combo strikes. Two fell, then a third, and the fourth ran.
I gave chase, catching him by the tail and slamming him face-first into the pavement.
When he turned over, I was there, fist pulled back.
“One time, I’ll tell you,” I warned him. “Leave my friends alone.” With that, I nodded to the boys.
“Of course,” he said, voice rough, mangled.
“Tell your friends.”
I stood and released him. The boys ran over, talking about ‘did you see that’ and ‘wow, how amazing,’ and whatnot. I was just glad to have had the chance to do something heroic. It felt like something straight out of the legends.
“What next?” I asked, glancing around, ready for more action.
“Maybe teach us some of your moves?”
I grinned. “Okay, find us a safe spot. I’ll at least go over the basics, though it won’t do much good against their type. If you practice every day, spar with each other, become better fighters… who knows.”
“Plus, I can do this,” one of the boys said, and he grinned as spikes shot out from his back, like a damn porcupine. “Helps at least keep them off of me.”
“And you?” I asked the other boy, having nearly forgotten that they were supers too.
“It’s nothing, really,” he admitted. “Only…” He touched the nearby metal building and, for a few seconds after letting go, his fists became that same metal. “There are various styles of supers,” he said. “I’m one of those who can take on the properties of objects I touch.”
What he said made me think, questioning if maybe my absorption of powers was somehow related. Not that it mattered.
“Well, both of your powers will come in handy in a fight,” I said, as we reached the spot they were leading me to. “Now, take up a stance like this, fists up.”
For the next thirty minutes or so, we went through the basics of the Marine Corps Martial Arts program or MCMAP. “Sounded as spelled, not with each letter individually,” I told them when they asked what it was all about, where I’d learned this. From the greatest warriors to ever live.
It wasn’t much, but if they kept it up, it would be something. I had just taken a stance to show them some more advanced anti-knife techniques when something hit my shoulder. I turned to see that it had been a rock, and glanced around, expecting to see more kids maybe.
“Dammit, Drew!” The voice came from above, and I looked up to see Navani standing there, Sacrada walking up to her side. “If you’d been lost, or dead… the whole mission would’ve been done for!”
“Unless it’s already worked,” I pointed out. “It’s not like anyone’s been tested yet.”
She shook her head, confused, as the two of them approached. “No, Lamb does instant testing. It’s a simple scan. Sorry, not out of this yet.”
“Darn,” I said with a laugh, then turned to my two guides. “These boys helped me out.” In a way they had, in that they gave me the opportunity to feel like a hero, to gain more experience, and to see that there were actual children on these planets. Maybe baby-making wasn’t as complicated as Navani seemed to think.
“Well, there’s not much we can do to repay the favor but…” Navani held up her scanner and ran it across them, then smiled. “There you go. Tell the vendors at the food booths you’re covered.”
“A meal?” the shorter one asked, eyes lighting up.
“Not a meal,” she replied. “Forever. Meals for life, or as long as the Citadel’s funding is intact. You’re covered.”
Both of them stared, their eyes wide, and the taller mumbled his appreciation.
“That was kind,” I said as we left them behind.
“It was the least I could do, considering that they babysat you while we were taking care of business.”
“I didn’t need babysitting—oh, you found Threed?”
“We did and paid off some locals to watch her until we get back,” Sacrada explained.
I followed them along to the upper levels and a restaurant, where we had to descend the stairs into a place that almost felt like a dungeon. A central path went through the restaurant, with each dining area divided up as its own room. There were no doors, but curtains on the sides of each doorway.
Outside one of these, three supers were standing in suits, holding up barriers while a woman waited inside. One look at that pink hair flipped to the side, and those eyes—one red, one blue—and I knew we had our lady.
“Wait, so I missed all the drama?” I asked.
“Does that make you sad?” Sacrada asked, a hint of annoyance in her voice. “You wanted to watch a cat fight?”
“No, I was just… curious.”
“Let’s say we aren’t good, but it’s not going to distract us from saving my sister.”
“Fine.”
Navani paid the guys off, and they exited, leaving us to step into the room with Threed. “About damn time,” Threed said.
“We had to find our friend,” Navani explained.
“Now,” Sacrada added.
“Wait,” Threed replied, eyeing me with those crazy eyes. “So this is… this is him?”
“That’s right,” Navani said.
Threed licked her lips, then walked up to me, eyeing me like an outfit at a clothing store as she circled me.
“Yeah, I could get into this, or, you know.” She grinned at me and slid the top half of her outfit off, then shimmied out of it so that she was standing there in just her long gloves and boots.
“We don’t have time for this,” Sacrada growled.
“Actually,” Navani countered, looking at her holo-screen. “I’ve given Lamb our location, and she has to come get us. While we’re in a rush, we don’t want the entire city after us, so… she’s going to be stealthy.”
“Meaning?”
“We have a little time.”
Sacrada clenched her jaw, but leaned back, accepting it.
“Let’s save the galaxy, big boy,” Threed said with an even wider smile. She stood with her arms behind her head, moving her hips seductively. “Isn’t that what we’re doing here?”
Navani glanced around, nervously. “Um, so you’re familiar with the prophecy?”
“You’re calling it that now?” Sacrada asked with a hint of scorn.
“No, I mean because you did…” Navani glared, turned back to Threed, and waited for a response.
“Fuck yeah I am,” Threed said, already walking over to me, pushing me back into one of the chairs, and starting to rub her bare ass against my crotch. “I’ve been waiting for this shit for forever. Saving myself for this day.”
“You are a virgin?” Sacrada scoffed.
“I didn’t say that,” Threed said. “I said saving myself, you know, like not dying. Saving my life instead of taking it or letting others take it… so that I could do my part for the galaxy.”
At that, she turned around and pouted, then grabbed my cock. Hard. “Why isn’t it erect?”
“I’m a little caught off guard,” I admitted.
She rolled her eyes, then undid my outfit and pulled out my limp dick. As hot as this might have been with more privacy, I was feeling very awkward here and now very exposed. She started trying to jack me off, then groaned.
“Great, you guys bring me the guy, and he can’t even get it up!” She let it flop in her hand, then knelt down between my legs. “Maybe it just needs a little help.”
“Or maybe it can wait,” I said.
She frowned. “He’s gay?”
“I’m not gay.”
Ignoring me, she turned to Navani. “What’s wrong with him?”
“I think you’re just coming on a bit strong,” Navani said, trying not to laugh now. “Maybe if we get out of here…”
Several customers walked by, all looking over in disgust at Threed kneeling nake
d in front of me, flapping my dick around.
“Ugh, why’s everyone else in the world such prudes?” Threed said, standing and starting to dress again.
“Sorry,” I said. “Maybe you have a place we can regroup, then… get to the mission? Work into it a bit?”
She scrunched her nose like she’d just bit into a lemon, but nodded. “Yeah, come on, everyone. You can even tell that whore Sacrada she can come. Maybe we can make up sexually. Always the best way, if you ask me.”
At the mention of that, my dick started to grow slightly, but I tucked it away as I followed. Threed glanced over though, noticing my action. She seemed thoughtful, then winked.
14
We were passing a large dome in the center of the city, what looked like some sort of arena, when half a dozen men and a couple of women noticed Threed and called out after her, grabbing sticks and bats and running over to apparently bash her skull in.
The rest of us stared in confusion, but she took off running. The group didn’t pay us any attention as they gave chase.
“We can’t lose her again so soon,” Navani said.
“Can’t we?” Sacrada looked hopeful, but Navani shook her head.
“Fine,” Sacrada said. “But I’m not saving her ass.”
“What part of teamwork do you not understand?” Navani challenged, but growled and ran after the gang instead of waiting for an answer.
I gave Sacrada an I’m-so-let-down look and charged after Navani. By the time we caught up with them, though, they had Threed, holding her against a wall and punching her in the gut. One of the men stepped forward and slammed her upside the head with his metal stick, and when he pulled back, one of her eyes was smattered with blood. It was horrific, disgusting.
And… I realized as I heard a laugh from behind, not her at all. It was a replica! Again.
The others all turned at that, cursing at the sight of her appearing with a blaster that she unleashed. Three of them fell before the others could get to her, and now we were in the fight too. One of them had this really weird leaping ability, where he’d basically leap over our heads to attack from the other side, thinking it was the best thing ever. On his second leap, I caught him with a back kick to the gut that sent him right into his buddy, who had blades for fingers and, when trying to catch his friend ended up killing him instead.
The blade-fingered guy let out a scream and came at me, but I threw myself out of his way, taking a hit from a metal bar in the process, but only to the shoulder. It clanged against my armor, and I spun as I landed an elbow to his face, taking him down before turning back and finishing off another.
Navani was dodging strikes left and right, and I got the feeling her blue sight allowed for a bit of being able to see where they’d come from next, because there was no way she could simply be that good.
Threed came back in with two replicas, and soon we had them on the run. All but the main one who had first struck Threed’s replica. Navani slammed him to the ground, then pinned him down with her boot.
“What did she do?” Navani asked.
“Made a run against us,” the man said. “Took the entire lending house down, then tried to start her own.”
“They were corrupt,” Threed mumbled in her defense, still a bit out of it. “It was my civic duty.”
“Bullshit,” the man said. “She’s as rotten as the rest of us.
Navani considered him, then let go. “Get out of here. If you come back around her, you’re dead. Hear me?”
He grumbled but ran off.
“You’ve got skeletons to get rid of,” Navani said to Threed.
“You have no idea,” Threed said, then motioned for us to follow. “Come on, the house is this way. Let’s get rested up.”
“Is there somewhere my ship can land nearby to get us out of here?” Navani asked. “We’ve lingered too long already.”
“A field out back,” Threed replied. “Don’t worry about it.”
We didn’t have much farther to walk before reaching the house. She had still been rubbing her stomach from where they’d been hitting her replica, which gave me new questions to consider regarding how her replica system worked. It stopped when we arrived. She smiled, held out a hand in a gesture of welcome, and said, “Isn’t she grand?”
It was a dome with alternating metal and stone, built up in a way that reminded me of something between a castle and the old twenty-first-century style mansions shown in videos of how life used to be on Earth. Like a primitive but equally decadent home on one of the Paradise Planets. Tall windows lined the upper floors, a large arched roof giving it the feel of a hunting lodge. It was all over the place, yet perfect for someone like Threed… in an unbelievable sense.
“How the fuck do you live here?” Sacrada said, jealousy clear in her voice. I was reminded of her little apartment where we’d found her.
“Should a goddess live in anything less?” Threed replied. “A girl finds a way to make do. It so happens, I can easily work three jobs at once.”
Had she winked at me when she said that? It happened so fast, I wasn’t sure.
“It’s amazing,” I said. “Back on Earth, these places don’t even exist anymore. Not this big, definitely not this nice.”
“Come on in,” she said. “I’ll give you the tour.”
She showed us around the outer halls, to the large statues of famous supers on this planet, and even a massive painting of what the ruins of Melatand had looked like before they were ruins. A city straight out of legend—one truly built for the gods.
“What’s the status on Lamb?” Sacrada asked, growing more impatient.
“Inbound,” Navani said. “Goros is waiting out there for us. We’ll get him.”
“Easier said when your sister isn’t being held hostage,” Sacrada said, then turned and stormed off.
“Where are you going?”
“To fucking unwind,” Sacrada said, not even turning. “I need to calm down, and it’s that or punch someone in the face.”
We all watched her go, then Threed excused herself to check on something. Navani and I went to the kitchens, and she asked me all about Earth. She couldn’t understand how we’d let it get so bad, or how the elitist system of the Paradise Planets had been allowed to happen. Worst of all was when I got to the topic of Planet Kill—the live streaming reality show of people who volunteered to compete for a chance to ascend. She quickly changed the subject, a look of sickness coming over her.
“I don’t know,” she said, rummaging through the cupboards. “I just always thought Earth was this grand place. The land the legends speak of is nothing like how you describe it.”
“It’s changed over the years, that’s for sure.”
“Our galaxy will too if Ranger has his way.” She looked over her shoulder at me. “We, and by that I mean you, can’t let that happen.”
“I’m doing my best,” I said. “What with the fighting and fucking, I mean, what else do you want of me?”
She frowned, clearly not having an answer. “Sorry if I’m not sounding grateful. I know, it must be so hard to be expected to let us worship your cock like this.”
“That’s not fair,” I said. “Is it a dream come true? In many ways, yes. But come on, Threed?”
“You don’t think she’s attractive?”
“Is this some sort of test?” I waited, watching for any signs of jealousy.
“Drew, if I was jealous, which maybe I’ll be from time to time, who knows… would allowing it to show help the mission? No. So if you find her in the least bit sexy, great. If not, we still need this to happen. Imagine Sacrada if you need to.”
“Maybe I’ll imagine you, instead.”
She cringed. “Was that supposed to somehow sound flattering? Romantic?”
“I see now how it might not.”
“At least you’re not a complete idiot.” She turned back with a laugh, bending over to search the lower cupboards. Her outfit clung to her ass, and I couldn’t help but star
e. If I needed to imagine something to make it happen, that image right there would definitely be it.
She stood to see me adjusting myself, and said, “Nuts.”
“What?”
She held up a jar of nuts in one hand, dried fruit in the other. “Found some nuts, as I see you did too.”
My hand was still on my crotch, I realized, and I quickly moved it and put it in my pocket. We moved to the table, and she gave me a sly grin.
“I’m surprised you try to hide it at all, now,” she said. “That boner of yours pops up so often, I wonder if there’s something medically wrong with you.”
“On Earth, we don’t just let them out whenever they pop up, you know. And I don’t know, it seems like something to hide until it’s time to use it.”
“Well, don’t feel like you need to hide it from me. I like it, after all.”
I laughed at that, accepting some food. She checked on Lamb and cursed.
“Another delay,” Navani explained. “Seems the locals are on high alert, thanks to our entrance into the city.”
“Sorry.”
She laughed. “Comes with the territory.”
As we waited, the conversation moved to the topic of our worlds, about Earth and my early days in the Marines, about how I felt when I first went into space, and how I knew it was my home. She thought that idea was cute, explaining that she’d actually been born and conceived on spaceships, spent a few years of her teenage life on a space station studying the effects of their sun on supers, trying to understand why the sun gave some of them powers like it did, but not all people. As far as they’d been able to tell, it was related to certain blood types and DNA, and the way those interacted with the sun’s radiation.
I found it all fascinating, but when she started getting into the more scientific aspects of it, I found myself tuning out, my eyes moving down to her lips, her cleavage… the smooth line of her neck, just below her ears.
Just when I was pretty sure I was going to nod off and had started having fantasies that bordered on dreams, Threed walked in and stood there with her silly grin.
“You ready?” she asked, then gestured me to follow. I checked with Navani, but she shooed me off.