by Jamie Hawke
But I pushed back, and then landed side-by-side with Navani.
“You still with me, hotshot?” she said.
At the sound of her voice, all became clear. “I am now.”
The Nihilist came at me again, curved blades cutting through the air and spinning like a whirlwind, only he wasn’t in my head anymore so he’d lost his advantage. As I saw Threed and her replicas pounding the shit out of one of them to my right and Navani’s shot hitting one ahead, I reached down deep and pulled out my courage, wearing it on my forehead as I charged him and his stupid blades.
Lucky me, Threed’s little flirtation had given me that extra edge. Even though one slice nearly went right through my shoulder armor to my flesh, I connected with a fiery punch that was enough to create a hole in my enemy’s flesh. He staggered back, dropped the blades, and collapsed in a ball of flames.
I turned to see Nyoka on the ground, writhing, holding her head and whimpering, then screaming.
“Shit, we gotta get her out of here,” I said, glancing around for options.
“Take them out, and she won’t have a problem,” Navani said, shooting at two Nihilists who had taken cover but were returning fire with streams of purple light that melted rock. Sacrada tried to fly, but more than once I saw her lose her focus and fall back to the ground, so that on the third try she landed with a thump and gave up, instead joining her sister to fight one of them two-to-one. It was necessary, because that bastard was giving them a challenge.
I stuck with Navani, the two of us playing leapfrog with her shields as we advanced on the enemy.
A burst of light showed that Sacrada and Sakurai had taken out their Nihilist, and as it faded I was barely able to see them charging for the same group that was firing on us.
“Our kill,” I called out to them.
“We’ll see!” Sakurai countered, lashing out at the Nihilists with her dragon. As her tattoos lit up, I was able to see her and her sister, and then another solar blast emerged from Sacrada to destroy the cover the enemy was using.
I leaped down into the midst of them, my mind reeling with images of death and destruction. But I didn’t need my wits now. They were close enough that I could attack in every direction and make contact, and with each strike my focus returned, so that by the end of it, I was able to see three of them taking off.
One more remained, but he looked different than the rest. Unlike the others with their seemingly-empty hoods, he had two red eyes staring out at me, but seemed more sophisticated than the vampires I’d seen. I could almost feel his power rising off of him like heat. When he grabbed hold of me, my armor did nothing to protect me from him. I was powerless. My left gave out, my arms fell to my side, that huge rifle clattering to the stones.
And the darkness… it wasn’t like before. No, now it wasn’t a darkness I couldn’t see in, but like all was darkness. He was darkness, the ground was darkness. I was darkness. I could see it all, but it was pure evil.
Only, there was a light—pulsating deep within me, calling to me. No, not a light exactly, I realized as I heard the voice.
It was Lamb! In a moment she was there, her face in front of me, her mouth moving and my name echoing out, but instead of growing faint it increased in intensity until I felt it vibrating through my opponent and me, and he was shaking, his hand threatening to let go.
“DREW!” she shouted again, and this time it was like she was there with us, pointing to the fortress, and an image appeared—the back of the fortress, rounded, near the center.
And everything around us was still, nobody moving but the black wind, flowing around us to avoid the light that was Lamb.
“You… you’re in there?” I asked.
She shook her head, still pointing, and when she opened her mouth again, she vanished, replaced by swirling light and darkness. Then, with a burst of light it exploded and my enemy was flung backwards.
I blinked, confused, then pulled myself together and charged him before he could act again. Blow after blow slammed into him, pummeling him until blackish-blue oozed from his now exposed face. He held up a hand in surrender, and I wouldn’t normally have paused, but he seemed so lost, so confused.
“What are you?” he asked. “This… you… impossible.”
Before I could even answer or punch him again, he fell back, lifeless. But hell, I answered anyway. “I’m Death, motherfucker!” I said, then stood to take on my next opponent. The three who had escaped hadn’t gotten far. Sakurai took out one of them with a dragon of light that blocked its strike and then a leap that sent her sword into his back.
“Mine!” Charm called out from the darkness, and did a sweep kick that took down one of them, caught the other by his robes and swung him around to slam into her first. By the time we reached them, Charm was kneeling, breathing her purple breath into their faces, one after the other. A glance back showed Nyoka was recovering, staggering in our direction with a hand to her head.
The two Nihilists struggled, bodies writhing and guttural grunts reverberating from deep within each. First one stopped, then the other, and when they looked up again there was a purple glow under those hoods—barely noticeable, but there.
“That’s a skill I’d love to have,” I said, grinning.
She blinked, looked at the other ladies, and coughed. “Sorry?”
“I’m just saying, that’s a great skill to have.”
“Listen, are you coming onto me?” Her ears twitched, her hands becoming fists. “Because I thought I made it clear I was with your brother. Maybe you all sleep around, I don’t know, but—”
“Watch it,” Threed said stepping up next to me.
“Hold on,” I interjected as Charm turned to square off against her. “What gave you the idea I was hitting on you?”
“Asking for my power.” Charm’s anger paused, giving way to confusion. “Before, when you said… I mean, isn’t that…?”
“No.” I laughed. “Also… what? How would me complimenting your superpower have anything to do with trying to sleep with you?”
“I assumed you wanted to sleep with me to get my power, like Chad does.”
Every one of us stood there, staring at her. A long, awkward silence followed, interrupted by me finally clearing my throat.
“Wait, so Chad can have sex with supers and get their powers?” I asked.
“Oh, shit.” She covered her mouth, “You’re saying your powers aren’t the same? I just figured, brothers and all. I don’t know.”
“No, no, tell me more. I really want to know. What the fuck?”
She laughed, then shrugged. “Yeah, first time we found out was when I… well, you know.” She made a dick sucking motion with her hand and mouth, likely more crude than if she’d just said it, earning a chuckle from Threed. “And then we discovered how it worked, but it’s not just sex. It has to do with transfer of something, not sure what, through bodily fluids.”
“Like an STD,” I said.
“That’s what he said,” she replied giddily. “But, I didn’t know what that meant, since we don’t have them.” She turned to the rest of our group and said, “Sexually transmitted disease, something Earthers get, apparently.”
“Earth sounds horrible,” Nyoka said. “And I don’t even like guys.”
Charm gave her an interested look, then shook it off. “Not just between men and women, either. But point is, yeah, your brother gets powers that way. If it’s just one, it’s kind of pure, but still changes somewhat from the host. If he sleeps with others before the first one fades, they sort of mix in unexpected ways.” She cocked her head at me and frowned. “How’s your power work?”
“Not like that,” I said, and shuddered at the memories of pain. “Basically, intimacy or being close even helps. It kind of amps up my power—speed, strength, all that.”
“You must be dynamite in the sack,” she said with a laugh, but then quickly held her hands up. “Not that I’d want to find out, of course.”
“Of course not
,” I said, noticing the hint of annoyance on Threed’s face. “Point is, that’s my base powers. To get the use of any sort of actual super powers in a way similar to my brother, I basically have to be hit with them—and it only works for projectile powers, like lasers, fire, you name it. Upside is I get the power for a bit, downside is it hurts like hell for a few seconds.”
“Shit… you really did get the bad end of that deal,” she said.
I shrugged. “I survived Marine Corps boot camp and did my time, what’s a little bit of fire burning my flesh or electricity coursing through my bones?”
She laughed at that, and nodded to my team. “You’ve got a good one here. I have to ask though, some sort of masochism?”
Threed returned the laugh, but shook her head. “We haven’t started on that yet. I’m waiting to break him in slowly.”
“Not going to happen ever,” I corrected her.
“We’ll see.” Threed gave her an upward nod and said, “How about you? You have this breath thing, what other powers?”
“That’s it,” Charm replied. “Basically, I’m fast and strong, but my charm—what I call those breaths—are my only real power. They can make people act certain ways, do stuff like what you see here. You know.”
“I don’t,” Threed said. “Give me an example.”
Charm glanced around, gave me a grin, and then breathed pink into Threed’s face. “There you go, to match our hair.”
Threed breathed in, sniffed, then laughed. “Smells like bubble gum. What’s it do?”
“Drew, would you please stand in front of Threed?” Charm said, moving aside and pushing me into Threed’s line of sight.
“I don’t see why,” I started, but as soon as Threed looked at me, her eyes took on an excited sparkle and her tongue ran across her lips.
“Holy boners, this…” Threed stepped over to me, undoing my helmet and then starting on my armor to reach into my pants. “This is different. It’s like I’m high and drunk and on the verge of orgasm all at once. If I was a dude, my erection would be piercing my clothes as we speak.”
“Not the best time,” Navani said, clearing her throat and nodding toward the fortress. I wondered if I should mention my vision, what I’d seen of Lamb, but wasn’t completely sure it had really happened. Maybe I’d been so close to death I had been delusional? Or maybe it was planted there by my enemy, as a trap?
“She asked for a demonstration,” Charm replied. “And hey, doesn’t this help your boy here regain his strength?”
“Amplifies it like crazy, is more like it,” I said, trying to grab Threed’s hand as it reached its way into my pubes and brushed against the base of my dick. “But we do have a friend waiting in there.”
Threed leaned in and whispered, “Just let me touch it, just come on. Let me put it in my mouth, maybe tickle your balls with my tongue?”
I gave her a nervous laugh, annoyed that everyone was watching and that this was somewhat drug induced behavior. It wasn’t exactly outside of her normal behavior, but the outside influence made it just that much more, and not as special.
“Later, Threed,” I said. “I promise to let you do whatever you want with my dick, as long as we both enjoy it.”
“I can get damn creative,” she said, winking.
“Can you counteract that shit?” Sacrada said, voice full of disdain.
“Ah, yes, sorry.” Charm put an arm around Threed, about to blow another breath on her, when Threed leaned in and kissed the woman. Nyoka chuckled, but Charm pushed back, frowning, and then seemed to have been come over with a bit of her own medicine. She ran a hand along her body, stopping at her breasts, and then shook her head, trying to clear it. “Problem with my powers is how they also work on me… Fuck.” She took a deep breath, then grabbed Threed by the hair and breathed out red.
The old effect was instantly replaced by Threed puffing out her chest and rolling back her shoulders. She looked at me, pulled her hand away from my cock, and growled. “What the fuck was that?”
“My powers,” Charm said. “You asked for a demo. Now you’re under an aggressiveness charm, but please don’t punch me in the face or I’ll have to retaliate. Right now, as your blue-eyed friend said, we have to move.”
“Let’s go kick their fucking faces in,” Threed said, snarling, then gave me a humored look. “And then see how creative I can get when it comes to playing with your cock.”
I gulped, not sure I liked this aggressive side, but also kinda curious.
“Yes, uh, let’s get to it,” Navani said. She rolled her eyes and turned to lead the way.
18
We continued down that route, now with three of those Nihilist pets following close. At least there were no other problems for now, and the pets simply followed without a hitch. Soon the effects had worn off Threed, and she was walking next to Charm, becoming quite friendly.
“The brother,” Threed said, stepping up next to Charm, “is he as hot as this one?”
Charm laughed, looked back at me and cocked her head. “No offense, but for my tastes, this one doesn’t do it.”
“Hey,” I protested, but then realized there wasn’t anything to protest against, exactly. “I mean, that’s perfectly fine.” I wanted to add that I couldn’t see how my brother would get with someone with fox ears and a tail, about how that was a tad too close to bestiality for my comfort zone, but instead zipped my mouth shut.
“Not that you aren’t hot, in your own way,” Charm added, clearly trying to fix the situation. “But this whole macho thing you have going on. Mr. Marine, Mr. Bobby Big Balls… Nah.”
I couldn’t help but laugh.
“Something funny?” she asked.
“You were the one insulting me,” I said. “Don’t look offended. No, I was thinking how my brother must be a perfect fit for you then. He’s always been the nerdier one, the less fit of the two.”
“He’s damn fit now,” Charm said, then turned back to Threed and whispered, “His body, just… Mmmm! And he knows how to use it, if you know what I mean.”
Threed was totally into this, judging by the excited look in her eyes. “You ever thought about sleeping with two or three of him at once? I could make that happen for you.”
“Excuse me?” I asked.
“Just… as a favor,” Threed said. “You know, not something I’d get involved with, but maybe I’d watch. You gotta admit, if any of us had sisters here, you’d be into the idea of at least watching them.”
“I…” A glance back to Sakurai and Sacrada shut me up real fast.
“Exactly.” Threed held out her hands, moving them in and out. “You stop me, Charm, when we get to the right size.”
Charm giggled but slapped Threed’s hands down. “I’m not telling you how big his dick is, girl.” She leaned in. “But I’ll tell you his cum tastes like pineapple. Oh, man, I love to—”
“Okay, okay,” I said, stepping in between the two. “This is my brother we’re talking about. I’d prefer not to hear this.”
“His tastes more like salty caramel,” Threed said, grabbing me from behind and squeezing my crotch gently.
“Hey!” I protested. “I thought the charm had worn off?”
“It did,” Charm confirmed.
“This is all me, baby,” Threed said.
“Ladies, can we not?” Navani said.
“Thank you,” I replied. “One adult among the group.”
Sakurai and Sacrada were just grinning, and I kind of wanted to fade out of there. I was glad to see a lack of rock walls, and then the red gasses in the sky and stars beyond. We emerged into the hills on the outskirts of the area we’d first arrived in, and looking down at the city we could see lights like silvery wisps. The Fortress stood above it all on the opposite end, and Nyoka was able to confirm that as the location of Andromida.
“Who?” Charm asked.
“One of our group,” Navani answered. “When we landed in the cave—that prison place—I figured that’s where she would be
too, but it doesn’t look like it.”
“So… you’re going to rescue her from the fortress?” Charm laughed. “Classic.”
“I doubt she needs rescuing,” I countered. “But… yeah. Help her kill a very bad guy.”
“If it needs to be done to get all of us out of here, I’m in.”
We worked our way down the hill, then took off in a fast jog as soon as we hit relatively flat ground. The area here was still covered in small ravines and rocks that jutted up into the sky, but we were able to move easily enough.
Running along like that brought me back to those early mornings in the Marines, waking up at four to get a few miles in before sunrise. I could almost hear someone calling cadence, and found myself missing the simplicity of those days. Don’t get me wrong, there wasn’t a chance in hell I’d give up what I had going with Navani and the others, but it was still a lot to process at times. Now with all of this going on, and finding myself running alongside a woman who confirmed much of the same was happening with my brother, I felt like everything I knew about the universe had been a lie. How simple of us to think our ways were the ways.
“Hold,” Navani said, slowing and then motioning us toward a point in the nearest rock formation that was almost like a cave, though not deep enough.
We piled in, finding spots toward the back, and knelt, catching our breath. Soon I saw the reason, as a guard patrol passed in the not so far-off distance. We waited, watching them move along, slowly as they checked in all directions. We moved farther back, ducking in the deeper shadows—as much as I wanted to charge out there and try to fight them all, this was probably the smarter, and even the quicker, choice.
“Your brother is really something, Drew,” Charm said, leaning against the wall, chest heaving as she caught her breath. “As fun as all this is, I’m honestly terrified at the idea that I could be lost here, never to see him again.”