Arena 3

by Logan Jacobs

  “On it, Marc,” Chaz proclaimed with purpose. “You can count on me.”

  And with that, his little blue antennae popped out of his head and began to glow. He closed his eyes in concentration and with a bamf of smoke disappeared.

  “Holy shit!” I yelled louder than I’d intended. “He can teleport?”

  “Yes,” Artemis said as she rubbed her temple again. “They can teleport to anywhere they can picture in their mind. Another of their charming qualities.”

  “You are really getting the hang of sarcasm, Artie,” I said with a wink. Once Chaz had disappeared, it was like he was out of my mind almost completely. Like, I hardly remembered what we talked about while he was there.

  “Oh, am I,” she said, her voice dripping with sarcasm, then she smiled big. “Like that?”

  “Just like that, dollface,” I reassured her.

  PoLarr walked into the gym, her arm in a sling, the ultrasound glove still glowing vibrantly. She looked much better even though it had only been about fifteen minutes since she’d fallen asleep.

  “Did I just hear Chaz?” she asked.

  “Yup, just missed him,” I answered with a shrug.

  “Thank god,” she said, relieved. “I’m heading back to the apartment. I need a very long shower, a Woodhouse special meat and cheese sandwich, and bed. Anyone want to share a hover-taxi?”

  “That sounds fantastic, PoLarr,” Nova agreed. “You can tell me about the rest of the battle. I missed everything after the shark attacked you all. I was obligated to... fight people.”

  “Makes sense,” PoLarr nodded.

  “You should keep that arm elevated, PoLarr,” Artemis said as she went over to check the readouts on the ultrasound cast.

  “Why don’t you head out with them, Artie?” I threw over. “I’ll hold down the fort until Aurora wakes up. Make sure she’s okay and stuff.”

  “Are you sure, Marc?” Artemis asked, concerned. “I’m more than happy to stay.”

  “Nah,” I said and waved her away. “You ladies should have some bonding time anyway.”

  “Okay, if you’re sure?” Artemis asked as she grabbed her coat from off of her computer chair.

  “Totally,” I replied and kissed her on the cheek. “See if Woodhouse will make me a sandwich and keep it in the fridge.

  “Done and done,” Nova responded as the three ladies met up near the door.

  “If you talk about me, make sure it's all about how dashing and charming I am, ‘kay?” I said self-deprecatingly, but also kind of seriously.

  “How else would we speak about you?” PoLarr said with an air of seriousness that did set my mind at ease a bit. “See you later.”

  I waved them out and turned to Grizz. “Should we go do manly things?” I asked, then added quickly, “wait, that came out wrong.”

  “Ha!” Grizz laughed. “I always do manly things. You are fifty-fifty at the moment.”

  “I’ll take it,” I said with a shrug.

  “Alas, I am to meet some other holographic trainers to discuss the latest match,” he said and actually put on a holographic three-quarter length lambskin-like jacket that could barely contain his massive biceps.

  “You guys do that?”

  “Oh eternal pit of torment and agony, yes,” Grizz said with a bit of glee. “I shall gloat mightily. Have a good evening, Marc. Tell Aurora she did a masterful job today when she wakes.”

  “Bye, Grizz,” I said as he threw a wave over his shoulder and dematerialized.

  And then the gym was quiet for a change. It was a little strange but also kinda nice after the chaos of our battle.

  I walked over to my locker and pulled out a dog-eared paperback novel. I had an anti-matter printing unit at my apartment, and in addition to having it make Blu-Rays, my PS4, several games, and a couple of action figures that I put on my dresser, I’d had it print a few novels for me when I actually had down time and wanted to read. It apparently had every bit of human knowledge programmed into it, and all I had to do was ask it for something and two to ten minutes later, I had that thing like it was brand new. Our weapons-armor locker worked the same way, only with weapons and armor.

  I grabbed the novel and walked back over to the med-bay, pulled up a chair and sat with my feet propped at the foot of the bed. I was excited to re-read the novel. It was an awesome bit of Men’s Action Adventure pulp from the Eighties called Deathlands by Jack Adrian.

  When I was thirteen I’d gotten a wicked case of strep throat that kept me out of school for a full week. My mom had been a massive yard sale fanatic at the time and plopped down a big box of tattered paperback novels on my bed after hearing me say I was bored for the thousandth time. She’d bought the whole box for two dollars from our neighbor down the street whose son had just gotten married, and she was finally getting rid of the last of his teenage crap.

  I had initially been pretty whiney and obnoxious about being given a big, smelly, dusty box of fifteen-year-old books. I’d wanted an Xbox and a copy of Halo. But when you had a single mom, you got a box of old books.

  After an hour or so of pouting, I finally opened the box and found that the books all looked violent and pretty freaking cool. My neighbor's son who had been a teen in the late Eighties apparently had a thing for post-apocalyptic fiction because there were tons of books with titles like The Survivalist, Traveler, and Deathlands. I burned my way through close to ten of the damn things by the time my strep throat had run its course and by far my favorite had been the Deathlands series by Jack Adrian and then James Axler. It was violent and sexy all at the same time, and I’d devoured the first six books in the series.

  For whatever reason, it popped into my mind when I was looking for something to kill time between matches when I wasn’t training and needed a break from movies. I opened the damn near perfect copy of the book and dove into the ravaged hellscape that was North America a hundred years after the Nuke had laid civilization to waste just like the back cover advertised.

  The next thing I knew I was woken up by the sound of water running from the locker room. I sat bolt upright, and the novel fell to the floor from where it had rested on my chest. I must have fallen asleep after only five or so pages. Apparently, I’d been more tired than I thought.

  I looked over at the bed and found it empty.

  “You have sweet dreams there, sugar?” Aurora’s voice floated in from the locker room. I got up and walked over to the entrance and peered inside. Steam, thick and clinging, hung in the air like a fog. I saw the sheet from the med-bay bed in a heap next to one of the shower stalls. We had a few Spif-O-Matic 2000s for fast cleaning and grooming needs but there was also a big, walk-in steam room-shower for when longer, more therapeutic soaks were needed.

  Through the steam, I caught a glimpse of Aurora’s pearlescent skin and silver-white hair as she stood under the oversized rainfall showerhead. It was like the steam had a mind of its own and covered all her naughty bits as she showered, the water flowing down the curves of her body in sensual rivers. Soap bubbles, all slippery and lathery, slid over her skin in slow drifts like tears of cotton. Her small body moved under the water in languid stretches as she arched her back slightly to let the water clean the last remnants of shampoo from her hair.

  “Not as sweet as you are right now,” I finally responded when my brain started to work again.

  “Well, why don’t you come join me?” she said. The words dripped from her tongue like honey. “The water is nice, and unlike earlier, I won’t try to eat you… right way.”

  I unzipped my wetsuit which I had completely forgotten I was still in and pulled it off, with no small effort, from my dry skin in a way that I hoped didn’t look too ridiculous. I then stepped into the shower, and the steam cleared as I slid in under the water. It was warm and felt wonderful, but I still sucked in a shocked breath of air. Aurora’s naked body literally took my breath away. Unlike Nova whose curves gave way to taut muscle, Aurora was all sloping S shapes. Her large breasts hung heavy bu
t still firm and gave way to her hourglass thin waist then into her very grabbable hips. A small tuft of silver hair sat in a little triangle in between her legs and shimmered with the glistening water like an invitation to the very gates of pleasure I had only imagined.

  Her hands, suddenly full of liquid soap, turned me around so that I faced away from her. They then massaged the soap into my scalp. Her fingers ran through my hair, and it was as if my skin was full of tingling shocks of electricity. I had to close my eyes as the soap dripped down my face. The second I did I felt Aurora’s body press against my back as her hands moved from my head around my sides and onto my chest where she continued to massage away the stress of bloodshed and chaos. Her nipples were hard as they brushed against my back, and I felt a shock as her lips kissed up and down my spine. Aurora’s hands continued downward until they passed across my stomach which clenched involuntarily into the six-pack I’d recently acquired and followed my little treasure trail to its bounty.

  “Oh?” she said in mock surprise. “What have we here? Let me wash that for you.”

  Her soap-slick hands danced across my cock and I almost went weak in the knees. I heard a desire filled laugh from behind me as her hands moved back and forth, and I thought I would come out of my skin.

  When I couldn’t take the delicious torture any longer I cleared the soap from my face, spun around and pulled her close. Water cascaded down our bodies as I found her lips with mine, and my own desire wiped away all conscious thought. She met my mouth with the same passionate intensity, and I caught the shimmer of blue life force as it mingled all around us, but I didn’t give a shit.

  The kiss parted as I grabbed her around the hips and hoisted her up until her legs wrapped around my waist as I pushed her back against the wall of the shower. Her lips nibbled my neck as our hips began to grind in unison. Her moans were thick, deep, and full of lust. As were mine.

  I wanted to plunge deep inside of her, but I held off, wanting to make the moment, and the anticipation last forever.

  My hands reached down, and I cupped her incredible ass from underneath as I carried her out of the shower and laid her down on one of the plush benches that were spaced throughout the locker room.

  “Well, sugar aren’t you stro--” she began to say and then she cried out in ecstasy as I spread her legs and my tongue found her pleasure spot. “Oh. My. Myyyy. Ahhhh! Marc, what are you doing?”

  “Whatever I want,” I said as I gave her a wicked grin from between her legs. Her hips bucked, and I grabbed her legs and held her up to me. When I knew she could take no more I slid my body up hers and kissed her just as I entered her soaking wet tunnel.

  I felt explosions of intense pleasure rip through my body, and her legs wrapped around me once more, and I pulled her up into my lap while I straddled the bench. My hands were tangled in her luxurious silver locks as she threw back her head and moaned.

  Then I thrust into her.

  Her pussy felt amazing, and her body was right out of every man’s wet dream. Her eyes remained open and lust filled as she watched me fuck her, and she let out wonderful sounding moans when I pushed into her as deep as I could go.

  And she let out a sweet gasp when I almost pulled my tip out after each thrust.

  I lost track of time, but each passing minute of love making seemed to make her grow tighter and wetter, so I guessed Aurora’s climax was building in her. Her legs then began to tremble and her body shook as her arms clutched me tight. Her excitement drove mine and our back-and-forth rhythm to increase in speed and force until neither one of us could hold out any longer.

  “Fill me, Marc, please,” she panted urgently as I made a final thrust into her, and then we both screamed out in release.

  Wave after wave of the orgasm rippled through my body, and I felt her clench around me like a velvet lined vice as I emptied into her.

  Once the earth shattering frenzy subsided, we slid from the bench onto a mass of soft towels that had fallen to the floor in our passion driven free for all.

  “Marc, sugar, that was more than worth the wait,” Aurora said as she caught her breath and pulled her hair out of her face as she draped her body across mine. “I don’t know what it was you were doing with your tongue, but you could do that to me forever.”

  “Only if you promise to do that grip thingy you did at the end there,” I shot back and felt myself stir just a bit at the thought.

  “Oh, sugar, there are many more things I want to do to you,” she purred with a mischievous grin and began to kiss my chest.

  “Full steam ahead,” I whispered as she continued to kiss her way down my stomach. Then I let another wave of desire pull us down into pure lust filled bliss.

  Not a bad way to end a day where I stared into the mouth of a great white shark and lived to tell the tale. Not a bad way by far.

  Chapter Six

  I woke up the next morning with my back aching and a not insignificant crick in my neck. I opened my eyes and found that Aurora and I had fallen asleep amid the bunch of towels on the locker room floor, and while they had worked great the night before to keep our delicate bits from touching the cold ground, they were not so good for spinal alignment.

  Aurora was snuggled up close to me and, at some point in our whirlwind of sexual proclivities the night before, had grabbed the sheet from the med-bay bed and wrapped it around us.

  I adjusted my position slightly so that I could look down at her while she still slept. She was without any of her normal sultry affectations while she slept. Her mouth was slightly parted which did nothing but accentuate her full maroon colored lips as she breathed slowly in and out. It was only now that I realized how much she resembled a photo I’d seen in a meme of a young Helen Miren mixed with Jennifer Lawrence, you know, only with white skin, silver hair, purple eyes and geometric tribal tattoos that covered her entire torso. She looked peaceful and very serene. So much so that I hated to wake her, but I was pretty sure someone was going to walk into the gym soon, and I did not want to be in flagrante delicto when they did. That particular term was just about all I got out of my one semester of Latin in high school when I thought I might want to become a medieval history scholar after playing way too much Assassins’ Creed.

  “Psst,” I whispered. “Hey, sleepyhead, time to rise and shine.”

  Aurora’s eyes fluttered briefly and then opened. They were deep indigo, and the irises were cut with lines of white that resembled a snakeskin pattern. She yawned and stretched her arms way over her head which caused the sheet to fall away from her bare breasts. The beautiful woman made no move to cover herself. She only smiled up at me when she caught me staring at her pert nipples.

  “Good morning, sugar,” she practically purred. Her pearl white skin almost seemed to glow from within like fine cut opal, and her tattoos pulsed lightly with a pale blue light.

  I was tired from the day before but felt more run down than usual. I groaned as I stretched myself. My lower back was not happy that I had slept on a very hard, cold tile locker room floor.

  “I’m sorry, sugar,” Aurora apologized with genuine concern in her voice. “I can’t help that a bit of life force gets drained during coitus. Are you okay? You’ll be back to one-hundred percent soon.”

  “I kinda figured,” I responded with a smile that let her know it was okay. “Thought I caught a glimpse of that telltale blue vapor while we were in the throes of passion. And I am more than fine. That was amazing.”

  “I know, sugar,” she said and winked at me as she nuzzled up into my neck. “You were pretty damn incredible.”

  “I know, sugar,” I shot back with as much cocksure swagger as I could muster this early in the morning, and she whacked me playfully on the arm.

  “What was that thing you did with your tongue?” Aurora asked with a delighted sigh. “I have never felt anything like that.”

  “Really?” I asked, a bit surprised. “Pretty common on Earth. I’ve been told I have a talent.”

  “Indeed yo
u do,” she growled in her throat, and her finger began to trace delicate patterns on my chest.

  “Nope, foul temptress!” I said in mock horror. “I’ve got an interview this morning and I’m pretty sure the gang is gonna be here soon. While I am certainly not embarrassed I’d rather be dressed when they arrive.”

  “Sugar, they are more than welcome to join in if they like what they see,” she said with a devilish grin. “And I know they will like what they see.”

  “Ha ha ha,” I laughed nervously.

  “Oh, well, maybe next time,” she purred, stood up, and walked into the locker room. I was mesmerized as I watched her bare ass and hips sway.

  “Smooth, Havak,” I chided myself as I got up as well and followed. “Real, smooth.”

  We both got up and went to our respective lockers. I pulled on a fresh jumpsuit and finger combed my hair as best I could. A quick glance in the mirror told me that while I didn’t look completely like something the cat dragged in, I certainly wasn’t as fresh as a daisy either. When I closed my locker door, there was Aurora in her usual lingerie-as-casual-wear getup. She was back in black today and looked like a million bucks. Hell, a billion.

  We walked into the gym and over to the command center. I’d had Artemis install a small fridge and coffee maker a few weeks earlier after we’d spent a particularly long day training. It was of the Keurig variety where you just popped a little cup of prepacked coffee into the top of the machine, pressed a button, and a perfectly brewed stream of delicious black nectar of the caffeinated gods came streaming out. I made two steaming mugs of dark roast with an added espresso shot, pulled a small carafe of sweetened vanilla creamer from the fridge, poured a little into each mug and then handed one off to Aurora. There were a few protein bars stored in the cabinet above the coffee maker, and I grabbed two, again handing one to Aurora. Not quite the breakfast of champions but it would do, though now that I actually thought about it, it was literally a breakfast of champions. Sometimes I totally cracked even myself up.