by Jamie Hawke
Where were those billions of people, I had to wonder? The parts of the planet we’d seen certainly didn’t feel populated enough for that to make sense, though it was entirely possible that this planet was that much bigger than Earth. It hurt my head to try and conceive of a planet so large that a population of billions wouldn’t feel like much.
There were only two people whose whereabouts I’d been worried about lately, though. Two I knew, anyway, and one was back with us—Charm. The other we’d met when reconnecting with her in that Nihilist world, or whatever it had been, and he was my brother. Drew had been there, had actually formed his own team… and from what I understood, was fighting the good fight while also trying to impregnate them.
It was laughable. Drew as a father? He’d always been the macho man type, but I couldn’t ever see him settling down or raising a kid.
Then again, he was in this universe of supers too and had several women with him. The idea of settling down didn’t seem to fit what we thought of when using the words back home.
“You just going to stand there with that silly look on your face, or come talk to me?” Shimmer asked, her white-gold hair blowing in the breeze.
I laughed and continued down to her, then took a seat at her side. “Was it always like this?”
“Dry… arid?” She shook her head. “Now that we’re back home, maybe it’ll regrow… I hope. And you, were you always like this?”
“Ruggedly handsome and muscular?” I grinned, remembering the days of my scrawny self, playing video games and watching classics like The Princess Bride over and over again as I tried to understand the culture from the old days, days before Earth had gone to shit. “Not exactly.”
“I meant a whore.”
“Damn.” I wasn’t sure how to answer that. No, I hadn’t been, but it wasn’t like I could really get any back then, either.
“Relax,” she said, hitting me in the shoulder. “I was joking with you. It wasn’t like I waited long before I jumped into bed with you and Charm, you may recall.”
“That’s right, you’re a bit of a who—”
This time her fist slammed into my shoulder really hard, and she frowned. “Don’t fucking say it.”
“Pick my jokes and counters,” I said, in a note-to-self way. “Got it.”
“I’m not a whore. You just… the two of you. I don’t know, it’s hard to explain.”
“Okay, honestly?” I waited, watching as Renowt and Wendlor walked by in the distance and gave us a nod. When they kept moving, I said, “I was kind of a nerd. A lot of this is new to me, okay? And… Charm has a way of bringing out the, er, best, in us.”
“The best?” She laughed in a cute way that sent her hair over her shoulder.
“If by the best I mean the slutty whore side of us, yes. And I love it, I mean, with her and them. And you. But it doesn’t leave our group, and in that way maybe it’s not really so whorish?”
“I’ll buy that,” she said.
“Good.” I breathed out, shaking my head as I thought back to those early moments with Charm. “You know, she asked to see it after knowing me less than an hour, I think. I mean, I lost track of time, but yeah, we’d basically just met and she’s like ‘show me your dick.’”
“No way. How the hell did that even come up?”
“My dick? Came up real fast once she was—”
“You know that’s not what I meant.”
“Right.” I shrugged, playing innocent. “Well, there was all this chaos, she was hot, I saved her, she saved me, and then she hit me with one of those charms of hers.”
“No shit?”
“She said it was to kind of make me not a threat, but I wonder.”
Shimmer assessed me and tilted her head. “She was one of the villains?”
“That’s a tough one,” I replied. “On the prison ship and imprisoned? Yes. They all were.”
“Twitch I could see,” she said. “Knowing her past, I mean… But I have to admit, she seems so level-headed. Normal.”
“As I said. Complicated.”
That gave her reason to turn, staring off at the horizon. After a moment, she said, “Leaving these people behind isn’t easy, but I know it’s what has to be done.”
“You have family?”
“Not anymore.” She turned to me, flinching at a memory but not sharing it. “You? I mean, did you leave anyone behind?”
“The parents who adopted my brother and me. Some friends, kinda. Mostly online friends. But that’s it.”
She nodded, considering my response. “I believe I can do more good out here with you all. But it’s more than that. It’s you, and Charm. And I hope I’ll learn to think of the others like that, too. I’m not sure what that makes me—selfish, maybe?”
“Selfish, because part of the reason for wanting to sacrifice yourself like this is because you crave belonging and comfort?” I shook my head and reached out, moving her hair behind her ear. Her eyes went wide.
“Sorry,” I said. “And… for in there… sorry for that too.”
“No need to apologize,” she said and looked at me with a moment’s hesitation. “Listen, I like what we had down there, in my room. My old room, I guess. I like being part of the team, and the idea of going off to put an end to all this. Hell, if we’re being honest I loved feeling you inside me…” She blushed and looked away. “But I’m not ready for all of that. With Charm even, it was a bit outside my comfort zone.”
“Sharing isn’t exactly the norm where I’m from either,” I admitted.
“That’s not what bothers me,” she said. “You were with them first, after all. It might have even been hot, but I don’t know these ladies yet. As much as that might be Charm’s ideal way to break the ice, it’s not mine.”
“Oh.” I took a moment to process that, trying not to let the image of her joining in on an orgy with the others enter my mind. Well, it was there now and damn hot, but I was trying to push it away.
“I was serious,” she said, eyeing me. “When I said I knew what I was getting into and that I’m in. But I was also serious when I said this battle means the world to me. Sorry if I can’t get all experimental and wet again with all this going on.”
The way she emphasized ‘again’ made me feel like an ass. “It wasn’t my idea.”
“I’m not trying to make you feel guilty or anything like that,” she said. “Just… trying to help you understand.”
“Of course I do,” I told her and took her hand. The movement was a reaction, but when she glanced down I pulled my hand away. “Sorry.”
She laughed. “Can we stop apologizing?”
“Sor—” I caught myself and looked down as her hand took mine this time.
“We’re going to kick their asses,” she said, confidence in her eyes and voice. “And when it’s done, I look forward to helping your team find the pyramids, learning what we can about the stealing of powers and how to stop Ranger and the others. In the meantime, though, fight at my side and don’t get hurt.” Her other hand found mine too, so that one was holding my hand and the other resting on top as she turned to look into my eyes. “Are we crazy?”
I thought about that, then laughed. “Yeah, probably.”
“I thought so. Well, I’m glad this couple of crazies have found each other, and look forward to making those women in there my gals. Maybe I’ll go find them now and have a little chat.”
Part of me really wanted to let her walk back in on them touching themselves and have a good laugh about it later, but I reminded myself that it was probably whatever was left of the charm effect.
“You might want to wait a bit,” I said.
“What, why? We might not have long to wait.”
“Trust me on this.”
She frowned. “I really should—”
“Shimmer,” I interrupted. “Trust me on this.” When I saw her confusion and annoyance, I decided there wasn’t any reason to hold back. “I might have been a bit… selfish… back there.”
“Ohhh,” she said, glancing down at my crotch briefly before catching herself. Then her eyes went wide and she said, “Oh!”
I laughed, wiggling my middle finger in the air like I was massaging a clit. “Yeah, that.”
As she laughed, she glanced back and said, “It might be kinda funny to barge in there, but I won’t. If it were you… I really might.”
“If it were me, I’d expect you to come lend a hand.”
“I’d lend a lot more than that.” She squeezed my hand again and then let it go, standing and waving over to Renowt and Wendlor who were coming back our way.
“Just got word,” Wendlor said. “Incoming.”
“About damn time,” Shimmer said, grinning down at me. “All this talk, I was about to have to find a way to distract myself.”
“Not sure I would’ve been much help,” I admitted. “The little guy’s a tad exhausted.”
“Not so little,” she countered. “And you still have a tongue, don’t you?”
I nodded, grinning.
“Raincheck,” she said, then strolled off to get the report from the other guys.
It only then hit me what Wendlor had said. Go time. I stood and headed back in to warn the ladies and get us all battle-prepped. In the hallway, I realized that I still hadn’t done my upgrades since reaching level twenty-seven, so I paused when I reached the door. I could still hear Gale’s moans. With that as nice background noise, I pulled up my screens and checked out the skill trees.
We didn’t have much time to focus on my grand strategy, but I went through and thought about what I would possibly want during this fight. For now, I’d rely on my trusty oldies, the ones I’d grown to love on the prison ship—at least, the ones I had access to.
Scrolling through, something struck me as out of place. I realized I had my troubleshooter skill still active from looking over the ship. Sure enough, the screens in front of me started to make more sense. While too many powers muddied my color wheel, in a sense, with the troubleshooter skill active I could rearrange colors as though I was minimizing windows and sliding them around. It would let me put two together, moving them so that they overlapped in the order I wanted, always the one on top affecting the next one down. In this way I could put Charm’s powers up top and be able to have my adapted version, like camo, or I could overlay it with Twitch’s and have the ability to appear to be shape-shifting, as I’d done on the prison ship. I could change it up again to be able to shoot attacks through the ground or be able to travel through the material I touched.
It wasn’t like I’d be able to use all of these powers at once. First, it seemed I had to have Twitch’s active, especially the troubleshooter one. Second, all of this took time and skill points. With the troubleshooter skill active I could still rearrange my skill points, but it took a while. I doubted I’d be able to make such changes in the heat of the moment.
Still, this was huge. It meant I would be able to really strategize with these skills, take on who knows how many new ones, and make adjustments on the fly. As far as I knew, anyway. It was entirely possible four or five was the magic number, and having sex with one more person—or blood swapping—would screw it all up again. Luckily for me, I only had four women on the team so it wasn’t a concern.
For now, I quickly selected the ones I was used to, like tempest and the one that let me travel through material, then closed out to come back to it later. We had a battle to attend.
“I don’t mean to be rude,” I said, poking my head into the room where Gale was finishing up, still nude and fingering herself. Charm glanced my way and gave me a look that said she wanted me to give them more time, but that wasn’t something we had much of at the moment.
Gale clearly hadn’t heard me, as just then she started moaning louder, breathing heavy, and then let out a long, pleasure-filled moan. Finally she stopped, turned and saw me, and blinked.
“Oh, you’re here,” she said.
“Yeah, and so is the enemy,” I replied.
She shook her head, trying to clear it, and then grinned at Charm. “Your turn next time.”
“With pleasure,” Charm said and grinned my way.
“You two are…” I searched for a word, then said, “…interesting.”
“Trying new things,” Gale said, another shudder running through her as she stood. “Exhibitionism… kinda fun.”
“Yeah?”
She gave me a tilted-head frown. “Really? Says the guy who stood in the middle of the room while we watched as he had his balls fondled and his cock fully exposed? That didn’t turn you on a little?”
“Touché.” I took a breath, remembering the experience, and then motioned behind me. “I’ll find Twitch so we can get this show on the road. Game faces on.”
“Grrr,” Charm said, ears laying back as she exposed her claws. “Always ready for a good fight."
I smiled, glad to have them on my team, and ran off to get ready.
3
Twitch was already on the bridge, holo display up and ready for the attack. When I entered, she brushed her green hair behind her ears, gave me a brief smile, and then turned back to the screen, scanning the incoming enemy.
“What’ve we got?” I asked.
“Looks like everything they likely had left on planet when we jumped,” she replied. “About half the force of what I estimated they had in total.”
“Good news is that’s only half of them. These guys can handle that.”
“Bad news is Ranger and the other half will be after us,” she said. “But yeah, divide and conquer—I’m all for it.”
“So you think we’ll do okay here?”
“I’ve been chatting with the Elders,” she said, motioning to the comms. “From what I understand, we have reinforcements incoming. We’ll do great.”
“No shit?” I looked at the screen, confused. “But… all that red?”
“That’s the enemy.”
I frowned, feeling a bit overwhelmed all of a sudden. It wasn’t like we hadn’t faced big numbers in the past, but her screen was quickly filling up with red. This wasn’t going to be a simple issue of blasting them with a thrust of lightning and being done with it.
“All teams, move out!” a call came through the comms, and Twitch stood, giving me a confident nod.
“Where am I needed?” I asked.
She put a marker on my mini-map and said, “Our guys have a massive gun set up here. Normally it would take two or three of them to operate it, but with your strength—”
“You want me manning a gun?” I said, not hiding my annoyance. “Shouldn’t I be on the front lines?”
“First, I figure you’re used to working with a large gun,” she grinned and let her eyes flicker to my crotch.
“Flattery will get you… well, it’s working, but why there?”
“Mostly because I think the gun will quickly become a target. When they send supers after it, you can hold them off, then get back to firing away. Also, we need all of us relatively nearby, so we’re ready when it’s time to fly. Remember, we have to get off under cover of the battle so that no one will be able to follow us.”
“That makes sense,” I admitted.
“Good, I’m glad you approve.” With a laugh, she led the way out and I followed. In a way, she was the real leader of this group—and I never minded looking at that ass while she walked. Muscular but out there just enough to imagine my hips slapping up against her.
She glanced back and grinned, “You realize you just made a sound?”
“What?”
“Like… Mmm.”
“Ahhh…” I felt my cheeks warming, and shrugged. “I was remembering deep dish pizza back home, you know.”
“Right.” She turned and kept walking, giving her ass a light slap before turning down the ramp. Caught. Damn.
Shaking those thoughts from my head, I jogged out, grabbing a rifle and my blaster along the way, and then nodded to the others as I made for the position marked on my ma
p. It was only when I turned that I slowed at the sight on the horizon. It wasn’t empty anymore. Lines of troops were approaching fast, kicking up sand in their wake. Some rode machines while fighters flew overhead, now outpacing them and coming in for the full attack.
Twitch and other supers on our side began to throw up shields while those with similar powers to Shimmer sent out illusions. Some made our troops invisible, while others created the illusion of fake troops and walls. The only problem, she had explained to me in the downtime, was that the enemy had supers who could penetrate such illusions. Much of the enemy might be confused at first, but not for long. Hence, the need for the shields.
Our side was preparing the few fighters they had, and I spotted the hill to my forward right where I was to set up. A glint of metal showed me where the gun was, and when I approached, I realized how just big it was.
The fact that Twitch had made an analogy between this and my dick was a major compliment, and a gross exaggeration. That thing was humongous.
I charged up, seeing the massive barrel and running my hands along the dual trigger handholds. It was loaded and ready to go, a long line of ammo hanging off the side, and more in a large crate nearby. As long as it didn’t jam, I should be fine to simply blow the shit out of them for a while.
Enemy ships swept in with a rain of bullets and blasters, most of them hitting false targets at first, but soon they were assaulting our shields. Where I stood I had shields in front of me but was able to swivel the gun and get them as they went past, so I started picking them off, one after another. Bullets flew, enemy fighters dropped.
Shields sparked and began to fade, so it was time for our side to launch the counterattack. Both sides had fighters going at it now, shields giving way, our fighters taking up defensive positions among the rocks and some of the supers charging forward to meet the enemy. As I shot away, I caught glimpses of the battle in full swing. Explosions, blasts of ice, fire, lasers, and all manner of objects flying, and winds blowing. Illusions were made so that some soldiers took on the forms of massive mechs, others darting around the battlefield like they had become deadly shadows.