Supers: Ex Heroes 8 - Ch 1&2

Chapter 1 - LAUREL PROLOGUE

Laurel glanced our way as we descended the hill that led to the woods below, where we had caught a glimpse of the seemingly hovering forms. Fairies had been my first guess, but I was almost certain that I hadn’t seen any feet—more like legs that vanished into mist. Ghosts, then, or some sort of wood spirit?

Having already met legitimate phoenix and dragon shifters in Kaire and Lokum since we crossed over into this place, I really had no idea what these worlds had in store for us. When I had first been taken by Hadrian and Lamb to the prison ship and learned that there was another galaxy where superheroes existed, my world had been turned upside down. By this point, someone could tell me there was a planet of talking penises and I would only be slightly doubtful. Definitely wouldn’t want to visit the place, but wouldn’t be too surprised to find it was real. 

I hoped these were simply some other form of humanoid beings, or an alien that we could somehow relate to and communicate with. At the moment, though, we were all walking in silence, waiting for Laurel to fill us in on what she knew, this secret she had been keeping from us. If we were going to succeed here, we needed a better understanding of the situation. We needed to at least all be on the same page. 

Her large, turquoise eyes met mine, then went to Charm. With a sigh, she began her story. 

***

LAUREL

Imagine a planet where the more advanced beings have control over nature, and you might be able to picture the tiniest portion of lavish greenery and endless blossoms that covered my world. My boarding school had walls covered in vines that boasted flowers of different colors, based on which school house you were in. One was covered in vibrant pink flowers called arulanges, another with triandalos of dark blue, and more with shades of red, honey yellow, flaxen and so on. There were seven houses in total, each focused on a different discipline of our techniques. 

My focus at the time was the turquoise school—going along with flowers my people refer to as the aquitere—the mental art, which related to my ability to feel thoughts, in a sense. To my knowledge, I’m the only one who turned it into what I do now with reading thoughts, although the most skilled masters of my school could push thoughts into others. It was rumored that our house’s head teacher could completely take over others and make them do his will, although some of us doubted this and dismissed the rumors. 

Other schools learned mental arts such as reading the future, moving objects with your mind, and more that I will never begin to comprehend. While we could all control nature, each of us were only allowed one school of mental focus. A mentor broke the rules for me and guided me in the creation of my familiar, an ancient art among my people that is extremely rare. 

I trusted my mentor, so when I sensed the pleasant thoughts of tender love mixed with a trace of lust coming from him, I let my guard down. He brought me into an inner circle, one where special students and faculty members attempted to learn outside of their schools. 

It was only then that I learned how closely our school was aligned with the Supreme Leader, and our entire people through that connection. Only those most loyal were made aware of this, but it went right up through to the highest levels. These inner circles—the one I joined and many others like it—were training grounds, research hubs, and recruitment pools. Others in society were effectively tools, gardeners and farmers, people to keep the rest of us going. 

Honestly, I wasn’t aware of the evil behind the Supreme Leader. When my mentor came to me and told me that Central Intelligence had a role for me, I was thrilled. Little old me, given a chance to do something meaningful in life! 

The same day, I got a message from my dad, asking me to meet him for dinner after classes. I was excited, since he was often so busy in the office. 

We met at a diner right outside the school. Over dinner, he revealed he knew all about my involvement in the inner circle because he worked for one of these upper echelons of spies and government agents.

“I can’t tell you what I know about your mission.” He leaned close and tapped the table. “But, I can tell you this—it’s directly related to my work, and I couldn’t be prouder of you.”

Proud of me. My father. A father of twelve, as was normal for our people. When I returned to my room that night I was walking on clouds, and even more so when everyone was chatting about rumors of the big mission coming up, and how some government agents had already been sent out.

My mentor was gone, presumably on the mission. Nobody would confirm it one way or another. The group was on hiatus since three-quarters of the members had vanished. Those who remained met for meals and to practice in the shadows once or twice, but one day a man with dark blue eyes arrived and told us to lie low until we were called upon. Dark blue meant High Inquisitor—not the type to ignore. 

At first, I checked my log every day to see if I’d received a message. When were they going to call on me? It was painful, knowing that something big was happening and I wasn’t yet part of it. I went to classes, practiced in the corners of my room when I had the chance, and stared out the window at the sky. A sky flooded with purple and green lights, most nights, by the way. You’ve never seen anything so stunning. 

Then the call came. I was taken by two figures who arrived at my door while I was bathing—a strange process on my planet that involves manipulating plants to do the washing and scrubbing, bringing water directly from the soil after it had been filtered by sediment. Never was my skin so smooth as in those days. 

Once I was clothed, they sat me down, opened a screen, and showed me a video of a planet where war raged. They zoomed past that, selecting other planets in the same system until they stopped on one that I recognized by its pink hue. 

It was a strange planet, one with daylight but an eerie blackness covering half of it. They showed me my dad there, then showed me a separate image of a Per-Neter. I’d never seen anything like it and wanted to reach out and unfold the golden triangle, to see where it could take me. Oh, yes, I’d heard how they worked but thought they were a myth. 

“You’ve heard of the Kitsune?” the agent asked. 

I nodded. My father had been sent to treaty with the Kitsune people long ago, to find a way to barter for the Per-Neter and put them high up in the empire. Make them gods. But, fighting broke out and they refused. My father barely escaped, and to this day didn’t know how he managed it. He claimed someone helped him, but didn’t know who. 

When he told our leadership what happened and they sent a fleet to retaliate, the Kitsune were gone, their planet as well. Nobody could find them.

So yes, I was familiar. It was almost all my dad had talked about when I was growing up.

“That planet,” the agent indicated the one where I had seen my father in the video, “isn’t far from where we believe they’ve gone into hiding. We’re no closer to finding them now than any time in the past few years, except… we might have a lead.”

“A lead?”

“You will track down one of theirs in the Oram system,” the agent instructed. “She was sent there when she was quite young, but we believe she is keeping the secret to the whereabouts of the final Per-Neter. We need you to get that information—befriend her, feel her mind and manipulate her in any way necessary to find this Per-Neter. Do you understand your mission?”

I blinked, confused. The Oram system was unreachable. As much a myth, I had thought, as the Per-Neters themselves. 

“How?” I asked. 

“We have access to Per-Neters, but… it’s not enough.”

Upon further explanation, I learned that they had a super who could sacrifice herself, give up her life force to make the Per-Neter work to get to Oram. A whole race of them, basically, and I learned then that each time they sent groups through, that’s what it took. To send a fleet… I’d hate to imagine the cost. 

I nodded, accepted the mission, and was immediately ushered out. No time to say goodbye to anyone, but then, it wasn’t like I had many people left who I cared to speak to. 

The rest, as you know, is history. I arrived, found others to help me establish my cover, and arranged to track Charm as she infiltrated Supralines. I found it ironic that she was sneaking in and pretending at the same time I did likewise with her. Maybe that helped me feel less guilty about it, but the minute I sensed her true nature, it was over. 

With research in Supralines library and what I knew of my past, I put the pieces together. The Supreme Leader planned on uniting the universe so that he could conquer all, using the Per-Neter to do so. I was to be the tool but refused. 

I wasn’t going to betray my new friend, a friend who would soon prove to be so much more. And before long, I began to understand that the teachers, the supers of the Citadel and beyond in this Oram system, weren’t the enemy. 

Chapter 2

Laurel’s story over, she licked her lips, eyes on the ground. She stopped walking. The rest of us halted as well, gathering around her, sharing looks of fascination. 

“Wow,” was all I could say at first. “Your planet sounds gorgeous.”

“That’s your takeaway?” Muerta asked. 

I shrugged. “Well, I’m curious—and hadn’t thought of how her powers would relate to her planet’s appearance. It’s fascinating.”

“And I… never knew you had twelve siblings,” Harp said via her translator machine. She still needed it, as her voice would cause all sorts of trouble if she spoke. A downside of her powers. “Eleven,” Charm noted. “She said ‘father of twelve.’ So… eleven.”

“Right.” Harp gave her a humored wink.

“There’s so much there to unpack,” Twitch noted, eyeing Laurel with new respect. “And… your dad?”

Nodding to Muerta, I asked, “What was your takeaway?” 

She frowned. “That finding this Kitsune planet, and the final Per-Neter, isn’t going to be easy.”

“No, it isn’t,” Laurel agreed. She eyed Charm, who had one of her tails in her hand, brushing it in thought. 

“Wait, so how did they not find it?” I asked. “The Kitsune planet, I mean. It’s a planet, after all.”

Laurel shrugged, eyes still focused on Charm.

“Not the first one to change locations,” Twitch noted with a sideways glance at Shimmer. 

“It’s possible something like that could have happened,” Laurel said, antennae glowing to show that she’d read Twitch’s thoughts. “In this place, though, the strange part was the darkness left behind. Like that part of space had simply… vanished.”

“I… might have already said this,” Charm said, “but… I forgive you. And thanks—for sharing your story.”

“Of course.” Laurel clasped her hands and rubbed them together. “You’re not… I mean, I kind of worried that sharing all that would make you all think worse of me, or… I don’t know.”

“Not at all,” Charm said. 

“If anything, seeing the bigger picture makes you easier to trust,” I added. 

Laurel nodded. She could, of course, read all of this in us. Apparently, it was still nice to hear. 

Twitch put a hand on Laurel’s shoulder. “I have a feeling we’re going to learn more about this in the days to come.” 

“For now,” Aegriss scanned the sky, “we need to find out how to take those first steps.”

“The Servant sent us here for a reason,” I pointed out. “Since we’ve only seen one sign of life so far…”

They all seemed to agree that continuing on our path made the most sense. Once we made contact, we could ask around, look into ways of getting off-planet if needed, and make any other necessary arrangements. 

When we turned back to continue our path, I squinted, straining my eyes to better see. At that point we had reached the base of the hill, the trees spread out before us. My confusion was because I had no idea where the figures had been. Based on our trajectory, I would have thought straight ahead, but there was no sign of them. 

“This way.” Laurel took the lead. 

It wasn’t like the trees were dense enough to block our view. We entered them, and I rubbed my eyes. It seemed to have grown suddenly darker. Clouds over the sun, maybe? A glance up showed thicker foliage than made sense. 

“I don’t think I like this place,” I said. “Gives me the willies.”

“Willies?” Gale asked. 

“Makes him nervous,” Aegriss interpreted. 

“Ah.” Gale sidled up next to me, taking my arm in hers. “Nothing to be scared of. I’m here for you.”

I laughed. “Not scared. Creeped out? Now doubly.” Giving her a wink didn’t prevent the punch in the arm. 

“Best way to distract yourself from being scared, start a fight,” Muerta noted, walking ahead of us. It was funny how much taller she was—the height difference reminded me of a much less hairy, far sexier Chewbacca running around with Han in those old films. 

Laurel glanced back my way, one eyebrow raised in curiosity. 

I know you can block out the whole mind reading thing, I thought her way, because I’m doing so most of the time. 

In response, she sent me an image of Muerta all covered in hair, then shook her head and kept on. Holding back my laughter was harder than it might sound, but yeah, Muerta-Chewbacca was a sight to behold. Boy, was I glad that wasn’t her norm. 

We had reached the point where the floating dancers should have been, but saw no sign of them. No glowing gems or white mushrooms I’d noticed… none of it. 

“I sense something,” Laurel said, eyes darting around. “But I’m not sure where, which is odd. Usually I can pinpoint thoughts, but these are…”

“Wispy?” I asked, trying to tap into that power but having the same problem. “Like fog floating through your fingertips?”

“Something like that.”

I eyed the trees as I considered our situation. We could certainly get rid of the trees, or fly above them, but either option might expose us more than seemed prudent in our situation. This was an alien world with an unknown presence of some sort, and none of us knew what else might be out there. 

“Spread out a little,” I directed. “Not so much that we lose sight of each other, but enough to see if we can spot anything.”

My path took me between Charm and Laurel on one side, Shimmer on the other. We each moved through the woods, careful to look around and ensure we could see each other, but also searching for anything else out there. Laurel sent her light familiar, while I tried pinging whoever or whatever was out there mentally. 

“Laurel,” Charm’s voice carried on the wind, “do you think my people are gone?” 

“I… hope so.”

“Back at Supralines, you… played it safe, huh?” Charm hesitated, and I glanced over to make sure they were still walking and paying attention. 

“You mean with the library book?” Laurel nodded. “To be fair, I’d never actually seen one of your kind before, so that research was mostly legit. But… yes, I had no doubt you were one, and from this side of the universe.”

“I see.” Charm kept walking, meeting my gaze and offering me a smile. 

“There,” Shimmer hissed from the other direction, so I turned to see what she meant. Sure enough, there was movement in the leaves overhead and right beyond where she stood. 

“Could be the wind,” I said, but was already heading over there to check it out. Along the way, we met Muerta, who was crouching, watching the same spot. 

“Someone could climb up and have a look around,” Muerta offered. “Want me to?”

“It couldn’t hurt,” I said, but knew we weren’t likely to see more than the tops of trees and maybe the local equivalent of butterflies.

“Allow me,” Andromida said from behind, already pushing off metal in the ground to float up to the nearest branch, then climbing the last bit up. Watching her from below like that, I couldn’t help but admire the way her blue outfit hugged that tight, blue ass. This wasn’t the type of place to get down, but I appreciated the distraction. 

“Anything?” Shimmer asked. 

Leaves rustled, then after a moment she said, “There… doesn’t seem to be a top.”

“Excuse me?” I moved over toward her tree. “Meaning…?”

“I keep going higher, and… nothing. Which doesn’t make sense with what we saw back there. Something’s not right.”

“Want me to burn it all down?” Muerta asked. “I’d be happy to.”

I shook my head. “Fire and smoke. What better way to tell potential enemies where we are?”

“Come back down,” Twitch called to Andromida. 

“Yup.” Andromida floated down a moment later, the cloth around her hips fluttering. She was pushing against the metal in the ground to slow her descent. 

All of us crouched there, our minds spinning, working out possible next moves while Twitch pulled up her screens to get a reading on this place, I noticed Muerta eyeing me. 

“You good?” I asked. 

She nodded. “Reminds me, is all.”

Inching closer to her, I asked, “Of?”

“The memories of when I was with the other side—it’s like this, sometimes. Like I’m stuck in some forest. Other times, its darkness or fog and I’m trapped, I can’t get out.”

I nodded, close enough now to reach out and take her hand. It was an instinctive move. I was so used to my team of ladies and how we made contact that I didn’t think twice. She, however, stared at her hand in mine for a couple of seconds, then pulled it away. 

“Sorry?” I glanced down at my hand as if expecting it to be dirty or on fire. 

“No, you caught me by surprise,” she admitted. 

“I wasn’t making a move. Just… trying to be here for you. Comfort you.”

“Got it, thank you.” She eyed Charm, whose eyes were glowing white. “She okay?” 

“Most likely,” I replied, still focused on her. “It’s all in the past, you know? Like we discussed.”

“Thanks. Yeah, but… seriously, is she…?”

I looked at Charm, and sure enough she was sniffing as she glanced left and right, mumbling a little. Something was going on with her. Laurel watched her and then closed her eyes, a hand stretched out toward her. 

Focused mind reading? I attempted the same. 

Instantly, I was in Charm’s mind. For one second we were in the woods, her eyes registering me, and then for some reason flashing to an image of me nude, my cock flailing around in a circle—oh, right, her imagination. Maybe even her way of mentally letting me know she recognized that I was in her head? The next moment, though, she turned back to a specific location in the woods where a shimmer of light hovered in the air. 

“Why are you here?” a voice asked, almost sing-song. Without a doubt, I heard it only through her and not with my ears.