Psychobitches 2 - Ch 1

Abaddon long gone, both in terms of our flight path and in the sense that we had blown it the fuck up, my team of Psychobitches was finally managing to breathe normally, to relax. We were flying in a large ship that had previously served as the core of Abaddon. Having killed Master Shen and made a break for it, this had been our only option, at least until meeting up with Letha and the others who were flying to join Breaker and his team. We were with them now, doing the same and anxious to figure out more about what our next move would be.

Taking on Orion Corp. was definitely in the cards, but we didn’t know what that meant, in terms of what action we would take next. 

“Holy shit,” Cheri said, and then laughed. 

“What?” Erupa asked, skeptically. “And if you say Lilly—”

“Not my fault Lilly said you all fought like bitches back there,” Cheri replied, holding up the little bear chained to the hilt of her sword—A.K.A. Lilly. “She likes you all, honestly. But the way it went down, kinda fucked.”

“Cheri,” I chided her, and she turned her gaze on me, thumb still petting the back of her little bear. “She’s not saying you were anything other than a badass. And sexy as fuck, that’s for damn sure. Just that if we’d handled it differently, we could’ve walked out of there without nearly getting our asses handed to us several times.”

“Shut up,” Tink grumbled. 

“Nobody’s denying that it could’ve gone smoother,” I said, hoping to calm things down, ease off the tension. “Hell, who knows how many more hybrids, or supers mid-experiment, could’ve been with us, flying off to destroy the Orion Corp. We did what we had to do to survive, though. And won.”

“No argument here,” Cheri said, but glanced down at the bear as if listening. Her face scrunched up. “But—”

“We don’t want to fucking hear what Lilly or the other voices in your head think,” Erupa interrupted, voice thick with irritation. “Stow that shit.”

Cheri frowned, an expression that morphed into a pout as she turned my way. I patted my leg, and she came over to sit on my lap, wrapping her arms around my neck. 

“We’re going to make all of this right,” I said, then kissed her on the cheek. “As much as possible, anyway. I know taking you all was wrong now, and… whenever you want to go back, get out of here and find your way home, you know I won’t be the one to stand in your way.”

“And you know none of us want that,” she countered. “Not when we have a chance of taking out Orion Corp.”

“And after that?” 

She looked confused, then chuckled. “Oh, Ezra, don’t you know? There’s always going to be another Orion Corp.”

“What?”

“Psychobitch supreme is right,” Erupa said, finally grinning at Cheri. “Even after Orion itself falls, you know that won’t be the end.”

“So what, after this and others like it, you all are sticking with me?” I was surprised to find each of them meeting my gaze, nodding. “Like, the Psychobitches become some band of superheroes?”

“What is it you like to say?” Cheri winked. “‘I am the law,’ right? Let’s change that slightly—‘I’ to ‘we.’ We, sugar, we are the law. Or can be.”

I laughed, loving it. “But come on, you all are serious?”

“When you found me, I was so drunk I couldn’t buy Brandy,” Cheri said. “I mean it, couldn’t even afford the cost of a lap dance from that bitch, as much as I was in the mood.”

“The fuck are you talking about?” Erupa asked, but then waved it off, not wanting her to elaborate, apparently. “Point is, same here. I could go back, but to anything as cool as this? No. Fucking. Way. This is the Citadel we’re talking about, and… us. Our team. We’re hot chocolate.”

“I like that.” Tink chuckled. “Hot chocolate. And Ezra’s nuts are the marshmallows—so yummy, I could slurp them up.” 

“Whoa there.” I held up my hands, grinning at the thought but caught off guard by the one-eighty. “We still have the hybrids on board, and one specifically. I mean…”

“The mermaid,” Tink said, nodding. “Right. Only, we don’t have a clue where she’s from, and neither does she.”

That sentence silenced us all. 

We had saved the mermaid, along with others from Abaddon. Hybrids who had once been supers, no doubt, and had been worked on to improve their fighting ability. Only, in many cases their memories were adjusted as well, their… 

“Give us time,” Cheri said. “Voices tell me she’ll come around, we just need to work with her.”

I nodded, noticing that the other ships in our little impromptu fleet were starting to slow. If this was really happening and we were about to be part of a force taking on Orion Corp., the last thing I wanted was to be thought of as a reactor. My team was right—from now on, we were going to fight on the side of right, together… as the law. 

“Patch me in,” I said. “It’s time to introduce ourselves.”

Nobody moved, and after a moment Erupa gestured to the controls in front of me. I grinned, pulling up the comms, and said, “Sure, I’ll do it. Whatever.”

“Just, you were closest,” Tink added with a restrained chuckle. 

I ignored them as the comms connected, showing that I was hailing them but they hadn’t put the call through yet.

“Breaker?” 

We paused for a moment, sharing nervous glances before a familiar voice said, “This is Breaker. Who do I have the pleasure of addressing?”

Sending over my video, I nodded when it confirmed I was showing on their screen. It was good to see this other team, led by the man from the video Letha had shown me before departure. The man had a bit of a scar on the right side of his face, thick black, hair slightly disheveled. He had a civilian look to him, younger than myself, but weathered, like he’d spent some good time in a boxing ring, maybe. Behind him was a woman with green hair along with a larger woman with dark skin, and the fox-lady with canine-like ears protruding through her tousled pink hair.

“My name is Ezra Faldron,” I said. “I take it by your voice that you are Breaker. We received your message and have brought what forces we could muster to assist in your mission.” 

“Hold the fuck up,” the curvy woman said, and I put together that this was Gale, the one who had served in the Citadel military. “I’ve heard of you, you piece of shit.” 

This wasn’t how I wanted the conversation to go, but we all had our own pasts. I would have to move on past mine. Holding my hands up, I said, “I was a bounty hunter. One who would bring my catches to Abaddon, as a matter of fact. Often for the group we now consider the enemy.” 

“He’s changed,” Erupa came to my defense. “We were some of his prisoners, but he helped us fight our way out of there, helped take down the planet’s core.”

Cheri wrapped her arms around me. “We are the Psychobitches!” She kissed my cheek affectionately, then added, “And we blew that shit the fuck up!” 

“Dear…” I kissed her hand, then turned back to the screen. “This is Cheri, and here we have Erupa, as well as Tink.” At a look from Tink, I added, “Er, sorry. Flyer.”

“Tink’s fine.” She shrugged. “It’s kinda grown on me.”

“As in… Tinkerbell?” Breaker replied, laughing. 

“You’ve heard of her?” I asked, surprised. It had been my experience when interacting with other bounty hunters, that very few of them got my Earth references and jokes. They always acted like I was the idiot, when it was their ignorance that was being highlighted. But whatever. 

“Dude,” Breaker replied, grinning. “I’m O.G. Earth, okay? You want to know about Peter Pan, The Man in the Iron Mask, Princess Bride, Zelda, whatever. I know it all. Well, whatever I’ve been able to dig up anyway.” 

“No shit?” I was impressed, but in part because I only caught half of his references. 

Gale shoved Breaker aside to get central in the screen. “You’ve turned over a new leaf, huh? How the fuck do we know that’s true and you aren’t bullshitting us? 

“I didn’t know,” I explained, glancing back as the mermaid entered, legs normal since she wasn’t in the water. With a nod her way, I continued. “That’s my only excuse—I thought I was on the side of righteousness. Didn’t realize the ones I served were up to such vile practices.”

“Though, not everything they made turned out bad,” Cheri interjected, turning to our new mermaid friend and caressing her face with a giggle. 

“Yes, but they had no right,” I countered, not sure what to think of the hybrid mermaid yet. She seemed legit, wanted to fight, but had yet to tell us much about who she had been before any of this. “And have done far more evil than good.”

“What opened your eyes?” Gale asked, frowning. 

I took a moment, trying to decide where to go with this. “Do you mind?” I asked the mermaid. She shook her head. “I’d hate to…” 

“She’s not some toy to show off,” Erupa hissed, too low for the other side to hear. 

“I know…” I lowered my voice. “It’s not like that. They need to understand.”

“This will… help?” the mermaid asked, voice even quieter than my whisper.

“Yes,” I replied. 

She nodded, so instead of me answering directly, I stood aside and motioned for her to come forward. Breaker and his team stared in confusion, then processed realization as the gills moved on her neck and she opened her mouth to reveal her sharp teeth. 

“When she’s in water, she’s a mermaid, kind of,” I explained. “A hybrid-super. They’ve been doing this all over that place. Or rather, inside. Working with powers such as regeneration, water survival, and others to create various creatures—some who can shift, like her, others who are stuck as what many would consider monsters.” At the narrowing of the mermaid’s eyes, I whispered, “Sorry.”

“We faced some on Abaddon,” Breaker said, then put a hand on Gale’s arm. “Also, we set up the ships so the others wouldn’t be able to take them. If he had ulterior motives, I’d like to think our A.I. we programmed would’ve caught it.” 

The idea that A.I. on ships could tell anything like that confused me, but I nodded. “There you go. What he said.” 

Gale frowned, but turned away from the screen. 

“I think we can trust them,” Breaker said. 

“Us and a couple of others who helped out down there,” I said. “I hope you all agree, as we have every intention of taking out Orion Corp., same as you. Soon as we set down somewhere, I’ll introduce you to Letha, Trunk, and the others.” 

“They have my vote,” a blue lady said with a hint of a smile. Not just any blue lady, I realized as I stared at her—this was the Blue Lady. Andromida herself. Many a bounty had been issued for this woman, but after a while, everyone began to understand how stupid it was to even try to go up against her. “Enemy of my enemy and all that.” 

With a hesitant nod from Gale, Breaker said, “Welcome to the team.”