Ex Heroes 4 - Chapter 1

UNEDITED

Shimmer had her hands down my pants as she stood pressed up against my back, fondling my nuts with the excuse that it kept her hands warm. Claws were part of her whole fox thing, and more than once I had to bite my lip to keep from yelping out when those claws scraped against my inner thigh—at least they weren’t scraping elsewhere. I wasn’t complaining, it felt damn good, like a gentle massage in preparation of our return to the battle. 

The other ladies though kept glancing over, distracted. I wasn’t sure if it was annoying them or they simply wanted in on the action, but we all knew we had a job to get to. Nut massage aside, I was focused on the holo-map Twitch had set up in the center of our little circle. We were surrounded by the rocks of the hills on the outskirts of the Abaddon Asylum, analyzing our best strategy for making a move on Muerta. I would’ve thought being back in my galaxy and having defeated Ranger would’ve made me feel at ease, but we were clearly at another milestone in our journey to defeat the enemy and make me an elder of the Citadel, not anywhere near the finish line. 

“I don’t get it,” Charm admitted, looking at the map. 

“Point to what part you don’t get,” Twitch replied, glancing down at the woman’s hands moving in my pants. 

“Sure,” Charm said, and suddenly had my hard cock out, pointing at a section of the map. 

“Ladies,” I said, quickly covering back up and frowning, not liking the look of disapproval Andromida gave us. She was part of the group now, though the two of us hadn’t been as intimate as the others. She’d watched Charm work her magic on me, and let me watch as she and Charm fooled around a bit, but the most actual action I’d gotten from her so far was a kiss on the cheek. 

And at the moment, considering how the desire for revenge was fueling her every move and thought, I knew this wasn’t the right time. Plus, the whole being right next to the spot where Muerta had ran away to and all of the other potential enemies nearby. The explosions and constant gunfire were especially a mood killer. 

“Let’s… take a brake from that, can we?” Shimmer said, as Charm was about to reach back into my pants. 

Charm sighed, but complied by taking one of my hands on hers, using her free hand to point to the center glowing area on the map. “So much less fun to point with but… this one, here. That’s the Asylum? That’s where we think Muerta will be?” 

“She has every intention of flying off to take on Orion Corp.,” Twitch said. “But I think she wants her army first, so will be trying to gather recruits, along with fueling this little uprising to ensure there’s enough of a distraction to make her escape.”

“And how’s she going to escape?” Gale indicated several small dots, then glanced back over to the compound, but I knew she wouldn’t be able to see the ships from here. “With these?” 

“She might try,” Twitch replied. “But down there, with the Quencher—”

“Quencher?” I interrupted. 

“Yeah, sorry—that’s what my screens are telling me the thing they use here to stop supers’ powers from working is called. With the Quencher, she’s just another one of them in that Asylum, which means I’m guessing she has strong friends or some other way that sets her and hers apart. But if we can get close enough to the ships, I can use my code to ensure they don’t fall into the wrong hands.”

“Let’s make that a priority then.” I gave Charm’s hand a squeeze, then turned to each of them in turn. “We need to make a move on the asylum while ensuring Muerta doesn’t make it out of there.” 

“We might be able to find out who’s not taking her side,” Gale pointed out. “Allies… maybe.” 

“True, but… if they’re not mentally stable, I wouldn’t want them watching my back.” 

“Agreed,” Twitch said, indicating a point on her map. “But judging by the way the fighting started and seeing what we’ve seen of that area down there, I’m guessing there will be those hostile to her still within, in this area. Whether we can trust them or not, we can still use this to our advantage if we push her toward them, or her allies toward them.”

“Not bad,” Shimmer said, looking it over, nodding. “With Andromida’s ability to move metal around—and I’m guessing most of the walls and doors in there are metal—and my ability to create some scary as fuck illusions, this could be a blast.” 

“A real-life horror flick for them,” I said with a chuckle, but glanced around to see they were all looking at me weird again. “Horror movies.” I held out my hands out. “Come on, nobody? You don’t…? Give me a break, you don’t have horror movies?” 

“Maybe in the archives from Earth,” Twitch said. “I could pull up some on our next down time, I imagine.” 

My eyes went wide. “Yes! Yes, we’re doing that. The Thing, Event Horizon, oh shit, I could go on and on—”

“Baby steps,” Andromida cut in. “First we scare the shit out of these people to ensure they fight each other. We get Muerta, I tear her limb form limb, and then, when we’re on our way out of here, we can watch your fake versions of our reality.”

“Ah, right. Good plan.” 

“Let’s not forget that she still has some of her powers, even with the Quencher,” Twitch reminded us. “This isn’t going to be a walk through Orendaim.”

“Going to have to explain that on.” 

“Orendaim?” Charm laughed. “Everyone knows… oh, right. We’ll go there, don’t you worry—maybe me in my red dress.” 

“And what is it, exactly?” I asked, but she was staring off into the sky with a silly smirk on her face. 

“A sort of escape for many of us, back where the capital city and many Citadel supers retire to. Imagine the most colorful flowers, clearest waters, amazing cloud patterns—”

“The type of nice place we’ll never see if we let Muerta win,” Andromida cut in. “Shall we?” 

“Right.” Twitch indicated our path of attack, saying that’s the way we were heading, and then slid the screen away and led the way. 

We didn’t go back the exact direction we’d come, because that way had been laden with traps as we’d retreated up it, and we couldn’t be sure there weren’t more waiting. Twitch could use her screens to scan for much of that, but our Supratech counter to the Quencher only allowed a limited range. 

“Remember,” I said as we rounded the last outpost, moving to the backside of the asylum. “No powers when possible. This place is in the Milky Way, we don’t want everyone to be seeing us using super powers and all that.” 

“And my tail won’t make them curious?” Charm countered. 

“Er…”

“They’ll assume it’s a sexy-ass costume.” Gale winked at me, and I nodded in thanks for the save. 

“Push comes to shove, I’m tearing this place to bits with all the powers I have,” Andromida said.

“Your position on the matter’s duly noted.” I ducked down behind one of the walls that led around the building, getting a good view of our destination. Shooting sounded toward the front, then a blast in one of the building windows, followed by a scream. “Maybe everyone will be dead anyway, and it won’t matter.”

“Except you said this place is monitored,” Gale pointed out. 

“Right, but… if they’re keeping the likes of Muerta in here, and have a Quencer—is that what you call it? Yeah, well, then they definitely know about all that already.”

“So it’s more about whether they broadcast it or not.”

I nodded. “Let’s hope not.” 

At that Twitch, moving her hands across her pink screens that hovered before her, nodded and said, “Clear.” 

We moved forward at a crouch, me with my screen up and looking for any nearby supers, Twitch continuing to monitor for others, and Shimmer doing her best to keep up an illusion so that anyone looking wouldn’t see us. I was keeping my powers ready to attack, and Charm darted off ahead as point—being faster and cloaked. With all of that, plus Andromida and Gale also ready to unleash attacks, I kind of pitied anyone who would try to start shit with us. 

As expected, no problems yet. We reached the door and I tried it, but it clicked. Locked. 

“Allow me,” Andromida said, and she raised an eyebrow, causing the door to unlock and swing open. 

BAM! A shot rang out, zinging past us and hitting the ground in the distance. Andromida had her hands in fists, ready to move, but Twitch held up a hand for her to wait. 

“What the fuck are you firing at?” a voice said from inside. 

“I heard something, I swear,” a woman replied, and then there was a thud and a yelp, followed by—

“Fuck you gave away our position—”

And then more gunshots, the man shouting about death and killing all of the other motherfuckers, and then an explosion that sent smoke out from the window above. We all stood there, waiting. 

“Three left on one side, six on the other,” Twitch said, analyzing her screens. 

I frowned. “But you didn’t see the first group when we were approaching?” 

“Huh.” She blinked, confused by that too, apparently, and moved her screens up, trying something else in them. “No, it’s… there’s got to be more supers in there not affected by the Quencher and somehow blocking me.” 

I scanned too, not finding anything. “Could mean there’re more in there than we realize, more waiting.” 

“It definitely means that,” Andromida said, glancing around as a silence followed. 

Charm reached for the door, pushing her way in. “Then no use waiting out here. Let’s introduce ourselves, fists first.” 

“Wait.” I held up a finger, then nodded as a few more shots went off. “Like popcorn. Always going to be a few more pops, if you wait.” 

She frowned, then at my nod we went in. 

“Only two left, seemingly on the same side,” Twitch whispered, then swiped away her screen. “Don’t seem to be supers, but be alert.” 

Bodies lined the corridor, blood seeping out and splattered on the walls. As Twitch had said, two were still living, but stood at the window at the next room over, mumbling something over and over. 

I shared a look with Shimmer and whispered, “Keep us cloaked.” A scan of the room showed Charm was inching toward the room ahead, the other ladies ready to move. I was about to make a move for the room, when one of the two shrieked and went flying out of the window, backwards. Glass shattered and her companion went to his knees, screaming and crying. 

“What the fuck?” Andromida said, not caring for staying hidden anymore and shooting forward in her blue bubble, metal rising up with her as defensive walls. 

Charm suddenly appeared, stumbling into the room and out of Andromida’s way, and let out a shriek as well. I

Now this was piquing my interest to the extent that I too had to run in and see what was happening. The moment I entered, seeing Charm all terrified and Andromida frozen in place, I knew it wasn’t going to be good. When I spun and saw the opposite wall, the dread visible in Charm’s eyes hit me like a hammer to the nuts. 

It was a metal wall, covered in blood like the rest, but hands were reaching, faces pressing against it, making the metal appear to be cloth with figures trying to escape. 

“What is it?” I shouted, stepping back and nearly yelping when I stumbled into Charm. “Muerta?” 

“Something else,” Andromida replied, shooting out her hands and moving the metal, opening it. “A force they never should’ve released.”

Metal tore apart with screeching that sounded like the shrieks of children, the walls around us shuddering and then exploding as blackness shot out, forming a mouth that looked about to eat me, if not for Twitch. She pulled up a screen and created a sort of reflection in mid-air, causing the mouth to hit it and continue on, but in the way it had come without turning around or anything. 

Her little trick was almost as creepy as the flying mouth of darkness. 

And then hands were in the walls again, converging on the spot where the darkness hit again, before vanishing. It all stopped, and we were left standing there in confusion and frustration.