Ex-Superheroes

by A. J. Markam

  She looked into my eyes, almost like she didn’t know who I was – and then she burst into tears and buried her face in my shoulder.

  “You’re safe, you’re safe,” I said into her ear as I held her tightly. “I got you, you’re safe.”

  “I thought – I thought – ” she sobbed hysterically.

  “I know, but we’re safe,” I whispered. “I got you.”

  A hundred feet away from us, multiple voices shouted in Japanese.

  “Freeze!”

  “Don’t move!”

  “Tokyo Police Department!”

  “You’re surrounded!”

  I lifted my head up to see a dozen cops in uniform pointing their guns at us.

  Shit.

  If my shields couldn’t stop Antimatter’s attacks anymore, it was dicey at best whether they could handle a barrage of 80 bullets.

  Not to mention Antimatter might be flying down here any second.

  I did not need any more of this shit tonight.

  “Don’t shoot, don’t shoot!” I yelled in Japanese.

  I was trying to figure out if I should just sweep their legs out from under them when something worse happened.

  One of the cops in the back of the group screamed and went down.

  Standing in his place was Spike, covered in the cop’s blood.

  Oh SHIT.

  The building I’d blasted him into, the one across the street?

  Right beside the park.

  Guess the fucker had taken the elevator down.

  As soon as the cops saw what the human buzzsaw had done to their buddy, they ignored me and Nova and opened fire on Spike.

  BLAM! BLAM! BLAM! BLAM!

  Didn’t bother Spike none. He’d survived an 80-foot drop. Bullets were kisses on his ballsack at this point.

  He slashed and hacked his way through the cops, taking bullets at point-blank range. It was like firing BBs into clay.

  One of the cops saw that body shots weren’t doing jack shit, so he went for the head instead. Blasted a bullet into Spike’s left eye.

  In a normal human, the shot would have completely blown out the back of their head – or, if the bullet was a .22 fired at a low enough velocity, might have bounced around the inside of the skull and turned the brain to oatmeal.

  Spike wasn’t a normal human.

  Shooting out his eye and popping a bullet through his brain just made him mad.

  He went into full-on berserker mode. He roared in rage and gutted the cop right there, then punched up through his diaphragm and ripped out his heart through the bottom of his ribcage. It was still beating when he pulled it out with his thorny, blood-soaked hand.

  FUCK.

  Nova was just staring in wide-eyed horror.

  I was about to cast a shield to save the rest of the cops (well, try and save the rest of the cops) when I heard a familiar sound.

  THOMPF.

  I looked up and saw two trails of fire shooting down from the 70-somethingth floor of the building across the street – the one Nova and I had just fallen out of.

  Antimatter was coming.

  SHIT.

  This was turning out to be a bad, bad night.

  Suddenly I heard a chirpy, cheerful voice inches away from my head.

  “Should we get out of here?”

  I looked over to see Yuki’s head – just her head – above the ground, staring right at me.

  She’d apparently gone underground to avoid running into the bad guys, and had phased in right beneath us.

  “YES!” I yelled.

  Her ghostly arms reached up from the grass, her hands became solid just long enough to grab me and Nova, and then she pulled us down into the earth with her.

  The last image I had was of Antimatter firing down on us, strafing the park with his energy blasts.

  But by the time his blasts hit, we were gone.

  24

  Yuki got us into the dark maze beneath the city streets, full of pipes and electrical cables, where we paused to grab our breath. Then we raced underground until we reached the subway.

  I had to carry Nova the entire way. She was completely unresponsive.

  Normally a soot-streaked guy carrying a woman in half burned-off evening wear would elicit some weird looks. But the whole city was abuzz and terrified by news of the recent ‘supervillain fight.’ Any onlookers not glued to their phones probably just assumed we had escaped the blast area.

  We made our way back to Yuki’s hood, where she phased us underground to her bunker.

  By this point, Nova had gone completely catatonic.

  I placed her in a chair and checked her for shock, thinking she might have suffered some internal injury. But her heartbeat was strong, she wasn’t clammy or pale, and she was breathing normally. Her dress was hanging by a couple of threads and her hair was a rat’s nest, but other than that, she was untouched.

  She just gazed off into space with that thousand-yard stare.

  “Nova,” I said, crouching down so my face was right in front of hers. “You’re alright. You’re safe now. We’re fine.”

  No answer.

  “Angelica,” Yuki said softly.

  No reaction.

  I retraced our steps backwards through what had happened, trying to pinpoint the trauma that had silenced her.

  There was seeing Spike gut those cops, the 70-story fall, the battle in the skyscraper –

  That’s when I figured out what was going on.

  “Nova, look at me – look at me,” I said, taking her face in my hands and forcing her to look right into my eyes. “It wasn’t your fault. The old woman arranged a hit on me. She was working for Antimatter. She was a bad guy, okay? She chose the wrong side, and she got what she deserved.”

  Nova’s eyes finally focused on mine.

  “I burned her alive,” she whispered.

  Bingo.

  “It wasn’t your fault. You didn’t mean to. It was Antimatter’s fault, not yours. He was using her as a human shield. You didn’t mean to hit her, you were trying to hit him. Shit happens in combat.”

  Her eyes defocused, and she turned away from me again.

  Shit.

  I got up and motioned for Yuki to follow me into the next room.

  “What’s wrong with her?” Yuki asked fearfully.

  “I’m no psychiatrist, but it looks like a case of severe PTSD to me. That and guilt.”

  “Because she accidentally killed that old bitch?! The onibaba had it coming!” Yuki said, using the Japanese word for ‘hag.’

  “You know that and I know that, but Nova’s the one who pulled the trigger, and she’s never killed anyone before. Well, she did kill three Yakuza when we first went to Madame’s, but those were guys with guns, not little old ladies.”

  “What should we do?”

  “I don’t know, but we need to do something quick. Hundreds of people saw us on the subway. Antimatter runs the city – he can slap our pictures all over the media and tell people to call into a tip line. It’s not going to take too long for them to narrow down where we went. After that, it’s just a case of tearing the city apart piece by piece until he finds us.”

  We stood there in silence, pondering our options, until I finally spoke again.

  “Last time we brought the fight to them. Maybe this time we need to bring the fight to us.”

  Yuki frowned. “What are you talking about?”

  “I’ve got a plan.”

  I laid it out for her in hushed whispers so that Nova couldn’t hear. It was mostly bare bones at the moment, but there was enough meat there to provoke a reaction.

  “I don’t like that plan,” Yuki snapped.

  “Come up with a better one, then.”

  She glared at me. “Maybe I should take the Ephemera – my Ephemera – and split.”

  I shook my head. “You were a small-time thief before. Now you’re Number Three on Antimatter’s Most Wanted List. You can walk out of this with a presidential pardon and ten million
dollars, or you can spend the rest of your life looking over your shoulder. Which is it gonna be?”

  “I should have never joined the two of you,” she muttered to herself.

  “Yeah, well, little late to complain now.”

  “What’s the reason I’m supposed to give for doing what you say?” she challenged me. “Why would they buy it?”

  “I don’t know. Come up with something.”

  She crossed her arms accusingly. “What are you going to do while I do all the hard work?”

  I turned towards the other room. “Figure out how the fuck to get Nova back on track again.”

  25

  I went in to talk to Nova alone.

  She was still slumped in her chair, staring off into nothingness.

  “Nova,” I said as I stood in front of her.

  No reaction.

  “Angelica,” I said.

  No reaction.

  Then a burst of inspiration hit.

  “Lt. Smith,” I snapped.

  Her body flinched, and she looked up at me.

  Pure training, deeply ingrained.

  That was it.

  Now I had her number.

  “Get your things,” I snarled. “You’re shipping out of Japan tonight.”

  That got her attention. Her entire body tensed as she sat up. “What?”

  “You heard me. Yuki talked to one of my old business rivals. We’re smuggling you out on the next fishing boat. They’ll take you to Japan’s western coastline, and from there you can get a ferry to South Korea. Harding can pick you up there.”

  Nova stood up shakily. “What the fuck are you talking about? You can’t do that!”

  “Oh yes I can. Harding should have never sent you into the field. You’re not cut out for this shit. One old murderous bitch buys the farm, and you fall to pieces? You’re worthless. Less than worthless – you’re a liability. You’re going to get me killed.”

  If there was one thing Nova was going to react to at a cellular level, it was somebody she disliked (hint: me) telling her she couldn’t cut it.

  If she folded, I knew it was over. There was nothing I could do to bring her back.

  She didn’t fold.

  “Fuck you!” she spat angrily. “I’m staying.”

  I took a step forward and backed her up against the wall. “Your head’s not in the game. It never was. I’m surprised they let you into the SPCC. You should have washed out in training. Guess they didn’t catch it in time.”

  “Catch what?” she sneered.

  “Your weakness.”

  “FUCK YOU. I’m staying.”

  “You’re out. Harding would agree with me.”

  “I’M STAYING.”

  I got right up in her face. This was it – pass or fail time. I couldn’t have her falling apart on me again. I had to know she could handle anything that got thrown at her.

  “Look, princess, you don’t want this.”

  “I’m not a fucking princess, and yes I DO,” she snarled.

  I smirked. “You don’t know what you want.”

  “YES I DO.”

  “Oh yeah?”

  And then I kissed her. Hard.

  It was purely to provoke her into attacking me. Into fighting back.

  If she slapped me, I knew she stood a good chance of being okay.

  If she folded, then I knew she wouldn’t stand up for herself when push came to shove.

  She reacted with a second’s shock – and then she backed up and punched me, hard.

  My head spun to the side. Not the worst punch I’d ever taken, by far – but she packed some heat into that dainty little fist of hers.

  But best of all, she’d fought back.

  I looked back at her.

  She was glaring at me. Her nostrils flared as she breathed hard.

  I grinned at her as I rubbed my jaw. “Not bad, kid. Okay, you passed. That was all just a – ”

  Then she did something I wasn’t expecting.

  She looped her arms around my neck and kissed me back.

  Hard.

  I stumbled backwards in surprise, and then my natural, red-blooded, good ol’ American male tendencies took over.

  I kissed her back wildly and slammed her up against the wall.

  She moaned into my mouth and dug her nails into my back.

  Days of pent-up sexual tension between the two of us – lust disguised as hatred – suddenly erupted.

  I was rock-hard within seconds.

  I ripped her threadbare dress off her chest, exposing her gorgeous tits beneath her Army-engineered, fireproof bra.

  She returned the favor, ripping the neck of my shirt open and biting my exposed shoulder.

  I pushed her back just long enough to rip off my jacket and shirt and shuck off my boots.

  Meanwhile, I watched as she set a speed record for getting off her bra and panties.

  FUCK she was gorgeous. Full breasts swaying back and forth, topped with perfect pink nipples that were already hard. And a neatly trimmed bush of golden curls between her thighs.

  As soon as she was naked, she started fumbling with my belt. I helped her, and she yanked my pants and underwear down. They fell to the floor and I stepped out of them.

  As soon as she saw my cock jutting up at her, she caught her breath with a strangled little cry.

  Guess she liked what she saw.

  She looked up into my eyes with a desperation I’d never seen in her face before.

  “Fuck me,” she whispered.

  I didn’t have to be told twice.

  I grabbed her ass and heaved her into the air.

  She wrapped her arms and legs around me and kissed me even harder.

  I slammed her up against the wall, knocked over a lamp, then slowly let her slide down until the tip of my cock found her pussy.

  She was sopping wet.

  I positioned myself just right, then let gravity do the rest.

  My swollen head entered her. She was wet, hot, and tight.

  “Oh God!” she cried out, then bit my lip.

  I kept easing inside her. She was tight, but so wet that I slid in without too much resistance. Every so often I would ease back out an inch, then continue slowly penetrating her.

  She was crying out in ecstasy now, raking her fingernails down my back, cursing and pulling my hair.

  Fuuuuck.

  Lt. Angelica Smith was a hell of a lot more uninhibited than I would have thought.

  Once I was all the way inside her, I began to lift her perfect ass with my hands and rock back and forth with my pelvis, thrusting inside her as I pinned her against the wall.

  “Yes, yes, yes, oh fucking God YES,” she screamed as she sank her teeth into my shoulder.

  The pain felt good.

  I figured maybe she’d like some, too.

  I spun away from one wall and slammed her up against another, knocking a picture off the wall. She cried out and attacked my mouth like a wild animal, kissing me, biting me, licking me, sucking my tongue deep into her mouth. She thrust back at me with her hips, driving me as deep inside her as she could.

  Standing up ain’t exactly my favorite position, so I crashed down on the couch on top of her, using my weight to plunge deep inside her pussy.

  She just groaned with lust.

  Once she was lying on her back, I reared back and pulled her legs up over my chest. Then I really started to work her hard.

  She started screaming and whipping her head back and forth. She went from shredding me with her fingers to gouging holes in the couch. Her firm double D’s jiggled up and down as my cock thrust into her, smack smack smack smack.

  She looked up at me with an expression somewhere between agony and ecstasy. “Oh God, I’m going to come – oh GOD, Hunter, you’re going to make me cooooOOOOME – ”

  Her whole body spasmed, and she screamed louder than before.

  Thank God I’d been fucking Yuki like I was training for the Iron Man of Sex, or I would have nutted right then
.

  Yuki –

  I’d totally forgotten about her.

  I looked over my shoulder, half-expecting to catch her watching us with a grin – maybe even peeling her clothes off to come join the fun.

  But she was nowhere to be seen.

  Huh.

  Well, if she wants to join in, she won’t be shy about it.

  I turned back to Nova. As her cries died down, I slowed my roll and asked her, “You still good to keep going?”

  She grinned at me. “Fuck YEAH.”

  I grinned back, and then I really went to town on her.

  26

  First I pulled out of her. Then I sat down on the couch and then pulled her on top of me, her back to my chest. Reverse cowgirl, but both of us sitting up.

  She followed my lead and lifted up her ass.

  I angled my cock up right between her lips.

  Then she sank down on my shaft all the way.

  “Oh my GOD,” she cried out.

  I reached around and grabbed her tits with my hands. Fuck they were nice. More than a handful, with her hard nipples poking roughly against my palms.

  She moaned and pressed her back against me. I started kissing her neck, and she leaned her head all the way back and moaned.

  At the same time, she started rocking her pelvis back and forth, caressing every inch of my shaft with her pussy. I groaned and helped her out by doing the same with my pelvis.

  She grunted with lust as my cock slid slightly out, then deep inside her, over and over.

  I let go of one of her breasts and let my hand glide down the front of her body. She had a taut stomach, flat and firm.

  My hand trailed down to her golden thatch, now wet and slick with her juices. I ran my fingers through her damp curls until I reached her lips and found her clit.

  It was small and stiff beneath my fingertip. I began to rub it gently as I rocked in and out of her.

  “Oh Hunter,” she moaned, and put one palm on my left hand still manhandling her breast. Her right hand grabbed her own right breast and pinched her nipple hard.

  I kept circling my finger around her clit until my fingertip was wet and slippery, then started rubbing faster, firmer.

  “OH HUNTER,” she groaned, and moved her right hand down onto mine, forcing my fingers even harder into her clit.