by Jamie Hawke
“Like I said, it’s all… wrong,” she growled, then swiped away the screens. “I’m as likely to burn us all from the inside out as I am to make a proper escape route. Not a chance I’m willing to take.”
“That makes two of us,” I said, frowning and looking around for other options. The room wasn’t large, but had a patio outside the window. Only problem with that was it was too obvious, especially considering the way that it led out to the street where they would easily see us. “Can we fight our way through?”
“Fuck you,” Charm said.
“Did I miss something?”
Twitch held up a hand to Charm, and said, “She doesn’t like the idea of dying, apparently. I have to say, neither do I.”
“Another way then,” I replied, looking at the walls and bathroom.
“We don’t have much time,” Gale warned, leaning against the door. “I think they’re coming back.”
“That other one wasn’t much of a problem,” I protested. “We just try to use the same powers we did before, and we should see the same effect.”
“And my cloaking still worked,” Charm pointed out. “Maybe certain powers aren’t affected?”
“Not the best time to sit around and test them out,” Twitch reminded us, nodding to the door.
“Or that thing could be still there, pulling more energy for an attack at any moment,” Gale countered. “We don’t know if we just bought more time or really hurt it.”
“Dammit, does anyone have any solutions?” I spun looking at each of them. “Because if not, I argue for fighting them while making an escape.”
“Got it,” Twitch said, and we all spun, ready. “Charm, cloak yourself, get out there and cause a distraction while we make a run for it in the opposite direction. Worst case scenario for you, you hit them with an alert charm that actually makes them all horny, then let them do each other while you laugh.”
“And worst case for us, we run into one or two of them along the way,” I said.
“Seems they aren’t able to hold their forms without their robes,” Gale said, chuckling. “So I strip ‘em and you hit ‘em with that light thing you do.”
“I can do that.”
“And meanwhile,” Charm said, standing with her hands on her hips, glaring at us, “I’m off by myself.”
“Can’t handle it?” Twitch asked with a challenge in her eyes.
“Again, fuck you, and you, and you. All of you. I can handle myself, but I’ve heard about those things, and trust me, whatever you did that made it go into the shadows, that wasn’t killing it. These are the Nihilists!”
I laughed.
“This is fucking funny to you?” she said, almost yelling, then covering her mouth.
We listened for a moment, and Gale gave us a hurry up sign with a wave of her hands.
“It’s just that, on Earth nihilism means something about rejecting religion and morals,” I explained. “Nihilists believe that life is meaningless, that nothing in the world has real existence, stuff like that. Kind of lame people… super not interesting, and definitely not some scary force.”
“Well, I think the name came from a similar starting point,” Charm said, eyes narrowing. “Only here it means that they basically operate in a state of non-existence. If that darkness had touched you, you’d have been pulled out of existence, gone forever.”
“Shit,” I said, suddenly understanding why this nihilism idea could be so scary.
“Well, we went through the black hole thing to get here,” Twitch said. “If they’re here too, could it be one of their worlds? I’ve heard they’ve taken over several worlds on the way to ours—”
“I thought they were dimensions,” I interrupted.
She shrugged. “My understanding is that people thought about them like dimensions, because traveling through can affect you. I remember reading research on it at the Citadel, and I think it was Xin who hypothesized that it was more like traveling very long distances that would otherwise seem impossible.”
“Fine,” Charm said, waving a hand as if none of that was important. “So what does happen if the Nihilist’s get ahold of you?”
Twitch frowned, trying to recall. “Xin thought it was more like traveling. But I’ve heard they are sort of in two dimensions at once, and can pull people from one to the other, but always down… always one level closer to their own. That pulling is what you must’ve heard about, where people have begun saying it’s taking someone out of existence.”
“What the fuck,” I said, shaking my head. “I literally can’t say anything other than what the fuck to all this… and those words I just said… and these.”
“We get the point,” Gale cut me off. “Good questions,” Gale said. “But really, this isn’t the time to be debating how it all works.”
She was right, because my head was spinning and at that moment shouting came from outside the door, and then the sound of someone screaming. We knew it was time to move. Since we only had one plan formed, we went with it.
Charm cursed as she cloaked and darted out of the room. A crashing sound came, followed by a yelp from farther down the hall, and then the shouting was moving away. I waved the others to follow, peeked through the door to see flames on the far wall and floor, two cloaked figures moving away, and several people who looked like regular humans or supers running in front of them. A glance the other way showed an empty hallway that turned to the left, so that’s the route we took.
I held the door as Twitch and Gale ran, then I took up the tail end of it, turning as we ran to cover our asses. Trust me, if there were any asses in the world worth protecting, these two were among the finest, but right now I was staring at the eyes of one of the humans who had turned back and noticed me. He had just opened his mouth to say something when another burst of flames came from behind him, an explosion drowning out whatever warning he’d had in mind. The others kept going, leaving just him on his own.
That didn’t stop him from giving chase though, and as he came at me his hands glowed green. He thrust them forward to shoot, and then… nothing happened. The man stumbled, looking down at his fists in bewilderment as he ran, and then tripped. I knew that it was probably an effect of my power blocker that I’d taken before we’d jumped into this world, what now seemed to be a power dampener. Judging from what I’d just seen, it worked on projectiles, though I wasn’t sure about anything else. For now, I wasn’t going to stay and find out. Not trusting my powers, I relied on a good ol’ kick to the head to take him out. Then, two extra kicks, for good luck.
“Come on,” Gale said, grabbing my arm and pulling me along, and then we were turning, darting down another hall, and worrying about Charm.
All of the wonderful memories from the foursome the night before were still there, the way our sweaty bodies had been pressed together, Gale’s massive breasts moving like the waves as she fucked, Twitch and Charm and their cute yelps, and the pleasure of their touch as I finished. It was like I was running in a daze, some sort of dream where I was still there and also running for my life.
We reached a stairway that led out into a stone walkway and down through caves, reminding me that we’d arrived on this crazy planet only to discover that this city was underground, accessible through a large dome over part of it and that most of the city was built either into, or up against the rocks. So far there was no sign of anyone else, but my mind was reeling with the idea of Charm being on her own.
Finally, I pulled Gale back and hissed for Twitch. She turned to us, eyes wide. Before I could even say it, she spat out, “I know, we have to find Charm.”
“Right, yes,” I said, caught off guard. “We can’t just leave her there!”
“We’re not,” Twitch said. “She made it through half of the prison ship on her own without being detected. You think she can't survive this?"
“The Nihilists though… “
“Charm can handle herself.” Twitch took a step closer, putting her hand on my chest, over my heart. “You
care for her, for all of us. I love that about you. But you can also learn to trust us. Right now, we need to get out of the danger zone and then figure out the next step.”
I took a deep breath and nodded, hoping she was right. We continued along the steps and tunnels in the hillside, finally passing a woman who yelped and got out of our way, as she watched us with confusion. At the bottom, the stairs led into the hill, but that was in the opposite direction of where we’d need to go to circle around and find Charm, so we moved to the edge and prepared to jump.
“No, this way,” the woman said, gesturing for us to follow her. She took the first step into the tunnel and said, “Quickly, quickly.”
We shared a look of doubt, then I said, “Sorry, we can’t,” and jumped. I hit the ground harder than I would have liked, but my recently upgraded super strength and agility helped me land without a problem. I was level nine, after all.
Twitch didn’t have a problem, but Gale was slightly less graceful.
“Help,” she yelped as she started to fall more than jump.
I threw myself forward, grabbing her and sweeping her off her feet and then gracefully spinning her. When I let her down, it was gentle. Even I was impressed. Her eyebrows went up and she stared at me, totally mine, until Twitch cleared her throat and reminded us that we had to get moving.
“Er, thanks,” she said, then leaned in for a peck on the cheek before we all took off running along the wall to the group of nearby buildings.
A brief discussion and we quickly formed a plan to move through the buildings, as unobtrusively as possible, working our way around at the same time as keeping an eye out for Charm. It only hit me when we were halfway along that she would likely still be cloaked. We’d figure that part out when the time came.
“For a skinny guy, you’re damn strong,” Gale whispered as we paused at one building, Twitch making sure the way was clear.
“It’s mostly the suit,” I said. “At least, I think it is. It gives me enhancements as it adapts to me and me to it. As I fight, my suit gains energy from it all, I guess.”
“So, your inherent powers are strictly the ability to borrow others’ powers?”
“Pretty much,” I said, frowning. “Sounds kinda lame, huh?”
“With the right combination, you could be the most powerful super alive.” She gave me a very seductive smile, then leaned in. “I can only imagine the possibilities then.”
I gulped, tried to ignore the tingling in my groin, and then noticed Twitch motion for us to move on. With a nod to Gale, not sure how to respond, I followed. She came up close behind me, her large breasts brushing against my back when we stopped again. There wasn’t much doubt about that being intentional, especially as I saw the smile she still wore when I looked back her way.
“I’m glad you two can flirt at a time like this,” Twitch said, shaking her head. “But maybe it can wait?”
“Roger that,” Gale replied, and again Twitch checked the path ahead.
I glanced over, curious. She shrugged. “Sorry, military-speak coming back out.”
“I’m very used to it,” I said. “My brother’s with the Marines. Or, was…”
“Oh, I’m sorry. I had no idea.”
“No, he’s not dead,” I explained. “He’s been picked up to be a super and do his part too, remember?”
“Ah, all the stuff you all were going on about, right.” She shrugged. “I look forward to meeting him if we ever get out of here.”
We started walking again, this time doing our best to look like we fit in, as there were several people gathered along the far side of the nearby square.
“You were in the military?” I asked, keeping my voice low. “I wasn’t aware there really was a military here.”
“Every planet has one,” Gale explained. “If by here you mean our worlds, not… whatever this is. And yeah, I was the equivalent to your Air Force, I guess.”
“I’m still not following how everyone here knows about Earth so well,” I admitted.
“Earth history 101,” she said with a grin as if everyone should know that. “We all know we might have to intersect with your galaxy again someday, so we learn all about it.”
“And you were all some early colony or something?” I asked, still fuzzy on the situation.
She nodded. “Before my time, of course. But when Hadrian opened the portal and invited humans in, my ancestors were among the first to join. They actually helped found the new air force, which is one reason I felt compelled to join. Of course, that all led to…”
“Prison?” I asked, wondering when she’d reveal her reasons for having been locked up.
Twitch nodded to the right and we ducked through an alley, then came to an area that had a blockade up, the other side of it showing the hotel we’d just escaped from.
“How did you get locked up?” Twitch asked, kneeling behind the blockade and motioning for us to join. “I wanted to ask back there before the ship blew up, but the timing never seemed right.”
“Fraternization,” Gale admitted. “I know, I know. You’re all going to think I’m some perv—”
“Hold up,” Twitch said, trying not to laugh. “You do realize all three of us ladies shared this hunk of meat around last night?”
“Hey,” I protested, but then thought about it. “Actually, yeah, that’s basically what you did. And I loved it.”
“Exactly,” Twitch said, turning back to watch for Charm. “Fact is, probably going to be hard for any of us to point the perv finger right now.”
Gale shifted nervously, adjusting her armor around her breasts. “Yeah, well… there was this young man, straight out of Strombreaker’s Academy for the Gifted, you know, where the higher tier supers tend to go. This guy, he was one of those human torch types, and one day early on the job—he was training in infantry but had come by to get a tour of the ships… and this other lady, she heard all about him and dared him to light the tip of his dick on fire like a torch. She just happened to have marshmallows nearby.”
“Where the fuck is this story going?” Twitch asked, glancing over her shoulder. “I mean, I like it, but fail to see the connection.”
“Hold on,” Gale said with an embarrassed smile. “So he pulls out this perfect cock, I mean, you know…”
“Feel free to skip those details,” I said.
“Right. Sorry. So yeah, it’s out, and he does it—just flames right there, surrounding the head of his cock, and the girl gives him the marshmallow. Two seconds later, it’s golden crispy and she’s popping it in her mouth. I had something else I wanted in my mouth and told him about my ice and wind powers, so we made a little bet. When I took it in, I used my powers to counteract the flame, but it was this explosion of bliss for both of us, the way our powers worked together, and I just started going at it, sucking the hell out of that D, the other lady watching, when in walks our commanding officer.”
“Fuck,” Twitch said, and laughed. “Oh, fuck.”
“Yeah…”
“They threw you in prison for that?” I asked, confused.
“Well, they could’ve I guess, but it was really when the commanding officer tried to attack me. Turns out, the young soldier was his son, and they had him promised to some high-ranking lady out on one of the elite fringe worlds. He tried to hit me, the fuck. So I whupped his little ass.” She took a moment, scrunching her nose at the memory. “As much as that boy liked the blowjob, he still stood witness against me. Guess he couldn’t get the idea of me kicking his dad’s ass out of his head, and of course the dad went for full penalty. So like I said, fraternization.”
“Sure, let’s call it that,” Twitch laughed, then added, “Still no sign of her.”
“Damn,” I said, scanning the area and hoping to see a shimmer or some sort of light displacement as a sign of Charm. Nothing. Really, my mind was focused on the idea of some guy purposefully lighting his dick on fire. I didn’t care how my powers worked or if I was protected from flames—that was crossing th
e line.
That said, the idea of Gale using her powers to make the bedroom even more exciting would be worth trying out. How the hell do men function with our brains getting distracted by our cocks every five seconds? The question to boggle humanity forever.
I still couldn’t find any signs of Charm, so decided to scan for stats. Wasn’t working. This time I pulled up the screen to at least see where my skills and everything were at. No problems there, and I was glad to be reminded that I had two skill points waiting. I’d use them after we figured out this conundrum with our powers, since all of this was so confusing.
“Hey,” a voice called from behind, and I spun as my screen vanished.
“Shit,” Twitch said, and Gale stood tall, ready for whatever this problem was.
Walking toward us were five of the locals. They wore brown coats with yellow trim, one with orange and a high collar. Their outfits were loose-fitting, reminding me of those old kung-fu movies, and I got the idea that this might be a martial culture. Best not to start fights, not when our powers were on the fritz.
Then again, this could be the perfect opportunity to test out what we could do, and see how it worked.
“We’re just passing by,” I said. “Looking for our friend.”
“And we were told by our friends that you were being taken care of,” the one with orange trim said. He stood taller than the rest, his orange hair pulled back into a ponytail that was almost laughable, if not for the way his stern face scared the pants off me. His hands were in front of him, held at an angle as if about to break into a karate stance. “That being the case, I can’t imagine you’re supposed to be out here.”
“I imagine they’d look on us quite favorably if we were the ones to bring you in,” a woman to his right said. “Might even grant us a few extra liberties.”
“We’re not about to let you take us anywhere,” I said. “Back off, now.”
The tall one grimaced, then finally took the stance I’d been anticipating. With a thrust of his hands, a wave of energy came at us. Now or never, I told myself as I responded in kind. Slamming my hand into the ground to attempt an attack, my body absorbed the stone beneath me, and a flurry of stones shot out from my hands. Each stone came with a pulsing blast shooting out one after another, exploding as his energy blast hit them.
