Putting the training in that context, I began to understand what Ria was trying to get across. This wasn’t about countering the attacks or misdirecting Death Girl’s force, it was simply about—as Ria had said so clearly—taking the hit and the pain.

  I rolled over, charged Death Girl, and stopped two paces from her to shout, “Hit me!”

  She balked, and then did so.

  The strike was enough to send me flying backwards, I could tell from experience, but when it connected, I was merely sent stumbling a couple of steps. Warmth surged through me, sun spots showing in my vision, but only on the outer periphery. It hurt like hell, but I went back for more. Again, and again. So much pain I wanted to cry, but fuck that.

  “Come on!” Meher shouted, pointing my way. “She’s using him as a punching bag.”

  “Wait for it,” Ria replied, and I held up a hand to show I was good.

  A double punch came my way, one for the abs, the next for the jaw. I braced for it, gritting my teeth, and visibly felt something break on that second hit. But I didn’t care, because the sun spots were no longer sun spots at all, but flashing flames in my vision, bright light flaring, all of it directing my vision toward my target—toward Death Girl.

  She moved as if to strike again, but I blocked and then counter punched. My fist moved faster than I could even process it, all of the combined energy of her shots that I’d taken poured out of me and into that one strike, and as the energy of it exploded around us, she went flying back to pound into a dune. She hit hard enough that sand went flying out all around her, covering us in a cloud and then settling to reveal her still there, not moving.

  “Fuck…” I took a step forward, wondering if I’d killed her. The other ladies were staring at me with open mouths, only Ria smiling.

  I ran over to Death Girl, about to help her out, when in a flash she had managed to dislodge herself and was crawling across the sand like a lizard from hell, golden glow pulsating, growing stronger.

  This time the fuck that left my mouth was because I was certain I was about to die.

  “Enough,” Ria shouted.

  Death Girl froze, pushed herself up to standing, and nodded at me before turning off to join the others in line.

  I stood there, confused about whether I should be scared or relieved. Joyous, maybe?

  “You did it,” Ria said. “This, Contra, is how your power works.”

  “That’s a fucked-up power,” Bubblegum said with a laugh. “And if ever I wanted to fuck this guy, it’s now.”

  Meher chuckled, the worry heavy in her eyes—and real this time, but also… lust? They both wanted me, though for the former it seemed to be because of watching me take the beating, the latter because of the beating I’d doled out. Interesting.

  “You two now,” Ria said, pointing to Bubblegum and Meher. “Attack the sand dune, give it everything you’ve got while I see to healing the other two, if they need it.”

  She approached and looked me over, while the other two started attacking the sand. “That was something.”

  “It was,” Death Girl said, approaching from the other side. I kind of startled, and she let out a chuckle. “Don’t worry, I’m not mad.”

  “Even if you were,” Ria winked, “after what I just saw, I’m not sure he’d need to worry.”

  “She was holding way back,” I admitted.

  “True, but… imagine the power that would’ve hit her if she hadn’t been. That’s what I’m trying to get across. Your power comes with a price, but the harder they hit you, the harder you hit them back—and with the combined power of all the hits stored up.”

  “That could be… scary,” Death Girl admitted.

  “If you ignore the pain I have to go through to get to that point,” I argued.

  Ria nodded. “On that note, where’s it hurt? I think I heard a crack…” She stepped closer, her hand tracing my jaw line. Her brow furrowed and she put a hand on my heart, then smiled. “You have no injuries.”

  Now that she mentioned it, the pain was lingering in that numb, adrenaline way, but I couldn’t really feel any problems. Even in my jaw, where I was sure something had broken.

  “The strike…?”

  She nodded. “The power never worked this way for me, but everyone brings their own scent to a perfume, right?”

  “What?”

  “You know, natural body oils change how a scent smells on an individual.”

  I shook my head. “There is no reason I’d know that.”

  She laughed. “I’m not even from this galaxy, but that’s how it works where I’m from.”

  “Here too,” Death Girl said. At my look, she added, “There was a time, before all this, that I used perfume, don’t forget.”

  “Point being, this might be a change specific to you. A way the power adapted to your makeup. When you pushed the energy back to her, the damage left you, too.”

  “Meaning I take the pain, but the minute I send it away, I’m in the clear.” I rotated my neck, feeling fresh as I would on a morning after a good night’s sleep. “As long as I don’t pass out or die, that is.”

  “And you?” Ria asked Death Girl.

  “Me?” Death Girl chuckled. “I felt a break or two, but this body doesn’t stay broken. I’m good.”

  “You know,” Ria said, watching the other ladies practice with their ice and crazy explosion bubbles. “We might actually have a chance here.”

  “Ready for more?” Death Girl asked me.

  With a groan, I nodded and joined her for more sparring.

  15

  The time came for us to head back over to the set, if we wanted to be a bit early to ensure we didn’t miss Gloria. What had been a mostly empty beach earlier that morning was now full of stands, metal rigs to hold various aspects of an obstacle course, and more. Robotic building droids were moving fast, with drones in the sky ready to film it all.

  “Damn,” I said, having never been on set before.

  “You with the crew?” a man said, walking up behind us, face buried in his holo-tablet.

  “Yes,” I blurted out.

  “Good, just head over that way,” he indicated, and kept walking, barely missing a step.

  We shared a look of surprise, and did as he said. Not wanting to get stuck moving ropes around or whatever they’d had in mind, we turned right at the trailers, staying out of sight as we looked for the one with Gloria’s name on it.

  “The big one over there,” Meher said pointing, and we saw that it did indeed have the fearsome gladiator’s name on the door. Meher went up and checked, but there was no sign of Gloria yet. We decided to fan out from there and keep watch, to intercept her on the way.

  “Oh my god, that’s Rich Stevens,” Bubblegum said to Meher as they went to their spots, and sure enough the actor who’d played the lead in the Modern Necromancy movie was walking by, face buried in a script. Maybe the announcer? I hadn’t seen much of this show, so wasn’t familiar with the role he played.

  I’d almost reached the bathroom trailers when two ladies with stark blonde hair approached me.

  “Oh my God,” one said, eyes staring at me with excitement. “it’s totally him.”

  “I assure you, it’s n—” I started, but the other reached up and hugged me, large breasts pressed against my chest.

  “Sorry,” she said, pulling back, her finger going to her mouth playfully. “I’ve always wanted to hug you. Maybe… maybe you could bring us back to your trailer?”

  I was pretty sure I was blushing at that point, but shook my head. “Sorry to let you down, but really I’m just trying to go to the bathroom.”

  “Ah,” the second said, but the first lady lit up.

  “Oooh, nothing wrong with that, if you’re into it.”

  “I… sorry, no.” I quickly made my way around them. Any other day, that would have been very hard to pass up, but I had an obligation to Ria and was pretty sure neither of those two would’ve made good super heroes worth having on the team.

  Nobody else interrupted my stroll to the bathroom, and soon I was glad to be relieving myself in one of the fancy trailers. I was just starting to shake when a whistle sounded outside. I finished, tucked myself away and zipped, then went to wash my hands and glanced out to see what was up. Two guys were approaching Bubblegum. Another coming up behind her. Maybe it was nothing, maybe something similar to my little situation with the two blondes. I don’t know, but no matter which way it went, I didn’t like it.

  With a flick of my hands and then drying them on my pants, I made my way out and over to her.

  “Come on,” I said to Bubblegum, and she waved over Meher, “let’s see what they have to eat around here.”

  “Good thinking,” Meher replied. “Someone like Gloria will need her energy. We might find her at Craft Services.”

  “Oh, yes, that’s why.”

  The guys glared at me, but didn’t give us any trouble. We had made it around the trailers and just spotted the food setup, when I thought I saw Gloria so pulled the others out of the way to check. The woman looked a lot like her, but was Asian, while Gloria’s images from posters and the television looked either quite tan or maybe half black—it was hard to tell.

  “Drake?” a voice said, and I spun, ready for trouble. Instead, I saw this guy named Charlie I’d known in High School, but hadn’t seen since. “Holy shit, that’s you, man!”

  He walked over, still the tall, pompous ass he’d been back then. I was starting to feel a bit overwhelmed on the set. It was all too happening and chaotic for me. A funny thought, I realized, considering I was about to be involved in a very chaotic war. But that was different.

  “Hey, Charlie,” I said, glancing at my ladies and wondering how best to get out of this situation.

  “I’m sorry, did I interrupt something?” he asked, eyes roaming over them.

  I was about to answer, when a lady looking worn out and on her last rope emerged, took him by the arm, and said, “Who’s this, Chuck?”

  “Oh, hey, you remember Drake. From school?” Charlie held out his hand, which I shook. “Damn, it’s good to see you, man. You must be extras, too? Seat-fillers, huh?”

  “Yeah, of course,” I replied, figuring why not.

  “Wait, Drake?” The lady looked at me, then whistled. “No shit. Drake as in, Drake I went out with for a month?”

  “Linda?” I asked, suddenly placing her. “No way.”

  “Excuse me?”

  “I mean, no way was it a month. Three, at least.” Good save, I thought, because I most certainly had meant no way could that be here. The Linda I remembered was the one who got away, the cute little thing I’d always wondered about—until very recently. Judging by the way she carried herself, life wasn’t so great for her now. Looks hadn’t stuck around, and since her personality had turned out to be a bit shitty, considering that she dumped me and ended up with Charlie of all people, I’d have to say I did pretty well for myself.

  “I can’t believe you dumped Drake,” Meher said, wrapping her arms around my waist.

  “What a dumb move,” Bubblegum added, playing along and taking my arm on the other side.

  “Er, yes,” Linda said, and then gave me an awkward nod before pulling a gaping Charlie away from there as she mumbled something about having somewhere to be.

  “Tell me we just had the opportunity to make you look awesome in front of your ex,” Meher said with a grin. “Because that would be pretty cool.”

  “Is that what happened?” Bubblegum said in mock surprise. “Ah, damn. I would’ve knelt down and sucked you off right here if I’d known.”

  I laughed. “There’s still time.”

  She hit me in the arm, but laughed.

  “Pull it together,” Ria hissed, and elbowed me to look where she was.

  Walking past a makeshift fence, a large woman was approaching. She was possibly the woman from the televised ninja show, but with the sweats on, it was hard to tell. She was even wearing a beanie and sunglasses, but otherwise had the tan skin and tufts of short, wavy hair sticking out.

  As she drew close though, it became clear that this was definitely her.

  “What’s the plan?” Meher asked.

  “Shit.” I ran a hand through my hair, only just then realizing we didn’t have much of a plan. “Go… tell her?”

  Bubblegum chuckled. “It worked on the rest of us, somehow. Only took you going down on me, in our case. But her? I don’t know if you could handle her.”

  “He could,” Meher countered with a glare.

  I wasn’t so sure though. As the woman approached, I realized she was even bigger than I’d thought. She was starting to remove her sweatshirt, and in the process her undershirt lifted to show off abs five hundred times more sculpted than my own. She could break me.

  Although I’d never fantasized about a woman with muscle like that, seeing her there and knowing what we had in mind, I started to get into the idea a bit. While certain sexual positions relied on my strength, what more could we do if she was the one lifting me and spinning me around, or who knows what?

  “Go,” Bubblegum said, giving me a light shove so that I stumbled forward, catching Gloria’s attention.

  “Hey,” she said, seeing me stumble toward her. “I don’t really have time, but—”

  “Oh, no, I’m with wardrobe,” I cut in, trying to think about how we’d get the most time with her. “Had a change at the wardrobe.”

  “And where’s Steven?”

  “Oh, he sent me,” I replied, then indicated the ladies. “Me and my team.”

  Gloria frowned, but nodded, walking on with me. I gave a worried look to Bubblegum and Meher, then nodded them over. Death Girl was definitely staying out of sight, and it looked like the same was true of Ria, for now.

  “While I have your attention,” I said to Gloria and checked to see if nobody else but the four of us was around, “I need to show you something.”

  I nodded to the ladies, and Bubblegum thrust her hand at a bottle someone had discarded along the side of the road. A bubble rose up and then—pop! The bottle was squished like it’d been recycled.

  Gloria frowned at it, turned back to me, and shrugged. “Neat trick…?” She kept walking. “How’s that supposed to be used in the episode?”

  “No, not…” I gestured to Meher, who jogged forward and stood in Gloria’s way before thrusting out her hand at the ground, creating a patch of ice.

  Again, Gloria frowned. “Cool special effects.”

  I groaned. “They aren’t special effects, and we aren’t with wardrobe or any other part of the crew.”

  “No shit.” She was glancing around, clearly about to call for someone to get rid of us.

  “If you’ll just listen,” I said, stepping forward. But that was a mistake. She took it for a sign of action and stepped into me, flipping me over her back.

  “Mother fucker,” Meyer said, and actually took a swing at this woman who was twice her size.

  Gloria took the punch in the shoulder, then slammed that same shoulder into Meher, sending her onto her ass. That did it. Now Bubblegum was pissed, and while I was telling them to calm down, to back off, and trying to convince Gloria to stop so we could talk, Bubblegum was actually going toe-to-toe with this lady.

  Well, she at least landed a punch for every one of Gloria’s, but after three hits, Bubblegum was staggering backward. That’s when Ria and Death Girl appeared at her side, catching her as they emerged from Ria’s illusion.

  This caused Gloria to stand, blinking, but we were too late. Security drones stopped overhead flashing a warning message, and three guards were running up at us.

  “Time to go,” I said, and we all turned, fleeing the set.

  “Over here,” Ria shouted, pulling us through the tree line so we could loop back around the set while not being in their area, though that didn’t stop the drones from following.

  We were making for the car when a form stepped out of the shadows. I squinted to see better, hoping it was someone else from High School, or maybe some other random celebrity trying to stay out of sight.

  No such luck, though. The figure came another step forward, reminding me very much of the one we’d killed in my house. The main difference was that this one appeared to be female, based on her shape and long, white hair, with green instead of blue flames. As Ria took a defensive stance, the rest of us followed suit. Apparently, we were in for another fight.

  16

  The woman with her green flames stepped closer, then stopped. Drones zigzagged overhead as, somewhere, their operators were likely bugging at what they were seeing. We weren’t exactly incognito anymore.

  “Where is he?” the newcomer asked, eyes scanning our little group, settling on Death Girl. “If you’re here, I think I have my answer.”

  “You probably think right,” Ria answered, “but not because of her.” Gesturing to me, she added, “Contra killed him.”

  “Thanks,” I hissed, feeling the weight of this lady’s eyes on me. “Another scout?”

  “Worse, but… basically.”

  “Fuck you,” the lady said. “He was one of us, as were you. And now what? You’ve left us… for them?”

  Ria nodded. “That’s right, Skinner, and so can you.”

  Skinner, as apparently this lady was called, spat. “You can go to hell. In fact, I think I’ll drag you down with me.”

  “What the fuck are you?” a voice said, and we turned to see Gloria there, emerging from the tree line with two guards.

  “It’s okay,” I said, holding up a hand to keep her back. “We can handle this.”