“If that’s a weird way of asking if I can still bring it,” I said with a laugh, “you bet your ass I can.”

  “It’s not my ass that needs the attention.”

  “Are you… you’re serious? But I thought this was all about, you know.” My hand moved to her belly, under the table. “If you’re already pregnant, why?”

  She took my hand, holding it there. “First, we aren’t certain, so better to keep on trying until we are. In a galaxy where people pretty much don’t get pregnant anymore, pregnancy tests aren’t exactly available. Second… maybe I like it.”

  “It?”

  “You,” she corrected herself and looked away. “This isn’t just some mission, not anymore.”

  “Maybe it never was meant to be just some mission.” I lowered my hand, so that it wasn’t her belly I was caressing. She closed her eyes, enjoying the moment, but then shook her head and glanced around. “Meet me on the bridge in a minute. I’ll ensure it’s clear.”

  I raised an eyebrow, thinking, Doing it on the ship’s bridge? Not bad, Navani. We made our way to the bridge, Navani stopping to put a maintenance warning on the door, which she convinced me would work for a bit.

  She turned to me and I couldn’t help staring at her belly for a moment, wondering if there really was a little me starting to grow in there.

  “You really shouldn’t have put yourself in danger back there,” I said, doing my best to ignore the images of the building collapsing and fire shooting out of me. “That was reckless, considering…”

  “I know. And I didn’t mean to, but I saw a clear path to you all and that you were being attacked. For a split-second I imagined you dying… a world without you. I didn’t like that world.”

  “That’s sweet,” I admitted, stepping over to her and taking the shoulder of her outfit, sliding it down until the top of her breast was exposed. “But promise me you’ll be more careful next time.”

  “I’ll try,” she said, tilting her head as I kissed her neck, nibbled on her ear, and then worked my way back to her mouth.

  My hands ran through her purple hair, my hand moved in and freed her breast, caressing it as her hands ran along my biceps and then down my back to grab my ass. She pushed me back, pulled off her clothes, and said, “Strip.”

  “Just like that?”

  “We might not have much time before someone comes knocking.”

  I laughed and began to do as commanded. Soon we were both standing there completely naked. There was no way I could be anything but fully erect at the sight of her, so I closed the gap between us and started kissing her again, caressing her as if my hands were my eyes seeing her for the first time, and then we were on the floor and she was pulling me on top of her, guiding me in.

  We went to the captain’s chair at one point, even the console below the screen in front, where I fucked her as I stared out at the depths of space, lost in a moment of bliss and awe. I pulled out and lifted her onto the console, throwing myself down to lick her between her thighs and engulf her pussy, then my tongue was against her clit and she was moaning, pulling me back up and into her.

  My hype was kicking in, energy flowing through my body in a way that made my cock even harder, my thrusts stronger. While most guys might have been getting tired at this point, for me it was the opposite. Before I knew it, she was on the floor, hands spread out and clawing into it as she said, “Fuck… me…” and then it was happening, her hands moving to my shoulders to pull me, to hold me, to never let me go.

  “Cum,” she said. “Cum for me.”

  I wasn’t quite there, but knowing she’d orgasmed already I went into full focus-on-me mode. I grabbed her with my arms under her, hands on her shoulders for leverage and began rocking her body, moving it up and down on my cock. Her warm moist pussy was stroking me, her hot breaths in my ear as she said my name, loving it, telling me how huge I was inside of her, and then my body couldn’t take it anymore and I released.

  “Holy… fuck,” I said, collapsing in a mixture of pleasure-induced exhaustion and ultra-energized hype powers. Maybe I could’ve taken on the universe right then and there, but instead I cuddled up next to her to enjoy our moment.

  28

  Lying there with Navani, I realized I hadn’t checked my stats since the fighting. I pulled up my screen and was glad to see I’d gone up another level—to seven now. With the unused skill point from earlier, I had two to assign.

  “Please tell me you’re in your upgrade window,” Navani said. “Because I’d hate to learn our man was losing his mind, waving his hand around all crazy-like.”

  I laughed and nodded, scrolling through my upgrade options. “What would you do if you could upgrade yourself?”

  “Probably a bigger ass. I mean I know it’s great and all, but—”

  “Shut up, your ass is perfect.” I turned to roll her onto her side and grab her ass firmly. “Oh, yeah, amazing ass. No, I don’t mean physically.”

  “I know what you meant. Here’s my thought on this, okay? We need you around as long as possible. The rest of us can attack just fine. So can you stop wasting your upgrade options on being such a badass attacker, and get yourself tanked up?”

  “Meaning armor.” I pulled up the armor window. “Looks like I can cut the time needed for shield regeneration by half, and give it elemental resistance of plus ten.”

  “Do it.” She leaned back with her arms behind her head so that her perfect breasts fell back against her body. I always loved the way natural breasts did that—the perkiness of fake ones when a woman lies on her back always felt “off” to me. Something I’d never been able to get over with the last female Marine I’d dated. Well, that and the fact that she’d also had a nose job and who knows what else, all of which started making me feel more and more awkward about the whole situation. If I’d wanted to date a silicon robot, I would’ve found one and saved a lot of date money, let alone headaches due to drama… and then the whole being cheated on thing. But whatever. Navani’s natural breasts were a nice reminder of my current, much better predicament.

  There was no questioning her intelligence, and she made a good point. I had a great thing going here and didn’t want to lose it in the worst possible way—death. Hell, maiming or other bodily injuries could easily happen in this line of work as well, so I followed her advice and applied both points to the shield categories.

  My body was feeling much better with the rest, and now the added hype from getting it on with her, so I stood and stretched. She leaned over and watched, laughing as I bent to touch my toes.

  “As hot as you are, some angles are just not right,” she said.

  “Nobody asked you to look,” I shot back as I glanced around for my clothes.

  “Not yet.” She reached out to me. I took her hand, and she pulled me back to the floor. “Tell me something about yourself I don’t know yet.” She leaned over to rest her head on my chest. Her fingers ran along my side, causing goosebumps.

  “First thing you need to know about me,” I tried to think of something on the fly, “is that I’m super into military history, including the ancient stuff.”

  “Yeah?” She propped herself up, actually interested—or a damn good actor. “Like what?”

  “My favorite was the Peloponnesian War, you know, around the same time as the famed Gates of Fire and Three Hundred stuff, give or take fifty years.”

  “Nerd alert,” she joked.

  “You think this is nerdy?” I laughed. “My brother can go on and on about similar topics, but only in made-up worlds with elves and whatnot. At least my stuff is real.”

  “As far as you know,” she countered.

  “Sure…”

  “Why that time period?” she asked.

  “I don’t know… maybe it’s the simplicity of it all. Maybe it’s what Socrates—who was part of the war—and the others of their time did for the study of international relations and realism. If not for them—”

  “So philosophy and stuff?” she asked, cutting me off again.

  “Something gives me the sense you’re not really that interested in the most fascinating war of all time. Or wars…”

  “Just… get to the good stuff. When did Zeus and all of them live? I mean, how was it connected?”

  “Navani…”

  She snorted, then started cracking up. “I know, I know. Mythical, of course. I’m messing with you.”

  I grinned. “Okay, because… I know it’s stupid, but I’ve been wondering more and more lately.”

  “Whether the Ancient Greek gods were actually real and were supers from another dimension—or aliens, essentially?” She shrugged. “Yeah, we had that discussion a few times in my school days.”

  “I was even thinking… I mean, if all of this is possible…”

  “Time travel? No, not that we know of anyway.” She leaned back, seeming to consider it. “Although it’s not a complete leap to think that someday a super could be born with time travel powers. Maybe.”

  “Or already has, and totally changed the past, and we just don’t know.”

  Her eyes went wide. “Whoa.”

  “I mean, it’s all hypothetical, and there’s no way of really knowing,” I pointed out. “But still, cool to think about.”

  The door slid open and we jumped up, which made the situation worse, since now we were both standing there nude. Threed entered and a smile spread across her face as she took us in, then nodded.

  “I accept,” she said.

  “What?” I asked.

  “Don’t play stupid.” She fidgeted with the edge of her outfit as if about to take it off. “This little ambush to get me into a threesome, or whatever it would be called if I bring in some replicas. Maybe a replica of each of us, because… why not?”

  “That’s not what this is,” Navani said, only now remembering she was naked and going for her clothes. She stopped, then looked my way. “Although, two of him?”

  Threed laughed. “Right? Imagine… Is DP gross for a guy if the guy is a copy of himself?”

  “I don’t know how to answer that,” I admitted, not quite able to comprehend the idea of two or three of me fucking one or both of them at once.

  “Anyway, I’m just messing with you,” Threed admitted. “I mean, I’d be totally down, but I actually wanted some sparring practice while we’re traveling and prefer to go up against real people over those creepy robot things.”

  “I know what you mean,” I said. Feeling the hype, I grinned. “Let’s fight, princess.”

  “Call me that again and I swear to Oram I’ll punch you in the sack,” she replied but was all smiles as she motioned me to follow.

  “You know what?” Navani said, tossing me my clothes and going to the door. “I might get some of this too. Autopilot will take care of us for some time still, and I could use a bit of time in the ring.”

  I was half-dressed when the rest of the ladies could be heard in the hall, and apparently Threed was inviting them too. They agreed, and it looked like we were going to have ourselves some fun.

  29

  With all of us crammed into the dojo, we actually had to form a circle along the walls so there would be room. Opting to sit the first one out, I found a spot to kneel between Sakurai and Nyoka, while Threed and Navani went head-to-head.

  “No powers,” Sacrada said, acting as self-appointed referee.

  “Aside from strength and speed,” the Blue Lady countered. “If you have those as part of your powers, you can’t exactly not use them.”

  “Right, fine. No powers that would result in the other person dying. Poisons, stuff like that.”

  “Agreed,” Threed said, stretching. It was hard not to be into this—aside from them all being badass fighters, their outfits were very revealing. I hated to be the guy watching because of the sexiness of it all, but damn, it was impossible not to. Threed turned and started rotating her upper body, then bending over to touch her toes, and all I could think about was that ass, seeing that pussy from behind and entering it.

  She caught me looking and gave me a wink. Hell, at least they were into all this, and checked me out just as often. The thought made me wonder what they would’ve done if the sons of this great Tier One super had been horribly unattractive. I guessed that, with enhanced supers’ genes, that wasn’t a possibility, or was at least unlikely.

  “No powers, check,” Threed said, standing tall now and staring down Navani. “Any other rules, princess?”

  “It’s just sparring,” I said. “Remember, I’m the one who has to fuck you, so don’t go scarring up the others or I’ll be pissed.”

  Threed seemed to get my sense of humor, but the rest of them looked at me like I was an idiot.

  “You don’t have to fuck me,” Sacrada said. “Just as a reminder.”

  “Fine. You want them to have free rein when it comes to messing up your looks? No sweat off my back.”

  She frowned, but then laughed. “As if any of these girls could stand up to me.”

  “Is that so?” Threed said, turning to her. “Maybe you and I take the first round instead?”

  “Fuck that,” Navani interjected. “I’m all worked up now.”

  “Seconded,” I said. “We don’t want anyone in the ring who wants to hurt someone else. Not here, not like this. Also, stop fucking embarrassing us, we have company.”

  The Blue Lady gave me a nod. “Remember who the real enemy is.”

  It took a second, but Threed backed down and turned to face Navani.

  “Just to be clear, I’m not mad exactly… but that princess comment is going to cost you.” Navani stepped forward and held out her fist.

  Threed bumped fists with her and then the two started circling each other, each looking hot as fuck and just as intimidating. Navani had a more graceful, cat-like style to her movement, while Threed bounced around like a boxer looking for an opening. She was the first to attack, coming in with a fake left jab and following up with a kick to Navani’s thigh. Her style was very similar to kickboxing and the Marine Corps martial arts, so I was soon able to figure out how she would attack and, at times, where she’d strike.

  Navani, however, was more of mystery. Her style reminded me a bit of kung-fu, but there was something more unique about it, more rigid and fluid at the same time. It reminded me of a ballet dancer kicking ass and was quite entertaining to watch. When the next leg kick came at her, she was ready and moved in, hip-checking Threed and throwing her to the ground. She moved for a joint lock but Threed was fast and rolled out of it before lunging for a takedown. With her arms taking out the knees and her shoulder in Navani’s hips, she lifted her and then brought her down hard. Navani made a wheezing sound and I thought she was done, but two seconds later Threed was yelping and tapping out.

  We all moved to see that Navani had her in a reverse armbar with an elbow in her neck, and cheered for the winner. My enthusiasm was only halfway there, however, as I gave Navani a worried look—did it really make sense for her to be sparring if she was pregnant? She saw me and gave me a grin before tapping her belly. It was hard, and I had to assume she’d added a layer of defense in her suit.

  “If I’d been allowed to call on my replicas, that never would’ve happened,” Threed said, rubbing her elbow as she stood and accepted defeat.

  “True. And what if someday you can’t call on your powers?” Navani countered. “Gotta be ready for that.”

  “There’s only two places I know of where that’s the case. The first, Drew’s brother blew up, supposedly, and the second…” Her eyes stared off into the distance, and she whispered, “Abaddon.”

  “Bullshit,” Sakurai said. “Not real.”

  “Urban legend,” Navani agreed.

  Threed stared at them with horror. “Tell that to my sister, you dicks.”

  “Your sister went to a planet where they’ve managed to shut off all powers, where it rains acid… where some are kept in insane asylum prisons, others running amok and killing each other for viewership? I don’t think so.”

  “Fuck you, it’s true!” Threed turned on Navani, nostrils flaring.

  My heart was racing, because this was hitting a bit too close to home. “Hold on. Abaddon, you mean the prison planet?” Everyone turned to me, and Threed gave a slight nod. I shook my head in confusion. “It’s real enough. I’ve seen it… on the black channels back home. Television, kinda, and it’s in the Milky Way. How do you know about it?”

  “Holy shit,” Navani exclaimed. “That… that could make sense.”

  “What could?”

  “Lots of supers have gone off looking for Abaddon,” Threed explained. “But only one’s returned to tell the story, to tell us what little we know.”

  “So he claimed,” Navani argued. “But he was as crazy as they come. Big guy with horns and fire as part of his powers, right?”

  “Drakonis,” Threed said.

  “That’s right. And when he went on a killing spree claiming he was the god of Abaddon, they threw him on that ship Drew’s brother blew up. So now he’s dead, and nobody will ever know the truth of it.”

  “Except that Drew just told us he knows about Abaddon.”

  “How?” Navani turned on me, completely ignoring the rest of our crew as they sat nearby, watching. “Tell us how you know about it, and how the hell you think this Drakonis guy could’ve found it?”

  “It’s a kind of reality TV show, a spin-off from the Planet Kill series,” I explained. “Might seem kind of strange to you, but some weird, twisted people love it back on Earth. The how, I imagine, would be the same way you found me. Portals… or gateways.”

  “Except that Hadrian has to make the gates and he…” She stopped, blinked, and then continued, “I can’t believe it. Actually, yes, that makes sense. Create a larger place, not just a prison ship, but a whole planet that takes away their powers and is outside of our system. Genius.”

  “And it’s not just a prison planet,” I pointed out. “I mean, it is, but it’s a chance at redemption. They have it set up just like that Planet Kill show I told you about, only more challenging, and some of it is set up to deal with the insane. Anyway, redemption—the contestants can earn their way to Planet Kill, and from there it’s even possible to fight your way up to living among the elites on the paradise planets. Of course, chances of survival are lower than low. Nobody from Abaddon has ever made it that far.”