As easy as that, we were in the clear. While I was elated and wanted to dance with joy, mostly I seriously had to tinkle. That’s right, I said tinkle. Making my way for the small closet of a bathroom, I undid the clasp on my pants and lowered them while hiking up my skirt. It was a long one, and I thought about how close we’d probably been to death, or at least getting captured.

  Being dragged back to the guild would’ve been worse than death, actually. We were traitors. We’d face the mental torture of shame first, the physical torture of supers, second.

  Instead, we were free, hurtling toward Junos. On our way to find my sister.

  I wiped and pulled on my pants, stepping out to find a very unexpected image—Trance was there, leaning against the wall, pants around his ankles as Ice bobbed her head up and down on his crotch.

  They didn’t even stop or bother to apologize, but kept going at it while I worked my way around, trying not to look but also damn curious. I didn’t have time for such things, or so I’d always told myself. That, with my sister’s ways, made me a bit confused about the whole subject, but it wasn’t like I didn’t know what’s what. And what I’d learned from my sister’s lessons had stuck with me, so if I ever found myself in that situation, I was ready.

  Malina always said guys are easy to please—make them think they have the biggest cocks in the world. No matter how many bigger ones you’ve seen, and even if the man probably knows his cock isn’t huge, make him believe it’s the biggest one you’ve ever seen. Or better yet, she’d told me one night while I pretended to sleep, act like you’re a virgin, like you don’t even know how to work a cock.

  That part, at least for now, was true. I understood that a blowjob was when you take your hand around a penis and stroke it, or thought that’s what it meant but couldn’t be sure. Giving blowjobs wasn’t at the top of my priority list, though as I glanced back and saw the look on Trance’s face as he grunted and twitched, I had to admit I was curious.

  Not about him—Oram, no! But maybe someday, after my sister was safe and all that, I’d take some “me” time. See what all the fuss was about.

  Trying to put that image out of my mind, I stepped back onto the small area designated as the bridge, and took my seat.

  “They coming?” Silencer rasped.

  I bit my lip to keep from laughing, then said, “Yeah, I think so.”

  “Good, we’re almost there.” He indicated the planet on the display, along with several blinking red dots on the screen. “Now comes the part where we evade security and get down there unnoticed.”

  “And we have a plan, I hope?”

  He nodded, but glanced back at a muffled sound and then a clanking. “Thought you said…” His face went red, he frowned, and then turned back to the display.

  “Sorry, you didn’t specify—”

  “Charm, we’re not juveniles here. When I said—”

  He had interrupted me, but now he was interrupted by shouts from Ice and a pounding on the walls, then her screaming, “Oh, fuck yes! Fucking fuck fuck-fucckkk!”

  Silencer took a long breath, closed his eyes, then laughed. “I was wrong. We’re apparently a bunch of horny teens, or those two are. Just…” He opened his holo controls and hit comms, then said, “Can the fucking-fuck-fuck fuckers report to the bridge? It’s go time. And… with your pants on please, if that’s not too much of an inconvenience.”

  Laughter from the other side of the wall.

  He glanced my way with an arched eyebrow. “Who said our type can’t have any fun, eh?”

  “Are you hitting on me?”

  “What? God, no!” An actual look of disgust flashed across his eyes as they darted to my tail sticking out from the edge of my seat. Dick. I’d only been joking, knowing he was one hundred percent into my sister, and I had no interest. I quickly went from joking around to wanting to slam in his stupid throat, but shrugged as if his remark hadn’t affected me and turned back to the screen.

  “Would be great if we could simply cloak and avoid detection.”

  He nodded, moving on, to my relief. “We can cloak, but this is Junos. They’ll see right through that.”

  “Which is why we’re going deeper than that,” Trance said, and I turned to see the door had slid open. Trance was adjusting his crotch and Ice was fixing her top, tucking her breasts back in. I had to admit, they were impressive. Not that I was into that sort of thing, but seeing her dark nipple before she managed to cover up caused a shiver to run up my spine. Maybe the excitement was getting to me, or it was simply the fact that I’d been hearing her orgasm moments before.

  Either way, I turned back to Trance, listening as Silencer said, “Yes, it’s time you two earned your keep.”

  Ice scoffed, but I stared at them, waiting for an explanation. When none came, I asked, “How, exactly?”

  “Watch and learn, little f—” He almost fucking said it, calling me a fox… I don’t even know why it bothered me so much, but it did. Maybe it had to do with the fact that my parents had abandoned me, and I was certain my tail and ears were the reason. The couple who adopted me never seemed to be fond of my physical characteristics, either, but their daughter—my adopted sister Malina, I guess you could say—had always tried to convince me the tail was an asset, and that it probably meant I was special.

  Special didn’t equal better, and most people seemed to look down on me for it. So pardon me if reminders of my social standing in most situations pissed me off.

  A hint of a smile from Trance and he stepped up to the control panels, Ice at his side, and said, “Ready?”

  She took his hand, nodded, and said to Silencer, “When we’re almost in range, you give us the go ahead.”

  Silencer waited, watching the screens, and then a ‘message’ symbol appeared on the screen. “Initiating comms… now.”

  At once Ice and Trance lowered their heads, their clasped hands sparking with electricity, and then… the red dots faded from the screen.

  “Hold,” Silencer said, flying on, watching. “Keep pushing.”

  “Pushing what?” I asked.

  “Her ability can reach into the comms, through metal and signals and all that, amplifying his ability to affect their minds. Essentially, we’re showing up on their screens but aren’t there—at least, in their minds. Whoever’s getting a signal will think it was a blip in their equipment.”

  “Damn.” I looked at Ice and Trance with a new respect. “That’s hot.”

  “You bet your ass it is,” Trance said, suddenly letting up on it and looking around at us. “Through.”

  Silencer grinned and pushed on, and then let out a laugh. “This whole mission might be easier than we thought.”

  While I still had my doubts, he was right. Our chances of success were feeling pretty damn good at the moment.

  5

  We chose a trajectory that brought us in on the side of Junos not occupied by the superhero academies. Arriving under the radar, so to speak, we hoped to sneak in undetected since it was our best bet. Still, that meant we had to fly close to the planet’s surface for some time, close enough to avoid detection while still bringing us in near to the schools.

  I asked how we knew Malina would even be at the schools, not somewhere else, but Silencer pointed out the obvious. Where else was there to go on this planet? Looking at our surroundings as we flew, all I could see were mountains and trees in all directions. Our lights cast a blue glow over the land below, and soon we were flying through gold mist on the edge of scattered boulders, moving up over the rolling hills.

  “I know why I’m looking for my sister,” I said, in awe of the scenery but unable to let this question rest. “But why the two of you?”

  Ice and Trance returned my stare. Ice was the first to speak. “We had unfinished business. A job to do, and she up and bailed out on me.”

  “So, what? Revenge?”

  “Nothing like that.” Ice laughed as if I were joking. “No, no… But I want to find out what happened, see if she needs help.”

  “I can buy that,” I replied, though still wondered if there was more to it than she was letting on. “Trance?”

  “My part in this is easy—on the one hand, Ice asked me to help. On the other, Silencer.” He grinned in his charming way. “Easy answer.”

  “You’re only helping because they asked you to?” I frowned, not sure about that answer.

  “Not good enough?”

  “Seems like a mighty big risk for a simple favor.”

  He nodded at Ice. “You know we’re close, right? Let’s just say that if something ever happened to her, I’d never be able to forgive myself.”

  At least that made it better, though his little wink at Ice brought back the image of them in the hall—an image I definitely didn’t need right now.

  We were passing over the first hill when a flash of orange went off and, although we weren’t seeing anyone on the scanners, our ship took a hit. At least, it seemed that way, because the ship was careening out of control. Silencer was cursing. Ice had her hands on the metal, trying to do something via her powers. All Trance and I could do was sit there and watch helplessly.

  “Whatever it was, it’s not listening to me,” Ice shouted over the whirring, and the frustrated grunts from Silencer.

  “If we die,” he rasped, “that’s not going to do a whole hell of a lot for Malina.”

  “Then let’s not go that route,” I said, noting the freaked out look from Ice. “Need to be calm, focused?”

  “Couldn’t hurt!”

  I nodded, thrust myself out of my seat and had to be stabilized by Trance, and then was at Ice’s side, blowing a charm of white breath her way. Instantly she relaxed, her mind clear, and she grinned.

  “Fuck, that feels right,” she said, then repositioned herself as she put both hands on the ship. “We’re not going to fight the fall, but embrace it.”

  “Meaning what the fuck, exactly?” Trance shouted.

  I gave him a charm too, and returned to my seat as Ice said, “Watch and learn.”

  The display showed our surroundings, and on one section showed a projection of our trajectory as the ship began to change shape, becoming elongated, the wings stretching out. Ice was using her power to manipulate metal to transform our ship into a glider—no need for an engine or anything if we could simply glide our way down to a safe landing.

  “Still no sign of the enemy,” Silencer said, eyes on the display. He glanced back at Ice, relaxing as it became clear she’d taken control of the gliding operation.

  “I imagine that light show thing was some sort of barrier,” I said. “It might’ve set off alarms.”

  “Meaning the enemy might be upon us soon,” he said with a nod. “Ice, land us where you can, preferably in the direction of the nearest school, and then we need to get away from the ship.”

  “Better yet, I can dismantle the ship,” Ice replied, and I remembered the way she’d quickly thrown it together before.

  She was a pro this time, too, landing us just past a lake and in a bit of a clearing, so that the trees there would provide some shelter. As soon as we were off with our supplies and weapons, she manipulated the ship so that the pieces came apart and dug into the ground, creating a place to store it in case we needed it again later.

  “They might find it,” she said, “but it won’t be exactly traceable in that form.”

  “Damn fine work,” Trance said, and we followed Silencer to the treeline as Ice did her best to smooth out the area and then catch up with us.

  Not a moment too soon. Just as we reached an area littered with boulders, Silencer motioned us down. Sure enough, several supers went flying overhead, scanning the area.

  “Block them if need be, Trance,” Silencer said.

  Trance nodded crouching, hand to his temple, concentrating. “Already on it. One of them is using powers to look for our thoughts, but I don’t think he’ll sense us on what I’m giving him.”

  Silencer had his finger on the bracelet again, ready, but I had no idea what sort of power that red stone held. My guess was something badass, based on what I’d heard about him and his abilities.

  For now, though, we seemed to be in the clear. The supers were past us, scanning the area where we’d been ‘hit.’ We moved for the closest hill, figuring that would give us a good vantage point. I kept checking back throughout the climb, figuring they’d turn around at any minute and come back for us, powers blazing, but it didn’t happen.

  Ice nudged me as we neared the top. “Not such a bad team, huh? Trance knows his stuff, out here and in the sheets, if you know what I mean.”

  I frowned, nodded, and kept on. Not what I wanted to think about at the moment.

  We crested the hill to find the most stunning view I’d ever seen in my life. I’d seen pictures and video feeds of Supralines when watching the big celebrations, researching targets and analyzing which families to stay away from. It had been an unachievable dream back then, something I’d only really thought realistic for a short while in my youth. When my foster parents scolded me for such thoughts, telling me I wasn’t the type to be accepted at such a school, I spent about six months working harder than ever to prove them wrong… only to find that not only was it impossible, but I essentially belonged to the guild.

  No longer. Instead, I was looking at Supralines in all its glory, hopefully soon to find a way to attend, according to the plan.

  Tall arches rose to form the entryway to the school, where students gathered on what I assumed was orientation day, as they all seemed to be milling about, not in uniform yet, all looking around in awe. Tall columns rose behind the main school, supporting walkways that led to other towers, going up and up along the side of a hill behind it.

  Floating pods of green and blue moved about, bringing in more students and escorting some away. A big portion of them seemed to be coming from one of the large craft parked in the fields opposite the school, with a beach and water on our side, to our left.

  “They must all be from one planet,” Ice said, watching along with me.

  “Maybe even the Citadel,” Trance interjected.

  “Nah, they don’t have that many people at the Citadel, honestly.” Silencer leaned forward, eyes focused on one as it returned. “Likely one of the local planets though… and likely our ticket.”

  “How so?”

  “They have the records of which school they’re dropping off for. They also have immediate access to the school systems, at least through the back channels. If they weren’t here we would have to go into the school itself… but this might be more doable.”

  “Anyone else feel like we escaped one prison only to try and break into another?” Ice asked, frowning. “I’m all for it, just saying I’m not liking the whole scenario.”

  “Noted,” Silencer said, then turned to me and Trance. “Questions?”

  “For one,” I replied, “what exactly are we doing?”

  “Ice and her hacking skills. Simple.”

  “Your powers allow you to hack?” I asked Ice.

  She scoffed. “I don’t think there’s such a power—no, had to learn the old-fashioned way.”

  “Meanwhile,” Silencer added, “you and Trance help with anyone who gets in the way, while keeping it inconspicuous.”

  “Meaning I charm people to be calmer, less suspicious?” I asked.

  Silencer nodded, finger caressing the last black stone in his bracelet. “And I’ll do my part, when needed.”

  I nodded. It was a solid plan. We kept in a crouch until we were close to the landing zone, then ran for it, me wishing my long coat did a better job of staying in place to conceal me as I ran. So far, though, nobody seemed to care or maybe notice that I had a long, bushy tail. A balding man was entering the closest pod, green like the others we’d seen going toward the large ship. He paused at seeing us running his way and frowned.

  “Can I help you?”

  “You can.” I breathed a quick white charm on him and then stepped around to the ramp, already walking up it. “We need to return to ship. Forgot my luggage.”

  “Ah, yes,” the man said, considering. Trance stood by, ready to take it to the next level if necessary, but to the balding man’s credit he turned up the ramp and headed right for his seat, no questions asked.

  Honestly, I’d never used my power like this. Not exactly, anyway. It was impressive. Exciting.

  There were six seats on each side of the pod. I took a seat in the back facing inward.

  “Nice work,” Silencer said, taking a seat next to me.

  The other two sat across, and the man glanced back, seemingly confused.

  “Back to the ship will be fine,” I said, and he smiled, nodded, then took off. My curiosity led me to turn to Trance. “To be clear, how would your powers have affected him?”

  Trance grinned, then shrugged.

  “His tend to leave people in a state of confusion also,” Ice answered. “Only problem is, sometimes it’s permanent.”

  “Meaning you leave them with brain damage?” I asked, horrified.

  “Only once,” he replied with a scowl. “And I had to really focus on the power that time.”

  “Wonderful.”

  Staring at the window as we flew over the school, I was able to get a good view of the courtyard and the gargoyles on the parapets of the castle-like walls. The marble seemed to glow pink and orange in the waning light, and I felt a pang of sorrow at the fact that we were flying away from it. Of course we’d be back, but my subconscious hadn’t accepted that fact.

  “So, to get this right, the two of us, Ice and I, will be going to Supralines,” I said, lowering my voice and leaning closer to Silencer. “Meanwhile, you two will spend your time looking into the other schools?”

  “And surrounding cities,” Silencer said. “We know she should be at one of the schools, but even if that’s wrong, definitely on planet.”

  I stared out the window, watching as we approached the ship. In the distance were tree-covered hills, a waterfall even, and who knows what beyond that. More nature like we’d seen when flying in, I imagined. My sister and I had never been particularly close, though she’d watched my back. She only ever really opened up to me when she thought I was sleeping, and the occasional rare moments like the time we’d fought off a couple of goons from the Entra Guild. Fuckers had been trying to break into our guild’s back entrance, thinking it was easy pickings with most of the guild being out on a mission. The way she’d shot—her powers weren’t much, but by Oram she knew how to use a gun—combined with my strength and power meant they didn’t stand a chance.