“What flavor did you used to get when you’d come here?” Glaze asked our dad.

  “I used to get mint chocolate chip too,” Dad replied. “But we didn’t really come here often. Didn’t have money for things like ice cream until I was in the Marines, and then it didn’t seem like a priority.”

  “I get that,” I admitted. “But damn, it’s good.”

  Dad had mint candy cane flavored ice cream, and as he licked it he said something about ‘completely golden.’ He grunted, then said, “Society had collapsed, my parents weren’t exactly doing so well, and—”

  “Dad, you’ve told us a thousand times,” Glaze cut in, then shrugged at my glare. “What? He has. Planet Kill says it all. Any society that not only allows something like that but televises it? Fucked up.”

  “Well, you get the picture,” Dad said, finishing the last of his ice cream with a huge bite that must’ve chilled his teeth.

  “Hey, it’s not so bad now,” Glaze said, eyeing our surroundings.

  “No, it’s not.”

  I followed their line of sight to the endless sprawl of buildings, not seeing anything special. At least they were dotted here and there with parks of green.

  “Needs improvement…” I said.

  Glaze shook his head, turning to face me. “Not the scenery. Living a normal life, even if just for a few minutes.”

  “You think this is normal?” Dad asked from the front seat. “Normal is always changing. It might be normal until the next tyrant rises up and tries to take power, or normal until a super explodes this whole damn planet into pieces.”

  No arguing that. We piled back into the vehicle and headed for whatever depressing scene awaited us at Grandpa’s place. I spent the entire drive looking out the window and wondering what life on Earth would have been like—especially for our dads, two men who didn’t even know they were going to become superheroes. In a way that was similar to Kai, in that he had been raised here without powers. The big difference was that he knew he was supposed to have powers… but didn’t. Fucking chump. How could he hope to stand with the likes of us?

  It didn’t take long to reach the old man’s place. We paid our respects and made the rounds, but the old man wasn’t dead yet, so what was the fuss? Maybe my perspective was off considering that I’d been raised mostly around supers, so I tried to look compassionate.

  However, I had just finished a quick chat with Aegriss when I looked up from the glass of bourbon I’d filched and saw Glaze sneaking off with a bombshell of a server. This woman had big, full lips, a neck I could see myself burying my face into for days as I licked her flesh, and legs that she wasn’t too ashamed to show off with her tight skirt. Damn, how was Glaze getting her and not me? I almost would have brushed it off as her being straight—until I saw the way she glanced back at me and grinned, as if to say I’d be next.

  For a few seconds all I could do was stand there and think about that woman pulling me out of the room instead of him, then taking me and tearing off my clothes to plunge headfirst into eating my pussy.

  Damn, I was soaking wet. That thought snapped me back to reality. I couldn’t help but notice one of the male servers eyeing me with hunger. Not my style.

  I ducked into the back hall, my clit pulsing and my pussy wet at the idea of touching myself and fantasizing about that woman. Damn, I wanted her. There was the bathroom door, so I checked behind me to ensure I was alone and nobody would hear me if I accidentally moaned or squealed. In the clear, I pushed the bathroom door open… only to find Kai there with his dick out, stretching it so that he could wash it in the sink!

  “The hell…?” I asked, putting up a hand to block the view.

  “Sorry, shit.” He tucked himself away but got water all over the front of his pants in the process.

  “Next time you’re going to whack it, lock the fucking door.”

  “It wasn’t that,” he protested. “I was with someone, needed to clean up after, and…”

  “Whatever,” I stammered, turning to storm out of there. What the hell was wrong with my brother and cousin? Or was it that something was wrong with me? At least the urge to pleasure myself was gone. Wayyyy gone.

  I made a beeline for the back door and was glad to find nobody in my way and nobody out there, either. Standing and looking out over the hillside that led to several apartment buildings below, I folded my arms and shook my head as I tried to clear my mind.

  How many times had I been out there in space kicking ass and taking names, only to find my brother back on the ship hooking up? He didn’t deserve to fulfill the prophecy, that was for damn sure. Not until he learned to think with his upper head instead of the one in his pants. And Kai? No fucking way!

  The door behind me squeaked open. I glanced over my shoulder and groaned. It was Glaze. Without so much as a nod, I turned back to the view, pretending to focus on the woman across the way fixing a broken window.

  “What, you’re pissed that I scored with that lady when you wanted her?” Glaze asked, stepping up next to me. He smelled of sex, dammit. “Get over it. Some girls want cock, okay?”

  “That’s not…” I couldn’t even finish. Turning on him, I thrust a finger in his face and held it there for a long moment before turning and crossing my arms.

  “Then what?”

  “Fucking Kai,” I mumbled.

  “Ah, yeah. Our cousin is a real douche.”

  I chuckled, some of my irritation fading. Turning to my brother, I arched a brow and said, “I think he was getting some at the same time as you. What’s that say about your brains being on the same wavelength, hey?”

  “Or our dicks. Eww.”

  “Right.” Another laugh. “I caught him rinsing his dick off. Not a sight I ever wanted.”

  “How…?”

  “Because he’s got a longer one than you, that’s how.”

  He hit me.

  “Ow!”

  “Sisters shouldn’t talk about stuff like that. Anyway, that woman wasn’t complaining.”

  Again I shrugged. “Point is, Kai isn’t right. He doesn’t even have powers, so I don’t fucking see how he could ever possibly be the one to fulfill the prophecy. So…”

  “So what? You want to go out there and try to take down the entire universe of baddies to prove that we have what it takes? Oh, and all before our Earth-clocks register us as eighteen—which we both know we’re technically well beyond.”

  “You’d be okay with Kai being the one?”

  “Fuck no.”

  “Well then…?”

  My brother sat there for a moment, eyeing me, then nodded. “Fuck it. I don’t know how, but let’s prove to the universe that we’ve got what it takes.”

  “Hell yes, bro.” I gave him a high five, grinning and not for a second reminding him that the prophecy only spoke of one savior. In the end, I’d be ‘The One,’ not him.

  For now, we would get back to the family, while my brain went into overdrive working out how to accomplish our new goal.

  CHAPTER 5: BREAKER

  Earth, The Old Man’s House

  As much as I scanned the room in search of my boy, I couldn’t spot him in the crowd. Several teams had formed at my old man’s house to pay respects. If the supervillains were ever going to attack, this would be the moment.

  I hadn’t expected so many of our superhero colleagues to come for this. Drew must’ve called them all together. It wasn’t even a funeral yet. There was that group with the Ex-Succubus and Death Girl, Ezra with that crazy chick who always—even now—carried the sword with the little bear hanging from the handle and who wore her blue hair in pigtails, and so many other supers that the room became a blur of skintight suits and exposed flesh and hotness. A glance around made me appreciate Gale’s refusal to accept Earth society’s idea that skinny somehow meant beautiful. I would forever love her curves, both for how she looked and for how she felt when pressed against me.

  “I’m sorry for your soon-to-be loss,” a voice said, and I turned to see Death Girl. The sight of her caused a shudder to run through me—very macabre, with a dark, metallic body and faceplate that glowed yellow while revealing the skull beneath. Her story was long and insane, and not one I particularly wanted to think about when my dad was so close to death.

  “Dear,” the Ex-Succubus—what the fuck was her name?—said, looking up from the couch and tilting her head. “Maybe that look isn’t the most appropriate, considering…”

  “Oh, sorry.” With a flash of her faceplate, Death Girl transformed. First a flash of the woman she was before meeting her demise, then nude for a split second, before a dark purple covered her. “Better?”

  The Ex-Succubus grunted and gave me a shrug before returning to her tea.

  “Um, thank you,” I told Death Girl, unable to process the juxtaposition of who she had been a second ago compared to now, with her adorable smile and large, engaging eyes. When she blinked, I snapped out of it and said, “I trust your fight against crime is going well?”

  “We’ve mostly been sticking to Earth while you all go out to the other worlds, but when the day comes and you need us up there, we’ll be ready.”

  I nodded, thinking back to a time when I had seen her at the Citadel. She mostly stuck to her team, but she had a history in this war.

  “Thank you for your service,” I said, and then nodded toward my dad’s door. “And thank you for coming. It means a lot.”

  She smiled and gave me a quick curtsy before moving over to sit on the couch next to her companions.

  “Anyone seen my son?” I asked.

  Twitch and Laurel were nearby, discussing our next mission and strategy through the portals.

  “Let me check,” Laurel said, and then the two antennae on the top of her head glowed slightly as she did a quick mental check for Kai. A second later, she yelped and put a hand to her mouth, then turned to me with a blush.

  “I think you’ll have to wait a bit,” Laurel said.

  “What do you mean?”

  “I… shouldn’t say.”

  I frowned and took her by the arm, leading her into the nearby hall that led to the kitchen. “Go on then.”

  She frowned, her turquoise eyes narrowing. “You shouldn’t stick your nose where it doesn’t belong.”

  “I’m only asking where my son is. Do you mind telling me?”

  “Fine.” She swatted my hand off hers, then lifted her hand and held it next to her face, gesturing as if giving a blowjob with her tongue pressed against her cheek. Then she pointed to the back door. “With a cute, blonde little thing.”

  “Oh!” Twitch let out a little laugh, then covered her mouth and winked at me. “Like father like son.”

  “By Oram, you couldn’t have just said he has a visitor?” I laughed, trying to get that image out of my head.

  Laurel simply smiled as if she’d done nothing wrong.

  “I’ll… say my farewells and give him some time to grieve in his own way.” Turning from her, I headed in to see my dad. Pushing through the old door, I stopped at the sight of Drew kneeling at the old man’s bedside. To my surprise, there was a tear running down his cheek.

  He looked up and motioned me in.

  “Didn’t realize you two were close,” I said.

  “Me and Pops… Nah. But we had our moments. You know, he was the reason I went into the Marines. Told me he thought people who went into the military lacked a brain, so I told him to fuck off by signing up that very day.”

  I couldn’t help but laugh at that.

  “And you?” Drew asked. “How’re you taking it?”

  “Step by step.” I grabbed a chair near the window and turned it around to sit next to the head of the bed, where I could look into my dad’s face. He wasn’t awake at the moment, but he still breathed.

  A text came from his nurse saying she was done waiting for us to clear out. The man needed her care. I wasn’t sure I was ready to leave his side, but if that’s what was best, I supposed we would head out soon enough.

  Drew cleared his throat so I showed him the text, then said, “Remember that time he took us out to see the ship departing, that colonization one… I forget the name.”

  “No.”

  “Come on, it was the…” I pursed my lips, then shrugged. It didn’t matter. “Point is, those days are done, huh?”

  “They were done a long time ago, bud. But look at us. Both fathers now. Time to make our own memories.”

  I nodded, trying not to think about Kai or what he was up to at the moment, according to Laurel.

  “Finding time for that, are you?” I asked.

  The way his eyes instantly avoided mine was answer enough, so I added, “We’re busy saving the universe. I think they’ll understand if we don’t go fishing on the weekends.”

  “Maybe. Yeah.” He stood then, and headed for the door. “Listen, buddy, let’s agree to do better. Let’s agree to make time for those moments.”

  “Where’re you going?”

  “Dad’s close to crossing over, but not there yet. We need to spend time with those we love, so I’m off to find the kids and… I don’t know, see if they want to go for a camping trip. You down?”

  “Seriously?”

  He just stood there waiting for an answer.

  I returned my focus to our dad, then back to my brother. “You know what? Fuck it, I’m in.”

  The smile that formed on his face was the biggest damn smile I’d seen on him that I could remember.

  “Hell yeah, it’s time for a super camping trip!”

  I had to admit, as I gave my father’s hand a squeeze and turned to follow my brother out the door to give the others the news, a smile had formed on my face as well.

  CHAPTER 6: CHARM

  Earth, Store

  Of all the adventures I’d had in my life to date, including my journey to Supralines Superhero Academy, space prison, and then learning that not only was I an actual kitsune but that I was the nine-tailed fox, somehow the idea of camping excited me the most.

  I don’t know why something so basic got me so amped up. Maybe it was all the stories Breaker had shared about nights spent looking at the stars as he lost himself to his thoughts, or the beers with a buddy, or s’mores with their chocolatey goodness mixed with a melted marshmallow and smashed into a graham cracker sandwich (yummy!)—holy space balls, you can see why I was excited.

  “We need this?” I asked, grabbing a small drone from the shelves of the store.

  “The hell would we need that for on a camping trip?” Twitch asked.

  “I dunno, like… spying on other campers to see if we’re doing it right?”

  Twitch laughed. “I’m sure Breaker will let us know if we do something wrong, and I’d bet using a drone would fall under that.”

  With a shrug, I put the drone back and watched Twitch pull up a screen with the list Breaker had left for her. If we were just going to follow the list, couldn’t we have just had someone else do it for us?

  I snarled and turned to see what else I could find, but went rigid at the sight of walls full of guns in boxes! They looked awesome, and to my surprise some kids were checking one out.

  “Nah, I’d so blast you into next Tuesday,” one said, to which the other replied, “I’d like to see you try!”

  “Hey now,” I cut in, and they stared at me in shock as I added, “Don’t joke around about this stuff. Unless… you have super powers and can heal each other or something?”

  “No…” one of the boys said.

  I shrugged and took the gun box away from the kid. “Well then, best to play safe.”

  “They’re just Nerf guns, lady,” the tallest of the kids said. He had wavy blond hair that fell off to one side.

  “Nerf?” I asked. I was also thrown by him calling me lady, but had to remind myself that Shimmer was likely nearby, keeping up the illusion that hid my fox ears and tails. Sometimes I thought it would be so much more fun to be myself, considering that so many superheroes and villains did so on Earth these days. But Breaker insisted that keeping our true powers and appearances hidden was the best way to keep our loved ones safe. Considering that his son Kai didn’t have any powers, I got it.

  “Like this,” the blond boy said, then quickly unboxed one of the guns. He looked around furtively, then loaded it. To my surprise, he shot me! I didn’t even think to activate my powers or anything, and the little jerk’s bullet slammed right into my left breast!

  “Dude, hit her in the titty,” the chubby boy with red hair said, and all three giggled but couldn’t make eye contact with me. I looked down to see if I was bleeding, but no damage seemed to be done. Maybe internal?

  I was about to activate my powers and teach them a lesson, but something was off here. They looked too silly, like they were just having fun.

  “What’s Nerf?” I asked, kneeling to pick up the bullet.

  “Soft, just for fun,” the redhead said. “A toy.”

  “No shit?”

  They giggled again, likely because of my cursing, but whatever. I quickly unboxed a Nerf gun of my own and loaded it, then turned to see the boys walking off.

  THWAK! My Nerf bullet hit the blond kid in the back of his head.

  “Oh, what the…?” He spun on me, furious, then laughed again. “Oh no she didn’t!”

  Before I knew it, the four of us had Nerf guns out and were running all over the store, hiding behind mannequins and racks of food to shoot at each other. I’ve gotta say, I wasn’t a half-bad shot!

  Jumping up and pushing away from a wall, I managed to clear a clothing rack and come down shooting, two shots connecting with their bellies.

  “Excuse me!” a large man said to my right, arms folded over his chest.

  “What?” I asked, then aimed at him as I cocked the gun to get another bullet ready. “Want in on this? It’s fun!”

  “Ma’am…” He gestured to the store, where the three kids now stood with their parents marching over, several racks of clothes and food knocked over. It was only then that I noticed his uniform, and then Twitch running up behind him with a horrified look on her face.