“Someone will,” I replied. “Not our job.”

  “But that’s your ticket out of here,” Cheri said. “Ours too, if we wanted to play hitmen for Orion. I won’t, so that leaves you.”

  “Maybe,” I agreed. “But that’s what they tell me my ticket is. I’m wondering if there’s another way.”

  Both looked at me with surprise, but it was Erupa who spoke up. “Mr. Law, thinking outside the box? You surprise me.”

  “Maybe I don’t know if I can trust them anymore,” I replied. “Maybe I shouldn’t have been living by their rules for so long. Or maybe I’ll get out of here and it’ll all make sense—I don’t know. But right now I’m not making rash decisions, nor am I jumping to conclusions.”

  “Good for you, sugar-butt,” Cheri said, and then pointed. “Oooh, ooh, there!”

  Sure enough, hidden between some trees and not easily visible because it was built into the hill, there was a door along with a metal wall. It looked suspicious to me, but honestly, I had no idea what the people of this planet were up to out here on a routine basis. Even if they were killing people or doing whatever else, it couldn’t be as bad as what was going on in the asylum area at the moment.

  We found the door locked, and cursed, looking for something to break it. Erupa swore again, saying that if she had her powers, she’d be able to get it open. I tried ignoring the look from Cheri, but finally scooted close to Erupa and said, “Give it a try, you never know.”

  She frowned, but mumbled, “What the hell. Why not?” and stepped up to the door. Prying her nails inside, she got her fingers partially around the door and gave a mighty heave.

  “It actually worked!” she said, looking down at her arms and marveling. With a glance back to us, she said, “Maybe the Quencher’s on the fritz?”

  “Yeah, maybe,” I said and followed her in.

  The place had three small rooms, the back, too, separated by a hallway. All of the walls and even the floor were metal, giving the impression of a large air duct. No lights, only the dim glow from slits along the top that acted like windows, though it would’ve been quite annoying when rain came, if ever. I’d often wondered about the weather on Abaddon, knowing it was controlled on the Chaos Zone side, so why not over here? They had other ways to keep the trees watered, surely.

  We made our way to the back of the second room, exhaustion taking over, and I mumbled about wanting to sit for a minute, to maybe rest my eyes. Shooting in the distance became like a rhythmic lullaby. They continued to explore, and when I opened my eyes again, Cheri was squatting close enough to reach and touch me, staring.

  “What?” I asked, my empath powers getting some seriously interesting patterns from her.

  “What we’d said. You know, ‘Take care of them, get somewhere private and…’” She didn’t even bother to say the rest but started undoing the red, semi-concealing body armor top. It fell to the floor with a clank, leaving her breasts fully exposed. I almost expected to see that same yellow smiley face on her left tit, but no, just two, perfectly shaped perky breasts. Her nipples were darker than I’d expected, making me wonder if her hair was naturally dark—I often found a correlation there. It wasn’t until she moved that the light caught on metal and I realized the left nipple was pierced. Sexy, in a strange way, but also made me think of pain.

  “Wow,” was all I could think to say. It had been too long since I’d been with a woman, and the sight of breasts in an intimate way was really pulling at my libido, which was in turn pleading with me to act.

  She grinned at me. “Your turn.”

  “We’re… really doing this?” I glanced around to ensure we were alone, torn between hoping we were and weren’t. “Where’s Erupa?”

  “You want her involved?” she asked.

  “No, that’s not what I meant.”

  “Maybe next time. This time, I told her she was on first watch.”

  I gulped. Hey, I was part of the team now, wasn’t I? One of these Psychobitches, maybe with Erupa now as part of the team, too.

  Still not totally sure I was making the right move, I undid my protective vest, then my overshirt. Finally, I pulled off the white undershirt and stood there, watching her eyeing my muscular frame with anticipation.

  She was about to slide her mini-skirt off when I held up a hand and started toward her. As much as I liked this idea of watching each other strip, I was the fucking law enforcement officer here. She wasn’t going to dictate how this was to happen, not to me. So I stepped up, took her by the waist, and pulled her to me. First my lips met hers, then I kissed her neckline, hands moving along her side, up to cup her breast as my lips kissed down further, finding her nipple and massaging it with my lips and tongue. The metal surprised me, as I had forgotten about her piercing, and when she moaned, I felt her pleasure flowing through me as well. One of the interesting side effects of my power was feeling what my partner felt in these circumstances. It could be great, trust me! And, if they weren’t into it, no amount of faking could convince me otherwise. In these circumstances, my power could be a curse or a blessing, but right now it was definitely the latter.

  Her fingers were working violently at my belt. As I moved back up to kiss her neck, hands massaging her breasts and then moving down to her lower back, she got my pants undone.

  A slightly cold hand slipped in, no playing around or hesitating as she grabbed my cock with firm intensity. My hands slipped into her miniskirt, grabbing handfuls of ass, and I squeezed as her hand stroked me, exploring me. More pleasure, now from her touch but also as she enjoyed the strength of my squeeze.

  I slid off her skirt and panties, going with them so that I could kiss her pelvis, her inner thigh. She grabbed me by the hair and pulled me up, kissing me again, but wagging her finger. “Not yet.”

  At first, I thought she was about to tease me again and back out of this, but then she was slipping my pants off, both hands massaging my balls and then cock. She leaned against the wall, pulled me close, and then slid my cock inside of her. One leg wrapped around the back of my thigh and she was pulling me, thrusting, not letting me take charge no matter how much I tried. Finally, I just let it happen, doing it however she wanted, until after a few minutes of sweaty passion I realized she was biting her lip and yelping, eyes closed like she was in pain and I was fucking her harder than I’d ever fucked before.

  I started to slow to ask her if she was okay, but she smacked me and grabbed my ass hard, fingernails digging into flesh, and growled, “Don’t you dare fucking stop.”

  So I didn’t. A few more thrusts and she was leaning back as if about to fall, eyes open and staring at me, emotions going crazy and tingling passing over to me so that I could feel her orgasm. Her eyes rolled back, closed again, and then she was leaning into me, holding me tight. The sensation of experiencing her orgasm made me start to orgasm too so that all it took was the clenching of her pussy to cause me to finally cum.

  We stood there for a moment, enjoying it, unable to move from the intensity we’d just shared, and then finally she looked at me, all crazy gone, and gave me a gentle smile.

  “You’re wild.”

  I grinned, kissed her, and said, “That was… amazing.”

  She nodded, bit her lip and shrugged. “Team Psychobitches can’t be broken apart now. We’re formed as one.”

  My laugh was involuntary, but then I felt a sharp pain of hurt coming from her, so I quickly replaced my smile with a look of being dead serious as I repeated her words, “As one.”

  Her smile returned, and she lowered her leg, letting me fall out of her, and then we held each other another moment. I wasn’t sure what she’d meant—like did she think we were married or something? Shit, it wasn’t long ago she was my prisoner and I was handing her over for credits.

  It was my fault, breaking my own rule by getting involved with one of the targets. In my defense, the whole uprising thing had changed it all, but now I was wondering what my inability to keep my dick in my pants had committed me to.

  I let my power free, sensing what she was feeling right now, and suddenly didn’t feel nervous or scared at all. Simply comforted, ready for whatever would come next. At times it was dangerous to do this because I might be overcome with rage or other emotions when there was no reason for me to be other than that I’d opened up the gates to the other person’s emotions, but in this case, it proved to be the right move.

  She took my hand in hers and grinned, her other hand taking one of her pigtails and twirling her hair around her pointer finger as her wide grin returned. “So, boss, you want to try to get Erupa in on this now, or…?”

  “Quit it,” I said, shaking my head. “Right now, all I want is to get you dressed so you don’t freeze to death.”

  “It’s not that cold,” she pointed out, but pressed her nude body to mine, moving back and forth with her hips playfully. “I won’t say no to this kind of warmth. But since we don’t want the enemy to find us like this and have the advantage,” she sighed and turned, bending over in a very sexual way to pick up her clothes, “I guess you’re right.”

  Looking at that image of her bent over, her perfect ass and tight pussy showing the more she bent, was like looking at the sun and having sunspots in your vision for a few minutes after. Even as I started dressing, the image wouldn’t leave my mind. I could almost reach out and touch it, even stick out my tongue and taste it. Hot damn, I was in for a crazy adventure.

  And I meant that in every sense of the phrase.

  76

  A harsh kick to my side woke me to the image of a face with horns up close and personal. Fuck, I was in Hell, I thought, only to see that it was Erupa. Not bad to look at, once I realized she wasn’t the devil here for my soul. Then again, I was on the planet Abaddon—there probably weren’t many places closer to Hell than this.

  “I found something,” she said, nudging Cheri much more gently than the wake-up call she’d given me. Motioning for us to follow, she made for the back room.

  We both trailed after her, sharing timid smiles and shy glances, until Erupa finally said, “You two can cut that shit out. I know you fucked—nothing to be ashamed of.”

  “I…” There wasn’t anything to say to that, other than, “How?”

  “You thought I was going to stay on watch forever? At one point I came back and saw you two, and honestly, it was hot so I watched you instead.”

  “You… watched us?” My mind was reeling with the thought of that, wondering what angle she’d seen me from as if that mattered, and why my mind hadn’t picked up on her being nearby. Then again, it had been quite occupied.

  “For next time, I’ve got pointers,” she said and then laughed. “But don’t worry, we might not live to see the next time.”

  “We don’t need pointers,” I said.

  She chuckled, running a hand through her hair and then along one of her horns, mind elsewhere. “Trust me, you do.”

  As she entered the next room, Cheri caressed my arm and said, “Hey, you were amazing. Don’t let her get into your head.”

  “Yeah?”

  “Made me cum, didn’t you?”

  I was starting to feel good about that, when Erupa turned back and said, “Ah, but you could’ve made her cum, like, three or four times that I noticed, and same for you, Psychobitch Queen Bee.”

  “Cheri will do,” Cheri replied. “Psychobitch Cheri if you want to be formal. And hold the fuck up, me? I know how to work a cock, okay?”

  “If you say so, but he could’ve multi-orgasmed.”

  “Guys don’t have multiple orgasms, do they?” Cheri turned to me. “That’s not a thing, right?”

  “It is when they’re with me,” Erupa replied, then clapped her hands and said, “Hurry up, now. Stop getting distracted.”

  Cheri looked like she was bursting to find out what Erupa was going on about, and so was I, but when she took us to a side room—one hidden behind a cloth in the darkness, so that we hadn’t seen it, we all froze at the sight in the middle of the room. A hole led into the ground, with crudely cut stairs leading into it, and then a tunnel that went in two directions.

  “That’s… interesting,” I said, kneeling to try and have a look without going in. All I saw was darkness.

  “Interesting, and possibly our way to do this,” Erupa said.

  “Are we still talking about the multiple orgasms or—” Cheri started.

  “No, we’re not. This could be the key to getting off this planet, not the key to getting off. This way here,” she pointed left, “seems to lead back toward the asylum. The other way, who knows?”

  “It’s at least worth checking out,” I admitted. “Better than the whole lot of nothing we have to go off of otherwise.”

  “And then we get off?” Cheri asked. “Off-planet, I mean.”

  “If we get in there and take out as many of the rebels as we can, along with their leader, we have a chance, yes.”

  “Dark tunnels, my favorite,” Cheri said with a frown, then she sneezed. “Agh, see? I’m allergic to them.”

  “You can’t be allergic to dark tunnels,” Erupa argued. “The dust, maybe.”

  “Tell that to my allergy,” Cheri said, and then pursed her lips. “You two will have to go in there without me, get it done, and then come back and we go another way.”

  “Leaving you having not accomplished a damn thing,” Erupa said, “which means not taking you off this planet.”

  “Well, cock-sucking lily pads.” Cheri folded her arms, chin in her hand, and seemed to consider it. “Fine, I’m in.”

  “Of course you are,” Erupa replied and then led the way down.

  It was dark, but I didn’t wear all of this cool police gear just to look cool, though it certainly helped. I’d come with glow sticks, a mini-flashlight, and more weapons if needed. At the moment, I turned on the flashlight, keeping a hand over it to give us light but not warn people down the tunnels we were coming. Hopefully there was no one around down there, but it’s always good to play it safe.

  “What made you do it, anyway?” Erupa said, after walking a bit. “Turn on your own, I mean?”

  “Ooh, touchy subject.” Cheri held a finger to her mouth, but I waved the comment away.

  “I’m still not sure about all of this, honestly,” I admitted.

  “But you see what’s going on,” she countered. “Meaning you’re either blind and don’t see it, incredibly stupid because you see but don’t understand, or… evil.”

  “I’ve been told my whole adult life you all are the ones to watch out for,” I explained, hushing my voice in hopes that it would remind them where we were, and that we needed to keep a low profile. “It’s not like I didn’t know about Abaddon and Orion’s involvement, all hunters who’re anything know that. And there was an uprising, right? What are they supposed to do about that?”

  “Um, not promise rewards for slaughtering those not involved, for one.” She looked at Cheri for backup, but the blue-haired lady just smiled and nodded as if we were discussing ice cream flavors. “It’s barbaric, and not the worst of what they’ve done, you can count on that.”

  “You don’t know what you’re talking about.”

  “Oh?” She turned on me, voice growing much louder than was safe here. “How about the slaughter of Brendol?”

  “Putting down anarchist rioters,” I countered.

  “The War of Derown?”

  “To bring peace to all supers by setting an example that—”

  “Fuck, don’t say it. You’ve really drunk the piss, haven’t you?”

  “I can assure you that I’ve never imbibed any form of piss, real or metaphorical.”

  “To be fair to him,” Cheri said. “He’s learning. When this all started, he seemed really shaken. I think it’s just a matter of time.”

  “Thank you,” I said.

  “He’s like a small child we have to teach, though not that small,” she reached over and pinched the tip of my dick, which I did not find appropriate or enjoy, given the timing.

  “We’re getting off track,” I said, taking her hand and holding it in front of me so that she wouldn’t do that again. “There’s a way to get off this planet, and we have as good a chance as any. Better, actually. How about we focus on that, then look for the answers you both seem to think you have? I find out for myself. Deal?”

  “He’s more open-minded than most Orion hunters,” Erupa admitted. “Deal.”

  “And for the record, the war of Derown was basically about who gets to have pets in their houses,” Cheri said. “My friend survived the war and told me all about it.”

  Erupa and I turned on her, incredulous. Was that even worth addressing? We shared a look and shook our heads before continuing down the tunnel.

  “Her name was Lilly,” Cheri kept on, eyeing the ceiling as she spoke. “Her wings were bright green. The cutest bird ever, but one day she flew away, so I can only assume she decided it was time to return to her home planet.”

  It actually hurt my brain, thinking about how much was wrong with what she’d just said, but I continued walking, eyes scanning the darkness for any sort of sign that we weren’t wasting our time down here.

  We paused as light spilled into the tunnel ahead, then pulled back, crouching and pressing against the wall, the three of us closer than maybe Erupa would’ve liked. Ahead, we saw a group. They came right out of the wall, then moved down the hall, stopped at another section before glancing around, and then re-entering through there.

  Once they were gone, we moved up to find no evidence of doors.

  “Why’s everything here so secretive?” Cheri asked.

  “I’m guessing this was a place to smuggle people out from the asylum,” I replied. “Not sure where or why, but if it leads from there to that house, and then to wherever those people were going, that’s all that makes sense to me.”

  “Maybe an escape route?” Erupa posited. “I mean, it’s possible some guards saw what was going on here and decided it wasn’t right, so they started this system to help the inmates they didn’t believe to be in the wrong.”