“What’s going on?” I asked.

  She met my gaze, then chuckled. “You all waste no time, huh?”

  “I’ve heard you aren’t exactly innocent.”

  “Not in the slightest.” She took a breath, then entered, making this even more awkward. “I wanted to say thanks again, you know, for everything back there.”

  “This is sort of a team-only event,” Tink said still standing, leaning against a wall. “In case there was any question about that.”

  “Oh, I’m not here to join in. Simply… I don’t know, it’s weird here, all these supers—and then there’s me. Right? It’s overwhelming.”

  “We’re supers, too,” I pointed out, glancing around for my clothes but not seeing where Cheri had tossed them.

  “Yeah, but you’re different. I’ve known you longer—slightly. Anyway…” She turned to watch as Cheri started moaning, gripping Mer’s hair and taking control. “Right. I better go—think my team’s going to have seconds.”

  I laughed. “That was all? Letha, you’re as badass as any of these supers. Don’t forget that.”

  She paused in the door, said, “Thanks,” and then went on her way.

  “No boundaries, huh?” Erupa said, laughing, and then turned to see that I was still erect. She eyed the two ladies, then Tink, and said, “On the topic of seconds,” before bowing down and taking me in her mouth.

  I closed my eyes, letting it happen and enjoying the moment. At some point I was aware of Tink joining in, and maybe one of them was riding me. I think I climaxed and was pretty sure they both did, but honestly, sleep was taking me as it hadn’t in a long time.

  There was kissing, some dreams, and then I was up, staring at all of the ladies as they sat around me, trying not to laugh.

  “What?” I said. “What is it?”

  Cheri put a hand to her mouth, then laughed. “You were talking in your sleep.”

  “Oh?”

  “Something about licking it up, slurping up our pussy juice.”

  “Bullshit.” I sat up, realizing I was likely blushing. “I didn’t.”

  Erupa nodded. “You did, and it was hot. You should try talking dirty like that more when you’re awake.”

  I laughed, finally spotting my clothes and grabbing them. “We’ll see.”

  Cheri perked up, eyes going to the door. “They’re back.” As if that was enough, she sat and started fastening her top to hide her beautiful breasts, much to my chagrin.

  “Who?” I asked, dressing. “What?”

  “Breaker and Drew and their teams. They were fighting the enemy, and now they’re back.”

  “Shit, while we were sitting on our thumbs?” I laughed. “Now I feel like a dick.”

  “No, Lilly says it was a training exercise of sorts, anyway.” Cheri picked up her sword, kissed the bear, and sheathed the blade. The action earned a confused look from Mer, but she would figure us out eventually, I imagined.

  The rest of us dressed and headed out, and soon encountered the others standing in a semi-circle and discussing plans.

  Letha nodded our way, and there was the man who, from his looks, I knew had to be Drew. He had a slight resemblance to Breaker but was clearly the jock of the two. Taller, buffer, his head cleanly shaved, the man looked every bit the Marine, every bit of what I imagined he would look like.

  Breaker was saying, “I suppose you’re going to point us in the right direction?”

  “If there is a right direction,” Hadrian replied, then turned to me as if waiting to see what I had figured out.

  “Actually…” I faced him, looking over the brothers, as well as Trunk, Letha and their teams. “We’ve been talking. Maybe we can’t face the Nihilists so well, but they have others coming with them, and not only for Earth.”

  “Not only that,” Erupa said, “but the super back there was talking with Hadrian before our arrival, and they agreed there’s a need to have someone infiltrate Ranger’s networks. Find out who was working with him, for him… all of that.”

  I looked forward to this. “I’m going to infiltrate my old bounty hunter system, try to find out who they’re putting marks on, and work backwards. In the process, we can try to track the others down. Begin to eradicate their forces, as much as we’re able.”

  “It’s not a bad idea,” Lamb said.

  Hadrian nodded, and glanced over at Drew. “What do you say, Elder?”

  Drew blinked, apparently still not used to being addressed like this, but nodded. “I believe that’s smart. You all can help avoid slaughter from all sides, where possible.”

  “It’s agreed, then.” Hadrian turned to address us all. “Breaker and his team will go in search of the Shadow Mystic, find her as expediently as possible, and return to Earth to cut off the snake at the head. Meanwhile, the other teams will help lead the assault against the Nihilists here and elsewhere in the Oram system and beyond, exiling them once again from our galaxy.”

  “Except for me and mine,” Letha chimed in. “I have my own mission.”

  “Is that so?”

  “We just learned my sister betrayed me and took over one of the most militarized families in the Earth Elites system.” Letha stood tall, glaring as if daring him to try to stop her. It was something, considering she was a human without any powers and he was, well, Hadrian.

  “So, you’d take her out, and then what?” he asked.

  It surprised me how calm she was, how her aura spoke of revenge and action, but in a very methodical, professional approach. Threed, however, was still emotionally grappling with the news of her sister, eyes darting over to Breaker and giving out all sorts of confused signals.

  “Considering what I now know,” Letha said, elaborating on her plan, “form an alliance with the Citadel, help repel Muerta and this invasion if that’s still an issue, and use my new influence to get the Earthers smarter about all this.”

  “Very well,” Hadrian replied.

  “We’re all basically going our separate ways?” Shimmer asked.

  “Looks that way,” Breaker answered. “Hopefully to meet up again before too long.”

  “I’ll count on it,” Drew replied, the brothers shaking hands, then pulling each other in for a hug. “Don’t take too long or I’ll think you don’t want to see me.”

  “Hey, hurry up and save the supers’ worlds, and then you can come help,” Breaker countered with a wink.

  “It’s a race, then.”

  We all laughed, excited to see these powerhouses in action.

  “The rest of you, say your goodbyes and wish each other luck.” Hadrian turned, heading back for the tent we’d traveled through earlier. “When you’re ready, I’ll escort the teams back to the Citadel to be on your separate ways.”

  I nodded, then caught up with Letha as she was laughing at something one of her men had said.

  “Hey,” she said, clasping me on the shoulder. “Going for more adventure, apparently.”

  “You’re going to figure out your family stuff, I have no doubt.”

  “Yeah, well,” she shrugged, “I fucking better, or I’m going to be pissed. I didn’t go through Planet Kill, and everything since, only to fail now.”

  I laughed. “No, I wouldn’t think you did.”

  “Kick ass out there, Ezra.”

  “You, too.”

  I had heard them discussing the Shadow Mystic and the need to find her, and asked Cheri what Lilly could tell us about the situation. Cheri had come back with some story of a war fought long ago, a woman trapped in a barrier of time or some nonsense, and then insisted that we would find out more soon enough.

  Seeing that Breaker was available, I stepped over to him next and cleared my throat. “Guess we’ll see you down there then, huh? After you find the Shadow Mystic, maybe.”

  “Don’t worry, you won’t have to wait long,” Breaker replied.

  “Think so? If Hadrian knows how to find this lady, why hasn’t he done so before? Ever think of that?”

  Breaker glanced back to the metal dome Hadrian had gone into. “Something I’ll have to ask very soon,” he replied and walked off to join Letha and Trunk where they stood talking to each other.

  I hadn’t even really spoken to Drew, so I didn’t look for him. Instead, I looked back at Hadrian, who was now approaching me. At one point, my thought had been that we would help fight off the invasion of Earth and their forces, but then we had changed that to going after the old Ranger contacts. The plan changed yet again when he said, “I have other plans for you.”

  “Other plans?” “What we discussed, but sooner. Real soon.” He nodded to Erupa as she joined us, and said, “You all, hang tight on the Citadel. We’re questioning Killart and have some very good answers, which I should be able to check over with a contact I have on Theramuse. The rest shouldn’t take long to get out of him, and then we’ll send you on your mission.”

  “Can’t fucking wait,” Cheri said as she joined us, too.

  “It’s going to be fun.” Hadrian winked at her—a weird sight with his one eye—and then moved back to finish briefing another group I wasn’t familiar with.

  I turned to Erupa and Cheri, feeling a bit jittery at the mention of Theramuse. Too much baggage came with that planet.

  “Whatever it is, must be important,” Erupa said. “Otherwise, he’d send us off to fight now and figure this stuff out later.”

  Cheri nodded eagerly. “Fucking awesome.”

  “Fucking awesome,” I agreed, eager to learn what was coming next.

  102

  All that followed the destruction of Abaddon led to this moment, the one where I would take my first mission on behalf of the Citadel.

  We had connected with Breaker and his crew after Abaddon, met back up with Letha, and managed to help take down a space station of privatized military Orion Corp. badasses before finally making our way to the Citadel. All of the fighters who had gone through this with us had been amazing—Breaker, Charm, and the rest—and I couldn’t believe I was among them.

  Me! A superpowered bounty hunter who had ended up on the wrong side of the fight, only to be brought over when I partnered with my team. Maybe embracing the insanity is the only way to really defeat the crazy? We were the Psychobitches after all, as Cheri loved to say. Her little endearing term for the team, considering the fact that when all this kicked off I had been delivering them to what was basically an insane asylum… now destroyed.

  Soon after Breaker and the others went off to fight on Earth to fend off an invasion, Hadrian took me to a spot inside one of the domed, metallic rooms of the Citadel. There had been a time when I thought this Citadel and the supers who resided here were on the wrong side of the law. My ladies had turned me around on that as we had run for our lives on Abaddon, and then stopped running to instead take down the whole damn place.

  And now I was here, standing with this legendary super, a man who could change his form at will but stood before me as an old man with one eye gone and scarred over. The man who had been around since before even the time of the Syndicate, they said. His gold cape fell down his back, over his red armor. It gave him a very regal look, one that worked to contrast the humble, trusting expression on his face.

  “Killart has given us some valuable intel,” Hadrian started. “While the destination is the same, the nature of your going to Theramuse has changed. It will be a very special mission, indeed.”

  “I’m happy to serve.”

  “This… it’s asking a lot of you.”

  I cocked my head, curious. “You can count on me.”

  “I believe you.” He gestured to the walls of the domed building, where light climbed up and then formed a three-dimensional image above us. A planetary system was displayed, a star, then zooming past to home in on a planet of purple and green, dotted here and there with blue and spots of brown. I recognized it instantly. Not that I had ever been there, but it was legendary among my kind. Or, my former kind—the bounty hunters. Many of those recruited by the Gold Reapers had come from the planet, including Maji.

  “Theramuse,” I said, the name of the planet heavy on my tongue. “What could you possibly have in mind for that place?”

  “You might be familiar with the legend of the Cult of Hermite that resides on Theramuse. Yes?”

  “Legend, rumor… sure.”

  “It’s all coming together. That opportunity you spoke of to infiltrate the crew that ran with Ranger, those still loyal to the enemy…” He paused, looking to see if I was following, then added, “This could be the largest bounty hunter job of our lifetime, and the best opportunity for you to make your move.”

  “Move for what?”

  “The Gold Reapers are pulling together, preparing to make a move against one of their own, although Killart hasn’t been able to tell us who. He believes that, with Orion Corp. now mostly out of the way, the Gold Reapers will fill the gap unless you can stop them.”

  “Me? How?”

  “Get in there under the guise that you and your team are bounty hunters looking to side with the Reapers, like all the others. Find our ally, but more than that…” He looked troubled, then leaned in. “There’s more to this than shows on the surface. I’ve visited the Seer, and spent some time mulling over the possible futures. It would seem the problems we face are not as two-sided as we had hoped, and that the Nihilists and their kind are hardly our only enemy.”

  “The supervillains, of course.”

  “No, something much more sinister. A force from long ago, one that I and early super settlers fought and barely managed to hold off until we could block the way. Seek out the Cult of Hermite, and we might have our answers.”

  “Holy hell.”

  Hadrian nodded. “They’re on Theramuse.” He stared at me a long moment, eyes weighing me, before continuing. “Ezra, you know the inner workings of the system. You can form alliances needed to… well, I must let you find your own path. But from what I’ve seen, I will tell you to trust your heart, allow yourself to connect to your past, and embrace everything about your powers. You will need it all.”

  “So, I’ll be hunting down someone undercover, really to find out what this group is up to?”

  “While uncovering hunters who might have been aligned with Ranger, yes.”

  “Sounds like fun.” I hesitated. “Only problem I see being Maji. He knows I’ve changed sides.”

  “Can you handle it?”

  “I’ve beaten him before.”

  Hadrian nodded. “Welcome to the Citadel, Ezra. Gather your team and prepare to depart. I’ll set you up with coordinates to meet with my contact on the planet. You’ll know him as Brundal.”

  While he went off to do more of whatever he did here, I turned to find my team and fill them in. As I passed it, the Per-Neter on the dais it lit up. Drew and his team, along with several others, appeared as they returned from another stint of fighting above. They rotated with others, from time to time. Since we were about to head out, I decided to introduce myself and say farewell. It would be a good way to go.

  “Drew,” I called out, giving him a short wave and striding over. “Ezra Faldron. Had to say hello, since it looks like I’m heading off, soon.”

  The tall Marine turned to me, grinned, and thrust out a hand. “Where are they sending you, Ezra?”

  “Hadrian wants me on an infiltration mission,” I replied.

  “Ah, I’ve heard about that one.” He nodded respect. “If you make it back here, be sure to find me for a drink.”

  I laughed. “If, huh?”

  “When.”

  I glanced around, only then noticing that his full team wasn’t there. “Where are Threed and the cat lady?”

  Drew frowned, probably at my ‘cat’ reference. “They’ll be along shortly. Up there doing some planning. Why?”

  “I imagine Cheri would’ve liked to say ‘bye to Threed, at least. But… next time, I guess.”

  “I’m sure we’ll all get a chance to meet again,” Drew said, and clasped me on the shoulder. “Make it count out there, brother.”

  “You know we will.”

  As he jogged off to catch up with the others he’d returned with, I noticed Cheri sitting on a wing of the nearby fighter plane, watching me as one of her fingers twirled her blue pigtails.

  “Going to crazy land, huh?” She laughed. “Everyone knows that’s what Theramuse is now—a fucking psychoworld. We’ll fit right in.”

  “Don’t spy on me,” I chided her. “I was on my way to tell you all.”

  “Well, now you don’t have to tell me. So, yay.”

  “What do you mean by it being a psychoworld?”

  She grinned wide, jumped off, and landed at my side with a thud. “Just what it sounds like. That place? It’s gone to hell. I should know, I was there.”

  “What? When?”

  “Before.”

  “Before…?”

  She shrugged, then let out a snort of a laugh. “Come to think of it, had I never left, you wouldn’t have caught me.”

  “Sorry.”

  “Don’t be. If you’d never caught me, we wouldn’t be here.”

  I nodded, eyeing her speculatively, glad we were here, but not quite getting the full picture. “What in the ever-loving fuck were you doing on Theramuse?”

  She grinned even wider, if that was possible. “Chasing down some guy I was sure I was in love with.”

  “Oh.”

  “That bothers you?”

  “Should it?” I shook my head. “Because no, it doesn’t. But maybe a bit.”

  “Don’t worry, I’m all yours, now.”

  “And that guy?”

  “Well…” She pulled at her pigtail, causing her head to turn sideways as she yanked her hair up and stuck out her tongue. “They hung him. Turns out, he was all kinds of trouble. The ship he used to fly out and meet me—and about ten other women, it turns out—belonged to one of the local warlords, this big dude who goes by the name, KaBear. Stupid, I know, but his logic is that he’s large and hairy like a bear and likes to blow things up. Kaboom plus bear. KaBear.”

  I was too distracted to have a thought about the ridiculous name. “What sort of planet is this Theramuse place that they still hang people?”