CHAPTER 11: BREAKER

  Earth, Campsite

  My first thought when the fighting broke out was that one of the supers had to be joking around. Maybe Shimmer had made an illusion to screw with us, but pranks weren’t really her thing. That meant the attack was really happening!

  Andromida had strolled off to chat with Kai while he was training with Charm, so my second thought was that I needed to get to them.

  Before the attack came, the rest of us had been drinking. Twitch said since she had missed out on the first swim, she wanted to give the river a try. When she said she could use her ability to hack the code of the river to make it warm like a bath, I was in. When her clothes hit the ground and my gaze roamed over her curves, I was quick to follow. My cock was already nearly erect, and as I turned to see Laurel undressing behind me, it went to full attention. She glanced down at it and bit her lip playfully.

  “I thought this was just a swim?” Harp said, arms folded across her chest.

  “How about we play it by ear?” Laurel suggested, stepping past me on her way to the water but running a hand along my bicep as she did so. Looking back at Harp, she added, “You wouldn’t want to miss out, would you?”

  That did it, and a second later Harp was undressing, Muerta and Gale already running in and splashing about. One glance at the group of them was enough to remind me how amazing life could be.

  Then came the chaos. A rip in the sky followed by bursts of light, and then the first salvo of strikes near the camp.

  At first I ignored it, very focused on Twitch as she stepped up to me, hand moving down along my abs until her fingers caressed the tip of my cock. The water felt great, and the night was so perfect.

  Explosions sounded in the distance. I assumed they were in my mind, like some sort of expectation of the pleasure to come. The second I realized those explosions were real, I moved Twitch’s hand from my exposed cock and shook my head, knowing blue balls were imminent.

  She frowned at me, then looked behind me at the campsite. Her eyes went wide as a second round of explosions detonated. No need to bother getting dressed, not at a time like this. Both of us darted out of the water, Laurel and Harp joining a second later, and Twitch pulled up two screens, one to code clothes onto us and the other to set a protective barrier between the camp and the portal in the sky.

  If I hadn’t been so worried about my son, I would have laughed when some of the attackers slammed right into her barrier and slid off.

  Instead, I shouted, “Kai! Get to Kai!”

  “On it,” Harp replied, and then cleared her throat—the telltale sign that she was switching into attack mode. ’When we first met her, she hadn’t been able to speak to us at all without a translator that worked to keep her powers from affecting us, but over the years Twitch and I had gotten much better at coding improvements for the team.

  A second later, Harp flew out of sight and into the tree line, a harpy-like screech aimed at the enemies around her. Those who were susceptible dropped to the ground, clutching their ears.’

  Laurel charged after her, hands up and antennae glowing, trees already starting to move at her command. I almost felt sorry for the poor idiots who had dared to attack us.

  Leaping into the air alongside Twitch, I activated my powers to hover at her side and summon my war hammer. What was the point of being a badass super who could manipulate reality in an overpowered (OP) way if you couldn’t have fun while doing it?

  “Kai!” I called out, darting into the tree line, careful to give Laurel enough space to do her thing.

  From what I could see, the majority of the attackers wore metal Kitsune armor, some with one metallic tail and others with more. Their helmets included fox ears and glowing eyes, and some seemed to have legit powers, while others attacked with weapons that ranged from swords to guns.

  My team was fighting them off easily enough, but Kai was no superhero and neither were the people in the campsites not so far off—there weren’t many, but I saw at least one other tent when I rose into the sky.

  I slammed my war hammer into the chest of one of those metal kitsunes, then turned to see a man in the sky near the portal, watching me.

  Bring me Charm, bound and powerless. His voice echoed through my mind.

  “Not gonna happen,” I snarled. Whoever these people were, they obviously knew Charm — so why hadn’t she ever mentioned them?

  You have your orders. The sooner you comply, the easier this will be on you. When you’re ready, simply tell them you surrender to Ragnor the Great and Powerful.

  Several purple-eyed creatures in black hoods appeared at his side, and with a flash of purple light around them, Ragnor and those Nihilists vanished. From there, the rest began to pull back as well.

  Almost as quickly as it had begun, the fight was over, the enemy gone! I wasn’t about to celebrate, however, because I still didn’t know where Kai was.

  “What the hell was that?” Drew said, strolling over with one glowing, smoking hand extended, his eyes fiery orange.

  “Have you seen Kai?” I demanded, then turned to Charm and Andromida, the latter holding the former on the outskirts of the campsite. “Charm, where’s my son?”

  Charm looked up with tear-filled eyes, then collapsed to her knees. She would have fallen completely if Andromida hadn’t caught her.

  “Shit,” I muttered, sprinting over to them. “What’s going on? What’s… this?”

  “It’s all my fault,” Charm spluttered between tears. “Damn, damn, damn. FUCK!”

  She pushed out of Andromida’s arms and shot up, claws out and bubbles of light popping around her, her tails lashing as she rose into the sky. She darted back and forth, clearly looking for a way to re-open the portal the enemy had come through. Her little outburst resulted in nothing, however, and after a moment she drifted back down to us and held her face in her hands, shoulders heaving.

  The rest of us had gathered around by then, and by the time she looked up again we’d encircled her, waiting in silence.

  “I did something horrible,” Charm said.

  “What…?” My mind was reeling, trying to figure out what she could possibly mean. “No, of course you didn’t. Charm, listen to me, we all fought them and…” I shook my head, looking around again. “Where the fuck is my son?”

  “A portal,” Andromida chimed in. “Honestly, I’m not sure what this is about,” she gestured to Charm, “but as soon as I saw the attack, I made a portal to send Kai to safety. But somehow they changed the portal and blasted him… somewhere else.”

  “Where?” I felt my throat clenching up, a sickening coldness in my stomach. My eyes darted about to each of them, taking note of their worried expressions—especially those from his cousins. It hit me then that there might be more to this abduction than we had first thought. “The prophecy, if they have reason to believe it’ll be Kai…”

  Lamb put a hand to her mouth and cursed, followed by a couple of the others from Drew’s team muttering among themselves.

  “It’s possible,” Navani said, hand to her chin. “If they believe that, this might all be an attempt to ensure the prophecy never comes to be.”

  “Well… shit,” Drew said. “They were kitsunes, no? You’ve had experience with the kitsune planet and we have an insider—can’t we just go ask them?”

  “Not exactly,” Charm said, finally taking a deep breath to pull herself together.

  “Tell us,” I said, very close to losing my patience. She’d held something back and I had no idea what it was.

  “I went through… alone. The other day when you all were asleep. Honestly, I thought it would be no big deal, that I’d take out some baddies on my own, have a good time, and be back without incident before any of you woke up. I’m OP as shit, after all, but… I think my confidence got the best of me.”

  “That wasn’t smart,” Twitch said, “but what’s it have to do with this?”

  “Those attackers, the ones wearing the kitsune-looking armor… they were the ones I met over there. Umm…” She put a hand to her mouth, eyes changing from pink to light blue, and she shook her head in shame. “They captured me and nearly stole my powers, or were trying to, I don’t know, but I escaped and fought, earning their friendship. But I promised to gather you all and return to help them. Maybe I was too late, or… I don’t know.”

  “You should’ve said something sooner!” I shouted, and before I knew it a darkness was surging through me, spreading out like a choking fog and lifting me into the air. Not only lifting me, I realized, but making me larger, transforming me.

  “Dude, bro…” Drew looked up at me, and while I didn’t turn to face him, I could see him.

  “My son is out there, who the hell knows where…” I growled, then found my arms lifted in front of me, covered in scales and spikes, and the sight of my transformation made me even more furious. “And nobody can tell me how we’re going to find him!”

  Calm, calmmmmm… Laurel’s mind brushed my own.

  I looked around at the others. Some were bracing themselves, and some looked ready to strike. At me! The rage in me bubbled even hotter, but my love for them won out and I pulled back, pushing against the evil that seemed to be taking hold.

  “What the hell…?” I muttered. I forced my mind to settle, and slowly my form shrank back to normal. “I’m sorry, I don’t know what happened.”

  “As one who knows about curses,” Muerta said, standing with one hand on her hip and scanning me, “I have a feeling that portal brought more than an attack.”

  “You think he’s cursed?” Twitch stepped up next to me, creating screens that were no doubt analyzing me and searching for any sign of a curse or something related. “I’m not seeing anything. Not like we did with you.”

  “He just lost his son,” Drew chimed in. “What do you expect him to do, keep calm and get down on his knees to pray?”

  I scoffed. “Lost…? Dammit, it’s not like he’s…” Dead. The word wouldn’t escape my lips, but fear of another sort gripped me and that darkness threatened to take over again.

  “He’s not,” Andromida assured me. “They could have killed him, but instead they converted the portal. They wanted him—maybe to use against you, maybe for some other reason. Right now, our only goal should be to track them down and get him back.”

  I stood and nodded, not daring to speak lest my anger get the best of me.

  “Can you get us through?” Lamb asked.

  “Actually, we’re going to need some forces focused on the Sol and Oram Systems,” Twitch said. “This is hardly the first attack.”

  Lamb nodded, but turned to Drew as he grunted.

  “My brother’s son goes missing, I’m going to help him find the boy,” Drew said. “Simple as that.”

  “Except, what if that means ensuring that same group who caused this can’t do any more damage? Or maybe helping means catching them and getting answers when they attack again? This is the start of something much larger.” Lamb held my gaze. “One thing is clear—we cannot let the enemy get their hands on the Cosmic Connector.”

  Drew opened his mouth to protest, but I had gotten myself under control and beat him to it. “Just… can you do it, Andromida? Can you open a portal to them?”

  Andromida licked her lips, turning to Charm. “That’ll depend on her.”

  “There was a portal open with my name on it,” Charm replied. “I thought we would be able to go back that way, but if they’ve turned against us… I don’t know.”

  “Sounds like it was a targeted attempt to get to you,” Andromida noted. “Most likely, it’ll be turned off. If I can find a way to trace Charm’s last jump…”

  “My Essence might not be as useful as it once was,” Lamb noted, “but… it might help in this case. Charm, do you mind…?”

  Charm’s eyes met mine and she held a hand to her mouth. I wanted to wrap my arms around her and tell her I knew it wasn’t her fault, that of course I forgave her for not mentioning this sooner, and that somehow we’d get through this as a team as we always had. But the words didn’t want to come out, so instead I simply held her gaze and waited.

  “Of course, go ahead,” she finally said, voice barely a whisper.

  Lamb knelt at her side and pressed a dark sphere to her, then stood and nodded. Now it was Andromida’s turn. As she put a hand on Charm’s wrist, where the sphere had formed into a bracelet that melted to Charm’s skin like a tattoo, black tendrils warped out around Andromida’s hand.

  Her eyes glowed purple and she held out her other hand, a portal starting to open but then fading just as fast. Again she tried, and again she failed.

  “I—I don’t know why it isn’t working,” Andromida admitted.

  “We’re going to need some help understanding this one,” Twitch said, and I already knew the answer before she said, “We need to pay a visit to the Shadow Runner.”

  CHAPTER 12: KAI

  Alien Planet

  My eyes took a moment to adjust, having gone from night to what I thought was a bright room but soon saw was daylight. Pushing myself to keep moving, I stayed low to the ground and did my best to keep a low profile. Considering that I had no idea where I was, my strategy was to avoid being seen until I at least knew who or what I was dealing with.

  One thing was clear—this was not the Citadel. Instead, I seemed to be in some sort of teleportation or travel hub on an alien planet. Alien, because where there should have been a sun, I instead saw a couple distant orbs of red and green. Strange didn’t begin to describe it. Curled trees peeked out past the buildings and glowing balls of light floated like strands of silk but were both translucent and ethereal.

  I wasn’t supposed to be here, but something had disrupted my portal. Either the attackers had scrambled it at random, just trying to get me out of the way through any means necessary, or they had purposefully sent me here. If it was the latter, I needed to get to a hiding place ASAP.

  A sound like jet engines echoed in the sky and off nearby metal walls, so I scrambled to those curled trees and threw myself at the base of one, rolling to get out of sight. Not two seconds later, a figure touched down in a massive robotic suit with thrusters that slowly powered down to drop her gently to the metal flight deck.

  Her armor was sleek and form-fitting except for jetpack on her back and what looked like a metal tail. On her head were metal ears. From this angle I couldn’t see the front of the helmet, but already I could tell the armor resembled a fox—or more precisely, it resembled Charm.

  What the hell was this? I’d heard of the “Kitsune Planet” she was from. But why would her people attack us? I couldn’t make sense of it.

  The first lady stood on the platform and waited until another metal-suited figure arrived. Once that one landed, they began talking, but their voices were too low for me to hear.

  I glanced past them and eyed what looked like a futuristic fortress with metal walls with strange towers topped by glowing, purple orbs. To the right were jagged mountains, and to the left all I could see was the metal wall surrounding half of the area’ I’d landed in.

  The fortress thing was probably my best bet if I wanted answers.

  “…came through…” one of the voices said, rising now.

  The second said, “How the hell should I know?!”

  At least they spoke my language—if I needed to ask for directions, that would prove useful. That wouldn’t be happening anytime soon, though, since they seemed to be on the enemy’s side.

  Finally the first to arrive stomped her foot and shoved the other one as she shouted, “Run a scan, blow everything you see to oblivion, I don’t give a fuck, just FIND HIM!”

  With a snarl, she glanced around once, then the jetpack lit up and she flew into the air toward the purple orb fortress.

  The other woman muttered and cursed, turning my way so I was able to get a glimpse of the front of her mask. It had a fox’s muzzle and glowing green eyes. Those eyes glinted with lines of green light. That had to be the scan, which meant my hiding spot wasn’t going to do me much good.

  I scrambled back but hit a wall. Damn, it continued past these trees. At least the trees were blocking her direct view of me, so I stood and ran for it, sticking to the wall and continuing in the direction I’d seen the mountains.

  This could very well be my last few minutes of life’. All I had was this stupid tattoo-looking bracelet essence from Lamb. Lamest present ever, although I guess it would have been cool if I’d had any sort of powers at all.

  The trees thinned out in front of me until they disappeared completely, and I sighed and slowed to a stop. From here, I would be out in the open.

  A glance back showed me that the fox-armor ladies were gone, but that didn’t mean it would be smart to run out balls to the wall. I took a deep breath, wishing my dad or any of the other supers were here with me.

  Standing here wouldn’t get me any closer to safety, and hiding only to die of thirst wouldn’t do any good. There was a chance that if I waited, some super would come for me, but for all I knew there was no way for them to follow.

  Shit, shit, shit, I thought.

  I swallowed my fear and picked a spot down the hill where I could find cover from prying eyes behind a rock, then sprinted with all I had. I was halfway there before the sound of those thrusters returned and my nerves went haywire, my legs turning to jelly.

  I lost my footing and tripped, sliding and scraping my forearm. Damn, that hurt. I was about to push myself up, but realized that if I just lay there, they might not see me.

  Sure enough, a group of those fox-armored women arrived, at least six of them, and they flew right past me to the spot where I’d landed.

  “Find him!” one shouted, voice echoing over to me. “Spread out and search, now!”

  ’I couldn’t stay here. Since I was on the decline, there was a chance they wouldn’t see me unless they walked closer and looked down.

  Up, up, up…