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  Supers: Ex Heroes 6

  Jamie Hawke

  Editors

  Diane Newton

  Tracey Byrnes

  EX HEROES 6 (this book) is a work of fiction.

  All of the characters, organizations, and events portrayed in this novel are either products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Sometimes both.

  Complete Book is Copyright (c) 2019 by Jamie Hawke (of Double Down Press).

  All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, recording or otherwise, without the prior written permission of Jamie Hawke.

  Contents

  Foreword

  Welcome

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  Chapter 10

  Chapter 11

  Chapter 12

  Chapter 13

  Chapter 14

  Chapter 15

  Chapter 16

  Chapter 17

  Chapter 18

  Chapter 19

  Chapter 20

  Chapter 21

  Chapter 22

  Chapter 23

  Chapter 24

  Chapter 25

  Chapter 26

  Chapter 27

  Chapter 28

  Author Ramblings

  About the Author

  Read Next

  Foreword

  This book fits into the Supers Universe, along with the Ex Gods series. If you haven’t read those yet, I hope you’ll give them a try!

  Find them on my Amazon page, and click follow below my avatar to ensure you never miss one!

  Welcome

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  WARNING: This book contains gratuitous violence and sex.

  Thank you for taking a chance on my books. I hope you love reading them as much as I loved writing them!

  Jamie Hawke

  1

  Charm on one side of me, three tails waving in anticipation, Shimmer on the other with her massive rifle ready for action, I stared at our ship’s display to see the massive number of enemy ships that we were flying up against. My focus was on the point where the Shadow Mystic—A.K.A. Sam—had just vanished.

  Having seen Sam take off like that from the Red Square, shooting up into the sky to take on the enemy, gave me hope. She had a plan, I imagined, and we had our mission. We needed to take out Asterisk. Letha assured me she had a way to turn the tide on this invasion of Earth, and I had learned enough about her in our short time together to know that she and her plan might just have a chance.

  Letha’s sister was up there somewhere, likely working for the enemy with aspirations of being put in charge after all this was over. Somehow that fit into the bigger picture, and we were going to find the missing connection or cram the pieces together until they fit, if necessary.

  “Got Muerta stowed away?” I asked, and Gale gave me a thumbs up as I’d shown her.

  “What’s the plan?” A.I. Lamb asked. Charm stood next to her, one of the three tails swishing right through her in a sort of creepy way.

  Everyone looked at me, and I glanced back at Letha. She frowned, stepped forward, and said, “Show me the largest private ship among the enemy.”

  A.I. Lamb gave her a curious look, but the screen flickered, then changed to an image of a large destroyer, sitting back while other ships moved around it in a protective formation. Fighters emerged from a port in the side and flew off into battle.

  “You think your sister’s there?” I asked.

  Letha stepped closer, then guffawed. She held up her hand and moved it apart, so that the screen zoomed in on the words printed in huge letters along the ship’s hull. “That’s one of my family’s ships. And if it’s the largest in play, I’d say she’s on it.”

  “And Asterisk?” Andromida asked, always with her eye on the prize.

  “We’ll need a new strategy to take her on.” Even as I spoke I hated to admit it, but we had gotten our asses handed to us. Now it was worse—we were about to ride up into her territory.

  “I won’t let her escape.”

  “Neither will we,” I indicated the large ship. “But first, we get Letha to that ship. While she’s having a sister bonding moment, we hunt down Asterisk.”

  “Judging by the way she handled herself down there,” Twitch said, clicking her tongue, “I’d say she’ll be easy to find.”

  “What makes you say that?” Charm asked.

  “Cocky. Hanging out, letting her guards take care of her. Right about now she’s probably hiding out on her ship with her guards or generals on full defensive.”

  “Then we go up there and tear her fucking face off,” Charm spat out the words, but then clamped her hand over her mouth as if in an attempt to stop them escaping. “Too much?”

  “No,” Andromida said flatly.

  “Do whatever you ladies need to do to get the job done,” I said, kind of loving Charm’s aggressiveness.

  Andromida breathed heavily and sat in her seat, impatiently. “As far as I’m concerned, this is the last piece of the puzzle. After this…”

  “After this, what?” I asked. “You go into retirement?”

  She arched an eyebrow. “Really? Me, sitting around on a beach fingering myself? I don’t think so. I figured I’d stay with you, let you fuck me all day and night. You and the rest of this lot. I mean, some company excluded—no offense, Letha and crew.”

  “None taken,” Letha said, grinning and nodding at her two companions, the large dude who was relatively quiet, and her mutated monster guy. “Got myself handled right here already, thank you very much.”

  I had to wonder if she still fucked the monster, and instantly felt bad about thinking of him as such. Apparently, I wasn’t the only one, because Charm said, “You all still fuck?”

  Letha arched an eyebrow. “Shit, the mutation made him bigger than Trunk, and that’s saying something. Hard to fit, but… I can give you a demonstration if you’d like.”

  The green monster’s pants started to shift, his eyes darting across the room. I’d been thinking of him to myself as the ‘Green Monster’ for so long now that I really had to rack my brain before recalling that his name was Darnell, the other guy with Letha being Rand.

  “No, no,” Charm said with a chuckle. “I’m good.”

  Honestly, I didn’t want to see that either. As hot as Letha was, it seemed awkward, and we still had a fight to get to.

  Laurel and Harp both looked relieved at the decision, too, although Gale wore a curious expression.

  “What?” I asked. “Don’t tell me—I mean, go ahead if you all want, just not in here. And only watching.”

  “Oh, no, no, no,” Gale said, hands up and chuckling. “Just got me curious, is all. How big exactly we talking here with Trunk?”

  I scowled, but couldn’t help looking when Letha held her hands up, going wider and wider.

  “Bullshit,” I said. “He’d fucking die every time he got a boner.”

  “He doesn’t,” she said with a laugh, “but I nearly do.”

  “Come on, now,” her non-mutated man said.

  “Yours is good, too,” she said, then cupped his crotch and kissed his cheek. “I’m not saying one is better than the other, just stating facts.”

  He still looked put out, at which Shimmer laughed. “You realize we all might die today, and on top of that, if we don’t, you’re the guy she’s sleeping w
ith, right?”

  “Yeah, sure,” the guy said. “Just don’t want her thinking about some other—”

  “Don’t you dare say it,” Letha countered, now squeezing him in a testing way. “Because that’s bullshit and you know I’d never.”

  He bit his lip, then pulled her close to him, the two suddenly kissing passionately, while their green friend looked on and grinned amiably.

  “Give me something to kill, already,” Andromida said, pointedly looking the other way.

  “Awww, I think it’s sweet,” Charm said. “Now him, kiss the monster one.”

  Big Green scowled at her, but to prove the words didn’t mean anything, Letha turned around, kissing the guy and maybe more. Awkward, strange… but if I was ever mutated, I certainly hoped these ladies wouldn’t stop kissing me, and more. On that note, I had a thought to try making an illusion and pretending, to see how they acted, but decided that wasn’t playing nice.

  “I should let you all know,” A.I. Lamb said, gesturing to the display. “While we are cloaked, we’re moving in close, likely to the range where they will be able to scan us soon.”

  “Muerta’s secured?” I asked, and Shimmer nodded. “And… Aegriss?”

  “I have her secured, essentially in rest mode,” Twitch replied.

  With a nod, I turned back to the display, ready for what came next. I wanted so badly to go to Aegriss and hold her, to tell her it was all going to be okay. She was in bad shape, but the most I had been able to do was scan her with my troubleshooter skill, cutting off pain receptors and any issues that would cause her to suffer. She was so real to me at this point, even with her wires hanging out, that I had cradled her head, kissed her gently, and then told her to hold on. Maybe once that would have been weird, considering that I knew she had started out as an android, but by this point she was so much more. One of the team, without a doubt.

  So, knowing we had to leave her back there in her incomplete state while we went off to fight and possibly never return, was painful.

  And because of that, I swore to make this as fast as humanly possible. Or, not humanly, but superhumanly possible.

  “Ladies,” I paused and nodded to Letha’s companions, “gentlemen… Let’s kick some fucking ass.”

  “YEAH!” Charm shouted, leaping up as if the enemy were right there.

  Andromida glanced over, skeptically.

  “We have a plan, then?” Twitch asked.

  “I do,” I said, pretty much winging it. “That main ship will pick us up, right? I mean, be able to find us on radar or whatever.”

  “Right,” A.I. Lamb said.

  “Great, then… we don’t board her via our ship—we board her via an enemy ship. One of hers.”

  Shimmer grunted. “I like it.”

  “Let’s take ourselves an enemy ship, then,” I said, heading for the rear of our ship, rotating my neck as I prepared for this.

  “How… exactly?” Twitch asked.

  I looked back, grinned, and said, “Trust me.” Yeah, I felt like a badass. It was great, but… would’ve been even better if I really had a plan.

  2

  I’d always been the lucky type when it came to figuring out what to do on the fly. Maybe there was another way to describe that—like being ‘quick on my feet.’ Point being, this was no different. I wasn’t sure it would work, but my idea was to get close enough to a ship that I’d be able to material-port myself inside.

  Meaning, I had to be fast, and I had to limit my passengers to Letha and her two followers. Even with that, I wasn’t sure it would work. When I told the team I was going without them, Charm pouted and Gale shouted that it was stupid, but the rest looked unsure.

  “Listen, we need Letha to do this,” I said. “Any of you have a better way?”

  “Why can’t we just fly straight at the fucker?” Gale said. “Take it out the old-fashioned way.”

  “Suicide bomber?” I laughed. “First, because the shield or some other protective layer would keep them safe.”

  “So, I go with you on this, hope you don’t leave me floating off into space, and then… what?” Letha asked. “Our best bet is that you might be able to kind of teleport me through a ship?”

  I grinned. “Got a problem with that?”

  Letha scrunched her nose, ran a hand along the shaved side of her head—which was growing out a bit now that she hadn’t been able to trim it lately—and shrugged. “Can’t think of a better option.”

  “I’m coming with,” Charm said, and the look in her eyes showed there was no arguing.

  “It’ll be risk enough as it is,” Twitch pointed out.

  “Haven’t you ever heard the old saying about foxes being good luck?”

  Twitch chuckled at that. “No.”

  “I don’t think there is one,” I pointed out. “But I’m still alive and you’ve been along for most of this, so…”

  “And the rest of us?” Gale asked, clearly agitated.

  “We’ll scan for Asterisk,” Andromida said. “Be ready for Charm and Breaker when they need to hightail it out of there.”

  Charm arched an eyebrow at the tail reference, but laughed. “Good to go.”

  “Good. To. Go.” I nodded, motioned to the others to follow, and ran the rest of the way to the rear of the ship.

  The five of us prepared while sweeping past one of the enemy ships, and I laughed at how crazy this was.

  “When I say on me,” I said, “it means on me. Everyone got it? Like literally, hand on me.”

  “Got it,” Charm said.

  “Since it’s that or float off into space, yup,” Letha added. Her duo grunted, suiting up. Since this was a ship for supers, they had suits in various shapes and sizes, adjustable as well. We flew toward one of the ships on the outskirts that was clearly roaming the perimeter, serving as a scout for trouble, ready to move when the order came. When A.I. Lamb gave us the go ahead, flying right beside them and close, we went for it—shooting ourselves out into space, all staying close, and floating toward the ship as ours moved away before being noticed.

  “Steady,” I said over the comms, reaching for the ship. When we were almost there, it started to turn, so I had to propel myself faster. “Grab on, it’s go time!”

  Letha was at my side, the two guys on her, and Charm reached, but missed! My hand hit the side of the ship and I shouted for her, but she was somehow off course now, starting to move away from us. Her eyes went wide behind her faceplate, and I cursed, realizing my best bet was to get Letha inside, then come back for Charm and figure it out from there.

  I used my travel skill and felt the metal of the ship around me, the pull, and then I was in, Letha and her two sliding out of the wall a second later. Shaking off the feeling, I said, “Kick ass,” and went for the wall.

  “You’ll end up floating off with her, both of you gone,” Letha said, hand up to stop me.

  I brushed past her. “We’ve always figured out a way before. This won’t be any different.”

  She was clearly about to argue further when her gaze shot past me and she smiled. My heart nearly stopped when I spun to see Charm appear in a burst of white light, removing her helmet and shedding her outfit so that her tails could get out there.

  “Fuck,” she said, and then threw her arms around me.

  “How…?” I started, but remembered the way she had teleported when fighting the dragon.

  She nodded as if she could read my thoughts, hugged me close, and only let go when a blast from Letha told us we had company. A man in green armor fell, and Letha darted past him, not wasting a second. I couldn’t blame her. Charm and I charged up the corridor, me with my scanner at the ready to search out supers. So far, nothing, which most likely meant the ship was clear of them.

  More fighters came at us, but this time Charm took a huge breath, sucking in air in that way that made her glow, then she darted between them, her breaths causing them to fall, unconscious.

  At a grunt from Letha, Charm turned and shrugged
. “We don’t know—they might just be under bad management. No reason to waste life if we don’t have to.”

  Letha shrugged, but her man, Rand, lifted his blaster and shot, dropping a man who had managed to push past the breath and rise again.

  “Also no reason to let any of us get hurt,” he said.

  Charm glanced down at the man with a smoking hole in his face and tsked. “Sure, sure.”

  “As long as we let Andromida kill Asterisk, I’m good,” I said, moving ahead and scanning again, to be safe. Still no supers aside from us. As I scanned, though, I couldn’t help but notice that the reading for Charm wasn’t what it had first been. It read: Moniker: Charm. Status: Team Breaker all the way. Special Powers: Cloaking, charming, light absorption. Notes: Kitsune classification, likely.

  Interestingly, the same scan showed Darnell as a super now. It hadn’t before, and read: Suggested Moniker: Big Green. Status: Team Letha. Special Powers: Insane strength, life drain. Notes: Tall and silent type.

  I had to remember that this whole scanning system was put in place by some weird sort of essence Lamb had left behind before my brother had saved her, so it probably had a bit of her personality to it. Interesting, about Darnell’s life drain—I would have to keep my eyes open for that.