Supers 2023 Series - Ch 1 DRAFT

Chapter 1

Nothing about the evening struck Kai as abnormal, even the two girls dancing on his bed while he sat on his two-seater couch on the corner, playing a video game. It wasn’t like the girls were really interested in him. So many of their type had come over the years, hoping to get a chance to meet his dad and wondering if Kai also had super powers.

Kai couldn’t blame them. When he’d first learned that his dad and the team he worked with were superheroes, he had been overwhelmed with excitement. Especially so with the beautiful one with the fox ears and tails–it wasn’t like she could hide those attributes, so he had wondered how she had avoided being seen for so long, until he learned that she could go invisible. All badass, but also reasons for him to be more annoyed when, year after year, he failed to develop any powers.

Noting silence, Kai looked over to see that the girls were staring at him with half smiles and curious expressions. Jenny and… what was the other one’s name? Sequoia, maybe? Yes, that sounded right. Jenny was the one with curly blonde hair, eyebrows so light they were almost nonexistent, Sequoia with almond skin and her hair dyed a mixture of pink and purple.

“When will they be back?” Sequoia asked.

“Danny and–”

“No, silly.” She threw a pillow at him, which he caught and put over his lap. Before he knew what was happening, she had come over and wrapped her arms around his next, lips nibbling on his earlobe. “I mean the Berserkers.”

He sighed. “Breakers Berserkers” was the term used to refer to his dad’s team of superheroes, by those in the know. Apparently, many more were in the know these days than previously–and Kai knew why.

The previous year, just before his sixteenth birthday, he had been in the back row of a movie theater with the most popular girl from his school, Emily Channel, and “accidentally” let it slip when her hand found its way to his leg.

While his decision to let the secret slip had done its job of impressing her, the next day gossip worked its way back to him through Danny. His best buddy, offended at not having learned from the source itself, almost stopped being Kai’s friend.

“Hellloooo,” Sequoia was there now too, behind over in front of him and staring into his eyes. “Does he always space out like that?”

Kai swatted her hand away as she went to beep his nose. Setting his controller aside, he said, “Sometimes they don’t come back for weeks.”

What he didn’t add was that those weeks could even be longer, because when the team traveled through portals to fight the alien supervillains referred to as the “Nihilists” time passed differently for them. A day might pass for them, while Kai would sit back here and find a week or even a month passing. Hell, he had spent his whole tenth year without them, but his father had claimed only a couple of weeks had passed on their side. Crazy, to say the least.

And when Kai asked to go with them, it was always the same. “When your powers manifest, you’ll join us.” But that day still hadn’t come, and Kai was almost seventeen.

The girls were both seniors and close to graduation, so he should have felt like quite the stud having them in his room. But dammit, he hated being used.

“Why are you two so obsessed with them, anyway?” Kai asked. “It’s not like they’re the only superheroes in the world.”

“Maybe not, but they’re the only ones we have direct access to,” Sequoia replied. She stepped away from him and to the television. “What’re you playing, anyway?”

“A WW3 first person shooter,” Kai replied.

“Fucking sad,” Jenny said, shaking her head and coming over to sit on Kai’s lap. That move surprised him, and apparently Sequoia, judging by the arched eyebrow. Jenny leaned back so that he had to brush her hair away from his face, catching a whiff of coconut in the process.

“You lost someone?” Kai asked.

She adjusted her position on his lap, then took his arms and wrapped them around herself. “Almost. My grandma was visiting the Red Square and saw one of the big fights that happened between the invaders and the Supers. If not for the one with the green hair, she would have been killed.”

“Oh, wow…” In that moment, he almost forgot any bitterness over not having his powers–he loved hearing stories about Breaker’s Berserkers, whether it be on Earth or the many other planets they had their adventures on. “What did she see?”

“Never really said much, other than that there was a floating lady attacking us and strange monsters–beings like gods.”

“We were attacked by Thor himself, if you listen to some of the stories,” Sequoia said with a laugh. “I’m still not convinced it’s all true.”

“And the others? Death Girl inspires me. I mean, I can only dream of being so sexy after I’m dead.”

“I don’t think she’s actually dead… is she?”

Kai bit his lip, the scent of Jenny taking over and causing him to be lost to his desires. Leaning forward, he sniffed her hair again, then kissed her neck.

She giggled, moving her ass across his lap. “Stop, that tickles.”

“Keep talking,” he said, lips brushing across her neck as his hands moved toward her chest. “Tell me what else you’ve heard about the Supers.”

Her hand went to his inner thigh as she said, “It’s hard to tell where truth stops and fiction starts, but there’s rumors of a blue lady, of–”

“Okay, that’s enough.” Kai felt a chill run up his spine, the moment over. He picked Jenny up off him and scooted out, letting her have the chair.

“What was that?” Jenny asked.

“Freak,” Sequoia said with a laugh and a glance at the bulge in his jeans. At least that bulge was quickly subsiding.

“The Blue Lady, as some refer to her… that’s my mother.”

“No shit?” Sequoia cocked her head. “And you? Are you blue…” Her eyes went to his crotch again. “Anywhere?”

“Oh, God. No.”

Jenny stood and headed for the door. “Fuck this. We’re out.” She reached the doorway and spun. “And for the record, I was referring to the one with horns–the one they call Europa.”

“Ahhh.” Kai frowned, eyes darting back to the bed as he wondered how badly he had just screwed up the moment.

Jenny laughed in response. “Not gonna happen, Romeo. Give yourself a hand for your smooth ways with the ladies.”

Except, as she went for the door, Sequoia lingered, then even sat on the bed.

“Sequoia…?” Jenny asked.

“Go ahead, if you want. I’m still waiting for him to prove he’s not part smurf.”

“Part…?” It took Kai a couple seconds to process that she was referring to blue cartoon characters from old Earth–entertainment from back in the day.

He sighed, put his hands on his hips, and was about to tell her she was welcome to give him an inspection, when Jenny turned to the ceiling and clapped with a little squeal.

“What…?” Kai asked.

“I thought I heard something,” Jenny said. “They’re probably back!”

She was already gone and up the stairs before Kai could let out his grunt of annoyance, but Sequoia lingered. With a large smile, she stood, approached, and then undid the button on his jeans. He stood frozen in place, not sure what to do as she slid down his zipper. Her pointer finger went to the rim of his boxers, pulled, and she looked down.

“I was kind of hoping it would be blue,” she said, then giggled and gave him a little pat on the lower head. “Let’s go say hello and… maybe finish this up tomorrow? Just me and you, behind the bleachers?”

He gulped, preferring to finish it up then and there–his little soldier confirming this preference, but watched as she bounded up the stairs after her friend.

“Not blue!” Sequoia’s voice echoed back down to him.

He could certainly think of two round objects that would be blue. But his curiosity got the better of him, so he tucked himself away and followed the girls up. His dad wasn’t going to be happy with two girls there to serve as a welcoming committee, considering all the man had done to keep this house’s location a secret.

“Bad people are out there,” his dad had told him over and over. “Bad people, and creatures much, much worse than people. It’s up to my team to save the universe, but also to keep you safe. Even so, you need to do your part.”

Kai advanced up the stairs, annoyed at the fact that he couldn’t live a normal life, but also wasn’t able to live the super life. Maybe he was, most of all, annoyed that he couldn’t just let it go and be satisfied with life as it was.

When he reached the top of the stairs, he turned to the entrance of the house to find the two girls crouched down, staring out the windows and up at something in the sky.

“Who is it?” he asked.

Neither answered, so he approached. When he was at Sequoia’s side, he bent over to have a look, instantly overcome with awe as they both were. It wasn’t his father or mother up there, but a ship that was clearly alien by nature.

Shining black metal that spread out around the ship like petals of a flower, all surrounding a smooth, horizontal obelisk that was beginning to rotate to be vertical. The metal that looked like flower petals began to close around the ship as it lowered to the ground in the parking lot outside.

“Whoa,” Sequoia muttered, and reached out to grab Kai’s hand.

He gave her hand a squeeze, more to comfort himself as for any other reason. While he had heard plenty of stories and had his fair share of super sightings, seeing unknown ships arrive was as much of a surprise for him as the two of them.

If this was an alien crew here to attack, or supervillains from the Oram system where so much trouble had gone down over the years, he would be helpless.

Or, almost helpless. He knew full well that his dad kept a spare blaster pistol near the entrance for emergencies.

Releasing Sequoia’s hand, he turned to the painting of his mother that had been commissioned during her pregnancy. It still felt weird to him, seeing her almost seventeen years later and still looking as young as ever.

Pulling the painting down, he placed his hand on the scanner and watched a light glow green, then the wall move aside to give him access to the blaster. He’d trained on how to use this, but never had the need.

Now he took it and turned back to the doors, surprised to see that his hands weren’t shaking.

“The hell is that?” Jenny asked, while Sequoia let out a yelp and moved to his side, hand on his shoulder.

“Be ready for anything,” Kai said. His voice didn’t break, even though he had no doubt he was scared.

An opening appeared at the base of the craft. First a woman stepped out with short, pink hair, the side of her head shaved. Next, a Black woman with purple hair. They both looked human, and already Kai was starting to lower his pistol, recognition taking hold even though he had never met these two. It wasn’t until the man with a shaved head and fierce eyes stepped out that he knew without a doubt this was his uncle’s team–he was staring at the legendary supers some referred to as the Ex Gods.

“Uncle… Drew?” Kai laughed, still frozen in place as his uncle approached the door and knocked.

Finally, Kai broke free from his stupor and reached the door in two big steps, throwing it open.

“You going to shoot me, or invite me in?” Drew asked, eyes weighing the three of them.

“Depends–are you Uncle Drew?”

“Uncle… No, you couldn’t be.” Drew’s stern expression morphed into a smile. “Kai? Chad’s son and my nephew, yes?”

“Well, he doesn’t like to be called Chad, but yes. That’d be me. I’m Kai.”

Drew thrust a hand forward and Kai accepted, shaking and trying to give him as good of a grip as possible. It didn’t seem to be enough, judging by his uncle’s disapproving frown.

“No super strength, I take it. So…?”

Kai stepped side, releasing the hand. “Oh, come in. How–why–I mean what brings you here?”

“We’ve got trouble,” Drew said. “It’s time.”

“Time?” Kai frowned in confusion, turning to see two others who looked to be about his age approaching from the ship. One was a boy with green hair and tattoos, the a woman with dark skin and purple hair. Kai returned his attention to his uncle while the others entere. “Time for what?”

“Time to find out which one of you kids is going to fulfill the prophecy.”