I climbed to the top of the mound just in time to see Patricia’s plasma bolt, blast the skin off the quake Super’s face. He screamed, but a second shot blasted through her neck, charring a hole through his windpipe. Arterial blood gushed out as he flopped over dead.

Without even seeing it, I snapped my hand out caught a barrage of quills heading my way. I twisted my hand quickly and returned them to sender. He dove for cover as several of his quill punched into the metal trash he hid behind.

I overshot the last quill, though, and spun it around to stab backwards into the hiding Unbound asshole. A woman screamed furiously as she charged up the mount, lava dripping, and steaming from her hands.

Patricia aimed her hand about to shoot but I was quicker. With one hand I launched the ground beneath her up into the air. She screamed as she went flying in a cartwheel, and with my other hand I formed a condense bullet of force and flicked it through her chest. Her scream cut off in a loud gasp and she fell limp to the ground.

She hit with a meaty thud and I flinched inwardly.

Another superpowered ran up towards Patricia, golden glowing swords fanning out behind him. He raised his hand as ran and the swords swivelled around him to launch at her. I pushed out my own hand intending to catch the ethereal glowing swords with my Telekinetic power. Except I couldn’t catch them. My power simply read them as something incorporeal.

They whiffed through my mental grasp and shot straight for Patricia. The Technomancer cursed and flipped out the way as the swords punched into the spot she’d been standing. Another whizzed by and following after her.

I turned and looked towards the powered who’d summoned the swords. I cocked my head as an idea came to me. I drew my focus inwards and concentrated on my power, sending out a request like a ripple in the pond.

My powers exploded out of me as a wave of fatigue hit me. But that strange almost sentient aspect of my powers got to work. An opalescent purple blade swam into vision and I gasped.

It was all I could do to keep my focus pinned on the weapon swimming before me. It was similar to the glowing swords the Super had launched. Soft motes of starry purple fell from the projected-blade. This idea was a combination of my Projected-form and a Telekinetic force construct.

I locked my gaze on the Super as he sent more golden glowing swords at Patricia. One sliced into her thigh as she dived out of the way.

I flicked my wrist and send the blade spiralling straight for the Super. The opalescent sword blasted through the wrist of his outstretched hand as my vision wavered. I heard the man scream in agony.

I managed to shake enough of my disorientation away to see Patricia spin about and shoot a blast of plasma straight for the screaming man’s head as he clutched at the stump of his wrist.

His head snapped back, and he tumbled off the trash mound. Wind beat against my back and I turned to see Ophelia wince as she set a dirtied Karen down next to me.

“That fucking sucked,” the Stormcaster seethed, and pouted as she stared at all the dead bodies. My gaze fell on Ophelia as the angelic woman flexed out one of her wings. The one that had been skimmed by the quill.

“Are you okay?” I asked her gently and hugged her close to me.

“Is she okay!” Karen snorted derisively, and arched an eyebrow at me.

The rich coffee scent of the angelic woman wasn’t at all diminished by our surroundings. The petite blonde Stormcaster was covered in small scrapes and cuts.

I reached out, caught the blonde’s shoulder, and pulled her over to joined our embrace.

“Uh, Elias… why’re you covered in blood?” Karen asked me after a moment.

I looked down at myself.

“I may’ve … accidentally … decapitated a woman in half,” I mumbled.

“Shit!” the blonde muttered.

Ophelia looked up into my eyes, her expression one of sadness acceptance. “We can talk about it later.”

I leaned in and pressed a kiss to her forehead.

“Thank you,” I whispered, grateful that she wouldn’t judge me.

“Got room for one more in this team hug?” said a voice, and I turned to see Patricia, looking ruffled as she limped over to us.

“Of course,” I said, the same instance Ophelia leapt from my arms and shot her hands out to grab the Technomancer’s gauntleted hand. The golden glow of healing enveloped the angelic woman hands, and wings, as she started healing Patricia.

I smirked and looked down at Karen still pressed up against. She felt so right wrapped around me that I didn’t want to draw her away. Nor did I really care if Ophelia saw me holding her.

“Elias, what the hell was that sword thing you shot at the Unbound Super?” Patricia asked me with a raised eyebrow.

“What sword thing?” Karen asked, and Ophelia stepped away from healing the Technomancer’s leg.

So I explained how my powers were strangely sort-of sentient, and how I used that to develop different constructs.

From forging my force bullet into a lance. To mixing the aspect of my Projection-form with Telekinetic force. How my powers had formed a projected construct.

“That has fascinating possibilities,” Patricia murmured thoughtfully.

“Can you do it right now?” Ophelia asked, and came back over to my side. The angelic-woman cocked an eyebrow at the Stormcaster pressed tightly against me.

But other than that the angelic-woman simply hugged my arm against her perfect breasts.

I shook my head. “No. At least, not right now I can’t. It took a lot out of me simply forming the one constructed blade. And I don’t think playing around and testing my limits right now is the best use of our time.” I pointedly nudged my head in the direction of the manufacturing plants in the distance.

They all nodded their agreement. Then Patricia pressed forward and joined our little embrace. Her tight firm body and long slender legs pressed roughly up against me.

I cleared my throat as my cock began to twitch at the contact of all three women. I was so stupidly lucky to be surrounded by them. Grateful that we’d come together. So a little teasing from them was fine in my book.

Ophelia alone was thousands of degrees outside my usual weight-class of women. Even superficially adding in Karen and Patricia to my fantasies seemed idiotic at most. I just didn’t want to ruin whatever it was that Ophelia and I had at the moment.

We four parted our brief team embrace. Ophelia stepped onto the tips of her toes to press a firm kiss to my lips. She grinned coyly, and spun around to follow after Karen, as the petite blonde started walking around the rim of the mound towards the other side.

“Minx,” I muttered, smiling to myself and following after. Patricia right beside me.

“It’s been a long time since I’ve seen her like this,” the Technomancer smiled softly as she stepped in close.

“Who?”

“Ophelia. I don’t know how you’ve done it, Elias. But in the short-time you’ve been with us, you’ve managed to become something special to her. To all of us.”

“Thanks Patricia. I’m still trying to come to terms with all of this. But having you, Karen, and Ophelia by my side has made it all possible.” I smiled warmly at the dark-haired woman. She blushed deeply at my compliment.

“We like you a lot to,” the Technomancer replied, then realised how her comment sounded, she began to stammer. “We like having you with us- in us- I mean on the team—" she cut herself off with a huff and burst into laughter.

“It’s been a stressful few days,” I noted with a grin.

“A few day’s…” she trailed off and sighed. “Hard to believes it’s only been a few days.”

We reached the other side of the mound and carefully made our way down the outer slope and back onto the ground. Hopefully, there wouldn’t be any more surprises waiting in store for us.

~*~*~*~

“Quickly! get in cover,” Karen hissed, just as we started down a narrow street. I spun to my left and saw an even narrower alley way between two misshapen huts.

“Over here!” I called quietly as I sprinted for the spot. We shuffled ourselves through the gap, Ophelia following after me. I turned, worried she wouldn’t be able to fit through because of her wings. Instead, the angelic-woman spread her wing out and upwards.

Her large chest scraped roughly against the opposite wall.

Karen shuffled in last, her slim athletic figure fit perfectly. I watched as a group of about nine robed men and women ran down the narrow street, not even stopping to check for intruders.

“ASP Society,” Karen whispered.

“Who’re they running from?” I asked her and she her shook as the last, a chubby guy in a robe wheezed as he trailed behind the rest.

A dark shadowy coiling limb shot out of nowhere and snapped the man up. More of the shadow came into view and I instantly recognised who it was, from seeing the black sinuous limbs wrap around the chubby ASP member.

“Harry-fucking-Nalsteader,” Karen hissed quietly, her grip on her spear tightening as she stared at the shadowy form as it misted into view. “We should take him—”

Her words were cut short as Harry began talking to the chubby guy in robes.

“Where is your hideout?” Harry asked the society member me menacingly.

“I- I- I-” the guy stammered. Obviously terrified of the shadow holding him captured.

“You have something of ours,” Harry said, his voice filled with hidden threat. “Locked it up tightly.”

“I- I- don’t know what you mean!” he blabbered struggling to loosen the grip the shadowy limbs had on him.

“It’s a woman, an uncollared woman. She was taken from us and now we want her back,” Harry leaned forward so his shadowy-form towered over the man. “Where. Is. Your. Hideout. Little Rat!” he exploded verbally, his limb’s tightly coiling around the man, crushed even tighter until I heard the distinct crunch of bones.

Then the chubby society member fell limp.

“Damn it!” Harry growled frustratedly and whipped the body about like a ragdoll, flinging it through a nearest shoddy hut.

“There are more, Harry,” Harry calmed himself. “Just need to chase them down.” With that said the shadowy form spread into a thin mist and shot down the narrow street.

I breathed a sigh of relief, still unsure of how we would actually fight him. Then I remembered that both Patricia Electromantic powers, and Karen’s lightning spear Braken could actually hurt my former co-worker.

Or at least put him down long enough for one of us to do something.

“What’re the bets,” Karen began. “That the woman that dipshit was talking about is your mother Eli?”

I blinked as realisation hit me in the gut. “Those fuckers are after my mom…”

“Like we mentioned before. It’s definitely plausible,” Patricia nodded as Ophelia placed a comforting hand on my arm.

We shuffled out of the narrow alleyway and back onto the street.

“At least they don’t know where she’s being kept,” I said optimistically, in my mind I added. If she’s being kept there at all.

~*~*~*~

Beneath the arch curving over the entrance to the manufacturing area, were several robed and hooded figures. Guards or lookouts I guessed. They were so obvious that I was surprised, Harry hadn’t noticed them before. But then again if he didn’t know their general location so he wouldn’t have looked here.

This made me question the fact that the Unbound cult’s leader was a Diviner.

Unfortunately for us, a few of the robed mundane’s were carrying weapons. Some carried ballistic and stun batons, while other’s had actual guns. It didn’t take a genius to suspect that theses fucker could be carrying Arium laced ammunition.

Or the likely hood that the few hooded men were actually Draugen, or even Necromancers.

Surrounding the manufacturing area was a fifteen-foot tall metal wire fence, with barbed wiring at their top’s. The fence looked old and rusted yet also sturdy. Several sections had head-sized holes dotted about them but other than that, the fence was fully intact.

I turned back to my friends and raised an eyebrow as I caught all three staring at me. They each either cleared their throat, reddened in a blush, or looked away embarrassed. I chuckled mentally in my head and posed my suggestion.

“I think we should scale the fence around the side. The guards seem adamant in patrolling the entrance to the manufacturing plants. But other than that I don’t see any others moving around the grounds.”

“It’s as good a plan as any. I can clear the fence easily with my thrusters,” Patricia nodded.

“I can clear it,” Karen said confidently, and I cocked an eyebrow at her but mentally shrug. “Besides, this one can obviously fly,” the blond Stormcaster joked, thumbing at Ophelia.

“Yes, I can obviously fly,” Ophelia rolled her eyes at the blonde woman’s words. “That just leaves you, Elias.”

I nodded considering my options. Patricia and I had discussed the possibility of me being capable of levitating myself. But I hadn’t had any time to even consider testing it.

“Could you carry me?” I looked at Ophelia.

The angelic-woman bit her plump bottom lip and considered. “Maybe. You’re far heavier than Karen, and she’s the lightest of us.”

“Thanks,” Patricia muttered dryly.

“We’ll figure it out when we get there,” I nodded.

The four of us stepped out from the enclosure of the buildings and onto the dusty clearing, covered with small tents and barely lit campfires.

About twenty-metres of distance laid between us and the fence of the manufacturing plant.

I could hear the occasional cough from the cheery homeless campers in the clearing, as other’s muttered and or banged about.

We skirted around the edges of the clearing, sticking towards the deeper shadows and ditches. We were lucky the patrols didn’t have any spotlight’s scanning their perimeter. But that would also draw unwanted attentions towards them and their activities.

We waited as the robed mundane’s on patrol walked idly about. The hooded men, who I suspected to be undead Draugen, kept a stoic guard and didn’t move an inch.

“We need to distract them,” Patricia mumbled to me quietly. “That way we can make for the fence.”

I nodded at her words and turned about, looking into the clearing. Considering that my Telekinetic powers were nigh invisible. I had the perfect ability to cause unseen havoc.

I raised my hands out before me staying low. I concentrated on the tents, the small cracklings campfires and waved my hands casually. A instant later the tents flung themselves against one another, some even rolling through the campfires, catching on flame. I closed my eyes and focused on the hooded society members. With the barest twitch of my fingers the hoods whipped back, revealing the sunken black eyes, and ashen grey skin of Draugen.

“Fuck,” I heard Karen hiss next to me, but ignored it.

A few of the weapon wielding mundane members whipped their guns about and aimed across the clearing at the campsites. The blaze of several tents, and people frantically running back and forth catching their attention.

The other guards, wielding their batons rushed to the uncovered Draugen, and quickly scurried about flinging their hoods back into place.

“Let’s move—” Patricia began, but I cut her off.

“Wait, let me try something else a second.”

It needed to be delicate, a simple touch and press. I drew my mind into my powers, leaking along the bonds of Telekinesis. I focused intently on the actions I wanted my powers to take. When I felt that strange sentience questioning of me yet again. I swayed in place as an image came to my mind, and a question, asking me if I was ready. I was.

My index finger gave the barest of a twitch and a shot rang out through the night, deafening the frantic fumbling of the campsite’s.

All heads whipped towards the panicky society guard. His fellows all aiming their weapons at him, shouts of what happened, and what did you do, echoed. The campers on the other hand gathered around and watched the guards arguing.

“Now…” I started, feeling sweat coat my brow. “We move.”

We ran forward in a crouch, making sure to stay out of everyone’s direct line of sight. The instant we made it to the fence, Patricia wasted no time in leaping upwards. Her boot thrusters firing one after the other. Making it seem as if she was jumping on air.

Karen struck the butt of her spear into the ground and leapt upwards clearing fifteen-foot fence in a graceful arch of agile athleticism. I skidded to a halted. Ophelia crouch down, her wings sweeping out and low to the ground.

“Can you make it, or do you need my help?” she asked, in that soft concerned voice of hers.

“Let- let me try something first,” I replied, feeling slightly breathless. Each new found manipulation of my Telekinesis was always rewarded with exhaustion.

I breathed out a heavy sigh, and focused.

So far the levitation aspect of my power had been used in small ways, and usually with objects. I had tried to levitate a Draugen back at my neighbour’s house. Yet all I had accomplished there was a gentle nudge.

This time I wanted to levitate myself. I summoned my power, felt it sluggishly ascend to spread forth from me in a wave of starry-purple aura that only I could see.

Then, not really knowing what the fuck I was doing, I mentally shrugged and sent the suggestion down the line to that strange sentient presence. Though I couldn’t detect nor feel the presence. I knew it was there now. I sought it out.

I blinked as a derisive snort sounded through my skull. I shook my head imagining things. The aura surrounding me undulated in anticipation and seeped back into my skin, spreading that familiar tingling sensation I’d felt when striking my fist against the hulking Shifter.

It was as if my powers were enhancing me in some way.

Now that I had a moment to consider it, I felt… weightless.

“Holy shit! He’s doing it!” a voice whispered excitedly. I blinked and looked down, my feet having left the ground as I hovered upwards.

“Hush!” Patricia hissed at the Stormcaster, and cupped the blonde’s mouth to stop her drawing attention to us with her excitement.

My right eye twitch as a dull ache began to throb through my skull. I realised two things almost immediately. One, was the exertion. I suspected I wouldn’t normally be capable of this. Which in itself didn’t make sense. If I wasn’t fully capable of this, then how, or why, was I able to manage it.

The second realisation I had, was that I wasn’t in total control of my levitation. Nor could I speak when I went to open my mouth.

My eyes flicked frantically about. But to the other’s it simply looked as if I was squinting. Like some otherworldly messiah sent from on-high I levitated quietly over the fifteen-foot fence and touched down on the other side.

I felt… something… pop in my head and a fiery lance of agony flashed through my mind. The next thing I knew, I was falling face-first towards the ground.

This novel is the work of Rhys Thomas. If you are reading this and it has not been published by Rhys Thomas, then this work has been stolen. Please report this to Amazon and me at email: [email protected]