Chapter 5: Team Warhead

I was being given a sales pitch that I had no interest in. I wanted to turn around and walk away, but a part of me felt responsible for all of this bullshit—super heroes, super villains, bio nukes turning innocent lives into Russian roulette. I was torn, and I didn’t know where to place myself, conflicted with the choice of staying and causing even more problems, or leaving and letting those bastards win.

Having heard her refer to me as an alien did hit me hard, but it was the only justifiable reason why those demons in Sigma-RE had wanted to experiment on me. Not only did I want revenge, I wanted to shut down that operation for good. Because what was stopping them from branching out, and bombing another town with my DNA? It could get out of control fast, and we needed to put a handle on this situation before it became too much for us.

We…us… well… guess I already made up my mind, now, didn’t I?

Shit, all of this still sounded so crazy to me. Did I really know what I was getting myself into by helping The Brother’s Code?

“Liam, you’ve been silent for a while. Should I take that as a good sign?”

I looked at her from the corner of my eyes, with my finger to my chin, then sighed defeatedly. “No capes.”

She flashed me a satisfied grin. “A reasonable request.”

“And none of that PR crap either. I don’t want the media in my nut sack.”

“Fair enough. I’ll try to keep you out of the spotlight as much as possible.”

“But once I shut down Sigma for good, I want out.”

“And of course, this impending threat they are so worried about.”

“Right.”

“In the meantime, work on opening your memory. If you’d like, I can arrange private sessions to help you cope with safely tracing back to your childhood and beyond.”

“Fine. I’ll do it on one condition, and by it, I mean all of this.”

“And what is that?”

“You help me find Rachel.”

“Rachel?”

“Rachel Henderson. Long blond hair, brown eyes, slender build, about five-four, dresses like a skater chick. Three years ago, she took me in, when I had no place else to go.”

“Was she with you during the explosion? In Watch Square?”

“Yes, but after the blast, I couldn’t find her.”

“She could be an escapee. I can promise that we will try, but there is no guarantee we will find her.”

“As long as The Brother’s Code is putting an honest effort in finding her.”

“On behalf of TBC, I accept your conditions, and I welcome you under our wing. But I have a request of my own, Liam, that you keep the source of these super powers between you and The Brother’s Code. Do you understand?”

She didn’t have to explain herself. I wasn’t in any rush to let the world know that I was the reason for all of this. So I nodded, agreeing with her, before I found myself asking her another question. “How many people did you wrangle here anyway?”

“Pardon?”

“The other supes,” I clarified. “These halls were empty when I had walked through them. Except for that one chick who was trying to eat me.”

“Oh, you mean Aster?” She grinned. “She is… interesting to say the least. The girl has an insatiable lust for blood, something we are still working on controlling. She has been contained, although we are still trying to figure out how she’d escaped the infirmary and made her way to you… Don’t worry, the others are certainly around. We are still in the process of enrolling victims of nearby blasts. Most of them are in the medical ward seeking treatment. Serva is pretty extensive.” Pamela placed the file on her desk and fished her card key from her pocket, then walked past me insisting I follow her. “Come, I will explain the expectations of the Code further while I give you the grand tour.”

++++

I’d signed a contract right before that tour. Pamela’s skittish secretary, Marcy, swept in on us down the hallway, with her clipboard in hand, ready to explain the important bullet points about my time here in Serva as a super hero. I had to abide by house rules, answer to scheduled training and field practice, and most importantly, report to live missions, both covert and non-covert. Something special on my contract was attending therapy, the frequency was left open at her discretion.

I sucked my teeth at the last part, feeling like my stay here was going to backfire regardless of therapy.

Once I signed my life away on the dotted line, Pamela took an hour to show me around. About eighty percent of the estate would be missed, because it was just that extensive. More bedrooms, training sectors, and private rehab centers that I’d get to see in due time. For the most part, I got to see where I’d be spending most of my time, out in the large courtyard fields for training, and in the dome room for pre and post mission briefing. Pamela also mentioned that Serva was an institute, a place where the gifted young could continue their higher education in a controlled and safe environment.

Finally, she made her last stop in front of two large french double doors, the smell coming from the inside made my stomach groan. I caught the aroma of something sweet, smoked ham, baked potatoes, buttery roasted chicken—I couldn’t remember the last time I ate, letting her welcome me in what I expected was a dining room, but what I saw had my head cocked to the side.

It was a den, with two girls inside, one of which I had the unfortunate pleasure of meeting before.

“Liam Chago, this is your team,” Pamela said bluntly.

I choked. “My what?”

“Your fourth member will be arriving shortly. She has been informed.”

I looked at her cross. “You never mentioned anything about working in a team.”

“Is there a problem?” Pamela said with a sarcastic grin, the woman working in some shady business already. Why hadn’t she told me I’d be partnered up? With three girls no less? It was a ploy, no, this had to have been a joke…

I was at a handicap with my explosive behavior, and now, so were they. I looked back inside, studying the two girls sitting along the dressed round table, one of them flashing me a flirty grin, while the other glared at me like she had a broom shoved up her ass. They were both wearing colors similar to mine, but their khaki apparel looked like prison clothes. At least the mean girl’s did—Aster had torn and altered hers to appear skimpier.

I was fucked, but I couldn’t fight this decision, not in front of them. They might take my rejection in partnering up personally, regardless if I had a solid reason for it. So I had to man up and take this dirty set up with a proud smile on my face, and keep it moving.

I rolled my shoulders down and schooled my face, trying to fight the coldness in my eyes. “No,” I finally answered Pamela, my eyes watching the busty Aster lean into her plate as she mischievously gawked at my bare chest.

“Perfect. Now, if you’ll excuse me, I need to prepare your ward, the sector in Serva you will be living in together for the duration of your stay. Please, take this valuable time to get to know each other.” Her cheeky smile went out those double doors with her, her last comment making me stand there rattled for a minute—ward? As in, something like an apartment?

Were we going to be sharing a place together?

“Well, well, well,” Aster sang, with her pinky at the corner of her lip, still shooting me bedroom eyes. “Funny running into you again, mister.”

I snipped her a cross look.

“I hope you’re not still mad at me about earlier. You know what they say about hunger, don’t you? It truly brings out the worst of even the kindest people.”

“Something tells me that doesn’t apply to you,” I insulted.

“Ouch, words hurt, Liam,” she teased, her eyes still latched on me as I took my seat at the top of the triangle. I had Aster on my right, and mystery girl on my left. I did a double take, looking over to my other team mate, the girl in no mood for small talk. I guess it was up to me to break the ice, but I couldn’t see how that would be possible, her face already telling me to fuck off. She had long ivory hair pinned up in a ponytail, with pointed ears, and honey yellow eyes to compliment her tan-kissed skin. She kept her arms crossed under her breasts with that uninviting aura, before I realized my eyes lingering a bit too long on her, Aster’s question pulling me out of my staring.

“Aren’t you going to properly introduce yourself?”

“Why? Looks like you already know who I am.”

“Still, I’d like to hear you formally affirm your placement in our team.”

I scoffed. The request was bizarre, but I caved in anyway. “Name’s Liam Chago. Yours?” I sassed.

“Aster Reid. But my super hero name is The Red Sorceress.”

I cocked my brow at her.

“Wouldn’t you say it’s suitable?”

“Actually… yeah,” I replied. “Seeing as you’re all about summoning familiars and shit to snipe at people for blood.”

“Ohhh, if you’re still sour about our first encounter, let me make it up to you, Liam,” she offered me with a lewd look in her eyes, materializing a black fuzzy spider leg on her back to brush the side of my face with.

Shit, she was giving me chills, and not the good kind.

I swatted her appendage, shooting down her offer, before I turned to my other team mate, ready to ask her for her name. “Sorry, Pamela didn’t tell me I’d be in a squad. So, I didn’t catch your name.

“It’s Rynn,” she said flatly, “Rynn Sunter.”

“Rynn. It suits you,” I complimented with a smile. “Well, it’s nice to meet y—”

“Why the hell did Pamela make you team captain?” she interjected in a gritty voice, giving me an unimpressed look.

“Ugh, um, I wasn’t even aware I was made captain.”

“Rynn, isn’t it obvious?” Aster giggled. “He’s the alpha dog.”

“Well, that’s sure sexist,” Rynn countered.

“I doubt that’s the reason,” I said, defending myself.

“Hmm, then maybe you’re stronger than us,” Aster suggested.

“How the hell do you figure that?”

“Check your stats,” she said, as if I had a clue. “Open your stats panel.”

“Open my what?”

“Your stats panel?” Aster said again. “By opening The Brother’s Code Power Ranking System screen? We all have it. Ever since they implanted that device in our napes.”

My eyes grew, my hand flying over the back of my neck paranoid.

“Didn’t Pamela tell you?” Rynn asked patronizingly.

Tell me what exactly? That I was being tracked by a chip under my skin that they’d managed to stick inside me when I was knocked out? Like a pet?

I blamed my tough skin for not feeling any bruises on the site, but how the hell had they managed to cut through me in the first place?

“It serves a couple purposes, but most importantly, it’s a tracker for TBC’s super heroes, and it allows you and others to see your stats.”

“It was in the contract,” Rynn added. “Were you not paying attention?”

“Sorry, I was busy being distracted by my tour guide,” I grunted, feeling like I’d been tricked.

“It’s all there. We aren’t allowed to take it off. If we do, we are breaching the contract and whatever deal we made to stay in TBC is forfeited,” Aster clarified.

“Well, that’s good to know.” I was spooked, not liking the idea of being monitored 24/7. But if this meant I could find where Rachel was, I had to bite the bullet and go along with it. “So, how do I open this panel up to see my stats?”

“Just think Open Power Ranking System Screen. Or, Open System Screen. And it pops up. Same applies for when you want to close the screen, or it just closes on its own after being idle for fifteen seconds.”

What kind of sorcery was this? I was able to bring up a screen from a device lodged into my flesh? This advanced mechanism had alien technology written all over it, but who was I to judge?

You are reading story Warhead: A Superhero Harem Adventure at novel35.com

I stiffened up and went for it, thinking to myself, System screen. A screen appeared before my eyes, this opaque blue square with readable details on it.

Holy shit, she wasn’t messing around…

Power Ranking System Screen

Name: Warhead

Association: Delta Region [Omega A Team]

Class: A

Strength: 391

Fighting Skills: 20

Speed: 42

Agility: 60

Intelligence: 52/100

Powers/Abilities:

Super strength

Invulnerability

Flight

Nuclear explosion

Hypnotic light

Energy absorption

Regeneration (Induced)

--

I was thrown. How the hell did The Brother’s Code know so much about me? Information that I didn’t even know about myself? And these powers… sure, I knew I had super strength and invulnerability, but flight and energy absorption? Had those been in the file too?

“You can also see other super hero stats, just as long as they have SESB installed.”

“SESB?”

“Superhuman Enhanced Systematic Bridge.”

“Well, this is depressing,” Rynn said as she rolled her eyes, before giving me a snarky glare. “A captain who can’t even be bothered with reading something as important as a contract. Goes to show how much you’d be paying attention to detail on the battlefield.”

“Cut him some slack, Rynn. You haven’t even checked out his stats yet, have you?” Aster said, defending me.

She must have been looking at my numbers also.

“When you want to check someone else out, like me, just point your sexy eyes my way, and call out the same trigger internally. You can also say the command aloud, but that’d just be weird.”

“Class A…” Rynn gasped. “How the hell did you get such a high rank?”

“What?”

“Yeah, Rynn and I are Class C,” Aster said, “as well as the majority of supes in Serva.”

“I’m not… entirely sure…” I whispered, looking away from the girls. Truthfully, I had some idea, seeing as I was the source of all of these variant powers. I guess it made sense for me to be the strongest supe there was.

“It’s the starting class for all supes, regardless of their stats. The more experience we get by completing missions, the higher our individual rankings will get. As for the team ranking, we leave that up to TBC.”

I wanted to check out my team, my curiosity pointing Aster’s direction. To be fair, she seemed relatively strong from the first impression I had of her, the girl tossing me a wink as I stared at her and opened the panel up. I thought to myself, Open System Screen.

Power Ranking System Screen

Name: The Red Sorceress

Association: Delta Region [Omega A Team]

Class: C

Strength: 46

Fighting Skills: 36

Speed: 12

Agility: 34

Intelligence: 52/100

Powers/Abilities:

Curses

Dark constructs

Summoning Familiars

Poisonous bite

Necromancy

Regeneration

--

Shit, she’d been taking it easy on me, hadn’t she? Unless she wasn’t familiar with her skillset? Could this be what The Brother’s Code analyzed from her?

What about Rynn?

I closed Aster’s stats and turned my head to Rynn, who gave me a sheepish blush. Her reaction was outside of her tough persona, the girl snapping her head away as soon as I looked at her. It was odd, but I didn’t think too much into it, triggering her stats just the same.

Power Ranking System Screen

Name: Forger

Association: Delta Region [Omega A Team]

Class: C

Strength: 96

Fighting Skills: 84

Speed: 52

Agility: 64

Intelligence: 78/100

Powers/Abilities:

Weapon Enhancement

[unequipped: halberd]

Weapon Spawning (source required)

Invulnerable

Teleportation

Cloak

--

Hmm, Aster had more abilities than Rynn, but Rynn’s strength and fighting skills surpassed Aster’s. I might have been the strongest member, but my fighting skills were trash compared to them both, and I had to imagine that was due in part to my previous lifestyle, being bound to a surgical bed for years on end.

“Buffing your stats up is as easy as training to become the highest Power Ranking Team in The Brother’s Code,” Rynn said, and it seemed like she finally adopted a slither of kindness toward me after seeing my stats. “And you better do it quickly, ‘less you want to slow this team down.”

Eh, I retract that last thought…

“Why would I care about being the top team?” I followed.

“It’s some friendly competition so we can strive to become better supes,” Aster piggybacked with a friendly smile. “Besides, word on the street is that The Brother’s Code is looking for the team, something kin to a super justice force.”

“No way,” I rejected. “I’m not looking to make this a permanent thing.”

“No one really is,” Rynn added. “But when you think about it, you’ll always have villains around. The only difference is their potential; whether they have powers or not. And even if we do happen to bring Sigma-RE down, we would still have so many back-end problems to clean up after. Such as, the black market trade trying to replicate the business. Supes breeding other supes. Supes breeding regs. Corrupt corporations trading deals with potential business partners of Sigma-RE. The possibilities are endless.”

“Scary world we now live in, don’t you think?” Aster chuckled. “Actually, it’s always been scary. Now, it’s just more dangerous.”

It was a lot to take in, and honestly, I hadn’t even thought about all of that. Pamela only scratched the surface, but there was so much else to worry about it. I’d been foolish for thinking that The Brother’s Code wouldn’t need our help. I was downright gullible for thinking this wouldn’t all blow up in our face, in proportions that could easily climb over night. What Rynn had said shone a light to our dilemma, and it wasn’t just about me versus Sigma-RE anymore, it was The Brother’s Code, my team, versus the supe world we now lived in.

You can find story with these keywords: Warhead: A Superhero Harem Adventure, Read Warhead: A Superhero Harem Adventure, Warhead: A Superhero Harem Adventure novel, Warhead: A Superhero Harem Adventure book, Warhead: A Superhero Harem Adventure story, Warhead: A Superhero Harem Adventure full, Warhead: A Superhero Harem Adventure Latest Chapter