Page 19 of Interlude

I roll my eyes at his lack of humility. I hadn’t expected anything less.

“Come on, let’s get clean. I still have to assume my earth elemental glamour, and you need to take on the corn man. Brannock will be waiting for both of us.”

“Ah, yes, the Aaz’axian.” I start to run the soap over Lila’s body. “Are we still going to trust him?” I hadn’t wanted to bring it up earlier, but I’m on the fence.

“He gave me full access to his mind. I don’t think there’s any reason not to trust him,” Xavier says as he leans against the wall and watches as I wash our wife.

“Lila?” I ask her as she steps under the stream of water to rinse off the soap. I throw the bar to Xavier, and he starts to lather up his own body.

“I want to trust him. It must have been awful for him to stay hidden. I would have done the same thing if any of our babies were on the line. I plan on annihilating Smith when we return to Earth,” she growls, “and tearing that base apart. If Earth wants to continue to benefit from our visits, then they will cooperate. I also want Aura and their family to return. Whether Mark and Susie go with them, I’m not sure, but what happened to them wasn’t fair.”

“Okay, I will support the two of you, but if he so much as sneezes in the wrong direction, I’ll snap his neck faster than he can blink.” I’m hoping they are both right, but someone needs to be wary, and I guess this time it’s going to be me.

“Good, I’m glad someone is being a little less emotional about the whole thing. Thank you.” Xavier slaps my shoulder before grabbing Lila by the hips and shuffling her out of the water.

“Hey, you know there are six different heads to stand under, so why do you need mine?” she complains, and he just leans in and kisses her silly, completely distracting her. I laugh. Life is certainly never going to be dull in this family. I’m happy both of them are full to the brim with power, but it isn’t going to stop me from worrying.

Lila

Ifeel fucking amazing as we walk from our suite to the teleporter room. I kissed Saxon goodbye and patted him on his cute little butt as he climbed into his bed.

“Be safe, my blood rose,” he called as we walked out the door. “You too, warlock.” Aww, look at my husbands playing nice with one another. He’s going to nap while we travel to Husadavia. It’s a two day trip from Z68, and the galaxy ship will tail the harvesters’ transport, cloaked so they don’t know they are being followed. Then, Saxon and Silac will be on call if shit hits the fan and we need them on the surface.

We don’t take the sideslip elevator because I wanted to take the ten minute walk to get my mind on the next job. I’ve spent plenty of time working out with Xavier and Saxon, trying to get my powers under control, and I think I mostly have a handle on the earth elemental form, but I’m still nervous for what’s to come. Our plan is weak at best.

We arrive at the teleporter room and find Brannock waiting for us as well as Bubby and my grandpas.

Eric studies me closely before turning his attention to Xavier and nodding his head. “You both look pretty powered up. Good.”

Bubby presses his fingers to the touch screen. “I’ve programmed this to deposit you in the docking port of the station. From there, you are going to have to find your way to wherever you need to be.”

“The creature we captured told me recruitment happens at the same bar we originally met at. I pulled all the information I needed out of his head, so no one should suspect that I’m not him,” Xavier tells him as his body shimmers ever so slightly and he appears in front of me as the corn man. I blink, trying to get my brain to catch up with my eyes. I reach out and poke at his corn kernel chest and marvel at how real it feels.

“Wow, it’s almost like it’s not even a glamour, like you’ve mimicked him.”

Xavier’s mouth drops open, and he runs his own hands over his body.

“It’s still a glamour, but it’s almost impossible to see through.” Brannock steps up and narrows his eyes before poking like I did. “It’s practically seamless. I don’t even think the most powerful of beings will know. I can only just see a glimmer of what’s real.”

“Is that one of your powers?” William asks before I can do the same. “We don’t know much about Aaz’axians except you are killing machines when in berserker mode.”

Brannock gives him a quick nod. “Yes, as well as having our own abilities to glamour.” His body shimmers, and he takes on the human form I remember him wearing in the cell on Earth. “We have the ability to see through other glamours, and like Vilaxians, we have enhanced speed, strength, and senses. Unfortunately, we can’t fly like them though,” he grumbles adorably.

“Well, you did get glamour powers,” I remind him. “I’m sure they wish they had those.”

He nods before continuing. “I can mesmerize or compel, I guess, and I can launch my spikes as weapons, and they contain a paralyzing toxin.” He points to the spikes on his back, joined by the whisper thin membranes. When I look closer, I see they have claws at the end of each long protrusion. Maybe that’s what gets launched. “In berserker mode, I can project thorns out of my skin.” I watch with fascination as his whole body shimmers, and Xavier grabs my arm, dragging me out of the way as my grandpas also take a step back. Bubby is the only one who doesn’t move, and from the way he’s smirking at us, I’m guessing he’s seen this already.

Brannock’s entire body changes shape. The spines on his back and shoulders recede into his body as his skin changes from its blue opal sheen to a bright red and green. The spikes coming out of his head remain, but they are red, and so do the ridges and spines all over his body. He’s also gotten way taller and wider.

“Easy,” William cautions with his hands up.

“I’m fine,” Brannock rasps, his voice slightly different, and when I look closer, I see he has fangs now. “I’m not going to slaughter you, that’s a rumor we didn’t discourage. Berserker mode is just an alternative form which allows us to do this.” He turns and faces one of the smooth walls of the transporter room, and I watch as projectiles launch from various surfaces on his body and thud into the metal walls.

I push past him, careful not to touch his body, and check out what he just did. They are large, two inch thorns which have sunk deep into the side of the room, going through like it was rubber instead of solid metal.

“Instead of just being able to project through the spines on my back, I can now do it through my whole body.” He holds out both hands, and again, thorns launch out of them before hitting the wall next to me.

I screech and leap out of the way. The rest of the guys laugh when I glare at Brannock.

---