Interstellar Age

Erich and his team went to the nearest bar, where Erich spent a good hour explaining his rather unique family situation to his new comrades. Obviously, he left out the parts about his multiple alien lovers, but aside from that, he was completely honest with them about everything he had experienced. 

By the end of his tales of woe, even Heavy felt a bit bad for Erich. Although he had never personally harassed mutants, he had turned a blind eye to such a thing when he saw it. Of course, he had no idea the extent of how far the abuse mutants suffered went, and had never expected that even their own families discriminated against them. 

Mutants rarely spoke about their issues to anyone besides themselves. After all, they were a targeted minority, and they did not want to cause further problems than they already had. Because of this, a lot of Germanic citizens didn’t understand how bad so many of them had it. 

And after learning about this, even someone as nationalistic as Heavy could understand Erich’s reasons for not wanting to speak with his family. He felt so bad about how he had reacted to Erich’s coldness towards his sister that he decided to pay for the drinks that Erich had. Naturally, he also voiced an apology. 

“I’m sorry, you’re right. Under your circumstances, I can see why family might not be as important to you as it is to me. I had a wonderful family life while growing up and was very privileged to be the son of a Sector Governor, one who cared for all of his children. But we didn’t have any mutants in the family. So I have no idea how my father would react if we did.

I’ve heard that the next generation gene serum, especially the highest grade, has a much higher rate of causing mutations. But its effects are supposed to be three times as powerful as the one I was given. So, at the very least, you gained something from your suffering.” 

Echo did not say a word, as per usual, instead he just nodded his head in agreement with Heavy’s assessment. By now Erich was fairly intoxicated, as he had turned off the feature of his NeuroLink, which processes poisons. He had a particularly glum look on his face as he thought about his relationship with his mother, and how it had deteriorated after she learned about Yumi and Ayumi.’

But there was not much he could do about that. It would be damn near impossible to change the woman’s mind. She had had a very comfortable life in the Empire and was thoroughly brainwashed by its propaganda. Obviously, his mother would never come to accept that her son was attracted to certain types of alien woman. For such a thing was considered a dishonor for the entire family. 

As much as Erich felt comfortable around his comrades, he would not dare to say he had done such a thing, at least not to them. They could never truly understand the greatest difficulty that mutants besides Erich himself faced. After all, they all had wives and families of their own. A benefit that Erich only recently begun to enjoy. 

ƥαṇdαs ηθνε| It was at this moment that Heavy remembered something about Erich, and could not help but force a smile as he patted the man on the back a little too hard. Almost as if it were deliberate. 

“Well, hey, at least you got that stunning beauty Erika out of it. It’s just a damn shame her career had to end so early. But for a few short years there, your wife was the most desired woman in the Empire. That should make you feel like you have been properly compensated, huh? The two of you have been married some time now. You must have some children already, right? Do you have any pictures?”

Erich nearly choked on his drink when he heard these questions. Children? With Erika? Not likely. Unless she had somehow gotten pregnant during the night, they truly became a married couple. Come to think of it, it had been months since he had last seen the woman, and they had spent very little time together as an actual couple. Erich tried to hide his shame as he admitted the truth about his and his wife’s complicated relationship. 

“Actually, Erika and I haven’t been on speaking terms for most of our marriage. It was only recently that we decided to bury the hatchet and began to develop feelings for one another. To put it simply, we have not been intimate for very long. At least not long enough to start a family….”

𝓞𝒱𝓵xt.𝑐𝒪𝓜

Heavy nearly jumped out of his chair when he heard this remark, while JT broke out into uncontrollable laughter. As for Echo, he just calmly sipped on his beer while not making eye contact with anyone, fully aware that Heavy was about to make a scene. Which is exactly what he did. 

“What! You’ve been married for years, and you only recently started fucking? What is wrong with you? I would have been balls deep inside that woman every night! You guys would too, right?”

JT continued to laugh at the absurdity of it all, especially as everyone else in the bar began to stare at Erich and his group. Echo continued to ignore everything, and pretend like he was not associated with these madmen. And even made some distance between him and the group. 

Erich was actually baffled that Heavy was so upset until he realized that the man was likely one of the many fans who simped for Erika during her heyday. He had known many of them, guys who would buy all of her songs, tv shows, merchandise, etc. But he never expected a legendary W7 would have actually been one of those poor souls. Suddenly Erich felt embarrassed to know Heavy and understood why Echo had made some distance between himself and the group. 

“Quiet down, fucking hell. Do you want to alert the whole city of my marital problems? Listen, it’s none of your business, but Erika is largely responsible for why I got disowned by my parents when I was eighteen.

It took a long time for me to forgive her for that, and even then, I would be lying if a part of me didn’t still resent her for it. But that is in the past, and we have worked hard to move beyond it. So quit your yelling!”

Heavy felt like throttling Erich. The man had been lucky enough to be gifted what he saw as a goddess for a wife, and he spat in the face of the marriage. He was perhaps now more pissed off at Erich than he was before they sat down for beers. 

JT finally ceased his laughter, after nearly passing out from a lack of oxygen, where he then calmed Heavy down. 

“Oi, big guy, I know you’re pissed because Erich has defiled your waifu, but the bitch was going to get married eventually. And it’s better for her to be with someone closer to her own age. I mean, you know what happens to the girls in the industry after they have aged out, right? They get married off to politicians, or corporate big shots. It’s honestly rather impressive that she got married so young, to a fucking fighter pilot. 

By the way, Erich, what other perks did you get for saving the Empire? I mean, sure, being a mutant with a beautiful wife is a great perk, but I hope the Party didn’t just give you a hot piece of ass and some fancy medals?” 

Erich thought about it for a second, before explaining the things he had received other than Erika’s hand in marriage and his medals. 

“Well, I got a beachside estate on Teutonia. With my own private beach access. And I think I’m on the fast track for promotion, because I’m now a commander, and have been transferred to the WRAITHs. Neither of those things would have been possible before my so-called sacrifice.” 

Even Echo, the most calm man Erich had ever met, nearly spat out his drink when he heard that Erich had been given an estate on Teutonia. It was one thing if the party gave him a nice penthouse in one of the many cities which lied atop the ocean surface. But an estate with its own private beach access. Hell, the only thing more valuable than that in the Empire was perhaps having your own private island on Teutonia. 

And though Echo did not break his vow of silence, he was seriously tempted to do so. As for the others, it was ultimately JT who became the most excited. 

“Well, what the fuck are we doing here? Shouldn’t we be going back to your place to relax? I want to see just how large this estate is!”

Heavy eagerly nodded his head in agreement with these words, when Erich reminded the two men that they were not yet given proper leave. 

“You guys are aware that in approximately two hours we need to report to our superiors about the mission we just finished, right? I’d hardly say going AWOL for a week at the beach is worth the punishment we would receive. I mean, do we really want to end up like JT?”

JT scowled when he heard this last remark and tugged at the collar latched around his neck. While, Heavy was suddenly brought back to reality at the thought of ending up like his comrade. However, the two men still seemed insistent on visiting Erich’s place, and because of this, the man was quick to shut them down before they could ask. 

“And besides, I have some rather… important guests at my place right now. I don’t believe the party would be happy if that were to be revealed to the public. So, for the time being, my place is off limits.”

This just made the men even more curious, but no matter how many times they asked, the answer was still no. Erich utterly refused to speak about Ayumi and her aunt. Instead, he spent the next two hours avoiding any questions about the subject. 

Before he knew it, the time to report to their superiors had arrived, and for the first time in his life, he was actually thankful for it.