“It’s clear,” Gus said over the comms, standing and releasing his tight grip on Jet, allowing the polearm to fly free and explore. It chose to follow the drones, giving them support and protection as they continued their work.
Harmony peeked into the room and gingerly stepped inside.
“What’s the big idea, ‘armony? Ya trying to scare us all ta death?” The light revealed the voice belonged to a diminutive man who threw his arms in the air in frustration.
Gus stared at the super, whose mannerisms and speech were exactly like the irascible dwarven NPC from one of his favorite online games. Gus wasn’t totally familiar with his powers, but his super name was ‘The Keeper.’
“It’s in here, Darik,” Harmony said, voice breathy and defiant. She took three steps into the room and swept her head left to right. “There,” she said, pointing under a storage rack. Everyone squinted to see what was glowing under the shelf.
Darik stepped forward, throwing his arms out to keep anyone from advancing. Coughing a bit as he lay prone, he reached into one of the numerous pouches on his belt and pulled something out. Unfolding it, he rotated some metal joints and held a small box with translucent hinges that fluoresced with blue light as the sides locked into place. The box hovered above his palm, slowly rotating like a large gem, which made him look even more like a dwarven doppelganger. Gesticulating with his left hand, there was a small pop and the box was suddenly full.
“What is it?” someone from the back asked.
“It looks like… a doll?” The Keeper said as he got to his feet, brushing off the dust as the box continued to rotate, showing all angles of its contents.
“Yeah, but look there at the mouth. That’s some type of injector.”
“Burn it with fire!” Harmony yelled from behind the group as they leaned forward in an attempt to get a closer look at what The Keeper had transferred to the box. Annoyed looks were cast her way at the sudden outburst.
“It’s totally contained in my stasis cube,” Darik snapped.
“I have got this.” A tall lanky super stepped up from the back, whom Gus recognized as Grimdark, the owner of the deep voice with a Slavic accent. He moved his hand as if tracing arcane symbols and the doll ignited within the box. Waxy drops dripped to the bottom of the stasis cube and continued to burn until all that was left was a black residue on the bottom of the box.
“Ah, that’s better,” Harmony sighed, leaning forward. Her suit defied gravity, clinging tightly to her and Gus averted his eyes as they were drawn to the wide V of exposed skin that extended from her shoulders to her navel. Why did some supers design their uniforms like that? Gus flushed, remembering the mental connection was still on.
Harmony did another scan and brightly commented, “That’s it! I don’t feel any other influences around. We did it!” She clapped her hands and jumped up and down. Gus saw that his eyes weren’t the only ones affected by Harmony’s outfit, which made him smile and shake his head a bit. She gave him a furtive and knowing wink as he looked back at her.
Dammit.
“Alright, everyone,” The Keeper announced. “Keep your eyes open, but let’s finish this up and see if there’s anything to salvage. Let’s get this done, people!”
Chapter Three
Everything Old is New Again
After the disposal of the doll, the mood lightened significantly. The crew scavenged some parts but the transport was so old that very few were useful. Food stores on the ship had spoiled, which was the bulk of what was in the main hold.
Yuki, who happened to be the computer expert and owner of the elven voice, had restored lighting and limited power to the ship, which made exploration quicker. The only other discovery was a nest of lizards living within the ducts of the ship. One area warmed up considerably near a crack in the ship from receiving sunlight for most of the day. A drone sent into an opening showed them to be the ones thrashing around randomly inside the ducts of the ship.
Gus made his way to the captain’s quarters, led by some morbid curiosity about who Methiochos had been before he turned into a monster. The room finally opened to Yuki’s decryption and the inside of the spartan room looked mostly unaffected by the effects of water, the encroaching jungle and almost half a century of time.
Besides a bed, dresser, and desk, the only adornment was a portrait of an old man. The man’s features looked almost alien, emphasized even more by his silver jumpsuit and larger than normal eyes. His forehead was also more prominent through his gray hair, styled to make it appear like he had more body and fullness, but in reality only revealing his bare scalp amid the nimbus of wispy hair.
As Gus stared at the picture, a blue glow pulsed from behind the picture. He rubbed his eyes but the glow persisted. Checking his logs, he saw that his passive True Sight had activated. Stepping on the bed, he lifted the painting away, revealing an alcove with a crystal cube with each side about 4 inches long.
“Good luck with that,” Yuki scoffed.
“What is it?” Gus asked, turning the object around different directions, looking at the different facets under the surface, faintly glimpsing some writing as the tiny panels inside the cube flickered from one display to the next.
“It’s a Quorian cube. They’re basically unhackable journals. They generate a code based on the user’s DNA and require multiple manipulations of the surface to unlock and reveal the contents. I’ve never heard of one being opened by anyone but the user. After one person uses them, they’re useless, as they can’t be transferred to a new user. It’s a pretty souvenir, but don’t expect to get anything besides that.” Yuki shrugged. “This room looks empty, and it’s the last on this floor. I’m about ready to head back. Let me know when you want to go.”
“I don’t think there’s anything else here; maybe in the ship’s logs?” Gus asked.
“I’ll run a cleanup program on it, see what data I can recover. It’ll be a while though.”
Gus nodded and turned his attention to the cube as he followed her back to the central access port. He pressed on one of the surfaces and saw it light up with a pinkish-purple highlight on one side, and another formed a yellowish-green halo around his finger as he touched the opposite side.
He played around with the cube until they piled in the small transport and returned to the manor. He stowed the curiosity away and focused on the other things listed on his itinerary for the day. No rest for the weary. At least they’d be leaving soon; he was anxious to get underway.
Later that afternoon, Gus sat in the command chair of the manor, squirming a little bit as his father put his hand on his shoulder, directing him on possible defenses for the manor. His emotional hackles were raised, and a visceral part of him resisted the direction Tempest was trying to give.
Sure, Tempest had a ton of experience managing Purple Faction’s affairs, but Gus was on edge, ready for a play to try to wrest the manor from him. So far, that hadn’t happened, but Gus was primed with what he would say and do when it did.
The odd thing was that, mentally, part of him knew the situation had changed. Rationally, he wanted to give him the benefit of the doubt, but his gut had other ideas. Emotionally, he couldn’t control the strong feelings that boiled out, unbidden. He hoped it wasn’t apparent, but severely doubted he was able to mask everything. He thought he had forgiven his father during his time in the bottomless pit trap, but it wasn’t as easy in practice.
“I think that takes care of things for now.” Tempest beamed. “You’ve really done something here, Gus.” He squeezed Gus’ shoulder in encouragement, but inwardly Gus cringed.
“Thanks,” he said flatly. “I’m heading to train for a bit, see if I can level up before we have to head out. See ya.” He slid out of the chair and escaped to the elevator.
“We could—” The rest of the sentence was cut off as the elevator doors closed, Gus seeing his father’s hand outstretched and a hopeful look on his face. Oh no. I’m not making it that easy for you. All those things I went t
hrough, and now we’re best buddies? Yeah, right.
Gus sighed and leaned against the back wall of the elevator rubbing his eyes, letting his head fall back against the wall. He had imagined that life would somehow be better if he only had powers, but the feeling in the pit of his stomach, the indescribable unease he always felt when he was overwhelmed with worry resurfaced. He thought back to how the hybrid-Nth had shown him being a leader.
His reality was so far away from that vision, and it pressed on him like a heavy weight. Would the hybrid-Nth reject me if I don’t make progress towards that ideal? His experience with the robot showed that Nth could be forcibly removed, but for some reason, they chose to stay with him. For now, at least. How much time would it take for them to realize I don’t have what it takes and abandon me? Could I even go back to a life as a reg now that I have seen the other side?
Before he could mentally torture himself more, the elevator opened on the training arena. Some of the Crew were there. His father had brought a group of talented prodigies that were willing to follow him as he went to investigate Aurora’s distress signal, who referred to themselves collectively as ‘the Crew.’ In truth, Purple Faction had apparently written off his mother some time ago and didn’t want to expend more resources for Tempest’s pet project.
After his father’s demotion, he decided it was time to go find his wife under the guise of finding the distress signal’s source. The Crew had decided to accompany him, despite the fact that many of them outranked him now. They either respected him or his mother a lot to come along for an indeterminate period. All of them knew they could be called back by Purple at any time if a mission arose, and Gus could see Tempest planning furiously, trying to get as much done in as short a time as possible.
Gus’ jaw tightened as his eyes flicked to the others in the room, but he could still train. With upgrades to the arena, the back wall had lifted and revealed five additional battle areas, arranged in a honeycomb pattern. Gus scanned himself and wordlessly got into position. He had been training and sparring with the other supers and had already learned a lot. But right now he needed to be alone, or at least away from other people and their demands.
He entered in the parameters for training then nodded to himself and got into a ready stance as the program began. He melted into habit, thinking about the latest turn of events.
He had locked himself from assimilating any of the abilities he had taken from the Mandrite core, knowing that implementation of that many changes simultaneously would be too much for him. All that power right there and none of it available. It was maddening. With the multitude of abilities he had already stolen from other supers though, he really couldn’t complain.
Gus blocked a swing from a pillowbot and grappled the arm, taking the robot down. He sprang away as another attacked and only succeeded in hitting its partner. By the time the hit connected he was already across the arena, in a ready pose.
Truly, the manor had made improvements in leaps and bounds in the week since his father had come, and yet he felt unsettled. This did not feel like the Tempest he had come to know. His exuberant acceptance was something Gus had always craved. But to him, it felt like a large part of that acceptance was of his powers, not of Gus himself.
Plus, Gus was uncertain if he was being genuine. All of it kind of pissed him off. He was mad at himself too, for biting his tongue and allowing Tempest to help take the lead. In his mind’s eye, he had planned to meet his father when he was good and ready. After he had leveled and mastered his abilities, not when he was still bumbling around trying to make sense of everything.
He landed an anger-fueled punch on one pillowbot before dancing away. The situation was idiotic but it was how he felt. He had dreamed of what he would say when the ‘confrontation’ with his father inevitably occurred, but he had been so caught off guard that Tempest just went along with everything before Nick berated him and guided him into setting some boundaries.
He recognized that the manor had to be secure enough to leave, but he longed for the Crew to finally be ready to go. Some days were better than others. Since the incident, he hadn’t been able to allow himself to sleep. So he had to do other things to occupy his time. His Energy Absorption ability allowed him to never feel physical exhaustion, but he had times when his brain started to just get a little foggy.
He had noticed himself react with a little more edginess and have a bit more of a temper than he was used to, but it was hard to distinguish what was due to sleep deprivation and what was due to having his father back in his life.
And just when he thought he was getting Zen, *bam*! Headaches hit without warning. Sometimes like a vice threatening to crush his temples, other times like a stiletto to the base of his skull. They came with no warning, and he tried his best to hide his handicap from the others. It would involve answering too many questions.
He grit his teeth and landed another punch; the pillowbot staggered back and fell with a satisfying thud. The impact was therapeutic, draining off a portion of his pent-up emotions. Fortunately, they were relentless attackers and Gus pushed himself to take out his frustrations on the poor automatons.
His mind fell into a rhythm while he attacked and defended, his body going on autopilot. He thought about the Quorian cube and what it contained.
The others had scavenged some meager supplies, and Yuki managed to secure some of Methiochos’ personal logs for Gus. He wasn’t sure why he decided to download and keep them, but after they were checked to be virus-free, he had them transferred to a small datapad.
Overall the training went well, and Gus felt like he wouldn’t be too much of a bumbler when the mission actually started, but the real test was when they got into an actual battle.
The Crew were vague about their abilities for some reason, so he only had a general idea of their skills. It could be that he was still like a stranger to them; he barely knew their names and felt uncomfortable inserting himself into their well-established group.
Still. The reason for the secrecy was beyond him, but it was like an unspoken rule. One of those forbidden topics that everyone inherently knew were off-limits.
Gus continued fighting, dodging an attack and retaliating. If he didn’t run an Adaptive Training program, he could let himself go on autopilot. It was rare that he would be caught off guard, and his responses were becoming honed. Often he didn’t get any XP, but it kept him from boiling over.
He had actually broken a tooth the third day after Tempest arrived, from clenching his jaw so hard. His Nth had to make a hard shell over it while they repaired the enamel underneath. This required him to be on a soup and smoothie diet because he couldn’t make his teeth fit together with the large dome over the tooth being repaired. Just another irritation. Wasn’t life supposed to be getting better as a super? When is that going to happen?
“Happiness is not defined by any circumstance, condition, or person. You need not tie your happiness to anything. The choice to be happy is always yours to make. Make that choice and cultivate a happy spirit,” Nick suggested. “Your father is not making you unhappy, you are choosing to feel so.”
“So you think I am being too hard on my father?” Gus inquired as he kicked and pushed backward, doing a flip, instantly regretting asking the question.
“One must honor their parents,” Nick responded curtly, with disdain.
“Honor should be earned.” Gus grunted after an especially hard block.
“So only those who serve you deserve any honor?”
“No, that’s not—” The distraction gave a pillowbot the time it needed to give Gus a good slap across the face. Gus clenched his fists at the shot. He spun and landed a roundhouse kick on the robot’s torso. “Everyone deserves a certain level of respect. But those who abuse that trust have to prove they have changed.”
“For how long? When will you finally allow yourself to forgive the offender?”
“I’m sorry I brought it up. I mistakenly thought you were on my side,” Gus
growled.
“I am on your side. These emotions and habits of blame are a weakness. You need to rid yourself of them.”
Gus’ eyebrows furrowed so much that he could see them as he tried to contain himself.
“I’m done with this conversation.”
“You can run, but wherever you go, there you are,” Nick said with infuriating calm. He had become so used to asking the previous iterations of Nick questions that it was a hard habit to break. This new one made him wonder if mainland supers had it right to suppress their Nth personalities. Gus almost charged the pillowbot in front of him like a mad bull when a twinkling chime and a message came over the manor intercom.
“Gus, please meet your party in the control room,” the message repeated just like in an airport. Finally! It was time to go. Nothing good ever seemed to come from overthinking things. He grabbed a towel to mop up the sparse sweat that had accumulated. Barely anything and he had really been going at it. At least some things are improving.
The control room was full of the entire crew, Tempest, and Aurora, who all turned to look at Gus, the last to arrive.
“Excellent, we are all here!” Tempest said, clasping his hands. “We are off to find my wife, Gwen. You probably know her as ‘The Alchemist.’ She has been gone for over a decade and though I have kept close tabs on her, recently, my surveillance feeds went dark. We are heading now to her last known location. As Gus has fully recovered, her bargain is complete and she should be allowed to come home. I have reservations that her generous host will comply so easily, however, so we may have some work to do. Any questions?”
There was slight murmuring but no one asked anything.
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