“Okay, let’s get going. We’ll be using our transport for this mission, as Seneschal, our pilot, is more familiar with it, but we have retrieved the Manticorps vessel from a neighboring island. As we have been unable to unlock the hangar atop the manor, we have only been able to use it as a landing area. It’s possible that there are ships within the hangar, but for now, we’ll make do with what we have. Everything should be ready with our transport, and Crew members have checked it out. It is ready to go; let us head there now.”
Tempest motioned towards the elevator and everyone piled in. Someone hit a strange symbol at the top of the series of buttons and the car slid upwards. Gus had thought he knew most of the manor’s layout. There always seemed to be something new. It made him proud in a weird way.
The car opened and everyone spilled out. They were on the roof of the manor, and there was a large octagonal landing pad. At this height, the wind whipped by constantly. Gus slowly spun and took in the whole of the island. Walking to a guardrail, he looked out at the lush jungle, beaches, and the smoldering volcano. He couldn’t have asked for a better place to be. Well, at least now that there weren’t any more zombies or supers attacking, that was.
Gus turned and most of the others had already headed up the open gangway and entered the transport. He followed them in and they seated themselves in the main cabin. Two plush chairs on each side of the wide aisle were filling as everyone stowed their gear in the hold, while some secured items in storage above the seats. Aurora had saved him a seat. Gus was surprised; she had seemed distant after the others arrived.
“How are you holding up? You’ve seemed wrung out lately, Gus.”
“Physically, I feel fine, but mentally, I’m fried. Plus with my father here, it feels like things are slipping out of my control.”
“Well, I think you’re doing great, given the circumstances.” She looked up with concern. Gus’ anger at Aurora had evaporated in the conflict with Manticorps and finding out she was still alive. Still, things had changed a bit. Neither had apologized, but they tacitly moved ahead. Hanging out or training a bit, but they hadn’t talked as much. She had effortlessly slipped back into the others’ company and Gus felt like an outsider, as they kept mostly to themselves.
“I didn’t plan on all this responsibility. And at the same time, I get furious at the thought of someone taking it away from me, like I’m unable to handle it. I’ve always hated being volunteered for something by someone else, especially if I had other plans. Sometimes this feels like that, and even with all this power, people are still ordering me around.”
“You’ve made it clear how you want things organized. Even I was surprised at how you held yourself and laid things out. It wasn’t your typical Gus.”
Gus recalled how most of that came from Nick’s recommendations, but she didn’t need to know that. Gus felt he had a tenuous leadership established as it was.
Tempest made his way back from the cockpit and addressed the group.
“Okay, we’ll be in the air in just a bit. We’re going to visit the base where The Alchemist was last held. Something has definitely happened there recently, so be prepared for a fight…”
“Is it weird he is calling her ‘The Alchemist’ and not ‘Gwen,’ or ‘my wife’?” Gus leaned over and whispered to Aurora.
“That’s how people addressed her in the faction, so maybe he’s trying to keep it professional? Or how faction members knew her?” she replied, keeping her eyes ahead.
“It throws me off,” Gus said, folding his arms as Tempest continued.
“…will go in first to assess the situation. They will relay that to me and then we will progress in teams. Gus, you’ll be with me, Yuki, and Aurora. Team two will be led by Anastasia and team three by Grimdark. Everyone, accept the party invite and check your comms. We should be there in about two hours. Any questions?”
No one responded, so Tempest made his way back to the forward cabin. Gus tried to peek up to see if his father was helping fly the ship or just observing the pilot. Is he a pilot, too? Gus had to admit he didn’t know. How well do I know my own father? He conceded he had been self-absorbed for a while with his own life now that he was out of the house.
Gus leaned forward and rubbed his face with both hands. He usually liked to sleep on planes or transports, but there wasn’t anything to do. He could really use a handheld game system, or communicator to distract himself. With the constant chaos taking most of his mental RAM, he hadn’t had time to be bored. He needed something to do or level, or he felt like he was wasting time.
With a resonating hum that made his back itch until it cycled to a higher frequency, the transport lifted off and turned in the air. They were finally off.
Chapter Four
Soul Man
Gus leaned back and enjoyed the sensation of takeoff. Unlike his friend Chuck, who hated flying, Gus liked the feeling. For some reason it made him feel like a super, even before he ever had any powers. It was a far cry from the actual sensation of flying with powers, but they still elicited the same swell of emotions. As he dwelt on why, he recalled that whenever he had flown in the past, it was usually either for a family vacation to some exotic place or the start of a mission with his fellow henchmen.
Something new and exciting always seemed to await them. He closed his eyes as he was pressed slightly into his seat as the transport rapidly accelerated to their cruising altitude. When he opened his eyes, Aurora was already asleep in the short time it took to take off. He had planned on continuing their conversation but she must have thought he was taking a rest and decided to do the same.
After fidgeting for a while, he got bored, so Gus popped out of his seat and dug the cube from his backpack in the overhead storage. Staring at it, he tried using some of his abilities to see if it would reveal anything about the mysterious box. Telepathy did nothing, but perhaps it only worked on living things. That made him wonder what Electronic Mind would do to the cube. His tentative probe felt like it clicked into place when he tried to understand what the cube was hiding. Whether this was due to his skill or possibly some changes in himself from absorbing Methiochos’ ability, he could not say.
As he looked at the cube, he had a sudden feeling of falling forward. The side of the cube he was staring at appeared to stretch in all directions and there was a feeling of transition as he crossed the plane of the surface.
Then the world changed.
Looking around, Gus found himself within a labyrinth. Walls the color of circuit boards were chased with protrusions and soldered elements. Yellow pulses zigged and zagged through them. Sound seemed to be muted as when underwater, and Gus looked at his hand, which also seemed to move more slowly through whatever medium made up this place. It was the closest he had ever felt to being awake in a dream.
Gus began to wander down the halls formed by the green walls, looking upward to see them extend into a vanishing point above him. A misty white light filtered down, its source masked by the fog or clouds above. Gus tried to fly and found that he couldn’t activate any abilities. Trying Bound met with similar results. Apparently, in this place, he could not use any abilities.
Gus began to explore, his footsteps making a hollow echoing *thonk* as he stepped ahead. The scope of the labyrinth must have been vast, because he noticed no visible change after what felt like half an hour of walking. He would need to find a way to move more quickly or he would never be able to explore this area fully.
He began to be aware of a high-pitched tone, faint at first but becoming more pronounced the longer it was there. All of a sudden Gus felt a pull backward and he was once again in his seat, the stab of a headache driving in his temples. A quick look at his MP showed it was bottomed out. Electronic Mind must have been draining MP the entire time he was exploring.
Accompanying the pain was the hint of a rising nausea, and it took him some time of massaging his temples with eyes closed and deep breathing before the feeling passed. He sheepishly looked over at Auror
a, not wanting to throw up around her a second time. She continued to sleep, a slight smile on her face.
He wondered how long he had been inside the cube, but hadn’t checked the time beforehand so he had no real frame of reference. He would need to figure that out so he could avoid bottoming out again. Nick usually would warn him once he was getting close to hitting the 5% mark, but he had no such warning while in the cube. A quick check showed that he had progressed in the skill, but was still around 20% short of getting another level in Electronic Mind.
He committed to check some of the logs Yuki downloaded to see if there were any hints or references that would allow him to navigate the labyrinth somehow as he waited for his MP to recharge. Stuffing the cube in the pouch behind the seat in front of him, he retrieved the tablet from the backpack. There was probably nothing there, but it was the only other lead he could think of at the moment.
He searched for Quorian and cube, but only found two small references:
6/25/2020 - I have come across an unbound Quorian cube. I have had to pay a heavy price for the item, but it was necessary to secure the help from Dr. Flak. His intellect and innovation will serve us well on the island, allowing us to reach new heights as we implement his research into integrating—
He fumbled the tablet, almost dropping it. The horizon rocking through the windows revealed that it wasn’t just him. He blinked a couple times and realized that the transport itself was jockeying back and forth. The blast of large explosions made the transport shudder as the pilot went into evasive maneuvers. The cabin rotated as they dodged and rocked back and forth to avoid getting hit.
“The damned base defenses are still active!” Darik yelled, face plastered to the window on the other side of the transport like a little kid.
Gus almost laughed, but the transport dropped in freefall for about five seconds as a loud boom shook the ship from above. The impulse engines kicked back in and they sped forward, briefly shoving everyone into their seats until the dampeners reoriented.
Through the oval window, Gus saw them skimming across the water. He could see multiple contrails crisscrossing the air all around them, but they had difficulty targeting them at such a low altitude. A nearby explosion splashed water over the windows, momentarily blocking his view of the outside.
“Hold on!” a canned voice blurted over the intercom. The ship began to pull sharply to the right and Gus was pulled almost out of his seat as they slid. They drifted and the transport began to wobble as it skittered across the water. Something dark was quickly approaching the far side of the transport and everyone braced for a crash that never came.
A large pulse of the inertial dampeners flared and the ship stopped neatly in a cove under the base, bobbing on the water, a huge wake rolling away from them. The maneuver reminded Gus of the Blues Brothers parking in a tight spot between two cars. Water sloshed against the nearby pier and the ship settled on the water’s surface, bobbing up and down as the waters settled.
A cheer went up among everyone and they began unbuckling and getting their stowed gear. This seemed like an everyday occurrence with how unflappable everyone was with the whole affair.
Gus sat wide-eyed, hands gripping the armrests for dear life.
Aurora yawned and stretched. “Are we already there?” she asked lazily, acting as if she was totally unaware that anything had happened. Maybe she was. Gus looked over to her and nodded numbly.
Seeing everyone almost ready to disembark, Gus shrugged and got up. Grimdark opened the side hatch and secured the transport to some pylons near the dock. Everyone filed out, assembling into their groups and adjusting their gear as needed. It was pretty damn impressive to see a group like this in action.
Definitely a different affair from henchmen getting ready for a raid or mission. Most of his groups more closely resembled someone waking up late for school, grabbing something quick to eat while half-dressed and running out the door, almost forgetting their books. These individuals were disciplined, organized, and knew how to support each other.
Gus scratched his head, having nothing to do, as he didn’t have any real gear. Jet managed itself, floating nearby. As if in response, his hybrid-Nth armor changed configuration and formed the hex-mesh pattern, the gunmetal color spreading like a wave over his body, with thicker plates over key areas.
“Not bad,” came a voice behind him. Gus turned to see one of the Crew giving him a thumbs up and a broad smile. Gus gave him a ‘thank you’ nod and waited for the rest of his group to form up. He kept forgetting the guy’s name, but he sounded Australian.
Tempest was the last to leave and he gave some last instructions to the pilot before stepping out on the deck. He strode purposefully to Gus’ group, eagerly whispering to Gus, “Are you ready?” He gave him a surreptitious thumbs-up before turning to address the group.
Chapter Five
Ones & Zeros
Tempest’s abrupt whistle brought all the fiddling with equipment and murmured discussion to a stop.
“As you can see, external base defenses are engaged, so expect internal ones to be active as well. Take proper precautions and proceed to the designated nav-points. There has been no response to hails, which means they don’t want us here or are not able to respond. Anastasia and Grimdark will lead the other teams, and we will rendezvous here…”
Gus heard a ding and his minimap populated with a map of the base. Green dots showed up around him and he found he could mentally rotate the map to get a top-down or a three-dimensional view of the different levels of the base. He stopped toying with the views when he saw a message icon pop up on his display. He opened the window.
You have been offered the Group Quest: Rescue The Alchemist.
Clear the facility and locate the super known as The Alchemist.
XP dependent on contribution.
*Restrictions*: Not everyone in your group is receiving notice of this quest. Choosing to reveal it without Tempest’s permission will result in an XP penalty and possible loss of level(s).
Before he could think too much about it, a pulsing chevron appeared on his minimap and Tempest continued.
“Report any anomalies along the way; we don’t know what we’re dealing with here. I’d like to keep this non-confrontational, but protect yourselves if attacked. This should just be a research facility, but it has resisted Yuki’s probes, so it’s obviously more than it appears. Alright? Everyone knows their rally points, let’s move out.” He twirled his finger and everyone separated into their groups and began entering the structure.
Tempest led Gus’ group and he received a prompt to join his party. Four additional avatars populated the left side of his display, with vertical bars denoting their major pools. With less people, he could see their full names instead of only initials. Gus was relieved that he knew the other members of his party, if only briefly.
There was Yuki, who was an augment with hacking skills, and would be the scout of the group. Today, she dressed in a goth-inspired schoolgirl outfit with thigh high-boots laden with unnecessary buckles. She kept to herself, preferring the company of tech over people, and all Gus knew of her was from exploring The Banoi earlier.
Pulse, who specialized in light-based powers and energy blasts. Aurora, Tempest, and Gus rounded out the group of five. Pulse looked like the textbook superhero, exaggerated jawline and all. Gus had sparred with him a couple times and he was relentless, attacking constantly and never appearing to lose any stamina. It would be nice to be fighting with the guy instead of against him for a change. Despite having sparred with a few of them he still did not know how he would fit in during an actual battle.
“Gus, you’re the least trained to work in groups,” Tempest mentioned as if reading his mind, “so I’ll ask you to hold back and guard our rear. Be careful of friendly fire on those in front of you. It may be better to hold back and let us do the heavy lifting, but feel free to take care of anything behind us, got it?”
Gus nodded and instructed Jet to he
lp him monitor their six. Jet spun in place, and a red handkerchief tied to the blade guard flared like a girl’s dress when spinning around.
Where did you get that? The spear briefly bowed towards Harmony who winked as Gus saw her and gave an enthusiastic smile. Dang, my polearm has better social skills than me.
Tempest led the way to a futuristic-looking bulkhead. Yuki typed on a virtual mini-keyboard fastened to the back of her forearm, then extended her typing hand to the panel. The bulkhead disappeared into the ceiling and everyone moved inside.
A smell of acrid burning mingled with roadkill puffed past them as the door opened. Gus wrinkled his nose, squinting as he waved the fumes away and followed everyone inside. It wasn’t too bad—yet. After turning the corner, Tempest accessed the stairs and everyone filed up. After climbing five flights, there was a conspicuous pool of tacky blood underneath the door. Tempest held up a fist and the party stopped. Yuki came forward again and extended her hand forward close to the blood. Two telescoping projections came out of the center of her palm, gently touched the blood, then retracted. After some typing, she held the projected screen above her forearm toward Tempest for him to review.
He grimaced and nodded, then motioned for everyone to stand behind him. He then extended his hands and a gray mist covered the door, becoming more and more condensed until the door was lost in the fog-like material. With a sudden *pop* the door imploded and swung inward. The other supers moved to the sides of the doorway and looked back at Gus who stood there, looking through the doorway.
Aurora gave him a quick wide-eyed look, jerking her head to the side repeatedly. Message received. Get in cover when clearing a door, dummy! Gus scrambled to the side and waited for the others to enter. Pulse dashed in and surveyed the room, announcing ‘clear’ over the comms.
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