Sidekick

by Carl Stubblefield

  The line clicked off abruptly before Gus could say anything. What more was there to say? He’d totally stuck his foot in his mouth and soured the whole call. He almost called back but thought it’d be better to give Dave a little time. Hopefully, he would still be around when Gus called again, and vice versa.

  Chapter Twenty-Seven

  The Greatest Show

  Gus went to the arena, still mad at himself.

  “How did it go?” Aurora asked.

  “Let’s train,” Gus said brusquely while checking the timer for the hybrid-Nth. There was still an hour and a half before they would be ready. “I want to get those new hybrid-Nth online before anything else goes sideways.”

  Sensing Gus’ change in mood, she let the subject go. They headed to the arena and Gus explained his new abilities in broad strokes. Gus set a timer and they got to work.

  Aurora was adept at finding weaknesses in Gus’ application of his powers and he had to think hard to avoid her incessant attacks. He bled off his frustration at himself through the exertion and his mood had improved greatly when the timer went off.

  “Timer’s up. I’m heading to the Foundry to add those new hybrid-Nth.”

  “I want to see this too, let’s go.” Training forgotten, they both made their way to the Foundry. Walking down the metal walkways, they followed the LED lights indicating the appropriate conveyor belt.

  “This is so exciting!” Aurora gushed.

  When they got to the appropriate area, Gus saw three plastic trays, all with a familiar grayish-black dust. He pushed a little around, expecting it to stain his finger since it looked just like graphite powder but his finger came away clean.

  “Okay, Nick, I’m ready.”

  “Here we go, then. In three, two, one…” Nick counted him off.

  Gus slammed his eyes shut and sucked in a breath as he had the experience of jumping into a deep cold lake. His skin prickled with pins and needles, and numbness overcame him. There was a rush of vertigo and he was quickly sinking, the darkness engulfing him. His ears popped and the void expanded.

  Sounds became muffled and he wasn’t certain that he was still in the Foundry. After a few moments, a conduit opened and Gus was propelled upward again. Normal sounds and sights returned as he quickly sped toward the bright doorway above. As Gus was slingshotted out the opening, he found himself standing in the same position as before, wobbly on his feet.

  The hybrid-Nth in the trays began flowing into the air like dust in a windstorm. Some spun around Gus, encircling him, while other roiling clouds twisted like vines around his arms and legs, coalescing around them and forming intricate patterns of interlocking shapes.

  As the hybrid-Nth solidified, they began to take on a gunmetal color with tiny facets reflecting light with his movement as he twisted his arms to view them from all angles. The dust kept coming, and a helmet—no, it was more of a mask, formed around his head and covered his entire face.

  His vision went black as his eyes were covered until the hybrid-Nth came online and Gus could see normally again. Not only that, but they cycled through multiple areas. Gus could see behind him, getting visual information from anywhere the hybrid-Nth covered his body. He poked his finger above one of the taller machines and found he could see through his index finger as if he were looking through a small camera on his fingertip. Very cool.

  With a thought, he removed the mask. Not physically though; the Nth appeared to melt and flow to his shoulders, making them look even more impressive and broad as the Nth reconfigured into pauldrons.

  “I need to get myself some of that armor! It makes you look pretty badass.” Aurora reached forward and ran her finger along the polished rounded edges. Gus didn’t tell her that he could feel it as if she was touching bare skin. He’d have to adjust that setting for more reasons than one.

  Gus moved around and was impressed that it made no noise. He thought the plates would clink together but the feel was extremely similar to just wearing his jumpsuit. Flexible and not restrictive as he tried different movements, even a couple katas without Jet, and nothing bound or got tight.

  “Let’s finish training and see what this stuff can do.” Gus clenched a fist and looked at the imposing gauntlet-like effect of the armor.

  “Good, I’m getting tired of holding back on you. If this armor is all you say it is, you should be fine.”

  “Sure you have,” he said and she scrunched her nose and shrugged.

  Wait. Had she been holding back? No, she’s probably just trying to get me riled.

  He followed her back to the arena. They faced off when they got there and, at the signal, Aurora took off. He had never seen her move so fast. To compound this, she intermittently dropped what amounted to a flashbang before she moved and Gus could not see where she had gone. Solid hits came from behind, his side, and one even atop the crown of his head. He could feel the armor undulating at the sites of impact, spreading the force out over a larger surface area and absorbing a good portion of the force.

  Aurora grabbed his arm and twisted, trying to take him down using her momentum and weight. But she only ended up dangling off the end of his arm like he was a statue. Gus tipped his hand down and she slid off as the armor shifted. She couldn’t hold on anymore, the outer coating becoming smooth and almost oily. After sliding off, it reverted to its normal configuration.

  An evil grin settled on Gus’ face as he rushed to attack and Aurora barely had time to spring back to her feet. She launched a huge Ion Storm at his chest and the armor began to glow with a purple aura. Leaving off her attack, the armor looked unscathed. Then she aimed for his head, and the mask reformed and encased Gus’ face moments before the shower of colored sparkles washed over him. The view Gus got reminded him of the end credits of Buck Rogers in the 25th Century as sparks blasted against his display. It was oddly soothing. A red blip on his minimap ruined the moment.

  “Guess who’s back,” Gus said.

  “Shady? Or is it Backstreet?”

  “I wish. Looks like they’re sending in a lot more this time. They’re in a formation with two groups, but at least ten total.”

  “Let’s see how they like my little friends,” Aurora said with anticipation. “I linked the interface so that I can access them remotely,” she said as she walked to the exit.

  Gus followed her and they exited the manor onto the courtyard.

  Aurora was continually moving her hands, sweeping left and right, hitting virtual buttons invisible to Gus as she accessed some system she had set up.

  As if in response, automated drones appeared on Gus’ display, their icons showing their flight out of the manor. They made a beeline to intercept the supers. A small window showed their viewpoint as they progressed, Gus and Aurora making their way out of the manor.

  Due to their small size, the few shots that came their way flew wide. In response, the drones spread apart, encouraging the enemies to waste even more ammo trying to hit the tiny targets.

  They burst out the door and Gus activated the blast doors to close. Colorful weapons of different energies flickered in the distance. Since the drones were out of eyesight, Gus had to zoom in his display to see what the drones were doing. There were two clusters of supers, a forward party and one lagging behind. The drones split as well to meet both sets of enemies, his interface highlighting them in the magnified view. Instead of flying at the supers and detonating, they took position about ten feet above them.

  “They’ve totally missed them,” Gus complained. “Is the signal too far away?”

  “Wait for it.” Aurora held up a finger.

  An orange mist emanated from the drones and they dropped among the supers who batted them away as the cloud settled around them.

  “What was that?”

  “I had the cafeteria cook up some debuff gel pods, then made some diffusers at the Foundry and attached them to some targeted drones.”

  “What kind of debuffs?”

  “Everyone in that cloud just lost ha
lf their MP and their MP regen rate is cut in half as well!”

  “Noice!” Gus said in a singsong voice.

  “I call it ‘The Showstopper,’” she said with pride.

  “They’re going to be pissed!”

  A projectile shot out, flying erratically.

  “That really threw off their aim!”

  “Gus, I don’t think they’re shooting at us.”

  The missile hit the mountain in which the manor was encased, rocks exploding off.

  “Are they insane? I thought they wanted the manor or something inside!”

  “These guys are probably loose cannons, literally. They may not be following orders strictly. These are mercs, remember?”

  Another missile shot toward the tower.

  “Aw hell to the no!” Gus said as he took off to intercept the missile.

  Chapter Twenty-Eight

  Love Missile F1-11

  Reaching the missile, he barely erected a shield as it detonated early against its surface. The explosion shattered the shield and Gus went flipping through the air, barely catching himself activating Advanced Flight before hitting the ground. Gritting his teeth, he flew back toward the supers. Five of them were aboard small craft that looked like flying jet-skis. There were mounts underneath the contraptions that were the source of the missiles.

  Gus reached out, attempting to use Absorb, but he was too far away. Krackle, on the other hand, turned out to be very effective. The supers scattered on their jet-skies. He wasn’t sure what to call them but patted himself on the back for thinking of the name.

  Krackle appeared to have some kind of homing ability as the balls of energy followed their targets, gradually decreasing in size before winking out. The second wave of supers could be seen behind the first, four supers being ferried by flyers. They were still a way off, so Gus felt pressured to stop this first wave of idiots from firing more missiles.

  One buzzed by him, peppering him with some kind of slugs. He expected a burst of pain, but the bullets slowed before they hit and flattened about a millimeter from his skin, hitting some invisible barrier.

  Before he could discern what was happening with the bullets, he threw out a Warp bubble on reflex and crushed the undercarriage of his attacker’s jet-sky. It managed to keep flying but it was slowly losing altitude. The missiles, now twisted wrecks, didn’t detonate for some reason.

  Gus laughed as the super repeatedly leaned forward, trying to coax a little more forward momentum out of the jet-sky that clearly was not going to make it to land. He was going to have a little swim in his future. Two whooshes signaled more missiles being fired while Gus was distracted.

  Get your head in the game! he chastised himself. Flying forward, he saw that he was not going to make it to intercept and shield the manor. He shot Krackle, but the missiles left the slower energy balls in the dust. He followed as fast as he could fly, but he could not overtake the missiles.

  Gus tried to activate Absorb and still, there was no effect at this range. He’d probably have to be in direct contact at his lower level of the skill, he thought with frustration. Hitting upon Electronic Mind in desperation, he activated it and understood the simple controls. The missiles were too close to deflect away from the manor at their current speed so he opted to have them detonate early.

  Gus flew into the bright fireball, the brief heat momentarily uncomfortable. The bright flash was enough of a distraction and blinded him so that he crashed into the mountainside the manor was carved into. Pain blossomed across his head and he lost his focus, tumbling downward. After hitting an errant branch, he threw up a quick shield as he tumbled down to the ground.

  “That sucked.” He popped pink, red, and blue gels, and his vision resolved immediately. The supers were closer than ever and he sent the shield flying upward again. Getting an idea, he activated Electronic Mind again and fired all the remaining missiles. Before they got too far away to command, he directed them to target the incoming supers.

  The flying supers were not nearly as maneuverable while carrying their burdens, and one decided discretion was the better part of valor and let her two passengers go, flying away. One missile began to follow her, but as she got far enough away, it circled around to target one of the dropping supers. They both hit the water with a crash and the missile exploded as it hit the water.

  The supers floated to the surface, and Gus could tell they were alive but unconscious by the change in their minimap status. He flew close and created two shields around them, partly so they wouldn’t drown. He didn’t want to lose the opportunity to harvest their powers either, if he was honest.

  The other flyer managed to perform an aerial swing, twisting in a spiral and her passengers swung up and over, allowing the missiles to pass underneath. One of the supers she was carrying fired some sort of attack that clogged their propulsion systems before they could circle back around and they hit the water in the distance, making hollow *booms* after hitting the water and detonating.

  As Gus flew to engage the other supers on jet-skies, he saw that Aurora had launched more drones. Keeping his distance from them, he engaged the last flyer as he quickly flew to the shore. With a large *crack,* blue fingers of electricity arced between three of the drones and two of the remaining jet-skies. Their riders spasmed and jolted as the drivers either let go of some throttle that kept the machines aloft or the electricity ruined something inside.

  They both fell like rag dolls, still jittering as their muscles held their clenched fists to the handles, even after the electricity had dissipated. Gus was too far away to do anything to slow their fall and both hit the sandy beach at odd angles. Odd, unnatural angles for people who were still alive.

  Gus felt ashamed that his first reaction was disappointment—that he probably had lost some potential powers—instead of feeling bad that two people had just died. He didn’t have long to think about them as he approached the flyer and his two passengers.

  The mercs were close enough to the ground that they dropped to the sand. One executed a three-point landing and the other spun into a roll and sprang to his feet in a fighting pose. Gus looked at the floating super and a visceral dread overcame him as he gazed at the squid like creature in front of him. Is this a super or some kind of construct? Most likely a construct. Breaking from its gaze with an effort of will, Gus strained to refocus his attention on the two supers who had landed on the beach.

  Hearing a repeating *pssh-pssh* noise behind him, Gus turned and saw Aurora running through the sand to meet these supers.

  Aurora joined Gus and she faced off against the other super. They immediately engaged each other and Gus could barely follow their arms and legs as they kicked and blocked at blinding speed. The super Aurora fought wore only tightly fitting pants and some shoes with a split toe that resembled socks more than shoes.

  He was covered in tattoos that blazed with color during various moves. A brilliant tiger, shimmering like goldfish scales, reflected in the sun as he made a slashing attack with a clawed fist. Aurora ducked to avoid it and kicked upwards. It connected with his chin with a resounding crack. He flew backward and landed on his back, but sprang back onto his feet as if he were on a trampoline.

  The air snapped behind their rapid kicks and punches, punctuated with dull thuds and slapping noises as a hit connected or was blocked. Neither appeared to have the advantage, but Gus saw that Aurora truly had been taking it easy on him in their sparring sessions.

  Seeing movement out of the corner of his eye, he turned to face his opponent and saw the air ripple as the super extended both arms toward him. There was no time to dodge, having been too enthralled watching Aurora fight. Waves hit Gus, shimmering through his armor. He felt the wave directed around his sides and exit behind his back. Besides a tiny itch from the vibration, he suffered no ill effects.

  Frustrated, the super placed his hands on the sand and sent out another pulse. Before Gus could realize what was happening, the sand below him stopped supporting him, and he
sunk knee deep into it before the pulse ended. The sand stopped vibrating and locked his feet in after solidifying. Gus grabbed his thigh with both arms, trying to wrench his leg free. Another pulse sunk Gus to mid-chest in the sand and now his arms were trapped as well.

  A smarmy look of satisfaction that seemed out of place settled on the super’s childish face. He was still struggling to create a respectable semblance of facial hair. Backing up, he ran towards Gus, who began to expect the worst. When his leg cocked back for a kick, Gus activated Xyzzy at the last moment and appeared fifteen feet above in the air.

  The young super, meeting no resistance, kicked through empty air and fell on his butt from overextending himself. Only to become stuck butt-first in the hole left by Gus’ absence, awkwardly trapped and slapping the sand, trying to pull himself out.

  Gravity reasserted itself and Gus fell on top of the boy, pushing him further into the hole, neatly folded in half. Gus slid a hand across his cheek and activated Leech and the boy stopped his struggling.

  Behind him, Aurora screamed in frustration and Gus spun to see her trapped to her shins in the sand as well. Her opponent was focusing a large bright ball of energy in front of a tattoo on his chest that resembled an eye, but was hard to tell due to the brilliance of the energy ball. His arms were in front of him in hadouken style and it was obvious he was going to hit Aurora point blank.

  Gus activated Dash and flung up a shield as he moved to intercept.

  The impact shattered his shield and shot him backward into Aurora, the impact pulling her out of the sand. The rebound flung the other super into a rock wall and he crumpled. Gus continued to shoot backward until he collided with a large pitted and porous rock. His armor kept him from getting shredded on the rough rocks, but he hit with enough force to crush a human-shaped imprint in the rock.

  Gus felt his vision shrink to a tiny space in front of him, almost passing out. That definitely caused some internal injuries, he thought through the agonizing pain. His right arm felt broken as he had taken the hit on his right side. Awkwardly with his left, he reached across to try to get a healing gel but his thigh was buried in the rock. Weakly, he rolled out of the indentation he had made and fell face-first into the sand. Coughing up some blood, he spit out sand that had pushed into his open mouth as he grimaced in pain.