Sidekick

by Carl Stubblefield

  Standing behind the super, he kicked her in the back and she stumbled forward into the newly-vacant patch of material. Extending her hands to catch herself, they sunk deep into the goo. Her head fell into the material, submerging her chin and mouth. She leaned back and pulled, desperately trying to keep her nostrils out of the goop. Gus worried that she would freeze the material but it apparently needed to have contact with the air to activate. The other super, now very close, fired her ability again, this time in a much larger spray than before.

  Gus was prepared this time and used Intermediate Shielding to create a concave shield in front of him. The ability splashed and rebounded, coating the woman in her own resinous goopy material. Its honey-colored hue darkened as it set into a deep amber color, emitting a noxious odor as it cured. The material appeared to thicken with her resistance, allowing her to move less the more she struggled.

  The front of her body was totally covered, and Gus worried that she wouldn’t be able to breathe. He formed a shield into the shape of a small cylinder the size of a toilet paper roll, and pushed it through the goop, which was already hardening. The woman’s lips grabbed hold of the makeshift snorkel, gasping. Gus touched the two supers and Leeched them dry. The material had almost solidified in the air and the limp supers were held in place, but did not appear to be sinking deeper into the material.

  Gus went to assist Jet and saw that two of his opponents were unconscious, one of them the ‘cling-on.’ One of the supers touched her temples upon seeing him and he could hear a voice in his head, trying to compel him to stop the polearm. Gus almost reached forward to recall Jet, then stopped, shaking his head when a chime sounded.

  You have unlocked a subskill of Coerce: Psi-Resist (Level 1).

  Psi-Resist (Level 1) [Passive]: Having obtained the ability to control others’ thoughts, you have the increased ability to resist attacks of a similar nature.

  1,000 XP awarded.

  500 FP awarded.

  6,700 XP to level 20.

  Gus looked at the woman and shook his head, wagging his finger ‘no.’ The woman paled and turned to run. Jet interposed between her legs and she tumbled to the ground. Crawling in the sand to get away, Gus grabbed her by the neck and activated Leech, taking her abilities while holding her until she stopped twitching.

  The last opponent had retreated when he heard Aurora’s voice remark over the mental comms.

  “Gus, hurry!” she choked out before the message suddenly cut out.

  Gus turned his attention to see how she was doing.

  Aurora’s hands tingled with the amount of power she was holding. She couldn’t remember the last time she felt this angry. The pain she felt in her month of torture fueled her anger and she focused it sharper than a monomolecular blade. The two supers she blamed for that pain were here in front of her. Right as she activated her meager flight skill, she heard the tinkle of a windchime and suddenly she was flying with much less effort. In her rage, she barely noticed.

  Mercurio was wearing a jetpack, while Slipstream was maintaining herself aloft, light emanating from the soles of her boots and her hands. They looked at each other in recognition as they saw Aurora approaching.

  Aurora attempted to remotely trigger the EMP, but found the signal was being jammed. She growled to herself as she assessed the situation. She would have to separate the two and focus on Mercurio first. Slipstream could absorb her attacks and also provide a shielding that would protect Mercurio.

  Aurora first activated Dazzle and punched through the curtain of sparks, connecting with Mercurio as hard as she could. Her fist stretched through him, distending like a trampoline with the force. She worried he would be impervious to this type of attack, due to his rubbery, fluid nature. Rubber… that gave her an idea.

  Taking advantage of Dazzle’s effect on him, Aurora clung onto him. She hit Ion Storm repeatedly, engulfing Mercurio’s entire body with the effect, just as she had to her rubber restraints in the dungeon. His more pliant tissue succumbed more easily to the oxidizing effects of the ability, and his suit and skin began to crack and blanch under the onslaught.

  Aurora noticed that he really wore no suit at all, that it was really all his skin imitating a semblance of a suit. The added weight of Aurora had overtaxed the jetpack and the soft blue hue emanating from the jets had darkened to a sickly purple. Before they hit the ground, Aurora spring boarded off of Mercurio’s back, letting him hit the sand. The jetpack shot forward without her weight, and pushed him through the wet sand, plowing a furrow like a drunk farmer curving back and forth. With a large *pop,* the backplate of the jetpack flew away as a fuel canister exploded. Mercurio spun around, arms elongating with the centrifugal force until he lay prone on his back, tiny flames guttering away in the wet sand.

  Sensing someone behind her, Aurora ducked to the side and took only a glancing blow from Slipstream’s kick. The two women grappled, Aurora grabbing her opponent’s wrists to keep her from launching any light bolts her way. Each time Slipstream inhaled deeply as they struggled, she pulled in photons and though in broad daylight, the area around them became darkened like standing in a shadow. With a glint in her eyes, she made spheres of bright light around Aurora’s hands. With a twist, a long needle began to extend out of a wide banded bracelet that usually surrounded Slipstream’s wrists, but had been pushed further up to her mid forearms by the struggle.

  “Seems like we have the same strength levels. Too bad that’s not my only trick. Say goodnight again, Aurora.”

  Aurora smiled back. Slipstream thought she still needed her hands to focus her power. She concentrated Ion Storm at the base of the needle and saw it begin to glow red in less than a second.

  Slipstream’s expression morphed from arrogance to confusion to horror as she saw the tip of the needle dip down to her own exposed wrist.

  Aurora suddenly let go of Slipstream and used her fist to hammer the needle deep into the skin. In an instant, all of her muscles relaxed and she slumped to the ground. An ignominious smell alerted Aurora that whatever was in that needle relaxed all the muscles in Slipstream’s body. Did that happen to me on the station? Gross!

  “That was very satisfying,” she said. Despite her revulsion she felt elated she had beaten them. After Gus took their abilities, she definitely had plans to visit these two and gloat a bit.

  A sharp pain hit her neck and she reached up to find that she had a small dart embedded in the side of her neck. Turning to face her attacker, she saw an obvious augment, full of bionics and cybernetics on both his suit and embedded into his skin. Damn augments! Her disgust towards augments resurfaced.

  Not having powers strong enough to really be supers, they used technology to make up the difference or amplify their skills to some semblance of significance. While some augments had Nth, most did not. They were unworthy adversaries in every sense. She sneered at him and tried to work the barb on the dart out of her neck.

  With a coarse laugh, the augment shot another dart into her arm that was clasping the first dart and pushed energy through the clear, hair-like filaments completing the circuit. Aurora spasmed with the electricity, losing control of her arm as it flapped and flailed like a fish out of water, periodically hitting her. She tried to grab the filaments, hoping to break or tear them. Her muscles refused to cooperate for the most part, and the filaments were deceptively strong, though they looked thin and fragile.

  Unable to break them, she changed tactics and used the filaments as a guide. She forced an Ion Storm attack up the filaments, crawling up the fibers back to the augment. He increased the voltage and Aurora almost lost consciousness, and probably would have if the pain had not kicked in as well. She could smell burning hair, realizing that it was emanating from her! The darts had heated up and were burning the skin and blood around where they poked out into the air.

  Anger flaring, she pushed a huge wave of MP into her Ion Storm and it flew up the remainder of the filament, causing an overload in the power cells. The feedback blew the
m both back and they collapsed on the ground. She tried to contact Gus as she saw something approaching, her body unresponsive. The creature approached and activated a skill, and Aurora faded into unconsciousness.

  After waiting for confirmation that she was out, long arms wrapped around Aurora’s body. With a large leap, the non-humanoid-looking super named Cthulhu took flight. Keying his comms, he gave the signal that he had the package and for everyone to return to base. Cthulhu couldn’t speak anymore, but had developed ways to communicate. Aurora disappeared, masked by tentacles swaying in the air.

  Gus saw the small group of supers retreating. “Yeah, you had better run,” he said, satisfied. They were getting the hang of this. He checked his display and saw three more red circles and went over the small hill and descended to the beach.

  Mercurio and Slipstream were there with another man bristling with electronics. His suit appeared to cover his entire body and he wore goggles. Touching each, he wiped their powers and then began hauling them back to the brig. He wondered where Aurora was, but assumed she still needed some space after their argument.

  He returned and gathered the other mercs and lined them up, so he could make a stretcher train and bring everyone to the brig and save some time. Basileus would be pissed! He must have lost more than half of his fighting force by now, and should be getting desperate. Each failed attempt on the manor made him weaker and Gus stronger. With the new powers from these supers, protecting the manor would become a non-issue.

  Gus began to ferry everyone to the brig, more than a little irritated that Aurora once again wasn’t helping him. He muttered under his breath, after making sure that the comm was clicked off, of course. Perhaps it was best she was taking some alone time; Gus was pretty bad at speaking with no filter when he was upset. He didn’t want to say anything to strain the already awkward dynamic that had arisen. Still, he grumbled to himself, the murmuring kept his mind occupied while he dragged everyone to their cells.

  Congratulations! You have subdued 5 opponents trespassing on privately-owned territory.

  5,000 XP (1,000 x 5) awarded for non-lethal methods.

  2,500 FP (500 x 5) awarded.

  1,700 XP to level 20.

  Gus waved away the message in his irritation. Since he didn’t assist Aurora, he got no XP for ‘subduing’ them. Just another irritation; he would be level 20 now with that.

  Finally done with the task, he had some free time but didn’t feel like doing anything, being in a sour mood. There had been enough battles that he didn’t feel like any training. He needed some fresh air, and maybe a quick swim to clear his mind.

  Chapter Thirty-Three

  Grown Up

  As Gus kicked open the front doors, a tablet that was leaning against the door flew away, landing in the grass nearby. Gus stomped over to the tablet, kneeling down to pick up the device. A crack ran across the display. There was a grass-stained note on it that said simply: ‘Watch Me.’

  Gus turned it on and, after connecting, Basileus came into view on the screen. “You found my little gift, good. It took you long enough. Listen up, as I’m only going to say this once. We have Aurora. The deal is simple: You give me the manor and we give you Aurora, unharmed. Meet me on the beach tomorrow, and we will go to transfer ownership. If you refuse, she dies. If you plan on betraying me, she dies. Once ownership is transferred, I will give you a transport and I expect you both to leave the island, forever. Those are my terms, and they are non-negotiable.” The camera panned to the side where Aurora was bound and unconscious. “She’s alive, for now. How long is up to you. Don’t disappoint me again.” The video ended and the screen blackened.

  His first impulse was to try to come up with some plan on how to outwit Basileus and trap him or overpower him, but he didn’t want to put Aurora at risk. Gus sat down on the grass and ran his fingers through his hair.

  What now? Gus was a planner by nature; he did his best work when he had time to ponder and think about a challenge, then craft a solution. Ever since he had landed on the island, he felt like that luxury had disappeared. There was no time to be methodical, and he felt a majority of what he had come up with on the fly was inferior and inadequate.

  The recent argument with Aurora weighed on his mind. She would be pissed if he tried to save her, and she would be dead if he did nothing. It was an awesome lose-lose situation.

  He exhaled a loud sigh, surprised at how quickly the situation had shifted. His father’s warning came back to him: ‘Never engage a superior force, especially without the resources to defend your position.’ He thought his new powers would be enough. They had been until now. He had to check in to see what Aurora had invested the FP into; maybe he could defend the manor better than he could in the past. If they wanted to take it, they were going to have to fight for it.

  Gus had walked down the beach on auto-pilot and began to jog down it as he thought. He was bursting with stress and indecision and just had to bleed some of it away through physical exertion. He was rapidly approaching being overwhelmed with the heavy decisions he would have to make soon, so he ran and he was able to think a bit more clearly with his body otherwise occupied.

  He knew he couldn’t just give up the manor. Basileus was crazy but he had to see that if he killed Aurora, he wouldn’t have any negotiating power. Gus began to form a plan on how to buy himself some time. He would get new abilities after sleeping tonight and extra time would let him get familiar with them. He should hit level 20 and hopefully unlock another Fractal Level with the stat boosts that accompanied it. Or so he hoped; he still didn’t understand how or why that mechanic worked.

  He still had the arena, and he couldn’t waste the XP that Adaptive Training offered; maybe he could level enough to get that much stronger. Gus jumped over a large downed tree with ease. So much had changed from his first time running around the island.

  What about his pre-Leech abilities? He had been neglecting them in his effort to become familiar with the new ones, but how could he blend the two? Nick’s question of ‘What do you want?’ kept coming back to him. What did he want from all of this? He remembered those days before the pirates came where he could practice his skills at his leisure, develop them in an easy, relaxing environment. Granted, he had leveled much more quickly with all the attacks, but it was stressful and frenetic all the time. Not something he felt he could maintain long term.

  How had his dad done it for so many years? Compartmentalizing was never one of Gus’ specialties. He was becoming painfully aware that he really had not had any major challenges in his past life. He had gone through some things that he thought were tough, but in comparison to now, they were laughably frivolous and fairly childish.

  He wondered again what life would be like when he got home. His big worry was that it was going to implode. That his new self-imposed responsibilities and goals would be so alien compared to the past Gus that he would simply not connect with his old friends and just drift away.

  Or that he would be so busy that there would be so little time to dedicate to goofing around that his friends would find someone else to fill his space. The thought of losing his friends both worried and angered him. He sped up his running as the emotion swelled. Part of him thought they would accept him regardless, but the other part that held on to his own prejudices stirred up enough doubt to make him uncertain.

  He had thought he had wanted just to defeat the invaders, but what would prevent more from coming? While he enjoyed trying and gaining new abilities, the novelty was wearing off a bit. He was often using them as an afterthought, rather than a planned part of his attack strategy. Maybe that would change in time as he assimilated them into attack routines.

  He had to get more powerful, that seemed to be the key. Maybe Purple Faction was right by following the tenet ‘might makes right.’ If he was strong enough, he could make his own choices, not be buffeted about by the whims of others. He was so sick of other people forcibly guiding his life. That was the type of independence he r
eally wanted, to choose his own destiny without anyone interfering.

  When he framed it like that, it almost sounded like how super villains lived. Hell bent on their personal agenda, and any opposition must be swept away. Was that where he was doomed to end up? Was there any use in worrying about things that far in the future when he had a real enemy to face tomorrow? Gus shifted his thoughts to planning what to do to deal with Basileus and his goons.

  Gus continued to run, dismissing worries as they popped up, trying to center his thoughts on productive plans. He was worried he would come up with nothing useful as he kept moving while his brain shifted into cruise control, offering nothing insightful.

  Gus wanted to take a break. To just run away until he was mentally ready to deal with these new problems. None of his powers could stop time though. He tried to formulate plans, but he kept coming up empty. Before he had Nth, and Gus felt overwhelmed, he would sleep a lot more than normal. He would retreat from any social interactions and keep to himself. Maybe binge stream a holovid series, or play a game.

  Eventually the overpowering sensations would fade and he could deal with life again. That life was over. There was no time for such escapes. He ran in silence for a while, keeping the pace such that his stamina was maintained around half-full and not drained to empty.

  “Gus, I know you are going through a lot, but you can do this,” Nick encouraged.

  Gus had been mulling over his own thoughts so much that he had forgotten about Nick. “I don’t know, buddy. I’m beginning to wonder if I really can.”

  “Nothing’s ever easy, right? That doesn’t mean it’s impossible. You’ve just got to choose how you are going to respond. Give yourself a break once in a while. You can’t let the thought of making a bad decision paralyze you into inaction. It’s easy to break down, quit, and let the situation win. Don’t worry about the far future, just focus on tomorrow. What can you do to make the best showing that you can when Basileus shows up?”