Sidekick by Carl Stubblefield (10 best novels of all time .txt) 📗

“No, they had been out for a year, and were all working together already. One of their friends had been promoted and transferred out, and then got busy so he was never online anymore. That’s how they picked me up, to round out the squad after that happened. Everything went through, and we were working together in a matter of months. Being with those guys took a lot of the sting out of the work. Don’t get me wrong, it sucked at times, but we had fun regardless.” Gus stared at the water, interlacing his fingers as he sat there, pensive.

“You weren’t worried about… the dangers of supers attacking?”

“I was at first, but you have to understand these guys. They knew how to work the system. Since none of us were shooting for a big promotion, we didn’t have to take the high-risk positions which usually earned you more merit points, or danger pay. To be honest, I was glad. It was nice just to be me for a change, and let my shields down. And that they were cool with that. Drove Tempest bonkers, because I wasn’t ‘applying myself,’ but I was happy for the first time in a while. I think it was because I began focusing on things I wanted instead of what others wanted me to be doing. Conforming to another person’s expectations. After that day with Cyclone, I didn’t just accept the Purple Faction mindset as undeniably true. That perhaps there was a better way.”

“I hope the others see it the same way. You’ve committed them now, regardless.”

“Yeah, I should let them know. It’s only fair, right?”

Chapter Seven

Tempest

Tempest looked at the display and muttered in disbelief, “How could this happen?” Graviton should have been competent enough to protect his son. “And why did it take three weeks for this report to get to me!?”

Taking a deep breath, he released the volatile emotions that threatened to overtake him. Always dealing with incompetence! Everything I’ve done and now I could have lost them both? Through force of will, he released the tension the anger induced, activating a power that changed his physiology and lowered his blood pressure.

The same control he had built up over the years of refining his abilities had helped him learn the patience, focus, and concentration necessary to lead the Faction with stony determination. The negative impact of strong emotions was something that seemed to always compromise the other supers that he knew, regardless of level.

It was partially how he had maintained his position in the hierarchy. Anyone could challenge another in an attempt to move up the ranks, but the duels were monitored and the rules were rigid.

Tempest had avoided many challenges by maintaining a ruthless persona, resisting the desire to react to the taunts and ignorance of idiots. They probed with their transparent barbs, but nothing struck home, and Tempest revealed no weakness. Maintaining his persona constantly did get exhausting though; the ambitious were relentless. His calm allowed him to avoid snap judgments out of the anger or fear that led to losing battles.

One of the other Purple Faction leaders burst into his command center. “Were you aware that Manticorps just took out the Graviton station? Now how are we going to find what we’re looking for, without the ability to scan from orbit? There’s no way we can locate it! I thought your son was supposed to protect it! Isn’t that why you lobbied to have him placed there? Shouldn’t you have been maintaining some kind of protective barrier by using your powers?” the corpulent man bellowed, not waiting for answers.

Tempest’s emotionless mask slid into place and he calmly turned from his display and looked at the batrachian intruder. “Welcome, Rampage, please make yourself at home.” He folded his arms, repressing the anger he felt from the intrusion. “I just received the report as well. We are still gathering data about the attack. All we know is that the station crashed sixteen days ago. Escape pods were jettisoned from the structure, so we suspect there are some survivors. Supers are en route to the crash location to see if they can find anything, but the search radius is vast. This situation is well in hand. It is only a matter of time.”

“We don’t have time!” Rampage yelled, the usually innocuous gills along his neck flaring as he shouted. “If Manticorps finds it before us, they could make a play and remove all the Factions from power. Is that what you want?” Spittle flew from the red-faced man’s lips as he continued his tirade, disgusting Tempest beneath his mask of composure. “We can’t fight a battle on two fronts! We still have no idea who is attacking the Factions. You need to produce some results!” Rampage finished, his enormous chest heaving as he tried to catch his breath, jowls waggling as he shook his head in disdain.

“When we know more, you will know more. Now, I’m sure the academy needs you more than I need distractions at this time. If you want results, leave me to do my work.” Tempest turned, tacitly indicating that the conversation was over.

Rampage was technically subordinate to him, and he knew that dismissing him as if he were unimportant was probably the most upsetting thing he could do to the irascible super. Tempest let a smile creep onto his face as Rampage retreated, muttering frustrated epithets and insults he thought were too quiet to be heard.

Tempest reviewed the results of the search, which were discouraging, to say the least. The station’s altitude magnified the search area for possible debris. Also, they only had an approximate trajectory for the escape pods, and time would have added to the scattering and dispersal effect, since they were over the Pacific Rim when the attack occurred. Most of the data was extrapolated from other satellites as all the sensors on the station were destroyed and they had not recovered any of the black-box analogues.

Purple Faction included