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

to the Velcro, like this,” he instructed, showing how to attach the now-tangible rim of the bag of holding. Gus added the adhesive strip on the smooth backing of the Velcro to his hip where a pocket would be and reached inside. Keeping it open, he poured in some of the red and pink gels. The angle made it feel like he was storing them inside his upper thigh.

Aurora laughed as she played with the strange dimensional effect. They hadn’t made the bags so deep that they would have to fish around during an emergency for a much-needed gel.

“Let’s make another for the other side, then we can separate HP from MP boosts,” she said, a giddy grin on her face.

“Good idea.”

They set back to work, Aurora finishing her second bag without any coaching, and much quicker than Gus had done.

“T-t-today, junior!” she taunted.

“You don’t have to brag about it!” He laughed as she teased, trying to distract him and make him lose his concentration. He had to spin to face away from her in order to keep his eyes on the delicate finishing step. At last, he saw the shimmer and knew he was done.

“You’re horrible, you know that, right?”

“You don’t know the half of it,” Daphne added.

“Hey, you’re supposed to be on my side!”

When they were finished, they loaded the blue gels into their left pockets. That done, they sat there and took in the ocean.

Before they could even relax, red stars popped up in their displays and they looked at each other. Aurora turned to Gus, her eyes pinched.

“They’re coming.”

Chapter Nineteen

Catch Me If You Can

“Let’s do this,” Gus said as he hit his Camouflage skill and moved into one of the cover positions they had designated.

“Crap, I haven’t unlocked any of the new facilities for the manor yet,” Aurora said as she flew up to an overlook and got into position. For Gus, the strain of flying was gone, and he effortlessly glided above the ground, the advanced level of the skill sapping barely any MP at all. Aurora moved painfully slow, but to her credit, she had managed to eliminate ‘propelling’ herself by using Ion Storm.

The cluster of dots split and resolved into five supers, one using a jetpack and another with his hands on the shoulders of two others. A light blue aura outlined him and the two other supers he was ferrying to the island as they hung there, reminding Gus of cats held by the scruff of the neck. Wreckognize wouldn’t work from this distance, so Gus nicknamed another super, also wearing an exosuit with visible hydraulics and augments ‘Jetpack.’ He had one super he was carrying with him.

As soon as they touched down on the beach, the aura disappeared and they both shook free, rotating their shoulders like throwing off an uncomfortable load. Jetpack dropped his partner, who jogged as he touched down until coming to a stop, kicking up plumes of beach sand. After checking some switches, he pulled a gun connected to a cord from his back and powered up, glowing light illuminating a line from the pack on his back to the butt of the rifle. A loud electronic hum resonated as the super moved up the beach. Not the stealthiest setup, but maybe he didn’t care.

Jetpack landed nearby, and as he turned, Gus could see cybernetics covering one eye. He pulled a flap open on his shoulder and a small roiling mass floated out. It sat there stretching and reforming, like a flock of starlings, and then dispersed as the cloud spread out, particles shooting in different directions. That done, he fiddled with the large bracers on his forearms, activating them and taking a practice shot at a nearby palm tree.

As he clenched his fist around a crossbar, the cuff surrounding his hands shot a ring-shaped beam of energy that ripped through the tree, snapping it in half. The top half fell towards one of the other supers, who casually reached up one hand. The fronds began to brown and wilt, shriveling to a husk and flaking to ash. In the time it took the tree to fall forward, the trunk darkened and crumbled. The coastal wind carried the ash away before most could hit the nonchalant super.

“Watch what you’re doing, idiot! Why don’t you just announce that we’re here?!” a rippling bodybuilder super growled.

“You are a fool if you think they do not know we are here. The sooner they come, the sooner we finish.”

The muscular super punched his palm and yelled in dissent. Tattoos flared along his arms and he increased in height as his muscles enlarged.

Gus smacked a bug that alighted on his cheek as he watched the scene.

As he did so, cyber-eye snapped his head to the right and looked directly at Gus. “There! Go! Go!” he shouted.

Gus flew upward, still cloaked, but found himself feeling little pings against his skin as he moved through the air. Rings of energy spun in his direction, following his movement and Gus would have been hit had he not suddenly deactivated Advanced Flight. Gravity pulled him down and Gus swore he smelled burning hair as the ring sailed overhead. Gus could see a murmuration of the bug-like creatures following him, like a contrail on a jet. And pointing directly at his flight path.

The muscular super sprang into the air towards him, clearing twenty-feet of vertical per leap. The rest of the crew was following, some taking aim and charging attacks. Beams occasionally zipped too close for comfort in between the leaps of the musclebound super.

In desperation, Gus flew towards Aurora. He pulled upward and a bright flash enveloped him. The light bursts were spectacular, like being inside of a firework as it went off and Gus almost forgot to keep juking and spinning, distracted by the spectacular display. As he sped through the pyrotechnics, he saw multiple tiny flares as the small pursuers were consumed. Gus flew straight up, to get out of range of