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

the air. Eight opponents against him alone. Gus wondered what to expect when multiple attacks came at once. A woman reached out her hand, gaudy exaggerated fingernails pointed at Gus, and beams shot out of the tips.

He dodged and flew upwards and cracked his head against some kind of invisible barrier there, falling to the ground, a little dizzy and landing right on his tailbone. He rolled over in unexpected agony as two supers looked at each other knowingly. “So predictable.”

The semicircle closed as Gus rolled onto his side. Did I damage my spine? Pain shot down both of his legs and he couldn’t get comfortable as lances of pain shot into his hamstrings and he did not trust his legs to support him. Weakly he thought, Jet, help me out here. Gus heard a loud scream and twisted his neck to see that Jet’s blade had sunk deep into the shoulder muscle of one of the supers with its jagged side before dragging backwards and disappearing from Gus’ view.

Blood shot out and splashed a merc to the side, distracting them from their attack. He could hear cracks as the butt of his weapon hit either armor or bone, and Gus was forgotten as the mercs dealt with the new threat. Sliding his hand down to his side, Gus snuck his hand in the slit there and drew out two gels, both pink. He bit into both, chewing as the sounds of battle moved away from him. Mmm, watermelon. He could get used to these gels.

While the gels didn’t give him the immediate boost like the red, he felt that the pain was fading and the disorientation from running into the barrier cleared. He rolled over onto his belly and pushed himself to his knees. Pain faded to pins and needles of numbness, which also began to fade and Gus stood again.

Would it kill these supers to have a passive rapid regeneration ability that I could snatch? Gus got to his feet and shuffled towards the sounds of where Jet continued to scuffle, his legs still stiff and less responsive than normal.

Crashing through some large leafy ferns, Gus saw one super trying to hold onto the end of Jet as he was flipped back and forth, reminding Gus of someone riding a mechanical bull, hanging on only by his hands. He must have had an iron grip because Jet was merciless in lifting and slamming the poor guy up and down. Still, he hung on like a pit bull determined not to be shaken loose of a chew toy.

Jet flung the poor super into his mates, and they ducked and dodged, unable or unwilling to grab the erratically-moving blade. While their backs were turned, Gus fired Warp on the legs of one of the more agile supers, and heard a crunch as the bones were crushed in the altered space.

Attention was split and three supers rushed to meet Gus. Blood dribbled down the chest of one man from where Jet had cut deep into his trapezius. He rushed to grapple with Gus as the other two prepared some energy attacks, raising their hands menacingly.

Gus ducked his head and activated Bound, hoping that the barrier was still in place. It was! As Gus leaped, he carried the other super with him, the strength of the leap slamming them into the barrier and the already-weakened super hit and the barrier fizzled and faded away as he went limp.

That was lucky! So you were responsible for this little gem of an ability.

Gus landed and placed his hand on the super’s chest and tried to activate Leech but nothing happened. The enemy’s suit covered his entire body except for a cutout for his face. Leech requires skin-to-skin contact, good to know. Checking his own fingertips, he saw the hybrid-Nth had pulled away from the pads, exposing his bare skin. It quickly resealed, returning to its gunmetal texture. He quickly touched the super’s face and grabbed all the abilities, more to guarantee the stun than for the abilities at this point.

The other two supers made it to where he had landed and attacked.

Almost ready to dash to the left, TimeSight warned him to hold back and frost erupted on the trunk of a tree where he would have been. Meter-long daggers of ice formed like stalagmites on the tree as the humid tropical air crystalized. He was not lucky enough to dodge the other attack, which exploded over him in a tar-like mess. The amber-colored material held his extremities and severely slowed him down as he tugged against the material. He pulled, and the material appeared to get stronger the more force was applied to it, but it did thin and finally snapped.

Getting one arm free, Gus saw a broad smile spread across the face of the Ice Queen. In a panic, Gus activated Xyzzy and moved an outline of his figure as he surveyed the scene in front of him. Finding where he wanted to place it, Gus completed activating it and was out of the sap-like goop.

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