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

synthetic voice droned as he tilted his head slightly. He weighed the small piece of Endurium in his hands, determining it to be 50.2 grams. The further calculations were instantly done. It was sufficient. He could now begin crafting his army. This was the key to creating mecha duplicates. Ones with a stable mental matrix, and with which he could communicate via hive-mind. His followers would still be useful, but he could only rely on himself.

Now that he had a sample, this would vastly aid his ability to scan and extract more of the material. Voltekka shot into the air, making a sharp 90-degree turn after clearing the canopy below, and flew toward the manor.

Chapter Thirty-Six

Breach (Walk Alone)

According to plan, the enemy supers rushed toward the manor. Gus activated the new stealth drones who unleashed a barrage of laser blasts and launched a myriad of missiles that locked on the nearest targets and sped off as the drone dropped back into cover to recharge and reload.

The attack disoriented and broke their blitz on the manor. They scattered, looking for cover, while flying supers soared higher in an attempt to get out of range.

Pylons rose out of their hiding spots, and electricity arced between different pylons in unpredictable patterns as they shot up and down, like deadly whack-a-moles. Gus was pleased to see he placed the bases for the pylons well.

“Sorry to tase you, bro!” Gus cackled as a few supers were hit and twitched on the ground.

All too soon, one of the aerial supers shouted, “Enough!” and thrust his hands downward. Pylons were crushed and smashed, along with foliage that hid most of them, crushed in a way that reminded Gus of Graviton’s abilities. All too soon the stealth drones were also dispatched, and the remaining supers formed ranks, on guard now.

Two supers stepped forward and formed a shield bubble around them as they moved forward cautiously. They were on the lawn when Gus launched another attack. Some special debuff gels that Aurora had designed were aerosolized in a mist underneath the supers. Orange and yellowish-green smoke billowed underneath the group, the shield trapping the noxious material closer to them, concentrating it. Soon Gus could not see them amid the roiling vapors.

The shield was modulated and the gas was being expelled somehow, but the damage had been done. Most supers rubbed at their eyes, blinded temporarily and they suffered a huge -10 Perception effect. On top of that, Agility should have taken a similar hit. Gus rocked back in his chair, fistpumping. With Aurora’s skillful upgrades the effect would last twelve hours or more.

Even though they had destroyed the pylons and drones, the manor would replace them at no additional charge; the only drawback was the time it took to fabricate the items.

Gus was hoping they would retreat, and give him more time to build up defenses. As he turned back to the monitors, another super was bathing the others in a green light. Those affected walked out of the beam, their red eyes gone and HP bars refilled.

“At least the blast doors should hold; they held off those juggernauts for a long time.” An alarm sounded just as Gus was trying to think of other traps and defenses he could enable. Red circles flashed on the display along with warnings across the tops of the displays.

Breach detected, main entrance…

Gus changed the view to the front entryway. He expected to see the blast doors peeled away by some Minmax supers, but there was a shimmering purple portal spanning it, allowing easy access for the others to walk right in. He rubbed his eyes and refocused on the monitor.

“That’s it, just a little bit more,” Gus coaxed as he brought up the menu. When most of them were in position, Gus hit the Electro-floor button. Ankle high electrodes extended from the walls and blue energy cracked and arced as the mercs jiggled and shook.

“Dance party!” Gus cried as the floor pulsed and arms flailed. Gus couldn’t help cracking up until one of the supers following touched the panels and deactivated them, one by one. “C’mon, that was a good one.”

“If you say so,” Nick replied.

Gus frowned at the prospect of having this wet noodle as his mentor for ten more levels.

One of the supers was leaning down and healing the ones affected by the electricity. “Where was that guy when I needed him? I still don’t have a self-heal.”

One was unconscious and they left her there rather than take time to revive her. “Nice loyalty to the team.” Checking the minimap, there were others that the group had left behind from the initial attack, lying outside, represented with hollow circles.

“You expect honor among thieves?”

“I think what goes around comes around.”

“So you believe in karma?”

“I’d like to think so. You try your best and hopefully it comes back to you.”

“Be careful what you wish for, especially when it comes to cause and effect.”

“Lighten up, dude,” Gus said, shifting in his chair.

“You take the manor from its owner. The manor is taken from you. Symmetry.”

Gus growled to himself and focused on the monitors, trying to ignore Nick’s words for the moment. The supers were breaking into three different groups, moving cautiously.

Gus triggered one of the decoys to run across at the end of a hallway. The other supers pursued, just as Gus had planned. As they turned the corner, he activated the PyroMatic 2.0 system. Tiny sprinklers coated the supers with a fine mist as they ran through. Some did not notice, but others skidded to a stop and looked for the source. The nozzles were quickly rendered useless, but then the system activated phase two and showered the supers with sparks.

The fine mist ignited like lighter fluid and instantly many were aflame, as the gel coating them lit up and would not go out despite them patting or rolling on the ground. One super extended her hands and a black fog billowed out like living shadows. The cloud wrapped briefly