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

Note: This song chain has deviated from a single focus. Various buffs will increase functionality but may lose potency in comparison.

“Are you in the middle of something? I was just kind of yanked back—”

“Yeah, Nick. The supers have taken over the manor.”

“‘Nuff said, go get ‘em.”

Gus’ took one last look at the remains, then moved on and activated Leech on the remaining supers. He didn’t bother moving them. They wouldn’t know what happened when they awoke, and he couldn’t put them in the brig. The fact that he could steal powers would soon be out.

Gus was about to go back inside when he looked upward. A super in a mechanized suit stood watching him with a curious tilt of his head. Gus assumed a defensive pose, but the super made no effort to attack.

After a tense moment, Gus retreated toward the front entry to the manor, all the while with his hands in a placating gesture as if the mech were a wild animal. Still the super made no moves. Gus entered and half-expected the robot to have alerted his fellows, but the atrium and lobby were empty except for the abandoned female super.

Gus checked her health and only after seeing it was mostly full did he activate Leech. Gus saw on his minimap that one team was now in the control room, while others had spread out to search the floors in teams of two. The invaders were clearing rooms in military fashion and working their way through the first floor.

He-Man Woman Hater by Extreme. Success rates x8.

Added effect: +10% damage to female supers. +2 Strength.

Gus wouldn’t consider himself a misogynist, but the intro to this song, Flight of the Wounded Bumblebee, always got him pumped up. The song couldn’t have been better timed as he spotted two supers patrolling this floor, both female.

With a thought, Gus called Jet to his outstretched hand as he ran toward the two supers. He activated Hyper and doubled his Agility, noticing an immediate increase in speed. It was only this that allowed him to move quickly enough to dodge three orange darts the woman on the right flung directly into his path.

Bracing against one wall and taking a couple steps, Gus flipped and leaped over the pair, swinging Jet in mid-flight. There was a satisfying crack, but when Gus landed and rolled, he saw that he had not connected with his target’s head, but with her forearm, which now bent at an odd angle.

She held it with the other and screamed in agony while her partner advanced. She let loose with a barrage of swipes and grabs, each narrowly missing Gus and forcing him back. Even with his extra speed, he was losing ground and barely reacting before she could connect.

Jet attacked from the other side; she kept her eyes fixed on Gus, deftly blocking Jet’s probing strikes without even looking. Gus saw his stamina bar draining like it had a heavy leak.

“What a disappointment. Too stupid to know you shouldn’t try to prevail against a superior force,” the woman spat, not even winded from her efforts.

TNT by AC/DC. Success rates x16.

Added effect: +10% damage to area-of-effect attacks.

Gus felt a surge of strength with the sudden jump in power. He felt his muscles tightening. The woman’s words stung in far too personal a way. He gave in to the inner rage that he had managed to tamp down for his whole life. Every bully he had had to deal with since the punks in the parking lot, the weakness he felt in himself around his father and brother, all the times he had been cheated or pushed around. It flowed out, and kept coming. He had crammed so much in there.

He raged that there was such disparity in the world at large. Too many went unpunished for the wrongs they committed. They took what they wanted and went unchallenged. The thought of how much this must be going on everywhere if he had seen so much of it in just his own experience. Some people were always taking, and had an insatiable desire for more.

Gus looked at his hands and arched his eyebrows, a manic grin on his face. Time to take it all back. He pulled Jet to him and let the katas take over. The two moved and counterattacked, the space between the *thuds* and *thwacks* shortening as each blow was countered then returned.

Gus saw a countdown timer on the lower right of his display, but was so occupied that he couldn’t see it well enough to read what it was measuring. When it ended, however, it became incredibly clear as Hyper deactivated and Gus’ motions slowed to a crawl. He tried to move to block an incoming swipe, but it was like moving underwater. A fingernail scratched along his cheek like a gentle caress.

With this done, the woman stepped back and bowed. Gus readied himself to fight on, when he noticed his MP and his already sparse stamina bar drained to zero. A sudden dizziness caught him and he fell forward.

The room spun and Gus hit the floor, and the world continued to twirl.

“Yes, we’ve got him. Here are the coordinates…”

Sounds became quiet then suddenly loud as Gus’ senses were scrambled. He fought nausea until someone flipped him over onto his back.

“Well, what do we have here?” Basileus crowed. “Drag him over here.”

Two supers roughly jerked Gus forward by his arms and dropped him unceremoniously at his feet.

“You just saved us so much time, I really appreciate this.” He steepled his fingers and tapped his lips with his index fingers. “Let’s get him to the control room, and make this official!”

Gus swooned as they pulled him suddenly upright, and when he came to, he was somewhere else, the dizziness only slightly diminished.

“Press his hand there,” someone commanded.

Gus felt warmth play under his hand as the scanner worked and the pinprick as the system confirmed his identity. “Okay, now you do the same, Basileus,” another super directed.

Gus saw them cheer