Unity by Carl Stubblefield (epub read online books TXT) 📕

“Well, I trust you can see it even if I don’t. I’m sorry I can’t fly. It would probably be easier to just swim across, but I am not going in that water again. It’s like ice cold. Why don’t you fly over there, and you can get a couple of people to bring me back?”

Aurora nodded. “You’ll be okay?”

“Hold on, before you go, let me try linking comms… Okay, I sent an invite but no one has accepted it yet. Not totally sure anyone has received it though. You think they’re sleeping?”

“Someone would be on watch, regardless. Let me try to get their attention.” Aurora braced herself and fired Dazzle and Ion Storm simultaneously. The shimmering effects reflected off the glassy still lake and the trees along the banks flickered with reflected light. Two quick red beams shot up from the area of wreckage in response.

“That’s Pulse.” Aurora smiled. “Glad we found some of them.”

“I hope that’s everyone, I’m ready to get out of here.”

“Me too.”

Chapter Twenty-Two

Your Friend Will

As Gus flew above the smoky remains of the fire, he was impressed with the level of destruction around their camp. His eyes panned around until there was a bright wink of light. Focusing, he used his perception zoom and saw that the glint came from the transport! Tiny figures moved around the broken section of the ship and one portion of bent back metal had reflected the light like a mirror. Surveying the area all around, his mini-map filled in with additional information and he put a marker on the ship’s location. He descended and took care not to stir up too much ash with his landing.

Popping his head into the tent, he yelled at BoJack to wake up. The older super didn’t move until Gus told him what he had found. That got him moving. The older super sprang to his feet and in a matter of minutes, he had unraveled all of his constructs and the only thing remaining was a relatively untouched rectangle of smooth dirt, out of place in contrast to the black scarred ground.

BoJack didn’t trust the charcoal spikes that remained of the trees, so he just propelled himself above the ground on his cables as Gus took to the air. Soon they had passed the area of fire damage and BoJack hoisted himself above the treetops again.

“Which way?” BoJack deferred to Gus.

“This way,” Gus pointed as he shared the nav-point on his display and began to fly.

“Let’s go.”

They traveled for a bit in relative silence, with only the crunch of cables attaching and the swoosh as the trees bent back and forth as BoJack moved.

“Gus, can I ask you a personal question?” BoJack asked through the mental link, surprising him.

“Sure, I suppose,” he replied.

“What do you have against your father? The whole Crew can see how you keep him at arm’s length, and you always get incredibly tense around him. From my experience, Tempest has always gone above and beyond to help the other supers in Purple Faction. I doubt you would get this many people following him on a personal mission if he wasn’t doing something right.”

“Maybe he just treats supers better than regs,” Gus shot back, a bit too quickly.

“Mmmm, I don’t think so. There are definitely those in Purple Faction that are exactly that way, but your father doesn’t give out that vibe. So what’s going on?”

“It’s complicated.” Gus didn’t like where this conversation was heading, so he flew a little bit more quickly.

“Does it have to be? I know from personal experience that I have a tendency to make things a lot harder than they need to be, or exaggerate the size and scope of the rift between myself and others. I’ve wasted a lot of time being stubborn and prideful, telling myself the other person has to change. This may just be me talking—I don’t want to put my experience onto you—but it just seems… familiar.”

They traveled in silence for a while as Gus mulled the situation over. The silence became ponderous and Gus had to fill the void, even if it meant sharing something he’d rather have kept to himself.

“There’s probably a little of that going on, if I’m being honest.” Gus turned around and hovered as BoJack crawled towards him. “There’s just so much to sort out, and I feel like I’m trying to drink out of a fire-hose at full blast. It’s overwhelming, and I feel totally inexperienced and inadequate.

“Then Tempest shows up and all those things just get bumped up a notch. Except now he seems like a totally different person, all accepting and friendly. A part of me feels like he’s only accepting my powers, and only now am I important to him. That makes me both angry and suspicious. I don’t know what his true motives are, where his loyalties lie, and I’m afraid of losing control and losing everything I’ve worked for, like the past.” The words flowed out, having been pent up and pushed down for too long.

BoJack came closer. “I get it. I think every super goes through something similar. Maybe not with a manor involved, but trying to find your place, especially when you’re around other people who are amazingly talented. It can be a bit daunting. Not to mention transitioning from how people saw you from before, to the new, improved you.”

“That’s for damn sure,” he said, a little relieved that BoJack could relate to some of what he was feeling.

“And it’s even worse if you’re trying to lift that whole load on your own. I know you don’t really know any of us on the Crew, and maybe don’t trust all of us yet. But your father is on your side whether you believe it or not. And we are on his side, which makes us on your side as well. I think you would do well to let some others in and allow them