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

The others had scavenged some meager supplies, and Yuki managed to secure some of Methiochos’ personal logs for Gus. He wasn’t sure why he decided to download and keep them, but after they were checked to be virus-free, he had them transferred to a small datapad.

Overall the training went well, and Gus felt like he wouldn’t be too much of a bumbler when the mission actually started, but the real test was when they got into an actual battle.

The Crew were vague about their abilities for some reason, so he only had a general idea of their skills. It could be that he was still like a stranger to them; he barely knew their names and felt uncomfortable inserting himself into their well-established group.

Still. The reason for the secrecy was beyond him, but it was like an unspoken rule. One of those forbidden topics that everyone inherently knew were off-limits.

Gus continued fighting, dodging an attack and retaliating. If he didn’t run an Adaptive Training program, he could let himself go on autopilot. It was rare that he would be caught off guard, and his responses were becoming honed. Often he didn’t get any XP, but it kept him from boiling over.

He had actually broken a tooth the third day after Tempest arrived, from clenching his jaw so hard. His Nth had to make a hard shell over it while they repaired the enamel underneath. This required him to be on a soup and smoothie diet because he couldn’t make his teeth fit together with the large dome over the tooth being repaired. Just another irritation. Wasn’t life supposed to be getting better as a super? When is that going to happen?

“Happiness is not defined by any circumstance, condition, or person. You need not tie your happiness to anything. The choice to be happy is always yours to make. Make that choice and cultivate a happy spirit,” Nick suggested. “Your father is not making you unhappy, you are choosing to feel so.”

“So you think I am being too hard on my father?” Gus inquired as he kicked and pushed backward, doing a flip, instantly regretting asking the question.

“One must honor their parents,” Nick responded curtly, with disdain.

“Honor should be earned.” Gus grunted after an especially hard block.

“So only those who serve you deserve any honor?”

“No, that’s not—” The distraction gave a pillowbot the time it needed to give Gus a good slap across the face. Gus clenched his fists at the shot. He spun and landed a roundhouse kick on the robot’s torso. “Everyone deserves a certain level of respect. But those who abuse that trust have to prove they have changed.”

“For how long? When will you finally allow yourself to forgive the offender?”

“I’m sorry I brought it up. I mistakenly thought you were on my side,” Gus growled.

“I am on your side. These emotions and habits of blame are a weakness. You need to rid yourself of them.”

Gus’ eyebrows furrowed so much that he could see them as he tried to contain himself.

“I’m done with this conversation.”

“You can run, but wherever you go, there you are,” Nick said with infuriating calm. He had become so used to asking the previous iterations of Nick questions that it was a hard habit to break. This new one made him wonder if mainland supers had it right to suppress their Nth personalities. Gus almost charged the pillowbot in front of him like a mad bull when a twinkling chime and a message came over the manor intercom.

“Gus, please meet your party in the control room,” the message repeated just like in an airport. Finally! It was time to go. Nothing good ever seemed to come from overthinking things. He grabbed a towel to mop up the sparse sweat that had accumulated. Barely anything and he had really been going at it. At least some things are improving.

The control room was full of the entire crew, Tempest, and Aurora, who all turned to look at Gus, the last to arrive.

“Excellent, we are all here!” Tempest said, clasping his hands. “We are off to find my wife, Gwen. You probably know her as ‘The Alchemist.’ She has been gone for over a decade and though I have kept close tabs on her, recently, my surveillance feeds went dark. We are heading now to her last known location. As Gus has fully recovered, her bargain is complete and she should be allowed to come home. I have reservations that her generous host will comply so easily, however, so we may have some work to do. Any questions?”

There was slight murmuring but no one asked anything.

“Okay, let’s get going. We’ll be using our transport for this mission, as Seneschal, our pilot, is more familiar with it, but we have retrieved the Manticorps vessel from a neighboring island. As we have been unable to unlock the hangar atop the manor, we have only been able to use it as a landing area. It’s possible that there are ships within the hangar, but for now, we’ll make do with what we have. Everything should be ready with our transport, and Crew members have checked it out. It is ready to go; let us head there now.”

Tempest motioned towards the elevator and everyone piled in. Someone hit a strange symbol at the top of the series of buttons and the car slid upwards. Gus had thought he knew most of the manor’s layout. There always seemed to be something new. It made him proud in a weird way.

The car opened and everyone spilled out. They were on the roof of the manor, and there was a large octagonal landing pad. At this height, the wind whipped by constantly. Gus slowly spun and took in the whole of the island. Walking to a guardrail, he looked out at the lush jungle, beaches, and the smoldering volcano. He couldn’t have asked for a better place to be. Well, at least now that there weren’t