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

do, as he didn’t have any real gear. Jet managed itself, floating nearby. As if in response, his hybrid-Nth armor changed configuration and formed the hex-mesh pattern, the gunmetal color spreading like a wave over his body, with thicker plates over key areas.

“Not bad,” came a voice behind him. Gus turned to see one of the Crew giving him a thumbs up and a broad smile. Gus gave him a ‘thank you’ nod and waited for the rest of his group to form up. He kept forgetting the guy’s name, but he sounded Australian.

Tempest was the last to leave and he gave some last instructions to the pilot before stepping out on the deck. He strode purposefully to Gus’ group, eagerly whispering to Gus, “Are you ready?” He gave him a surreptitious thumbs-up before turning to address the group.

Chapter Five

Ones & Zeros

Tempest’s abrupt whistle brought all the fiddling with equipment and murmured discussion to a stop.

“As you can see, external base defenses are engaged, so expect internal ones to be active as well. Take proper precautions and proceed to the designated nav-points. There has been no response to hails, which means they don’t want us here or are not able to respond. Anastasia and Grimdark will lead the other teams, and we will rendezvous here…”

Gus heard a ding and his minimap populated with a map of the base. Green dots showed up around him and he found he could mentally rotate the map to get a top-down or a three-dimensional view of the different levels of the base. He stopped toying with the views when he saw a message icon pop up on his display. He opened the window.

You have been offered the Group Quest: Rescue The Alchemist.

Clear the facility and locate the super known as The Alchemist.

XP dependent on contribution.

*Restrictions*: Not everyone in your group is receiving notice of this quest. Choosing to reveal it without Tempest’s permission will result in an XP penalty and possible loss of level(s).

Before he could think too much about it, a pulsing chevron appeared on his minimap and Tempest continued.

“Report any anomalies along the way; we don’t know what we’re dealing with here. I’d like to keep this non-confrontational, but protect yourselves if attacked. This should just be a research facility, but it has resisted Yuki’s probes, so it’s obviously more than it appears. Alright? Everyone knows their rally points, let’s move out.” He twirled his finger and everyone separated into their groups and began entering the structure.

Tempest led Gus’ group and he received a prompt to join his party. Four additional avatars populated the left side of his display, with vertical bars denoting their major pools. With less people, he could see their full names instead of only initials. Gus was relieved that he knew the other members of his party, if only briefly.

There was Yuki, who was an augment with hacking skills, and would be the scout of the group. Today, she dressed in a goth-inspired schoolgirl outfit with thigh high-boots laden with unnecessary buckles. She kept to herself, preferring the company of tech over people, and all Gus knew of her was from exploring The Banoi earlier.

Pulse, who specialized in light-based powers and energy blasts. Aurora, Tempest, and Gus rounded out the group of five. Pulse looked like the textbook superhero, exaggerated jawline and all. Gus had sparred with him a couple times and he was relentless, attacking constantly and never appearing to lose any stamina. It would be nice to be fighting with the guy instead of against him for a change. Despite having sparred with a few of them he still did not know how he would fit in during an actual battle.

“Gus, you’re the least trained to work in groups,” Tempest mentioned as if reading his mind, “so I’ll ask you to hold back and guard our rear. Be careful of friendly fire on those in front of you. It may be better to hold back and let us do the heavy lifting, but feel free to take care of anything behind us, got it?”

Gus nodded and instructed Jet to help him monitor their six. Jet spun in place, and a red handkerchief tied to the blade guard flared like a girl’s dress when spinning around.

Where did you get that? The spear briefly bowed towards Harmony who winked as Gus saw her and gave an enthusiastic smile. Dang, my polearm has better social skills than me.

Tempest led the way to a futuristic-looking bulkhead. Yuki typed on a virtual mini-keyboard fastened to the back of her forearm, then extended her typing hand to the panel. The bulkhead disappeared into the ceiling and everyone moved inside.

A smell of acrid burning mingled with roadkill puffed past them as the door opened. Gus wrinkled his nose, squinting as he waved the fumes away and followed everyone inside. It wasn’t too bad—yet. After turning the corner, Tempest accessed the stairs and everyone filed up. After climbing five flights, there was a conspicuous pool of tacky blood underneath the door. Tempest held up a fist and the party stopped. Yuki came forward again and extended her hand forward close to the blood. Two telescoping projections came out of the center of her palm, gently touched the blood, then retracted. After some typing, she held the projected screen above her forearm toward Tempest for him to review.

He grimaced and nodded, then motioned for everyone to stand behind him. He then extended his hands and a gray mist covered the door, becoming more and more condensed until the door was lost in the fog-like material. With a sudden *pop* the door imploded and swung inward. The other supers moved to the sides of the doorway and looked back at Gus who stood there, looking through the doorway.

Aurora gave him a quick wide-eyed look, jerking her head to the side repeatedly. Message received. Get in cover when clearing a door, dummy! Gus scrambled to the side and waited for the others to enter. Pulse