Category Archives: Arc 5.3: Breaking & Entering

Breaking & Entering: Part 12

Flick threw a ball into the main group of heavy bird bots as they began to run across the floor toward us.

The ball punctured the bird bot’s chest, coming out the other side, and continuing through each bot behind it.

I’d never known for sure what her power was, but it had something to do with controlling mass and momentum. I’d heard that there were very specific rules about how it worked, but I’d never seen her in action, so I didn’t know what they were. Continue reading Breaking & Entering: Part 12

Breaking & Entering: Part 11

Much like in the control room, the second floor mostly stayed together. Spots of concrete fell and the nearest section of floor simply bent downward toward us, giving us a view of storage rooms.

A file cabinet slid sideways, and fell into the room, landing on the melted remains of the cloning tanks.

It would have been great if that had been the end of it.

It wasn’t, but it looked like it for a second.

Cassie lowered the gun. “Let’s get out of here.”

“Yeah.” Continue reading Breaking & Entering: Part 11

Breaking & Entering: Part 10

The fan increased its power by the second.

The whirring noise came from deeper in the building—possibly pulling it directly outside. That meant instead of being something that Rook’s people had done, it might be ours.

Instead of drifting away, the smoke streamed toward the smashed door, pulled by the fan, but behind it came cold air from outside.

A glance upward showed that the section of the room’s ceiling that had reached up to the roof now opened to the sky. Izzy had taken it completely off.

If she hadn’t taken it off, the part she did remove included the middle.

Anyway, it was pretty impressive. I wouldn’t have been able to do it in the Rocket armor.

Beyond a brief sense of awe, I didn’t think about it much then. I had other things to worry about.

An alarm went off. Continue reading Breaking & Entering: Part 10

Breaking & Entering: Part 9

Casting a last look at the dead people on the floor, I ran.

Only a few steps of the Rocket suit took me away from the scene, and that was good. I didn’t want to look at them.

They’d probably died when I broke the barrier between the core and the rest of the base.

Still, even if out of sight wasn’t really out of mind, they were at least out of sight.

Unfortunately, the next room was worse. Continue reading Breaking & Entering: Part 9

Breaking & Entering: Part 8

Rook’s control room sat near the middle of the dome, and like the other rooms at the center, the ceiling rose to the top of the dome.

The rooms on the second floor shared a transparent wall with the corridor below. People on the second floor could look down into the labs and control, but they weren’t just then.

I gave the Rocket suit a little thrust, and I hovered a little higher, out of the Rook suit’s reach.

On the second floor, people in blue jumpsuits and masks lay down or crawled on all fours.

Out in the first floor’s hall, pieces of concrete fell. On the second floor, a monitor fell off a desk, throwing sparks as the screen shattered.

Continue reading Breaking & Entering: Part 8

Breaking & Entering: Part 7

I’d have gone for the gun except it had no trigger, and so far as I knew fired at the mental command of only one person on the planet—Cassie.

Instead, I raised my arms, targeting Rook’s arm. Knowing that someone’s about to kill your best friend, your sister, and your girlfriend doesn’t make for clear thinking.

I fired off the roachbots, not paying attention to what I was firing or how many, aiming at his arm.

The roachbots hit, knocking his arm sideways while simultaneously exploding—again and again, like popcorn.

Continue reading Breaking & Entering: Part 7

Breaking & Entering: Part 6

Not all of the Rook suits were the kind I’d fought back in Grand Lake. Most seemed to be stripped down. You wouldn’t want to be tapping on a keyboard with enough force to smash a tank.

You’d run through a lot of keyboards that way. I knew that from experience.

Anyway, the stripped down models seemed to have smaller guns under the forearms. Sub-machine guns, maybe?

That wouldn’t be a big threat to the Rocket suit unless they had special ammunition—which I couldn’t rule out.
Continue reading Breaking & Entering: Part 6

Breaking & Entering: Part 5

You notice the weirdest things in moments like that. For example, I noticed that (at least in the helmet’s sonar) the heavy duty version of Rook’s armor didn’t actually have a straight beak like a rook might. Its curved beak reminded me more of an eagle’s.

Not that this was the kind of moment best used for criticizing Rook’s grasp of bird anatomy.

I fired off more roachbots—the exploding kind this time. They zipped around the corner almost instantly.

With any luck, I could try an EMP from the inside if they made a crack. Continue reading Breaking & Entering: Part 5

Breaking & Entering: Part 4

They weren’t normal footsteps either. They reminded me of Jaclyn’s when she was running slowly enough that they still sounded like footsteps, but close to the point where her footfalls blended together into a hum.

So, a speedster was behind me, and a huge suit of powered armor stood in front of me. Normally I’d have tried to move myself so that they could only come at me one at a time, but with a speedster that would be nearly impossible.

I didn’t even have time to come up with a plan before he hit me. Continue reading Breaking & Entering: Part 4

Breaking & Entering: Part 3

I digested that information in my head, and said, “I think the two of you should get out. Neither of you are immune to nerve gas, right?”

Jaclyn shook her head. Izzy looked down at me, asking, “But what about you?”

“The suit’s air tight, and the original Rocket fought gas using villains in the 80’s. Actually, he fought Dr. Madness as far back as the 50’s. So the suit should be able to handle it.”

“Should?” Jaclyn raised an eyebrow, and looked steadily at me.

“Will,” I said. Continue reading Breaking & Entering: Part 3