I flipped through the roachbot’s viewpoints, watching them scuttle up walls, through windows to the outside, or into vents.
I had a brief moment where I thought that the best thing I could do would be self-destruct all of them, but I’d just made them last fall. I didn’t want to do it all over again.
I [...]
We pulled stir fry out of the refrigerator, heated it up, and ate. Afterward, I went upstairs to do homework while Rachel followed me upstairs and went into her own room. After an electronic crackle, I heard her play exercises on her guitar.
I finished the calculus homework in an hour. Then I took another half [...]
“So you just told him?” Jaclyn didn’t seem to be able to contain her disbelief.
“It’s not like I invited him to train with us,” I said. “I just told him the same thing I’ve always told anyone curious about who I’m taking martial arts from.”
“It’s not that bad,” Haley said. “Of all Sean’s friends, Dayton’s [...]
In fairness to Sean, he didn’t try to claim credit for taking them out. He didn’t have to. The cameras lied.
Good visuals are crack for news crews. Explaining that Daniel mentally blasted Spike and Skewer into unconsciousness is hard to show on screen. Bashing them together in the air looked great even if it didn’t [...]
“Where does he work?” I asked.
“I don’t know,” Vaughn said. “Something medical.”
We started talking about the fight again for another thirty minutes or so. Somehow the conversation turned to Lee, and I reminded people that he wanted all of us there the next day and ideally every practice thereafter.
“And that’s why I need to go,” [...]
Sean looked over the oncoming crowd a little nervously, and asked me, “What are we supposed to do now?”
“No idea,” I said.
Then I turned on the loudspeaker.
They were halfway across the lawn, and the growing darkness gave the group a “Night of the Living Dead” feel. Not that they were really zombies, but a crowd [...]
Payback screamed and fell over, his body outlined in electricity.
The air smelled of ozone, and smoke.
When the lightning stopped, I could see Payback more clearly. His chest still moved, but he wasn’t doing much more than that. His right arm looked uncomfortably red and blistered.
From behind me Vaughn shouted, “I got him, right?”
I raised my left arm, fist pointed upward, shielding my chest. My right arm hung near my waist, ready to punch.
I didn’t punch Skewer.
Pushing down on two buttons on my right palm, I blasted him with the sonics.
Punching yourself in the face isn’t a great tactic in most fights, but it seemed like a good idea at the time.
The ice fell off my helmet and hit the floor. I swung back out onto the bumper behind the only remaining door, and tried to get a second to think.
I could blast away with [...]
