TBD: Part 6

Izzy’s mouth twitched. If that meant she was worried, I was in agreement. She didn’t deserve to get in trouble for yanking me out of the crowd like that, but I could see how she might.

We all went into the room anyway.

Lim sat down on the table. “I wanted to talk with you about a few different things, and I’m hoping you’ll pass them on to Travis and Rachel.”

“Of course,” Daniel said.

From behind me, Vaughn muttered, “If we remember.”

Isaac nodded. “Great. First off, I heard about the first year briefing, and Izzy, you were right to say something. Bullet’s a straightforward guy, and he’s mostly involved in the endgame. With his powers, there’s no reason to bring him in until shooting’s the only option. He tends to forget how much happens before then.

“So to make things clear, we don’t bother anybody who’s not causing trouble. Besides, as you heard, if we went after everyone connected with aliens we’d be going after almost everyone here. So don’t leave, okay?”

“I’m not.” Izzy stood a little bit to the right of me. “He was clear enough in the end, but I hope you’re not sitting on any more surprises.”

Isaac smiled a little. “Nothing big that we’re planning to tell you at your current security clearance.”

Cassie snorted.

“Getting a little sick of secrets, Cassie?” Isaac grinned at her. “I’ve got some good news and some bad news there. We’ve seen signs that the Nine have stepped up looking for you since what happened in D.C. They’ve been looking for you on and off for years, but they weren’t motivated to make Grand Lake a priority until recently. Watch out for them.”

“Wait,” Cassie said, “you don’t have people watching me yourself?”

“Of course we do, and we’re not the only ones, but we can’t watch you all the time.”

“Thanks for the part-time protection then.”

“It’s the least we can do,” Isaac said, and from his smile, I knew he was making a joke.

“You think you’re funny,” Cassie said.

“Is that everything?” Jaclyn glanced toward the door. “This is our last chance to get into our rooms and unpack before supper. I know I can make it, but I’m not so sure about the rest of you…”

Isaac said, “That’s the other thing. Watch it with the powers while you’re here. That’s the official reason I’m visiting. We’ve got telepaths, but we can only erase so much of the staff’s memory before someone notices. Now, I’ve got to say, there wasn’t much of anything to see when Izzy grabbed Nick, but our alarms went off. So I’m just telling you to watch it, okay?”

He pushed himself off the table. “Well, that’s about it. Just one more thing before I let you go. You guys know a lot of people around here. Izzy’s new to all this. Would you mind introducing her around? I’d suggest you avoid people whose parents or grandparents fought Dixie Superman, but it’s too late, right?”

Captain Commando, and Jaclyn’s grandfather “C” had fought him more than anybody else. It fit—what with Captain Commando’s patriotic theme, and C being the best known black super during the 1960’s. How could either of them not end up going to head to head with a guy who wanted to end the civil rights movement, and convince the South to secede again?

Jaclyn, Cassie, and Izzy all looked at each other.

“Later,” Isaac said, and walked out the door.

“You don’t have to,” Izzy said. “I don’t want to cause you any trouble.”

It was funny to see someone with her powers being shy, or if not shy at least nervous.

“Don’t worry about it,” Cassie grinned up at her. “I don’t know a lot of people outside the group either.”

“After last summer,” Izzy began, “I feel strange about asking you for anything.”

“We didn’t even fight each other,” Jaclyn said. “I don’t know how we managed it, but we didn’t. We’ve got nothing to forgive, nothing to forget. We’ve barely met, and never as ourselves.”

She held out her hand, “I’m Jaclyn.”

Izzy took it. “Isabel. People call me Izzy.”

“You know,” Vaughn said, “I’m feeling like someone ought to start a ‘hero descended from supervillians club.’ It seems like there are a bunch of us all of a sudden.”

14 thoughts on “TBD: Part 6”

  1. Thanks for the update Jim! Now I won’t need to call my therapist :p Interesting that Izzy is being befriended by the Legion just as Isaac tells Cassie the Nine are really after her now, don’t you think

  2. *Puts away an ice cram scoop that’s been suped up with what appears to be a rotating head of three butcher’s knives and kicks a wheelchair he had lying around for no suspicious reason at all out of view*

    Oh, Jim, wasn’t expecting you. You know, you shouldn’t have. But since you did, group hug in the showers later! Y’all handle the men’s showers, I’ll go get the group hug started in the women’s side.

    Do we know who was faster, C or Dixie Superman?

    Plus, Cassie oughta be feeling kinda creeped out by now. She’s got The Nine, the FBI, CIA, NSA, TSA, HYDRA, S.H.I.E.L.D., S.W.O.R.D., S.M.E.R.S.H., AIM, Cobra, JLA, JSA, GLC, SCP, NWA, DMX, Run DMC, M&M, AT&T, UMWA, FEMA, WNBA, WWF, WWE, WCW, EC f’n W, TNA, NAMBLA, NCIS, CSI, and Law and Order all watching her. That’s going to make for some awkward showers in the future. Speaking of awkward moments, you have to be aware, Jim, that some shipping may (ok, let’s face it, already has) occurred in regards to Izzy and Nick. Doesn’t help that they were talking about a porno together that time either.

  3. Gecko; could make for some AWESOME showers in the future. If thats one massive group shower hug with all those organisations, dibs on getting close to Black Widow and Ziva David.

    Great update Jim 🙂

  4. A club for heroes descended from villains….

    Damn I miss Vaughn.

    Jim, are the undercurrents of an Brick Chick/Rocket ship intentional are just a side-effect of the story and it’s really involved fanbase??

    I mean I’m sure Izzy Dixie is powerful enough to take on Haley, but if the Omnishpere taught us anything, it’s that Haley has levels that she hasn’t touched yet.

    Nevertheless, Brick Chick vs. Night Bitch would be epic.

    P.S. – What happened with your daughter??

  5. Silas: I’m fairly certain he meant that’s who’s WATCHING her in the shower, not who’s showering with her. And I don’t think it’s a good idea to try and sneak into the womens showers at the Stapledon program anyway. I can only imagine the damage that a ticked off young lady with superstrength and/or superspeed could do with a wet towel. *Shudder*

  6. Lingy: I’d be scared for you if your happiness depended that much on me…

    PG: Walking quietly away from the showers… It amuses me to imagine Run DMC doing surveillance though. On another topic, it’s not yet come up in the story whether C or Dixie Superman was faster.

    WA_side/Bill: My daughter did well. The “demonstration of skills” was part of a regular (i.e. non-black belt) testing, allowing black belts the opportunity to see her in action, and point out problems before her actual testing next week. We’ll see how that goes.

    Luke: It would be an amazingly bad idea.

    PG/Bill: It’s pretty natural for people to start shipping characters if they’ve any potential attraction to each other, and they’re around each other for very long.

    It’s something I’m aware of, and you’ll have to decide whether I’m using it deliberately in any way here or if it’s just accidental (this also happens) in the future.

    DWwolf: And to respond to something in the last post (which I’ve hidden to make reading easier for those reading through the story), I hadn’t ever heard of Fiore dei Liberi. It sounds like an interesting fighting system. There are way too many out there to learn.

  7. a couple things 1) so i take it the stapleton program is obviously at a normal university because there are staff who are not let in on the secret of the program. i would not have written it that way but very interesting prospects there. 2) Nick and Izzy? Please it is clear from the end of this that Storm is flirting with our girl. 3) Glad your daughter’s exhibition went well.

  8. Hmm, I can definitely see how someone might start shipping Izzy and Nick here… But I’m still going to insist on Nick/Chris as the OTP.

  9. Chris is not there and Nick is not homsexual I don’t think
    o no i did not just not use the double negative
    i should get the grammar police to shoot me
    *runs and screams*

  10. Mystic, they might have it at a regular university, given its traditionally low size, but in this instance I believe they’re staying in a normal hotel for orientation. Also, if anyone was flirting with Rebel, it was Jaclyn. Now for your transgressions against grammar, I shall sic a pack of wild Komondors on you. Beware the janitors, my friend, for you’ll never know if one of my Komondors is with them, ready to pounce on you!

    *releases the hounds!*

    Also, Silas, I meant that long list of people was watching Cassie in the shower. It’s the kinda thought that must come up if she knows she’s under surveillance, though she could just be used to it by now as she’s likely been watched in the shower for many years by the creepiest depiction of Uncle Sam I’ve ever heard of.

  11. I finally caught up with this after a week long archive binge. As always, this was a nice update Jim and I really like your story so far.

    Speaking of shipping, I find it amusing that the team’s nerd is the only one with a girlfriend.

    Personally, I think Cassie and Vaughn are going to get together at some point.

  12. Ace: Glad you’re reading.

    As for Nick being the only one in a relationship, well… That might not be the case. The hazard of having Nick as a narrator is that relationships aren’t always on his radar. Pretty much all of the team went to the prom with dates (back in that section), but Nick never followed up on those relationships and the degree to which they did or didn’t exist.

    Which is why it’s an open question as to whether or not they already are or have been together for all Nick knows.

    PG/Captain Mystic: Currently they are in a hotel. The venue will change each time people in the Stapledon program get together.

    Mazzon: OTP? When I see that I think “on the phone.” I’m pretty sure that’s not what you’re meaning.

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