He typed on his keyboard, moved more text over from what must have been logs into another window. “Okay, I’m sending what I’ve got to the Feds, but we’ve got to find the League’s records on these guys. If they’re who I think they are, search under ‘dinosaurs,’ ‘evolution,’ or ‘gorillas.’”
Control stopped typing to face him, saying, “Gorillas?” Continue reading A Day in The Life: Part 6
Samita glared at her but Amy grinned and Kid Biohack began to run, presumably adjusting himself as he went.
And it worked. He moved so quickly that he became a blur, but he wasn’t alone. Another blur ran out of the front doors of dePuit Hall, followed by a mass of The Thing That Eats headed college students.
Amy and Samita ran to the oval, shouting for Kid Biohack to stop, but he couldn’t. When he began to slow enough that I could identify his silver costume, the other blur aimed itself toward Samita. Continue reading Harvest: Part 8
Vengeance stood straighter. “We can banish you from this universe. Don’t think we can’t—”
He didn’t get to finish the sentence. In that moment, Alden’s head changed to that of The Thing That Eats. He wasn’t the only one. With a scream, the head of the woman that the elf had called Necromancer changed too.
Her hands continued to smoke, but she didn’t use them. The Thing’s mouth opened and swallowed the Graffiti Knight, weird, inscribed armor and all. Continue reading Harvest: Part 5
I thought about that. “If the animals were summoned by wizards, I’m not sure I’m impressed. If you think about it, The Thing That Eats is powerful enough when it’s taken over supers that animals can’t hurt it much, but it can hurt them.”
Amy cocked her head, thinking. Then she straightened. “When I was back home, my father used to say ‘think sideways’ a lot. My mother is the queen. My father acts as her spymaster. My guess is that they’re using the animals for reconnaissance and maybe to scare normal people away from the battle. If they do make them fight, it’s probably because The Thing can’t possess them.”
Over the comm, Haley made a noise. “I hope they know cougars are on the endangered species list in Michigan.” Continue reading Harvest: Part 2
Haley’s face tightened as her other arm raked it across the eye while her legs dug in to the underside of its globular face. Blood spurted out from under the The Thing’s chin and it spit her arm out.
Haley had the presence of mind to land on her feet, but wobbled as she landed. Her costume, in the meantime, had already repaired itself. I might have taken it as a tribute to my work, but that wasn’t nearly as high in my mind as the question of whether the costume had adjusted correctly to the change. If it were pushing broken bone into flesh or muscle, it could only be hurting her.
She could adjust the suit though. I had to get it away from her, so she could get away from the fight. Continue reading Revelations: Part 6
“If you value your lives and the lives of those you care about, you’ll intervene from a distance if at all. If that creature bites you, you’ll be linked to it, or worse, become part of it.”
She watched me, waiting, I guessed, for my response.
“We won’t, at least most of us. We’ve been warded against it. I know you don’t like the source, but it works, and if you think about it, I’d bet that the blood magic you’re familiar with can’t do that.”
Shaking her head, she backed away. “Remember that I warned you. If we have to, we’ll kill anyone infected by the creature.” Continue reading Crisscross: Part 11
Before anyone could move, he nipped Philo’s shoulder, and lunged for me. I held up my arms, one forward in a block, and pulling the other back, ready to punch.
It bit my blocking arm, completely surrounding it from the elbow up, but that didn’t last. Warmth suffused my body, and a red glow tinged my view of the scene. The view from one of my spybots showed that the entire Rocket suit glowed red.
At the same moment, The Thing That Eats spit my hand out of its mouth, yelping in pain. Not wasting the moment, I punched it with all the strength the Rocket suit had, aiming a little upward. Continue reading Crisscross: Part 9
I’d never seen the new guy before. Aside from fitting my profile for the Cabal, he had dark, curly hair, light skin, and at least at that moment, a wide smile. He wore an oversized sweater and jeans.
Philo turned back to us. “This is Andronicus. I haven’t seen him in more than two, maybe three hundred years.”
Andronicus nodded to the group of us. “I have been busy this last little while.” Continue reading Crisscross: Part 8
My HUD showed my armor’s status as 89%—as in 11% of the armor’s cells had been damaged and no longer responded to commands. Even though the anti-tank mini-missile hadn’t hurt me, that counted for something.
If she had more of those, I might be forced to use the laser or the killbot.
It did strike me though that she was clearly in a mood to talk. If I could keep her talking, it would be better than killing her. Continue reading Crisscross: Part 7
Haley looked the newly formed full Rocket suit up and down, but only glanced over at Camille, “Drop me off on the edge of the crowd. I’ll look for people who are too close.”
Vaughn turned to me, “You want to take Eagle suit? I think I can take force field guy.”
Out on the street, the Eagle suit had smashed one of the two Rocket suit clones into an Escalade. “Why not? She’s probably looking for a rematch.” Continue reading Crisscross: Part 5