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
He tapped on his palms again. “Here’s GPS coordinates for the Chicago gateway. And now I’m flying it back through. I’m going to fly it past each starplate on the way out. If it registers with each cellphone service, they might be able triangulate its position.”
The spybot whirled around and dove back into the gateway as he talked except this time one of the soldiers looked up, feathers moving in the wind. In the bottom corner of the screen, it pulled a walkie talkie from its belt as the bot passed through the gate. Continue reading A Day in The Life: Part 5
The Rocket’s helmet pointed at the screen. “Those seem familiar somehow. Mystic, did Mindstryke or the Mentalist ever mention anything? C… Uh… Control? You’ve been reading the stuff you scanned. Anything ring a bell?”
Control and the Mystic watched as the creatures spread out, rifles pointed down the alley. The gateway behind them stayed open as they stepped away from it, revealing a silver and black platform similar to the one I’d seen in the League’s headquarters except that it was at least ten times the size. Past the edge of the platform stood more of the feathered soldiers.
All of them stared at the screen, but the Rocket spoke first. “I think we’re going to have to bring a lot more people in on this—the Defenders for sure.” Continue reading A Day in The Life: Part 4
Control stopped at the table in the center and directly in front of the giant screen. She grabbed a mouse and started tapping, starting by clicking on a button under the word “Status,” changing it from green to red.
Immediately a text message started appearing on another part of her monitor.
It said, “Accelerando: How bad is the red?”
Control shook her head. “I wish she’d give me a second…” Continue reading A Day in The Life: Part 3
Jaclyn and Izzy went first, followed by Amy (flying), Cassie, who jumped in after her, and finally me.
The Thing leapt as Rod closed with him, aiming for Rod’s abdomen, knocking Rod backward for all his bulk, and throwing him to the floor.
For me at least, this instantly confirmed the “Cabal Reserves” theory about The Thing’s host. Continue reading Intrusion: Part 8
I wondered how much fog Ashgabat saw normally. It didn’t seem likely that a city in a desert would have much fog. We were practically announcing, “Hey everybody, there’s something strange in your neighborhood.”
On the other hand, we’d chosen the team based on strength, not stealth. Izzy, Rod, Jaclyn, Amy, Cassie and I were taking on the The Thing That Eats directly. Daniel, Vaughn, Camille, and Haley would be outside, discouraging interference. Continue reading Intrusion: Part 6
Tara grinned, and when she did, I was reminded that whoever had designed the supersoldiers she was descended from, had obviously been designing for looks too. Not for the first time, I wondered why. Still, she was in a good mood, and considering the memories I must have brought up, that wasn’t a bad thing.
“I hope you don’t think I’m telling you he’s a bad person.” She paused but didn’t give me time to respond. “He’s not. It’s just…” She stopped. “You know that I grew up in Infinity City. I grew up on the run from the True, the supersoldier group my parents left. They worked as muscle all over the city, training me the entire time because they knew the True would want me too.
“When we came here and I enrolled in the Stapledon program, the guys didn’t first of all think of me as a soldier. They thought of me as the new, hot girl. Some of them had a betting pool on who could ‘score’ with me first. I didn’t think anything of all the attention at first, but when I thought about it, I put everything together. After that, I got angry.” Continue reading Everybody’s Got One: Part 8
A few people laughed, but Amy stopped moving, expression blank, finally managing to say, “That’s the plan.”
Samita stood up and walked up to the front. Dressed in a green blouse and khaki pants, it was one of the few times I’d seen her out of costume. With black hair and brown skin, she looked like she might be from southeast Asia, and her parents were. She’d been born in the US.
She stood in front of the group as Amy moved to the side and stood next to the wall. Samita’s eyes darted from one of us to another. In combination with the straightness of her stance, she gave the impression of a highly motivated student hoping for an “A.” Continue reading Everybody’s Got One: Part 6
I clicked on the email.
All it said was “You know what to do,” and underneath that sentence there was a link to a Dropbox folder. I hesitated for a moment and then clicked on it. It opened to a web page that listed only one file in folder. It was called “Exposure.mpv.”
I’d heard of the video format. It only ran on the associated player and only worked once. No one knew who had designed it. The Double V forums were certain it was a known tech genius, but couldn’t agree on who.
Daniel’s bed creaked, and I heard him walk up behind me as I sat at the desk. “Maybe we should get Izzy. It’s only going to play once, and she’s got a great memory for sounds.” Continue reading Faerieland: Part 48
A second look gave me a few clues I’d missed when I’d first seen what I’d thought was Adam. “Adam” had the same thin build and overall look, but he seemed taller than normal. It wasn’t by much.
Haley bent down, obviously getting a closer look. “Is she okay?”
Daniel stared at “Adam’s” face briefly. “I think so. There’s no way of knowing how she’ll take this later, but she didn’t kill anybody, or even hurt anyone. She relayed Artaxus’ orders to Hunter and the fae. That’s all. It’s not out of the question that being mind controlled might still traumatize her, but she didn’t do anything particularly terrible under his influence. She was more of a glorified gofer.” Continue reading Faerieland: Part 47